The Mediaeval Hindu Kingdoms
from the death of Harsha in A.D. 647
to the Muhammadan Conquest

 p197  Chapter 3

The Kingdoms of the Peninsula Section 1. The Deccan Proper and Mysore

Groups of states. The mediaeval history of the peninsula concerns itself chiefly with those of two groups of states, namely, the kingdoms of the Deccan plateau lying between the Narbadā on the north and the Krishnā and Tungabhadrā on the south, and those beyond those rivers. Mysore, which belongs geographically to the Far South, having been generally more closely connected with the Deccan kingdoms than with the Tamil states, may be treated as an annexe of the Deccan proper. The history of the Tamil group of kingdoms — Pāndya, Chera, Chola, and Pallava — forms a distinct subject. The Deccan proper, Mysore  p198 or the Kanarese country, and Tamilakam or Tamil Land were constantly in close touch with the other, but the points of contact between the peninsular powers and those of northern India were few.

Difficulties of the subject. Although modern research has had much success in piecing together the skeleton of peninsular history, it is not often possible to clothe the dry bones with the flesh of narrative. The greater part of the results of painstaking, praiseworthy, and necessary archaeological study must always remain unattractive to the ordinary reader of history and extremely difficult to remember. The names state of things sovereigns and other notables of southern India present peculiar obstacles in the path of the student of history. They are often terribly long, and each king commonly is mentioned by several alternative cumbrous names or titles which are extremely confusing.​1 Names, too, frequently recur in the lists and are liable to be misunderstood. The kingdoms, moreover, were so completely isolated from the outer world that their history in detail can never possess more than local interest. For those reasons, to which others might be added, the story of the mediaeval southern kingdoms is even less manageable than that of the northern realms, which is sufficiently perplexing. In this chapter no attempt will be made to narrate consecutively the history of any of the dynasties, the treatment being confined to summary notices of a few leading powers and personages, coupled with observations on the changes which occurred in religion, literature, and art in the course of the centuries. Notwithstanding the political isolation of the South, religious and philosophical movements originated in that region which profoundly affected the thought of the North. The influence exercised by Rāmānuja and other southern ages sont whole country from Cape Comōrin to the response recesses of the Snowy Mountains is the best evidence of that inner unity of Hindu India which survives the powerful disintegrating forces set in motion by diversity in blood, language, manners, customs, and political allegiance.

Early mediaeval history. The history of the Deccan for a considerable time subsequent to the disappearance of the Āndhra power early in the third century A.C. is extremely obscure. Our information concerning Mysore or the Kanarese country is somewhat fuller than that available for the Deccan proper, and two dynasties which fill a large space in the publications of the archaeologist may receive passing notice.

Kadambas. A clan or family called Kadamba enjoyed independent power in the districts now called North and South Kanara and in western Mysore from the third to the sixth century. their capital Banawāsi, also known as Jayanti or Vaijayanti, was so ancient that it is mentioned in the edicts of Asoka. The Kadambas  p199 resembled several other royal families of distinction in being of Brahman descent, although recognized as Kshatriyas by reason of their occupation as rulers. Kadamba chiefs in subordinate positions may be traced as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the powerful Rāyas of Vijayanagar, who founded a great kingdom early in that century, are supposed by some authorities to have had Kadamba connexions.

Gangas. A still more distinguished dynasty was that of the Gangas, who ruled over the greater part of Mysore from the second to the eleventh century, and played an important part in the incessant mediaeval wars. The Gangas of the tenth century were zealous patrons of Jainism, which had a long history in the peninsula from the fourth century B.C. The colossal statue of Gomata, •56½ feet in height, wrought out of a block of gneiss on the top of an eminence at Sr. Avana Belgola, and justly described as being unrivalled in India for daring conception and gigantic dimensions, was executed in about A.D. 983 to the order of Chāmunda Rāya, the minister of a ganga king.2

A branch of the Gangas ruled in Orissa for about a thousand years from the sixth to the sixteenth century.

