A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c15: Chapter X. The Age of the Four Kingdoms

A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c15

Language: English

c15.32 — 4 parts
c15.s1 Hoysalas (1022-1342) — 11 parts
c15.s2 Kākatiyas — 9 parts

Chapter X. The Age of the Four Kingdoms

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General outline—Pāndya revival under Māravarman Sundara—Chola Rājarāja III aided by Hoysalas against Pāndya and Kādava Kōpperunjinga—Chola recovery under Rājendra III shortlived—Jatāvarman Sundara Pāndya and his wars—Māravarman Kulasekhara and Hoysalas—Pāndya conquest of Ceylon—end of Kulasekhara's reign—Hoysala Rāmanātha, Narasimha III and Ballāla III—Kerala—Yādava Singhana, Krishna, Mahādeva and Rāmachandra—Kākatiya Ganapati, Rudrāmbā and Pratāparudra II—Gangas of Kalinga.

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Marco Polo on Ma'bar, Kāyal, horse-trade, pearl-fishing, and social conditions—on Ceylon and west coast.

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THE Chālukya empire disappeared at the end of the twelfth century and the Chola tottered at the beginning of the thirteenth. For a century thereafter, the history of South India is the history of the four kingdoms that rose on the ruins of the vanished empires and filled the annals of the century with their mutual antagonisms. The kingdoms were the Pāndya and the Hoysala in the south, and the Kākatiya and Yādava in the north. Minor powers like the Telugu-Chodas of Nellore played their part as auxiliaries to the chief powers. The period was marked by no striking developments in polity or society although industry, trade and the arts continued to flourish with their normal vigour. Marco Polo who visited many parts of the country in 1292-3 gives a vivid account of prevailing conditions. The Muslim invasions of the Deccan which began towards the end of the century upset all the four kingdoms and caused a period of confusion terminated by the rise and expansion of the Bāhmani and Vijayanagar kingdoms in the second quarter of the fourteenth century.

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Jatāvarman Kulasekhara, the Pāndya ruler whom Kulottunga III humiliated in a signal manner in 1205, was followed on the throne, more than ten years later, by his younger brother, Māravarman Sundara Pāndya (1216). Sundara wanted to avenge the wrongs he had shared with his brother and invaded the Chola territory soon after his accession. Kulottunga's age and the swiftness of the attack rendered Chola resistance feeble. After sacking Uraiyūr and Tanjore, Sundara Pāndya drove his suzerain into exile along with his yuvarāja, Rājarāja III. Sundara performed a vīrābhisheka in the coronation hall of the Cholas at Āyirattali, Tanjore district, and marched up to Chidambaram where he worshipped at the famous shrine of Naṭarāja. On his way back he fixed his camp at Pon Amarāvati (Pudukkoṭṭai). Meanwhile Kulottunga had appealed for aid to Hoysala Ballāla II who promptly sent an army

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SOUTH INDIA: A.D. 1200-1325

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under his son Narasimha to Śrīrangam. Sundara Pāndya therefore had to make peace and restore the Chola kingdom to Kulottunga and Rājarāja after they made formal submission at Pon Amarāvati and acknowledged him as suzerain. This was the beginning of the second empire of the Pāṇḍyas though it was not yet quite the end of that of the Cholas.

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Kulottunga III died soon after (1218) and Rājarāja III proved to be an incompetent ruler under whom confusion increased and the dissolution of the Chola kingdom was hastened. In some unknown way a company of Oḍḍa (Oriya) soldiers penetrated to the heart of the Chola country (c. 1223) and created disturbances in Śrīrangam until they were dislodged by Sundara Pāṇḍya (1225). In the north, Hoysala forces were present in Kāñchī, perhaps pursuing hostilities with the Telugu-Chodas of Nellore and their suzerains, the Kākatīyas. The Kādava chieftain Kōpperunjinga became more and more powerful and entered into an alliance with Sundara Pāṇḍya against the Cholas and their Hoysala protector. Little realizing the increasing difficulty of his position, Rājarāja III defied Sundara Pāṇḍya by withholding the annual tribute due to him and starting hostilities. Sundara Pāṇḍya repelled the feeble Chola invasion and took the offensive. Rājarāja was defeated with much loss of wealth and his chief queen was taken prisoner. Sundara Pāṇḍya performed a vijayābhisheka at Muḍikondaśōlapuram (Āyirattali). Rājarāja made an attempt to join his allies, the Hoysala forces of Narasimha II in the north, but he was intercepted and, after a battle at Teḷḷāru, was taken prisoner by the Kādava Kōpperunjinga and confined in the fortress at Śēndamangalam.

