are three Vamsas among the Marathas viz Surya, Chandra
and Naga.
The Velurpalaiyam plate from which the above fact is
taken is important in other respects also. On inspecting
it carefully ( Archealojical Survey Report part VJ we find,
besides the sloka about Virakurcha iz(: '^m<^^^^\ TlWfr^r
jiM'^;jl%<^ wr'
of Skandasishya, son of this Virakurcha: — ^^M+ 1 ^-^R^PTrii^S
H?"' t>^i
grandson Kumara Vishnu took the city of Kanchi and
founded the Kanchi power. This statement tallies with
probable dates also. In the long list of Pallava ancestors
given in the Vayalur inscription described by Dubreuil
( p; 20 ) we have 36 kings. Of these Vishnugopa No. 19
appears to be the Vishnugopa whom Samudragupta con-
quered and who is mentioned in his famous Allahabad
stone inscription of 338 A. D. And we have Narasimha-
varman No. 34 contemporary of Hiuen Tsang and Chalukya
Pulakesin II of 640 A. D. Now from no. 19 to 34 there
count 15 generations or 300 years at an average of 20.
And this distance in time between Vishnugopa and Nara-
sinhavarman, exactly tallies with their historical dates
as given above viz. 338 A. D. and 640 A. D. Now let us go
back from Vishnugopa no. 19 of 338 A. D. to Virakurcha
no. 11 in the list of Vayalur plate. We have a difference
of 8 generations or 160 years which gives for Virakurcha
a date about 178 A. D. and brings him within the Satava-
hana rule. His grandson Kumara Vishnu, also given in
284 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
the Vayalur list, thus seetos to have become the king of
Kanchi about 200 A.D. The Mayadavollu grant in Prakrit
which we have quoted in a foot-note may be taken to have
been made by the grandson ( no. 15 ) of this Kumara
Vishnu ( no. 13 ) about 240 A. D.
The consistent history of the early Pallavas therefore
may be put as follows from the available inscriptions
and grants, A Pallava-surnamed chief ( Maratha or from
northern India) named Viraknrcha gained royal distinction
about 178 A. D. by marrying a Naga princess '' presumably
of Satavahana family), in the south of the Deccan. On the
fall of the Satavahanas the family became powerful and
independent and Kumara Vishnu grandson of Virakurcha
conquered Kanchi and founded the Kanchi kingdom about
200 A. D. In 338 A. D. it was conquered by Samudragupta
of Patna. This shock threw thePallava power into shade
for some time. But it rose again into splendour under the
later Pallavas beginning with Sinhavishnu as we shall
presently relate.
We may add that this early Pallava family was un-
doubtedly Kshatriya- As we have said onegreatproof of itis
that the records of both the early and late Pallavas always
mention that they were of the Bharadvaja gotra. The men-
tion of gotra was always deemed particularly important by
Kshatriya kings. We have already seen that the Chalukyas
similarly insisted on being called Manavya-sagotra. They
also gave the gotra of the mother to show their descent
from a Kshatriya n;other also. We have already alluded to
the meaning of the epithets Gautamiputra and Vasishthi-
putra recorded in the mention of Satavahana kings. They
clearly show that the Kshatriyas took pride in mentioning
their gotra. We may add one more instance of this from
the same Nasik cave inscriptions. Bhavagopa Senapati
is in one mentioned as of the Kausika gotra. It is here
alone that we have the mention of the gotra and the name-
ending " gopa" makes it similar to Vishnugopa and shows
that the Senapati was a Kshatriya. These name-endings
THE PALLAVAS OF KiNCHI 28."
(gopa = protector of the earth) usually taken for indicating-
caste are of great importance and the gotra mention is
still more important An inscription in Prakrit about
this very time, king and place not yet recognised, mentions
the gotra of the king as Brihatphalayana ( see inscription
of Jayavarman for grant of a villageinKndurahara Ep. Ind.
Vol. VI p. 316. In this grant also we have Ahara, northern
Sanskrit name for a Taluka and not "nadu" the Dravidian
name ). As the earliest grants of the Pallavas insist on
mentioninig their gotra as Bharadvaja we conclude that
the Pallavas were really Kshatriyas as Hiuen Tsang
describes them.
