History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c15.5

v1.c15.5

It seems that they were a branch of the same Aryan people who had settled in Mahārāshtra. In fact Pallava dominion in Kāñchī in ancient times was just like Maratha dominion in Tanjore in modern history.* The Pallavas were Mahārāshtra Aryans who spoke Mahārāshtri Prakrit for centuries and hence retained it even in Kānchī in the midst of surrounding Dravidian languages. They may even be said to be Marathas for their name is still preserved in the Maratha family name of Pālave (which is just the Prakrit form of Pallava). And a further corroboration is that the gotra of the Pālave Maratha family, as we have shown before, is Bhāradvāja, the same as the one which the Pallavas take to themselves in their records. And Hiuen Tsang calls Narasinha Varman a Kshstriya. The Pallavas, therefore, were certainly mid-Indian Aryans gradually passing into the south through Mahārāshtra.