The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c8.8

c8.8

The first thing to do with these records is to settle the genealogy of the dynasty with the aid of the copper plate grants which give particulars enabling us to do this and to assign these grants themselves to the respective kings to whose reigns they belong. It has been generally accepted that the Sanskrit portion of the Veḷvikkuḍi grant mentions only the last four names in the list contained in the Tamil portion which extends over seven generations and the last king Parāntaka *alias* Jaṭila of the Sanskrit part is identified with Neḍunjaḍayan the last king of the Tamil part and corresponding identifications made in regard to the three preceding generations. It has also been generally accepted that this Parāntaka Neḍunjaḍayan of the Veḷvikkuḍi grant is the same as Jaṭila, the second king of the Sanskrit portion of the larger Śinnamanūr plates—whose name has been unaccountably passed over in their Tamil part. But this arrangement leads to a duplication of kings with the same name for which there seems to be no warrant or explanation. On the other hand, if we identify Parāntaka Neḍunjaḍayan of the Veḷvikkuḍi grant with Varaguṇa Mahārāja of the larger Sinnamanūr plates, this difficulty is avoided. And we have ample support for this course. Parāntaka is coupled with Neḍunjaḍayan by the Veḷvikkuḍi grant and with Māranjaḍayan i.e. Śaḍayan the son of Māran by the Ānamalai records; and the Trichinopoly inscriptions (413 and 414 of 1904) of the reign of Māranjaḍayan call the king Pāṇdyādhirāja Varaguṇa.¹ By this identification of Parāntaka Neḍunjaḍayan with Varaguṇa, not only is the perplexing duplication of Rājasimha avoided, but Varaguṇavarman and Parāntaka Vīranārāyaṇa become the grandsons of Parāntaka alias Varaguṇa Mahārāja which seems quite natural. It also seems to me—this is only a personal impression—that the campaigns indirectly referred to in the Ambasamudram inscription of Varaguṇa Mahārāja² are best ascribed to Parāntaka Neḍunjaḍayan of the Veḷvikkuḍi grant, who according to that grant fought and won battles on the banks of the Kāvēri early in his reign. One apparent objection to this course is found in the chronological indications given by our records and this has been held³ to be fatal to the arrangement of the genealogy of the Pāṇdyas suggested here; but we shall see presently that the difficulty, if there is one, is not insuperable. It may be well at this stage to give the genealogy of the kings as fixed by the identifications proposed hitherto.