Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire

by Anirudh Kanisetti

The great empire of the Cholas was unexpected. It sprouted out of the blue in the Kaveri floodplain around 850 CE. Till then, the region had for centuries been dotted by self-governing village assemblies. From here, the Cholas established a vast empire, the first – and only – time an empire based in coastal South India was the dominant power of the a perch usually occupied by the Deccan or northern India.

The Cholas were as creative and imaginative as they were unexpected. They built stupendous temples – the tallest freestanding structures on earth after the pyramids of Egypt. Chola queens popularized new forms of gods and worship, such as the iconic Nataraja and the singing of Tamil poems to deities. And they were spectacularly daring, raiding not just the powerful Deccan and North India but also Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. For a dynasty that was so influential – and is so loved today – its actual historical achievements were surprisingly forgotten by the late nineteenth century, for they had faded into myth and legend.

In this book, the award-winning historian Anirudh Kanisetti brings to life the world of the Cholas. Not just the world of kings and queens attended by generals and ‘service retinue’ women – but the stories of the ‘little people’, whose lives were buffeted by big events. What was life like on board a merchant vessel making its way from the Tamil coast to Southeast Asia and China? What kind of food was served at temples to devotees and to soldiers in times of war? What became of a landless peasant who murdered his brother in a fit of rage? Why did a noble woman commit sati holding a lemon over her head? Based on thousands of inscriptions and hundreds of secondary sources, this deeply researched book is not just a procession of dazzling kings and queens but also a portal that transports us to the peasant settlements of over a thousand years ago. In this book, Kanisetti crucially separates fact from fiction and tells us one of the most extraordinary stories in human history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Indian Literature, Historical

376 pages, Hardcover

Published January 18, 2025

Reviews

[Aditya · Rating 1 out of 5]

typical left wing story spinning which tries to pip that cholas were a blue moon phenomenon.
they conveniently forgot to pin in the hindu heritage they came from and later bequeathed a legacy to cheras, pandyas.
the cheras.

[Varun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but stops well short of being great work. Anirudh's left leanings are clear, and there a deliberate attempt to downplay that "glory" in our past, that come across any indo-centric view again & again, which gets annoying. Yes, the truth might be somewhere in between. However, Anirudh could definitely have done better to avoid being euro-centric in his presentation. For e.g., names are presented in their translated form, and the original tamil forms of the names are not even mentioned once ! Truly inexplicable. It makes it worse that these literal name translations lose the cultural & liguistic depth in the original names. Was Anirudh writing for an imaginary western audience?
It is a fast & fun read.
History made accessible.
For someone who has not heard much about the Cholas, this may be a good starting point. However one comes away with the feeling that the book lacks the socio-cultural depth needed to tell a tale of this magnitude.
Granted, that he has referenced a number of secondary sources. But as a Historian, the lack of primary source material makes it look like a lazy piece of work at times. Anirudh never left his desk. He even uses images from Wikimedia commons. Again, inexplicable.

[Awais Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched. Well written. Shines good light on an important empire in the southern parts of India whose influence reached as far and wide as the South East Asian islands and even China.

[Karthik Govil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anirudh Kanisetti writes a banger of a book on the history of the Tamil Cholas, outdoing his own previous work on this subject which was Lords of the Deccan.

Lords of the Earth and Sea goes into deep storytelling, bringing alive the Mediaeval Cholas with Anirudh Kanisetti's vivid imagination and fluent control of the language.

Unlike his last book, which did not rely on original language scriptures and only a narrow "leftist" (I'm personally very sick of left/right; I prefer the words "western" and "atheistic") interpretations of the scriptures; this book seems to rely on a bigger spectrum of sources, something more akin to Manu S. Pillai's style of source selection.

The book still has a few nudges, like the forlorn gripe on how the Gods must remain pleased, or the assumption that beef was common in China (in reality the Chinese, Japanese, Canaanites, Pharaohs and many others all revered the cow until Communistic (Atheist) and/or American influences came in, (the only exception is maybe Mongolians), or how it will list all the meats the Cholas ate but not go over the millets and pulses they had for their feasts.

However, these nudges of bias are much more toned down in this book, and cut to size to a respectable if still amateurish size.

I would also have loved to read the original Tamil names (in Tamglish maybe?) of the Five Hundred, or the Left Hand 98, or the various other names, entities, cities, and other things whose names were translated but the original names were not given. While having English names adds a uniformity and comprehension to the entities, the original names at least deserve a single mention in the main text.

I'd also love to read the original inscriptions too, in the Old Tamil that they espouse.

This book is based a lot more on the facts of the events. While the interpretations of how the businessmen operate, how political alliances and opulence works seems to be gauged from today's current events, I feel such tales of rise and fall are also equally timeless. However, certain interpretations still seemed to be gauged from modern realities over hard facts. This however only adds to the reading of this book, the storytelling of the author.

I'd love to see the class angle explored more, how certain jatis became lower varnas through exploitation. I wonder if enough primary sources exist for such a work, though. Or if it exists, how many have read them? Many pieces of manuscript have gone unread, being eaten by termites, their knowledge saved from nature yet lost to negligence!

Back to the book: it is a fantastic read, and Anirudh Kanisetti has clearly stepped up his game, shedding his ideology (maybe clinging just a little bit longer) for a more objective, fact based, and most of all entertaining reading of the Chola empire, bringing his own fresh perspective to the same.

I hope he continues to explore more history topics, innovate on his style, and keeps striving towards the objectivity that today's discourse needs, transcending all barriers of political affiliation and other man-made identities.

