This observation has been received from Mr Dennard H D’Souza, a Senior Research Associate at the Maritime History Society, India on the article, ‘Seapower and the Imperial Cholas’ written by Prof Sanu Kainikara, published in the Indian Naval Despatch Spring 2022 Edition (pp 10-28).
I write this commentary to supplement the narrative of the Chola conquest of Kadaram. While Dr Kainikara has exhaustively covered the sequence of events leading up to the conquest of Srivijaya, I have introduced additional details that would interest your readers. My intent here is to present a more holistic picture of the Eleventh Century Indian Ocean world in a nutshell. This was a world layered by complex political, social and economic expediencies rather than the monochromatic view presented by niche histories.
The historical links of the Tamil region with Southeast Asia predates the rise of the imperial Cholas. The Pallavas who ruled the Chola lands before Vijayalaya Chola, the founder of the imperial Chola dynasty are said to have had familial connection with Southeast Asia. It is believed that Nandivarman II, who was installed as the Pallava emperor in the absence of an heir to the royal throne - after the death of Paramesvara II - belonged to a collateral branch of the Pallavas that ruled territories of Kambujadesa, modern day Cambodia. Whatever be the validity of this story, the Pallavas had a deep impact, probably because of the overseas trade between the two regions i.e. Tamilakam and Southeast Asia on the socio-cultural atmosphere of Southeast Asian society. This is visible in the scripts, temple sculptures and royal adages which bear resemblance to those of the Pallavan forms. After the collapse of the Pallava empire the imperial Cholas operated against this socio-cultural milieu which was at once relatable to that of the Indian mainland.
After decimating the Pallavas, the Cholas inherited the fertile land tracts of the Kaveri basin which formed the backbone of the agrarian economy of the Pallavan state. It was the revenue proceedings of this productive hinterland that propelled the imperial ambitions of the Cholas and their overseas economic interests, which were mediated by merchants and trade guilds. The guilds in turn facilitated infrastructural projects through gifts and donations made to temples and monasteries. The temples in the Chola dominions acted as agencies of wealth distribution. They employed a retinue of temple functionaries which included artisans and peasants who helped in clearing forests and converting arid tracts into arable land which gave rise to urban settlements. Temples, henceforth became the nucleus of social, cultural, economic and political life of the Chola state. They also were a critical apparatus in the process of urbanisation of South India. Thus, safeguarding the overseas trade was pivotal to maintain economic and political stability in the hinterlands.
The conquest of Kadaram was one of the greatest military achievements of the Chola emperor Rajendra. Of his many naval conquests, the invasion of Srivijaya was by far the farthest from the homeland an Indian naval fleet ever attempted to undertake. This expedition to Srivijaya, on face value, appears to be motivated by economic expediency of the Chola state. However, closer examination shows that there was a subtle attempt at exerting imperialist hegemony as the mainstay of Rajaraja and Rajendra Chola’s state policy of territorial expansion. The invasion of Kadaram was a success and resulted in economic gains for the Chola state but the conquest did not translate into addition of territory. This would have been a deliberate move by the Cholas to whom this may have appeared economically unviable on account of the added burden of logistics to maintain a distant overseas territory so remote from the mainland of Peninsular India. The Cholas however, maintained control over Srivijaya through proxies within the merchant guilds. At the helm of Chola overseas diplomacy were merchants. The merchant guilds were instrumental in pushing the economic agenda of the Chola state. They provided governance in overseas territories in the absence of the state administrative apparatus and their vessels doubled as warships during expeditions.
During the Chola era, Chinese markets were a lucrative place to barter commodities. Royal envoys from various countries of the Indian Ocean rim region would make periodic gifts of precious goods to the Chinese Song emperor with the intent to garner a favourable deal. The competition to gain favour with the Song emperors reached feverish heights, so much so that false representations of geo-political realities were made at the Song court. The victim of one such false representation was the Chola Emperor Rajendra. It happened so that the Srivijaya emissaries had been falsely representing the Cholas as a vassal state of the Srivijaya. The consequences of this misrepresentation was not only the loss of prestige in the eyes of the Song emperor, but also tangible economic disabilities arising from the deprivation of trading rights which would have otherwise been accorded to a full-fledged kingdom. Avenging the misrepresentations made by the Srivijayans at the Chinese court, Rajendra Chola launched a raid on SriVijaya in 1025 CE and subjugated Srivijaya for the remainder of its dynastic existence.
Of the many players that competed in the Indian Ocean theatre, the Arabs were the most versatile of all the trading communities. Arab presence in the Indian Ocean trade started intensifying by the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. At least two diplomatic missions representing the Cholas in the Song court were headed by Abu Kasim and Abu Adil, who in all likelihood were members of the Arab diaspora settled on the Coromandel coast. It is also interesting to note that frankincense produced in Arabia was the most sought-after commodity in Chinese markets. Large bulks of this prized commodity were transhipped by the Cholas and the Srivijayas respectively to the markets of China. The Indian Ocean trade was thenceforth, monopolised by the Arabs for generations to come.
In conclusion, I would say the Cholas inherited the maritime legacy of the Pallavas. They fostered trade with the Far East and Southeast Asia which facilitated the process of urbanisation through the mediation of temples which were at the fulcrum of economic, cultural, social and political activity. In order to maintain stability of the socio-economic superstructure of the Chola state, attempts to safeguard Chola maritime trade by force was envisaged by Rajendra Chola, whose economic interests converged with his imperial ambitions.
