The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s4.10

c35.s4.10

The rāja of the Pudukottai tributary principality, who is the recognized head of the Kallar tribe, still styles himself Rāja Pallava, and claims descent from the ancient royal family. The Kallars, as Sir Walter Elliot observes, 'belong to what have been called the predatory classes,' and their 'bold, indomitable, and martial habits' agree well with the characteristics of the ancient Pallavas as known from history. Until recent times the Kallars exercised a formidable control over the peaceable inhabitants of the Carnatic, from whom they levied blackmail in return for protection, just as the Marāthās levied similar contributions under the name of *chauth*. It seems to be highly probable that the political power of the Pallavas was exercised in a similar manner, its extent varying according to the variations in the relative strength of the ancient Tamil states and that of the usurping tribesmen. The Palli caste and certain sections of the Vellāla agricultural caste, which is proverbially associated with the Kallar and Maravar robber tribes, also claim a connexion with the Pallavas.¹ It may well be that the so-called 'predatory classes', whom the Pallava dynasty may once have governed and welded into an aggressive force, belong to a section of the population distinct from and more ancient than the Tamils.