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History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c15: Chapter X. General Considerations of Pallava Rule in South India

History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c15

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Chapter X. General Considerations of Pallava Rule in South India

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THE rule of the Pallava kings in the Tamil land for an unbroken period of nearly eight centuries resulted in stamping the administration of the country with a particular type of culture some of the aspects of which may now be briefly indicated. This is visible not only in the administration of government by the central and local authorities of the Pallava times (A.D. 200 to 900), but in practically every aspect of life, in religion, literature, art, etc. In studying the Pallava administration, literary history, art and religious movements, we are unfortunately not in the possession of all the materials that would help us to reconstruct the history of the culture and civilization of the times. We are dependent for the most part on the inscriptions and copper-plate grants of this period as well as the few monuments that have survived. It is, therefore, not strange that the picture obtained by us has many gaps that have to be filled up by future discoveries.

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*Administration.*—In the numerous copper-plate charters that have been discovered from time to time by the officers of the Government Epigraphy Department and by the labours of private scholars we obtain excellent glimpses of certain aspects of Pallava polity. From the earliest of these, namely, the Hirahadagalli copper-plates issued from the capital Kāñchīpuram we learn that already in the middle of the third century there prevailed a system of administration with the king at the top and the provincial governors and several departmental ministers in charge of parks, public baths, forests, reminding us in several details of the Mauryan and in some respects the Gupta administration. From the grant of the king made at his palace office in the head-quarters in Kāñchīpura addressed to the provincial Viceroy at Amarāvati ¹ and several others which were issued in the following periods it is evident that during the early Pallava days the empire of the Pallavas was not unlike those of modern times divided into bigger and smaller divisions for the government of which officers of the state were appointed. The heads of departments were selected from among the members of the royal family such as the younger sons and distinguished members of the army. In Toṇḍamaṇḍalam the distinct division ² into twenty-four koṭṭams appears to have been introduced in an earlier period retained unaltered during the age of the Pallavas as we find them commonly figure in their inscriptions. The Rāṣṭras which appear to be the equivalent of the maṇḍala were thus parcelled out into the hands of the viceroys called Viṣayikas while the smaller divisions such as the Koṣṭakas (koṭṭam) and Grāmas, were placed in charge of dēśatikadas and vapittas. The ministers and rahasyādikadas (privy councillors) were examined and consulted on state matters by the sovereign. Royal orders such as the one embodied in the Hiraḣaḍagalli plates were drawn by the king's private secretary. It is also learned from the early documents that there were officers in charge of the customs and the places or offices where they were collected were called maṇḍapa and the officers who were entrusted with the collection of the customs were known as maṇḍapis. There were also during this period special officers posted at bathing pools and tanks whose chief duties consisted in looking after the convenience of the bathers and their safety. They are called in this record as Tirthikas (Superintendents of bathing places). The persons mentioned by the name of the Gumikas who are taken by some scholars as captains appear to have been officers in charge of forests, a fact which shows that there was something like a forest department. The term neyka which resembles the Sanskrit name Nāyaka probably stands for the military officer whose status was next to those of Sēnāpatis or Commanders of the army. All these clearly indicate an elaborate system of governmental organization which as already indicated above resemble the North Indian ¹ rather than any southern system of administration that we know of.

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¹ Lüders, *Ep. Ind.*, vol. x, App. ' From Kāñchīpura the righteous supreme king (*Dharmamahārāja*) of the great king of the Pallavas, Śivaskandavarman, a Bharadvāja and an officer of Agniṣṭoma, Vājapeya and Aśvamedha sacrifices issues the following orders :- We send greetings to the princes (Rajkumara), rulers of districts (Raṭṭhika), chiefs of Madambas (customs officers), local prefects (Deśādhikata) . . . the free-holders of the various villages (Gāma-gāmabhōjaka) . . . ministers (Amachcha), guards (Arakhadikata), captains (Gumikas), Dūtikas (Messengers ?), spies (Sanjarantakas) and warriors (Bhaḍamanuśas).

