Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s2.t3.6

c9.s2.t3.6

The Pāṇḍya country is represented by the modern districts of Madura, Ramnad and Tinnevelly together with the southern part of the Travancore state. It was drained by the rivers Kṛtamālā or the Vaigai and the Tāmraparṇī. Like the Cholas, the Pāṇḍyas too are mentioned by Kātyāyana. He derives the name of the country from the famous Pāṇḍu. Megasthenes also refers to the Pāṇḍaian (Pāṇḍya) country and repeats some confused traditions regarding the connection of the land with the North, with Śūrasena, Mathurā and Herakles. The Pāṇḍyan people were distributed in 365 villagee and on every day of the year a village brought the tribute to the treasury, "so that the queen (represented by the Classical writers as the daughter of Herakles) might always have the assistance of those men whose turn it was to pay the tribute in coercing those who for the time being were defaulters in their payments."¹ It is interesting to note that the chief ornaments of the Pāṇḍyas were made of sea-pearl. Arrian tells us that the Pāṇḍya queen received from her father 500 elephants, 4,000 horses and 130,000 cavalry. Pliny tells us that her descendants ruled over 3,000 cities and commanded an army of 150,000 foot and 500 elephants. According to the same authority Pāṇḍya 'is the only race in India ruled by women.' Later writers, however, refer to more than one such territory.