Long live the King

Someone wrote to ask: when and how Raja Raja Cholan expired?

Rajaraja Cholan was a very influential king of the Cholan empire (now part of India) from 985 to 1014. Although several sources agree that he died in 1014, none of them tell me how he died. His son,Rajendra I, ruled with his father from 1012 to 1014. This suggests to me that either his father was elderly at that time (we do not know the date of Rajaraja’s birth) or there may have been indications that the King was in poor health - however, this is only speculation on my part. Although Rajaraja is famous in part for being the first ruler to have engraved in stone, literally, records of his military conquests no one seems to have made a record of the cause of his death.

Quite a bit is available at the Wikipedia entry about this great king. I found only small mentions of him in the reference books at our small library, mostly about his military exploits and methods of governance. Perhaps Triga can weigh in with the cause of death - having a better library at his disposal.

Summer