The famous temple of town of Somnath, in the western Indian state of Gujarat is a pilgrimage center that hundreds of people visit everyday. It is the first among the twelve jyotirlingas of Shiva. It is also inextricably linked to the first major Islamic invasions into India, that of Mahmud of Ghazni. Mahmud is probably the most vilified among the almost endless stream of invaders that have poured into India since centuries. History shows us four kinds of invaders. Those who are either nomadic or have been driven out of their own lands, come in search of newer pastures and after conquering the weaker locals assimilate themselves into the local population, till they are indistinguishable. Others conquer lands far away and rule from their own homelands deriving revenue from their conquests; yet others conquer and stay back, enchanted by the new land or by its riches, till they too, either become a part of the local populace or, are driven out to whence they came from; and there is the last lot who simply come to plunder riches, lay waste to land, and cart their loot back to their homes. India has seen all of them and Mahmud, belonged to the last sort.
Another king who was a contemporary of Mahmud was a great conqueror, probably one of the greatest in a long line of ancestors and descendants. He too, like Mahmud reached far outside the neighborhood of his own kingdom, spreading his empire and establishing his culture wherever he went. He was the famed Chola Emperor, Rajendra Chola I.
Mahmud was around twelve years elder than Rajendra. He was born in 971 and Rajendra in around 973. Mahmud's father Sabuktigin founded the Ghaznavid state as a vassal of the Sassanids in 977. Rajendra hailed from a dynasty going back more than a thousand years; the Cholas, along with Cheras and the Pandyas were one of the three crowned kings of Tamilakam of old. They had receded into relative obscurity after about 300 AD, and had only come back to play a prominent role in South India around a hundred years before Rajendra's birth. Rajendra's father, Raja Raja Chola was a powerful conqueror in his own right. The Chola lands consisted of areas around the Cauvery Delta and the lower Cauvery basin. He expanded his kingdom, conquering parts of Northern Sri Lanka as well as the eastern coast of India, all the way north up to the edge of Kalinga. He even exacted tribute from the Cheras to the west, and the Maldives Islands.
Sabuktigin died in 997, and for a year Mahmud and his half-brothers fought each other for the succession. In 998, Mahmud became the Sultan of Ghazni, defeating his brothers. By this time, he had already been a part of the Ghaznavid campaigns for around four years, and was fast turning into a battle-hardened veteran. He spent the first few years of his reign consolidating his position around Ghazni, taking Kandahar and Khorasan, In the year, 1001, Mahmud turned his attention east towards India. The gateway to India was the famed Khyber Pass, the other side of which stood the formidable stronghold of Peshawar. Peshawar and the area around the Khyber Pass at that time was in the control of the Hindu Shahi king, Jayapala. Jayapala had already ceded some area to Sabuktigin, and now Mahmud laid siege to his capital city, late in the November of 1001. Jayapala was utterly defeated despite having a host of eight hundred elephants in his army. He would be humiliated as well, captured, paraded and the later ransomed for a huge amount. Jayapala eventually committed suicide burning himself on a pyre. He was succeeded by his son Anandapala.
In 1002, just as Mahmud had completed his first successful incursion into India, Rajendra Chola would lead a campaign of his own, as a commander in his father's army. This would be against the Western Chalukya empire, annexing areas between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. The Chola forces over the next ten years would compete against the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan and the Western Chalukyas, ruling from Manyakheta. Meanwhile Mahmud would invade India every year, in a series of hit and run attacks, making away with tributes from submitting cities and loots from those which opposed him, and were sacked. Each campaign would reach further from the Khyber Pass, crossing in sequence each of the five rivers of Punjab.In 1014, he finally crossed all the rivers of the Punjab and reached Thanesar, on the banks of the Yamuna. In the same year, Rajendra Chola succeeded his father as the Chola Emperor. By this time, the Cholas too had expanded their kingdom significantly, conquering Talakad, Mysore, Banavasi and the capital of the Chalukyas, Manyakheta.
At this time, both kings changed direction. Mahmud turned north to Kashmir where he was defeated by the Lohars, his only unsuccessful campaign in India. Rajendra turned south to strengthen his father's territories and expand his kingdom further in Sri Lanka. After being defeated in Kashmir, Mahmud returned to the Ganga-Yamuna Doab attacking Gwalior in 1018, Bundelkhand in 1021 and Mathura in 1023. While Rajendra was busy in Lanka, the Chalukyas rose again reconquering some of their lost territories. But Rajendra returned to defeat them and starting and lead a campaign north along the coast crossing Kalinga in 1019 and reaching the Ganga delta. He defeated the Pala armies there and returned with the waters of Ganga to bathe his gods. He would built the grand temple town of Gangaikondacholapuram, literally the city of the Chola who brought the Ganga, which today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1025, Mahmud would turn southwest on his final campaign in India, to Kutch where he would infamously destroy the temple at Somnath and break the idol to be carted back to Ghazni where its pieces would be used to pave the steps of the Grand Mosque. At the same time, Rajendra too was on a holy war of sorts. He had allied with the Shaivite Khmer ruler of Cambodia, Suryavarman, who had requested his assistance in dealing with his neigbours, the Buddhist Tambralinga kingdom of the Malayan Peninsula. This conquest would lead to further conquests into the southeast and Rajendra would conquer large parts of the Srivijaya kingdom, including what is today Singapore. This campaign would give fresh impetus to the spread of Tamil merchants into the southeast.
