Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s1.2

c5.s1.2

The earliest documents existing belong to the Telugu country comprising the deltas of the Kṛishṇā and Godāvari, where also, at Amarāvati, the most important Buddhist remains in the South, have been found. The origin of this kingdom does not probably go back beyond the second century A. D., for it is not mentioned in Ptolemy or by the Periplus of the Red Sea by the name found in the inscriptions—Veṅgideça—or even by the later name Āndhra used by Hiouen-Thsang (7th century¹). The names and dates of the kings are quite uncertain, for only two grants of this dynasty appear to be in existence, and one of these is almost entirely illegible²). The dates they bear, are also, like those of all early inscriptions, merely the year of the king's reign, and this is not referred to any era. This dynasty was supplanted in the beginning of the seventh century A. D. by a branch of the Cālukyas already established at Kalyāṇa about the beginning of the fifth century A. D. and which is the first *historical* dynasty of the Deccan. It appears that the Pallava kings of Conjeveram belonged to the Veṅgi family; probably Conjeveram was a dependent province which became their chief place after the conquest of Veṅgi by the Cālukyas.