Tamil Imperialism??? (9th-13th Centuries)

The Chola Empire at its Peak

The Chola Empire rose to power in the 9th century in the Tamil speaking districts of Southern India. Although the Chola Dynasty existed since at least 100 B.C., it was during the 9th Century that it began its rise into a major world power. Under Rajaraja Chola (Rajaraja The Great) and his son Rajendra Chola, the Cholas rose as a notable military, economic and cultural power in Asia.

The Chola Empire stretched from southern Maldives as far north as the Himalaya Mountains and West Bengal in North India. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, and annexed parts of Sri Lanka by defeating the Pandyas. Rajendra Chola went beyond,occupying coastal Burma, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Lakshadweep, Sumatra, Java, Malaya in South East Asia and Pegu islands with his fleet of ships. He defeated Mahipala, the king of Bihar and Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Tamil Chola armies exacted tribute from Thailand and Cambodia. The power of the Cholas declined
around the 13th century. The Cholas were the first Indian empire to engage in naval conquest overseas.

more

The Empire

IMPERIAL CHOLA ARMY:

~10,000 Velaikarrar royal guards
~200,000 Professional infantry and cavalry troops (30 regiments)
~60,000 war elephants
~50,000 horses
~500,000 reserve infantry (fully mobilized strength of conscripts)

IMPERIAL CHOLA NAVY:

~100,000 naval infantry/marines
~1,000 ships/boats

CHOLA WARSHIPS:

1) Colandia - The largest sailing ships, they had large cargo holds and could hold hundreds of soldiers. Used extensively in campaigns throughout the Indian Ocean, and they even sailed as far as Western Europe going back to ancient times.

2) Sangara - Medium sized fighting ships, they typically had many steel/iron shields attached to the sides for protection. They had supports for Ballistas for fighting with other ships, and had
catamaran supports for stability at high speeds. Incidentally "Catamaran" is the English pronunciation of the original Tamil name "katta maram" ("short trees", which were used
for ship building).

Visit http://www.geocities.com/rajiv20/jweb/chola.html for
more "DETAILS ON CHOLA MILITARY FORCES AND CAMPAIGNS"

Image of Areas under direct control of the Chola Empire, 1030 AD

"Race" Conversions only happen in Malaysia!

Can you convert to another race???

I came across some articles in MALAYSIAKINI which you might find interesting as they seem to highlight something that we have long taken for granted as The Way of the World, for Malaysia at least! Here it is commonly assumed and understood that by virtue of of conversion to Islam you constitutionally become a Malay.


Umno full of 'non-Malay' leaders
by Jamiliah Kassim | Nov 19, 07 4:34pm


The Indian-Muslim opportunists in Umno
by AM Raj | Nov 21, 07 6:16pm



Some points from these articles.

• Malaysia is the only place in the world where one can change one’s race.
• Many of them, indeed, occupy senior positions in Umno.
• There is another Umno leader whose late father was a state MIC chief!
• They continue to make a mockery of the New Economic Policy by grabbing opportunities meant for the bumiputeras.

Are these people trying so hard to convert to become the "Malay" merely for reasons associated to the Malay special rights or is it simply fashionable these days to be called a Malay and ostracizing your own? Indeed we are a long way from a bANGSA mALAYSIA

SAPP and UPKO - the power balance!

How significant are they?
What harm could an UPKO exit do to (Sabah) BN, already hit by the SAPP withdrawal???
Do examine the chart below.

Aryan Invasion Theory Debunked???

Has the Aryan Invasion Theory been disproven?
Is it just a MYTH?
Is it true that Archeology does not support the Aryan Invasion theory?

Well its up to the viewer to decide :)

Below are some video links on the above-said.

Brief preview:

Ancient Vedic Literature and Modern Scientific findings!

The Aryan invasion Theory were simply imaginary thoughts created by
European Indologists with an imperial mindset who wanted to
suppress,control and convert their colonial subjects ; the followers
of vedic culture, by "educating" them.They misinterpreted the vedas
and made indians ashamed of their own culture.Therefore it just remains
a theory with no data to support.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Buddhist Fundamentalism

Have you come across the term Buddhist fundamentalism? My realisation that this is a rather unknown term came about in my final year as an undergrad when my Professor mentioned something during one of my tutorials.He said that the only religion which does not have a fundamentalist, extremist movement is Buddhism! It reflected the popular assumption of Buddhism being a religion of non-violence and peace which is certainly true except when you look closely into the politics and rhetoric of Sri Lankan Buddhist monks who have their own political party(Jathika Hela Urumaya) and radical ideology which so often calls for more blood and seldom sounds consolatory with reference to the ongoing civil war which has claimed more than 60000 lives.

Well, it just revealed his ignorance and i was too tempted to correct him thus i said to him that Buddhist Fundamentalism is very much alive and growing in Sri Lanka.That is where you have Monks actively participating in radical activities besides mantaining a presence in parliament(9Mp's, all of whom are monks).

The monks consider themselves important guardians of state affairs and of Sinhalese Buddhist culture, which they feel has come under threat from Western materialism and from the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are predominantly Hindu.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E1DF123FF930A35750C0A9629C8B63

You could learn more by visiting these links:

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/election2004results/2004DistrictResults.htm

http://www.tamilnation.org/tamileelam/fundamentalism/hindutemples.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jathika_Hela_Urumaya

Misquoted verses from two religions???

Misquoted verses from two religions???

Quran Does say "Where ever you find a KAAFIR kill them"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Ko3ixFQ7E&feature=related

The speaker(from the link above) says that this quote from the quranhas been missquoted and it is "a quotation out of context".In the following link,the speaker claims that the Caste System is emphasised and mentioned in Vedas(part of hinduism)thus condemning Hinduism while failing to quote those exact lines.It is an apparent confusion between varna and caste (reflective of one's ignorance over the difference between social and religious practices)while also failing to realise that just as in the case of the "kill the kafir" line from the quran, this too has been missquoted and it is just like the above a quotation, greatly out of context.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sMSxHbyR4&feature=related