The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty that ruled primarily in southern
India until the 13th century CE. The dynasty originated in the fertile
valley of the Kaveri River. Territories under their domain stretched
from the islands of Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks
of the river Ganges in Bengal. The dynasty was at the height of its
power during the tenth and the eleventh centuries. Under Rajaraja
Chola I (Rajaraja the Great) and his son Rajendra Chola, the dynasty
rose as a military, economic and cultural power in Asia. The legacy of
Chola rule has lasted in the region through modern times. Their
patronage of Tamil literature and their zeal in building temples have
resulted in some great works of Tamil architecture and poetry. 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, benefiting their entire community. They pioneered a
centralised form of government and established a disciplined
bureaucracy.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_dynasty
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Today's selected anniversaries:
456:
Magister militum Ricimer defeated Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and
became master of the Western Roman Empire.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricimer)
1813:
The Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon and the First French Empire in the
Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leipzig)
1843:
William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for
quaternions on Broom Bridge in Dublin, Ireland.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion)
1940:
World War II: Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest
Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto)
1978:
Karol Józef Wojtyła, a cardinal from Kraków, Poland, became Pope
John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century and
the first
ever from a Slavic country.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others
to live as one wishes to live. -- Oscar Wilde
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde)