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History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6: Chapter I. Introductory, History of Previous Research and Sources of History for the Pallavas

History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6

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English

Contents

Chapter I. Introductory, History of Previous Research and Sources of History for the Pallavas

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INTRODUCTORY,

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THE materials for writing a history of the Pallava kings of South India were until almost recent times exceedingly scanty and otherwise inadequate. They are moreover distorted by erroneous traditions and misleading accounts of mythical ancestry. A hundred years ago hardly any of their inscriptions on stone or on copper-plates, of which we have such large numbers now, were known. This becomes evident on a perusal of the Mackenzie Collection of MSS. relating to South Indian history which, mentioning dozens of members of the Chōḷa, Pāṇḍya and other dynasties of early South India, do not mention a single name of any of the members of the Pallava dynasty which had remained the dominant South Indian power for about seven centuries. This is remarkable seeing that the Pallavas wielded sovereign authority for several centuries in the Tamil land. Literary tradition embodied in the hymns of the Āḷvārs, and in the works *Nandik-kalambakam*, the *Periyapurāṇam*, *Chintāmaṇi*, *Avantisundari-kathāsāra*, etc., are far too scanty for historical purposes though they give a glowing idea of the culture of the Pallava period.

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*History of Research on the Pallavas.*—The late Sir Walter Elliot did remarkable service for the cause of South Indian historical research by the publication of some early South Indian inscriptions in the *Journal of the Royal Asiatic* Society ¹ and in the *Madras Journal of Literature and Science* ² as early as 1837. An important starting-point was made in his announcement in 1858 that in the sixth century, the Pallava kings were dominant in South India. Even earlier than this, in 1844, he had discovered that the monoliths in the Seven Pagodas were excavated by Pallava kings. At the same time Dr. Burnell succeeded in deciphering some of the inscriptions at this place belonging to Pallava kings. These inscriptions are included in Capt. Carr's well-known collection of papers on the Seven Pagodas. Another important contribution to Pallava history is the work of James Fergusson, *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, in which after a minute examination of the monuments at the Seven Pagodas he has attributed them to the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. But it was the second half of the last century that saw the discovery of numerous and important copper-plate charters and stone inscriptions belonging to this dynasty, which for the first time opened the eyes of scholars to the historical importance of this celebrated dynasty of kings, ruling in a part of the Tamil and Telugu country. This discovery has practically revolutionized the prevalent notions concerning Pallava history. The earliest of these records was edited by the late Dr. Fleet in the *Indian Antiquary* in its earlier numbers, with notes and translations. Towards the close of the last century stone inscriptions of this dynasty began to be discovered in various parts of the Tamil land along with a large number of Pallava monuments other than those found at Mahābalipuram. These records coupled with the inscriptions on the copper-plate charters form the most valuable raw material for the reconstruction of Pallava history. Many of the records have been edited, with great ability and learning, by Hultzsch, Venkayya, Fleet, Kielhorn, Krishna Sastri and others in the pages of the *Indian Antiquary*, *South Indian Inscriptions* and the *Epigraphia Indica*. The stone inscriptions and copper-plate records discovered year after year are noticed in the *Annual Reports on South Indian Epigraphy* with notes and comments.

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¹ vol. iv, pp. 1-41.

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² vol. vii, pp. 193-232.

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The first connected account of the Pallava kings was attempted more than forty years ago by the late Dr. Fleet in his *Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts*, which forms a part of the *Bombay Gazetteer*, where he has exploited for the first time all the records, inscriptions on stone and copper-plates, relating to the Pallavas which were accessible to him. The outline account of Dr. Fleet, though written so long ago, still remains in its main aspects authoritative and represents more or less the first attempt to write a scientific history of these kings. The next notable attempt to sketch the origin and history of the Pallavas was made by the late Mr. V. Venkayya in the *Archæological Annual Survey Report for 1906-7*.¹ This is a scholarly piece of research work on the subject, and embodies the author's life-long labours in the field of epigraphy and literature. This work written in 1906 takes into consideration the inscriptions and copper-plates discovered since the days when Dr. Fleet wrote, and the author's researches in the field of Tamil literature are also fully utilized. In many respects this account still remains an authority on the subject.

