Raja Raja Cholan

Rajaraja Chola was born as the third child of Parantaka Sundara Chola and Vanavan Maha Devi of the Velir Malayaman dynasty. After a long apprenticeship of an heir apparent, he ascended the throne after the death of Madurandhagan Chola. During the lifetime of his father Sundara Chola, Arulmozhi had carved a name for himself by his exploits in the battles against the Sinhala and Pandyan armies. Sundara Chola’s eldest son and heir apparent Aditya II was assassinated under unclear circumstances.madurandhaghan, as the only child of Gandar Adityar, wanted the Chola throne as he felt it was his birthright. After the death of Aditya II, madurandhagan forced Sundara Chola to declare him as their apparent ahead of Arulmozhi.The Thiruvalangadu copper-plate inscriptions say:

"…Though his subjects…entreated Arulmozhi Varman, he…did not desire the kingdom for himself even inwardly ".

This was to say that Raja Raja was very much legally elected through the kind of democratic process followed by Cholas as seen in their Uttiramerur inscription. No other interpretation of the same is correct. Another example of such a process is selection to Pallava throne of Sri Nandi Varman II. In as much as it could very much be possible that the king rejected the offer in order to continue to devote time and energy to build the resources to realise the Cholan military objectives. The assertion seems to be very much true as we see right from the beginning how the king was involved in the Cholan expeditions and also the organised structure of their military. Madhurandhagan made a compromise with Sundara Chola that Madhurandhagan will be succeeded by Arulmozhi and not his own son.