9/10

[Ojas Chahal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Kingdom arising around the surrounding of Kaveri River...rising in prominence and through War and Trade becoming one of the most famous empire of it's time and the interesting impact it left in the region through historical research and Tamil and Dravidian movement the lost empire again found it's relevance in legends and via period saga story like of Ponniyin Selvan. But focusing on the Cholas itself rather than it's mythical status...the history and context in it was born, rose and finally vanished away...all of it is very interesting... This Empire had very interesting stories... For example the God Natraja...Shiva, King of Dance came into mainstream thanks to Chola and especially because of this specific Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi... Similarly another myth that this book clears out is that the Cholas had Navy !! Not really they didn't... they used Merchant Ships for their actions whether in Sri Lanka or in South East Asia. They focus primarily on land and whenever really required they used merchant ships.The Five Hundred group...A merchant guild was also there...Ainnurruvar also known as The Five Hundred Group...it used to trade across the Asia and had connections and relationship with all the relevant surroundings kingdoms and even to places like China.Another aspect it tells is about The temple building and how Cholas used to claim legitimacy via building of temple and making its surrounding tax free. The inequality obviously was massive but unlike today's govt Cholas didn't need vote of everyone so while ensuring Brahmins remain tax free and get gifts they taxed other folks and professions and other people groups. One of the eventual reason for their demise did became these ever growing economically powerful temples by the way. It's century long war between Chola and Chalukya is really interesting as well and how none of them were able to have decisive victory. Overall a very interesting read this though sometimes it can be difficult to understand especially because if you have less familiarity of Tamilian places and history but still author does quite a good job explaining and expanding our understanding of this Kingdom.

[Anjali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great entry to learning about the chola dynasty’s origins and ending - walking through how the tax evasions and essentially scamming by the upper classes and priests led to the collapse of an entire civilization.
One thing that stood out to me was how the author wasnt glorifying violence as many people do, but rather showcasing the realities of regular folks who lived through the deaths of everyone they loved for the royals to pride over (which is basically every war). Another plus was him discussing the lives of women at the time; sure, it was better than for those living in mongol or Arabian empires but it wasn’t really a utopia for anyone

[Sanat Pai Raikar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched (the notes and bibliography are a treasure trove in themselves) and detailed account of the Cholas. The epigraphic and archaeological evidence used to construct this book is amazingly walked through to paint this picture of the past, of a section of history many historians ignore. Worth a read.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Chola dynasty is historically and emotionally very important to South Indians and Tamils respectively. It was the only Indian lineage that carried our culture towards the distant shores of southeast Asia and even China. Indian mainstream historians generally assume an unmindful attitude towards this South Indian dynasty and focus entirely on the Delhi sultanates and Mughals. Partly to rectify this bias and set the record straight, our new parliament building houses the spectre (chenkol) of the Cholas as a symbol and continuity of the authority and fountainhead of Indian culture. The book’s front cover shows a chenkol. This book lacks historical rigour, but is an attempt to fill the void. The story is generated from inputs of 30,000 inscriptions in the Chola land. Names of minor dignitaries who had dedicated grants and gifts to the temples are also woven into the story. The unfortunate part of the whole episode is that the author has made a lot of warps and wefts coloured by his ideology while weaving the parts into the general skeleton of Chola history. Anirudh Kanisetti is a public historian specializing in ancient and early medieval India. It is not clear whether he has any academic background in history but has received grants for his work from prestigious institutions.

The book opens with a clarification that the Cholas who originated in the Kaveri floodplain is not genetically linked to Cholas of the Sangam era. The new kings were only slightly more powerful than the landed magnates who were their allies. They developed political power by matrimonial alliances with powerful families and other royal houses. The book tells about Kokkilan Adigal, a Chera princess married to Parantaka I. While describing her imaginary journeys across the vastness of the Tamil plains, the book resembles a movie script. These queens were very social, not quite unlike their modern counterparts and greatly contributed to temple worship as part of an effort to justify their rule to a peasant subject class. Sembiyan Mahadevi was a Chola queen who commissioned and popularized Shiva’s worship as Nataraja. This iconic figure of Shiva was first crafted around 970 CE. Sembiyan Mahadevi built as many as eight temples. She handpicked a team of sculptors from the Kaveri delta, binding all their families and villages to her. All her temples had a signature style, with Nataraja facing the south. Slowly, under the velvet glove of Shaivism, the Chola court extended its iron fist and controlled the floodplain. One of their initial defeats in 949 at Takkolam was soon gotten over with and the empire was crowned in all its glory by the end of the first millennium CE.

Kanisetti provides some interesting details which put the Cholas in a class of its own among medieval and pre-medieval kings. Succession to the throne appears to be smooth and orderly, without fratricide or patricide. The ascent of Prince Arulmoli (regnal title Rajendra Chola) shows a marked contrast to the bloodstained machinations of many dynasties, especially the Mughals. Again, Rajaraja was ordained as a co-ruler to his uncle Uttama Chola and he assumed sovereignty when the elder died of natural causes. Construction of the Brihadiswara Temple at Thanjavur gives an absorbing aside to the story. The architects needed to design a temple at least 40 times larger than the average Tamil shrine. It had to be done in a single stroke, without experimenting with buildings of intermediate sizes. Excepting the pyramids of Giza, it was the tallest structure on earth in the eleventh century. The interior of the superstructure can still be glimpsed today. It is an astounding and somewhat eerie sight, an empty, silent pyramid of granite ascending away into the darkness. Cholas heavily depended on the merchant guilds such as the ‘Five Hundred’ to project their power overseas. The Cholas had no navy, contrary to popular perceptions, but the merchant ships carried men and materiel to the places as needed. They also acted as spies and gathered information on numerous occasions. They tipped Rajaraja of the power vacuum in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka which led to a Chola invasion and annexation. In return, the Cholas helped the guild by destroying their trade rivals. When Rajaraja stormed Kanthaloor in Kerala, he burnt the merchant ships moored there in an uncharacteristic departure from the rule of leaving commerce unmolested during war. This is thought to be a strategy to cause crushing losses to the Chola guild’s competitors. Further, the book notes that the Cholas established new centres through conquest, but they did not wipe out the older cultures and thrived from diversity. Rajendra made a plundering raid to Kedah in Malaysia in 1025, but he did not establish suzerainty over it. A network of Tamil merchants was established from mainland India deep into southeast Asia. Remains of brick temples were found there, containing Tamil-style stone idols of Buddha, Shiva linga and sculpture of Vishnu were cohabiting harmoniously (p.145). Read William Dalrymple’s excellent work ‘The Golden Road’ which presents a sweeping coverage of southeast Asia’s cultural links to the Tamil country (read my review here). Some fundamental changes were happening in the palace around this time. After Rajendra followed his father Rajaraja to the crown, purse-strings were tightened and the royal ladies ceased patronizing temples for half a century since the 1020s.