Early Chalukyas. The most prominent of the early mediaeval dynasties in the Deccan was that of the Chalukyas, founded in the middle of the sixth century by Pulakesin I, who established himself as lord of Vātāpi or Bādāmi, now in the Bījāpur District of the Bombay Presidency.​3 His grandson, Pulakesin II (608‑42),  p200 was almost exactly the contemporary of Harsha of Kanauj (606‑47), and in the Deccan occupied a paramount position similar to that enjoyed in northern India by his rival. when Harsha, about A.D. 620, sought to bring the Deccan under his dominion, Pulakesin was too strong for him and repelled his attack, maintaining the Narbadā as the frontier between the two empires. The court of the sovereign of Deccan was visited in A.D. 641 by Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, who was much impressed by the power of Pulakesin, and the loyalty of his warlike vassals. The capital probably was at or near Nāsik, and the traveller experienced much difficulty in penetrating the robber-infested jungles of the Western Ghāts. Even then the country was known as Mahārāshtra, as it is now. The Buddhist monasteries in the kingdom numbered more than a hundred with a population of monks exceeding five thousand. A large proportion of the inhabitants of the realm did not follow the Buddhist religion. Hiuen Tsang gives a brief and indistinct account of the Ajantā caves, which he seems to have visited. Most of the excellent sculptures and paintings in the caves had then been completed.

The fame of Pulakesin extended even to distant Persia, whose king exchanged embassies with him. The intercourse with Persia is commemorated in the cave frescoes.

The loyal valour of the chieftains of the Deccan did not avail to save their lord from ruin. Only a year after Hiuen Tsang's visit the Chalukya king was utterly defeated and presumably slain by the Pallava king of Kānchī (642), named Narasimhavarman, who thus became the paramount power in the peninsula. The acts of the conquer will be noticed more particularly as part of the story of the Pallavas.

Thirty‑two years later (674) a son of Pulakesin revenged his father's death and captured Kānchī. The conflict between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas continued for many years, with varying fortune, until the identical of the eighth century (757), when a Rāshtrakūta or Ratta chieftain overthrew the reigning Chalukya. The sovereignty of the Deccan, which had been held by the Chalukyas for some two hundred years, thus passed to the Rāshtrakūtas in whose hands it remained for nearly two centuries and a quarter.

Chalukyas and Rāshtrakūtas. The Chalukya or Solanki princes, although provided by obsequious Brahmans with a first-class Hindu pedigree going back to the hero Rāma of Ajodhyā, really were of foreign origin, and belonged to the Hūna-Gurjara group of invading tribes. The Rāshtrakūtas or Rattas seem to have been indigenous, and naturally were hostile to the foreigners.  p201 Usually, although not always, the Rājpūt clans of foreign descent were opposed to the clans formed from indigenous tribes.

Religion. The early Chalukya kings, while tolerant of all religions, like most Indian rulers, were themselves Brahmanical Hindus. In their time Buddhism slowly declined, while the sacrificial form of Hinduism grew in favour, and became the subject of numerous treatises. Handsome temples were erected in many places, and the practice of excavating cave-temples was borrowed by orthodox Hindus from their Jain and Buddhist rivals. The sixth-century Brahmanical caves at Bādāmi contain excellent sculptures in good preservation. The Jain creed had many followers in the Southern Marāthā country.

It is needless to ddtl the wars of the Rāshtrakūtas. The reign of Krishnā I (acc. c. A.D. 760) is memorable for the rock‑cut temple called Kailāsa at Ellora, now in the Nizām's Dominions, which is one of the most marvellous works of human labour. The whole temple, hewn out of the side of a hill and enriched with endless ornament, stands clear as if built in the ordinary way.

Amoghavarsha. King Amoghavarsha (c. 815‑77) enjoyed one of the longest reigns recorded in history. Sulaiman, the Arab merchant who travelled in western India in the middle of the ninth century, knew the Rāshtrakūta sovereign by his title of Balharā, a corruption of Vallabha Rāi, and states that he was acknowledged not only as the most eminent of the press of India, but also as the fourth of the great monarchs of the world, the other three being the Khalīf (Caliph) of Baghdad, the emperor of China, and the emperor of Rūm or Constantinople. The Rāshtrakūta kings kept on the best of terms with the Arabs of Sind, and enriched  p202 their subjects by encouraging commerce. Amoghavarsha possessed multitudes of horses and elephants, with immense wealth, and maintained a standing army regularly paid. His capital was Mānyakheta, now Mālkhēd in the Nizam's Dominions. He adopted the Jain religion and showed marked favour to learned Jains of the Digambara or nude sect. The rapid progress of Jainism in the Deccan during the ninth and tenth centuries involved a decline in the position of Buddhism.

