Raja Raja Chozhan war expeditions

We briefly discussed Medieval Chozhas in the previous blog. We will see about one of the greatest kings the universe has ever produced. The great Arumozhi Varman alias Raja Raja Chozhan.

His first military expedition started in Kaandhalur Saalai, today’s Valiyasa near Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. All the Chera soldiers practice for the war at Kaandhalur Saalai. He also destroyed all the naval ships of Cheras.

After conquering the parts of Cheras & Pandyas he went across the sea to conquer today’s Lanka. It was then ruled by Mahindan V. The preceding Chozha kings always conquered the north of Lanka. It was Raja Raja Chozhan who conquered the entire Lanka. To celebrate the victory of conquering Lanka, he went on to build a temple in Pollanaru which is today’s Polonnaruwa. These temples are still being maintained even after many years.

Cities of Mysore, Eastern Chalukyas also came under Raja Raja Chozhan during his rule. He after defeating West Chalukya king Sathyasriyan donated his wealth to build the famous Peru Udaiyaar temple @ Brihadeeshwara temple. The Malwa dynasty also started attacking Raja Raja Chozhan at the same time. Both the kings were unable to counter-attack Raja Raja Chozhan. He defeated 2 of the greatest Chalukya kings at the same time. The victory in the Chalukya war resulted in merging the parts of Mysore, Bellary with the Chozha kingdom.

In the Thaayathi war the kings of the Vengi kingdom (today’s Andhra) Sakthivarman, Vimalaadhitthan were chased out of the kingdom. They both then surrendered to Raja Raja Chozhan. Raja Raja Chozhan fought for the rights of the 2 kings and made Sakthivarman the king of the Vengi. After Sakthivarman’s death, to maintain the relationship between the 2 kingdoms, Raja Raja Chozhan’s daughter Kundavai was married to Vimalaadhitthan.

Read more about Raja Raja Chozhan’s governance here