Rajaraja I (947-1014 CE), also known as Rajaraja the Great, was one of the mightiest rulers of the Chola dynasty which dominated southern India during the Middle Ages. His campaigns of conquest extended Chola control as far afield as northern Sri Lanka and the Maldives island chain. He also commissioned the construction of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, the Chola capital, to honor the Hindu deity Shiva. His dynastic successors would go on to extend Chola’s realm of influence all the way to Malaysia and Sumatra to the east.