There is a comprehensive bibliography, index, endnotes, a family tree and good quality photographs. The fourth book is about the 13 consecutive kings after Rajaraja Chola, beginning with his son Rajendra I and ending with Rajendra III, with a chapter for each king. The next eight chapters deal with aspects of his reign including political organisation, trade, the army and navy, crime and punishment, the bhakti movement, the Brihadeeswara temple, Chola bronzes and the world of Chola women. The third book is entirely about Rajaraja Chola, with a chapter on his childhood, the turbulent process of his ascent to the throne and subsequent military conquests. The first is on the Sangam Cholas, the second deals with Vijayalaya and his immediate successors before Rajaraja. Rajaraja Chola has four sections or “books”.
But it also has a detailed backdrop on the 400-year reign of the second Chola dynasty, king by king, from Vijayalaya the founding monarch to Rajendra III and the disintegration and absorption of the dynasty into the Pandya kingdom.
The much-lauded 10th century ruler Arulmozhi Varman, later known as Rajaraja Chola, is the central figure of Dandapani’s book. On this, there is considerable information, scattered over many sources but with few comprehensive publications. It again rose to prominence from 9th to 13th centuries CE. It was prominent during the Sangam centuries (3rd BCE to 3rd CE) about which we have moderate knowledge through the poetry. The Chola dynasty is indeed one of great significance in southern India. She has extensively surveyed the extant literature, bringing order into the cornucopia of information, and writing it up in a lucid, lively style. With a versatile career including teaching piano and Bharatanatyam, and stints at Chase Manhattan Bank and McKinsey, Dandapani currently teaches Carnatic music in New York.ĭandapani’s book is an outcome of her passionate involvement with Tamil culture. The Author’s Note begins with a disclaimer: she is not a trained or professional historian.
Kamini Dandapani’s book Rajaraja Chola : King of Kings provokes many such questions. By Kamini Dandapani Aleph Book Company, 2022 Pages: 392 Price: Rs.999īut how is this accessibility to be achieved without becoming simplistic or camouflaged propaganda? Can academic historians, whether trained or professional, change their way of writing for popular audiences? Can those writing history without formal training get acceptance from academic historians? Or will popular and academic historians always remain separate categories, each thumbing their nose at the other? Are the criteria for writing popular history any different from those for academic history?
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