Rajendra Chola II

Rajendra Chola II reigned as the Chola king succeeding his elder brother Rajadhiraja Chola in the 11th century. He is best remembered for his role in the battle of Koppam along with his elder brother where he dramatically turned the tables on the Chalukyan King Someshvara I, after the death of his brother in 1052.During his early reign an expedition was led to Sri Lanka, in the course of which the Sri Lanka army was routed and their king Vijayabahu I of Polonnaruwa was driven to take refuge in a mountain-fortress. He maintained the Chola Empire well as the distribution of his records show that the Chola Empire did not suffer any loss of territory during his reign.

The Chola forces were in battle with the Chalukyan army at Koppam (Koppal) located on the Tungabhadra River in 1053–54 AD. Rajadhiraja was personally leading the Chola army from atop a war elephant to help rally the retreating Cholas. Prince Rajendra, the younger brother of Rajadhiraja, was holding himself in reserve. The Chalukyan army then concentrated on the elephant on which the Chola king was riding and wounded him mortally. Seeing the emperor falling dead, the Chola army retreated in disarray. At that stage Rajendra entered the fray. Once again the Chalukya army concentrated on the leader. Rajendra-II was as valorous as his brave father and was a born leader of men.He immediately sensed that with the death of their King Rajadhiraja-I, the Chola army was in a disarray, he announced his taking over as the next Chola monarch and ordered the capable Chola army to continue fighting without letting up.His unparalleled response and restoration of order by deciding to lead from the front on the battlefield simply re-galvanized his army which had among its ranks, several generals serving the Chola army from the times of Raja Raja I and Rajendra Chola I. He had many nephews and . Needless to add, the Chalukya army was simply unprepared for this kind of a reaction from any army which had lost its original leader and were simply no match.From inscriptions of Rajendra-II, we know that his elder brother Rajadhiraja-I was killed in the battle at Koppam in which Rajendra-II had participated along with his other brothers. Even Rajendra-II had been injured initially and had withdrawn from the battle, but he came back and turned the tables on the Ahavamalla (Someshvara-I, who called himself 'Trailokyamalla' – lord of three worlds).From an inscriptions of his from Manimangalam we understand that at the end of the battle, the Chalukyas were defeated and a number of officers of their army lay dead on the field. In this battle multiple opponents viz. Jaysinghan, the younger brother of the Salukki, Pulikesi, Dasapanman etc., were killed by Rajendradeva.

Kollapuram is identified with Kolhapur in present-day Maharashtra. Based upon other inscriptions of Rajendra,historian Hultzsch has proposed that the Kollapuram war was an earlier expedition, in which Rajendra had participated under his elder brother Rajdhiraja. This view is also held by a few other historians who credit the burning of Kalyanapuram, the capital of the Chalukyas and the planting of victory at Kollapuram, again two separate events, to Rajadhiraja Chola I.

Rajendra-II, who had been nominated by his elder brother Rajadhiraja Chola I as heir apparent over his own children, proclaimed himself king on the Koppam battlefield after his victory.

It is to be noted however the above version of the Koppam battle is found only in the Chola inscriptions. Chalukyan contemporary chroniclers are silent on this battle. A Chalukyan account of the battle is only found in a later inscription dated c. 1071, which recounts this incident after a gap of almost 15 years and which only mentions the death of Rajadhiraja.

Later Chola poetic works Kalingathuparani and Vikramcholan Uladescribe this battle in great detail.

Chalukyas, anxious to wipe out the disgrace of Koppam, invaded the Chola country in great force c 1062 C.E. The armies met at the Muddakaru river (at the junction of the Tungabhadra and the Krishna river). The Chalukya commander Dandanayaka Valadeva was killed and the Cholas led by Rajamahendra resisted the invasion. Virarajendra Chola was also present in the battle fighting at the side of Rajamahendra.

The Western Chalukyan expedition to take Vengi was also thwarted by the Cholas at the same battlefield.Subsequently, Someshwara-I also engaged the Chola army under Rajendra-II and Virarajendra at Kudalasangamam, the result was yet another heavy defeat for the Chalukyan king.

When he was a co-regent of his elder brother, Rajadhiraja Chola I, he shared the latter's workload by taking care of the internal affairs of the state. He was a great patron of dance and theatre and we know of several occasions where he encouraged various artists and poets. For example, he passed a royal order in the 4th year of his reign to provide paddy and other ration to Santi Kuttan Tiruvalan Tirumud Kunran alias Vijaya Rajendra Acharyan(named after Rajadhiraja) for enacting RajaRajeswara Natakam (a musical), in the Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur. Accordingly, the dancer was to get 120 Kalam paddy for this purpose and that he and his descendants were to perform the musical regularly during the annual festival.

A number of his relatives are known to us from an record of his from the fourth year of his reign. These are a paternal uncle, four younger brothers, six sons and two grandsons. One of these younger brothers was Virarajendra Chola on whom he conferred the title Karikala solan. Other titles conferred on the members of the royal family by the king include Chola-Pandyan, Chola-Gangan, Chola-Ayodhyarajan and Chola-Kanyakubjan. According to historian Nilakanta Sastri, these titles denoted the provinces that were administered by these Chola princes.

Rajendra-II like his predecessors already had control of the Pandyan kingdom. After vanquishing the Chalukya Someshvara I, he undertook a further expedition to the Kalinga Kingdom as well as to Ilangai (Sri Lanka) whose king Manabharanan was aided by the Kalinga King Vira Salamegha. He also had under his control other provinces such as Ayodhya, Kanyakubja, Rattapadi, Kadaram. In Kalinga war, the king of Kalinga was killed and the two sons of Manabharanan were captured.