Rajaditya Chola

Rajaditya Chola
Born	Pazhayarai, chola empire
Died	949 CE Takkolam
Dynasty	Chola
Father	Parantaka I
Mother	Ko kizhan adigal
Religion	Hinduism

Rajaditya Chola (fl. mid-10th century AD) was a Chola prince, son of king Parantaka I (r. 907–955) and a Chera/Kerala princess (the Ko Kizhan Adigal), known for commanding the Chola troops in the battle of Takkolam (948–949).

Sculptures in Atakur inscription (showing a hound and a boar fighting each other)

The death of prince Rajaditya in the battle is unusually commemorated by the Cholas. The Chola version of the events can be found in Larger Leiden Grant (1006 AD) of Rajaraja I and Tiruvalangadu Plates (1018 AD) of Rajendra Chola. An account of the battle, which differs in some details from the Chola version, is found in the Atakur inscription issued by Krishna III and prince Butuga II (a young underlord of Krishna III) of the Western Ganga family. The Sravana Belgola record of Ganga king Marasimha (963 - 975 AD) also claims victory of the Chera king for his predecessor Bhutuga II. Indirect references to the battle can also be found in the inscriptions of Vellan Kumaran, a Kerala commander in the Chola army.

Early life

Rajaditya was the son of the Ko Kizhan Atikal, the Chera Perumal princess, and the Chola king Parantaka I (r. 907–955 AD). King Parantaka I is known to have married two distinct Chera princesses, Ko Kizhan Adigal and Kizhan Adikal Ravi Neeli (the mothers of his two sons, Rajaditya and Arinjaya Chola). The marriage between a Chera princess and Parantaka, c. 910 CE, is mentioned in the Udayendiram plates of Ganga king Prthivipati II Hastimalla.

It seems that Chola king Parantaka I anticipated a climactic battle with the Rashtrakutas and their allies in Tirumunaippati Nadu. Sometime in the 930s, or perhaps as early as 923 AD, prince Rajaditya was sent with a substantial military contingent, including elephants and horses, as well as his entire household, to Rajadityapura (Tirunavalur/Tirumanallur) in Tirumunaippati Nadu (to protect the northern edges of a nascent Chola state). The prince was joined at Rajadityapura by his mother (the Chera princess Ko Kizhan Adikal) in the mid-930s and his half-brother Arinjaya. Rajaditya was supported by a number of military personnel from Kerala (Chera) chiefdoms in Tirumunaippati Nadu.

Chola–Rashtrakuta conflict

According to K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, Parantaka I had taken measures to strengthen the Chola forces along the north-western frontier in response to the Rashtrakuta threat. These arrangements appear to have enabled the Cholas to resist Rashtrakuta advances for several years. During this period, the Rashtrakuta ruler suffered a defeat at the hands of Parantaka and his son Rajaditya. Sastri notes that the Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna, whose dominions extended across much of the western Deccan and who had the Gangas and other southern rulers as allies, subsequently increased his efforts against the Cholas.

A later Kanyakumari inscription of the Chola king Vīrarājendra states that Parantaka acquired the title Vīra-Chola after defeating the “unconquered Krishnarāja”. This Krishnarāja has been identified by historians with the Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna III, although the identification and chronology of this earlier encounter have been discussed in scholarship. Sastri considered it likely that Rajaditya had participated in this victory. By about 948 CE, Rajaditya had served his father for more than twelve years and was stationed at Tirumunaippadi-nadu with a large army that included elephants and cavalry. This frontier force subsequently became important in the Chola resistance to the Rashtrakuta invasion.

Battle of Takkolam

Battle of Takkolam, Takkolam is a town in Arakkonam taluk of the Vellore district, northern Tamil Nadu.

The Rashtrakuta contingent at Takkolam included a collection of feudal militias and royal soldiers (from Western Gangas, Banas and Vaidumbas among others). Prince Rajaditya, in addition to the Chola warriors, was supported by a number of military personnel from Kerala (Chera) chiefdoms.

The Battle of Takkolam fought in 948-49 CE resulted in the death of Rajaditya on the battlefield and the defeat of the Chola garrison at Takkolam. According to the Atakur inscription, during the battle, Rajaditya was struck while seated atop his war elephant by an arrow from prince Butuga II. The Chola prince died instantly. The Chola army was subsequently defeated and retreated in disorder. The collapse of the Chola resistance after the battle of Takkolam lead to the virtual destruction of the Chola empire. In 949 AD, a decisive battle between the Cholas and the Rashtrakutas was fought at Takkolam in the North Arcot region. The Chola army, led by Rajaditya, fought stubbornly and at one stage succeeded in overwhelming the Rashtrakuta forces, leaving them unable to launch a counterattack. Manalera and the Ganga ruler Butuga II subsequently rallied the Rashtrakuta forces and launched a counterattack. Butuga then attacked the elephant on which Rajaditya was seated and killed the Chola crown prince, according to the Atakur inscription.The Chola version of what happened on the occasion is not different; the Tiruvalangadu plates say that Rajaditya went to heaven after conquering Krishnaraja.

"The heroic Rajaditya, the ornament of the solar race, having shaken in battle the unshakable Krishnaraja with his forces, by means of his sharp arrows flying in all directions, was himself pierced in his heart while seated on the back of a large elephant by the sharp arrows of the enemy, and (thus) winning the praise of the three worlds, he ascended to the heaven of heroes in a tall vimana"

Here is an excerpt from Atakur inscription:

Hail! While the samvatsara named Saumya, the eight hundred and seventy second [in] the centuries of years that have gone by from the time of the Saka king, was current:-

Hail! When Krishnaraja [III]... having attacked the Muvadi Chola Rajaditya, and having fought and killed him in Takkola...

At the place where,-having followed and come up with Four-fold Forces of the Chola, which stood to confront us without wavering,-we were to come close quarters and pierce them, we certainly saw not any [others among our] valiant men who strode forward saying "We will meet the heros that oppose us; "but we did see how,-the Chola himself being the witness, -he [Manalera] came to close quarters and pierced...he [Manalera], the sole Sudraka in war...struck, like a lion, the forehead of the [Rajaditya's] elephant...

The subsidiary record engraved on the upper part of slab throws some more light on the incident:

Hail! While Butuga [II], having fought and killed Rachamalla, the son of the illustrious Ereyapa, was governing the [pronvince of] ninety six thousand:-

At the time when Kannaradeva was fighting against the Chola, Butuga [II] while embracing Rajaditya, treacherously stabbed him with a dagger, and thus fought and killed him....

Chola-Chera Perumal relations (c. 9th-10th centuries AD)

Further reading

• George Spencer, 'Ties that Bound', P. F. I. S. A. S. (Hong Kong: Asian Research Service, 1982), 723.
• Daud Ali. 'The Death of a Friend'. Studies in History, vol. 33, no. 1, 2017, pp. 36–60.
• M. G. S. Narayanan, Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013.
• Epigraphia Indica
  • Epigraphia Indica 6 (1900–01), no. 6c: 53–56
  • Epigraphia Indica 22 (1933–34), no. 34: vv. 19–21.
  • Epigraphia Indica 27 (1947–48), no. 47: 293–96.
• South Indian Inscriptions
  • South Indian Inscriptions 2 (1895), no. 76: v. 8.
  • South Indian Inscriptions 7 (1932), No. 1009.
  • South Indian Inscriptions 3 (1920), no. 205: v. 54.