Athirajendra Chola ( 1070 C.E.) reigned for a very short period of few months as the Chola king succeeding his brother Virarajendra Chola. His reign was marked by civil unrest, possibly religious in nature, in which he was killed. The Chalukya Chola prince Rajendra succeeded him as Kulothunga Chola I. Events Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of eastern England. ... Events Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of eastern England. ... Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram Gangaikonda Cholapuram is a village in the inland Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, India. ... Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences... Events Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of eastern England. ... Areas under direct control of the Chola Empire, 1030 CE. The Chola Empire rose to power in the 9th century in the Tamil speaking districts of Southern India. ... The lists of legendary early Chola Kings are recorded in Tamil literature and in the inscriptions left by the later Chola kings. ... Vijayalaya was the Chola king of South India who captured Thanjavur during c. ... Aditya I (870-906) was an Indian ruler. ... Arinjaya Chola succeeded Gandaraditya Chola c. ... Parantak Chola II (957 c. ... Uttama Chola ascended the Chola throne c. ... Rajaraja Chola I ascended the Chola throne in July 985 C.E. Raja Raja the Great, as he is known in history reigned for 29 years, and conquered the whole of southern India and the Chola empire expanded as far as Sri Lanka in the south, and Kalinga (Orissa) in... Rajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I, the great Chola king of South India. ... Rajadhiraja Chola I (1018-1054) was the king of the Cholas empire in southern India and the eldest son of king Rajendra Chola I. Although not supreme king untill his fathers death in 1044 he was associated in kingship since 1018 He maintained Cholas authority over most of Lanka, despite... Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Cholas. ... Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram Gangaikonda Cholapuram is a village in the inland Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, India. ... Thanjavur, formerly known as Tanjore, is a city in Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. ... Events Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of eastern England. ... Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences...

Chola and Eastern Chalukya Unity

As a result of several intermarriages over a period of time when Rajaraja Chola gave his daughter Kundavai in marriage to Eastern Chalukya Vimaladitya, The Chola clan and the Vengi branch of the Chalukyan dynasty had become very close and the Vengi kings had become plainly Cholas at heart. Rajaraja Chola the first is considered the greatest of all Chola kings. ... // Vengi dynasties Vengi kingdom extended from River Godavari in the north to Mount MahendraGiri in the southeast and to just below the southern banks of River Krishna in the south. ...

Vengi Dynastic Struggles

Cholas were also involved in the dynastic struggles of the Vengi throne, intermittently fighting on the sides of their favourite prince against a rival. These rivals were more often than not supported by the Western Chalukyas. Therefore the Eastern Chalukyan kingdom had been a venue for a proxy war between the Cholas and the Western Chalukyas for generations.

Virarajendra Chola interfered in the Vengi succession disputes after the Vengi king Rajaraja Narendra, who was closely related to the Chola clan through his mother Kundavai, a daughter of Rajaraja Chola, died in 1061 C.E. The Vengi throne went to Saktivarman II in a palace coup. The Cholas wanted the Chola influence re-established in Vengi. Saktivarman II was killed, but Vijayaditya, Saktivarman’s father assumed the throne and repulsed the Chola attempts at unseating him. Vijayaditya however accepted to serving as a Chola vassal. Events Normans conquer Messina in Sicily Pope Alexander II elected The building of the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, had begun to be built. ...

Although this attempt at gaining total control over Vengi was unsuccessful, Virarajendra found another Chalukya ally in Vikramaditya by marrying his daughter to him.

While these intrigues were going on, the son of Rajaraja Narendra, prince Rajendra Chalukya (the future Kulothunga Chola I) sought to become the Vengi king and felt Vijayaditya had usurped the throne that was rightfully his. The Cholas probably helped him in his efforts. Thwarted in his attempts by his uncle Vikramaditya, Rajendra Chalukya carved himself a small dominion near Baster District in Chhattisgarh state and bided his time. An opportunity arose with the demise of Virarajendra and Rajendra Chalukya acted swiftly to capture the Chola throne. Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences... Chhattisgarh (छत्तीसगढ़), a state in central India, formed when the sixteen southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1, 2000. ...

Athirajendra’s Death

The Chalukya author Bilhana gives a version of the background to Athirajendra’s troubles in his Vikramankadeva Charita. Soon after marrying his daughter to Chalukya Vikramaditya, Virarajendra Chola died. On hearing news of trouble and revolt in the Chola country following the emperor’s death, Vikramaditya, immediately marched to Kanchipuram to quell troubles there. Then he went to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, ‘destroyed the forces of the enemy and installed the prince (Athirajendra) on the throne’. After spending a month in the Chola capital, Vikramaditya apparently satisfied that peace was restored, returned to his country. Kanchipuram temple, engraved in 1811. ...

Within a few days of his return, news about the untimely death of Athirajendra in a fresh outbreak of rebellion reached him. The news also told him that Rajendra Chalukya had captured the Chola throne and assumed the title of Kulothunga Chola I. Vikramaditya immediately marched against Kulothunga. Somesvara II, the Western Chalukya king also joined him. Kulothunga Chola was the offspring of two rival dynasties - the Cholas of Thanjavoor and the Chalukyas of Vengi when he came to the throne in 1070 A.D. The Cholas and the Chalukyas had always existed in constant warfare, spaced by periods of uneasy peace, for decades, due to differences...

With the death of Athirajendra Chola, the Chola dynasty of Vijayalaya Chola came to an end. Vijayalaya was the Chola king of South India who captured Thanjavur during c. ...

Kulothunga’s Involvement

There are questions that remain unanswered regarding Kulothunga’s role in Athirajendra’s death. Who was responsible for the troubles in Kanchipuram soon after Athirajendra’s ascension, that made Vikramaditya’s involvement necessary? Who were the ‘wicked people’ fo Kanchipuram and Gangaikonda Cholapuram whom Vikramaditya had to suppress before Athirajendra could feel secure in his throne? What was the nature of the rebellion a few days after Athirajendra’s return from the Chola country?

We have no direct answers to these questions from either inscriptions or literary sources. However the fact remains that Vikramaditya marched against Kulothunga and attempted to oust him after the latter assume the Chola throne. Combined with this is the total absence of any mention of Athirajendra’s reign in Kalingattuparani, a poetic work in praise of Kulothunga Chola, furnishes some grounds for the inference that Kulothunga’s ambition and intrigues brought about these occurrences.

Religious troubles

Attempts have also been made to connect these internal disturbances in the Chola kingdom with the story of the persecution suffered by Ramanuja in the hands of the Cholas. It is possible to come to an assumption, based on early biographical works on Ramanuja, that the Chola monarch who subjected Ramanuja and his followers to persecution was Athirajendra or his father Virarajendra. However, according to K.A.N. Sastri in his comprehensive history of the Cholas, other contemporary works on Ramanuja do not lend credence to this chronology of events that let to the demise of Athirajendra. Sri Ramanuja Acharya (traditionally dated 1017 - 1137 CE) was an Indian philosopher and is recognized as the most important saint of Sri Vaishnavism. ...

However these religious disturbances cannot have but added to the troubles of Athirajendra in his short sad reign.

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/