Post 9p7zIF8d7mWZvih87c by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #9p5pFswVHx2oeeL7hY by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T13:30:31Z
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Hello again, fellow #India #history #nerd s! This week, I want to talk about the often-heard myth that #medieval Indian states didn't have truly acrimonious struggles or anything resembling total war until the arrival of the Turks in the 12th CE. I'll also touch upon the question that gets all Indian guys on Quora horny for some reason: why didn't Indian states conquer territories outside the subcontinent?I will illustrate this through a century of war between the Deccan & the Tamil country. 🤓
(DIR) Post #9p5pFw8JQVGyY8t61Y by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T13:45:49Z
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This is the stage where this thread will unfold. I would like to call your attention to two actors in particular: the Chalukyas in the Deccan and the Cholas in the deep South. This is an image from a later stage in the war, when the Cholas had the upper hand. When they started out, they were just one among many Tamil kingdoms - and not even the most powerful one! So how did we get to this stage?
(DIR) Post #9p5pFyuF7Gnj9NKP0i by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T13:56:12Z
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Something big was happening in the early 11th century. It's a pretty crazy series of coincidences, but by this time centuries of investment in agrarian productivity, along with devastating wars and some pretty crazy politics, had led to the emergence of two ravenous markets at either end of the Indian Ocean: Fatimid Egypt and Song China. The Chola ascension over South India is tied directly to these events.
(DIR) Post #9p5pG1GeKvueTRpKDI by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T14:10:38Z
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Meet Rajaraja Chola (no, this isn't an actual portrait but bear with me), the unlikely heir to an unlikely superpower. Rajaraja's line of the family wasn't even supposed to have come to the throne - the original Chola crown prince had been killed in battle with a Deccan emperor. A generation later, Rajaraja's elder brother, the crown prince, was murdered and his uncle succeeded to his throne. How Rajaraja eventually managed to seize power is, given the lack of hard evidence, up to debate.
(DIR) Post #9p5pG3ijDVYs56ymG0 by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T14:20:38Z
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Rajaraja is often appropriated by nationalist and religious causes because of the spectacular military events that characterised his career - and all three go hand-in-hand in our world of manly authoritarian men. I will probably come back to that later in this thread. For now, I want to focus on another side of the medieval Indian king: politics, but also the much more interesting matter of GEOPOLITICS, which isn't something we normally associate with them.
(DIR) Post #9p7zICq7fcX2nk1Jzs by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T14:39:02Z
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So what were the geopolitical pressures that Rajaraja was responding to? First, he absolutely would not have wanted a repeat of the disaster that had killed his grand-uncle, which meant the Deccan had to be kept at bay. Second - and this is crucial - Rajaraja knew that Indian Ocean trade was picking up steam. How? A year before his accession, an embassy from the Song court had visited the Indian Ocean. Presiding over thriving new urban centres, they needed luxury goods. Ditto the Fatimids. A+B=$
(DIR) Post #9p7zIE533c46eK0kts by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T14:45:04Z
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How do we know for sure that this was Rajaraja's intention? Well. His very first military adventure - the one he begins all his inscriptions with - wasn't a battle for control of the Tamil country. It was a raid on one of the largest fleets on India's West Coast - the combined merchant fleet and naval vessels of the Cheras. That territory would have been the primary entrepot for Arab ships blown from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean by the monsoon - the same route the Romans once used.
(DIR) Post #9p7zIF8d7mWZvih87c by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T14:57:29Z
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Then there's Rajaraja's (in)famous invasion of Sri Lanka. He learned that the Sri Lankan king had failed to pay his mercenaries (who came from South India cos medieval military labour markets didn't care about 20th-century national boundaries). Soon after, Chola forces stormed through the northern part of the island, seized the ancient capital of Anuradhapura and sacked its wealthy monasteries. Opportunistic? Yes. Brutal? Yes. Did it give Rajaraja control of Indian Ocean trade routes? Also yes.
(DIR) Post #9p7zIFyk02CyXL4kLY by ionhandshaker@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T15:08:57Z
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@AKanisetti The usual argument that is used to counter the sack of Anuradhapuram is that RRC patronized Nagappattinam Choodamani Viharam (monastery) as evidenced by Leiden copper plates. RRC has always struck me as someone who is agathokakological, he'd patronize other religious institutions within his territory for trade benefits, but would be fine with destroying them in rival territory. In other words, a typical monarch.