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Hearing of the disasters that had befallen the Chola monarch, Narasimha II promptly moved to his aid. He attacked and overpowered the ruler of the Magara kingdom (Salem and South Arcot), an ally of the Kādava, and marched towards Śrīrangam. From there he sent an army under his generals Appanna and Goppayya with instructions to carry destruction into the country of Kōpperunjinga and to reinstall the Chola emperor. The generals carried out their instructions to the letter. They captured many important places held by Kōpperunjinga and, after a battle at Perambalūr, advanced by way of Toḷudūr to Chidambaram, punishing on the way some officers of Rājarāja and Parākramabāhu, a prince of Ceylon, who had joined the enemy. After worshipping the god of Chidambaram, they devastated the country south of the river Gaḍilam and east of Śēndamangalam. Finally they made preparations to invest that fortress when Kōpperunjinga sent word to Narasimha that he was ready to restore the Chola emperor to liberty and his throne, and Narasimha transmitted the offer to his commanders. They then received the Chola emperor with honour and accompanied him back to his country (1231).

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Meanwhile Narasimha himself had met Sundara Pāndya in battle at Mahendramangalam on the Kaveri and defeated him. Sundara Pāndya had to acquiesce in the restoration of Rājarāja. The war with the Kādava went on for some more years, but peace was finally made among the Hoysalas, Pāndyas, and Cholas and sealed by dynastic marriages. Someśvara (1233-4), the son and successor of Narasimha II, is called uncle (māmaḍi) by the successors of both Sundara Pāndya and Rājarāja III.

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Rājarāja continued to rule until 1256, the extent of his empire outside the Pāndya country nominally being the same as at the beginning of his reign in spite of reverses. But instances of treason, disorder, and alliances for mutual defence among local chieftains and of defiance of express orders issued by the king were becoming more and more numerous, while Hoysala influence over the whole area of the Chola kingdom and even in the Pāndya country increased steadily from about 1220 to 1245, a period which may be well described as that of Hoysala hegemony in the south. This was due to Someśvara leaving the administration of his home territory in the hands of his ministers and devoting all his time to the consolidation of the Hoysala position in the Tamil country.

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Rājendra III, who was installed as yuvarāja in 1246, was a much abler prince than Rājarāja III. He made a strenuous effort to revive Chola power and would have succeeded even better than he did but for Someśvara's interference. Rājendra attacked the Pāndyas and defeated two Pāndyan princes, one of whom was Māravarman Sundara Pāndya II (acc. 1238). Someśvara now took the side of the Pāndyas to prevent the complete restoration of Chola authority, defeated Rājendra in battle and then made peace with him. In the north Rājendra commanded the alliance of Choḍa Tikka of Nellore, also called Gandagopāla, who had been attacked by Sāmbuvarāyas and Kādavarāyas and thereby strengthened that of Rājendra. He even fought against Someśvara though he took Kānchi for himself as a reward for his services and had another allegiance, namely that to Kākatiya Ganapati of Warangal, also an enemy of the Hoysalas.

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The alliance between Rājendra and Someśvara became closer after the accession to the Pāndya throne of the celebrated Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāndya in 1251, one of the most famous warriors and conquerors of South India under whom Pāndyan power attained its greatest splendour. In the first years of his reign Sundara Pāndya fought many wars and rapidly extended his sway to Nellore and beyond, and to Ceylon, confining the Hoysalas to the Mysore plateau. Kānchipuram became a secondary Pāndya capital, while Ceylon and Kerala were firmly held and administered for a time. In his wars, Sundara commanded the active co-operation of other princes of the royal family, Jatāvarman Vira Pāndya (1253) being most prominent among them.

