HISTORY OF THE PALLAVAS OF KANCH1 BY R GOPALAN.m a. EurTOR-S. KR1SHNASWAM1 AIYANGAR. RAMA VARMA RE3EAR31I III3TITUTE. TRICHUR. COCHIN STATE. The Madras University Historical Series III HISTORY OF THE PALLAVAS OF KANCHI * Par* c. SIlSllAVlHfXL’ AMJ MIS gUES^S HISTORY OF THE PALLAVAS OF KANCHI I R. GOPALAN, m.a., VnistrtUy fietearcA Student, ltK-KM. Sub- Librarian, Connemara Pabtie Library, Madras EDITED FOR THE UNIVERSITY WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BT S. KRISHNASWAMY AIYANGAR. m.a.. hont. rt.D., Protestor ot Indian History and Archeeototi. Madras Untorrsity, Honorary Correspondent ol lie ArthBOfOtiCtl Survey of India PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS 1928 IKEITBD 15t INDIA IV 0*010* EKIrtHTH AT TliX dxocioa* MACKAS-ntta C23&33 CONTENTS PACK Introdoctiox ... ... ... ... ... *>« CHAP. I. Introductory. History op Previous Re- SRARCH AND SOURCES OP HUTORV NOR THE Pallavas ... ... ... ... 1 II. Theories op the Origin of tee Pallavas: Prb-Pallava History op Ranchipura ... IS III. Early Pallavas op the Prasrct Records. 32 IV. Early Pallavas of the Sanskrit Records. 41 V. Contemporary POLITICAL Powers. The SALANXAYANAS, KaDAMIIAS, ETC. ... 70 VI. The Pallava Ascendency—’ The Dynasty of SlMHAVISHND ’ THE RRIGN OF SlHHAVISHNU and Mampnoxavahuan I ... ... 79 VII. Narasiuuavauman I (Mabuialla) to Raja- VIII. Dynastic Revolution. Hiranvavarman and his Successor Nanwvarxan Pallava- IX. Successors of Pallavamalla ... ... 132 X. Gbnbeal Considerations op Pallava Rolb in South India ... ... ... 14® APPENDICES (A) A Chxonolocicul Index of Pallava Inscriptions ... 163 (B) Extract from the MaMavamta ... ... ... 713 * (C) Extract from the ' Avantisundarikathasara ... 221 Special Notes by Editor ... ... •- 229 -• 233 Errata ... ... ... — — 233 Index ... ... ••• ••• — — u CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS Statue of Sijihavishnu with his Queens in the Adiv&raha Thkplb at Mahabal ip ba m ... Freniiipieee Statue op Makekdravabman I with nis Queens in the same Temple ... ... ... ... 88 Map op South India showino Distribution of Pallava Rock-cut Temples bearing Inscriptions ...At end WORKS CONSULTED Aiyar (K. V. S.) : Historical Sketches o/ Ancient Dekko*. Archceological Reports o! Mysore. ArchaologUol Survey of India Annual Reports for 190G-7. Beal : Buddhist Records of Ike Weston World. Bern bay Gazetteer. Carr (Capt.) : Den. and Historical Papers on the Seven Pagodas. Coomaraswami(A.K.) : A History of India and Indonesian Art. Crolc : Ckingleput Manual Epigrapkia Mica. Epigraphies Camataca, Fcrgu3Bon (J.) and Bureess (J.) : Cave Temples in India. Ferjjusson : History el Indian and Eastern Architecture. Fleet : Dynasties of the Kanarae Districts. : Gupta Inscriptions. Indian Antiquary, Indian Historical Quarterly. Journal ol Indian History. Journal of the Mythic Society. Jouvcau-Dubrcuil (Q) : ArehaMogie du Sud de l' hide (1914). i, ; Ancient History ol Deccan ( 1921 ). h : Dravidian Architecture. „ : Poltava Antiquities. : Pallavas 1917 „ ( ). „ : Poltava Painting. : Tamils Eighteen hundred Kanakasabhal (V .) The Years Ago. Krishna Ssslrl (H.) : Two Statues of Poltava Kings and Five Poltava Inscriptions on a Rock-temple at Mahatalipuram. • Mens. Arch. Sur. d India \ No. 26. viii WORKS CONSULTED Krishnaswamt Aiyangar (S.) : Ancient India (1911). „ „ : The Beginning el South Indian History (1917). History „ „ \ Barly oi Vaishnavism in South India. „ : Some Contributions ol South Mia to Indian Culture (1924). Origin History „ „ : and Early oi th Pallavas oi Kihchi. Manim>;khalai „ „ : in its Historica Setting. Long hurst (A. H.) : Poltava Architecture. Parts I & II.' Mm Arch. Sur. of India Not. 17 & 31. South Indian Epig raphy —A nnuot deports. The Inilnenccs oi Indian Art (1925). By Streygowski (J.) an others. The Madras Journal oi Literature and Science. The Mahar.mmta. Nalayira Prabandam. Architecture. Kea (A.) : Pallava Rice (L.) : The Mysore Gazetteer, 2 Vols. iron Inscriptions. „ : Mysore and Coorg Sentam it. the Presidency. 2 Sewell : List o i Antiquities in Madras Vo South Mian Inscriptions, Vols. I-V. (Tamil.) Srinivasa Aiynngar (P. T.) : History oi Pallavas. Srinivasa Aiynngar (M.) : Tamil Studies. Taylor (The Rev. William) : Oriental Historical Mf 2 Vols. Transactions of the Second and Third All-India Oriental C ferenoe— 1924. Travancore Sanskrit Series LV. The MattaviiasaPrahasaiu Sri Mahcndravikramavarnian. Vaidya (C. V.) : A History oi Mediated Hindu India. ' INTRODUCTION The following pages embody the work o! Mr. R. Gopalan. sc.