Sundara Chola
| Sundara Chola (Parantaka II) சுந்தர சோழன் |
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|---|---|
| Rajakesari | |
Chola Territories c. 970 CE
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| Reign | ?957 – ?970 CE |
| Predecessor | Arinjaya |
| Successor | Uttama Chola |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 973 CE |
| Queen | Vanavanmahadevi, Parantakan Devi and others |
| Issue |
Aditya II (Karikala) Arulmozhivarman Kundavai |
| Father | Arinjaya |
Parantaka Chola II (r. 957 – 970 CE) was a Chola king who ruled for about twelve years. Also known by the name Madhurantakan Sundara Chola, he was the son of Arinjaya Chola and Kalyani, a princess from the clan of Vaidumbas. Parantaka II ascended the Chola throne despite the fact that Uttama Chola, the son of Gandaraditya, (the elder brother of Arinjaya) was alive and he had equal if not more claim to the Chola throne.
When Parantaka II became king, the Chola kingdom had shrunk to the size of a small principality. The Pandyas in the south had revived their fortunes and had defeated the Chola armies and occupied their ancestral lands.
During Parantaka II's reign, the foundations were laid for the success of the Chola Empire a generation later.
Immediately after becoming the Chola king, Parantaka II’s attention was directed towards the growing strength of the Pandyas in the south. Vira Pandya, having repulsed Gandaraditya’s attempts to restore Chola supremacy in the Pandya country, was ruling as an independent potentate. The invading Chola army met the Pandyas at Chevur.
The Leyden copperplate inscriptions tell us in that war, "Parantaka II caused rivers of blood to flow". Other inscriptions mention that Parantaka and his young son, Aditya Karikalan (also referred to as Aditya II) defeated Vira Pandya and made him flee to the hills surrounding the battlefield. The young son Aditya, who took to the battlefield at the age of "twelve" and who was a "very abhimanyu" in valour, is profusely praised for having conducted himself in battlefield with as much ease as he was at "military training sessions".
It is also possible that Aditya Karikalan killed Vira Pandya in that battle. Aditya’s inscriptions use the epithet "Vira Pandyan Thalai Konda Adithha Karikalan" - "...took the head of Vira Pandya". After the battle of Chevur, Parantaka II’s armies continued their thrust into the Pandya country. The Pandya king had the Sinhalese king Mahinda IV as his ally and the Sri Lankan troops supported the Pandya army in the battlefield c. 959 CE. Parantaka II’s armies also invaded Lanka to neutralise this support. The especially wicked nature of this coalition is noted by chola panegyrists to be "wicked force of age of kali, that were duly uprooted by the king.". As a procedure for de-recognizing the rogue kingdoms sundara chola also seized the royal insignia of pandyans like fish emblem, throne, gem studded crown and ancient pearl necklace.
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Wikipedia