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Sundara Pāndya proceeded with a small force against the Chera king Viraravi Udaya Mārtāndavarman, and destroyed him and his forces after ravaging the Malainādu. He compelled the warlike Chola Rājendra to acknowledge his suzerainty and pay him tribute. He invaded Ceylon and exacted a vast quantity of pearls and many elephants from its ruler. He then attacked the Hoysalas in the region of the Kaveri and captured the fortress of Kannanūr Koppam. Several Hoysala generals were killed, including the brave Singana, while numerous elephants and horses were captured together with a large amount of treasure and a number of women. Sundara only stopped fighting when Someśvara withdrew into the plateau; but shortly afterwards Someśvara renewed the war in which he was to meet his death at Sundara Pāndya's hands (1262). Sundara then attacked the rich city fortress of Śendamangalam and fought several engagements ‘which struck terror into the heart of the Kādava’ (Kōpperunjinga). Having thus become master of his territory, forces and treasure, Sundara restored him to the rulership of his land and left for Chidambaram where he worshipped Natarāja before proceeding to Śrīrangam. ‘Here he wore the garland of victory, performed many tulābhāras, which pleased the eyes and hearts of all spectators and evoked blessings from learned poets’; and in that temple which he roofed with gold he sat upon a splendid throne with his queen, wearing a golden crown and ‘emulating the morning sun rising on the top of the mountain’.

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Sundara Pāndya's conquests included the Magadai (Bāna) and Kongu countries which must have been taken during the wars against the Hoysalas and Kōpperunjinga. Finally, he led an expedition further north in which he killed Gandagopāla in battle and occupied Kānchi. He also came into conflict with Kākatīya Ganapati and his other feudatories, defeated a Telugu army at Mudugūr (Nellore district) and drove a Bāṇa chief into exile. At the end of the campaign he performed a vīrābhisheka at Nellore.

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Between 1262 and 1264, on an appeal for help from a minister of Ceylon, Jaṭāvarman Vira Pāṇḍya invaded the island, defeated and killed one Ceylonese prince and received the submission of another as also that of a son of Chandrabhānu of the Malay peninsula who ruled over a principality in the north of Ceylon. Both the Pāṇḍya invasions of the island fell in the reign of Parākramabāhu II who appears never to have gained mastery over the northern half of the island but left its fate to be settled by local adventurers and foreign invaders.

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The vast treasure that fell into the hands of Sundara as a result of his wars was used to beautify and enrich impartially the great shrines of Śiva and Vishnu at Chidambaram and Śrīrangam.

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Sometime before his death, Hoysala Someśvara, being pressed by enemies from both north and south, had effected a virtual division of his kingdom, assigning the northern half to his elder son Narasimha III and the southern Tamil area to his younger son Rāmanātha. After his father's death, Rāmanātha recovered Kannanūr and held his own against Sundara Pāṇḍya who died in 1268 and was succeeded by Māravarman Kulaśekhara I, also a great ruler.

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During this period the rule of the Pāṇḍya kingdom was shared among several princes of the royal family, one of them enjoying primacy over the rest. Such an arrangement seems to have been of long standing in that country; even Kulottunga I is said to have subjugated five Pāṇḍya princes together. Kulaśekhara pressed the war against Hoysala Rāmanātha, who had allied himself closely with Chola Rājendra III, and defeated both in 1279. That is the last we hear of Rājendra III and the Cholas. Kulaśekhara became unquestioned master both of the Chola country and of those Tamil districts of the Hoysala empire over which Rāmanātha had ruled. He also fought in Kerala (Travancore) where, perhaps, he suppressed a local rising. Sometime later he took advantage of a famine in Ceylon to send his minister Āryachakravarti to invade the island where he ‘laid waste the country on every side’, entered the fortress of Śubhagiri (Yāpahu), and carried away to the Pāṇḍya country ‘the venerable Tooth Relic and all the solid wealth that was there’. This was at the close of the reign of Bhuvanaikabāhu I, and there followed a period of some twenty years during which the island formed part of the Pāndya empire. The next ruler of Ceylon Parākramabāhu III (1303) adopted peaceful methods with Kulaśekhara, went on a personal embassy to the Pāndya court, and persuaded Kulaśekhara to surrender the Tooth Relic. Ceylon regained her independence only during the civil war and the Muslim invasion that followed Kulaśekhara’s death (1308-9). His last years were embittered by quarrels between his sons. He wanted his younger son by a favourite mistress, Vira Pāndya, to succeed him. The result was that the elder son, Sundara Pāndya started a war after the death of his father, for which, according to some writers, Sundara was himself responsible. The war went in favour of Vira Pāndya, and Sundara had to invoke the aid of the Muslim invader Malik Kafur (1310).