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² These are enumerated in the Mackenzie MSS. as well as the Chingleput District Manual App. H. p. 438 and in *The Tamils 1800 years ago* and are as follows :
(1) Puḻal-Koṭṭam, (2) Ikkāṭṭu-Koṭṭam, (3) Maṇavūr-Koṭṭam, (4) Śengāṭṭu-Koṭṭam, (5) Paiyūr-Koṭṭam, (6) Eyil-Koṭṭam of which the principal town was Kāñchīpuram, (7) Dāmal-Koṭṭam, (8) Urukkāṭṭu-Koṭṭam, (9) Kaḷattūr-Koṭṭam, (10) Sembūr-Koṭṭam, (11) Ambur-Koṭṭam, (12) Veṇkuṉṟakoṭṭam, (13) Palakuṉṟa-Koṭṭam, (14) Ilaṅgāṭṭu-Koṭṭam, (15) Kaliyūr-Koṭṭam, (16) Śengarai-Koṭṭam, (17) Paḍuvūrkoṭṭam, (18) Kadikūr-Koṭṭam, (19) Śendirukkai-Koṭṭam, (20) Kuṉṟavaṭṭana-Koṭṭam, (21) Vengaḍa-Koṭṭam, (22) Velūr-Koṭṭam, (23) Settūr-Koṭṭam and (24) Puliyūr-Koṭṭam. This division of Toṇḍamaṇḍalam, the *Tuṇḍaka Rāṣṭra* of the copper-plates, seems to have come into existence prior to the period of the Pallava kings known to us from epigraphy, probably in the period of Chōḻa viceroyalty of Toṇḍaman Iḷam-Tirayanat Kāñchi. Although these districts do not figure in the early copper-plates of the Pallavas they are rather frequent in the later stone inscriptions datable from the eighth and the ninth centuries. Puḻal-Koṭṭam with its subdivision figures in the Velurpalayam plates of the sixth year of Nandivarman III (*S.I.I.*, vol. ii, p. 509) while Kaḷattūr-Koṭṭam, Ikkāṭṭu-Koṭṭam, and Paḍuvūr-Koṭṭam are mentioned in inscriptions dated in the fourteenth year of Nandivarman III, and the eleventh and the twenty-sixth years of Nripatungavarman, (*Ep. Col.* 349 of 1911, and 460 of 1905). Eyil-Koṭṭam the division around Kāñchīpura also figures in the inscription dated in the fifteenth year of Nripatungavarman (Ep. Col. 461 of 1905). For the study of the ancient historical geography the references in the later Pallava inscriptions to these are very helpful. Some of the places such as Kaḷattūr, Dāmal, and Urukkāḍu which originally must have been important places after which the divisions were named have survived to the present day.

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¹ The administration of Government in North India was conducted in accordance with a series of books some of which were pre-christian and others post-christian. The chief works in this series were Kautilya's Arthasastra, Kamandakā's Nītiśāstra and Śukranīti.

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The nature of village government at this period.—Whether or not the self-governing village corporation which, from the early Chōḻa times as we are familiar with, prevailed in the early Pallava days we have not the material to judge from the ascertained facts at our disposal. But it appears that this later village organization with the characteristic features of committees, managing general village administration economic, financial, and judicial, existed in the later Pallava days for which we possess good evidence. That the system of government and administration was highly systematic, and even bureaucratic, we learn with the help of certain of the early Sanskrit charters mentioning the minute details of the boundaries of gifted lands and defining its situation—a fact which shows the efficiency of the land survey departments of the Pallavas. The Uruvapalli plates ¹ give a typical example of such detailed-land survey. This is by no means the only instance of the elaborate arrangements and precautions taken in marking the village boundaries in the inscriptions. The Bāhūr plates belonging to the ninth century in recording a gift of the three villages near Pondicherry give similar details. ‘According to the report submitted by the headman of the *nāḍu* the boundaries of the land granted (to the Bahur College) were as follows: Of the two villages of Viḷaṅgāṭṭaṅgaḍuvanūr and Śeṭṭuppākkam, the eastern boundary is to the west of the boundary of a forest and of the boundary of Neṇmalippākkam; the southern boundary is to the north of the boundary of Neṇmalippākkam, of the boundary of Nelvāyippakkām, and of the boundary of Urattūr; the western boundary is to the east of the boundary of Māmbakkam and of sixty rice-fields which form a Brahmadēya near Viḷaṅgaṭṭaṅaḍuvaṉūr; and the northern boundary is to the south of Vagūr.¹ . . .' It will be gathered from these records that the village and the central government of this period took the greatest pains in maintaining a detailed record of all the arable and waste lands, lakes, tanks, wells and rivers, rocks and even trees, for purposes of not only grants of land to temples and Brahmans, but also for revenue purposes.

