Gangai Konda Cholan Book

[Peppin Kishore]

GaṅgaikoṇḍaChōḻapuram is a village located near to Jayankondam, Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu, India. It became the capital of the Chola dynasty in c. 1025 by Chola emperor Rajendra I, and served as the capital for around 250 years.

The town is about approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi) northeast of Tiruchirapalli international airport. As of 2014, the ancient city exists as a heritage town in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, India. The great Arulmigu Peruvudaiyar Temple at this place is next only to the Arulmigu Peruvudaiyar Kovil at Thanjavur in its monumental nature and surpasses it in sculptural quality.[1] It has been recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.[2]

The city was founded by Rajendra I to commemorate his victory over the Pala Dynasty. The translation of the city's name may be split into Gangai (Ganga)/ Konda (Obtained)/ Chola (Chola)/ Puram (City). Hence, it refers to the city of the Cholas built on a locale to commemorate the occasion when the water of the Ganga was obtained. It is now a small village, its past eminence only remembered by the existence of the Mahashiva Temple. The Chola Empire included the whole of southern India to the river Tungabhadra in the north. For administrative and strategic purposes, they built a new capital and named it Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

The city seems to have had two fortifications, one inner and the other outer. The outer was probably wider. The remains of the outer fortification can be seen as a mound running all around the palace.

Excavations suggest that the outer fortification was built of burnt bricks, was about six to eight feet wide. It consisted of two walls, the intervening space (the core) being filled with sand. The bricks are fairly large in size and are made of well-burnt clay.[3][4] The Tamil Nadu State Archaeological Department has taken up fresh excavations to probe a nearby village named Ayudhkalam which is believed to have weapon manufacturing workshops, as the name suggests.[5]

The surviving temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram was completed in 1035 CE.[6] Rajendra emulated the temple built by his father after his victory in a campaign across India that Chola era texts state covered Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Bengal. After his victory, he demanded that the defeated kingdoms send pots of Ganges River water and pour it into the well of this temple.[3]

Rajendra I, according to Tamil tradition, thereafter assumed the name of Gangaikonda Cholan, meaning the one who conquered the Ganges. He established Gangaikonda Cholapuram as his capital from the medieval Chola capital of Thanjavur, which would go on to become the capital for the next 250 years.[7] Rajendra I built the entire capital with several temples using plans and infrastructure recommended in Tamil Vastu and Agama sastra texts.[3] These included a Dharma Sasta, Vishnu and other temples. However, all of these were destroyed in the late 13th and 14th centuries except the Brihadishvara temple. The other Chola landmarks are evidenced by soil covered mounds and excavated broken pillar stumps and brick walls found over an area of several kilometres from the surviving temple.[3][4]

Chola rulers were patrons of the arts and architecture. They built the temple of Gangaikondacholisvara. The temple has sculptures of exceptional quality. The bronzes of Bhogasakti and Subrahmanya are masterpieces of Chola metal icons. The Saurapitha (Solar altar), the lotus altar with eight deities, is considered auspicious.[2] The shiva lingam is made from single rock.

The Chola rulers constructed enormous stone temple complexes with intricate carvings of Hindu gods. Rajaraja I built the famous Brihdrishvara temple at Thanjavur, which is about 50 km away from city of Gangaikonda Cholapuram, between 1003 and 1010 CE. Shiva is worshipped here. The grandeur of this temple has not been diminished by age. There is a massive statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Shiva, in the central courtyard of the temple.

The exquisite bronze statues of the Chola period are known the world over for their grace and lifelike appearance. Many beautiful figures of Nataraja, or the dancing Shiva, were made during the Chola era.

The royal palace also was built of burnt brick. The ceilings were covered with flat tiles of small size, laid in a number of courses, in fine lime mortar. The pillars were probably made of polished wood, supported on granite bases; a few pillar bases have survived to this day. Iron nails and clamps have been recovered from this palace site. There is a tunnel that links the palace and the temple inner 1st prakaara (north).

