Maritime South Asia (964 – 1107 CE): Chola Expansion, Western Chalukyas, and Polonnaruwa’s Ascent

Maritime South Asia includes peninsular India south of the Narmada River (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, southern Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh), Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

• Anchors: the Tamil plains, Deccan plateau, Kerala backwaters, Sri Lanka’s dry and wet zones, and the Maldives–Chagos island chains.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Monsoons remained reliable during the later Medieval Warm Period, supporting agricultural expansion in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra.

• Occasional droughts affected the Deccan interior, but extensive irrigation tanks and Kerala’s backwaters cushioned the impact.

• Sri Lanka shifted from Anuradhapura toward Polonnaruwa, continuing to invest in reservoirs and canals.

• The Maldives were increasingly tied into South Indian trade circuits under Chola influence, though still reliant on coconuts and fisheries; Lakshadweep and Chagos remained small-scale subsistence islands.

Societies and Political Developments

• Cholas (Tamil Nadu):

  • Rajaraja I (r. 985–1014) and Rajendra I (r. 1014–1044) expanded across South India, Sri Lanka, and into the Maldives.

  • Built monumental temples (Brihadeshvara, 1010).

• Western Chalukyas contested Deccan with Cholas.

• Kerala (Cheras): spice trade enriched port towns.

• Sri Lanka:

  • Cholas annexed northern Sri Lanka (Polonnaruwa) in 993, held until local Sinhalese resurgence under Vijayabahu I (r. 1055–1110).

• Islands: Maldives under Chola influence; Lakshadweep and Chagos peripheral, integrated into maritime circuits.

Economy and Trade

• Textiles (cotton from Coromandel) exported widely.

• Spices and cinnamon central exports from Kerala and Sri Lanka.

• Cowries from Maldives circulated as currency in Bengal and Africa.

• Chola navy dominated Bay of Bengal trade, projecting to Southeast Asia.

Belief and Symbolism

• Hinduism: Chola rulers championed Shaivism, monumental temples.

• Buddhism: still strong in Sri Lanka, declining in Tamilakam.

• Islands: Buddhist traditions persisted; Hindu influence spread.

Long-Term Significance

By 1107, Cholas dominated peninsular India and maritime South Asia; Sri Lanka recovered autonomy; island chains were drawn into Indian Ocean circuits.

King Vijayabahu I drives the Chola out of Sri Lanka in CE 1070.

Considered by many as the author of Sinhalese freedom, the king recaptures Anuradhapura but rules from Polonnaruwa, slightly less than one hundred kilometers to the southeast.

During his forty-year reign, Vijayabahu I (1070-1110) concentrates on rebuilding the Buddhist temples and monasteries that had been neglected during Chola rule.

He leaves no clearly designated successor to his throne, and a period of instability and civil war will follow his rule until the rise of King Parakramabahu I, known as the Great (1153-86).

Maritime South Asia (1108 – 1251 CE): Chola Resilience, Pandyan Resurgence, and Polonnaruwa’s Culmination

Maritime South Asia includes peninsular India south of the Narmada River (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, southern Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh), Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

• Anchors: the Tamil plains, Deccan plateau, Kerala backwaters, Sri Lanka’s dry and wet zones, and the Maldives–Chagos island chains.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Early signs of monsoon variability appeared, with drier years challenging Deccan agriculture, while coastal Kerala and Tamil plains remained fertile.

• Sri Lanka’s Polonnaruwa kingdom, especially under Parakramabahu I (r. 1153–1186), expanded irrigation tanks and reservoirs, epitomized in the maxim “not even a drop of rainwater should flow to the sea unused.”

• The Maldives, now an Islamic sultanate (from 1153), faced freshwater scarcity but adapted with cisterns and integrated fully into Indian Ocean trade.

• Lakshadweep was tied into Malabar spice ports, while Chagos remained sparsely inhabited but on sailing lanes.
  

Societies and Political Developments

• Cholas: retained Tamil core but waned under Kulottunga I (r. 1070–1122) and successors; regional powers pressed.

• Pandyas (Madurai): resurged in 12th–13th c., contesting Cholas.

• Hoysalas (Karnataka): patronized temples (Belur, Halebidu).

• Sri Lanka:

  • The Polonnaruwa kingdom thrived under Parakramabahu I (r. 1153–1186), expanding irrigation, unifying the island.

  • Later fragmentation weakened resistance to South Indian incursions.

• Maldives: converted to Islam (1153) under Sultan Dhovemi; sultanate established.

• Lakshadweep & Chagos: remained small-scale, oriented to Malabar trade.

Economy and Trade

• Rice and irrigation tank networks expanded.

• Pepper, cinnamon, pearls, elephants exported to Red Sea and Southeast Asia.

• Maldives: cowries became a pan-Indian Ocean currency.

• Ports (Calicut, Quilon, Nagapattinam): entrepôts for Arab and Chinese trade.

Belief and Symbolism

• Hinduism: Chola and Pandya Shaiva temples flourished.

• Buddhism: Polonnaruwa’s monasteries thrived until decline.

• Islam: took root in Maldives and on Kerala’s coast.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251, South India was a contested mosaic: waning Cholas, rising Pandyas, Hoysalas strong, Polonnaruwa mature, Maldives Islamic, and island chains integral to currency flows.

Although a revered figure in Sinhalese annals, Parakramabahu is believed to have greatly strained the royal treasury and contributed to the fall of the Sinhalese kingdom.

The post-Parakramabahu history of Polonnaruwa describes the destruction of the city twenty-nine years after his death and fifteen rulers later.

For the decade following Parakramabahu's death, however, a period of peace and stability ensues during the reign of King Nissanka Malla (1187-97).

During Nissanka Malla's rule, the Brahmanic legal system comes to regulate the Sinhalese caste system.

Henceforth, the highest caste stratum becomes identified with the cultivator caste, and land ownership confers high status.

Occupational caste becomes hereditary and regulates dietary and marriage codes.

At the bottom of the caste strata is the Chandala, who correspond roughly to the Indian untouchable.

It is during this brief period that it becomes mandatory for the Sinhalese king to be a Buddhist.

Parakramabahu's reign is not only a time of Buddhist renaissance but also a period of religious expansionism abroad.

Parakramabahu is powerful enough to send a punitive mission against the Burmese for their mistreatment of a Sri Lankan mission in 1164.

The Sinhalese monarch also meddles extensively in Indian politics and invades southern India in several unsuccessful expeditions to aid a Pandyan claimant to the throne.

Parakramabahu is the greatest hero of the Culavamsa, and under his patronage, the city of Polonnaruwa grows to rival Anuradhapura in architectural diversity and as a repository of Buddhist art.

Parakramabahu is a great patron of Buddhism and a reformer as well.

He reorganizes the sangha (community of monks) and heals a longstanding schism between Mahavihara— the Theravada Buddhist monastery—and Abhayagiri—the Mahayana Buddhist monastery.

Parakramabahu's reign coincides with the last great period of Sinhalese hydraulic engineering; many remarkable irrigation works are constructed during his rule, including his crowning achievement, the massive Parakrama Samudra (Sea of Parakrama or Parakrama Tank).

Polonnaruwa becomes one of the magnificent capitals of the ancient world, and nineteenth-century British historian Sir Emerson Tenant will even estimate that during Parakramabahu's rule, the population of Polonnaruwa reached three million—a figure, however, that is considered to be too high by twentieth-century historians.

The Burmese kingdom of Pagan experiences anarchy until 1190, when Anawrahta's lineage regains control with the assistance of the Sri Lankan kingdom of Polonnaruwa.

The new regime reforms Burmese Buddhism on Sri Lankan Theravada models.

Rainfall pattern in Sri Lanka is influenced by monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.

The "wet zone" and some of the windward slopes of the central highlands receive up to twenty-five hundred millimeters (98.4 in) of rain each month, but …

…the leeward slopes in the east and northeast receive little rain.

Most of the east, southeast, and northern parts of the country comprise the "dry zone", which receives between 1,200 mm (47 in) and 1,900 mm (75 in) of rain annually.

The arid northwest and southeast coasts receive the least amount of rain at 800 mm (31 in) to 1,200 mm (47 in) per year.

Periodic squalls occur and sometimes tropical cyclones bring overcast skies and rains to the southwest, northeast, and eastern parts of the island.

Humidity is typically higher in the southwest and mountainous areas and depends on the seasonal patterns of rainfall.

Sri Lanka’s advanced civilization continues to thrive in the dry zone, supported by a massive irrigation system, until about 1200, when it mysteriously declines and …

…the island’s population center shifts to the northern Jaffna peninsula and …