This book studies transitional south Indian society during the critical Chola age, c.875-1279, when there was notable evolution of pre-existing as well as new societal institutions. Networks of Trade, Polity and Societal Integration in Chola-Era South India, c.875-1279 considers issues of emic (‘local’) and etic (‘external’) agency; the origin of urban communities relative to movements of material and ideational ‘commodities’; confrontations between alien cultures, formation of plural societies, dual loyalties and multiple affiliations. Specifically, this book highlights the south Indian epigraphic sources that document the purposeful creation of clearly defined market and temple districts adjacent to settled agricultural societies, which were to be populated by multi-ethnic merchants, artisans, warriors, rulers, agriculturalists and priests from the various regions of the south Indian downstream river basins and their hinterlands, as well as the Indian Ocean.