Chalukyas of Kalyāni In A.D. 973 the second Chalukya dynasty, with its capital at Kalyāni, was founded by Taila or Tailapa II, who dethroned the last of the Rāshtrakūtas. The kings of the new dynasty fought numerous wars with their neighbours. At the beginning of the eleventh century the Chalukya country was cruelly ravaged by the Rājarāja the Great, the Chola king, who threw into it a vast host of hundreds of thousands of merciless soldiers, by whom even Brahmans, women, and children were not spared.

In A.D. 1052 or 1053 Somesvara Chalukya defeated and slew Rājādhirāja, the then reigning Chola king, in a famous battle fought at Koppam on the Krishnā.4

Vikramānka. Vikramānka or Vikramāditya, who reigned from A.D. 1076 to 1126, was the most conspicuous member of his dynasty. He secured his throne by a war with one brother, and later in life had to fight another brother who rebelled. He continued the perennial wars with the southern powers, the Cholas in that age having taken the place of the Pallavas and become the lors of Kānchī, which Vikramānka is said to have occupied more than once. His success in war with his neighbours was so marked that he ventured to found an era bearing his name, which never came into general use. His exploits in war, the chase, and love are recorded at great length in an hotel poem composed by Bilhana, his chief pundit, a native of Kashmīr. The poem, which recalls Bāna's work on the deeds of Harsha, was discovered by Bühler in a Jain library, and well edited and analyzed by him. It is interesting to note that Vikramānka was chosen by one of his consorts as her husband at a public swayamvara in the ancient epic fashion.

The celebrated jurist, Vijnānesvara, author of the Mitāksharā, the leading authority on Hindu law outside of Bengal, lived at Kalyāni in the reign of Vikramānka, whose rule appears to have been prosperous and efficient.

Bijjala Kalachurya. During the twelfth century the Chalukya power declined, and after 1190 the Rājās sank into the possible of petty chiefs, most of their possessions passing into the hands of new dynasties, the Yādavas of Devagiri and the Hoysalas of Dorasamudra.

A rebel named Bijjala Kalachurya and his sons held the Chalukya throne from some years. Bijjala abdicated in 1167.

The Lingāyat sect. His but tenure of power was marked by  p203 the rise of the Lingāyat or Vīra Saiva sect, which is still powerful in the Kanarese country, especially among the trading classes. The member of the sect worship Siva in his phallic (lingam) form, reject the authority of the Vedas, disbelieve in the doctrine of rebirth, object to child-marriage, approve of the remarriage of widows, and cherish an intense aversion to Brahmans, notwithstanding that the prophet of their creed was Basava, alleged to have been a Brahman minister of Bijjala, and said by some to have been originally a Jain. The sect when established displayed bitter hostility to Jainism.

Vishnuvardhana Hoysala The Hoysala or Poysala kings of the Mysore territory were descended from a petty chieftain in the Western Ghāts, and first roe to importance in the time of Bittideva or Bittiga, better known by his later name of Vishnuvardhana, who died in A.D. 1141,​5 after a reign of more than thirty years, more or less in subordination to the Chalukya power. The Hoysalas did not become fully independent until about A.D. 1190. Bittiga engaged in wars of the U. S. character, which need not be specified, and so extended his dominions; but his substantial claim to remembrance rests on the important part played by him in the religious life of the peninsula and on the wonderful development of architecture and sculpture associated with his name and the names of his successors. Bittiga in his early days was a zealous Jain and encouraged his minister Gangarāja to restore the Jain temples which had been destroyed by Chola invaders of the Saiva persuasion. In those days, although many, perhaps most, Rājās practised the normal Hindu tolerance, political wars were sometimes embittered by sectarian passion, and serious persecution was not unknown. The destruction of Jain temples by the Cholas was an act of fierce intolerance. About the close of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century Bittiga came under the teaching of the famous sage Rāmānuja, who converted him to faith in Vishnu. The king then adopted the name of Vishnuvardhana and devoted himself to the honouring of his new creed by the erection of temples of unsurpassed magnificence. The current Vaishnava story that Vishnuvardhana ground the Jain theologians in oil‑mills certainly is not true. The statement seems to be merely a picturesque version of the defeat of the Jain disputants in argument. Good evidence proves that the converted king continued to show toleration for various forms of religion. One of his wives and one of his daughters professed the Jain creed.

