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The Chola Navy was composed of ships used for transporting the land army overseas. [ 1 ] : 251 The Cholas did not have a standing navy in the modern sense. The maritime force of Cholas was formed by using ships used for trade, as they did not have a dedicated ship for naval combat.
In 1025 CE, the Chola Emperor Rajendra I launched naval raids on Srivijaya in maritime Southeast Asia, leading to the fall of the Sailendra Dynasty of Srivijaya. [2]Rajendra's overseas expedition against Srivijaya was a unique event in India's history and its otherwise peaceful relations with the states of Southeast Asia.
Inscriptions and historical sources assert that the Medieval Chola Emperor Rajendra I sent a naval expedition to Indochina, the Indonesia and Malay Peninsula in 1025 in order to subdue Srivijaya. [5] The Thiruvalangadu plates, the Leyden grant, and the Tamil stele of Rajendra I are the principal sources of information about the campaign.
Rajaraja Chola I created a powerful standing army and a considerable navy, which achieved even greater success under his son Rajendra Chola I. The prominence given to the army from the conquest of the Pandyas down to the last year of the king's reign is significant and shows the spirit with which the king treated his soldiers.
[55] [10] The naval campaign was a demonstration of the Chola naval power in the Indian Ocean. [10] The Cholas controlled the area around Bay of Bengal with Nagapattinam as the main port. The Chola Navy also played a major role in the invasion of Sri Lanka. [56]
Chola soldiers used weapons such as swords, bows, javelins, spears, and steel shields. [72] Several Chola weapons utilized Wootz steel. [73] The Chola navy was the zenith of ancient India sea power. [66] It played a vital role in the expansion of the empire, including the conquest of the Sri Lanka islands and naval raids on Srivijaya. [74]
The most detailed source of information on the campaign is the Tamil stele of Rajendra Chola I. [7] The stele states: (Who) having despatched many ships in the midst of the rolling sea and having caught Sangrāma-vijayōttunga-varman, the king of Kadāram, together with the elephants in his glorious army, (took) the large heap of treasures, which (that king) had rightfully accumulated ...
If that was the case, the campaign can be viewed as part of Rajaraja's early battles against the Cheras, Pandyas and the rulers of Sri Lanka. [ 3 ] However, some historians argue that Kandalur salai, which only later Chola inscriptions (1048 CE) claim to have belonged to the Chera Perumals, may have been held by the Pandyas when it was attacked ...