Chola decline under Kulottunga II

1137

In southern India, the once-dominant Chola empire lost further territory to rising Pandya and Hoysala neighbors. Kulottunga II retained nominal overlordship but the vast maritime empire his predecessors had built across the Bay of Bengal was visibly contracting. The great Chola navy, which had once raided Srivijaya and dominated the maritime spice routes between India and Southeast Asia, could no longer project power beyond the Coromandel coast.