History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.5.3

c5.5.3

At one time this region was known as Kākandināḍu, ‘submerged by the sea,’ Kākandi being the name of the Chola capital, Puhār, because of the semi-historical ruler, Kakandan. It seems as though this territory was a new conquest to which was given the name from the capital of the conquering rulers. Whether the name was actually so given to it or no, it is evident that the region was ruled by a Tiraiyan chieftain who is referred to in the poems of the *Ahanāṉūṟu* as Tiraiyan merely without a qualifying adjunct. The Chola Karikāla is given credit in tradition which has come down to us for having cleared forests, constructed tanks and made other irrigation works, and thus introduced civilization in Toṇḍamaṇḍalam, which till then remained, from the point of view of the Chola country, uncivilized. Chola viceroys were thereafter appointed at Kanchi, and the territory ruled over by the Viceroy at Kanchi is generally referred to as Toṇḍamaṇḍalam. What is traditional in the story finds confirmation in the Śangam poem *Paṭṭinapalai* and in another poem by the same author *Perumbāṇāṟṟupaḍai*, which had for its hero the Toṇḍamān Iḷam-Tiraiyan as he is known to literature. He is described in the poem as of Chola birth and as a powerful ruler of Kanchi and is ascribed a descent from the Cholas, nay in fact the family of Rama, as in fact in the later Pauranic genealogy of these Cholas some of the Ikshvāku rulers are made to figure.