A group of college students tours old temples in the Kaveri delta. At Thanjavur and Chidambaram they see huge Shiva temples whose inscriptions record the support of powerful kings, along with fine bronze images of Shiva dancing. Their guide tells them that these kings wished to win the support of the peasants who revered the Tamil saints. Inside one temple, singers still chant hymns of the Shaiva saints from a collection that the same kings had ordered to be gathered and arranged. During a festival, metal images of saints are carried in procession.
The kings whose support the inscriptions record most likely belonged to which dynasty?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Chola
Option (1) Pallava — Incorrect. The Pallavas ruled the Tamil region from about the sixth to the ninth centuries CE, before these great temples were built.
Option (2) Pandya — Incorrect. The Pandyas were another Tamil state of the sixth to ninth centuries, earlier than the builders of these temples.
Option (3) Chola — Correct. The Chola rulers (ninth to thirteenth centuries) built the great Shiva temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram. Fine Shiva bronzes were also made in their time.
Option (4) Kalachuri — Incorrect. The Kalachuris ruled in Karnataka. Basavanna served as a minister at a Kalachuri court.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.4 Relations with the state … |