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Maritime South Asia (964 – 1107 CE): …

Years: 964 - 1107

Maritime South Asia (964 – 1107 CE): Chola Expansion, Western Chalukyas, and Polonnaruwa’s Ascent

Maritime South Asia includes peninsular India south of the Narmada River (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, southern Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh), Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

Anchors: the Tamil plains, Deccan plateau, Kerala backwaters, Sri Lanka’s dry and wet zones, and the Maldives–Chagos island chains.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

Monsoons remained reliable during the later Medieval Warm Period, supporting agricultural expansion in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra.
Occasional droughts affected the Deccan interior, but extensive irrigation tanks and Kerala’s backwaters cushioned the impact.
Sri Lanka shifted from Anuradhapura toward Polonnaruwa, continuing to invest in reservoirs and canals.
The Maldives were increasingly tied into South Indian trade circuits under Chola influence, though still reliant on coconuts and fisheries; Lakshadweep and Chagos remained small-scale subsistence islands.

Societies and Political Developments

Cholas (Tamil Nadu):
- Rajaraja I (r. 985–1014) and Rajendra I (r. 1014–1044) expanded across South India, Sri Lanka, and into the Maldives.
- Built monumental temples (Brihadeshvara, 1010).
Western Chalukyas contested Deccan with Cholas.
Kerala (Cheras): spice trade enriched port towns.
Sri Lanka:
- Cholas annexed northern Sri Lanka (Polonnaruwa) in 993, held until local Sinhalese resurgence under Vijayabahu I (r. 1055–1110).
Islands: Maldives under Chola influence; Lakshadweep and Chagos peripheral, integrated into maritime circuits.

Economy and Trade

Textiles (cotton from Coromandel) exported widely.
Spices and cinnamon central exports from Kerala and Sri Lanka.
Cowries from Maldives circulated as currency in Bengal and Africa.
Chola navy dominated Bay of Bengal trade, projecting to Southeast Asia.

Belief and Symbolism

Hinduism: Chola rulers championed Shaivism, monumental temples.
Buddhism: still strong in Sri Lanka, declining in Tamilakam.
Islands: Buddhist traditions persisted; Hindu influence spread.

Long-Term Significance

By 1107, Cholas dominated peninsular India and maritime South Asia; Sri Lanka recovered autonomy; island chains were drawn into Indian Ocean circuits.

Southern South Asia (with civilization) ©2024-25 Electric Prism, Inc.

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René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou was …

René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou was born in Montpellier to a family ennobled in the sixteenth century as noblesse de robe, the eldest son of René Charles de Maupeou (1688–1775), who had been president of the parlement of Paris from 1743 to 1757.

In 1744 he had married a rich heiress, Anne de Roncherolles (1725–1752), a cousin of Madame d'Épinay, the friend of Rousseau who moved in the circles of the Philosophes.

Entering public life, he had been his father's right hand in the conflicts between the parlement and Christophe de Beaumont, archbishop of Paris, who was supported by the court.

Between 1763 and 1768, dates that cover the revision of the Calas case that Voltaire had championed and the trial of the comte de Lally, Maupeou had himself been president of the parlement.

In 1768, he became chancellor in succession to his father, who had held the office for twenty four hours only, largely in order to permit him to retire with the prestigious title.

With the disgrace of Choiseul on December 24, 1770, Maupeou is the chief minister.

He determines to support the royal authority against the parlement, the perennial block to reforms of the tax farming system or the privileges of the propertied classes, which in league with the provincial magistratures is seeking to arrogate to itself the functions of the states-general.

He allies himself with the duc d'Aiguillon and the king's mistress Madame du Barry, and secures for a creature of his own, the Abbé Terray, the office of comptroller-general.

The struggle erupts over the trial of the case of the duc d'Aiguillon, ex-governor of Brittany, and of La Chalotais, procureur-général of the province, who had been imprisoned by the governor for accusations against his administration.

When the parlement showed signs of hostility against Aiguillon, Maupeou had read letters patent from Louis XV annulling the proceedings.

Louis had replied to remonstrances from the parlement by a lit de justice, in which he demanded the surrender of the procedural minutes.

On November 27, 1770, had appeared the Édit de règlement et de discipline, which had been promulgated by the chancellor, forbidding the union of the various branches of the parlement and correspondence with the provincial magistratures.

It also made a strike on the part of the parlement punishable by confiscation of goods, and forbade further obstruction to the registration of royal decrees after the royal reply had been given to a first remonstrance.

This edict the magistrates had refused to register, and it was registered in a lit de justice held at Versailles on December 7, whereupon the parlement had been suspended in its functions.

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