Vijayalaya Chola

Vijayalaya Chola (; Tamil: Vijayālaya cōḻaṉ; Telugu: Vijayālaya cōḷuḍu) was a descendant of the Early Cholas, who revived the Chola dynasty and founded the Imperial Chola Empire. He ruled over the region to the north of the river Kaveri. Vijayalaya Chola is one of the descendants of famous Sangam age Chola king Karikala Chola. According to Anbil plates of Parantaka Chola II, Vijayalaya's predecessor is a Telugu Chola king Srikantha Choladhiraja who was ruling the Renadu region, belongs to Pottapi Chola lineage and is a descendant of ancient Tamil king Karikala Chola. Vijayalaya was succeeded by his son Aditya Chola I, who laid the foundation of Imperial Chola Empire. Dark age of Cholas The ancient Chola kingdom, once famous in Tamil literature and in the writings of Greek merchants and geographers faded into darkness after c. 300 CE. Cholas during this period almost completely disappeared from their native land. They seem to have held on to their old capital city of Uraiyur. This dark age is said to have been caused by the invasion of the Kalabhras. This "dark" age of Tamil history came to an end with the ascendancy of the Pandyas and the Pallavas after overthrowing Kalabhras at 590 CE. The Cholas disappeared from the Tamil land almost completely in this debacle, though a branch of them can be traced towards the close of the dark period in Rayalaseema—the Telugu-Cholas, whose kingdom is mentioned by Yuan Chwang in the seventh century CE. Cholas under Pandyas and Pallavas Due to Kalabhra invasion and growing power of Pallavas, Cholas migrated from their native to Telugu country and ruled from there as chieftains of Pallavas at least since 540 CE. Several Telugu Chola families like Renati Cholas, Pottapi Cholas, Nellore Cholas, Velanati Cholas, Nannuru Cholas existed and claimed descent from ancient Tamil king Karikala Chola. The Cholas had to wait for another three centuries until the accession of Vijayalaya Chola bel,onging to Pottapi Chola family in ,the second quarter of the ninth century to re-establish their dynasty as independent rulers by overthrowing Pallavas and Pandyas Rise of Vijayalaya Chola Making use of the opportunity during a war between Pandyas and Pallavas, Vijayalaya rose out of obscurity and captured Thanjavur. However, there is no substantiate proof to verify the claim regarding his obscure beginnings.