Rajendra Chola’s march to the Ganga

01The roll of conquests

Rajendra’s Tamil meykirti, the praise that opens his inscriptions, lists the march in order: Odda-vishaya, Kosalai, Tandabutti of Dharmapala, Takkana-ladam of Ranasura, Vangala-desam of Govindachandra, Uttira-ladam of Mahipala, and the Ganga with its sacred waters. The Tiruvalangadu copper plates add that the general brought Ganga water and the defeated kings were made to carry it. Rajendra himself met the returning army on the Godavari.

02Gangaikonda Cholapuram

The water went into a great tank, the Cholagangam, at the new capital Rajendra raised in the dry country north of the Kaveri. He took the title Gangaikonda Chola, the Chola who took the Ganga, and built a Shiva temple there whose vimana answers his father’s at Thanjavur. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site with Thanjavur and Darasuram. The city itself is gone; only the temple, a few mounds and the embankment of the tank remain.

Person · Reigned 1014–1044 CE (co-regent from 1012)Rajendra Chola IRajendra, son of Rajaraja, took the Chola empire to its height. His army marched to the Ganga and brought its water home; his fleet crossed the Bay of Bengal and struck Srivijaya; and he built a new capital, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the city of the Chola who took the Ganga.Read →