History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.14.3

c5.14.3

They then gradually spread southwards, extending their territory, and under the sons of Pulikesan I, they conquered the Kadambas and the Gaṅgas and so extended their operations gradually as to come into contact with the territory of the Pallavas with the set object of recovering the southern block of the territory under the Andhras included in the viceroyalty of Banavasi. It was stated already that the Pallavas probably laid claim to this very territory on the basis of a marriage, and naturally, therefore, the two powers had a reason for perpetual hostility on an important, and at the same time, a vulnerable frontier for both of them. Therefore it is that since the Chāḷukyas established their power by the conquest of the Naḷas, the Mauryas and the Kadambas, they are seen in the full tide of their hostility to the Pallavas and this hostility continued, now the one, now the other getting the better, till one of the dynasties, the Chāḷukyas vanished from Dakhan politics. That accounts for the Chāḷukya invasion in the reign of Mahēndravarman, who from his headquarters beat them back, and left it to his son to carry the war into the enemy’s country, destroy their capital and bring about an interregnum, which lasted for thirteen years.