History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c8.2

c8.2

THE materials for the reconstruction of the early history of the Pallavas are far from adequate. We are entirely dependent upon the few copper-plate charters in Prakrit and Sanskrit for our knowledge of the political history of the Pallava kings of Conjeevaram until about the seventh century when we are on more certain ground. As more than one scholar has remarked the copper plate charters of the early period are more useful for constructing a genealogical list than for writing the political history of the period. The facts contained in the records enumerate the names of the great-grandfather, the grandfather and the father of the donor of the grant and the details of the object of the grant. They do not furnish many particulars on the political condition of the period. It is too much to expect much information concerning the period from these charters as their professed object was merely to record donations to certain individuals. As we have already pointed out, it is only from the seventh century that the habit of recording the exploits of the ancestors of the king who made the grant came to be popular in South India.