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¹ pp. 217-43.

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The next important work on the Pallavas is that of Prof. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil published in 1917. In this work the author has embodied the results of his independent research, and has propounded several original and ingenious theories regarding the origin, chronology, genealogy, art and architecture of the Pallavas. The author has succeeded, to a large extent, in establishing a connection between the Pallava kings of the Prakrit charters and the members of the Sanskrit records, and has attacked the intricate problem of their chronology and genealogy with critical ability. Many of the conclusions are based on the author's personal investigation which have resulted in the discovery of several new inscriptions and monuments hitherto unknown. The other papers and monographs of the same author, such as those on ‘the Pallava Antiquities’, ‘Pallava-painting’, form important contributions to the subject and offer several new interpretations of parts of the subject. His latest work entitled the Ancient History of the Deccan embodies the author’s latest views on the Pallavas, their origin and chronology.

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Among other writers on the subject Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar has published a valuable account of ‘The Origin and Early History of the Pallavas’ in the Journal of Indian History,¹ then published in Allahabad. This contribution represents the author’s latest investigations on this subject, and, having been published in 1923 is the most recent work on the subject of an authoritative character. A large number of papers on ‘the inscriptions, monuments and literature of the period appeared in various journals, some of these being contributed by Mr. Gopinatha Rao on ‘the Ganga-Pallavas,’ Mr. K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, on ‘the Ancient History of Conjeevaram’ published in the Madras Christian College Magazine, ‘the Literary History of the Pallava Age’ by Mr. Rangaswami Sarasvati in the Journal of the Mythic Society and the ‘Antiquities of Mahabalipuram’ by Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar. Some of the historical portions of the district manuals contain accounts of varying value about the Pallavas, while more recently accounts have also been published in Tamil, the most notable of these being that of Mr. P. T. Srinivasa Aiyangar, entitled A History of the Pallavas.

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¹ vol. ii, pp. 20-66.

Sources of History

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*Epigraphy.*—Of the sources of information for writing the history of the Pallavas, epigraphy occupies a prominent place compared with the other sources. Dr. Fleet has pointed out, ‘We are ultimately dependent on the inscriptions in every line of Indian research.’ This is especially true of the history of the Pallavas, for without the inscriptions it is practically impossible to know anything about these kings and their times. We may divide the Pallava inscriptions¹ conveniently into three classes. To the first class belong records written entirely in Prakrit. The second class of records comprises Sanskrit inscriptions, while the third class consists of those in Sanskrit and Tamil. Of these, the records of the first class probably belong to the earliest period, as it is now recognized that Prakrit was superseded by Sanskrit about the fourth century A.D., while the earliest 'Grantha-Tamil' records of the Pallavas have been assigned to the seventh century. Most of these records are of a donative character. Their object was to record the gifts of lands or money to temples or Brahmans. The most important portion of the records was the specification of the details of the names of the donor, the donee and the donation of the particular gift. From very early times the records give a certain amount of genealogical information and a recital of events was introduced to magnify the glory and importance of the donors. Thus, for instance, the Prakrit charters such as those of Sivaskandavarman contained hardly any allusion to historical events connected with the donor. Gradually however we find a change. The Sanskrit charters beginning from about the fifth century not only enumerate the father and the grandfather of the donor, but some of them, such as the Kūram, Kaśākkuḍi, the Vēlūrpāḷayam and the Bāhūr plates, give a long account of the names of previous kings and their achievements. 'Thus,' as Fleet says, 'not with the expressed object of preserving history, but in order to intensify the importance of everything connected with religion and to secure grantees in the possession of properties conveyed to them, there was gradually accumulated almost the whole mass of epigraphic records from which chiefly, the ancient history of India is now being put together.'²

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¹ Vide Appendix (A).

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² Fleet, *Bom. Gaz.*, vol. i, pt. ii, p. 62.

