The famous Chola king Karikala of the Sangam age is credited with constructing a dam on the Kaveri river. It is considered to be the earliest dam in the country.
Towards the end of the reign of Rajadhiraja Chola, he sacked the Western Chalukyan capital Kalyanapuram and assumed the title Kalyanapuramgonda Chola and performed a Virabhisheka under the name Vijaya Rajendra Cholan.
The historian V. A. Smith has called Samudragupta the ‘Napoleon’ of India because of his policy of war and conquest. He started with the conquest of his immediate neighbours and then by campaigns to the east and the south.