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After the loss of his Tamil territory Hoysala Rāmanātha started a civil war against his brother Narasimha III who was hard pressed by other enemies like the Yādavas of Devagiri and the Kākatīyas. Rāmanātha succeeded in capturing some territory for himself in the Bangalore, Kolar, and Tumkur districts, and ruled it with Kundāni as his capital. Narasimha III died in 1292 and was succeeded by Ballāla III. His accession was not disputed by Rāmanātha who, however, kept up a hostile attitude till his death three years later, as did his son Viśvanātha also for a few years until he too disappeared from the scene. Ballāla then once more ruled over a united Hoysala kingdom before 1300. He took advantage of the civil war in the Pāndya country that followed the death of Kulaśekhara, and went out to the aid of one or other of the parties in the hope of regaining the territory lost by Rāmanātha. But his plans were thwarted by the sudden appearance of Malik Kafur in his rear.

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In the thirteenth century in Kerala, some kings of Vēnād known chiefly from their donative records claim to belong to the Yadu-kula, thus tracing their descent from the Āy Kings of the eighth century who in turn connected themselves with Āy Andiran of Sangam literature. In the last quarter of the century Ravivarman Kulaśekhara who calls himself Chera emperor shot into a short-lived eminence by raiding extensive territories including the Pāndya country and right up to Kānchipuram and Poonamallee; he was an accomplished ruler and liberal patron of letters. Kollam (Quilon) was his capital. His exploits will be referred to again in the next chapter. Not far removed from him in time was Virarāghava Chakravarti, author of the Kottayam plates conferring the title of Maṇigrāmam and certain other honours on Iravikorran; the grant is attested among others by the authorities of Veṇāḍ, Odanāḍ, Ernāḍ and Valluvanāḍ, important divisions of the Kerala country.

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After this period, the history of Kerala remains as fragmental and obscure as ever, and becomes mixed up with the rivalries of the Portuguese and the Indian powers and those among the European powers themselves later. It does not lie within the scope of this book to study these developments which link up mediaeval with modern times in India, and in the following chapter the history of Kerala particularly the wars between Calicut and Cochin and the activities of the European Companies together with their consequences will be left on one side.

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To turn now to the northern states, the Yādava Jaitugi was succeeded by his son Singhana (1210-47) under whom the Yādava empire attained its greatest extent. He invaded Gujarat twice in 1231-2 and 1237-8, while in the south he waged war first against Hoysala Ballāla II and deprived him of considerable territory to the south of the Krishna and Malaprabha. He still kept up the pressure against the Hoysalas in the reign of Narasimha II, who had to abandon the Sagar taluk and the Bellary district. Narasimha's successor Someśvara, however, succeeded in retrieving the position sufficiently for him to be able to encamp near Pandarpūr in 1236 and to endow the Vitthala temple of that place by the grant of a village. Singhana's general Vicana, the governor of the southern province, not only drove him back but carried his arms into Hoysala country up to the banks of the Kaveri (1239). Indeed, so disastrous were Someśvara's sallies against the Yādavas that by the end of his reign he had lost even more territory to them than his predecessors had. Singhana's empire, on the other hand, was extended and established by Vicana all over what had been the central, western, and south-western regions of the Western Chālukya empire. Singhana also waged rather indecisive wars against Kākatīya Ganapati and the ruler of Malwa.

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Singhana's chief astrologer was Changadeva, the grandson of the famous astronomer Bhāskarācārya, and son of Lakshmīdhara, the chief pundit of Jaitugi I. He founded a college at Patna for the study of his grandfather's Siddhāntaśiromaṇi and other works.

