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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Chola maritime expansion was driven largely by the concerns of overseas commerce. Elucidate.

  • UPSC 2022
  • Early Medieval India, 750-1200

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Reading Chola naval activity purely as a story of conquest misses the structural motive running underneath it: control of the maritime corridor carrying spices, textiles and aromatics between China and the Indian Ocean world, worked through an alliance of state naval power and organized merchant capital. The commercial-causation thesis holds up well under scrutiny, though…

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What the full answer covers

  • The Wider Trade Revival That Made This Expansion Possible
  • The Institutional Backbone: Merchant Guilds and State Power in Tandem
  • The Malacca–Sunda Chokepoint and Srivijaya's Monopoly
  • Protecting the China–India Spice and Textile Trade
  • Weighing Commerce Against Prestige and Dynastic Ambition
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