History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c12.s1.1

c12.s1.1

The age of Narasimhavarman II was one of intense literary activity. It has been already pointed out that Sanskrit poets and Sanskrit culture were specially patronized by Pallava kings.² It is suggested that Daṇḍin, the well-known Sanskrit writer, probably flourished for some time in the Pallava court at Kāñchīpuram, and references to Kāñchīpura and its rules have been discovered in his works. In his Kāvyādarśa³ Daṇḍin mentions a Śaiva king Rājavarma who judging from the way in which he is spoken of must be regarded as his contemporary and probably was Rājasimha Pallava who according to his inscriptions is known to have been a very devout Śaiva.⁴ Prof. M. Rangachariar has also quoted a tradition with reference to chapter v of Kāvyādarśa⁵ that it was composed by Daṇḍin for giving lessons in rhetoric to a royal prince at Kāñchīpuram who in all probability was Rājasimha’s son.¹ All these references, taken along with the passage in *Kāvyādarśa* where Daṇḍin illustrates a particular form of composition by a couplet² which refers to the city of Kāñchī³ and its rulers the Pallavas and the evidence furnished by the recently-discovered *Avantisundarikathā*, make it clear that Daṇḍin lived for a considerable period at the Pallava court in Kāñchīpuram.