The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.327

c8.s11.327

The capital of the Pallavas was Kâñchî or Kâñchîpura, which is the modern Conjeeveram in the Chingleput District, Madras Presidency.³ The surrounding territory was known as the Drâviḍa country,⁴ and also as the Kâñchî maṇḍala or province of Kâñchî,⁵ and as the Toṇḍa,⁶ Toṇḍai,⁷ Toṇḍira,⁸ Tuṇḍira,⁹ and Tuṇḍâka¹⁰ maṇḍala, râshṭra, vishaya, or naḍ. And Kâñchî itself was sometimes called Tuṇḍîrapurai,¹¹ as the capital of the territory under the latter name. But the records mention two other towns of importance, from which charters were issued,—Palakkada or Palakkaḍa, and Daśanapura,—which have not yet been identified.¹² And the Pallavas had also a province in Western India, known as the Noḷambavâḍi, Noḷambavâḍi, Noṇambavâḍi, or Nuḷambapâḍi thirty-two-thousand,¹³ which appears to have included the greater part of the Bellâry District of the Madras Presidency, and the northern and north-eastern parts of Mysore:¹⁴ this was doubtless acquired by them about the middle of the seventh century A.D., when they invaded Bâdâmi and for the time being overthrew the Western Chalukya sovereignty; and it passed out of their possession, and into the hands of the Pândyas, somewhere about the beginning of the eleventh century A. D. : under the Pândyas, and probably under the Pallavas before them, the capital of this province was. Uchchangî.¹ The crest of the Pallavas was a bull,—doubtless intended for Nandi, the servant and carrier of the god Śiva; it appears, in a more or less recognisable form, sometimes recumbent and sometimes standing, on the seals of their copper-plate charters.² Their banner was the khaṭvāṅga-dhvaja, or banner bearing a representation of a club or staff with a skull at the top of it,—another property of Śiva.³ And, from these two insignia, it may be inferred that Śiva was their family-god.