In the reign of Virarajendra Chola, Rajendra's third son, the palace at Gangaikondacholapuram is referred to as Chola-Keralan Thirumaligai (Chola Keralan palace) evidently after one of the titles of Rajendra I. The same inscription mentions a few parts of the palace as adibhumi (the ground floor), Kilaisopana (the eastern portico), and a seat named Mavali vanadhirajan. Evidently the palace was multistoried. In an inscription dated in the 49th year of Kulothunga I (1119 CE) reference is made to Gangaikondacholamaligai at this place. It is likely that there were more than one royals building each having their own name.

Besides the names of the palace and fort walls, the names of a few roads and streets are preserved in the epigraphs. The entryways named Thiruvasal, the eastern gate and the Vembugudi gate, evidently the south gate leading to the village Vembugudi situated in that direction are mentioned. Reference is also found to highways named after Rajaraja and Rajendra as Rajarajan Peruvali and Rajendran Peruvali. Other streets mentioned in epigraphs are the ten streets (Pattu teru), the gateway lane (Thiruvasal Narasam) and the Suddhamali lane. The inscription also refers to the highways, Kulottungacholan Thirumadil peruvali, Vilangudaiyan Peruvali and Kulaiyanai pona Peruvali (the highway through which a short elephant passed by).

The epigraphs also refer to the Madhurantaka Vadavaru, now called the Vadavaru, running about six kilometers east of the ruined capital. Madhurantaka Vedavaru, named after one of the titles of Rajendra I, was a source of irrigation to a vast stretch of land bordering the capital. An irrigation channel called Anaivettuvan is also mentioned.

There were both wet and dry lands inside the Fort, used for cultivation and other purposes. The present positions of the existing temples throw some light on the lay out of the city. With the palace as the centre to the city, the great temple, and the other temples in the city seem to have been erected. Towards the northeast (Isanya) of the palace is the great temple of Siva. The Siva temple according to Vastu and traditional texts should be in the northeast of the city or village and should face east. The temple of Vishnu should be in the west.

A significant increase in trade and commerce, detailed information on duties and cess, and well-maintained overseas trade were all made possible under the Cholas through their precise detailing of weights and measurement units. Chanakya in his Artha Sastra emphasised on accounting trade activities with a fixed unit of measurement alongside a monetary denomination. The value of money was fixed on the measure of metal that goes into making the coins. This system of standardisation of measurement units against an assigned value for money was fine-tuned during the imperial Chola rule.

The earliest reference to weight measurement comes from epigraphic records of Parantaka I, where kalanju and manjadi are the standard units of weight measure. In theory, a manjadi in weight equals 72 normal sized paddy grains. Coins casted in copper or other alloys with minimum traceable quantity of precious metals like gold have been minted to weigh close to the standard weight.

During the 10th century CE, pon was used as an equivalent to kalanju in full weight as gold. This unit is referred to as madurantaka-devan madai. It yielded the same interest as kalanju and was also used as a standard unit for testing the quality of gold. Another popular unit used for mentioning monetary value is kasu. There are references starting from the times of Aditya II (10th century CE) equating twenty kasu-s to ten kalanju-s. Rajaraja I issued what was called rajarajan kasu which was equal to half of madai. Different issues are classified in epigraphy based on the prefixes like rajarajan kasu, rajendhra cholan madai, etc.

Coins minted in fine gold were in use. From whatever has been discovered so far, gold coins were thin disc shaped ones that carried the insignia in the centre with title of the king and the regnal year punched around the perimeter. The other side is left blank. Titles like gangai-konda-cholan (Rajendra I), malai-nadu-konda-cholan ( Rajadhiraja I) are used to denote the period of issuing the coin.

Gold and silver ratio used in minting these coins is derived from a Kulothunga I period inscription. Roughly 433 kalanju-s of silver formed the equivalent of 100 kasu-s. In that case a kalanju of gold was equal to 8.66 kalanju-s of silver.

Much later, after the times of Kulothunga III, the alloy had more copper, reducing the value drastically. While a few pazhankaasu (old coins) were enough to endow the burning of a lamp, 9,000 current kasu-s were required to endow a perpetual one in the temple. An inscription from the 20th regnal year of Rajendra III states that a kalanju of gold was equal to 411 7/13 kasu-s.

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