KUNDAVAI (10th CENTURY – 1019)
There were several Kundavais among the members of the Chola dynasty, but the most famous is Kundavai, the elder sister of Rajaraja Chola I. She is chiefly known for the temples she built and endowed. Her father was renowned as a just ruler. She was married to Vandyadeva, chief of a nearby kingdom. She showed herself impartial to all faiths and endowed a Vishnu temple, a Shiva temple and a Jain temple at Rajarajapuram in the husband’s kingdom. She also set up a charity hospital in Thanjavur and provided it with an extensive estate for its maintenance. She spent the last years of her life in her father’s house, dying in the seventh year of the reign of her nephew, Rajendra I.
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