We may further add that the legend about the origin
of the Pallavas as given in the records of the later Palla-
vas is not reliable and as usual was concocted afterwards
to connect them with a Mahabharata hero. In fact it
appears that in later centuries it was an ambition with all
kingly families to connect themselves with some hero of
the great national epic (just as in the west Greek and Roman
families delighted to connect themselves with the heroes
of Homer ). The Chalukya later legend we have already
discussed. We may note here the Pallava legend. It
gives the genealogy as follows. 1 ^^r \ af/it?:^ 3 f^m ^ Wl
'" W^~^ % ?M -s W^-i^^m and c q??^ born of an Apsaras or
heavenly nymph from Ashvatthama and placed on a bed
made of soft leaves and hence called Pallava. Even Vedic
poets loved to play with names, witness the fanciful deri-
vations assigned to Agastya, Angiras, Atri etc. in the
Brahmanas and it is no wonder that later Sanskrit poets
invented absurd legends to explain the meanings of names
like Chalukya and Pallava. We may safely put these
legends aside as imaginery, as also the legend that the
first Pallava ruled the whole earth. We must take the
names of Kshalriya families as we find them, whatever
their real origin may have been and rely for facts on con-
temporary records.
True Kshatriyas, the Pallavas were orthodox and of
the Vedic religion. The son of Kumara Vishnu viz.
286 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
Sivaskandavarman whose Prakrit grant has been found is
said to have performed the Asvamedha. Smith rightly
states that this Asvamedha was performed even before
that of Chandragupta of the Gupta family in the north.
The Pallavas were also devout worshippers of Siva like
the general body of Marathas. They built great temples
to Siva in Kanchi. There may be some Vishnu temples
also but Siva was their family deity. Though one Pallava
king is said to have made a grant to Buddhists at Amara-
vati, it does not necessarily show that he was a Buddhist,
The toleration by early Aryan kings of Buddhism is well
known. BuddhismandJainism both found followers in the
Kanchi empire but the religion of the ruling family and the
people generally was Saivism. Kanchi is still the greatest
strong-hold of Saivism in the south and the most devout
Saiva poets and saints belong to Kanchi. It was probably on
this account, that Kanchi has risen to the proud position
of a holy city in Hindu estimation. According to Hindu
belief there are only seven cities which pre holy in India
viz. lAyodhya, 2 Mathura 3 Maya or Haradwar 4 Kashi
5 Kanchi 6 Avanti or Ujiain and 7 Dvaraka. It is strange
that in the south the honour belongs only to one citj' and
that is Kanchi and does not belong even to Paithan or
Pratishthana, the ancient Maharashtra seat of learning.
It seems that this position was attained by Kanchi under
the orthodox rule of the early Pallavas and by the religion
of Saivism which they propagated and favoured together
with the greatness of the Saiva saints who flourished there.
The Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudra-gupta
records that he conquered three kings viz. Hastivarman of
dengi, Ugrasena of Palakka and Vishnugopa of Kanchi.
These two kingdoms Palakka on the Malabar ( West )
coast and Vengi on the east coast were undoubtedly
under Pallava domination and Vengi is usually called
Vengi-rashtra and was thus under the Maratha rule of
the Pallavas from the beginning. The king Attivarman is
said to be a Pallava also. The Vengi Rashtra after the
Pallavas came under the Chalukyas of Badami and an
THE PALLAVAS OF KANCHI 287
eastern Chalukya kingdom was founded there by Vishnu-
vardhana and may be said to be a continuation of the
same rale.