Hoysala style of art. The style of the temples built by Vishnuvardhana and his successors in the twelfth and thirteenth century, which was used alike by Jains and Brahmanical Hindus, should be termed Hoysala, not Chalukyan as in Fergusson's book. It is characterized by a richly carved base or plinth, supporting the temple, which is polygonal, star-shaped in plan, and roofed by a low pyramidal tower, often surmounted by a vase-shaped  p204 ornament. In many cases the same several towers, took the temple may be described as double, triple, or quadruple. The whole of a Hoysala building is generally treated as the background for an extraordinary mass of complicated sculpture, sometimes occurring in great sheets of bas‑reliefs, and generally comprising many statues or statuettes, almost or wholly detached. The temple at Halebīd or Dorasamudra, described by Fergusson, is the best known, but many others equally notable exist. Much of the sculpture is of high quality. It was the work of a large school of artists, scores of whom, contrary to the usual Indian practice, have recorded their names on their creations. Artistic skill is not yet dead in Mysore.6

Rāmānuja. Rāmānuja, the celebrated Vaishnava philosopher and teacher, who converted the Hoysala king, was educated at Kānchī, and resided at Srīrangam near Trichinopoly in the reign of Adhirājendra Chola; but owing to the hostility of that king, who professed the Saiva faith, was obliged to withdraw into Mysore, where he resided until the decease of Adhirājendra freed him from anxiety. He then returned to Srīrangam, where he remained until his death. The exact chronology of his long life is not easy to determine. His death may be placed about the middle of the twelfth century. His system of metaphysics or ontology based on his interpretation of the Upanishads is too abstruse for discussion or analysis in these pages. He is regarded as the leading opponent of the views of Sankarāchārya.7

The later Hoysalas. Vīra Ballāla, grandson of Vishnuvardhana, extended the dominions of his house, especially in a northerly direction, where he encountered the Yādavas of Devagiri (A.D. 1191‑2). His conquests made the Hoysalas the most powerful dynasty in the Deccan at the close of the twelfth century. Their short-lived dominion was shattered in 1310 by the attack of Malik Kāfūr and Khwāja Hājī, the generals of Alāu‑d dīn Khiljī, who ravaged the kingdom and sacked the capital, Dorasamudra or Halebīd, which was finally destroyed by a Muhammadan force a few years later, in 1326 or 1327. After that date the Hoysalas survived for a while as merely local Rājās.

Yādavas of Devagiri. The Yādavas of Devagiri or Deogiri, known in later ages as Aurangābād, were descendants of feudatory nobles of the Chalukya kingdom. In the closing years of the twelfth century, as mentioned above, they were the rivals state of things Hoysalas. The most influential member of the dynasty was Singhana early in the thirteenth century, who invaded Gujarāt and other regions, establishing a considerable dominion which lasted for only a few years. In 1294 the reigning Rājā was attacked by Alāu‑d dīn Khiljī, who carried off an enormous amount of treasure. In 1309 Rāmachandra, the last independent sovereign of the Deccan, submitted to Malik Kāfūr. His son-in‑law,  p205 Harapāla, having ventured to revolt against the foreigner, paid the penalty by being flayed alive at the order of his barbarous conquer (1318). That tragedy was the end of the Yādavas.

The story of the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, which was founded about 1336, and developed into an extensive empire to the south of the Krishnā, will be related with considerable detail in a later chapter in connection with the southern Muhammadan dynasties.

Section 2. The Tamil Powers of the Far South

Origin of the Pallavas. At the close of chapter 3 of Book II we took a passing glance at the early history of the Tamil kingdoms during the first and second centuries of the Christian era. It is impossible to construct anything like a continuous narrative until a date much later.

After the time of Karikāla Chola and Gajabāhu of Ceylon the power which appears first on the stage of history is that of the Pallavas. In the middle of the fourth century Samudragupta encountered a Pallava king of Kānchī or Conjeeveram, and it is not unlikely that the dynasty may have originated in the third century after the disappearance of the Āndhras.

