History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6.4

c6.4

*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.