Uttama Chola

Uttama Chola was the son of Gandaraditya Chola and the famous Sembian Mahadevi. He was called as Madurantaga Uttama Chola. When Gandaraditya Chola died, he was a small kid. Hence, Gandaraditya's son Arinjaya Chola came to throne. After Arinjaya Chola, his son Parantaka Sundara Chola became the Chola king. Uttama Chola had equal rights for Chola throne similar to Parantaka Sundara Chola.

There is a theory that Uttama Chola would have killed Aditya Karikala Chola, the brave son of Sundara Chola to avoid any further challenges for him to become king. However, there is no solid proof for this. It's true that Sundara Chola made him as the successor in 970 AD, although he had another son Arunmozhivarman aka Rajaraja Chola who was very among the public. There is a possibility that Rajaraja Chola and Uttama Chola would have arrived at a treaty so that Uttama Chola became the king. It was probably as per the treaty that Rajaraja Chola succeeded Uttama Chola, whereas Uttama Chola's only son Madurantaga Gandaraditya was just given an official post.

Uttama Chola should have become the king in 973 AD after the death of Sundara Chola. He ruled the country till 985 AD.

Uttama Chola had many wives. Out of them, Orattanam Chorappaiyar was her queen.

He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva.

The oldest Chola period coins that we have today belongs to his period.