Uttama Chola was the son of Gandaraditya and his chief queen Parantakan Madevadigal or Sembiyan Mahadeviyar. He succeeded Parantaka II who was his uncle. He was one of the greates kings of Chola empire which was ruled by kings like Karikala Chola, Aditya Chola I, Vijayalaya Chola etc,. He probably ruled between 970-985 A.D. He had several wives. Some of them are Orattanan Sorabbaiyar Tribhuvana Mahadeviyar, Kaduvettigal Nandippottairaiyar, Siddhavadavan Suttiyar etc,.
His father Gandaraditya was a Chola king who ruled from 950-956 A.D. He had a son at a very late age and he is none other than Uttama Chola. Gandaraditya had a brother named Arinjaya. Gandaraditya made Arinjaya as a co-regent and heir-apparent. When Gandaraditya died, his son Uttama Chola was a very young boy. So the father of Uttama Chola was succeeded by his uncle Arinjaya Chola. After the death of Arinjaya Chola, the throne should have been given to Uttama Chola who has the right as he was the son of Gandaraditya. But Arinjaya was succeeded by his son Parantaka II. So when Parantaka II was dead, Uttama Chola became the king leaving aside the son of Parantaka II named Arulmozhivarman.
The elder son of Parantaka II was Aditya II or Aditya Karikalan (who killed Vira Pandyan by cutting his head). He was assassinated by supporters of Vira Pandyan. Some say that Uttama Chola was involved in conspiracy to kill Aditya II. As injustice was done to him regarding his legal rights to Chola throne over years he decided to kill Aditya II. There are no proofs to support this argument and so we cannot agree with it.
During his rule, the Chola army continuously had fights with Pandyas and other neighboring empire armies. There was no much information available regarding the military conquests during his reign. A copper plate inscription of him is now available in Chennai Museum. This inscription contains a seated tiger with two fishes beside it. It indicates upper hand of Cholas on Pandyas (fish is symbol of Pandyas).
Although he was a Shaivaite (worships lord Shiva) he was tolerant to other religions as well as Vaishnavaites. He gave huge donations to Vaishnava temples and example of it is Ullagaladar temple. He is known to have shown compassion to even his enemies. The southern wall of inner prakara of the Konnerirajapuram temple near Kumbakonam has sculptures of Uttama Chola along with his mother Sembiyan Mahadeviyar.
Uttama Chola died in 985 A.D. He had a son named Madurantaka Gandaraditya. But he was not succeeded by his son. The line of succession passed back to Parantaka II's family. Uttama Chola was succeeded by son of Parantaka II named Raja Raja Chola I.
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