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The Chola Military Revolution: Rajaraja's Standing Army
Long before the Chola Empire projected power across the Indian Ocean, Rajaraja Chola I built something unprecedented in South India: a permanent, professional standing army. Unlike the feudal levies that preceded him, Rajaraja's army was paid in cash from the imperial treasury, equipped with standardized weapons, and organized into regiments with their own names, banners, and cults. This episode walks through the evidence from the Brihadeeswarar temple inscriptions, which record over 80 named regiments, their commanders, and their donors. We explore the famous 'Tirunavalu'…
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