The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c14.7

c14.7

Jatāvarman Kulaśēkhara, who came to the throne in A.D. 1190 and ruled in Madura in considerable power till A.D. 1217, may have been the immediate successor of Vikrama Pāndya; one of his early records in the second year (No. 110 of 1907 from Kallidaikuricci), however, seems to contain a reference to a Periyanāyanār (an elder male relative) Śrīvallabha, a predecessor of his; and a record in the third year of a Jatāvarman Śrīvallabha finds mention in another inscription of Kulaśēkhara’s successor, Māravarman Sundara Pāndya (No. 683 of 1905). It is not improbable that both these references are to the same Śrīvallabha, but we know nothing more of him.¹ Kulaśēkhara’s inscriptions range from his second to his twenty-eighth year (No. 658 of 1916) and generally open with one of three forms of historical introduction—பூதலமடந்தை (No. 5 of 1894), பூவின் கிழத்தி (No. 14 of 1894) and பூதலவனிதை (13 of 1894). None of these introductions tells us anything definite about the events of the reign; all of them contain highly poetic praise of the glory of the king; the nearest approach to a concrete historical statement occurs in the பூதலவனிதை formula in the phrase¹—‘ வஞ்சினங் கூறு மதகளிறவந்த வெஞ்சின வேங்கை வில்லுடனெளிப்ப,’ which is a vague hint that the Pāndya kingdom is beginning to hold its own against its Chola and Chera neighbours. A rather early inscription of the reign (No. 665 of 1916) from Śērmādēvi refers to a gift by the king to a temple in the name of his brother-in-law (மச்சனார்) Kōdai Ravivarman, undoubtedly a Chera prince. Another record of some years later (No. 370 of 1916) seems to imply that the contemporary Tiruvadi king of Jētunganādu was a subordinate of Kulaśēkhara; but we have as yet no means of explaining the dynastic connection mentioned in the earlier record.² In the numerous inscriptions of Kulaśēkhara from the Ramnad district, is found the name of one of the important local officials of the king, who seems to have played a considerable part for over a decade in the administration of the division known as Kalavalinādu and was thence known as Kalavali-Nādālvān, his proper name being mentioned as Jayangondaśōlan Śivalluvan (No. 313 of 1923).³ Several other instances can be cited from the other records of this and other kings. From the provenance of Kulaśēkhara’s inscriptions we may conclude that his rule extended over the bulk of the modern districts of Madura, Ramnad and Tinnevelly. There are references to thrones with different names, all of them in Madura and to maids in palace service (*agapparivāra*). No. 459 of 1909 mentions the throne Malavarāyan in the hall known as Pukaḷābharaṇan in the palace at Madura. The same record mentions a grant of 100 drammas (drachms) by the king for the deepening of a tank called after him. The other thrones were called Kalingarāyan (No. 29 of 1924) and Munaiyadaraiyan (No. 660 of 1916). The well-known Tiruppūvaṇam copper-plate grant dated in the twenty-fifth year of the king (29th November, A.D. 1214) records the grant of a new village created by clubbing together several old ones under the name Rājagambhīra-caturvēdimangalam after its boundaries were marked in the traditional manner by a female elephant.¹ The king would thus appear to have had a surname Rājagambhīra. His records also contain other particulars which throw some light on the administration and the social life of his time; but these may be reserved for separate consideration later.