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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, vol. v, 1876, p. 50. . . . In this village there are 200 entire *nivartanas*. The limit of these *nivartanas* are :—On the west the boundary of the Kēndūkūra village, are the limit; on the south River Suprayōga is the limit; on the east the same is the limit; to the north by the south there is a rock on the side of the great road proceeding thence to the north, there is a tamarind tree, proceeding thence to where there is a rock on the road to the village of Kurupura, and to the village of Kundukūra; proceeding thence to the north there is a heap of rocks; proceeding thence to the north there is rock on the limit of the cultivated field of the Brahman as in the village and proceeding to the west, the limit is the edge of the boundaries of the village of Kondamuruvīdur.’

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¹ Dr. Hultzsch furnishes the following interesting plan indicating the relative position of the villages and boundaries referred to in the Tamil portion of the Bāhur plates. *Ep. Ind.*, vol. xviii. pp. 8-9.

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*Taxation and revenue.*—From these we shall now proceed to the sources of taxation in the Pallava age that are mentioned in the records of the Pallava kings. We have no direct evidence of central or local finance during the early Chōḷa or Pallava times

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Of these villages, Vahūr survives as Bāhur, while Viḷaṅgaṭṭaṅaḍuvaṉūr and Kirmaṇpaṭṭi are identical with Kaḍuvaṉūr and Kiḷmām-bākkam situate to the west and north-east of Bahur, an important locality south of Pondicherry.

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as none of the large number of records that have come down to us were intended to set forth exhaustively the financial machinery for the enlightenment of the modern scholar; we can however infer from the list of exemptions stated in the various records of lands and other grants at our disposal what taxes and dues a village was ordinarily subjected to if it was other than a land gifted to Brahmans or a temple in which case the exemptions were secured to the donee. First may be noted some of the seignorial rights mentioned in the earliest Pallava copper-plate charters. The Hirahadagalli plates already mentioned are very interesting in this respect. This record states that the garden Chillerakoḍuṁkā the object of the grant is to be free from the taking of sweet and sour milk and sugar . . . from taxes . . . forced labour free from the payment of the oxen in succession, free from the taking of grass and the wood . . . from the taking of vegetables and flowers. . . . It also mentions the important particular towards the close of the grant where it says that with these and other immunities of the eighteen kinds it must be exempted. It is thus clear from this early Pallava record that about the first quarter of the third century Pallava kings had laid claim to not less than eighteen¹ kinds of dues from the villagers (*Aṣṭādaśaparihāras*) which they ordinarily could claim except in cases of gifted lands. The Mayiḍavolu plates of the Pallava king Śivaskandavarman² mentions among the immunities secured to the village of Viripara which was the object of the grant, freedom for the diggings of salt which shows that salt-manufacture was a royal monopoly, from the supply of bullocks in succession, the entrance of soldiers, the supply of boiled rice, etc. As we do not come across with some of these rights in the later records of the Pallavas it is probable that some of these rights fell out of use.

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¹ It is important to note that these were not at all in the nature of taxes but more of free-will offerings of first fruits by gardeners to kings and of supplies of means of transport to royal officers while on tour. Mr. Longhurst is therefore wrong when he remarks on this that ' it is thus obvious that the people were liable to all these taxes and imposts on the ordinary necessaries of life,' and that it clearly shows that in the fourth century at any rate there was no ' Golden Age' in Southern India. (*An. Rep. of the Arch. Dep. of Southern Circle 1918-1919, Part II, p. 21.*)

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² *Ep. Ind.*, vol. vi, pp. 88 ff.

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Passing on from the days of the early Pallavas to that of the later Pallavas, we notice in the Sanskrit charters of Paramēśvaravarman I, Nandivarman Pallavamalla and that of his grandson Nandivarman III more details regarding the rights of the Pallava kings of the period to other items of taxes and duties, are available. From a study of the Tamil portions of the Kaśākkuḍi, Kūram, the Taṇḍantōṭṭam, Vēlūrpāḷayam and the Bāhūr plates we learn that during this period there were, what have been called profession-taxes but are really excise on local products, on oil mill-owners, potters, goldsmiths, toddy-drawers, as well as duties on areca-nuts exposed for sale and sold in the markets, duty on looms, presents on the occasion of new marriages and royalty on the manufacture of salt. Some of these such as the Iḷampūtchi¹ and Puthāḷi are inexplicable. Good specimens of this royal exemption order are contained in the Tamil portion of the Taṇḍantōṭṭam plates dated in the fifty-eighth year of Nandivarman II, Pallavamalla: the immunities evidently indicate some of the taxes which were customary :—

