Rajaraja Narendra () was an Eastern Chalukya king of the

Vengi Vengi or Venginadu ( Telugu: వేంగి) is a historic region located in present-day Andhra Pradesh, India spread over the Godavari and Krishna river deltas. Its capital was located at Pedavegi, near Eluru. Vengi was a prominent city in a ...

kingdom in present-day

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. He founded the city of Rajahmahendravaram (Rajahmundry), and his reign is noted for its significant contributions to social and cultural heritage. Narendra requested his teacher, advisor, and court poet Nannayya to translate the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

into Telugu as '' Andhra Mahabharatam''.

Early life

Rajaraja Narendra belonged to the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. On the maternal side, he is the grandson of

Rajaraja I Rajaraja I ( Middle Tamil: ''Rājarāja Cōḻaṉ''; Classical Sanskrit: ''Rājarāja Śōḷa''; 3 November 947 – January/February 1014), also known as Rajaraja the Great, was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 to 1014. He was known fo ...

. Amangai Devi, daughter of

Rajendra I Rajendra I (26 July 971 – 1044), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, was a Chola Emperor who reigned from 1014 to 1044. He was born in Thanjavur to Rajaraja I. His queen was Vanavan Mahadevi and he assumed royal power as co-regent with ...

, married Rajaraja Narendra, the son of Vimalathitha Chalukya. The feudal relationship between the Cholas and Chalukyas continued for three centuries from

Arinjaya Chola Arinjaya Chola was a ruler of the Chola kingdom. He was the third son of Parantaka I and the younger brother of Gandaraditya Chola, whom he is thought to have succeeded in about 956. Arinjaya Chola was succeeded by his son Parantaka Chola II, S ...

onwards.

Descendants

Rajaraja Narendra's son, was Rajendra Chalukya, also known as Kulottunga Chola I, raided Kedah (Malaysia) for his maternal uncle. He became the king of the Chola empire in Gangaikondacholapuram when a political vacuum occurred and merged the Chola and Chalukya dynasties. The

Aravidu dynasty The Aravidu Dynasty was the fourth and last Hindu dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was establish ...

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...

claimed descent from Rajaraja Narendra. However, unlike their claimed ancestor, who belonged to the Manavya

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotr ...

, they belonged to the Atreya gotra.

Literary patronage

The Eastern Chalukya dynasty supported

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

. Rajaraja Narendra himself was a Shaivite. He respected religious priests and promoted the Telugu, and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

languages and religions. Rajaraja Narendra requested his teacher, advisor, and court poet Nannayya Bhattaraka to translate the

into Telugu '' Andhra Mahabharatam''. However, Nannayya was only able to translate two and a half parvas of the epic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narendra, Rajaraja 1061 deaths Eastern Chalukya kings 11th-century Indian monarchs 11th-century Indian people People from Rajahmundry Telugu monarchs Telugu people

Early life

Descendants

Literary patronage

See also

References