The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s2.24

c35.s2.24

When Hiuen Tsang visited Southern India, in A. D. 640, he spent a considerable time, doubtless including the 'rest' during the rainy season, at Kānchī (Conjeeveram), then the capital of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman, the most considerable potentate in the South at that period. The pilgrim did not personally visit the Pāndya country farther south, and was content to record notes from descriptions supplied by his Buddhist friends at Kānchī. He gives the name of Malakūta, or Malakotta, to the country, but fails to indicate the name or position of the capital, which presumably was Madura, and is silent on the subject of the mode of government. It is probable that the Pāndya Rāja at that time was a tributary of the powerful Pallava king of Kānchī. In Malakūta Buddhism was almost extinct, the ancient monasteries being mostly in ruins. Temples of the Hindu gods were numbered by hundreds, and the nude (Digambara) Jains were present in multitudes. The inhabitants were reputed to care little for learning, and to be wholly immersed in commercial pursuits, especially the pearl trade.¹