II— THE LATER PALLAVAS OF KANCHI
The later Pallavas of Kanchi may be looked upon as
contemporaneous with the early Chalukyas and comprised
many able kings who were always at feud with their
Chalukya contemporaries. These kings were (1) Sinha
Vishnu who is placed by Dubreuil in about 590 A. D. ; his
son was (2) Mahendravarman I, his son (3) Narsinha-
(Pallava line) (Chalukya line) varman I ; his son
e . _ T. - (4)Mahendravarman
Sinhavarraan Kanaraga
about 562 A. D. | II, his son (5j Parme-
1 Sinhavishnu S 590 A. D.— Pulakesin I svaravarman I, his
o TDT u i' T x?io Tz- ^•' son (6)Narsinhavar-
2 Mahendravarman I bI8-Kirtivarman ^ '
„ ^^ I I , man II, and his son
3 Narsinhavarman I 646— Pulakesin II /r,. t-.
I I (7) Parmesvaravar-
4 MaheDdravarman II 660-Vikramaaitya I ^^^ j j ^^^ j^ ^l^ced
5 Parraesvarvarman I fi74— Vinayaditya I Dubreuil in about
6 liarsinhavarman II 700— Vijayaditya 715 A. D. In the
? Parmesvaravarman II 715— \ margin we give the
8 Nandipdtavarman 742-Vikraitiaditya II contemp O r a n e O u s
defeated Nandi Chalukya kings,
in 740 A. D. r^^^ r,^^ ^^^ j^^^ ^^^
succeeded by Nandipotavarman of a collateral branch
who was defeated by Vikramaditya Chalukya and with him
we may suppose the later Pallavas to have gone out
of importance.
Thus from about 550 to 750 A. D. these two Mahara-
shtra Kshatriya families contended for the overlordship of
the Indian Peninsula south of the Nerbudda and aimed at
and prided upon being lords between three seas. The
Pallavas had of course already subjugated the Chola,
Pandya, Kerala and Kalabhra kings -and the latter often
sided with their Pallava overlords as feudatories in their
battles with the Chalukyas. If does not appear that the
Pallavas were ever finally successful ; in this hereditary
288 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
conflict the victory lay usually with the Chalukyas. But
the fortunes were often varying and we need not enter
into the details of these reverses and successes. Grants
and inscriptions of both the Chalukyas and the Pallavas
have been found in great numbers and sometimes contain
contradictory statements. But a consistent history
has been evolved by scholars which may be related
shortly as follows.
Sinhavishnu was the first great sovereign among the
later Pallavas. He conquered, besides the Cholas etc, even
Ceylon. His son was Mahendravarman I who was de-
feated by Pulakesin II the great rival of Harsha. When
Hiuen Tsang visited Kanchi, his son Narasinhavarman
was on the throne; he was apparently subject to Pulake-
sin II. But this Narasinhavarman I eventually defeated
Pulakesin II in 642 aud his capital Vatapi was taken and
plundered by him. The latter's son Vikramaditya I there-
after revived the glory of the Chalukyas and took revenge
by seizing Kanchi in return. The date of this conquest of
Parraesvaravarman I by Vikramaditya I isfixed by a grant
of the latter (Gadval plates, Ep. Ind. X p. 101) in 674 A. D.
( Dubreuil p. 42 ). A grant of Vikramaditya's son Vinaya-
ditya dated 613 Saka or 691 A. D. ( Ind. Ant. Vol- VI p.
89 ) contains some interesting information. The epithet
^\(^r^J^J|; ) is somewhat obscure. This has been translated
by Dr. Fleet as follows " who seized the city of Kanchi
after the defeat of the leader of Pallavas, who had been the
cause of the humiliation of the family as pure as the
rays of the moon." Now the real difficulty is in the word
T^c^q-; the Mf^cmRr is described not as qR^^5 but qRwt^%3,
T%?55T being omitted or left unnoticed by Fleet. But the
expression is indeed obscure. The Chalukya family is
here supposed to be of the lunar race as later records
represent it, but this point is also doubtful. However the
main fact is apparent viz. that the Pallavas being defeated
their city was entered. Another important epithet applied
to Vikramaditya in this grant is f^^^Tg^Tr-'W^TriScsr'qt''^^:^
THE PALLAVAS OF KlN-CHI ^9
"Which shows that he was the overlord of all the chiefs who
ruled within three oceans. And thirdly the word ^rj-pj^^.
^^s^^^4^ shows the Pallavas had three kingdoms much in
the same way as the Chalukyas had three Maharashtas
(viz, Vldarbha, Maharashtra proper and Kuntala or southern
Maratha country). And the three kingdoms of the Pallavas
were probably Vengi, Kanch! and Palakkada; but Vengi
had already been lost and taken by the Eastern Chalukyas.
Perhaps the traditional epithet Trairajya Paliava still
remained.
