A geospatial study of Gangaikondacholapuram, the lost capital of the Chola dynasty

Gangaikondacholapuram is a village in Ariyalur district in the State of Tamil Nadu, India. It was one of the most important capitals of the Chola dynasty. Gangaikondacholapuram is well-known for its renowned temple, Brihadisvara, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva, a Hindu deity. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared this temple as one of the world heritage sites; it is one of the three temples inscribed as “Great Living Chola Temples” (http://whc.unesco.org); other two being the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. The Capital at Gangaikondacholapuram was established by Rajendra Chola I in 1035 AD commemorating the victory of Chola over the Pallava dynasty (Pichard, 1995). At present, the main structure of the Brihadisvara temple remains intact but the fortified capital of Gangaikondacholapuram is in ruins that are hardly recognizable. With the existing remains on the ground, it is very hard to understand the layout of the fortified settlement of Gangaikondacholapuram. The existing scholarship on the layout of the site has not been able to identify the inner moat layout, and traces of the outer moat structure also remain ambiguous. The purpose of this research is to identify the fort layout of Gangaikondacholapuram and its components. The present study analyzes historical satellite imagery from Corona satellite series dating from the 1960s, enabling the identification of a layout that corresponds to the description of the capital found in Chola Inscription. The result of this research reveals the layout pattern of the rectangular inner moat and the complete layout of the concentric outer moat, both of which are detectable on Corona imagery. In addition, this chapter goes through the water management system of the capital, exploring the source of water to the moats as well as to the interior of the fort. It also discusses how water ponds and canals are connected with each other to supply the water to the settlement. Further, this chapter demonstrates that corona images and GIS are useful for understanding the features of the landscape in the field of archaeology.