Chola Empire - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The history of the Chola dynasty has inspired many Tamil authors to produce literary and artistic creations during the last several decades. These works of popular literature have helped continue the memory of the great Cholas in the minds of the Tamil people. The most important work of this genre is the popular Ponniyin Selvan (The son of Ponni), a historical novel in Tamil written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Written in five volumes, this narrates the story of Rajaraja Chola. Ponniyin Selvan deals with the events leading up to the ascension of Uttama Chola to the Chola throne. Kalki had utilised the confusion in the succession to the Chola throne after the demise of Sundara Chola. This book was serialised in the Tamil periodical Kalki during the mid 1950s. The serialisation lasted for nearly five years and every week its publication was awaited with great interest.

Akilan's Vegaiyin Maindhan, a novel narrating the events surrounding the capture of Lankan King, Mahinda V and the building of Gangaikonda Cholapuram by Rajendra Chola I won the sahitya Akademi award for the year 1963.

Kalki's earlier historical romance Parthiban Kanavu deals with the fortunes of an imaginary Chola prince Vikraman, who was supposed to have lived as a feudatory of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I during the 7th century. The period of the story lies within the interregnum during which the Chola in eclipse before Vijayalaya Chola revived their fortunes. Parthiban Kanavu was also serialised in the Kalki weekly during the early 1950s.

Sandilyan, another popular Tamil novelist, wrote Kadal Pura in the 1960s. It was serialised in the Tamil weekly Kumudam. Kadal Pura is set during the period when Kulothunga Chola I was in exile from the Vengi kingdom, after he was denied the throne. Kadal Pura speculates the whereabouts of Kulothunga during this period. Sandilyan's earlier work Yavana Rani written in the early 1960s is based on the life of Karikala Chola. More recently, Balakumaran wrote the novel Udaiyar based on the circumstances surrounding Rajaraja Chola's construction of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur.

There were stage productions based on the life of Rajaraja Chola during the 1950s and in 1973 Shivaji Ganesan acted in a screen adaptation of a play titled Rajaraja Cholan. The Cholas are featured in the History of the World board game, produced by Avalon Hill.