Were the Cholas Hindu? Were they Shaivite?

Of late there is a tendency to call out some great kings of ancient India as Shaivite or Vaishnavite. Especially, here we have seen it with the Chola kings including the great Raja Raja. Some even claim that they are not Hindu. So is this correct?

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The Cholas built and maintained huge temples in worship of all aspects of the divine - Shiva, Vishnu, Sakthi, Karthikeya, Ganesha and also Surya. By the way the Cholas even built a temple for Chitragupta the assistant of Yama. They also commissioned Jaina temples and Buddha viharas. And this was common for most dynasties across ancient India. A look at the Dharmic pluralism in ancient India.

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