The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s2.26

c35.s2.26

An inscription furnishes a list of Pāṇḍya kings who reigned from about the middle of the eighth to the beginning of the tenth century, but they are little more than names. Arikesarin, who lived in the eighth century, is said to have defeated the Pallavas, and there is reason to believe that the accession of Varaguṇavarman, who was defeated by the Pallava, Aparājita, at the battle of Sri Purambiya, may be assigned to the definite date A. D. 862–3.² During this period the Chola kingdom, ground between the Pallava and the Pāṇḍya millstones, was weak and unimportant, and the business of resisting Pallava aggression seems to have devolved chiefly on the Pāṇḍyas. The defeat of Nandivarman by Vikramāditya Chalukya, in A. D. 740, had greatly weakened the Pallava power, which was still further reduced by the victories of Āditya Chola at the close of the ninth century.³ From the beginning of the tenth century the Pāṇḍya kings were constrained to acknowledge the ever-growing power of the Cholas. Whether independent or tributary, the Pāṇḍya dynasty continued to exist throughout the ages, and its conflicts with neighbouring powers are noticed in inscriptions from time to time, but few of the events recorded are deserving of remembrance.¹