The most unfortunate thing about the book is that Kanisetti tries to sneak in his liberal ideology onto medieval treatises in claims such as the Chola empire was great only for the upper classes of the Kaveri floodplain; for the people on the frontier it meant that their homes were looted, fields burnt and women captured. Not only the Cholas, in any period in history including our own, the upper classes always have a great time. It provides no new information such as redundant statements like ‘it was the sun which rose in the day and the moon shone in the night during the Chola period’. The author plays up the atrocities during Cholas’ military campaigns as if to blame them. During Rajendra’s Ganga campaign, he attacked temples. The author then admits that a number of spectacular idols were carried back to Chola territory (p.19) and placed in minor shrines. He says that this was very much par for the course in medieval south Asia. Now, compare this to what Ghaznawi did to the Somnatha idol at around the same time. Readers also get a taste of the author’s socialist turn of mind while describing events occurred in the eleventh century. He complains that most of what the Paraiyar cultivators grew went to landowners. The unmentioned labour of the Paraiyars was the foundation of the medieval period’s urbanism and complex exchanges, but the people were shorter, wirier and more wrinkly with prolonged exposure (p.164). These are lofty, elegant ideas but applied here a bit anachronistically. This book also takes references in contemporary texts at face value ignoring the exaggeration of many orders of magnitude. He considers Sekkilar’s Shaivite work on the history of sixty-three gurus. They entered into a religious discourse with the Jains and when the latter lost, 8000 of them is said to have impaled themselves. Kanisetti then cheekily suggests that this was based on a historical event even though he has no references to support this claim. Another story in the same book is that of a devotee of Shiva named Kannappa plucking both his eyeballs and offering it to a linga. Was that too based on a real incident?

The book gives a prominent place to the changes that occurred in Tamil society along with Chola decline and how the caste system solidified thereafter. As the centralized monarchy weakened, power was gradually seized by those who controlled military labour and agrarian production at the source. Tax evasion from within by gifting land to temples and foreign invasions weakened the Cholas. Caste is often thought of as an ancient, immutable system imposed from the top by kings and Brahmins, but in south India, it was a medieval system shaped by medieval classes in response to an absence of royal authority, rather than a preponderance of it (p.255). The book explicitly narrates the Cholas’ war-time atrocities, but a marked difference of their modus operandi to Islamic invasions is clearly discernible. The Hoysalas ransacked Kaveri temples but did not destroy them. The Palli people under the Cholas ransomed the idols and re-consecrated them (p.200). This is how true economic interest on the part of invaders works. On the other hand, whenever we read of destruction of temples, a clear religious motive lies behind the act. The author presents the ways in which palace women were sexually exploited in needless detail. These are unquestioningly taken from the eulogies of fawning poets living on the largesse of their patrons.

The entire book employs a clever stratagem to paint the greatest Chola kings as villains or at least as those who do not deserve appreciation or respect. To bolster his point, he alleges them to have carried out the most outrageous crime imaginable in today’s Tamil Nadu – patronization of Brahmins! The book is written in dramatic prose with characters displaying emotions and capable of thinking like ordinary people. It is probable that the author might have desired to provide the seed for a movie script on Cholas out of this book in the future. Even though this book is historical fiction for the most part, he paints a picture designed to accentuate the fault lines in present-day society and deliberately plays up discrimination and violence which might have happened in the distant past. Instead of naming the princes directly, the uses their battle honorifics like ‘Madurai-destroyer’ or ‘Kerala-destroyer’ in a wily attempt to scratch long-healed scabs in order to reopen the wound. This would also make the people from these regions remain slightly peeved that would prevent them from identifying with the kings and queens in this book. Mass rape is accused in a Chola-Chalukya war. It might’ve occurred, but what is hypocritical is the total tactical silence of such liberal authors when the winning side is Mughal or Central Asian, as we have seen many times in the past. In such cases, they shut up like a clam on battlefield violence and tyranny on captured women. Examples of the author’s colourful language describing Cholas’ atrocities are: ‘hands reddened with blood and mud-stained sweat of thousands’; ‘loot and pillage of undefended villages’; ‘sawed off the nose of the daughter of an enemy general’; ‘The Chola imperial temples only served to distribute war loot to Kaveri gentry and warriors’; ‘Chola court was imagined as a cut-throat world in later centuries’.

Winston Churchill once pejoratively remarked that India was no more a single country than the equator – that is, India was only a geographic term. But Kanisetti goes one step further in the detestation of his homeland by removing all references to the Indian subcontinent and replacing it with South Asia. However, South India remains as such without any modification. Taking into account the disdain and apathy Kanisetti shows to all things Indian and his uncanny knack in always digging up the unpleasant, this man may rightly be called the ‘Wendy Doniger of India’.

The book lacks serious research and feels like fiction. Serious readers of history would do better by avoiding this book.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the better part of the last ten days, I found myself immersed in the quiet, exacting labour of assisting a student with a research paper titled “The Continuity of South Indian History.” What began as academic guidance soon turned into a sustained, almost meditative engagement with the region’s deep past. In the course of this work, I returned—slowly, attentively, and in detail—to three remarkable volumes that together trace the long, interwoven currents of South Indian history:

Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas by Anirudh Kanisetti; Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire, also by Anirudh Kanisetti; and A Concise History of South India by Noboru Karashima.

What follows is a considered review of all three—read not in isolation, but in conversation with one another, as companion texts illuminating the enduring continuities of the southern past.