*., a Research Student at the University, who tcok up for his subject tbo History of the Pallavas of Kaocbi. He worked through his full term, and the thesis incorporates his work on the subject. The thesis of just a little over 160 page* constitutes a dessertatloa oa the Pallavas, which takes us as far as we can proceed on the subject with the matciia! at our disposal. Many of tho difficulties in the subject have been brought nearer to solution by the work of a number of schola*s, all of which is considceod in the work. It does not pretend to have solved all questions connected with the history of the Pallavas finally, but it may be stated that Mr. Gopclan'a work carries us as near to an up-to-date history of the Pallavas as, in the circumstances, is possible. Our purpose io this introduction i* to draw attention to tbo salient features of the thesis and Indicate points where more light would be welcome. Such advance as was possible in the study of the subject within tho last year or two is also in- corporated with a view to completing the work of Mr. Gopalan and to invite examination and criticism by those interested in Indian Historical Research. The nama Pallavas has boea a problem for scholars, and has received attention from time to time from several ol them, offering explanations of various kinds; the doubt and the difficulty alike have arisen from the fact that a race of people called 1 Pahlaias were known and are referred to as such along with the Sakas and others, both in the North-west of India and nearer in the North-western coast of the Da khan. This, alternative 1 in literary texts sometimes takes the form Paltava ', ' ' ’ and thus two forms, ' Pahlava and Pa I lava occurring side by side, give colour to the assumption that the two words axe identical. They are indeed identical in torm, but do not pre- clude the possibility of another word assuming this identical ' X INTRODUCTION* ' form. The word Pallava ' as it applies to the rulers of Kanchi is undoubtedly and invariably n later form. We do not meet with the form 1 Pahlasa ' in connoction with the Pallavas of Kanchi in any record of their time. The question therefore would naturally arise whether we need necessarily regard die name ' Fallows as applied to tho rulers of Kanchi as at all equivalent to the other ' Pailavas ’ either as a word or in regard to what the word stands for. The word as applied to 'Pallavas' in the first instance seems to he a translation of the Tamil words 1 Ton<!aiyar' and * Tontla- iniia and this finds confirmation in some of the copper-plate charters, which do bring in tender twigs of some kind in con- nection with the eponymous name 'Pallava’. This un- doubtedly is s later use of the term, but gives the indication that even at that comparatively late period, tho traditional notion was that they were not foreigners, such as tho PahUvai would have been. In all tbc material that has been esair.inod, there is nothing to indicate either the migration of a p«op!e or even o( a family tin: migh have ultimately raised itself into a dynasty from the North-west, so that the assumption of a connection between the one set of people and the other rests upon the mere doubtful ground of a possibility, whereas tho translation or adaptation of a Southern word into Sanskrit is very much more than a possibility, ns indeed a word like 1 * Dravida or * Dratnida ’ would dearly indicate. The distinc- tion that Rajasekhara makes between the Southern PaUaza and the North-western Pahlava scams in the circumstances to be a crucial indication that in the estimation oi scholarly folk of the ninth and tenth ccnturioB, tae two wore to be regarded as distinct from each other. The foreign origin of the Pallavas thereiore seems to have no ground to support it. The Pallavas seem nevertheless to have been foreign to the locality as far as our evidence takes us at present. The ruiers of Kanchi bad continued to be known as Tondamnns all through historical times. The people of the locality were similarly known as Tontfalyar, the region occupied by the people consequently TondamaijdaUtu. These names arc all traceable INTRODUCTION XJ In South Indian literature in the period of prominence of the Pallava* and even before. The name Pallava however is used generally in the charters ever since tho Pallaval issued charters, so that historically speaking we would be justified if we took Pallava and Toodaiuan to be synonymous, and this receives support in the use of the compound expression in one of the poems of Titumangai Alvar, • the Pallava, who U the ruler of the Toodniyar (PaUaian Vndaiyar A’Oh). ' Therefore it is not as if literature did not know the term; much rather literary use regarded the two as synonymous, so that the Pallavas, whoever they were, were Toodamons, rulers of Toodamaodalam undoubtedly. So far as the Pallavas of the charters are concerned, whether the charters be issued in Prakrit or in Sanskrit they me termed, tho Pallavas ot Ranchi, thoueh several of the charters happened to bo issued from localities comparatively far to the north of Ranchi. Several of the places In which their inscrip- tions and copper-plate charters have bcon found, or from which these were issued, are capable of location from the Bellary District eastwards up to the River Krishna in the north. Bven so they seem to exclude the region which might geographically be described as tho region of the Nalla Ma’ais and tho Pacha-Malais extending southwards along the mountainous tracts of the Eastern Ghats till we come past Tirupati into Chittoor, and the Bay of Bengal.