Kulothunga Chola III

Kulothunga Chola III (1178- 1218 AD)was able to crush the Pandyas in Madurai, Cheras of Venad, Hoysalas of Mysore as well as the Sinhala Kings of Sri Lanka. The century took a turn and a Pandya vassal of Chola Empire named Jatavarman Kulasekaran I ascended to the Madura Throne in 1290, turned rebel to Cholas.

The Cholas invaded him and sacked Madurai. Jatavarman Kulasekaran I surrendered to the Chola king Kulothunga III with wife and son and acknowledging his surrender, he was returned his capital. But during this, the ancient coronation hall of Pandyas in Madurai was destroyed and it also destroyed the records if any of the previous Pandyas.

To take revenge of this assault, younger brother of Kulasekaran, named Maravarman Sundara Pandyan, who came into power in 1216 AD, invaded the Chola Kingdom. The armies of Sundara Pandyan sacked the cities of Thanjaur and Uraiyur of Chola Kings and drove the Chola kings out in exile. His armies marched up to Chidambaram and in memory of this victory, Sundar Pandyan conducted a Thulabaram at the Chidambaram temple and donated wealth equal to his weight.

But, victory of Sundar Pandyan over Cholas was followed by a march of the Hoyasala army towards Sri Rangapattam. Kingdom of the Cholas was returned after interference of Hoyasala king Veera Ballala III, but now Cholas accepted suzerainty of the Sundar Pandyan. This was the revival of second Pandyan Empire and decline of the mighty Chola Power.