History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c35.s5.1

v3.c35.s5.1

The fourth kingdom which must be noticed though it remained feudatory throughout this sub-period is that of the Pāndyas famous from ancient times. The Pāndyas are mentioned with Cholas in the Mahābhārata and are also mentioned singly without their companions, the Cholas, in the Rāmāyana. Kālidāsa mentions a Pāndya king alone and not Chola as competing in the svayamvara of Indumatī in his Raghuvamśa and mentions Uragapura as his capital. This capital together with Pāndya power was destroyed by Karikāla Chola from whose time (about 100 A. D.) the Pāndyas became subordinate to the Chola or other powers through many centuries. Their next capital was Madura, mentioned by Pliny. This fact establishes that Kālidāsa flourished before Pliny i. e. in the first century B. C. as he mentions Uragapura and not Madura as the capital of the Pāndyas. This is, however, an incidental observation. The Pāndyas remained subordinate even in the present sub-periord (1000-1200) the Chola king Rājarāja having established Chola empire in the south in the beginning of the 11th century. It is only in the 13th century that Jatāvarman Sundara Pāndya became independent and established an extensive power (1251-1271). Kielhorn has given a connected genealogy of the Pāndyas from 1100 A. D. to 1567 A. D. but we think it unnecessary to give it here as the Pāndyas rose to power and assumed independence after 1200 A. D. Though Malik Kafur's invasion about 1300 shook Pāndya power, they continued to rule in the south of India (Madura and Tinnevelly Districts) for a long time. They always derived a large revenue from the pearl fisheries in the mouth of the Tāmraparnī river. With this short notice of the Pāndyas we turn to the Cheras or Keralas.