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*Stone Inscriptions.*—Stone inscriptions beginning from the seventh century, so far as this dynasty is concerned, form a distinct class by themselves. These records which are fairly abundant for the later Pallava period are for the most part, donative in character, though one or two of them such as the Vāyalūr pillar inscription of Rājasimha, and the Panamalai inscription of the same king give a genealogical account. Some are short, and record gifts to religious or other institutions, and they are invariably dated in the regnal year of the contemporary king without reference to any era. They are mostly in prose, though a few of these are to be found also in verse such as the inscription at the Pallava rock-cut temple at Daḷavānūr ¹ of King Mahēndravarman I. The earliest of these are those written in some of the rock-cut temples believed to have been excavated by Mahēndravarman I, such as the one at Vallam.² Many of these rock-cut temples such as those at Pallāvaram, Trichinopoly, Maṇḍagappaṭṭu, Māmaṇḍūr contain Grantha and Grantha-Tamil inscriptions some of which are contemporaneous with the caves and have for their object the simple recording of the excavation of these monuments. The copper-plate charters taken along with these stone inscriptions furnish valuable information as regards the history and chronology of the Pallava kings. In spite of the serious disadvantage that these records are not dated in any of the known eras but only in the regnal years of the king, a careful study of the palæography of these inscriptions makes it possible to fix their age more or less accurately. The facts obtained from these records, coupled with those of the contemporary kings with whom the Pallavas came into contact enable us to reconstruct to a great extent the history of the age of the Pallavas. The most important of these contemporary records are those of the Western-Gangas, the Western Chāḷukyas, the Pāṇḍyas as well as the minor dynasties such as those of the Muttaraiyan and the Bāṇa subordinates of the later Pallava kings.

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¹ Ep. Ind., vol. xii, p. 225.

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² S. I. I., vol. ii, p 34.

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Pallava Monuments.—Side by side with the inscriptions we have the Pallava monuments themselves. According to one set of scholars whose enthusiasm for their subject hampers them from taking a dispassionate view, the study of architecture constitutes an even more important instrument for fixing dates than the study cf palæography and inscriptions. According to Mr. A. H. Longhurst for instance, ‘the present method of relying entirely on inscriptions for fixing the dates of ancient monuments adopted by Dr. Hultzsch and others is open to objection because when this method of investigation is employed alone, serious mistakes may occur. It is possible that inscriptions on a monument may have been inscribed long after it was erected. In such cases the inscription would not only give no information about the original author of the monument but may even lead us into error. Then again if the study of architecture is neglected, how is the epigraphist going to determine the age of the monument that does not possess any inscription ?’¹ This is a reply to the point of view of Prof. Hultzsch who in his paper on the ‘Inscriptions of the Seven Pagodas’² wrote :—‘The important question of the authors and the dates of these excavations can be answered only by a careful study of their inscriptions engraved on them.’ Prof. Jouveau-Dubreuil is inclined to agree with Mr. Longhurst, and attaches greater importance to the study of architecture for the determination of dates than to that of the inscriptions. In his work on the *Pallava Antiquities* the author enters into a minute examination of the evolution of the Pallava style in the course of the Pallava age, and distinguishes various styles even during comparatively short intervals of time.

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¹ *M.A.R. for 1918-19*, p. 20.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, vol. x, p. 2.

