Chola military
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The Chola military was a well organised and effective fighting force during medieval times. The imperial Cholas of the Vijayalaya dynasty who ruled the entire South India and Lanka between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries CE were dependent on their army and the navy to maintain order in their vast empire.
The king was the head of the army and the navy.
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[edit] Army
Chola inscriptions mention numerous regiments by specific names. Rajaraja Chola I created a powerful standing army and a considerable navy, which achieved even greater success under his son Rajendra Chola I than under himself. The army consisted of the Infantry, Cavalry and Elephant corps. There is no evidence for the traditional Chariot corps found in ancient Hindu literature. There were other specialist infantry such as bowmen (villigal).
Chinese traveller and chronicler Chau Ju-kua, who travelled in the Chola country c 1178 gives the following account of the Chola army:
- This [Chola] country is at war with the kingdom of the [west] of India. The government owns sixty thousand war elephants, every one seven or eight feet high. When fighting these elephants carry on their backs houses, and these houses are full of soldiers who shoot arrows at long range, and fight with spears at close quarters.[1]
[edit] Regiments
The prominence given to the army from the conquest of the Pandyas down to the last year of the king’s reign is significant, and shows the spirit with which he treated his soldiers. Evidently Rajaraja gave his army its due share in the glory derived from his extensive conquests. The following regiments are mentioned in the Tanjavur inscriptions:
- Perundanattu Anaiyatkal – Elephant corps.
- Pandita-Chola-Terinda-villigal
- Uttama- Chola-terinda-Andalagattalar
- Nigarili- Chola terinda-Udanilai-Kudiraichchevagar - Cavalry
- Mummadi- Chola-terinda-Anaippagar – Elephant corps
- Vira- Chola-Anukkar
- Parantaka-Kongavalar
- Mummadi- Chola-terinda-parivarattar
- Keralantaka-terinda-parivarattar
- Mulaparivara-vitteru alias Jananatha-terinda-parivarattar
- Singalantaka-terinda-parivarattar
- Sirudanattu Vadugakkalavar
- Valangai-Parambadaigalilar
- Perundanattu-Valangai-Velaikkarappadaigal
- Sirudanattu-Valangai-Velaikkarappadaigal
- Aragiya- Chola-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Aridurgalanghana-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Chandaparakrama-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Ilaiya-Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Kshatriyasikhamani-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Murtavikramabharana-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Nittavinoda-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Rajakanthirava-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Rajavinoda-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Ranamukha-Bhima-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Vikramabharana-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar
- Keralantaka-vasal-tirumeykappar
- Anukka-vasal-tirumeykappar – Personal bodyguards
- Parivarameykappargal - Personal bodyguards
- Palavagai-Parampadaigalilar
There are almost seventy names of such regiments have been found in these inscriptions. In most of the foregoing names the first portion appears to be the surnames or titles of the king himself or of his son. That these regiments should have been called after the king or his son shows the attachment, which the Chola king bore towards his army.
It may not be unreasonable to suppose that these royal names were pre-fixed to the designations of these regiments after they had distinguished themselves in some engagement or other. It is worthy of note that there are elephant troops, cavalry and foot soldiers among these regiments.
[edit] Administration
Each of these regiments had a corporate life of its own and was free to endow benefactions and build temples in its own name. To some of these regiments, the management of certain minor shrines of the temple was entrusted and they were expected to provide for the requirements of the shrine. Others among them took money from the temple on interest, which they agreed to pay in cash. We are not, however, told to what productive purpose they applied this money. At any rate all these transactions show that the king created in them an interest in the temples he built.
[edit] Garrisons
The army was stationed throughout the country in the forms of local garrisons and in cantonments called Kadagams. After the troubles in the Pandya country, Kulothunga Chola I stationed his army in a number of military colonies along the main route to the Pandya country from the Chola land. One such colony was found at Kottaru and another at Madavilagam near South Arcot district in Tamil Nadu.
[edit] Recruitment
We have no information on the methods of recruitment or of the number of permanent troops in the army. Children of soldiers seem to have been the recruited quite readily. There is little evidence that the soldiers formed anything like the present day highly trained professional army, however, they were not mere rabble beaten up for particular occasions either. Some of the regiments clearly had a tradition and history of their own and the member of such regiments clearly exhibited discipline and pride.
The presence of cantonments or Kadagam indicates that there were regular training and military practice.
There were military colonies known as 'nilai puram'. A nilaipuram contained a number of forts. In Keralasinga Valanadu of the North Pandya country, there were five nilaipurams. These were named after the five coronational names of the Pandyas, namely, Sundara, Kulasekhara, Vikrama, Vira, and Parakrama Pandya.
[edit] Cruelty in wars
War was a grim business of fire and sword. Judging from the inscriptions of the Cholas themselves, life was made intolerable for the population living on either side of the Tungabhadra by the bitterness and the regularity of the Chola-Chalukya wars that eventually exhausted both the empires. The evidence from Lanka and the Chalukya countries indicate that, even the common rules of fair fighting and chivalry were often ignored and the non-combatant population was inflicted wanton injury. Women were subjected to cruel disgrace and mutilation. Temples were destroyed when they did not match the religious persuasion of the Chola monarch as was done to the Vishnu temples and Jain viharas in the Chalukya country.
The Chola army collected much booty from these conflicts. The treasure collected must have been enormous and these were distributed by the king to public endowments and institutions.
[edit] Navy
There is evidence to suggest that even at the time of Parantaka I, there was a considerable navy involved in the numerous invasions of Lanka. Rajendra Chola's naval victories in Srivijaya were a culmination of centuries of naval tradition. All the Tamil kingdoms had some sort of navies in their arsenal.
The Cholas continued the ancient tradition and gave much attention to developing their naval strength. The conquest of Sri Lanka and Maldives and the embassies sent to China show the success of the Chola navy.
There is no direct evidence available on the types of ships employed in the navy.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The kings themselves used to fight in battlefields riding on such war elephants. There are a few occasions of the king dying in the battlefied on these elephants. Parantaka I's son Rajaditya died at Sripurambayam. The Chola king Rajadhiraja Chola I died on an elephant fighting the Chalukya army at Koppam. The epithet Yanai-mel-thunjiya (who died on an elephant) is attached to these kings in their inscriptions indicating their valour.
[edit] References
- Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1935). The CōĻas, University of Madras, Madras (Reprinted 1984).
- Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002).
- South Indian Inscriptions - http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/
- Chau Ju-Kua: his work on the Chinese and Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Trans. by Rukuo Zhao; Friedrich Hirth; William Woodville Rockhill