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The Yādava throne descended to Singhana's grandson Krishna (1247-60)—his son Jaitugi II having died in his father's lifetime. Although he lost some territory in the south-western Andhradesh to Kākatīya Ganapati, he may be said in general to have passed on undiminished the extensive empire he had inherited. His reign is chiefly remarkable for its literary activity: his minister and general Jalhana compiled an anthology of Sanskrit verse, and Amalānanda's Vedāntakalpataru also dates from this time. Krishna himself seems to have been a religious man who performed many sacrifices.

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Krishna was succeeded by his brother Mahādeva (1260-71). He fought a successful war against Kākatīya Rudrāmbā, capturing her elephants and some of her insignia but sparing her life as she was a woman. He invaded northern Konkan, defeated its Śilāra ruler Someśvara in a naval battle and annexed his territory to the Yādava empire. The celebrated Hemādri was minister (śrikaraṇādhipa) under him and his successors. A voluminous writer himself, Hemādri encouraged many other writers by his patronage, and built so many temples that a style of architecture came to be associated with his name.

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Krishna's son Rāmachandra succeeded to the throne in 1271 after a short war with Āmana, the son of Mahādeva, who tried to usurp his place. Rāmachandra also waged other wars, by no means decisive in their results, against the ruler of Malwa and the Kākatīya Pratāparudra II, Rudrāmbā's successor. About 1276-7, his famous general Sāluva Tikkama invaded the Hoysala territory of Narasimha III and laid siege to the capital Dōrasamudra. He returned with much booty from a victorious campaign, but left Narasimha in full possession of his territory. Narasimha's brother Rāmanātha was also attacked but with no decisive results. Hostilities against the Hoysalas continued into the reign of Ballāla III, who attempted to extend the kingdom northward, but the advance of Muslim power in the Deccan during the last decade of this century considerably curbed Rāmachandra's activity. The great Maratha saint Jñāneśvara flourished during his reign and completed his great Marathi exposition of the Gītā on the banks of the Godāvari in 1291.

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Turning to the Kākatīya, perhaps the ruler with most claim to greatness was that Ganapati whom Jaitugi had released from prison and set on the throne. In his long reign of over sixty years (1199-1262) he earned the reputation of being a good administrator. In the Andhra country, the power of the Velanānti Chodas had disappeared after 1186, and its distracted political condition was an invitation to a ruler like Ganapati to enter and exploit its fertile lands, its iron and diamond mines and its ports. This conquest he completed between 1209 and 1214 and made the Telugu-Chodas of Nellore acknowledge his suzerainty. Their wars with Kulottunga III, after their capture of Kānchi, involved him, as we have seen, in hostilities with that monarch also. He also fought against Ananga Bhima III (1211-38) of Kalinga, who was hard pressed by his Muslim enemies from the north and by the Chedi rulers of Tummana, and in another indecisive war about 1231 with the Yādava Singhana. More decisive was his defeat (1239) of the Kāyasthas in Cuddapah and Kurnool, represented by Gangaya Sāhini and his nephews Tripurāntaka and Ambadeva. Soon after this, Ganapati proclaimed his daughter Rudrāmbā heir-apparent, even calling her by the masculine name Rudradeva Mahārāja, and associated her actively in the administration. He also issued a charter of security to foreign merchants trading in Mōtupalli. Jaṭāvarman Sundara Pāndya's aggressive wars, that brought him into conflict with the Telugu-Chodas and their suzerain Ganapati, have been narrated already. When Sundara Pāndya withdrew, Ganapati, at the instance of the poet Tikkana, assisted Manuma Siddhi, the son of Choda Tikka, against his domestic enemies and seated him firmly on the Nellore throne. Even that turbulent Kādava chieftain Kōpperunjinga acknowledged Ganapati's overlordship.