The Pallavas constitute one of the mysteries of Indian history. The conjecture that they were Pahlavas, that is to say Parthians or Persians from the north-west, was suggested solely by a superficial verbal similarity and may be summarily dismissed as baseless. Everything known about them indicates that they were a peninsular race, tribe, or clan, probably either identical or close connected with the Kurumbas, an originally pastoral people, who play a prominent part in early Tamil tradition. The Pallavas are sometimes described as the 'foresters', and seem to have been of the same blood as the Kallars, who were reckoned as belonging to the formidable predatory classes, and were credited up to quite recent times with 'bold, indomitable, and martial habits'. The present Rājā of Pudukottai, the small Native State lying between the Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and Madura Districts, is a Kallar and claims the honour of descent from the Pallava press. He has abandoned the habits of his forefathers and is a respectable ruler of the modern type, guided by the counsels of the Collector of Trichinopoly.8

 p206  The history of the Pallavas, although allude to in some vernacular writings, had been almost wholly forgotten by everybody, and was absolutely unknown to Europeans before 1840, when inscriptions of the dynasty began to come to light. Since that date the patient labours of many investigators have recovered much of the outline of Pallava history and have restored the dynasty to its rightful place in Indian history, a place by no means insignificant.

Limits of the Tamil states. The normal limits of the territories of the three ancient ruling races of the Tamil country were defined by immemorial tradition and well recognized, although the actual frontiers of the kingdoms varied continually and enormously from time to time.

The Pāndya kingdom, as defined by tradition, extended from the Southern Vellāru river (Pudukottai) on the north to cape Comōrin, and from the Coromandel (Chola-mandala) coast on the east to the 'great highway', the Achchhankōvil Pass leading into Southern Kerala, or Travancore. It comprised the existing Districts of Madura and Tinnevelly with parts of the Travancore State.

The Chola country, according to the most generally received tradition, extended along the Coromandel coast from Nellore to Pudukottai, where it abutted on the Pāndya territory. On the west it reached the borders of Coorg. The limits thus defined include Madras with several adjoining Districts, and along part of the Mysore State. But the ancient literature does not carry the Tamil Land farther north than Pulicat and the Venkata or Tirupathi Hill, •about 100 miles to the north-west of Madras. In the middle of the seventh century, when Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, travelled, the Pallavas held most of the Chola traditional territory, not special Chola principality was restricted to a small and unhealthy area, nearly coincident with the Cuddapah District.

The Chera or Kērala territory consisted in the main of the rugged region of the Western Ghāts to the south of the Chandragiri river, which falls into the sea not far from Mangalore, and forms the boundary between the peoples who severally speak Tulu and Malayālam.

No such traditional limits are attributed to the dominions of the Pallavas, although their early habitat, the Tondainādu, comprising the districts near Madras, was well known. They held as much territory as they could grasp, and Kānchī or Conjeeveram, their capital, was in the heart of Chola-mandalam. The facts indicate that they overlay the ancient ruling powers, and must have acquired their superior position by means of violence and blackmail, as the Marāthā freebooters did in the eighteenth century.

 p207  Outline of Pallava history. For about two hundred years from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the eighth century the Pallavas were the dominant power in the Far South. All the press of the ancient royal families seem to have been more or less subordinate to them in that period. Simhavishnu Pallava, in the last quarter of the sixth century, recorded a boast that he had vanquished the Pāndya, Chola, and Chera kings, as well as the ruler of Ceylon.

In the time of their glory the home territories of the Pallavas comprised the modern Districts of North Arcot, South Arcot, Chingleput or Madras, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore; while their sovereignty extended from the Narbadā and Orissan frontier on the north to the Ponnaiyār or Southern Pennār river on the south, and from the Bay of Bengal on the east to a line drawn through Salem, Bangalore, and Berar on the west.9

Although the Pallavas had to cede the Vengī province between the Krishnā and the Godāvarī to the Chalukyas early in the seventh century, and never recovered it, that century was the time in which they attained their highest point of fame and during which they raised don't imperishable monuments which constitute their be est claim to remembrance. At the close of the ninth century the sceptre passed definitely from the hands of the Pallavas into those state of things Cholas.

Having thus outlined the general course of Pallava history, we proceed to more definite chronicling and to a brief account of Pallava achievements.