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During the last thirty years a large number of Pallava monuments have been discovered at Mahēndravāḍi, Daḷavānūr-Śīyamangalam, Pallāvaram, Trichinopoly, Kīḷmāvilangai, Śingavaram, Tirukkaḷukkuṉṟam, Vallam, Māmaṇḍūr, Maṇḍagapaṭṭu, Mēlachēri, Sittannavāsal and Mahābalipuram. Some of these consist of rock-cut caves and bear Pallava inscriptions. Others consist of structural temples such as the Kailāsanātha temple at Kāñchīpuram and the Shore temple at the Seven Pagodas. Many of these monuments were brought into existence by the Pallava kings and contain their inscriptions. The inscriptions on the Rathas of Mahābalipuram contain some specific references in the shape of the names and surnames of some of the kings. The most important of this class of epigraphs are those on the Dharmarājaratha and the Kailāsanātha temple at Mahābalipuram and Conjeevaram respectively. These temples are dedicated to the Hindu Triad; while the cave temples are dedicated to Śiva or Viṣṇu, the presence of representations of Brahma the other member of the Hindu Triad, forms a peculiar feature of these monuments which distinguishes them from later temples. The Ādivarāha temple at the Seven Pagodas contains statues of the celebrated kings Simhavishṇu and Mahēndravarman I in bas-relief. Similarly the rock-cut temple at the top of the Trichinopoly rock appears to have originally contained a statue of Mahēndravarman I, a fact which seems to be alluded to in the inscription discovered there.¹ But the statue is not to be found there now, and may have been destroyed subsequently. Recently Mr. Longhurst has been fortunate in discovering at Bhairavakonda ² (Nellore District) a large group of temples attributable to the Pallava age, all of them cut out of rock and closely resembling the Mahēndra caves. There are also a large number of Pallava monuments in South India without bearing any inscription. Further study and research may help in establishing their actual age.

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¹ S. I. I., vol. i, pp. 28-30.

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² M.A.R. for 1920-21, pp. 29-32.

Literature

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Next to inscriptions we might consider the testimony of literature and literary tradition. For the earliest period of the history of the Tamil land we are almost entirely dependent on a class of Tamil works known as the Śangam classics and attributable to the first and second centuries of the Christian era. The age of the Śangam has been the subject of keen discussion among scholars, and attempts have been made to bring it to the seventh and the eighth centuries. The late Mr. Swamikannu Pillai working from the astronomical details in the eleventh *Paripāḍal* arrived at the conclusion, in his *Indian Ephemeris*,¹ that the author of the piece must have lived in the seventh century. But the generally accepted date, namely, first and the second centuries A.D., seems established on satisfactory grounds, and the new dates have so far not been proved to be beyond doubt correct. The orthodox estimate of the Śangam age expounded by the late Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai and more fully by Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar has been followed here.

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¹ vol. i, p. 108.

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The Śangam works although they mention several kings and chieftains in the Tamil land contain no mention of the Pallavas (even where they actually describe Kāñchī), or of any member of the various Pallava dynasties known to us from inscriptions. The inference seems, therefore, to be fully justified that the Pallava kings reigned after the age of these Śangam works. Otherwise it is difficult to understand the silence of these works about the dynasty of the Pallavas of Kāñchī especially as we learn from them that the region around Kāñchī was ruled over by Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan, one of the Chōḷa viceroys. The Śangam works however mention a people known as the Toṇḍaiyar among others who are sometimes considered to be the same as, or closely related to, the Pallavas.² But the available evidence does not seem sufficient to warrant our identifying the Toṇḍaiyar with the Pallavas as the former term appears to be a tribal name like the Aruvāḷar, Vaḍavar, etc., while Pallava looks more like a family name than that of a tribe. One Śangam work called *Perumbāṇārrupadai*, written by Rudran-Kaṇṇanār who has also celebrated the Chōḷa king Karikāla and his capital town Kavēripaṭṭinam, is mainly devoted to a description of the condition of Kāñchī during the rule of Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan who appears to have preceded the Pallava kings at Kāñchī and who, according to certain scholars, was an early Pallava king. With the exception of this poem the other pieces in the Śangam works do not contain any reference either to Kāñchī during the age of the Pallavas or about the Pallavas themselves. Suggestions have been put forward that the Pallavas were foreigners to the south, that the Pallava power was superimposed upon the Tamil land, and that the Tamils therefore scrupulously omitted to mention them, and, even when they did so, mentioned them with contempt. As an illustration the definition in the Pingalandai which gives us the synonyms for the Pallavas, includes terms such as Kayavar, Patakar and Niśar. But against this it must be said that this reference does not apply to the Pallava kings who are referred to in the Tēvāram hymns and in the works of some of the Vaishṇava Āḷvārs of the eighth century in terms of praise.¹

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² *Ind. Ant.*, vol. lii, pp. 75-80.