To approach ‘Lords of Earth and Sea’ after ‘Lords of the Deccan’ is to feel the historical lens tighten and sharpen. Where the earlier book re-centres the Deccan within the medieval world, this one performs an even more daring act: it takes a dynasty that has long been mythologised, flattened, and often domesticated into cultural pride, and restores to it its full strangeness, ambition, brutality, and brilliance.

Kanisetti’s Cholas are not marble icons or nationalist mascots. They are unexpected, unsettling, and—precisely because of that—magnificent.

The following chapters make up the book:

1. Solar Kings in a Lunar World
2. Homes for the Gods
3. Blood and Camphor
4. Kin-slaying
5. Death and Taxes
6. Left and Right

The word “unexpected”, which the author foregrounds in his introduction, is doing a great deal of work. For most of Indian history, power gravitates toward two immense zones: the Gangetic plains in the north, birthing continental empires, and the Deccan plateau, whose militarised polities repeatedly reshape the subcontinent.

Coastal polities, particularly those speaking Tamil, are rarely imagined as imperial centres. They are cast instead as mercantile, devotional, or cultural spaces—rich, certainly, but politically secondary. The Cholas explode this assumption. Their rise in the ninth century CE is not merely another dynastic turn; it is a geopolitical rupture.

At the moment of their emergence, the Rashtrakutas dominate the subcontinent so completely that even distant Arab observers acknowledge them as India’s paramount power.

And yet, within a relatively short span, the Cholas do what no Tamil-speaking polity had done before or since: they unite the Tamil and Telugu coasts into a single imperial formation and sustain it for nearly three centuries.

The comparison Kanisetti draws with the Mughal Empire is not casual or rhetorical. Duration matters in history. Longevity is proof not only of military success but also of administrative adaptability, economic depth, and social negotiation. The Cholas pass that test.

What is particularly striking is how Kanisetti refuses to frame Chola expansion as either inevitable or divinely sanctioned. Their campaigns are described as audacious gambles—sometimes breathtakingly successful, sometimes brutally extractive.

Raiding north to the Ganga, humiliating Deccan powers, projecting authority through the potent symbolism of the tiger-surmounted sengol—these are not merely acts of conquest. They are statements of intent, carefully staged performances meant to announce a new centre of gravity in South Asia. For a brief but extraordinary historical moment, a Tamil coastal empire claims symbolic overlordship of the entire subcontinent.

Yet the Cholas do not stop at the subcontinent’s edge. One of the book’s great strengths is how decisively it places Chola history within the Indian Ocean world.

Sri Lanka becomes not a peripheral appendage but a deeply contested imperial outpost. The Malay Peninsula is not a vague zone of influence but a real theatre of military action—an expedition so unprecedented that it sends ripples all the way to East Asia. The Chinese bureaucrat’s account that Kanisetti cites—pearls, precious stones, sixty thousand war elephants, thousands of court servants—is not included merely for colour. It reminds us that the Cholas were legible, visible, and formidable to distant observers. They mattered on a global stage.

And yet, one of Kanisetti’s most important interventions is his insistence that we do not need to exaggerate the Cholas to admire them. This is a quiet but devastating critique of much popular history. We do not need to imagine a vast, centralised Chola navy when we know Tamil merchant corporations were capable of transporting armies across the sea. We do not need to fantasise about overseas colonies when material evidence shows Tamil merchants governing settlements in Sumatra.

We do not need to invoke mystical explanations for Chola temples when inscriptions, logistics, and engineering expertise already testify to human genius on a staggering scale. The Cholas, Kanisetti suggests, become more dazzling when we stop forcing them into modern fantasies of empire.

This insistence on demystification runs throughout the book. Temples, perhaps the most iconic legacy of the Cholas, are treated not as timeless monuments but as political instruments. They are sites of devotion, yes, but also of negotiation, display, and persuasion. Kanisetti’s argument that Chola kings used temples as spaces of political advertisement is both persuasive and unsettling.

Donations, inscriptions, and architectural grandeur are not simply acts of piety; they are strategies to convince powerful regional collectives—assemblies, guilds, and landholders—that the king deserves obedience. Power here is never assumed. It is constantly performed.

This leads to what may be the book’s most intellectually satisfying theme: the relationship between rulers and ruled.

Kanisetti refuses the familiar procession-of-kings model that dominates so much Indian historiography. Instead, he asks the questions that are usually glossed over:

1) Where did royal wealth come from?

2) How was manpower mobilised?

3) Why did people consent to be ruled at all?

The answers are complex, contingent, and often uncomfortable. Chola kings rise within a relatively egalitarian and participatory world of the Kaveri floodplain, structured around local assemblies and collective decision-making.

Their eventual transformation into a warlike autocracy is neither natural nor smooth. It is the result of sustained tension between centralising ambition and local autonomy.

The tragedy of the Cholas, as Kanisetti tells it, lies precisely here. The creation of a wealthy ruling elite—initially a sign of imperial success—gradually undermines the state itself. Tax evasion by elites hollows out royal finances.

The burden shifts downward. Cultivators are squeezed, trampled, and impoverished. The throne weakens even as temples gleam brighter than ever. This is not a story of sudden collapse, but of slow erosion, where the very mechanisms that once sustained empire turn corrosive.

And yet, even as the dynasty falters, the society it helped shape does not. This is one of the most quietly radical aspects of the book. Kanisetti shows how middle-class collectives—merchants, weavers, and corporate guilds—emerge from the Chola world not diminished but empowered.

As royal authority fades, these groups become more cosmopolitan, more interconnected, and more adaptable.

They form alliances with each other and with new rulers, eventually integrating into the Vijayanagara Empire and dominating Indian Ocean trade by the fifteenth century. The Cholas fall, but the social energies they unleashed continue to flow outward, reshaping the wider world.

Throughout, Kanisetti’s prose maintains a rare balance between narrative drive and analytical depth. He does not shy away from moral complexity. The Cholas are builders of astonishing beauty and agents of ruthless extraction. Their empire expands opportunity for some while crushing others.