The Pallavas though often defeated retained, however^
their kingdom as usual in ancient times and were power-
ful for a long time. The last defeat inflicted on them
(under Nandipotavarraan ) by the Chalukyas, was under
Vikramaditya II in about 740 A. D. Kanchi was again
seized and entered. But being considered a sacred city
as already mentioned, it was never plundered by the
orthodox Chalukyas. On the contrary any plunder taken*
from temples by unscrupulous hands was restored and
many rich presents were made by the Chalukya king and
queen to its famous gods. Nandipotavarman's power may
be said to have declined from this time. He had a long
reign however of about 51 years.
The later Pallavas were like the earlier ones great
Saivas and they have left behind them temples and caves
and rock-cut rathas which are yet the admiration of the
world. They surpassed the Chalukyas in this respect.
The Rajasinhesvara or Kailasanatha temple in Kanchi
is famous. Who this Rajasinha was is not quite clear,
but he seems to have been Narasinhavarman II ( some
scholars take him to be Narasinhavarman I ). The biru-
das or titles of these kings are so numerous that it is really
difficult to identify them. These birudas are the fancies
of poet-flatterers. The Rajasinhesvara temple contains
many such e. g. Atyantakanta, Ranachanda and so on,
but as plainly showing that these Pallavas were Kshatriyas
as Hiuen Tsang states, we may quote one viz: Srikshatra-
chudamani. The Mamallapura temple of Siva contains
37
290 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
a short rascription ia it viz. 5TM<'JHii^M;*,^^^
Kailasanatha temple in an inscription the pedigree of the
Pallavas is given as ( 1 ) Brahma ( 2 ) Angiras ( 3 ) Brihas-
pati ( 4) Samyu ( 5 ) Bharadvaja ( 6 ) Drona ( 7 ) Asvattha-
ma (1) Pallava. In his line was born Ugradanda who
defeated Raiiarasika probably a Chalukya king. His son
was Rajasinha. Dubreuil opines that Ugradanda and
Lokaditya mentioned in the inscriptions of the Kailasa-
natha temple at Kanchi mean Paramesvara I and Rana-
rasika is Vikramaditya I. Thus this Chalukya after
defeating the Pallavas was in turn defeated on the
banks of the Kaveri by three kings united viz. Kanchi
Sinhala and Pandya kings. The date of this defeat is 674
A. D. (see Dubreuil p. 42 noted before ), The builder of the
Rajasinhesvara temple would then be Narasinhavarman II
of about 700 A. D. The rock-cut temples at Mammallapura
near Madras called the " Seven Pagodas " and the cave
temples at Mahendravadi and Mamandur were excavated
by order of these Pallava kings from Mahendravarman I
( Smith ). There are at Mamallapura ( the name Mamalla
is derived from Mahamalla a title of Narasinhavarman I)
three Saiva temples and one Vaishnava. Dubreuil thinks
that Mahendravarman and his father originally ruled in
the Telagu country to the north of the Krishna and the
cave works and rock-cut temples he execdted during
his reign at Kanchi were copied from similar buildings
and excavations at Amaravati. The art thus in his
opinion goes back to the Buddhistic period and is
Greek in origin,
The later Pallavas were thus great builders of temples.
Dubreuil thinks that Narasinhavarman II surnamed
Rajasinha had a long, and peaceful reign, and did nothing
else "except loading Saivite priests with favours and build-
ing temples to Siva. Besides the famous Kailasanatha or
Rajasinhesvara temple he built the Shore Temples at Ma-
habalipura and the Panamalai temple. The Airavate-
svara temple at Kanchi may also be added to this list."
(p. 45). These kings also appear to be patrons of letters.
THE PAl.LA.VAS OF KANCHI 291
A burlesque ( IT^'T^ ) has been found at Travancore of
which Mahendravarraan I is the writer. (It would be in-
teresting to read this drama or rather Prahasana). And
Dubreuil has found confirmation of this fact from an in-
scription on a cave at Mamandur and which he reads as
HT\\^^Am\2'^i ^IT^. Mattavilasa being a title of Mahendra-
varman I. The greatness of this king is described by
Dubreuil as follows, ''(1) he checked the Chalukya inva-
sion at Pallalur, (2) he gave a new impulse to Saivism, (3)
he glorified poetry and music (it appears he was himself
the composer of some svaras), (4) he transferred the taste for
rock-cut temples from the banks of the Krishna to those of
the Palar and Kaveri and (5) for administrative purposes
he built tanks at Mahendravadi, Mamandur and probably
at Dalavamir. "Thus Mahendravarman I opened a new
•era whose apotheosis we shall see in the reign of his son
Narasinhavarman I " (p. 40). This praise is well merited.
