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The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c6.s1: Early References

The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c6.s1

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English

Early References

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‘THE oldest Dravidian word found in any written record in the world appears to be the word for “peacock” in the Hebrew text of the Book of Kings and Chronicles, in the list of the articles of merchandise brought from Tarshish or Ophir in Solomon’s ships’¹ (Caldwell). ‘In the ruins of Mugheir . . . not less than 3,000 years B.C., was found a piece of Indian teak.’² These references are calculated to give some idea of the antiquity of civilization in the Tamil land.

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¹ Caldwell, *Comparative Grammar*, p. 88.

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² Ragozin, *Vedic India*, p. 305 referring to Sayce. But see Kennedy, J.R.A.S., 1898, p. 267, where a much later date, sixth century, seems to be suggested.

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A verse in the *Kishkindhākāṇḍa* of the *Rāmāyaṇa* has been taken to refer to the Kapāṭapuram of the Pāṇdyas famed in the Tamil legends of the ‘Three Saṅgams’.³ But even if the *sloka* bears the meaning attributed to it, it is notoriously unsafe to base any conclusions about chronology solely on the texts of the epics and there is still the possibility that the verse is not older than the age in which these legends grew. It is not altogether free from doubt if the grammarian Kātyāyana refers to the Pāndyan country and its king as has been generally held on the strength of the opinions of two great Sanskritists of the last generation—Prof. Max Müller and Sir R. G. Bhandarkar.¹ The original name of the Tamil country is பாண்டி (Pāṇḍi) and not பாண்டு (Pāṇḍu) which it should be, if Kātyāyana’s rule referred to it. And there is the possibility that the Pāndya of the Sanskrit grammar may be derived from Pāṇḍu, the name of a people in the Madhyadesa in Northern India.² The name Pāndya perhaps came to be applied to the Tamil Pāṇḍināḍu in a process of Sanskritization on account of phonetic similarity and a Pāṇḍava origin invented for the Tamil ruling family. Whatever its derivation may be, we find the form Pāndya employed by Kauṭilya in his Arthaśāstra and his references are clearly to the Pāndyas of South India and to their capital Madura.³ The importance of these references will depend upon the view taken of the age and authenticity of the text of the Arthaśāstra. Likewise the reference in the Mahāvaṃśa to a Pāndyan princess who became the queen of Vijaya of Ceylon soon after the Nirvāṇa of the Buddha is too vague and too much mixed up with legends to be of any value to the historian.⁴

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³ *Rāmāyaṇa*, *Kish. Kāṇḍa*, canto 41, verse 19. It has been pointed out by Pandit M. Rāghava Aiyaṅgār that the import of this verse has been missed by Tīrtha and Rāma, the North Indian commentators, and correctly given only by Govindarāja. (Paper on ‘Valmiki and South India’ in the *Tamilian Antiquary*). But the Pandit seems to have mistaken Govindarāja’s meaning, See also O. Stein, *Indian Historical Quarterly*, vol. iv, p. 778. The *Mahābhārata* references are not much more reliable. See Dr. S. K. Aiyaṅgār, *Beginnings of South Indian History*, p. 60 n.

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¹ See Caldwell, *Comparative Grammar*, p. 12 and Bhandarkar, *Early History of the Dekkan*, p. 6. These writers were rather too much under the influence of the Aryan theory in its crude form and did not allow sufficiently for aboriginal influences.

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² See Fleet’s topographical list of the *Brihat-Samhitā*, *I. A.*, vol. xxii, p. 187; *contra* Caldwell, *Tinnevelly*, p. 12, who derives பாண்டி from Pāndya as a more Tamilized form.

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³ Kauṭilya ii. 11 refers to *Pāṇḍyakavāṭakam* as a variety of pearl with which compare Varāhamihira’s *Pāṇḍyavāṭa* (Fleet, *ibid*). Again at the end of the same chapter Kauṭilya refers to *Mādhuram* as a variety of cotton fabric, thereby showing the antiquity of the cotton industry of Madura.

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⁴ See Geiger’s *Mahāvaṃśa*, pp. 59 and 61. Is there any connection between this story and that of Arjuna’s (Vijaya’s) marriage with a Pāndyan princess?

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