History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c5.6.2

c5.6.2

The references to the successful struggle against the Āryans, which some of the Chola monarchs claim to themselves as well as the Malayamān ruler of Tirukovilūr perhaps is a reflex of this effort on the part of the Sātavāhanas. When the Pallavas therefore emerged from this region—and we are given the information in the earliest Pallava charter that the first great Pallava ruler of the locality referred to as Bappa Deva made a free distribution of a hundred thousand ox ploughs, etc., we seem to be introduced to an effort at civilizing the locality appearing very like an extension of the effort of Karikala to civilize Toṇḍamaṇḍalam itself. This will appear clearly from the sequel. The Pallava charters themselves seem to argue a connection with the Sātavāhanas of a more or less intimate character, political as well as institutional. This seems clear from the Prakrit charters much more pronouncedly than perhaps even the Sanskrit ones. The conclusion to which the epigraphists have arrived that the Pallavas of the Prakrit charters were earlier and ought so to be regarded seems well warranted by the circumstances of the case and the character of the documents as such. That these early rulers issued their charters in Sanskrit and Prakrit indifferently at the same time, and must be regarded as the same people is a conclusion which while it may cut the gordian knot seems to have little to justify it on the basis of the facts of the position.