The succeesors of Narasinha too were great builders e. g,
Rajasinha alias Narasinhavarman II. They were also
great patrons of learning, the son of this Narasinhavarman
viz. Paramesvravarman being a great patron of letters.
We gi^ein the appendix a grant of thisParmesvaravarman
as much as a sample of the good poetry of the Pallava
school as proof of this fact. We shall find also mention of
many historical facts in connection with thePallavas and
the Chalukyas, (the French and the English of India)
in this inscription. The Pallavas were great patrons of
Sanskrit literature and not Dravidian literature which
latter it must be stated flourished at the court of the earlier
Pandya kings at Madura. In fact as we have already
stated the Pallavas spoke a mid-Indian language.
The social relations of these Pallavas also appear to
be with the northerners. For instance the Chalukya first
king is said to have married a Pallava princess. Then again
( Archealogical S. R. Part V ) the Vellur plate already
quoted states that the wife of Dantivarman wasaKadamba
princess* And similarly in a grant at p. 555 it is stated
292 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
that Nandivarman had married a Rashtrakuta lady.f
The name of this lady was Reva and her son was properly
called Dantivarman from his Rashtrakuta grandfather
( Dubreuil p. 75 ). Whether the Pallavas married Dravi-
dian Chola, Pandya, Kerala princesses we do not know.
But it is not strange if they did, for the Maharashtra
Aryan Kshatriyas also married Nagavamsa princesses.
The theory then was that a Kshatriya could take a wife
from any caste down to Sudras and the progeny still re-
mained Kshatriya. The southern Aryans of the lunar
race like the northern ones appear to have mixed them-
selves with Naga families freely.
The Pallavas in all their grants never use the Saka
era, in fact they mention no other years but their own
regnal years and hence their dates are open to doubt. This-
absence of the Saka era in due to their old pedigree which
goes back beyond 400 A. D, when the Saka era. as we have-
said before, was popularised by new astronomical Siddhan-
tas. In fact the Pallavas go back to the period of the
Satavahanas who never used the Saka era. The Pallavas
are thus plainly an older people than the Chalukyas.
that is to say they were settled in the Deccan much earlier
than the latter.
We may in conclusion give in brief a short history of
what we may call the last or third Pallava line. It was
composed of four kings whose dates are ascertained
by Dubreuil as in the
1 Nandivarman Pallavamalla margin. Of these we have
717-779 A. D. ,. 4U 4- at j-
I already seen that JSandi-
2 Dantivarman-77('-830 varman was defeated by
3 NandiofTellarn-830-864 Chalukya Vikramaditya
4 Nripatunga— 864-880 II in 745 A. D. The Cha-
Aparajita lukyas themselves fell be-
fore the Rashtrakutas of
Malkhed and it appears that these last Pallavas recog-
nised thereafter the supremacy of the Rashtrakutas.
THE PALLATAS OF KANCHI 293
Dantivarman is said to have been defeated by rheRashtra-
kutas about 803 A. D. After Nripatunga the Pallavas
under Aparajita* were extinguished by the Cholas in about
900 A. D. under Aditya I. Thereafter we do not hear of
any Pallava kings These last Pallavas apparently ruled
in Kanchi. They all have left many grants. They cannot
be called Ganga Pallavas according to Dubreuil and Gopi-
nathrao. The Gangas were a distinct line in Kanara and
Mysore and should not be confounded with the Pallavas.
Nandivarman II is said to have defeated thePandya kings
at Tellaru when they invaded his territories on the Kaveri
and hence Dubreuil calls him Nandi of Tellaru. Nripa-
tunga had undoubtedly Tanjore and Trichonopally under
him as his grants show and it is there that the Cholas
subsequently rose to power. These Cholas we shall have
to refer to in the third epoch of our history.
