The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c13.25

c13.25

The next Pāndya king of whom we have some definite knowledge is Māravarman Śrīvallabha who is known to have been reigning in A.D. 1160-1 and to whom king Vīra Ravivarman of Travancore was tributary.² There are a considerable number of inscriptions mostly from the Tinnevelly district that may be ascribed to this king. A record from Kōttāru (49 of 1896) mentions prince Kulaśēkhara who can be identified with good reason with the prince who had a prominent part in the war of succession that seems to have followed the death of this king, Śrīvallabha. In another (No. 50 of 1896) from the same place ‘the king is said to have been ruling from his throne Munaiyadaraiyan in the palace at Tirunelvēli in Kiḷ-vēmbanāḍu.’¹ A Sucīndram inscription of this king dated in his tenth year refers to Āṇḍapillai Bhaṭṭa Atirātrayāji at whose instance the king made a grant of land to the Sucīndram temple. It is probable that this Āṇḍapillai who performed the Atirātra sacrifice was the same as the author of a well-known work on Hindu domestic ritual (*Gṛhyaprayōgavṛtti*) which is still used in Southern India.² The records of this king generally begin with the introduction பூமகள் ஜயமகள் etc. But one in his thirty-seventh year (No. 426 of 1916) begins with an introduction ஜயமடந்தையும், etc. almost similar to that of Jaṭāvarman Śrīvallabha. The astronomical details furnished by this record are said to yield the date A.D. 1169 for the inscription; the date is not quite regular but may be accepted in the light of other evidence relating to the king. This would mean that Māravarman Śrīvallabha came to the throne in A.D. 1132 and that this record is among the last ones of his reign.³ But it is doubtful if Śrīvallabha ruled as late as A.D. 1169 and it may after all turn out that this record belongs to some other king.