History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.15.2

c5.15.2

It cannot now be taken that the Vishnu temple was founded by Paramēśvaravarman II, nor even by Paramēśvaravarman I. It now becomes quite clear that the founder of this temple is the Pallava prince to whom the Āḻvar makes so many direct references. All of them refer to Nandivarman Pallavamalla in his family name Paramēśvaravarman. That apart, the accession, according to these records is a peaceful one by the choice of the people and therefore come to legitimately. But there are other charters which broadly state, as is recounted in the following pages, that he came to the throne as a result of fighting and by an act of usurpation. The two statements it is possible to reconcile, and it is hardly necessary to take them as irreconcilable alternatives. The facts seem to have been these. A Chāḷukya invasion seems to have been imminent, and the constant hostility of this power on the northern frontier together with the rising activity of the Pāṇḍyas in the south made the position of the Pallavas in the middle one of extreme anxiety. The maintenance of the Pallava power intact meant a Janus-faced fight, south against the Pāṇḍyas and north against the Chāḷukyas.