Elara Chola

Period: 2nd century BC

As per the ancient Sri Lankan historical book 'Mahavamsha' which was written in 6th century AD, the Tamil Chola king named Elara moved to Sri Landa in 2nd century BC. His predecessor was Asela. The Chola king Elara won Asela in a battle and captured the northern part of Sri Lanka. He ruled that region for 44 years. He was considered as a great ruler and good king by Sri Lankan people. Although he didn't belong to Buddhism, he ensured that he had a good relationship with Buddhists, the majority community of Sri Lanka.

There are many mythological stories refer to this king. As per one story, he killed his own son to give justice to a cow whose calf was overrun and accidentally killed by his son's car (rath). This story is similar to that of the mythological king Manuneedi Chola. Some people even consider that Manuneedi Chola and Elara Chola are one and the same.

Dutugemenu waged war against Elara Chola. Elara had to run to Anuradhapuram and ultimately he was killed in the battle. Dutugemenu who was with the objective to spread Buddhism did final rites to Elara king and he even constructed a tomb for him.

Mauryas and Cholas

The great Mauryan King Asoka had Cholas as his contemporaries. The reference of Cholas are available in Asoka's rock edicts. Based on that, it appears that Cholas were independent kings and they were not part of Asoka's empire.

As per the Tamil poet named Mamoolanar, it is evident that Mauryas conquered South India. They got help from Kosars, who had earlier captured the Tulu country. The Mauryas found it difficult to fight against the Mogur king and hence they got help from Vadugars to win them. As per the Tibetian historian Taranath, it can be assumed that it was Bindusara who had conquered South India. We should assume that after Bindusara, the Mauryas power reclined in South India and they probably became friends of Maurysa during Asoka's time.

Chola Dynasty

The Chola dynasty was one of the powerful dynasties who ruled some parts of South India for a long period. The most popular Chola king was Rajaraja Chola who became famous not only due to his rule spread across the entire South India and even beyond India, but also due to the magnificent Brahadeeswarar temple he built in Tanjore.


The period of the Chola dynasty can be majorly classified into four parts:
1) Tamil Sangam period
2) The period between Sangam age and the beginning of Vijayalaya Chola's rule
3) The period of Vijayalaya Chola and his successors (9th century AD onwards)
4) The period of Chalukya-Chola king Kulothunga Chola and his successors (the later part of 11th century AD to mid of 13th century AD)


Apart from the four major classifications mentioned above, there were many princes who claimed that they belonged to Karikala Chola's dynasty. However, there is no proper historical proof for those claims. Even two centuries before Vijayalaya Chola's rule, there were Telugu Cholas who ruled the regions of Kadappa, Karnool and Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh state.

Since Sangam period, the Cholas claimed that they belonged to the Sun dynasty. They continued to claim this in their stone inscriptions in the later period also.

Apart from the old Tamil poems, the references about Cholas are found in many old books and ancient inscriptions of other regions too. Asoka's rock edicts have references to Cholas. As per the ancient book named 'Periplus' authored by Greek merchant of Alexandria (81-96 AD), the Cholas had Puhar and Uraiyur as their capital cities. The 2nd century historian Talami has written about various Chola cities and ports. The 1st century AD book 'The questions of Milind King' and several other ancient Buddhist books have references to Chola cities and ports.

As per the Sangam literature, the Chola kings used to wear Aththi (Bauhinia) flowers. It is considered as the symbolic garland for Chola kings.

The Sangam period Chola kings ruled the country from Uraiyur and Kaveripoompattinam. During the period between Sangam age and the beginning of Vijayalaya Chola's era (the dark age of Tamil Nadu), when the Cholas were merely small princes under the rules of Pallavas and others, Pazhaiyarai was their capital. It had a prominent position even during the period of later Cholas. Tanjore and Gangai Konda Cholapuram served as the capital cities for later Chola kings.