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¹ Periya-Tirumoḷi, ii, 9.

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In addition to the references in the hymns of the Śaiva and Vaishṇava saints about these kings new light is thrown on the age of Simhavishṇu in one of the recently-discovered Sanskrit works entitled the Avantisundarikathasāra which, in its historical introduction, not only contains an important synchronism between Simhavishṇu of Kāñchī, Vishṇuvardhana, the early Chāḷukya, and Durvinīta, the early Gaṅga.² This work also gives valuable particulars relating to the literary history of the Pallava age and the patronage of the Pallava kings. The association of Daṇḍin as well as Bhāravi with the Pallava court at Kāñchī, which this work establishes, is very important for understanding the nature of Pallava culture during this period.³

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² Special note by Editor.

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³ See the Age of Bhāravi and Daṇḍin, Q.J.M.S., vol. xii, p. 10 and the Second All Ind. Ori. Conf., 1922, Proc., pp. 194, 306-7.

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Of a similar nature is the discovery of the work Mattavilāsa-Prahasana, a burlesque written by the Pallava king Mahēndravarman I, which depicts vividly the contemporary life of religious sects such as the Śākyabikshus and Kāpalikas in the city, and of which glimpses are obtainable in the hymns of the Ālvārs and the Nāyanmārs in some of the *Prabandha* and the *Tēvāram* hymns. This work has recently been published by the Travancore Government.¹ There seems to be no doubt that the author of this play Śrī Mahēndravikramavarman is identical with the Pallava king Mahēndravarman known, from inscriptions and copper-plates, to have reigned in the first quarter of the seventh century. A recently-discovered panel in the Ādivarāha temple in the Seven Pagodas represents him with his two queens, their identity being placed beyond question by the inscriptions over the reliefs.² Some of his titles such as *Avanibhājana*, *Guṇabhara*, *Śatrumalla*, *Mattavilāsa*, found in the various cave temples excavated by him, occur in the course of the play Detailed reference will be made to the work in the section on the literature of the Pallava age.

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¹ Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, No. LV.

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² Special note by Editor.

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Among literary works that throw light upon the Pallava age in Tamil, *Nandikkalambakam* deserves prominent mention. This work which consists of about a hundred and odd verses is devoted to a description of the exploits of Nandivarman III, whose death the author laments in the course of the work. A number of verses in the poem describe the martial exploits of this sovereign, his patronage of letters, his capital cities, the extent of territory, and other particulars which together give a detailed record of his reign. The author is regarded by tradition as one of the younger brothers of the king himself although this is considered doubtful. The work has been for a long time out of print and is noticed in some detail in the section dealing with literature of the Pallava age.

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To these may be added the Digambara Jaina work called *Lokavibhāga*³ discovered and noticed by R. Narasimhacharya till recently Director of the Mysore Archæological Department. It furnishes us with an important chronological datum from which the initial year of one of the early Pallava kings Simhavarman may be fixed. The work consists of eleven *prakaraṇas*, the last being *mokṣabhāga*. The opening verse is in praise of Jineśvara. The second verse gives, *kṣētra, kāla, tīrtha, pramāṇa-puruṣa* and their *charita* as the five divisions of a *purāṇa*; and in the third verse the author begins his subject, namely, the description of the world. All the MSS. of this work contain four stanzas which are important to Pallava chronology. The first stanza tells us that the science was first taught by Vardhamāna to Sudharma and others, that it was handed down in succession through a series of teachers, and that it was translated into Sanskrit by Rishi Simhasūri. The second stanza says that at a particular period, corresponding to certain planetary positions, Śarvanandi copied the work in the village named Pāṭalika of the Pāṇarāṣṭra. The third stanza gives us Śāka 380, corresponding to the twenty-second regnal year of Simhavarman, king of Kāñchī, as the year in which the work was completed. The fourth stanza informs us that the work consists of 1536 *anuṣṭub ślokas*. Śāka 380 is apparently the year in which the copying work was completed by Śarvanandi, and the author of the work Simhasūri probably flourished at an earlier period. Calculation shows that there cannot be any doubt about the correctness of the date. Pāṭalika, the village in which Śarvanandi copied the work, is identical with Pāṭalipura in South Arcot District at which, according to the *Periyapurāṇam*, there was a large Jaina monastery in the seventh century A.D.