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¹ Of these terms some are obscure. Pūtchi seems to mean a kind of due and Iḷampūtchi might mean a duty on Iḷavar or toddy drawers. Tirumugakkaṇam apparently means a fee for the messenger bringing royal messages or orders. Uḷaviyakkūli has been taken to mean the hire for well-diggers. The terms putaḷi kannittukanam, arikoli, nedum parai ūreṭṭu are not clear.

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‘No tax of any kind such as duty on oil-press and looms, Uḷaviyakūli, the fee on marriages, ūreṭṭu fee on potters, taṭṭukāyam, duty on toddy-drawers and shepherds, fee on stalls, brokerage fee, tirumugakkāṇam, royalty paid for the manufacture of salt, the good cow, the good bull, vaṭṭināḷi, fee on basket of grain exposed for sale in the market, areca-nuts exposed for sale in the shops, Budanāḷi, and others which the king could take and enjoy. Damanagam may be planted; mansions and large edifices may be built of burnt bricks; reservoirs and wells may be sunk; cocoanut trees

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may be planted in groves; and large oil-presses may be used. . .¹

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¹ S. I. I., vol. ii, pp. 530-31.

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The emperor in these records is called Mahārāja and Dharmamahārāja. In the Gupta inscriptions of North India also, the emperor is called Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara. In the Gupta Government the emperor is the centre of a group of subordinate kings. The territory of the empire was called a Rājya in the Gupta inscriptions as well as Rāshṭra, and Dēśa and Maṇḍala which occur also in the Pallava inscriptions. The territories in the Pallava Empire are divided in the records into Koṭṭams and Nāḍus on the lines of the Gupta administration where they are similarly divided into Bhukti, Vishaya, and Grāma. There is a close resemblance between the sources of taxation and revenue between the early Pallava records and Gupta inscriptions. These may be gathered from the inscriptions recording various grants. These include several items such as Uparikara, Vāṭa Bhūta, Hiraṇya, Ādēya, etc. Several of the Gupta inscriptions as well as Pallava inscriptions indicate negatively the obligations imposed by the state. Several of the Gupta Inscriptions, may be compared with portions of the Pallava records dealing with exemption from taxes.²

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² It (the village rendered free) is not to pay taxes; it is not to be entered by the regular troops or by the umbrella bearers; it does not carry with it the right to cows and bulls in succession of production, or to the abundance of flowers and milk, or to the pasturage, hides, and charcoal, or to the mines for the purchase of salt in a moist state . . . (F. G. I., p. 242.)

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About the beginning of the ninth century stone inscriptions of the Pallavas become abundant and in these we find interesting particulars of the activity of the village Sabhās all over the empire particularly in the Chingleput District. A perusal of the stone records of this period relating to these dated in the years of the later Pallava kings, Nandivarman II, Dantivarman, Nandivarman III and Aparājita shows that the following figure among the large numbers of places that enjoyed self-governing village Sabhās: Āḍambākkam, Avaninārāyaṇachaturvēdimangalam (Kaveripakkam), Maṇali, Tiruvoṛṛiyūr, Kūram, Perumunaiyūr, Tiruviprambēḍu, Anbil Veṅkuṇṛam, Uttaramallūr, Perunguḷi, Tirukoilūr, and Ukkal. An account of the activities of these village assemblies in repairing tanks, accepting deposits for charitable purposes and other works has come down to us.

