When he ascended the throne, the size of Chola empire became very small and it became powerless. On the other hand the Pandyas, the rivals of Cholas regained their power as well as their ancestral lands.
Battle Of Chevur :
The war which took place between Cholas and Pandyas at a place called Chevur is called as "Battle Of Chevur". When Parantaka Chola II became the king, the ruler of Pandyan empire was Vira Pandya. Vira Pandya was a pandya king who defeated Gandaraditya when he tried to invade Pandyan country. Now, after ascending the throne, Parantaka Chola II eyed on Pandyan empire which was gradually growing its power in the south.Parantaka II wanted to invade Pandyan Country. He had a son named Aditya Karikalan (Aditya II). Parantaka II carefully planned a attack on Pandyan empire. He gave a battalion of army to be led by his son Aditya II. Both the Chola and Pandyan armies met at a place called Chevur. The Leyden copper plate inscription mentions that in that battle Parantaka II caused rivers of blood to flow. Several other inscriptions also mention this war between Cholas and Pandyas.
Parantaka Chola II and his son Aditya II brutally defeated Vira Pandyan. It was said that in that battle Aditya II killed Vira Pandyan. An inscription about Aditya II use the epithet "Vira Pandyan Thalai Konda Adithha Karikalan" which means Aditya Karikalan who took the head of Vira Pandyan.
After this war Parantaka II continued to invade and annex more parts of Pandyan empire. At that time, Sri Lankan king Mahinda IV was an ally of Pandyan empire. So Parantaka II also invaded the Lankan empire, and the consequences were not known. Although Parantaka II tried to capture whole Pandyan empire, he failed to do so.
Revenge On Rashtrakutas :
As we know from our previous article Parantaka Chola I that the grandfather of Parantaka Chola II, Parantaka I was defeated by the Rashtrakuta King Krishna III. Now Parantaka II decided to take revenge on Rashtrakuta empire. A war broke out between Cholas and Rashtrakutas.Rashtrakuta was a deccan dynasty which was growing its power over deccan parts of India. In that war, Parantaka II defeated Rashtrakutas and captured most parts of Rashtrakuta empire. A commander on the side of Cholas was mentioned in some inscriptions for his fighting skills shown in the battle against Rashtrakutas. It was said that he alone killed big battalions of armies and thereby causing the defeat of Rashtrakutas.
Assassinatiion Of Aditya II (Son Of Parantaka II) :
During the last days of Parantaka Chola II, he faced a tragedy in which his son Aditya II was brutally killed. Some theories claim that he was killed by Pandyas to avenge the death of Vira Pandyan. As we discussed above that in the battle of Chevur, Aditya II killed Vira Pandyan by cutting his head. The Pandyan empire thus decided to kill Aditya II to avenge the death of Vira Pandyan. But there was no clear proof available for this theory.After the death of Aditya II, Uttama Chola forced Parantaka II to declare him as his heir-apparent as Aditya II was dead. Parantaka II had a younger son named Arulmozhivarman or Rajaraja I. He did not protest against the demand of Uttama Chola as he wanted to avoid a civil war.
Parantaka Chola II accepted the demand of Uttama Chola on one condition. The condition was, after the death of Uttama Chola, Arulmozhivarman had to be his successor but not the children of Uttama Chola. Uttama Chola accepted his condition. Due to the murder of his son Aditya II, Parantakka II was heart broken and eventually died. He was succeeded by Uttama Chola. As per the condition of Parantaka II, Uttama Chola declared Arulmozhivarman as his heir-apparent.
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