History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6.3

c6.3

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.