According to historian Sailendra Nath Sen, his accession marked the beginning of a new era and ushered in a period of internal peace and benevolent administration.

[8] He was succeeded by his son Vikrama Chola Kulottunga had diplomatic relations with the northern Indian city Kannauj and also with distant countries like Cambodia, Srivijaya, Khmer, Pagan (Burma) and China.

[10] An inscription in a Taoist temple in Guangzhou, dated to 1079, declares Kulottunga, king of Chulien (Chola) to be the supreme chief of the Land of San-fo-tsi (Srivijaya).

[12] Like his predecessors, Kulottunga was a patron of arts and literature and the much celebrated Tamil poem Kalingattuparani was composed during his rule by poet Jayamkondaan who lived in his court.

[15][17] The details of the king's family and parentage are available from a number of grants and plates like the one from Chelluru (a village in Rayavaram Mandalam of Konaseema district) that was issued by his son, prince Vira Chola, and from literary works, such as the famous poem Kalingattupparani.

The poem Kalingattuparani gives the details of Kulottunga's birth in the canto "Avataram" (incarnation), wherein his mother is described as belonging to the solar race and his father to the lunar ra.

The Sakkarakottam area is identified with the present day Bastar-Kalahandi district-Koraput region which together formed the Chakrakota province back in medieval times.

Even during the time of Virarajendra Chola, Vikramaditya VI and the Eastern Ganga king Rajaraja Devendravarman both supported Vijayaditya, the paternal uncle of Kulottunga, in his claim to the Vengi kingdom.

The king's epigraphs poetically claim that he ascended the throne to prevent the goddess Lakshmi of Southern region from becoming common property (an allusion to the illegitimate claims to the throne and meddling of affairs by kings of rival kingdoms), and to remove the loneliness of the goddess of the Chola country adorned by river Ponni (an allusion to the power vacuum in the empire).

[41][42] These expeditions appear to have been led by Kulottunga, who in his inscriptions claims that while he was still heir-apparent, he overcame the treachery of his enemies and by the strength of his arm and sword captured herds of elephants at Vayiragaram, conquered Sakkarakottam and graciously took tribute from the king of Dhara.

[43] Vayiragaram is identified with Wairagarh, a few miles off Bastar in the Chanda district and Sakkarakottam is the area in and around Bastar-Kalahandi-Koraput region which was called as the Chakrakota mandala in medieval times.

Virarajendra Chola also put to flight the latter's two sons, Vikkalan (Vikramaditya VI) and Singanan (Jayasimha III), multiple times in the battles of Kudala sangama.

[50] This is conceded in Bilhana's Vikramankadevacharita, a work on the life of Vikramaditya VI who claims that Ahavamalla Someshwara I died around this time by committing ritual suicide by drowning himself in the Tungabhadra.

[51] Upon his father's death, Vikramaditya VI approached Virarajendra and sued for peace and the Chola agreed as he saw in him an ally to counter and nullify the crown-prince Someshvara II.

[53] Some historians identify this Vijayaditya with the Eastern Chalukyan prince and half-brother of Rajaraja Narendra while others like Venkayya suggest that this person was yet another younger brother of Vikramaditya VI.

[64][65] Corrections by M. G. S. Narayanan on K. A. Nilakanta Sastri are employed.Once he finished dealing with Vikramaditya VI, Kulottunga turned his attention to the south and first took up the cause of bringing the ancient Pandimandalam, the country of the Pandyas, into his fold.

[70] He did away with the old system of appointing Chola-Pandya viceroys and instead built multiple cantonments as far south as Kottar, and heavily garrisoned the strategically important locations of the southern dominions.

These units were in charge of protecting his interests and collecting tribute but did not interfere with the internal administration of the conquered territories, a responsibility which he left to the native chiefs and feudatories.

It was a site for proxy war during the times of Virarajendra Chola, who managed to wrest control of it from the Western Chalukyas and bestowed it on Vijayaditya, the paternal uncle of Kulottunga.

Rajaraja Chodaganga, the eldest son of Kulottunga, was first appointed as viceroy but as per inscriptions, the prince did not feel at home and returned to the Chola dominions in the south within a year.

This is evident from the Teki plates of Kulottunga's son, Rajaraja Chodaganga, whose dominions included the region up to Mahendragiri in the Ganjam district in the north.

[95] It is of interest to note that Vijayabahu married Lilavati, the daughter of Jagatipala, a former ruler of Rohana, after she escaped from the Cholas and returned to the island kingdom.

He was slain on the battlefield during the Lankan expeditions of Kulottunga's predecessor, Rajadhiraja Chola I, when the Sinhalese kingdom lost four crowns in quick succession.

The Khmer king Suryavarman II, builder of the famous Angkor Wat, sent a mission to the Chola dynasty and presented a precious stone to Kulottunga in 1114.

According to Tan Yeok Song, the editor of the Sri Vijayan inscription of Canton, Kulottunga stayed in Kadaram after the naval expedition of 1067 and reinstalled its king before returning to South India and ascending the throne.

In 1089, the ruler of Sri Vijaya sent two ambassadors to Kulottunga's court, requesting him to renew the old grants to the Buddhist monastery (Chudamani Vihara) in Nagapattinam that was built during the period of Rajaraja Chola I.

The king, instead built military cantonments that were in charge of protecting his interests and collecting tribute, but did not interfere with the internal administration of the conquered territories, a responsibility which he left to the native chiefs and feudatories.

[71] Kulottunga was ably assisted in his campaigns and internal administration by his officials some of whom were; Karunakara Tondaiman, described as the minister and warrior of Abhaya; Solakon who distinguished himself in the campaigns in the west against the Kongos, Gangas and Mahrattas; the Brahmin Kannan of great fortress; Vanan (possibly the Bana Vanavaraiyan also called Suttamallan Mudikondan) who is said to be dexterous in the use of his beautiful bow in battle; the general Naralokaviran alias Kalingar-kon who distinguished himself in the Pandya and south Kerala wars; Kadava: Vailava, the lord of Chedi (Malayaman) country; Senapati (General) Anantapala; the Irungovel chieftain, Adavallan Gangaikonda Cholan alias Irungolan; the royal secretary ("Tirumandira-olai"), Arumoli-Vilupparaiyar; and the accountant, Arumoli-Porkari.

The epigraph states that Rajarajan-Kundavai-Alvar, the younger sister of Kulottunga gilded the Nataraja shrine and gifted a gold vessel, a mirror and made arrangements for the ablutions of the deity (Abishekam).

It states that Muvendavelar, an officer of the king, and a native of Aridayamangalam in Mudichonadu, a sub-division of Kalyanapuramkonda-sola-valanadu, bought some lands and donated them for feeding a Brahmana and a Sivayogin.