A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.29

c11.29

Pallava history opens with three copper-plate grants, all in Prākrit and all dating from the time of Skandavarman, the earliest when he was yuvarāja, the others after he had become king. He belonged to the Bhāradvāja gōtra, performed the agnishtōma, vājapeya and aśvamedha sacrifices and bore the title ‘Supreme King of Kings devoted to dharma’. In his time Kāñchipuram was the capital and his kingdom extended up to the Krishna in the north and the Arabian Sea in the west. The steps by which this empire was built up cannot now be traced. A ninth-century tradition affirms that Virakūrcha, an early Pallava king of great fame, seized the insignia of royalty together with the daughter of the Nāga king. This may be an echo of the Pallava conquest of the Chutus who, as we have seen, ruled the west for a time after the dissolution of the Sātavāhana empire. We do not know the name of Skandavarman's father, but obviously Skandavarman was not the first Pallava ruler of Kāñchi. The title *yuvarāja* makes that clear enough; but at present we have no certain knowledge of his predecessors, although among them was, perhaps, Simhavarman, a king mentioned in a Prākrit stone inscription recently discovered in the Guntur district. His successors were a son, Buddhavarman, who was *yuvarāja* and his son Buddhyankura by his queen Chārudevi. All the three charters of Skandavarman's time may be taken to belong to the latter part of the third century A.D. In this period other princes of the royal family besides the *yuvarāja* took an active part in the administration, in which many officials with specific duties in different territorial divisions or state departments were employed. The designations of these officials, and other administrative details, can all be gathered from inscriptions.