(DIR) Post #9p7zIGfHRsEgfGyieW by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T15:12:44Z
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@ionhandshaker Agathokakological.. what an interesting word. Yes, sums him up perfectly. Also, the facile inventiveness of the nationalist never ceases to amaze. But then the idea that a little public devotion cleanses one of any and all sins is neither new nor unique to India I suppose.
(DIR) Post #9p7zIHCxQfAsLijc92 by Karaboondi@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T15:16:58Z
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@AKanisetti @ionhandshaker if you think about it , the public devotion , temple building was a well planned publicity drive , in an era where religion governed policy as well as politics .
(DIR) Post #9p7zMPnJRmMk8biGLw by ionhandshaker@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T15:46:04Z
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@Karaboondi You would enjoy this podcast by Sunil Khilnani, I think.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vffp8Based on his book, Incarnations. You can read part of it here.https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/rajaraja-chola-10th-century-ad/296680 @AKanisetti
(DIR) Post #9p7zMQj5ywaR1okPQ0 by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T18:23:14Z
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@ionhandshaker @Karaboondi listened to it! Not a big fan of the desi NRIs generally esp the whole "AIADMK = Rajaraja Chola generalization" but some very interesting facts here esp the mural of Rajaraja at the Rajarajeshvara temple
(DIR) Post #9p7zMRiQIvdw61RO0e by ionhandshaker@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T18:43:36Z
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@AKanisetti Haha. Linked it to add on to the point that @Karaboondi made in terms of temple building. As she says, it wasn't just an action of devotion alone, it was a means to consolidating power.
(DIR) Post #9p7zMT8L23y0UgZb2e by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-18T18:46:46Z
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@ionhandshaker @Karaboondi absolutely. We've been doing it since before Ashoka, we're just trained to swallow the propaganda whole because of the nationalist elite project.Honestly in hindsight it kinda makes my blood boil that some bureaucrats and politicians and academics in Delhi post-independence decided that this was not an aspect of Indian history that was worth teaching kids about cos realising this totally transformed my understanding of our past and present.
(DIR) Post #9p7zNPkd5r3iIEvzmK by Karaboondi@mastodon.social
2019-11-19T00:30:53Z
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@AKanisetti @ionhandshaker also , we have never revised our history and the Indian system largely takes history and historical opinions to be facts whereas in reality historical records are majority or victor based accounts distorted over the passages of time through scholarly works that are opinions that are based on personal bias
(DIR) Post #9p7zqbgHoj3Tgup5Ie by loke@functional.cafe
2019-11-19T03:21:28Z
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@Karaboondi @AKanisetti @ionhandshaker This discussion reminds me of the time I was in Moscow and took a guided tour through the Kremlin.The guide told us that when she had French tourists, she had to be careful how she described the occupation of Moscow by Napoleon, since he is seen somewhat differently in France compared to Russia (let's just say he's seen in less favourable light in Russia and also most of the rest of Europe).
(DIR) Post #9p7zqc4kLmcYumGcQS by AKanisetti@mastodon.social
2019-11-19T03:30:14Z
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@loke @Karaboondi @ionhandshaker excellent point. You know it never ceases to amaze me that with a history as diverse and multicentric as Europe, Indian nationalists demand that all Indians see every conqueror as a hero. Asking someone from Karnataka to worship Rajaraja Chola as a national icon is exactly like asking a Russian to worship Napoleon as a national icon. Or a French person to worship Julius Caesar, the Roman geezer.
(DIR) Post #9p7zqcX6eLJ2KjXGd6 by loke@functional.cafe
2019-11-19T03:42:29Z
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@AKanisetti @Karaboondi @ionhandshaker I think it would also be healthy if people accepted the fact that their own history might not always have been all good.I'm from Sweden, and in my country of origin, and not all our Kings were great. You can read up on Karl XII if you want to learn about a divisive conqueror.Swedish nationalists of course are worshipping him, but I'm not sure he should be worshipped.
(DIR) Post #9p7zqdASI2mWIlwgxk by Karaboondi@mastodon.social
2019-11-19T03:56:29Z
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@loke @AKanisetti @ionhandshaker We will need to read various accounts and opinions and form an unbiased judgement about history but the struggle in India is that historical records available for public consumption are largely biased and unidimensional