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³ Mys. Archl. Rep. for 1909-10, p. 45.

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In addition to these sources we have the account given about the Tamil land, and the city of Kāñchī in particular, by the celebrated Chinese pilgrim and the Master of the Law, Hiuen Tsang, whose work has the advantage of being a contemporary account. The pilgrim appears to have visited Kāñchī about A.D. 640. The city having had the reputation of being a seat of Buddhistic learning and the city of birth of the celebrated Dharmapāla who preceded Śīlabhadra at the Nalanda University, the pilgrim spent a considerable time in it. Although he does not mention anything about the contemporary king or court, he has given an account of his impressions relating to the character of the people, soil, climate, temples and the state of Buddhism in the city.

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To these sources must be added the *Mahāvamsa*, the Ceylon Chronicle written in Pāli and giving the earliest known account of the kings of the island. This work is particularly useful for settling the chronology of early South Indian history as it describes the relations and the contact that existed between the kings of Ceylon and those who ruled in the Tamil land. So far as the Pallavas are concerned we find that in the days of Narasimhavarman I as well as in the closing days of the Pallava empire invasions of the island were undertaken by Pallava kings either on behalf of the ruling sovereign or actuated by love of conquest merely. Chapter 47 of this work is particularly interesting as it gives a glimpse into Pallava oversea enterprise in early times.

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Next comes tradition, living tradition, about the Pallavas and their age. It is surprising that the memory of the Pallava kings, although perpetuated in the names given after them to dozens of temples such as Paramēśvaraviṇṇagaram, Rājasimhēśvara, Kshatriyasimhapallavēśvara, Śatrumallēśvarālaya, Mahēndravishṇugṛha and to many places, has been forgotten and their good work lost sight of. Names of places such as Pallāvaram, Pallavaṇichharam, Nandipuraviṇṇagaram, Paramēśvaramangalam, Mahēndramangalam, Mahēndravāḍi, Mahāmallapuram clearly indicate that these were either founded or named after the kings bearing these names in the Pallava dynasty. In view of all this it is surprising that the memory of the dynasty has not survived to any appreciable extent in living tradition. The Mackenzie Manuscripts collected about a century ago by the indefatigable Surveyor-General, Col. Colin Mackenzie, although containing many accounts of the early history of the Pāṇḍyas, Chōḷas, Gangas, Mahrattas and others do not contain any account relating to the dynasty of the Pallavas. But some of the accounts professing to give the Ancient History of Toṇḍamaṇḍalam and the exploits of Ādoṇḍaichakravarti seem to preserve a distant reminiscence of what the people of the early part of the nineteenth century believed to have been the ancient condition of Toṇḍamaṇḍalam, by which name the region immediately around Kāñchīpuram was known. This class of traditional accounts preserved in the Mackenzie collection appears to depict the condition of Toṇḍamaṇḍalam prior to the days of Pallava advent. Some of them, such as the account of Toṇḍamān-chakravarti, relate to the conquest of the region from a rude and uncivilized tribe known as the Kurumbas and to the introduction of civilization by Ādoṇḍai-chōḷa. There seems to be warrant for presuming that this person was no other than Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan who is immortalized in the *Perumbāṇāṟṟupaḍai* by Rudran-Kaṇṇanār. If so the Mackenzie collections may be taken as lending support to the view that the region of the Pallavas was under Chōḷa occupation before the Pallavas came from the north. The circumstances under which the Pallava conquest of the Chōḷa region was brought about are not known.

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