Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.7

c2.7

The old theory that the word Pallava is apparently the Sanskrit form of the tribal name Pahlava or Pahnava of the Purāṇas, a Pārthian tribe whose territory lay somewhere between the Indus and Persia, is no longer accepted by present day scholars, and it seems more likely that the Pallavas were a tribe, clan or caste, which was formed in the northern part of the Madras Presidency, possibly in the Veṅgi country, between the Kṛishṇā and Gōdāvari rivers. Mr. Venkayya informs us that they were Kshatriyas originally, but gradually became degraded by their omission of the sacred rites and transgressing the authority of the Brāhmaṇas. The admission that they did not conform to Brāhmaṇical practices seems to indicate that they were either foreigners, or else became Buddhists or Jains. If the tribe was formed in the Veṅgi country as suggested by the late Dr. Vincent Smith in his Early History of India, page 423, the formation must have taken place in very early times because this part of the Telugu country was included in the dominions of the Āndhras, so if the clan was actually formed there, the process must have commenced long before the Āndhra dynasty came to an end about 236 A. D. In fact, the Pallavas must have acquired a distinct political status even while the Āndhras were in power. This they appear to have done not by conquest but by contracting marriages with Āndhra princesses and thus inherited a portion of the southern part of the Āndhra country.