Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s2.t5.6

c5.s2.t5.6

¹ Our information about the Coḷa kings is confined to the 11th and 12th centuries (see above, p. 39, note). As regards the old Pāṇḍya kings we know still less. (See "The Madura Country" by J. H. Nelson, 1868). It is possible that the mention of some of these kings by the Ceylon annalists, Marco Polo, and the Muhammedan Historians may eventually furnish a clue. What information there is, has been last collected and discussed by Dr. Caldwell, "Dravidian Grammar" pp. 139-146. 536. According to an inscription at Chillumbrum (Śidambaram), Vikrama Pāṇḍya was succeeded in the 11th century by his son Vira Pāṇḍya who was conquered by Koppākesari the Coḷa. He established his younger brother on the throne there. This prince's name was Gaṅyai-kkŏṇḍa Coḷa, but he took the name Sundara Pāṇḍya Coḷa (Inscr. at Karuvūr). In 1173 Madura was conquered by the Singhalese who put a Vira Pāṇḍya on the throne, and about 1310-1315 by the Muhammedans, under whom it continued till about 1370 when it fell under Vijayanagara. From about 1100 down to 1310 there is much confusion, and it is impossible to identify the kings; this is probably to be explained by contests of the Pāṇḍyas and Pāṇḍya-Coḷas for the throne. Dr. Caldwell gives the last Pāṇḍyas as follows: Parākrama Pāṇḍya (1516-1543) Vikrama Pāṇḍya (1543-1565) Vallabhadeva, Ativirarāma (1565-1610) He was alive in 1605; in literature, he is chiefly remarkable as a diligent translator or patron of translators from Sanskrit. I have a grant by a Sundara Pāṇḍya d. Rudhirodgāri thirteenth year of his reign; this can only be 1623. Vallabhadeva, therefore, died in 1610. But all these Pāṇḍyas had no real power.