History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c7.s1.55

c7.s1.55

During the reign of Karikāla who has been assigned, with acceptable authority by several scholars to the age of the Tamil Śangam in the beginning of the Christian era, Kāñchīpuram appears to have been one of the northern outposts of the kingdom. At any rate it is probable that one of Karikāla's exploits, or those of his generals, must have been the transfer of power from the Āndhra-Śātavāhanas, whose ascendency in this region is indicated by the discovery of ship-coins in profusion in the region between the Pennar and Pālar into the hands of the Chōḷas. At any rate in the period immediately following the city of Kāñchī is found in the possession of Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan as stated in the *Perumbāṇāṟṟuppaḍai* of Rudran Kaṇṇanār. According to the Mackenzie MSS. one of the achievements of Aḍoṇḍachōḷa, by whom probably we are to understand Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan, is the uprooting of the the Kurumbas by which term the unruly chiefs of the region were probably known. Under the rule of Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan of Kāñchī, presumably as the Chōḷa viceroy, the city appears to have been in a flourishing condition. The *Perumbāṇāṟṟuppaḍai* of Rudran Kaṇṇanār, the contemporary of Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan gives some idea of the city as it was in those days:—‘In the heart of the town were the Brahmān quarters, where neither dog nor the fowl could be seen. They were flanked on the one side by the fishermen's streets, and on the other by those of the traders, and these were surrounded by the Cheris of the Maḷḷas and the toddy-drawers. Then far removed from them were situated at one extremity of the city the paḷḷis of the Iḍaiyans, and beyond these lay the isolated paraichēris of the Eyinas. Next to the Maḷḷa streets were the temple of Tiruveḥkā and the palace of King Iḷam-Tiraiyan.’¹