While Mahmud is rather infamous in India today, Rajendra Chola is not as well known, in spite of being a great conqueror and overseeing a kingdom of vast proportions, besides being a formidable power, both at land and on sea. Today, one scenario has captured the imaginations of history buffs, especially those interested in the hypothetical world of alternate history. How would things have turned out if Mahmud had continued east from Mathura and Rajendra had turned west after his victory over the Palas? What would have happened if their armies had met on the battlefield and how would the history of the country be shaped by their conflict? Food for thought for today, and maybe material for another day.
Click here the previous episode of Contemporaries.
Sabuktigin died in 997, and for a year Mahmud and his half-brothers fought each other for the succession. In 998, Mahmud became the Sultan of Ghazni, defeating his brothers. By this time, he had already been a part of the Ghaznavid campaigns for around four years, and was fast turning into a battle-hardened veteran. He spent the first few years of his reign consolidating his position around Ghazni, taking Kandahar and Khorasan, In the year, 1001, Mahmud turned his attention east towards India. The gateway to India was the famed Khyber Pass, the other side of which stood the formidable stronghold of Peshawar. Peshawar and the area around the Khyber Pass at that time was in the control of the Hindu Shahi king, Jayapala. Jayapala had already ceded some area to Sabuktigin, and now Mahmud laid siege to his capital city, late in the November of 1001. Jayapala was utterly defeated despite having a host of eight hundred elephants in his army. He would be humiliated as well, captured, paraded and the later ransomed for a huge amount. Jayapala eventually committed suicide burning himself on a pyre. He was succeeded by his son Anandapala.
In 1002, just as Mahmud had completed his first successful incursion into India, Rajendra Chola would lead a campaign of his own, as a commander in his father's army. This would be against the Western Chalukya empire, annexing areas between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. The Chola forces over the next ten years would compete against the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan and the Western Chalukyas, ruling from Manyakheta. Meanwhile Mahmud would invade India every year, in a series of hit and run attacks, making away with tributes from submitting cities and loots from those which opposed him, and were sacked. Each campaign would reach further from the Khyber Pass, crossing in sequence each of the five rivers of Punjab.In 1014, he finally crossed all the rivers of the Punjab and reached Thanesar, on the banks of the Yamuna. In the same year, Rajendra Chola succeeded his father as the Chola Emperor. By this time, the Cholas too had expanded their kingdom significantly, conquering Talakad, Mysore, Banavasi and the capital of the Chalukyas, Manyakheta.
At this time, both kings changed direction. Mahmud turned north to Kashmir where he was defeated by the Lohars, his only unsuccessful campaign in India. Rajendra turned south to strengthen his father's territories and expand his kingdom further in Sri Lanka. After being defeated in Kashmir, Mahmud returned to the Ganga-Yamuna Doab attacking Gwalior in 1018, Bundelkhand in 1021 and Mathura in 1023. While Rajendra was busy in Lanka, the Chalukyas rose again reconquering some of their lost territories. But Rajendra returned to defeat them and starting and lead a campaign north along the coast crossing Kalinga in 1019 and reaching the Ganga delta. He defeated the Pala armies there and returned with the waters of Ganga to bathe his gods. He would built the grand temple town of Gangaikondacholapuram, literally the city of the Chola who brought the Ganga, which today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1025, Mahmud would turn southwest on his final campaign in India, to Kutch where he would infamously destroy the temple at Somnath and break the idol to be carted back to Ghazni where its pieces would be used to pave the steps of the Grand Mosque. At the same time, Rajendra too was on a holy war of sorts. He had allied with the Shaivite Khmer ruler of Cambodia, Suryavarman, who had requested his assistance in dealing with his neigbours, the Buddhist Tambralinga kingdom of the Malayan Peninsula. This conquest would lead to further conquests into the southeast and Rajendra would conquer large parts of the Srivijaya kingdom, including what is today Singapore. This campaign would give fresh impetus to the spread of Tamil merchants into the southeast.
While Mahmud is rather infamous in India today, Rajendra Chola is not as well known, in spite of being a great conqueror and overseeing a kingdom of vast proportions, besides being a formidable power, both at land and on sea. Today, one scenario has captured the imaginations of history buffs, especially those interested in the hypothetical world of alternate history. How would things have turned out if Mahmud had continued east from Mathura and Rajendra had turned west after his victory over the Palas? What would have happened if their armies had met on the battlefield and how would the history of the country be shaped by their conflict? Food for thought for today, and maybe material for another day.
Click here the previous episode of Contemporaries.
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