Virarajendra Chola

Who was Virarajendra Chola?

Vira Rajendra Chola was one of the most under-rated Chola kings, mainly because a major part of his life was spent as a subordinate of his two elder brothers Rajadhiraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola II, who along with Virarajendra Chola himself were the illustrious sons of their Chakravarti father, Rajendra Chola I. While certainly it was not a practice among the Chola kings to nominate the eldest son, but the most capable as the heir to the throne. During his early reign he granted the maintenance of a school to study the Vedas, Sastras and Grammar and a hostel was provided for the students. A hospital named Virasolan was also provided by him for the sick people. The famous grammatical work in Tamil, Virasoliyam was written by Buddhamitra during his reign.

Virarajendra’s reign falls in a period of the medieval Cholas, when it was both trying to expand its boundaries and preserve its existing territories, but had appeared to stutter in its attempts because of death in his prime of eldest brother and king Rajadhiraja-I and the short rule of Virarajendra's elder brother Rajendra-II. In all the three brothers altogether ruled for between 16–20 years by succeeding one another[*].