The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c9.6
The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c9.6
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c9.6.1
Arikēsari's achievements. (3) Among the achievements of the grandson of the present king, the Vēḷvikkuḍi grant refers to a success against Pallavamalla and a fight at Maṇṇaikkuḍi in which the Pāṇdyan forces were victorious; there is also a battle of Maṇṇaikkuḍi mentioned among the campaigns of Udayacandra in which he is said to have beaten the Pāṇdyan forces (S.I.I., vol. ii, p. 368, l. 60). This makes it probable that Udayacandra was the contemporary of that king rather than the present one. (4) The Madras Museum plates ascribe to the father of Jaṭilavarman, who was a Māṛavarman, the surname Pallavabhañjana. It is now generally accepted, pace Mr. Venkayya, that the Madras Museum plates and the Vēḷvikkuḍi grant belong to the same reign. Now the name Pallavabhañjana assumed by the Pāṇdyan king in an age of constant warfare between the Pāṇdyas and the Pallavas may well be taken to indicate some signal successes on the part of the ruler who assumed the name. And, from the Udayēndiram plates referred to above, we know that Udayacandra went to the aid of his master when he was hard pressed by the Tamil kings so much that he is said to have bestowed the whole kingdom ' many times ' on his Pallava master (S.I.I., vol. ii, p. 372). This again renders it very probable that Udayacandra was the contemporary of Jaṭilavarman's father and not of an earlier king.
c9.6.2
It must however be noted that there is one, and only one objection, that seems to suggest itself against the course I have adopted in the text and that is that we get two battles of Śankaramangai (grāma) by my arrangement, one in the reign of Arikēsari Parāṅkuśa and another in that of his grandson, Pallavabhañjana. But I may point out (a) that in the other arrangement Nelvēli repeats itself, so that this objection is common to both arrangements and (b) that this objection is no objection at all inasmuch as it is only to be expected that, in an age of constant warfare between two neighbouring powers, repeated skirmishes occur in the same places more than once. At any rate I feel no difficulty in distinguishing the battles of Nelvēli and Śankaramangai of the Sinnamanūr and Vēḷvikkuḍi plates in which the Pāṇdyan king claims victory from the successes won later in the same spots by Udayacandra on behalf of his master. There seems, however, to be no need for postulating two battles of Maṇṇaikkuḍi in the reign of Pallavabhañjana as the Udayēndiram plates do not seem to contradict the claim of the Vēḷvikkuḍi grant on this point. I may add that the considerations brought forward by Dr. Hultzsch (S.I.I., vol. ii, p. 364) for identifying Nelvēli with Tinnevelly do not seem to be conclusive impression of a great expansion of power brought about by this king. The Paravas were no doubt the people on the south-east coast of the Pāṇḍyan country who still continue to bear the same name.
c9.6.3
The Kuruṇāḍu which was apparently annexed after a conquest is not so easy to identify. And the campaigns against the Kēraḷa king are narrated in a rather confused passage, and the text seems to be open to several alternative readings, none of which seems to render it possible to give a connected account of the campaign or campaigns referred to. And it is not clear against whom the fight at Śennilam was undertaken or where we have to look for Śennilam.¹ But amidst all this uncertainty, one large fact stands out clearly. It is evidently under this king that the Pāṇḍyan power comes into collision, apparently for the first time in this period, with its neighbours the Pallavas on the north and the Kēraḷas on the west; and as important successes seem to have been won, we may take it that the Pāṇḍyan kingdom extended its territorial limits in both these directions beyond its traditional boundaries. And this expansion of Pāṇḍyan rule into foreign territory, that is, into territory lying outside the traditional limits of the Pāṇḍyan country, remains a permanent factor in the history of the rest of this period, and leads us to describe it as the Age of the First Empire.