Early Cholas: History, Art and Culture

I found this piece of scholarship quite fascinating as it explored not only a very interesting and engaging period of South Indian history, but offered a profile of sorts of one of the early and most notable rulers of the Chola empire, an empire which, a few hundred years later, would extend its influence as far as Singapore.Early Cholas is primarily an investigation into the rule of Parantaka I, the grandson of Vijayalaya I, the founder of the imperial line of the Cholas. The story of Parantaka I and his rule is constructed primarily from inscriptions from temples and temple dedications, often marking donations. Swaminathan has done a remarkable job piecing together a coherent story of the time and luckily does not venture too far beyond his sources in reconstructing the period for us readers.I must admit I completely passed over his chapters on the art of the early Cholas, so I cannot speak to his attempts there or this scholarship's value to the art historian. But for those interested in South Asian history, especially that of the Tamils and the Chola empire in particular, I would think this would be an invaluable resource. The later chapters on social and religious conditions suffer from a common ailment of works which attempt, with meager resources, to paint a full portrait of daily life, beliefs, and attitudes, and at some points one feels Swaminathan writes with a touch of cultural chauvinism and may be attempting to present this period in the best light possible. However, I still found these chapters informative if I was careful in discriminating between evidence and conjecture. I found his chapters on the political atmosphere of this time and region which form the opening chapters to be dense, informative, well written and well organized, and firmly placed within primary sources with very limited theoretical ponderings.As someone who is not an expert in South Indian history, I did find it particularly difficult at times and had to constantly resort to other resources in order to get a fuller picture of the other individuals referred to during this period, sometimes with little result. I also had to often draw diagrams to illustrate to myself the different political or matrimonial allegiances, and I found it very difficult to keep track of without providing myself a visual reference; it would have been valuable had Swaminathan provided us readers with one, but perhaps he had more faith in our mental organization skills (or at least mine) than was warranted. I also suggest you have a good district-level map of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerela, and Andhra Pradesh handy as a reference so that you can also orient what is being relayed geographically.All in all, however, I found this to be an fascinating and engaging work of scholarship and one that illuminated a critical time in the annals of South Indian history.