History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c9.s2.11

c9.s2.11

*The Sanskrit Charters.*—We may now proceed to examine in detail the genealogical portion of other copper-plate charters of this period. We have already pointed out that these charters have been assigned on palæographical grounds to the fifth and the sixth centuries of the Christian era. One peculiarity of the charters of this period is that they do not furnish any genealogical list prior to the great grandfather of the ruling sovereign who is the donor. The habit of including a mythical and quasi-historical pedigree, along with the immediate ancestral line, appears to have originated only in and after the seventh century in the Pallava family. About six of these Sanskrit charters have been discovered mostly in the northern districts, and have been edited with text and translations in the *Epigraphia Indica*. Four of these refer to royal camps from which the respective grants were issued, viz. Palakkada,² Daśanapura, Mēnmatūra, and Tāmrāpa. Almost all these grants furnish four generations of kings including the donor. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the order in which these kings are to be chronologically represented. In other words the relative position of the kings mentioned in these records and the chronology to be adopted for them are uncertain and far from settled. There exists also considerable difference of opinion among scholars as regards the identification of the various royal camps from which these charters were issued. None of these places Tāmrāpa, Palakkada, Daśanapura, or Mēnmatūra has been identified definitely although a suggestion had been made by the late Mr. Venkayya¹ that they are to be looked for in the vicinity of the region comprised by the modern Nellore District. According to certain scholars the fact that the charters of these Pallava kings are addressed from these camps, and not from the capital city of Kāñchīpuram, indicates that the Pallava kings who issued these charters had lost hold of Kāñchīpuram through some cause now unknown, and retired to the Telugu districts bordering on Nellore where they continued their rule. This line of argument was adopted by the late Mr. Venkayya,² and is still maintained by some of the officers of the Epigraphy Department.³ They advocate what has been called the theory of a Chōḷa interregnum during the Pallava rule according to which the Pallava kings soon after the period of the members of the Prakrit charters were driven away from Kāñchi by the Chōḷa king Karikāla. According to the exponents of this view the Pallavas would appear to have taken possession of the city only in the days of Kumāravishṇu who is described in the Vēlūrpāḷayam plates to have captured Kāñchi. We shall revert to this theory of a Chōḷa interregnum a little later.