South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c9.68

c9.68

‘And when he had landed and laid waste the country on every side he entered the great and noble fortress, the city of Śubhagiri, and he took the venerable tooth-relic and all the solid wealth that was there, and returned to the Pāṇḍyan country, and there he gave the tooth-relic unto the king Kulaśēkhara, who was even like unto a sun expanding the lotus-like race of the great Pāṇḍyan kings’. Parākrama Bāhu apparently did not find himself strong enough to undertake an invasion to recover the precious relic, but preferred to go there with a few determined friends of his and obtain the relic ultimately as a favour by pleasing the monarch Kulaśēkhara during his stay there. This is a clear indication of the power and prestige of the Pāṇḍya monarch in the estimation at least of the Ceylonese, and that is fully reflected in what little of information we are able to glean from Chinese sources. Among the kingdoms which sent tribute to Kublai in 1286 is mentioned Ma-pa-’rh (Ma’bar). There are references to diplomatic intercourse between China and Ma’bar from 1280 onwards. One of these mentions the ‘five brothers who were Sultans (Suantan) referring apparently to the Pāṇḍyas of Marco Polo’s time. There is the further mention of Chamalating (Jamalu-d-din) who had been sent from Ma’bar to the Mongol court.¹