Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c13.s1: Rāṣṭrakūṭa Invasions on Kāñchi

History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c13.s1

Language
English

Rāṣṭrakūṭa Invasions on Kāñchi

c13.s1.1

The Rāṣṭrakūṭa kings who were contemporary with Nandivarman Pallavamalla claim victories over the Pallavas and their city. The Kaḍaba plates³ distinctly mention Vayiramēga as a surname of Dantidurga Rāṣṭrakūṭa. Now, Vayiramēga is mentioned in Tirumaṅgai Āḷvār's hymns on the deity of Ashṭabhuja in Kāñchīpuram along with the local ruler of Kāñchi.⁴ The verse under consideration has reference to two rulers, the local Pallava ruler of Kāñchi and the foreign Rāṣṭrakūṭa ruler Vayiramēga in occupation of Kāñchi just then. The conquest of Kāñchi is also alluded to in the Ellora inscription as well as in the Bagumra plates ¹ of Govinda III from which we learn that Dantidurga first reduced the lowermost (southern) country, then turned his enemies to Madhyadēśa and finally conquered the city of Kāñchi.² From the Vēlūr-pāḷayam plates we learn that Nandivarman Pallavamalla's queen was called Rēva and that his son was called Dantivarman. From this it has been conjectured that there was soon after the invasions of Kāñchi by Dantidurga a marriage alliance ³ between the Pallava king and the daughter of Dantidurga, and the son born to the Rāshṭrakūṭa princess was called Dantivarman after the maternal grandfather. This Rāshṭrakūṭa-Pallava pact does not appear to have prevented Govinda III from leading another invasion on the Pallava capital and levying tribute from Dantiga of Kāñchi.⁴

c13.s1.2

³ Ep. Ind., vol. iv, p. 334.

c13.s1.3

⁴ For a discussion on the identity of Vayiramēga see Quart. Jour. Myth. Society, vol. xiii, pp. 581-8 and pp. 698-700. மன்னவன் தொண்டையர்கோன் வணங்கும் நீள்முடிமாலையவிரமேகன் தன்வலிதன்புகழ் சூழ்ந்தகச்சி அட்டபுயகரத்திதன்னே கன்னின் மாமதிள் மங்கை வேந்தன் காமருசீர்க்கலிக்கன்றி குன்றா இன்னிசைபாற்சொன்ன செஞ்சொல்மாலை ஏத்தவல்லார்கிடம் வைகுந்தமே.

c13.s1.4

¹ *Ep. Ind.*, vol. ix, p. 24.

c13.s1.5

² Verse vi, *Ep. Ind.*, vol. ix, p. 24.

c13.s1.6

³ Vēlūrpāḷayam plates, verse 18.

c13.s1.7

⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, vol. x, p. 125.

c13.s1.8

Expedition against the Gangas.—The military exploits of Nandivarman II thus appear to have filled every part of his reign and almost all contemporary dynasties of the day seem to have come into hostile contact with him. To these powers, the Pāṇḍyas, the Rāshṭrakūṭas, the eastern Chāḷukyas, the western Chāḷukyas, may be added the Gangas. What led to the conflict with the Gangas is not clearly stated, but verse 6 of the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates make a specific reference to the fact that Nandivarman took away a neck ornament from which contained in it the gem called Ugrōdaya.⁵ Although the name of the Ganga king is not mentioned, it may be presumed that he must have been either Śivamara or Śrīpurusha. As the earlier plates dated in the twenty-first and twenty-second years of his reign do not specify this detail this achievement probably took place in the later half of his reign.

c13.s1.9

⁵ *S.I.I.*, vol. ii, part 5, p. 519.

c13.s1.10

Religious Leanings.—The religious leanings of Nandivarman Pallavamalla were towards Vaishṇavism. His celebrated contemporary seems to allude to his worshipful attitude in the present tense in his hymn on the God of Aṣṭabhuja at Kāñchī. His copper-plates describe him as never accustomed to bowing ‘excepting to the pair of worshipful feet of Mukunda’ (Viṣṇu)¹ as worshipping the feet of Hari.² The newly-found plates of Koṟṟanguḍi devote several invocatory verses to Viṣṇu (verses 1 and 2). The unnamed Pallava king who is mentioned by Tirumaṅgai Āḻvār as having worshipped at Śrīrangam is presumably Nandivarman Pallavamalla³ as also the king called Nandi in the Nandipuraviṇṇagarapatikam.

