New Delhi: Empires tend to look grander the further away they are. The Cholas, too, are known for their exquisite temples, benevolent kings and a golden age of culture.

But for historian Anirudh Kanisetti, the real Chola world was a landscape of power struggles and temple politics. It also had, he added, its quirks, like all kingdoms. Sheep’s ghee offerings and aristocrats who ate everything from pork to rats.

Speaking at a discussion on the Great Cholas, led by entrepreneur Sameer Sandhir at the Jindal Literature Festival at the Vidya Devi Jindal School in Hisar Saturday, Kanisetti underscored that history is not meant to comfort us but to unsettle us—dynasties thrive on alliances, inscriptions, and political theatrics, not on moral purity. Show Full Article

“We talk about the past as

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