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The Assemblies.—Though we know the existence of the village assemblies in the various parts of the Pallava empire we do not know the nature of the rules that regulated their constitution and working, their exact sphere of action and the relation of this to the central government. Inscriptions copied in the Chingleput District alone indicate that during the ninth century different types of village assemblies carried on their work. One of the most important of these was called the *Sabhā*. These were usually to be found in Brahmadēya villages granted to the Brahmaṇas and therefore were almost entirely run by the Brahmans. The rules laid down in the Uttaramallūr inscription¹ for the membership of the village assemblies applies in all probability to such *Sabhās*. A recently discovered inscription² dated in the thirty-first year of Māran-Saḍaiyan throws some light on some of the rules of membership of the village *Sabhās* which differ from all those known till now. (i) It is stated in this record that of the children of the share-holders in the villages, only one who is well versed in the *Mantra-Brāhmaṇa* and one *Dharma*, and well-behaved, may be on the village assembly and only one of similar qualifications may be in the assembly for a share purchased, received as present, or acquired by him as *Stridhana*; (ii) that shares purchased, presented, or acquired as *Stridhana* could entitle one if at all, only to a full membership in the assembly, and in no case will quarter or half or three-quarter of the membership be recognized; (iii) that those who purchase shares should elect only such men to represent their share in the assembly as have critically studied a whole *Vēda* with their *pariśiṣṭas*; (iv) that those who do not possess full membership as laid down by Rule II cannot stand on any committee for the management of the village affairs; (v) that those who satisfy the prescribed conditions should in no case persistently oppose the proceedings of the assembly, by saying nay, nay, to every proposal brought up before the assembly; (vi) those who do this together with their supporters will pay a fine¹ of five kāśu on each item in which they have so behaved and still continue to submit to the same rules.²

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¹ *A.S.R.* for 1904-5, pp, 13-145.

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² *M.E.R.* for 1913, para 23.

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¹ The last provision is rather ingenious in as much as it shows that as early as the ninth century the necessity to deal with the refractory and obstructionist tactics had been felt though the safeguard does not appeal to the modern mind.

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² Fuller details are available in Chola inscriptions such as those of Parāntaka and his successors when the village assemblies not only managed all local affairs such as the collection of revenue, upkeep of tanks and irrigation canals, administration of temples but also looked after the local judicial administration, the education religious and secular of the young as well as the adult, and maintenance of hospitals for the diseased. The principle of election and the ballot box became very popular and local administration was conducted very efficiently. The annual change of office-bearers in the various committees extended to every villager the opportunity of getting acquainted with practical administration.

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The activities of the Sabhās were varied in character and they dealt with all important aspects of village life. From the Pallava inscriptions alone we gather that these Sabhās looked after the temple and its administration, and received the endowments made on behalf of temple services. In addition to this many of these Sabhās looked after the supervision and repairs to the village tanks which were brought into existence with considerable labour at the instance of the Pallava kings. Some of these immense irrigational tanks which must have engaged the skilled labour of a vast body of men have survived to our own times. These include, the Paramēśvara Taṭāka in Kūram near Kāñchīpuram, the Mahēndra Taṭāka in Mahēndravāḍi not far from Arkonam, Tirayanēri, Vayiramēga Taṭāka in Uttaramallūr, in the Madurantakam Taluk, Chitramēgha Taṭāka, Veḷḷēri and probably the large tank at Māmaṇḍūr which now irrigates a large area. The irrigation channels figuring in the Pallava inscriptions include the Perumbiḍugu Vāykkāl, the channel cut from the Pālār to Kūram and the Vayiramēga Vāykkāl, both of which probably owe their origin to the Pallava kings bearing these surnames. The supervision and upkeep of these tanks and channels must have entailed a great deal of labour and attention on the part of the village Sabhās many of which had a separate Tank Supervision Committee as is clear from one of the later inscriptions.¹ The great tank at Uttaramallūr owes its origin to one of the Pallava kings named Vayiramēgan and figures frequently in the inscriptions relating to the activities of the Uttaramallūr Sabhā during the reign of Dantivarman and Vijaya Kampavarman.²

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¹ No. 84 of 1898, dated in the twenty-first year of Kampavarman mentions the name of this Committee as the Eri-Vāriya-Perumakkaḷ.

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² Ep. Col., No. 74 of 1898, dated in the ninth year of Dantivarman; and Ep. Col., No. 61 of 1898, dated in the twenty-first year of the same king and Ep. Col., No. 84 of 1898, of Kampavarman.