There is no attempt to resolve this tension. Instead, it is allowed to stand, unresolved and instructive. History, in this telling, is not a morality tale but a study in consequence.

What makes ‘Lords of Earth and Sea’ so compelling is that it refuses both nostalgia and cynicism. It neither romanticises the Cholas nor reduces them to mere exploiters. It takes them seriously as historical actors operating within constraints, ambitions, and contradictions not unlike those faced by empires elsewhere.

The comparisons to Rome and Britain are not meant to elevate or diminish India’s past, but to normalise it—to insist that Indian history deserves the same analytical rigour applied to other civilisations.

By the end of the book, the Cholas no longer appear as an anomaly or an exception.

They become a case study in how power is built, justified, and ultimately exhausted.

They remind us that empires are not sustained by monuments alone, but by consent, negotiation, and material balance—and that when those fail, even the most dazzling structures cannot hold.

In stripping away fantasy, Kanisetti gives us something far richer: a Chola history that feels alive, contested, and profoundly human.

It is a story not of who we wish the Cholas were, but of who they actually were—and that, in the end, is far more irresistible.

Most recommended.

[Vidhya Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an important revelation of how complex the history of the South is. So many factions over many centuries and how the Cholas were situated. The way temples were used, the role of women in tamil society. The mercentiles, peasants, caste politics and how Hindu gods were situated are important details. Also the naval contact with SEA, which era it was and the links between Tamil Nadu, Srilanka and Malay kingdoms and even Guangdao was fascinating. Also the patronage of temples and the privilege of Brahmins given by Cholas and how that shaped Tamilnadu for its future is illuminating. So much of what we know today is better explained but I’m not entirely sure if his conclusions are accurate. The distinctions between Pallava, Chola & Pandya periods is much clearer in my mind. And their links to Holsaya & Karkathiya. There were sections of the book that were heavily detailed and the names are quite mind boggling but it doesn’t take away from what this book contributes overall to this lesser known history. This book encourages you to learn more and seek greater clarity and this is essential reading for all Indians.

[Student · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cholas were a great dynasty. Anirudh Kanisetti tells their story with admirable enthusiasm and academic rigour. The story, however, could have been told better, much better. Like most discerning readers, I do not enjoy purple prose.

[S Ashok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anirudh Kaniesetti's account of Chola history is an extremely readable work, yet I felt most of the information was already know to me, may be due to my prior readings on the Chola rule.
I took certain interesting learnings from my reading of this book, which i would like to write here.

1. Empires are always waiting to collapse
It seems every empire be it the cholas, or the Mughals any big empire are always an artifical construct. It involves tremendous coerction, effort to establish and main them as power seems to naturally like to be distributed. On the contrary large empires like that of the Chola involve extreme centralisation of power. If we see the history of the chola empire, initially they are small players, they utilise the power vaccum to come to power and through alliances, gifts to temples, stability and protection, war raids they establish themselves. Even till the time of Raja raja chola their power is not centralised, they still depend on smaller players and have to constantly work with them sharing the power. Yet in the generation of Raja raja chola and his son Rajendra they attain the zeneth of power. But having established it, they need to constantly involve in warfare, as states they conquer are constantly trying to break free of shackles. So its as is building a sand castle, the forces that oppose them constantly keep fighting, the pandyas for example are never eliminated, the Chalukyas although defeated repeatedly are constantly threatening. So I felt that empire are inherently waiting to collapse.

2. Empire are establised based on alliances.
Empire's are about to acceptance and large coalitions, especially involving various caste and social groups. Chola's were able to cleverly create these coalitions, like with Bhramins they were able to create loyal relatinship, they gifted lands to them, ensured that proper taxes were collected through ofcourse exploitation. As bhramins were influential in any social coalition cholas utilised their influence to justify their rule. In a simillar way they build coalitions with Vellalars and the merchant class to ensure there is strong army backing, ensuring proper agriculture produce and utilising the merchant guilds in mutually beneficial way. The merchant guilds like the 500 (Ainooruvar) were firm backers of the chola rule as chola conquests opened new markets for them in Srilanka, Sumatra, China etc. The Ainooruvar supported the chola war efforts by ensuring a constant supply of food and other nedds.

Yet as the charishma of the original rulers fade away the need to wage wars constantly is lost, this results in smaller players trying to re establish them selves as power centres. This inturn reduces the manuverability of the empire, its tax revenues etc. Ultimately the cholas declined.

[Axe2008 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the outcome when the author has read too much and lacks a strong editor. This combination has resulted in a book that has a lot of small vignettes and “cool” factoids, but lacking in coherence. Poor editorial judgement is quite a shame, especially because Anirudh seems to be a good acquaintance of William Dalrymple, whose books cannot be criticized for their lack of coherence. This book could have been such an illuminating book helping the readers understand a part of India’s history that isn’t very well known, however the hodgepodge of facts leaves one none the wiser.

The book starts with a good sense of setting the place and time of Cholas emergence in the Kaveri plains. Anirudh does well to add some color to the individuals and attempts to even provide some stories of the common, non-royal folks. However, the problems of too many stories in the author’s head start showing up quite early. Anirudh flits from one topic to another without really giving enough explanation to the important events.

For instance, there is the seminal moment when Cholas become Kings from mere regional strongmen, there is very little explanation of how the Cholas made that leap. Similarly, we hear about Temples being the source of rise (and fall of the Cholas), which seems to be a very important area that one would have liked to understand better - how were the temple finances run? how were the temples used to project power? What was the role of priests in the administration? All areas that are touched upon, but suddenly the discussion would veer away to some other topic. One gets to know more about the top knots and oil bathing of the kings rather than why and how Temples influenced Chola empire.

Even when Anirudh is trying hard to add color to the individuals, one is left wanting to learn a bit more. For instance, he credits Sembiyan Mahadevi as being an equal to the Medicis in her impact on architecture. That’s a strong claim, so one would have liked more understanding of what parts of the temple design did she innovate? were there some architects that she patronized? Was there a Sembiyan temple style? Sadly, no details are provided.

