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The Chola dynasty (also called Choda and Cholan) was an ancient dynasty of southern India. Together with the Chera and Pandya dynasties, the Cholas formed the three main dynasties of Iron Age India, who were collectively known as the Three Crowned Kings. The earliest datable references to the dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE, left by Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, and in the ancient Sangam literature. The heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valley of the Kaveri River, but they ruled a significantly larger area at the height of their power from the later half of the 9th century until the beginning of the 13th century. The whole country south of the Tungabhadra river was united and held as one state for more than two centuries. Under Emperor Rajaraja Chola I and his successors Rajendra Chola I, Rajadhiraja Chola, Virarajendra Chola and Kulothunga Chola I the dynasty became a military, economic and cultural power in South and Southeast Asia. The power of the new empire was proclaimed to the eastern world by the expedition to the Ganges in northern India which Rajendra Chola I undertook and by the occupation of cities of the maritime empire of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia, as well as by the repeated embassies to China. The Chola fleet represented the zenith of ancient Indian sea power. During the period 1010–1200, the Chola territories stretched from the islands of the Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the Godavari River in Telangana. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, annexed parts of which is now Sri Lanka and occupied the islands of the Maldives. Rajendra Chola sent a victorious expedition to North India that touched the Ganges and defeated Mahipala, the Pala ruler of Pataliputra. His army went on to raid what is now Bangladesh.〔The Cambridge Shorter History of India p.145〕 He successfully invaded cities of Srivijaya in Malaysia, Indonesia and Southern Thailand. The Chola dynasty went into decline at the beginning of the 13th century with the rise of the Pandyan dynasty, which ultimately caused their downfall. Their patronage of Tamil literature and their zeal in the building of temples has resulted in some great works of Tamil literature and architecture. The Chola kings were avid builders and envisioned the temples in their kingdoms not only as places of worship but also as centres of economic activity. The Chola school of art spread to and influenced that of Southeast Asia. They pioneered a centralised form of government and established a disciplined bureaucracy. During the Imperial Chola period urbanisation increased and there was a tremendous agrarian expansion and well-developed system of water management. During this period the economy and particularly trade flourished because of the emergence of prosperous and well-organised Tamil merchant guilds which controlled long-distance trade. ==Origins== The Cholas are also known as the ''Choda''. There is very little information available regarding their origin. Its antiquity is evident from the mentions in ancient Pali-Tamil literature and in inscriptions. Later medieval Cholas also claimed a long and ancient lineage. Mentions in the early Sangam literature (c. 150 CE) indicate that the earliest kings of the dynasty antedated 100 CE. Parimelalagar, the annotator of the Tamil classic ''Tirukkural'', mentions that this could be the name of an ancient king. A commonly held view is that ''Chola'' is, like ''Chera'' and ''Pandya'', the name of the ruling family or clan of immemorial antiquity. The annotator Parimelazhagar said: "The charity of people with ancient lineage (such as the Cholas, the Pandyas and the Cheras) are forever generous in spite of their reduced means". Other names in common use for the Cholas are ''Killi'' (கிள்ளி), ''Valavan'' (வளவன்) and ''Sembiyan'' (செம்பியன்). ''Killi'' perhaps comes from the Tamil ''kil'' (கிள்) meaning dig or cleave and conveys the idea of a digger or a worker of the land. This word often forms an integral part of early Chola names like Nedunkilli, Nalankilli and so on, but almost drops out of use in later times. ''Valavan'' is most probably connected with "''valam''" (வளம்) – fertility and means owner or ruler of a fertile country. ''Sembiyan'' is generally taken to mean a descendant of Shibi – a legendary hero whose self-sacrifice in saving a dove from the pursuit of a falcon figures among the early Chola legends and forms the subject matter of the Sibi Jataka among the Jataka stories of Buddhism. In Tamil lexicon ''Chola'' means ''Soazhi'' or ''Saei'' denoting a newly formed kingdom, in the lines of ''Pandya'' or the old country.〔Archaeological News A. L. Frothingham, Jr. ''The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts'', Vol. 4, No. 1 (Mar., 1998), pp. 69–125〕 There is very little written evidence available of the Cholas prior to the 7th century. Historic records exist thereafter, including inscriptions on temples. During the past 150 years, historians have gleaned significant knowledge on the subject from a variety of sources such as ancient Tamil Sangam literature, oral traditions, religious texts, temple and copperplate inscriptions. The main source for the available information of the early Cholas is the early Tamil literature of the Sangam Period. There are also brief notices on the Chola country and its towns, ports and commerce furnished by the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (''Periplus Maris Erythraei''), and in the slightly later work of the geographer Ptolemy. ''Mahavamsa'', a Buddhist text written down during the 5th century CE, recounts a number of conflicts between the inhabitants of Ceylon and Cholas in the 1st century BCE. Cholas are mentioned in the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273 BCE–232 BCE) inscriptions, where they are mentioned among the kingdoms which, though not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chola dynasty」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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