c13.s1.11

¹ Verse 12, Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates. *Ibid.*

c13.s1.12

² Verse 30, Kaśākkuḍi plates. *Ibid.*

c13.s1.13

³ Other details of the king in somewhat exaggerated terms are also available from this copper-plate grants. Some interesting personal accomplishments and qualities are furnished in the *praśasti* portion of the Kaśākkuḍi grant composed by Trivikra[m]. In verse 29 we read:—‘This Śrīdhara (Pallavamalla) resembles Vijaya in battle, Karṇisuta, in acquaintance with the arts, Rāma in archery, the king of Vatsa with reference to the science of elephants and to music, Kāma in the opinion of women, the first poet (Vālmīki) in the composition of poetry, the master of policy (Bṛhaspati) himself in suggesting expedients, and (Dharma) Yudhiṣṭhira in delighting the subjects.’ Verse 2 of the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates say of him:—‘From him (Hiraṇyavarman) was born the wise and the prosperous king called Nandivarman who was the home of prowess and conqueror of the hoards of his enemies, whose victorious elephant reached almost the shores of the four oceans, whose fame extended to the four quarters and who was praised in battle for his knowlede in the use of all weapons. Verse 3 of the same record says, ‘The only one of name Raja that did not bow to him was the dead-rayed moon and the only country in this world that did not pay tribute to him was that where no men exist. And while this king comparable to Indra was ruling the earth, there was nothing unapproachable by the people except perhaps the way leading to hell.’ ‘He is the lord of the circle of good people as Hari is the possessor of the powerful weapon Chakra, him the wise cling to as Gods to Sakra (Indra). ‘He wore on his breast, as it were the lord of serpents, the bed of Achyuta dwelling near his heart a necklace, which he had snatched away from the Ganga king and in which was the gem called Ugrōdaya like the Kaustuba (*verse 6*).’

c13.s1.14

*State of Learning during Nandivarman’s Reign.*—The copper-plates of this and following period give excellent glimpses into the nature of learning during this period as well as of government, etc. The donees enumerated in the Kaśākkuḍi plates and the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates numbering several hundreds are many of them, if we may judge from their titles, masters of three and four Vedas of the six angas, etc. Of the 244 and odd names that are mentioned in the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates no less than a hundred were Chaturvēdis, 18 were Shaḍangavids, while there are several Kramavids, Bhaṭṭas and Trivēdis. The accomplishments of an average South Indian Brahman scholar in the field of Sanskrit learning during the eighth century may be gathered from the following description of the donee of the Kasākkuḍi charter dated in the twenty-second year of Nandivarman II's reign the object of which was to register a gift of village to a Brahman scholar whose name was Jyēshṭapada Somayāji. The extract gives some idea of what the average Brahmanical educational curriculum consisted in those times :—

c13.s1.15

‘ While the twenty-second year of his reign was current, this Rājādhirāja-paramēśvara, the Mahārāja called Nandivarman, who is engaged in ruling the kingdom of Paramēśvarapōtarāja, . . . was himself pleased to give as a Brahmadēya, as requested by Brahmaśrīrāja . . . who just as Bṛhaspati is minister of Indra, the lord of heaven, is the chief minister of the handsome Nandin, the lord of the earth and the chief of the Pallavas, to Jyēshṭapada Somayājin, who has mastered the ocean-like Vedas, who chants the Sāman hymns which are pleasant on account of their melody (rasa); who has completed the rehearsal and the study of the six auxiliary works, namely, the ritual of the Veda, grammar, astronomy, etymology, phonetics and metrics; who knows the properties of words, sentences and subjects; who has drunk the elixir of the śruti and smṛti; who is learned in the portion referring to rites (Karmakāṇḍa) and the portion referring to knowledge (Jñānakāṇḍa); who is skilled in the ways of the world and in the knowledge of the arts; who is versed in the poems, dramas, stories, epics and legends; in short who is skilled in all branches of (holy and profane) knowledge; who is expert in the performance of all rites; who is of good conduct; (who illumines) the world as a lamp does a house; who is courteous (in spite of) the honour paid to him and of noble