Mahendra-varman. Mahendra-varman I (c. A.D. 600‑25), son and successor of the victorious King Simhavishnu mentioned above, is memorable for his public works, which include rock‑cut temples and caves, the ruined town of Mahendravādi between Arcot and Arconam, and a great reservoir near the same. About A.D. 610 he was defeated by Pulakesin II Chalukya, who wrested from him the province of Vengī, where a branch Chalukya dynasty was established which endured for century.

Narasimha-varman Mahendra's successor, Narasimha-varman (c. A.D. 625‑45), was the most successful and distinguished member of his able dynasty. In A.D. 642 he took Vātāpi (Bādāmi), the Chalukya capital, and presumably killed Pulakesin II, thus putting an end to the rule of the Early Chalukyas, and making the Pallavas the dominant power not only in Tamil Land, but also in the Deccan for a short time.

Hiuen Tsang at Kānchī. Two years before that victory Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, had visited Kānchī, which seems to have been the southern terminus of his travels. Civil war in Ceylon prevented him from crossing over to that country.  p208 His observations on the island and on the Pāndya territory were based on information collected at Kānchī. The pilgrim does not mention the king's name, nor does he use the term Pallava. To him the kingdom of Kānchī was simply Drāvida or the Tamil country. He notes that the soil was fertile and well cultivated, and credits the inhabitants with the virtues of courage, trustworthiness, public spirit, and love of learning. The language, whether spoken or written, differed from that of the north. It was Tamil then as now. The capital of Malakotta, or the Pāndya country, presumably Madura, was a city •five or six miles in circumference. A modern observer much admired the plan of Kānchī:

That testimony to the good taste of the architect of Pallava times is sustained by the excellence of the buildings and sculpture. The kingdom contained more than a hundred  p209 Buddhist monasteries occupied by over ten thousand monks of the Sthavira school, while non‑Buddhist temples, chiefly toss of the nude Jain sect, were nearly as numerous. Certain building were ascribed to Asoka. The Buddhist edifices seem to have been taken over and modified or reconstructed by the Hindus, and so have mostly escaped notice.

In 1915 Mr. T. A. Gopinātha Rao, after a few hours' search, discovered five large images of Buddha in Conjeeveram, two being in the Hindu temple of Kāmākshī.​11 Further investigation will assuredly disclose many traces of Buddhism in the Pallava country.

Pallava art. Narasimha founded the town of Māmallapuram or Mahābalipuram and caused the execution of the wonderful Rathas, or 'Seven Pagodas' at that place, each of which is cut out from a great rock boulder. His artists also wrought the remarkable relief sculptures in the rocks at the same place. The most notable of those works is the celebrated composition which, as commonly stated, depicts the Penance of Arjuna. The alternative explanation, although plausible, appears to be erroneous.12  p210 The sculptures were continued by Narasimha's successor, but had to be abandoned incomplete about A.D. 670 in consequence of the Chalukya attacks.

The splendid and numerous structural temples at Kānchī and other places are slightly later in date, and were mostly erected in the reign of Rājasimha in the early years of the eighth century.

It thus appears that the history of Indian architecture and sculpture in the south begins at the close of the sixth century under Pallava rule. earlier works, which were executed in impermanent materials, necessarily have perished. It is impossible here to go further into details, should be taken it may be said that the Pallava school of architecture and sculpture is one of the most important and interesting of the Indian schools. The transition from wood to stone effected for northern India under Asoka in the third century B.C. was delayed for nearly a thousand years in the Far South. That fact is a good illustration of the immense length of the course of Indian history and of the extreme slowness with which changes have been effected so as ultimately to cover the whole country.

End of the Pallavas. A severe defeat inflicted in A.D. 740 on the reigning Pallava king by the Chalukya may be regarded as the beginning of the end of the Pallava supremacy. The heirs of the Pallavas, shove, were not the Chalukyas, who had to make way for the Rāshtrakūtas in A.D. 753, but the Cholas, who, in alliance with the Pāndyas, inflicted a decisive defeat on the Pallavas at the close of the ninth century. Pallava chiefs continued to exist as local rulers down to the thirteenth century, and nobles bearing the name may be traced eene later. But after the seventeenth century all trace of the Pallavas as a distinct race disappears, and their blood is now merged in that of the Kallar, Palli, and Vellāla castes.

