Rajendra Chola II
| Rajendra Chola II இரண்டாம் இராஜேந்திர சோழன் |
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| Rajakesari | |
Rajendra II Territories c. 1059 CE
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| Reign | 1054–1063 CE |
| Predecessor | Rajadhiraja Chola |
| Successor | Virarajendra Chola |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 1063 CE |
| Queen | Rajarajan Arumoliyar alias Tennavan Mādevi, queen of Rajendradeva, Uruttiran Arumoli alias PirudiMādeviyar, KōKilānadigal |
| Father | Gangaikonda Chola |
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). 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.
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Wikipedia