Who Were the Cholas? Did they Leave Legacies beyond Stone Monuments?

The Chola dynasty lasted 1,500 years from 300 BC to 1279 - making it the longest lasting dynasty in history.

During this time, the Cholas achieved a lot, not only in India but also in Southeast Asia, all the way to China's doorstep.

The Cholas left some majestic monuments which remind us of their golden age but little else remains (or so it seems). I suggest that the Cholas also left edible monuments i.e. their cuisine throughout Southeast Asia. These edible artefacts could provide another window of insights into the Cholas which stone monuments didn't.

The Cholas were a trading power adept on land and at sea - they controlled South India to the Bengal, Sri Lanka, most of Southeast Asia, and traded with Romans, Arabs, and Chinese.

The Cholas were great organisers and administrators. They had systems of irrigation, taxation, state organisation, local self rule (village), trade and merchant guilds (associations), military forces, etc.

Cholas ideas pervaded the foundations of the politics, religion, culture, art, cuisine, etc., of budding Southeast Asia polities since the first century AD.

Despite these pervasive, enduring achievements, the place of the Cholas in Indian and Southeast Asian history is relatively little known, and not much discussed. (Text book Indian history seems to focus on the Maurya, Gupta, Mughal and British eras.)

Even less talked about is the Chola legacy in Southeast Asian cuisine.

My mission is to trace the Chola roots of Southeast and East Asian cuisine from Malay to Javanese, Myanmese, Khmer, Thai, Vietnamese to Chinese.

Early Chola 300BC - 850

The Chola homeland is the Kaveri River delta and valley on the east coast of southern India i.e. the Coromandel Coast.

Founded around 300 BC, the Cholas were initially a feudatory under the Pallava Kingdom (279 - 897) to its north.

Golden Age of Chola (989 - 1070)

The rise of the Cholas started when Vijayalaya (reign 848 - 881) defeated their overlords, the Pallavas, and established their own capital at Tanjore (Thanjavur) in 850.

Raja Raja Chola I (reign 985 - 1014) and his son Crown Prince Rajendra Chola I (reign 1014 - 1044) brought the Chola empire into the golden ara.

Raja Raja Chola I conquered the Maldives and parts of Sri Lanka, and built Brihadisvara temple in Thanjavur in 1010 to celebrate his victories.

The Cholas were Shaivites i.e. their main deity was Shiva from the pantheon of Hindu gods which includes Brahma, Vishnu, and more. Chola temples were centres of worship, study, administration and business.

In 1023, Rajendra Chola I invaded the Ganges Valley, subduing every kingdom on his way there. He built a new capital city, brought back Holy Water from the Ganges and named it Gangaikonda Cholapuram which means "City of the Chola who Conquered the Ganges".

The name Gangaikonda Cholapuram is still in use today though only the grand temple and foundations of the palace remained, and Rajendra Chola I's great capital is now a village.

Rajendra Chola I poured the Holy Water from the Ganges into the well of the Gangai Konda Choleswara temple of his capital. The huge well was called Cholagangam (known today as Ponneri Lake).

This image from the Gangai Konda Choleswara temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram depicts Lord Shiva (with his wife Uma on his left) putting on a crown on the head of Rajendra Chola I.

The image of Uma is said to be modelled after Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, Rajendra Chola I's great grandmother.

In one of the most awe inspiring naval expeditions in history, Rajendra Chola I launched a naval campaign against the Srivijaya empire based in Palembang, South Sumatra in 1025.

There were strong undercurrents of tension as the Srivijayans controlled and hindered trade between China and India / Arabia. Obviously, the Cholas were unhappy about this.

The flash point was ignited when Chola ally, the Khmer Angkor kingdom (today's Cambodia) asked for help against the Tambralinga kingdom (today's south Thailand and north Malaysia) which was allied with Srivijaya. Rajendra Chola I launched a brilliant naval expedition which would make any modern day admiral today proud.

The Cholas launched two naval task forces - one main attack force and one diversionary force i.e. a decoy.

The decoy force went straight for Tambralinga. The Srivijayan navy took the bait and promptly headed north to defend their ally at the northern mouth of the Malacca Straits.

Meanwhile, the Cholas' main attack force sailed to South Sumatra via its backdoor (the Indian Ocean), hooked around the Sunda Strait and ended up at the doorstep of an undefended Palembang (Srivijaya's capital).

The Cholas razed Palembang, captured the Srivijayan king, then headed north bottling the Srivijayan fleet in a pincer between the Chola main and decoy forces.

The Chola navy handed the Srivijayans a humiliating defeat that the Srivijayans never forgot, never recovered from. The Srivijayans entered a long decline which led to the empire's end in the 13th century.

If you consider that these were accomplished in the days of wind and sail, and navigation was by primitive compass and the stars, we are jaw dropping amazed by the consummate skill of these ancient Chola mariners.

While the Cholas did not occupy territory in Southeast Asia, their prestige and influence stretched to the doorsteps of China which allowed them to extract tributes and favours.

Decline and fall (1070 - 1279)

During its nadir years soon after Rajendra Chola I's death, weak leaders and infighting led to rapid decline of the Cholas which were put out of their misery by the Pandyas in 1279.

Why are the Cholas relevant?

It is said that the only proof of the Cholas' long existence are their great temples that still stand to this day. Indeed, Chola artefacts and Hindu temples are tangible, solid reminders of the empire's glorious past.

I believe that besides these rock hard evidence, the Cholas must have left behind intangible heritage such as cuisine that could be traced to the mighty empire.

Chola / Tamil cuisine undergirds Southeast Asian cuisine at its very foundation but what are these? It is hard to ascertain as afterall, the foundations were laid at least 1,000 years ago. During this time, many more layers of cultures from Europe, from neighbouring regions and even subsequent waves of Indians have overlaid the Chola foundation. These have transformed or at least obscured it.