The present chiefs of Pundukotta represent themselves
to be descendants of the Pallavas and their claim may be
well founded. But it may be noted that since the Chola
supremacy the Pallavas ceased to have any connection
with the north and the Pallavas must have been confined
to marriages with Dravidian chiefs. They belong to the
latter period of Indian history when as we shall further
on relate marriage relations became strict all over India.
"■ Some scholars sav that Aparajita is but another name of Nripatunga who took
It after defeating the Pindyas In any case the name Aparajita proved untrue for the
king was finally defeated and the line extinguished by Ad-tva I.
NOTES
I— KURAM PALLAVA GRANT
South Indian Inscriptions (Hultzsch) Vol. I p. 148-50.
3^3T^aqH^[Pr^TrFrfT*TTq?^H5[a%T?I^i5, 1 fiT2;^T^5rrR^i;TfT'^=J
?qS?^Htf" S? II sl^'Jfllf^^l^flrTtfpqi^r^^lTl^rgT^^rrT ?M:iS>IIc^MRmrT-
^TcT^M'cTr^T*TT^fr?T?^T?^rr^^qM^lf. =^^T^H SfT^^Fn ?:i^'T^5ti-
%?^ ^Wf^JTOT: 5|^f T%rf =^R%? ar^vSJiJTr'&iT^^ ■H^.^'llttR^
tFr»;3TrfHK'?tT^'5riJT|^OT: q-fTiTa5J?rom7To5^|TJTT^q^ ^otT^^^m^^'T^
T^^^TcqT ^^f^R^ '^gq^rn=Tt wt ^^^w ^v^ ^^ '^Tosr 1
here follows a description of a hard fought battle which is both very real
and poetical; f%-TFrTf^?4 W^^^^^l^'-'J'i '^^pW^SSTRrT . . ^^ TT^'^f^ ^^TIH
'"^^^mrh
While Chulukya records represent Paliavas as defeated by Vil^ra-
maditya this grant represents him as flying from the field covered with,
a rag or rather a "langoti." to use in Marathi. However both accounts
naay be true; as there are usually successes and reverses between equally
matched opponents. The further interest of this record is that it
I— KURAM PALLAVA GRANT 29.'>
presents Paramesvaravarman as fond of poetry. And the occurrence
of the word Rashtra as the name of a division or district shows that the
Pallavas originally came from the MahSrashtras. We will refer to
this again later on.
II — Some Nasik cave Inscriptions in Prakrit as read by Senart
( latest version) Ep. In.: Vol. VIII.
( 1 ) No. 22 page 93.
( Under king Krishna of the Satavahana family this cave has been
caused to be made by the officer in charge of the Sraraanas at Nasik)
(2) No. 24 page 94.
1%'^ noTT 'TRTirnTrT^T ^nw'FFT^'JT trrrT^otH 5T^7> ?riHk '^^^j^
T% ?frfi^ -5 f^^^ q'4H ^(iwH JT?ra''JirTFRT h^^?t ^fr^^ ir^T^an-
(Tran.: — Success. On the first day of the 3rd fortnight of winter in
the seventh year of the king the lord Siriya Satakani son of Gotami. the
Mahasenapatini Vasu wife of the Mahasenapati Bhavagopa of the
Kausika family has completed and given as an abode to the Universal
Sangha of monks this cave which has been excavated for many years
but after having been created by the ascetic Bopaki had remained
uncompleted).
Ill— No. 5 page 73.
%'-T ^Tt^^^ SUH"^^ m^W'^ ^^ ^FfTTMr?t l^t nPTH'Trr^ ^T?r^-
296 THE FIRST HINDU KINGDOMS
(Tran.: — Success. Order of the king to be made over to Samaka the
officer at Govadhana in the name of the king Satakani Gotamiputa and
of the king's i]ueen-mother whose son is living. Samaka the officer at
Govadhana shall be addressed with the usual civility and then shall be
told thus: "We have here on mount Tirahnu formerly given to the
mendicant ascetics dwelling in the cave which is a pious gift of ours a
field in the village of Kakhadi. But this field is not tilled nor is the
village inhabited. Matters being so that royal village of ours which is
now here on the limit of the town, from that field we give to the
mendicant ascetics of Tirahnu one hundred Nivartanas of land and to
that field we grant immunity not to be entered (by royal officers) not
to be touched (by any of them) net to be dug for salt, not to be inter-