c13.s1.16

birth; who is the only sun of the middle world, namely earth, because he has dispelled all ignorance or darkness; who is considered the best of fathers and grandfathers who ranks first among the twice born; who knows the Vedas; who conforms to the precepts of the Vedas; who follows the Chandōga-sūtra, who has performed Vājapēya and other sacrifices; who belongs to the Bhāradvāja-Gōtra; who resides at Puniya, an excellent settlement of Brāhmaṇas, in the Tuṇḍākarāṣṭra; who is poor in sins, who is distinguished by his dress, who is a unique person; who cares for both worlds; who accomplishes the three objects of human life, who knows the four Vedas; whose chief objects are the five primary elements (*Pañchamahābhūta*), who knows the six auxiliary works, who resembles the sun, who possesses good qualities and who is an excellent Brahman,—a whole village, the original name of which was Koḍukolli which on becoming a Brahmadēya received the new name of Ekadhīramangalam, in Uṇḍivanakōṣṭhaka in the same rāṣṭra. . . .¹

c13.s1.17

¹ ll. 71 to 103, Kaśākkuḍi plates, *S.I.I.*, vol. ii, part 2, pp. 358 ff.

c13.s1.18

*Some Celebrities of the Period.*—It has already been pointed out that the king himself like other royal members of the family was a scholar of considerable reputation and is compared to Karṇisuta for his acquaintance with arts and to Valmīki the first poet in the composition of poems (*v.* 28) while verse 4 of the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates record the fact that the learned people cling to him as the gods to Śakra. Among the Sanskrit poets of this period mentioned in the royal charters may be mentioned Paramēśvara, Uttara Karanika, and Trivikrama the composers of the prasasti in the Udayēndiram. Taṇḍantōṭṭam and Kaśākkuḍi plates. The celebrated scholar and saint Tirumangai Āḷvār was his contemporary and is another product of the times reputed for his skill in dialectics and known as the master of four kinds of poetical compositions. (*Chatushkavi*, Nālukaviperumāḷ). His work in the *Nalāyiraprabhandam* exceeds those of any other Vaishṇava saint excepting that of Nammāḷvār and forms one of the most precious collections that have come down to us. His great regard for the Pallava family and individual Pallava kings and their services finds continuous mention in his hymns to an extent far greater than in the *Tēvāram* hymns, or other works by the Vaishṇava Āḷvārs themselves. He was for some time a petty chieftain of Āḷināḍu in the Chōḷamaṇḍala before he became a devout Vaishṇava saint. His contributions in the *Nālāyiraprabandham* are *Periya-Tirumoḷi*, *Tirukuṛuṇḍaṇḍakam*, *Tiruṇeḍuṇḍaṇḍakam*, *Śiriya-Tirumaḍal*, *Periya-Tirumaḍal*, *Tiruvelukkūṛṛirukkai*.

c13.s1.19

Among the temples attributable to Nandivarman II may be mentioned the Kēśavaperumāḷ temple at Kūram, the Muktēśvara temple at Kāñchīpuram, Vīraṭṭānēśvara at Tiruvadi and the Kuṇṛāṇḍarkōvil at Pudukotta. The Vaikuntaperumāḷ temple at Kāñchī, the Paramēśvaraviṇṇagaram of Tirumaṅgai Āḷvār owes its origin to this king and named after his personal name which was Paramēśvaran. Extensive renovation works must have taken place in a large number of other temples, if we could judge from grants recorded to many of these.

c13.s1.20

The reign of Nandivarman Pallavamalla lasted for sixty-five years according to the inscription discovered recently at Mahabalipuram¹ and covered the greater part of the eighth century. He was succeeded on his death by his son called Dantivarman through the Rāshṭrakūṭa princess Rēva about A.D. 775. The notion that his reign was short having been distracted by continuous wars as a result of which his kingdom was much reduced now appears to be incorrect. The inscriptions so far discovered of his reign and that of his son have been found in regions as distant as Trichinopoly to Tirupati which probably comprised the extent of his dominions.

c13.s1.21

¹ Ep. Coll. 666 of 1922.

Linked texts (5)