eLibrary: Chola Empire (9th – 13th Century)
This exhibition explores the sacred bronzes of South India’s Chola dynasty, where gods were imagined not as distant abstractions but as living presences. Drawn largely from Indian museum collections, the exhibition reveals a world of cosmic dance, fierce goddesses, divine families, and enduring ritual tradition
This is the latest version of an electronic library of resources supporting the exhibition. It offers free and immediate access to online resources for anyone wanting to explore further the context of the museum’s artifacts. As the museum develops, more resources, in more languages, will be added.
NOTE: Some of these links come from Academia.edu and Researchgate.net. These require a free one-time registration. To research further yourselves, you may consider registering with Jstore.org which gives limited but free monthly access to its collections
Articles
Ali, D., 2006. War, Servitude, and the Imperial Household: A Study of Palace Women in the Chola Empire. Slavery and South Asian History, pp.44-62.
Bhoopathi, N., Dhanalakshmi, N. and Balasubramanian, T., 2020. Crafts and Craftsmen in the Chola Empire.
Chitra, G. and Abbas, R., 2025. Decentralized Governance in the Chola Empire: A Study on Local Administration and its Impact on South Indian Society. Cuestiones de Fisioterapia, 54(3), pp.2043-2052.
Dahiya, B. 2022. Analysing the Chola Empire, Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Ganesan, P., 2019. Land Grand Made By Chola Queens. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, 9(1), p.2.
Indhumathi, N., 2022. Social and Cultural Life in South India during Chola Empire.
Karashima, N., The Tenth to Twelfth Centuries. The Emergence of a Centralized State. A consise History of South India
Krishnamurthi, S.R., 1966. A Study on The Cultural Developments in the Chola Period, PhD thesis, Annamali University
Lekshmi, M.V.D., Social Changes of the Imperial Chola Period. Research Journal of Indian Studies
Mahalakshmi, R., 2016. Chola (Cola) Empire. The Encyclopedia of Empire, 17.
Meena, S., The Chola Empire’s Craftsmen and their Crafts. AIRJA, 6, 3,
Nguyen, D.C., 2024. From the late Chola to early Vijayanagara Empire: Aspects of Kingship and Administration (PhD Thesis, Universitäts-und Stadtbibliothek Köln).
Orr, L.C., 2007. Cholas, Pandyas, and ‘Imperial Temple Culture’in Medieval Tamilnadu. The Temple in South Asia, 2, pp.83-104.
Rajagopal, S., 2019. Cholas Naval Expeditions from AD 985 to AD1028: A Study. Infokara Research, 8(10).
Srinivasan, S., 2006. The art and science of Chola bronzes. ORIENTATIONS-HONG KONG-, 37(8), p.46.
Vijaya, S., Art and Architecture under the Cholas. Pranav Journal of Fine Arts, 3, 2.
The Cholas DOMINATED South India, Here's How They Did It (Aneesh Bhargav) 34.41mins
Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire | Anirudh Kanisetti with Manu S. Pillai (Jaipur Literature festival) 47.32mins
Drawing a History of the Chola Empire (Impart) 77.40mins