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Ganapati's daughter Rudrāmbā was his successor. The early years of her reign were marked by troubles created by Kōpperunjinga and other rebellious feudatories, but these were firmly suppressed by the loyal Kāyastha chieftain Ambadeva. Yādava Mahādeva invaded Rudrāmbā's kingdom with results already noted. The hostility of the Yādavas continued after Mahādeva's reign, and the young prince Pratāparudradeva, grandson of Rudrāmbā, won his spurs as a warrior in these conflicts. He was made yuvarāja about 1280, and when, eight years later, Ambadeva rebelled and got support from the Hoysalas and Yādavas, the yuvarāja succeeded in suppressing the revolt by about 1291.

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Pratāparudra II succeeded his grandmother in 1295 and ruled till 1326. Early in his reign one of his generals led an expedition into Kuntala, capturing the forts of Ādavāni (Adoni) and Raichur, among others, after driving out the Yādava garrisons, and brought the territory under Kākatīya rule. Pratāparudra reformed the administrative system by dividing the kingdom into 77 nāyakships, confining recruitment thereto to the Padmanāyaka community and thoroughly overhauling the staff of nāyakas. Some of the great nāyakas, like Kāpaya Nāyaka, who later played a great part in resisting the Muslims, were the products of this system which, incidentally, was later adopted and elaborated by the rulers of Vijayanagar.

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Throughout the thirteenth century, and later, the Gangas continued to rule the kingdom of Kalinga. In the reign of Rājarāja III (1198-1211), grandson of Anantavarman Choda Ganga, occurred the first Muslim invasion of Orissa. The army sent by Ikhtiyār-ud-din Muhammad-i-Bhaktyar Khilji (1205) against Jajnagar was successfully repulsed. Similar results attended another effort against Orissa by the Bengal Muslims between 1211 and 1224 in the reign of Rājarāja's successor Ananga Bhīma III. Ananga Bhīma also fought against Kākatīya Ganapati, and his troops went as far afield as Kānchipuram and possibly even Śrīrangam. His son Narasimha I (1238-64) took the offensive against the Muslim rulers of Bengal and fought three campaigns against them, though they were not uniformly successful. Bhānudeva II (1306-28) was definitely defeated by the Tughlak invasion under Ulugh Khan and had to surrender a number of elephants to the victor. In his turn, Bhānudeva III (1352-78) had to face Firoz Tughlak to whom he had to submit as a condition of peace. The last great Ganga ruler was Narasimha IV (1378-1414), in whose time the Muslim ruler of Malwa tried to invade Orissa but without gaining any advantage. This long-lived dynasty ended with Bhānudeva IV (1414-32) who died childless, leaving the throne to be occupied by his commander-in-chief Kapileśvara Gajapati.

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We may stop for a while for an account of the impressions gathered by Marco Polo, that ‘prince of medieval travellers’, who spent several months in South India and used them very well. The name by which the country was known to foreigners was Ma'bar, a word which in Arabic signifies ‘passage’ or ferry, and was applied to the part of the Indian coast most frequented by travellers and merchants from Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Ma'bar ‘extends in length from Kulam (Quilon) to Nilawar (Nellore)’, says a contemporary Muslim chronicler. Writing on Kāyal, the chief emporium of the Pāndya kingdom, Marco Polo says that the king to whom the city belongs ‘possesses vast treasures and wears upon his person a great store of rich jewels. He maintains great state and administers his kingdom with great equity and extends great favour to merchants and foreigners so that they are very glad to visit his city.’ ‘It is at this city that all the ships touch, that come from the west as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia, laden with horses and with other things for sale.

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And this brings a great concourse of people from the country round about, and so there is great business done in this city of Cail.’ Marco Polo notes that a great part of the wealth of the country was wasted in purchasing horses, a statement fully confirmed by the observations of contemporary Muslim chorniclers who say that the unfavourable climate of South India and the ignorance of Indian horse-keepers necessitated large annual imports of fresh animals. From the earliest times, the Pāndya country has been famous for its pearls, and Marco Polo gives a substantially correct account of the fisheries, adding that the king derived great revenue from them. ‘Moreover nobody is permitted to take out of the kingdom a pearl weighing more than half a saggio unless he manages to do it secretly.’ Marco Polo describes at some length the institution of the King’s Trusty Lieges, the band of bodyguards sworn to defend the king with their lives. Amazed at the scantiness of the dress worn by the common people, Marco Polo exaggerates their nakedness and denies the existence of tailors in the country, though tailors are mentioned in inscriptions long preceding Marco Polo’s visit. He mentions the custom of sati and refers to the practice of allowing a condemned criminal who was sentenced to death to sacrifice himself to some god or other of his choice. He says quaintly: ‘And let me tell you the people of this country have a custom of rubbing their houses all over with cowdung.

