Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society

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Raghavan Srinivasan is a graduate in Chemical Engineering from Madras University and a post-graduate in MBA from McMaster University, Canada. After working as a systems analyst for a few years, he was a free lance IT professional before deciding to become an entrepreneur in the social development sector. At present he is a professional consultant in this area. He lives in New Delhi with his wife and son. He has written and edited a number of documents for governments and the UN system. He has also been editing a magazine called ghadar jari hai for several years now (http://ghadar.org.in/gjh_html/?nocahce). He has written several cover stories, articles and travelogues for print and online newspapers.

Raghavan is passionately interested in Indian literature, philosophy and history. He believes that the past of our sub-continent has many clues to help us find our way in these confusing times.

His first historical fiction, 'Yugantar: The Dream of Bharatavarsha Takes Shape 2300 Years Ago' has been published by Lead start.

Many novels and books have been written on Rajaraja, or Arulmozhivarman, as he was called before his ascension to the Chola throne. Films and TV serials have been made on a modest scale. In the 1950s, novelist Kalki Krishnamurthy published Ponniyin Selvan as a weekly series in the Tamil magazine Kalki. Even today, the novel has a cult following and a massive fan base among readers across several generations. A popular film on Rajaraja Cholan with thespian actor Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role was released in 1973 and received critical acclaim. In 2010, a spectacular celebration was organised to celebrate the 1000th year of the Brihadeeswara temple, built by Rajaraja in Thanjavur. A film is also reportedly under making by director Mani Ratnam based on Kalki's magnum opus. Several history books, particularly Nilakanta Sastri's The Colas, a landmark volume on the Chola dynasty, and Champakalakshmi's Trade, Ideology and Urbanisation provide a good narrative on the reign of the emperor, as a part of a larger setting. Yet they are not enough, considering the colossal changes that took place in Thamizhagam during the 25 years of his reign from 985 CE and beyond. Till today, there is no publication in English, to my knowledge, that comprehensively covers the regime of this illustrious empire builder, almost subscribing to the anguish of the people of the South that their history has been given second place.

In 2010, the Tamil Nadu government organised a well-advertised event in Thanjavur to celebrate the 1000th year of the Brihadeeswara temple, which has survived as a living testimony, notwithstanding its inanimate stone and granite structure, of the grandeur of the Chola Empire. The event and the glittering display of the relics of the empire only whetted one's appetite for a ringside view of Rajaraja's exploits and rule and the massive economic, cultural, political, administrative and spiritual transformations that took place during his eventful regime.

My own interest in Rajaraja Cholan dates back to the sixties when my sister and I used to wait anxiously for the paper boy to deliver the weekly Kalki magazine every Sunday morning. The clamour to have a first look a the week's episode often led to a fist fight!

It was much later in life, when I started editing the magazine called ‘ghadar jari hai’ which focused on bringing to the readers a non-Eurocentric view of Indian history, that I got a chance to study and write a few critical articles on the culture, administration and value systems of the Chola Empire.

I guess my bedtime reading aloud of Ponniyin Selvan and other historical novels to my son, transmitted to him large doses of the passion I had for Indian history. His graduation days in History (Honours) - it's a mystery to me how the word 'Honours adds solemnity to a degree course - gave me an opportunity to pour through history books recommended in his syllabus.

A massive amount of information is undoubtedly available on Rajaraja Chola from stone inscriptions, copper plates, coins, manuscripts and architectural findings, though historians have noted the disappearance of several literary works belonging to his period with gloom. But the challenge was to present the story of Rajaraja in an interesting way, particularly to the millennials, without in any way undermining the authenticity and veracity of the narrative. This is easier said than done. Even well-established historians differ violently, in the academic sense, on their interpretation of historical facts surrounding his imperial rule. Rajaraja's regime has been variously categorised as 'tyrannical' at one end to nothing less than a 'golden age' at the other and more often as a chronicle of 'plunder and piety'.

In a way, I envied Kalki, the author. He was an incomparable storyteller who could weave a web of conspiracies and romance around Rajaraja to win an exalted place for the emperor in the hearts of his readers. As a writer of fiction, he could idealise the past, and write his weekly episodes in absorbing style. He could steer away from the social and political upheavals during Rajaraja's regime and write long and captivating pages around conversations of lovers in the palace gardens and the escapades of spies and conspirators. Many of those who attended the 2010 celebrations at Thanjavur, and most importantly the organisers, would have patently harboured this romantic picture of the emperor. We often fall into the trap of hero worship as easily as a honeybee falls into sundew. Added to this, governments often love to talk about the grandeur of the past to lull people into forgetting their existential problems.

At the other extreme, there are many who dismiss history as irrelevant in today's changing world. For them, the society that existed 1000 years back and events connected to it are feudal, backward and anachronistic. But a civilisation which forgets its history has nothing to build on for its future. Negating one's heritage opens the door to subjugation by some other superior culture' of an 'advanced' civilisation. This is what happened during the colonial conquests when a section of the freedom movement failed to draw inspiration from our rich heritage and instead succumbed to western thought.

One way to write history is to acknowledge that the chariot of time is being drawn by men larger than life, before whom ordinary mortals scatter away in fear and the world's thoroughfares bend themselves to the compulsion of its wheels. The rise of an empire and the exploits of a king are portrayed as the roaring of the ocean as it sweeps away everything in its path inexorably, as an orchestra master whose wave of the wand ensures perfect harmony.

The other way to present history is to argue that it is the broad thoroughfares of the world, which in the first place, let the chariot of time be driven by chosen men and women. It is to acknowledge that the rise and fall of kingdoms are not the result of the strengths and weaknesses of kings and queens alone but an inevitable outcome of the greater rhythm of world events. It is to accept that it is the laughter and tears, the sleeping and eating, and the fortunes and hardships of the productive forces of society which determine the rise and fall of an empire.

It is from the second outlook I have approached the history of Rajaraja Cholan, as one shaped by the expansion of agriculture, the rise of centres of production, the nagarams, and the development of a web of internal and external trade networks. The development of art, architecture. sculpture, poetry and literature to their sublime heights is not attributed to the emperor's genius alone. Having made this point, one has to give credit to Rajaraja for uniting the entire South under his tiger sigil, for erecting the dakshina meru, the centre of the cosmos, in the form of the Thanjavur temple, at his capital and developing the brilliant iconography of Saivism. without which the Chola imperial empire could not have survived for more than four centuries.

I have tried to present the chapters in this book in a way that is easy on the reader. Each chapter represents a particular aspect of the reign of Rajaraja, not necessarily presented in a chronological order. An effort has been made to address points of divergence, controversies and allegations about the period as objectively as possible.

There are huge expectations among the youth today to learn more about our rich heritage from authentic sources. I hope this book encourages them on their illuminating journey.

**Contents and Sample Pages**