About the Book: Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire
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 subcontinent: 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