If you pick up the book expecting “Lords of Earth and Sea” to get also a better understanding of how Cholas famously expanded their influence across the seas in South East Asia, you would be disappointed. There is barely a chapter on South East Asia expansion; no understanding of mechanism of how merchant guilds worked with the state to expand and project power or how it impacted Chola finances. This is a missed opportunity because it is an important topic with direct impact on the discussion of what constitutes an Empire. One would want to understand how it contrasted versus British rule on India, or what were the technological, and political reasons that allowed private merchants to expand in South East Asia. All topics that are extremely relevant today, and one would imagine needing a lot more space than a mere chapter which perfunctorily touches upon the areas where Chola influenced in South East Asia.

Funnily, there are a couple of pages in the end which seem to have been added of Cholas sending some delegation to China. One suspects that the editor probably asked Anirudh to write some more of “sea” as it is in the title and at the last minute, a couple of pages were bunged in.

In fact, vast majority of the book is Cholas’ birth, flowering, and death in the Tamil plains. So. probably a more apt title would be “Lords of Tamil Nadu”.

[Ananyaa Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bookended my tour through Chola territories with this book, and while it helped envision the world, there were many confusing choices and blank areas throughout the book. Take, for example, the Chola invasion of the Kedah during Rajendra Chola's rule. How did the Srivijaya empire gain control of the Malacca strait and why was it important? And how was taxation on ports in the strait prior to the Chola invasion? Why was trade with China so important and what benefits does having a better trade rating with China provide? If we knew the answers to these questions - and many scholars have talked about this and even linked it to the Bengal raid by Rajendra Chola - it would help flesh out the maritime campaign. Instead, the campaign is presented as being just for power projection. How boring!

The other confusing choice here was to replace Tamil names with just the English translations, often without presenting the original Tamil name in the book. This book could have used a few more Tamil reviewers to ensure the translations are accurate and advise on some of the name shortenings and anglicizations.

It would also have been good to get an understanding of comparable empires and their wars / strategies during the time period, to understand how the Cholas empire building and society differed in the context of their peers. Yes, they were violent - but how much more violent? How were the temples used (as banks, guest houses, hospitals?) and did that change with the Cholas or was it about the same?

There's a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where King Arthur comes upon a peasant and Dennis's words pretty much sum up this entire book.

King Arthur: I am your king.
Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well how'd you become king then?
Angelic music plays...
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.
Dennis: interrupting Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

[Nikhil Karthik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer on the history of the Chola empire. The facts stated seem to be academically well researched and there is no pop-historyesque narrative that is being set.

But that is all the book is. A primer.
Quite a few opportunities were missed is what I feel:
1. To talk about the impact of the caste system on today's Tamilnadu that was solidified during the chola reign. Ofcourse, the idangai and valangai split has been captured. But it is of no use to today's readers if we are not able to understand what exactly is it today or how has it manifested in today's world
2. More focus on the day to day administration of the chola empire. The book as it is feels like a compilation of all the wars and destruction the cholas undertook and the temples they built to legitimize their power

The writing also feels a bit weird with unnecessary translations appearing all over the book.
For ex.
1. General Karunakaran Tondaimaan of the Kalingathu barani fame - His name was translated to 'Mercy-Giver' and was used subsequently across the entire chapter
2. Tirukkarali Pichhan - 'Mr. Crazy about Holy Stone Temples' and this population was described as 'Crazies' throughout the book
3. Kaikolar - Strongarm regiment. Such a translation denies the reader from linking the kaikolars to current day kaikolar caste and appreciate the evolution of communities over a long period of time.

These translations do not add any value and in fact removes the opportunity for the people new to chola history to digest the same in an authentic way. Why would anyone want to use 'Mercy-Giver' instead of their actual name. Mara Varman Pandyan's name was translated to 'The Beautiful Lord Pandya' and used as such throughout. It is okay to use the actual names and not convey authentic history through some fantasy names that no one can relate to.

Apart from these glaring issues the book is straightforward and hold's the readers interest throughout. Would suggest this book to folks who are just getting into Chola history.

[Palani Ramaswamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a historical nonfiction, deeply researched, with a solid foundation in inscriptions, literary texts, and academic sources that give it both credibility and richness. But what really sets it apart is how it tells the story—not just of kings and conquests, but of people, society, and legacy.

Unlike many history books that tend to glorify monarchs, this one humanises the historical figures. The Chola rulers are portrayed not just as icons of power but as real individuals with strengths, flaws, ambitions, and anxieties. That depth made their stories far more compelling and relatable than the usual larger-than-life portrayals.

Even more interesting is that the book goes beyond the usual origin-rise-decline arc of an empire. It explores how society evolved over centuries—the shifts in power, religion, caste, trade, and governance—and how some of those changes still influence South Indian life today. That long-view approach gave me a deeper appreciation for the region's legacy as something living and ongoing, not just historical.

Two things really stood out for me: the story of the Chidambaram temple, with all its layered symbolism and political entanglements, and the fascinating role of the merchant communities. Their economic and political influence wasn’t confined to the subcontinent—it stretched across the Indian Ocean, from ports in Sri Lanka and Sumatra to trade hubs like Quanzhou in China. The way they negotiated power, protected their interests, and contributed to cultural exchange across regions was an eye-opening part of the book that often gets overlooked in traditional historical narratives.

Recommend this if you're into Indian history, but also if you're curious about how power, belief, trade, and society intersect across time and geography. It’s the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page.

[മോസിൻ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written history of the Cholas, which puts effort into detailing facets of the empire beyond just wars and kings.

Compared to Kanisetti's debut on the Chalukyas, the relative abundance in available primary sources for the Cholas is apparent in the writing itself. I would suggest would-be-readers of this book to read Lords of the Deccan : Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas first; many events involve the two powers, and it's interesting to see it pan out from both perspectives.

