The Pandya Invasion That Destroyed the Chola Navy

The Chola Empire: How South India Dominated the Indian Ocean — Fexingo History · Jun 23, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In the mid-13th century, the Chola Empire faced a mortal threat not from the north but from the south: the rising Pandya dynasty. This episode tells the story of Jatavarman Sundara Pandya's campaign that shattered Chola naval power and ended their Indian Ocean dominance. We follow the Pandya fleet's burning of the Chola dockyards at Nagapattinam, the fall of the Kaveri delta ports, and the last Chola emperor Rajendra III's desperate flight. Through Tamil inscriptions and maritime archaeology, we reconstruct the forgotten naval battles that reshaped South India. We also explore…