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Moreover all of them, great and small, king and barons included, do sit upon the ground only. . . . It is their practice that everyone, male and female, do wash the body twice every day; and those who do not wash are looked on much as we look on the Patarins. You must know that in eating, they use the right hand only. . . . So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man hath his own; nor will anyone drink from another’s vessel. And when they drink they do not put the vessel to the lips but hold it aloft and let the drink spout into the mouth. . . . They are very strict in executing justice upon criminals and as strict in abstaining from wine. Indeed they have made a rule that wine-drinkers and seafaring men are never to be accepted as sureties.' He mentions the custom by which a creditor drew a circle round his defaulting debtor and 'the latter must not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied the claim, or given security for its discharge'. He mentions the presence of experts in the arts of physiognomy, astrology and sorcery, and the readiness of people to consult them. He refers to temples as 'certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many young girls are consecrated' (*devadāsis*). He notices the widespread use of betel leaves with camphor and other aromatic spices mixed with quicklime.

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He notes that 'the nobles and great folks slept on beds made of very light cane work, hanging from the ceiling by cords for fear of tarantulas and other vermin; while the common folk slept on the streets'.

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He mentions the richness of Ceylon in precious stones and narrates the legends he heard about Adam's Peak. He records the embassy sent to Ceylon in 1284 by Kublai Khan to get from there some of the hair and teeth of Adam. He sets down in detail the legends narrated to him of St Thomas the Apostle, and the manner of his death in the neighbourhood of Mylapore. He knew that the Andhra country was ruled by a queen (Rudrāmbā), a lady of much discretion, and he describes the different methods by which diamonds were gathered from the mines in her kingdom. He adds: 'In this kingdom also are made the best and most delicate buckrams and those of the highest price; in short, they look like tissue of spider's web! There is no king nor queen in the world but might be glad to wear them. The people have also the largest sheep in the world, and great abundance of all the necessaries of life'.

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He notices the presence of Jews and Christians in the kingdom of Quilon and says that the king was tributary to no one. Pepper and indigo were abundant in the country which was visited regularly by merchants from China, Arabia, and the Levant. 'Corn they have none but rice. So also their wine they made from (palm-) sugar; capital drink it is, and very speedily it makes a man drunk. All other necessaries of a man's life they have in great plenty and cheapness.'

c15.35

In the kingdom of Eli (Mount D'Ely), pepper and ginger and other spices in quantities were to be had, but any merchant ship touching its ports by stress of weather was seized and had its cargo plundered. 'Piracy was rampant throughout the Malabar coast. *The ships that come from the East bring copper in ballast. They also bring hither clothes of silk and gold and sandals; also gold and silver, cloves and spikenard, and other fine spices for which there is a demand here and exchange them for products of these countries.'

c15.36

R. G. BHANDARKAR: *Early History of the Dekhan* (Bombay Gazetteer, I, ii, 1894) H. W. CODRINGTON: *Short History of Ceylon* (London, 1929) J. D. M. DERRETT: *The Hoysalas*, (Oxford University Press, 1957) J. F. FLEET: *Dynasties of the Kanarese District* (Bombay Gazetteer, I, ii, 1896) K. A. N. SASTRI: *Colas*, Vol. II (Madras, 1936) — *Foreign Notices of South India* (Madras, 1939) — *The Pandyan Kingdom* (London, 1929)

Linked texts (4)

Bhagavadgītā — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Motupalli (Mutfili)
Vitthala Temple
Siddhāntaśiromaṇi — Bhāskara II, Sanskrit

A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c15: Chapter X. The Age of the Four Kingdoms

Contents

Chapter X. The Age of the Four Kingdoms

Hoysalas (1022-1342)

Kākatiyas

Linked texts (4)