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The other important work of the village Sabhās of the Pallava age was the management of temple property and service. The temple appears to have played an important role in the age of the Pallavas and must have attracted large numbers of people for various purposes. A close study of the inscriptions of this period shows that the Pallava kings took a great deal of interest in the building of these temples as well as their proper upkeep. These are scattered all over the Tamil districts, some of the most beautiful and important ones being found at the capital of the kingdom, Kāñchīpuram. The inscriptions at the Rājasimhēśvara and at the Vaikuṇṭaperumāḷ temples bear ample testimony to the great devotion of the Pallava kings but details of their management in those days are not available. It is quite probable that their management was entrusted to the temple committee of the city council in the days of Rājasimha and Paramēśvaravarman. In the actual management of the temple administration which involved the looking after of lands, appointment of contractors for the day-to-day supply of rice, ghee, flowers, etc., defalcations sometimes occurred even leading to the reduction in the actual offering to the deity. One such instance is recorded in the Triplicane inscription of Dantivarman, dated in the twelfth year of his reign.¹ The temple management (*kulankiḷār*) having mortgaged one of the temple fields in Karumārachēri, the offering to the God fell short. This was restored however by the pious offices of one Pugaḷtuṇai-Visśiyarāyan who redeemed the mortgaged field.

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¹ Triplicane inscription of Dantivarman, *Ep. Ind.*, vol. viii, pp. 291 ff.

Literature During the Pallava Age

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² Kūram plates ; *S. I. I.*, vol. i, p. 153.

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Kāñchīpuraka, possibly because it was famous for Sanskrit learning even then. Even in the Sangam age it will be remembered that Aravana Adigal taught Buddhistic philosophy at this place and at a subsequent period Dignāga the logician who is believed to have been the author of Nyāyapravēśa spent considerable time at Kāñchī and was perhaps a product of mediæval Pallava culture. Later, Mayūra Śarman, the progenitor of the Kadamba family, had to proceed to this place for the completion of the Vedic studies. It is not surprising therefore that Simhavishṇu about the close of the sixth century when he heard of Bhāravi staying with Durvinīta, the Western Ganga king, invited him to his court according to the Avantisundarikathāsāra.¹ It is by no means unlikely that Kirtārjunīya the well-known work of this poet was composed about this period.

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¹ See App. Avantisundarikathāsāra.

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Of Mahēndravarman I, the illustrious son and successor of Simhavishṇu, more is known. His great command of Sanskrit is fully seen in his work Mattavilāsa Prahasana which has survived to our times. This has already been noticed while dealing with this king in an earlier chapter. The great musical inscription at Kuḍumiyāmalai about the same period, as well as the beautiful Sanskrit compositions at the Trichinopoly rock-cut temple and elsewhere are also indicative of the refined taste for Sanskrit composition at this period. It was during the reign of one of his successors that Daṇḍin, the celebrated savant, spent considerable time in the Pallava court, even paying a visit to the wonderful sculptures of Mahāmallapuram. It is not improbable that this was towards the close of the seventh century A.D. The Avantisundarikathāsāra contains interesting details of an earlier sojourn of Daṇḍin in the south, while quite young, when Kāñchīpuram was in the throes of foreign invasion and siege by the Chāḷukyas, when the citizens of the place had to desert the city temporarily. Daṇḍin returned to Kāñchī long after and in all probability flourished for long at the Pallava court. Mātṛidatta, a poet and scholar and Rāma Śarman, also figure among the friends of Daṇḍin and were perhaps associated with him at Kāñchīpuram. The names of Sanskrit poets at the Pallava court during this period other than these are not known. It is held by some scholars that the Sanskrit plays published recently in Trivandrum as Bhāsa’s were abridgements made during this period of earlier works of Bhāsa and Śūdraka for being staged at the Pallava court. It has been suggested by Mr. L. D. Barnett that these are the works of an anonymous author in the court of the Pāṇḍyan King Rājasimha.¹ But as we have got evidence that the Pallava court was the great centre of Sanskrit learning during this period it seems to be more correct to regard that the dramas referred to above were intended to be staged at the Pallava court as is evident from the colophons of some of these plays.² It has been presumed also that the work was composed at Kāñchī from the occurrence of the name of Dantivarman in the manuscripts of Mudrā-rākshasa found in Malabar in the last benedictory verses.

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¹ J.R.A.S. for 1919, p. 233.