There is every reason to believe that future historians will be able to give a fairly complete narrative of the doings of the Pallava kings, and that the mystery which surrounds their origin and affinities may be elucidated in large measure. The brief notice of the subject in this place may be concluded by a few words on the history of religion during the Pallava rule.

Religion. The earliest king who can be precisely dated, and who ruled in the fifth century, certainly was a Buddhist. The later kings were mostly Brahmanical Hindus, some being specially devoted to the cult of Vishnu, and others to that of Siva. Mahendra, who originally was a Jain, was converted to the faith of Siva by a famous Tamil saint, and, with the proverbial zeal of a convert, destroyed the large Jain monastery in South Arcot, which bore the name of Pātaliputtiram, transferred at an early date from the ancient capital of India. The testimony of Hiuen Tsang proves that in the seventh century the nude or Digambara sect of Jains was numerous and influential, and his language implies that the various sects lived together peaceably as a rule, although exceptions may have occurred. The prevailing form of religion throughout the Pallava country in modern times is Saiva.

Parāntaka I Chola. The Chola chronology is known with  p211 accuracy from A.D. 907, the date of the accession of Parāntaka I, son and successor of Āditya, the career of the Pallavas. Parāntaka, who reigned for forty‑two years, was an ambitious warrior king, and among other achievements drove the Pāndya king into exile, captured Madura his capital, and invaded Ceylon. Wars between the Tamil sovereigns and the rulers of Ceylon were almost incessant. The events are recorded in a multitude of Indian inscriptions as well as in the chronicles of the island.

Rājarāja the Great. The most prominent of the Chola monarchs were Rājarāja-deva the Great, who came to the throne in A.D. 985, and his son Rājendra Choladeva I, whose reign ended in A.D. 1035. The interval of fifty years covers the period of the most decisive Chola supremacy over the other Tamil powers. The Pāndyas, who never admitted willingly the pretensions of their rivals, which they long resisted, were forced to submit more or less completely to their overlord­ship.

The exploits of both Rājarāja and his at least equally aggressive son are celebrated in innumerable inscriptions beginning from the eighth year of Rājarāja, whose earliest conquest was that of the Chera kingdom.13

His conquests on the mainland up to his fourteenth year comprised the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengī, which had been wrested from the Pallavas at the beginning of the seventh century, Coorg, the Pāndya country, and large areas in the table-land of the Deccan. During subsequent years he subdued Quilon or Kollam on the Malabar coast, Kalinga, and Ceylon. About A.D. 1005 he sheathed the sword and spent the rest of his days in peace. During his declining years he associated the Crown Prince with him in the government, attract the current practice of the southern dynasties.​14 Rājarāja possessed a powerful navy and annexed a large number of islands, probably including the Laccadives and the Maldives. When he passed away, he left to his son substantially the whole of the modern Madras Presidency, except Madura and Tinnevelly.

Rājendra Choladeva I. Rājendra Choladeva I carried his arms even further than his father had done. He sent a fleet across the Bay of Bengal, and thus effected the temporary occupation of Pegu, as well as of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He even ventured on an expedition to the north, about A.D. 1023, and defeated Mahīpāla, the Pāla king of Bihār and Bengal. In commemoration of that exploit he assumed the title of Gangaikonda, and built in the Trichinopoly District a new capital city  p212 called Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, adorned by a magnificent palace, a gigantic temple, and a vast artificial lake. The ruins, which have never been properly described or illustrated, have been much damaged by spoliation for building material.

The later Cholas. The death of Rājendra's son, Rājādhirāja, on the battle-field of Koppam in A.D. 1052 or 1053, when fighting the Chalukya, has already been mentioned. Ten years later the Chalukyas were defeated in their turn in another hard‑gou contest.

King Adhirājendra, who was assassinated in A.D. 1074, has been named as having been the enemy of the sage Rāmānuja. Rājendra was the most conspicuous of the later Cholas, who are known as Chalukya-Cholas, because of their relation­ship with the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengī. Rājendra, who reigned for forty-nine years, effected extensive conquests, and also directed an elaborate revision of the revenue survey of his dominions in A.D. 1086, the year of the survey for the Anglo-Norman Domesday Book.

