The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s1.45

c35.s1.45

Those difficulties are great. The sources of southern history prior to the ninth century are far scantier than those available in the north. The eighteen *Purānas* pay small attention to the south, early inscriptions are extremely rare, the coinage gives little help, the publication of archaeological investigations in a finished form is backward, and the exploration of the ancient literature is incomplete.² On the other hand, from the ninth century onwards, the mass of epigraphic material is so enormous as to be unmanageable. The southern princes and peoples have bequeathed to posterity many thousands of inscriptions, which often attain portentous length. Eight volumes of Mr. Rice's *Epigraphia Carnatica*, which are concerned with both the Deccan and the Tamil kingdoms, give notices of 5,800 inscriptions. The staff of the Archaeological Survey in Madras during a single year copied more than 800 inscriptions, none of which, probably, are included in Mr. Rice's work; and every year makes a huge addition to the unwieldy accumulation of historical material. The length of individual documents is illustrated by the fact that one important record is engraved on thirty-one sheets of copper, fastened together on a massive ring. It is obvious that the thorough examination of the epigraphic sources alone of the early history of Southern India must be the work of specialists for many years to come, and that additions to knowledge of the subject must continue to be made from day to day. With these preliminary explanations I proceed to give the best account that I can of the three Tamil kingdoms, and of the intruding Pallava dynasty which for a time overshadowed them all.