History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6.s1.1

c6.s1.1

*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these, the records of the first class probably belong to the earliest period, as it is now recognized that Prakrit was superseded by Sanskrit about the fourth century A.D., while the earliest 'Grantha-Tamil' records of the Pallavas have been assigned to the seventh century.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