History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c15.4

v1.c15.4

The theory first propounded, though now given up, was that they were the Palhavas of the Purānas, the Pehlavas of the Parsis, the Palhavas who came to India with the Śakas of Kathiawar and others. It was suggested that when Gautamīputra Pulumāyi in the second century A. D. drove away Śaka, Yavana and Pahlava peoples from Mahārāshtra as recorded in the Nasik caves, the last instead of being driven back to the north succeeded in getting further into the south and founded a kingdom at Kāñchī. This theory based upon the similarity of names has now been given up and the Pallavas are now supposed to be some people between the Krishna and the Godāvari, while Sir V. Smith in his Early History 3rd Edn. simply says that they were an indigenous tribe, clan or caste ( p. 469 ). Although it is not necessary, therefore, to state the reasons against the Pahlava theory, yet for the sake of completeness we may as well see what these reasons are. In the first place if Pulumāyi defeated the Pahlavas, he would not certainly allow them to push forward into his own dominions to the south, for we know that the Śātavāhana rule in those days extended far into the south even as far as Mysore. Secondly in Sanskrit orthography which is most perfect, Pahlava with an *h* cannot be confounded with Pallava. Even in Manu and the Purāṇas the name of these foreign mlechhas is given as Pahlava (with an *h*) and in Persian too it is clearly Pehlavi i. e. with *h* distinct. It may perhaps be supposed that in Prakrit the *h* may have been omitted. But it is not so. Even in the Prakrit inscription of Gautamīputra Pulumāyi the name given is spelt as Pahlava ( see Ep. Ind. Vol. III Nasik cave Ins. p. 60 ). Thirdly if the Pahlavas on coming to India had taken up a mid-Indian language it must have been so only recently and hence when they established themselves at Kāñchī, they could not have retained it. For even now the Dravidian languages round about Kāñchī are too strong for any new language to withstand them. For these reasons the Pallavas are not the Pahlavas. They cannot also be some people between the Krishna and the Godavari for their language could not have been mid-Indian in that case also. They must have been people from the Aryan population of the north of India.