History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c9.s2.107

c9.s2.107

The Vēlūrpāḷayam plates give the following names for this period. After a host of kings passed away with Viṣṇugopa, came Nandivarman who is reported in this record to have caused a ‘powerful snake’ to dance. Then followed Simhavarman who is said to have wiped off the pride of his enemies. After him came Simhaviṣṇu. As we already saw there is a slight discrepancy in the order of succession herein stated and those given in other plates. The probability seems to be that soon after the reigns of Simhavarman II and Skaṇdavarman II the contemporaries of the Western Ganga kings Ayyavarman and Mādhavavarman II about the close of the fifth century A.D., the Pallava kings Kumāraviṣṇu II who captured Kāñchi, Nandivarman I, Simhavarman III, occupied the Pallava throne before Simhaviṣṇu, about the last quarter of the sixth century, commenced to rule at Kāñchīpuram. Practically nothing is known of the reign of these kings from the copper-plates and inscriptions of this period until we arrive at the reign of Simhaviṣṇuvarman, or Mahēndravarman I, his son and successor, whose accession marks the commencement of the age of the Great Pallavas which lasted for two centuries and a half from about A.D. 600 to 850.