History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6.7

c6.7

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.