My only gripe is the treatment that many names got; the usage of their translations to be specific. While I understand that terms like Right Hand and Shining Plough may be easier for a general English-speaking audience (compared to using the original), this was overused for a lot of person names like General Mercy-Giver (for Karunakara Tondaiman). An egregious example of this is a sentence which goes like "Poets Joining-Dancer Ottakuttar and Victory-Seizer Jayankondar ..." — referring to a person with just their name isn't ideal for writing, but translations of this sort is worse in my opinion.

[Shwetha H.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anirudh Kanisetti has done all he could to not keep Lords of Earth and Sea in the shadows of Lords of the Deccan. Although Lords of Earth and Sea acts as a standalone book, it does contain a few attributions to Lords of the Deccan. It is not necessary to read the first book, but it is good to have read it so that you get a bigger picture than just going linear, especially with history being all over the place.
It is important to note that the narration actually starts with the description of a queen to emphasize the vitality of the roles women played in building the Chola empire.
I laughed so hard at “their family tree was more of a family bush.” Guess about whom the author
talked about! I am not going to reveal that. If you have guessed, let me know in the comments. If not, then go read the Lords of Earth and Sea. The book briefly talks about the practice of marrying within the relatives. But, this practice made me wonder about their gene pool. What do you say?
However, I feel, Rajaraja I’s wife Loka Mahadevi deserves a spot on the family tree in this book.
Similar to the influential women we see in Lords of the Deccan, the Chola women too were immersed in temple building and then making donations to it. But, Chola women never abandoned the culture of their birth families; be it Nangai’s Irukkuvel styled architecture or Sembiyan Mahadevi’s revered Nataraja — the iconic form of Lord Shiva. In my book review blog and the book review vlog of Lords of the Deccan, I talk about the differences in the treatment of women of ones own clan and the war captures. Similarly, in Lords of Earth and Sea too you will see the double standards described. Well, it is no secret that women are easy targets, be it in wars or day-to-day lives.
Captured women’s lives are explained well in Lords of Earth and Sea. After reading the book, if you think it may be a guesswork, then I say it is an informed guesswork. But let’s face the truth. No medieval king, in the Indian subcontinent or elsewhere, was a saint. Women were warbooty. Women were and are easy targets when someone wants to showcase their strength unless it is a weightlifting contest.
On one hand you have royal ladies, some reaching the status of goddess, and on the other hand there are
service retinue’s captured women, whose cries fell on their gods’ deaf ears. The gods do favour the
wealthy, don’t they?
Not just the plight of captured women is detailed, the plight of warriors is also explained well based on the caste system.
In the first chapter itself one full cycle of the early Cholas is seen completed — the rise and the fall. This made me curious about the forthcoming chapters!
In the second chapter of Lords of Earth and Sea, it feels like the author has rushed the lives of
Parantaka II, if not his eldest son Aditya II, the predecessor of the Chola precursor. In the same rush, the author says “The king withered away and the queen, the mother, committed ritual suicide when their elder son was killed.” Here, the problem is, the author explains this whole generation only in relations and their names don’t appear. To correlate, you need to flip to the family tree, given in the initial page of the book,
before Introduction. There, the first name under Parantaka II is Arulmozhi Varman instead of Aditya II.
This creates a major confusion. This can either make the reader turn to Google for clarification or hefty
disinterest down the pages. Now that I have clarified this for you, please continue reading the book,
especially if you have been living in the political mythology surrounding the Cholas.
Similarly, Rajendra I is mentioned as Rajaraja I in the family tree. I hope these issues don’t occur
in the second edition.
Nonetheless, the family tree of Cholas given in Lords of Earth and Sea persuades you to open the
family tree of Chalukyas in Lords of the Deccan.
In Lords of the Deccan, we see Queen Loka Mahadevi of Vatapi Chalukya was in a league of her own. In Lords of Earth and Sea, we have many queens, who surpass one another. No, don’t be excited expecting catfights. Those women were with grit and grace, and the backbone of Chola governance. One couldn’t take them lightly then and have a lot to learn from now.
There is one more Loka Mahadevi in the Chola clan and she is not to be confused with the Chalukya one.
Along with the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, even the merchant union Five Hundred Lords of Aiyyavola (the modern day Aihole in Karnataka) also keep up their appearance in this book.
There are quite a few instances in the book that look into the situations when the Chola kings decided to shamelessly take credit for their subordinates’ hard work. Just like many managers in the modern day corporations.
The description of what Rajendra Chola was doing when his armies attacked Rashtrakuta’s Manyakheta is spine-chilling.
There is a good explanation in the book on how we find a high number of Tamil speaking population in southern Karnataka — not just Bengaluru because it’s the state capital, but also in the districts like Mysuru and Kolar. Read the book to know.
The sheer ingenuity of Anirudh Kanisetti is seen in the page no. 124 of this extraordinary book. I want to tell you about it, but I want you to see and experience it on your own. It is not always about what you write and how you write. Sometimes, it is also about how you look at things. That’s how you become a good researcher and historian. That’s what Anirudh Kanisetti is.
I laughed so hard at the title Rajendra II gave Vira Chola. Never thought that history could make me laugh. I am sure you will at least let out a guffaw.
There is a brief about the boom of Kanchi sarees, although mentioned indirectly. I wish there was more about this topic.
The so-called “Third Urbanization” is detailed very well in the book. Feels so good reading it because the next urbanization that we saw probably is where concrete came into our lives. At least, that’s what qualifies to be urban as per our politicians in the name of development.
The history of Cholas shows two conspired deaths of royals — one with Aditya II and next is Rajaraja II. Books about these incidents will make good historical thrillers.
If I go by how Lords of the Deccan and Lords of Earth and Sea concluded, then it is safe to assume the next book of Anirudh Kanisetti would be on the Hoysalas!