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² इमां सागरपर्यन्तां हिमवद्विन्ध्यकुण्डलाम् । पृथ्वोमेकातपत्रङ्कां राजसिंहः प्रशास्तुनः ॥

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The Tēvāram and the Nalāyira Prabandham hymns were also produced during the age of the Pallava monarchs. We have already seen that Appar, the first of the Tēvāram hymnists was the well-known contemporary of Mahēndravarman I who was converted to Śaivism by him. His hymns in the Tēvāram collection number over 3000 and are full of Sanskrit expressions and Brahmanical culture and tradition. Tiruñāna-Sambandar was his younger contemporary and flourished during the reign of Narasimhavarman I. During his period Śaivism was very much in the ascendant and Śiva temples were very numerous in South India. According to the Periyapurāṇam account he is said to have succeeded in converting Neḍumāṛan the contemporary Pāṇḍyan King to Śaivism after a successful disputation with the Śamaṇas who were very powerful at this period at Madura. His poems in the *Tēvāram* number nearly 4000. Sundarar the last of the sixty-three Śaiva saints appears to have lived in the ninth century and mentions Appar and Sambandar who preceded him. His *Tiruttoṇḍatokai* was the basis on which Nambiyāṇḍār Nambi composed his *Aṇdādi* and these two formed the main sources of Śekkilār for writing the *Periyapurāṇam*. Sundarar's hymns amount to eleven hundreds nearly in the *Tēvāram*.

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About the age of Māṇikkavāśagar the well-known author of *Tiruvāśakam* and *Tirukkovai*, there exists some doubt. According to some Tamil scholars he preceded the three *Tēvāram* hymnists. But as he clearly refers to the Pandyan King Varaguṇa in his works there cannot be any doubt that he flourished in the earlier half of the ninth century. His *Tiruvāśakam* is a very popular work and celebrates Śiva's miracles in a simple and attractive style. His activities were confined to Chidambaram and its adjoining places and he does not appear to have come into active contact with the Pallavas.

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Of the twelve Vaiṣṇava saints known as the Āḻvārs some of whom flourished during the Pallava age the first four—Pēyāḻvār, Buḍattāḻvār, Poygaiāḻvār and Tirumaḻiśaiāḻvār, appear to have been contemporaries and lived at a time before the advent of the Pallavas to Kāñchīpuram. Tradition however records that Tirumaḻiśai was a contemporary of one of the Pallava kings, perhaps Toṇḍamān-Iḷamtiraiyan. Of the others Tirumaṅgaiāḻvār is the most important and has already been referred in a previous chapter. There is a credible Vaiṣṇava tradition that he held a successful disputation with the Śaiva saint Tiruñāna-Sambandar. If this can be relied on he should have lived an exceptionally long period of time. His work exceeds that of any other Āḻvar except Nammāḻvār and his peregrinations were spread all over South India. His great Pallava contemporary was Nandivarman Pallavamalla who reigned for an exceptionally long period of sixty-five years. This Āḻvār unlike the other Āḻvārs makes frequent mention of contemporary political occurrences including the martial exploits of the Pallava King referred to above. One of his verses contains an allusion to the repulse of the Chāḷukyan King which is corroborated by inscriptions. The war implements of the Pallavas as well as their other insignia also find mention in his hymns. The other Āḷvārs, such as Kulaśēkhara, Nammāḷvār, Periyāḷvār, Āṇḍāḷ, etc., did not flourish in Toṇḍamaṇḍalam and did not come into contact with the Pallava Kings.

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The origin and evolution of Pallava art and architecture does not properly belong to this work and may be studied elsewhere.¹ It may be however noted here that it is a mistake to suppose that temples did not exist in South India before the Pallava age, for mention is made of them in early Saṅgam works. They were then built only of wood and perishable material and consequently have not survived. The earliest inscriptional mention, in a Pallava record, of a temple occurs in the grant of Chārudēvi which evidences a donation of land to the temple of Nārāyaṇa at Daḷūrā early in the fourth century. During the reign of Mahēndravarman I, a commencement was made² in the art of monolithic temple building. The first specimens were all of them excavations of hillsides into temples such as those at Trichinopoly, Vallam and Māmaṇḍūr, modelled after the caves at Uṇḍavalli. A later development was from the cave temples to the Rathas like those of Mahābalipuram. From these, in due course of evolution, came structural temples, among the earliest and best known of which are the Shore-temple at the Seven Pagodas, the Kailāsanātha temple at Kāñchi and at Panamalai. The evolution continued in the days of subsequent Pallava kings till the rise of what is a distinct Chola style.

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¹ See the works of Prof. Jouveau-Dubreuil and Mr. Longhurst.

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² According to Prof. Jouveau-Dubreuil.

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