Swarnabhoomi
Swarnabhoomi is a work of fiction based on the year 1063 CE, 38 years since Rajendra Chola invaded Srivijaya, and took heaps of treasure. In the process he attacked and conquered large portions of Srivijaya, including its ports leading to the complete collapse of the Sailendra power. Despite the devastation, Srivijaya mandala still survived, as the Chola invasion failed to install direct administration over Srivijaya. The attack had huge consequences in maritime trade. Tamil traders encroached on the Srivijaya realm traditionally controlled by Malay traders and strengthened the Chola maritime trade. For the time being, the success of the Cholas seemed to be complete, but, the task of maintaining hold upon a distant land across the sea was too great to be borne by the successors of King Rajendra. And they had too many difficulties at home to think of the empire abroad. Virarajendra, who ascended the throne in 1063 A.D., had to rule over a period of unceasing struggle with neighboring powers, and to make matters worse Kalinga freed itself from the yoke of the Cholas, which crippled the naval resources of that power. In the mean time Srivijaya never ceased to function as a state and the descendants of King Sangama Vijayottunggavarman, started taking back the control they once exercised over the waters of the Malacca Straits and the maritime trade that flourished in those waters. Besides growing friendship of convenience between the Kalinga and Srivijaya led to widespread piracy in the eastern seas, seriously affecting Chola's maritime trade. This story touches upon a period that is not well recorded by historians, when young Anabaya Kulothungan (Kulothunga Chola I, grandson of Rajendra Chola I and crown prince of Vengi) calls upon his childhood friend and commander of the Chola troops of the north Karunakara Pallavan to lead an expedition to investigate and arrive at a solution for the problems faced by Tamils in the distant seas.…