[Barun Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous and thoroughly researched book which acts as a travelogue of sorts to the land of the Cholas. The author explains in vivid details how the Cholas rose to power and transformed Tamil Nadu and many aspects of South Indian religious aspects by establishing huge temple complexes.
The author proves how the Cholas ruled like many Indian kingdoms before them through a patchwork of alliances and how the Cholas never really had a navy as we envision it these days.
Reading this book I could feel the maritime winds that brought immense trade and prosperity to this part of India and how as in the case of Bhakti movement communal worship also was started in southern India.
A must read for those who want to figure out the many complex relationships amongst the Pandyas, Cheras, Cholas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas and the many hill and tribal communities who all played a major part in this part of India.

[Samuel Premkumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An above average book on the Cholas. I am sure there must be better and more informative books on the Cholas.

Cholas are credited for the expansion of Hinduism and Hindu Gods in South India by promoting temple culture. Today Tamil Nadu must be having the largest number of temples, thanks to the Cholas.

The contribution of the Chola Queens, in the development of temples, grants, jewelry is indispensable. The growth of religious fervor in the Chola kingdom us credited to their Queens. The Queens took over local religious administration while their Kings were out conquering territories.

Needless to say, the Cholas conquered large territories covering South and East India, South-East Asia and Lanka, at their peak. The different type of local administration tried out by the Cholas, from central control in the key Kaveri flood plains to decentralised local rule in far flung territories is worth a mention.

The 3 temples, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Gangaikonda Cholapuram are a testimony of their building skills.

Some problems with the book and it's style are -

. The author suddenly gets to Poetic mode with complex words and phrases which breaks the rhythm of reading.
. Many Tamil words are literally translated to English which neither the Tamilian or a non-Tamilian will understand.
. The names of the places in Chola period should have their modern names in bracket so that we can have a mental location.
When talking about temples and Chola structures, should mention where one can find it or it's ruins to kindle interest.
. The Chola family tree seems to have mistakes.

A reasonably good book to know about the Chola Queens and their contribution to the growth of Hinduism in South India

[Arjun Butani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a couple of months ago completely unaware about the history and culture of the Chola Kingdoms of India.

The Cholas were as creative and imaginative as they were unexpected. They built stupendous temples – the tallest freestanding structures on earth after the pyramids of Egypt. Chola queens popularized new forms of gods and worship, such as the iconic Nataraja and the singing of Tamil poems to deities. And they were spectacularly daring, raiding not just the powerful Deccan and North India but also Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. For a dynasty that was so influential – and is so loved today – its actual historical achievements were surprisingly forgotten by the late nineteenth century, for they had faded into myth and legend.

This is a brilliantly researched book. Please read!

[Parasuraman Swaminathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read though I would rate his first book Lords of the Deccan higher. A very well researched book. Lots of references to secondary sources and throws light on an important dynasty of south India. I would have liked to see more information Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola, given their huge cultural influence in south India but the book seems to focus more on the later Cholas. Some information on the economic, religious, and cultural aspects of their rule would also have been better. Overall, a must read for History buffs. I am also a regular reader of Anirudh Kanisetti's columns in The Print and eagerly waiting for his next book.

[Prabhat Gusain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chola Empire was the most dominant kingdom of South India. They, for the first time, united vast area of the Tamil and Telugu coasts, creating a Tamil-speaking empire that lasted nearly three hundred years from the 10th to the 13th century - as long as the Mughal empire that came much later in North India. One of the defining features of Chola imperialism was that while the Cholas established and maintained new centres of power through conquest, and generally preferred Tamil-style institutions, they were not at all interested in wiping out older/other cultures. Such benevolence was alien to the Indian Ocean world at the time. They thrived, and in fact profited, from diversity.

[Roopa Prabhu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord of the Earth and Sea 🌊
Never quite understood whether the author truly admired the Cholas or not. The entire book revolves around their kingdom — and yet, they somehow feel like shadows in their own story.

That said, there were parts I absolutely loved — especially the glimpses into how society might have been back then. The intricate power dynamics of South India (a region so rarely explored by writers) were fascinating to read about.

Also loved how it deepened my understanding of the magnificent Tanjavur Temple, one of my absolute favourites in India. 🛕✨

And the book does end abruptly!

[Varun Sadasivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anirudh takes us through the history of the Cholas over a span of almost 300 years. Written in a very visual way, he helps us walk through the palaces, temples, fields, and village assemblies of the era. In easy-to-read language and with detailed citations, Anirudh not only gives us a glimpse into the royal life of the Cholas—their palace politics and the wars they fought—but also tries to piece together a picture of how the lives of their subjects were and how they responded to political changes.

[Allhailcva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read with a very unique style of writing, it sucks you in with the only drawback being that you are just not awake of how many years you travel in certain sections. But that was not the point of the author (standard historical texts will always do a better job). The only issue being that maybe the names and titles of rulers be not just available in english but also in their original form but it will only be enjoyable to readers well versed in the vernacular hence can be slightly digested...slightly.

[Mohan Ratnam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A revisionist and factual retelling of the charismatic empire of the Medieval Cholas. Highly impressed by Anirudh's focus on meticulous details and his reasoning based on evidence. Temple illustrations by Aurelia is a puller. Thanks to Anirudh for bringing out not only the human and apparent side of our kings and emperors but also the stories of common people whose lives are shaped by the big magnates of their time. Must read if you're interested in Medieval history.

[Saurabh Odak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Kanisetti's books and have enjoy them. I started with the Lords of the Deccan and followed by the Lords of the Earth and sea. He has a great knack of story telling and keep the reader glued.
Lords of the Earth and sea took me to the medieval Coromandel coast and I could envision myself in the midst of the Chola empire.
A great read and very easy for someone from North India not very fluent with Tamil language.
I would strongly recommend reading it.

[Saravana Sastha Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has to be most fascinating and hard hitting book on history I have read in recent times. So difficult to keep your mind away from the book when you start reading it. Well done Aniruddh. A la communist thought process of the author is shown here and there but he does a very good job of keeping it to manageable minimum

[Sumithra Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this book looks at historical events and figures from a place of curiosity rather than adulation or scorn. It is a tightrope to walk and this book does it quite fabulously.