INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF IMPERIAL CHOLAS –

A LEGAL HISTORY PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION:

The history of ancient South Indian throws a light on various untraced events of the Indian history
even having an enormous trade and international relations, the Tamil kingdoms are often neglected
when we talk about the greats of India. The history of ancient south India has many unravelled truth
and mysteries, these mysteries were always bothering and questioning , which pushed the researcher to
conduct glance the pages of history about south India, and as we glance through of this marvellous
south Indian History the rule of Cholas were astonishing , who are considered as the most powerful
south Indian dynasty. The scholar was awestruck with their architecture, maritime activities, powerful
invasions, enormous and marvellous navy and the most gravitating among them was the relationships
they maintained internationally.

There have been various trade activities happened between Cholas and various kingdoms, and Cholas
were powerful as they invaded many kingdoms and there have been trade activities happening, but the
thing bothered the scholar more was who found the sea route to India, this question arose when we go
through the archaeological excavation conducted in Arikamedu, so the researcher fixed the research
project to learn know about the Cholas international relations which will answer all questions and
mysteries. As the scholar was conducting research work he came across a Tamil mercantile community
called Nakarathars, who had played a major role in the trade and commerce activities, so in this project
the researcher have also emphasized on this community who have been never praised for their
mercantile activities.

OBJECTIVES:

 To study the relationship of Cholas with the neighbouring kingdoms.

 To study the trade activities and goods which enhanced the relationship of Cholas?
 To study the legal binding between the Cholas and other kingdoms.
 To examine the Arikamedu excavation and relate it with the Cholas empire.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

1. The Colas by Nilakanta Sastri :

This is the only book which has enumerated vastly and precisely about the Cholas empire, it deals with
how the Cholas became a military, economic and cultural power and how they fared in international
relations and maritime activities it talks about the invasions conducted by the Cholas empire over the
other nations, and this book has given more inferences about the role of Cholas in shaping the sang am
age.

2. Periplus of the Erythraen Sea :

This is a guide which emphasize mostly on the trade conducted by Roman and Egyptians and the trade
routes along Red sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean. This book also speaks about the types of goods
that were exchanged between various kingdoms with Roman Empire. The researcher referred to this
book for the traces of roman trade with the Cholas.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

The information for this project is based on the information gathered from the secondary sources such
as books of famous historians and authors , referred various websites such as jstor and official websites
of archaeology department of India and Tamil Nadu and have also referred to various articles that had
been published in the online platforms and in newspapers.

Methodology:

This project is a doctrinal research, done using the secondary resources available such as books and the
information collected from official websites such as tnarch.gov.in, asiegov.gov.in, india.gov.in. The
most of the books I have referred to the books available in TNNLU Library. This research project is
done under the guidance of Mr.Britto Stalin.

Research question:

Why Cholas were considered as the King of Oceans and is it Vasco Da Gama who found the sea route
to India?

Chapterisation:

 Enormous power of Cholas in South India

 International invasions of the Cholas
 Trade relations of Cholas
  Emphasize given by Arikamedu Excavation and other excavations
 The legal binding of Cholas and other kingdoms in their international trade
 The unrevealed Tamil mercantile group - NAKARATHARS

Bibliography:

 The Colas by Nilakanta sastri

 Reading in early Indian history by Romila Thapar
 History of Medieval India by Sathish Chandra
 Periplus of the Erythraen sea
 Chola king’s delegation to China ; TN’s ancient links to the by Press trust of India
 Maritime trade between early historic Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka by Vikas Kumar Verma
 Why the Cholas were rich by Anirudh Kanisetti
 Going back in history : while rulers changed , Tamil Nadu trade thrived by KRA Narasiah
 The wars that were won : Rajendra Chola’s naval conquest of South East Asia by Praful Shankar
 Caste and capitalism in colonial India – Nattukottai Chetiyars by Anthony T Carter

Web Source:

 http://asiegov.gov.in/ accessed 20 February 2020

 https://www.tnarch.gov.in/ accessed 21 February 2020