History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.17

Language: English

c5.17.1

There has been considerable discussion in regard to the successors of Nandivarman Pallavamalla and a controversy has raged over the fancied displacement of the dynasty and by the succession of a new dynasty called till recently by the epigraphists (Ganga-Pallavas.) Inscriptions published since this hypothesis was put forward seem entirely to negative the position taken and with the information at our disposal now, there is hardly any need to maintain the hypothesis, whatever justification it might have had in its origin. Nandivarman was succeeded by Dantivarman his son, Dantivarman by another Nandivarman, and then followed Nṛpatunga in a regular line of succession, all of them tracing their descent through Nandivarman Pallavamalla. Why a certain number of these should be distinctly marked off and given the name Ganga-Pallavas is far from clear. That there was some kind of a family connection between the Gangas and the Pallavas may be readily admitted. That is a connection which the Pallavas had with other royal families as well, namely, those of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and the Kadambas, taking the dynasty of Nandivarman Pallavamalla alone. A marriage alliance of this sort need not give a new direction unless we can specifically prove that a scion of the Ganga family through a daughter even, or through a Pallava princess set up rule in the territory of the Pallavas. For this, we have absolutely no lead.

c5.17.2

Comparatively minor changes in the titles of rulers at a certain stage of their history, or of the existence of a number of rulers simultaneously in the same territory, are not reasons that would justify a hypothesis as grave as this. What seems actually to have taken place is this. The Pallava-Pandya struggle in the time of the great Pallavamalla seems to have been more or less for the overlordship of Kongu to begin with. At some period of his reign that overlordship, if it was at any time exercised by the Pallavamalla at all, passed over to the Pandyas. To fortify this position, they entered into a marriage alliance with the Gangas across the Kongu frontier and this brought down upon them a great Chālukya invasion, as the Gangas were perhaps regarded as Chālukya feudatories at the time. Feudatory or no, the Gangas in alliance with the Pandyas would be a real danger on the flank of the Chālukya, having regard to the fact that they regarded the Pallavas as their standing enemies. That brought on the battle of Veṇbai which had for its ultimate result the subversion of the dynasty of the Chālukyas and the establishment, in their stead, of the rule of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas who apparently fortified their position by an alliance with the Pallavas. This for the time settled the question of the political relationship between the Gangas, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and the Pallavas.

c5.17.3

Later on the wars continued between the Pandyas and the Pallavas on the one side, and hostility gradually developed between the Pallavas and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas on the other. The Gangas in the middle now played the one part, now the other, till at last they were ultimately reduced to a position of subordination by the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. This certainly was one element of weakness in the Pallavas. The Pandyas in consequence were slowly gaining the upper hand, and tightened their hold on the Pallavas, so that the Pallava territory which had at one time been so very extensive, was gradually shrinking to one of comparatively narrow dimensions. The final victory achieved by Varaguna II at Śrīpurambyam near Kumbakonam gave a crushing blow, if not the death blow, to the Pallava power, in which one section of the Gangas, the Gangas who held authority in the Bāṇa country, assisted the Pallavas. But the Pallavas still continued in a comparatively precarious position.

c5.17.4

This precarious condition of the Pallava power, as in the case of all other Indian imperial powers, brought about a dismemberment, which began usually with an independence of the provinces constituting the empire more or less definite, and this dismemberment is what is in evidence in our having a certain number of rulers in the Pallava territory, each issuing inscriptions, almost on his own authority simultaneously, when the power of the Choḷas, newly come into existence under Vijayālaya, advanced northwards under his successor Āditya, and put an end to the crumbling empire of the Pallavas and annexed the whole of their territory to their own dominions, thus introducing a new overlordship, which was symbolized by the name Jayamkoṇḍacholamaṇḍalam given to the Pallava terrritory which till then was known Toṇḍamaṇḍalam. The existence therefore of several Pallava princes marks nothing more than a mere stage in the dismemberment of the kingdom or empire, and need not be regarded as the establishment of a separate dynasty of rulers distinct from the one who held rule from Kanchi. That seems the general trend of Pallava History, which Mr. Gopalan’s work indicates. The purpose of this introduction is merely to supply a few gaps in the narrative, and thus to provide the few links required for the continuous story of the rise, growth, and the dissolution of the power of the Pallavas of Kanchi.