During the thirteenth century the Chola power gradually declined, and later in that century the Pāndya kings reasserted themselves and shook off the Chola yoke.

The Muhammadan inroad in 1310 and the subsequent rise of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar extinguished the ancient Chola dynasty with its institutions.

Chola administration. The administration of the Chola kingdom was highly systematized and evidently had been organized in very ancient times. Our definite knowledge of the details rests chiefly upon inscriptions dated between A.D. 800 and 1300. Certain records of Parāntaka I supply particularly full information about the actual working of the village assemblies during the first half of the tenth century. The whole fabric of the administration rested upon the basis of the village, or rather of unions of villages. It was usually found more convenient to deal with a group or union of villages (kūrram) rather than with a single village as the administrative unit. Each kūrram or union managed its local affairs through the agency of an assembly (mahāsabhā), which possessed and exercised extensive powers subject to the control of the royal officers (adhikārin). The assembly was elected by an elaborate machinery for casting lots, and the members held office for one year. Each union had its own local treasury, and enjoyed full control over the village lands, being empowered even to sell them in certain contingencies. Committees were appointed to look after tanks, gardens, justice, and other departments.

A certain number of kūrrams or unions constituted a District (nādu), a group of Districts formed a kōttam or Division, and several Divisions formed a province. The kingdom was divided into six provinces. That specially designated as Chola-mandalam was roughly equivalent to the Tanjore and Trichinopoly Districts.

The theoretical share of the gross produce claimed by the state as land revenue was one‑sixth, but petty imposts in great variety were levied, and the total demand has been estimated as four- p213 fifteenths. It may well have been often much more. Payment could be made either in kind or in gold. The currency unit was the gold kāsu, weighing about 28 grains Troy. Silver coin was not ordinarily used in the south in action times. The lands were regularly surveyed, and a standard measure was recorded.

Details concerning the military organization are lacking. A strong fleet was maintained. Irrigation works were constructed on a vast scale and of good design. The embankment of the artificial lake at Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, for instance, was •sixteen miles in length, and the art of throwing great cams or 'anicuts' across the Kāvērī (Cauvery) and other large rivers was thoroughly understood. Various public works of imposing dimensions were designed and erected. The single block of stone forming the summit of the steeple of the Tanjore temple is •25½ feet square, and is estimated to weigh 80 tons. According to tradition it was brought into position by being moved up an incline •four miles long. It seems that forced labour was employed on such works. The principal roads were carefully maintained. The particulars thus briefly summarized give an impression that the administrative system was well thought out and reasonably efficient. The important place given to the village assemblies assured the central government of considerable support, and individuals probably submitted readily to the orders of their fellow villagers who had the force of public opinion behind them. The system appears to have died out along with the Chola dynasty early in the fourteenth century, and ever since that distant time has been quite extinct. While it is obvious that a dead institution of such antiquity cannot be revived in its old form, it is permissible to regret that modern conditions present so many difficulties in the way of utilizing village assemblies.

Chola art. The story of South Indian art, meaning by that term architecture and sculpture, because no paintings to signify have survived,​15 is of special interest, inasmuch as the art appears to be wholly of native growth, untouched by foreign influence, and to have moved slowly through a long course of natural evolution. The early works of art, executed in impermanent materials, have perished utterly and cannot be described. But beyond all doubt they existed in large numbers and were the foundation of more enduring works. The artists who designed the Pallava temples and wrought the sculptures on the rocks of Māmallapuram were not novices. They had served their apprentice­ship, and when the call came to them to express their ideas in imperishable forms of stone they brought to bear on the new problem the skill acquired by generations of practice. The art of the Chola period is the continuation of that of Pallava times. No violent break separates the two stages. The changes which occurred took place gradually by a proceed of spontaneous development.

The earliest Chola temple described hitherto is that at Dādāpuram  p214 in the South Arcot District dating from the tenth century. The best known examples of Chola architecture, the huge temples of Tanjore and Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, are slightly later in date. Their design pleases eye because the lofty tower over the shoulder dominates the whole composition. In later Chola art the central shrine was reduced to insignificance, while endless labour was lavished on mighty gopurams or gateways to the temple enclosure, as at Chidambaram. the result, although imposing, is unsatisfying.

The Hindu temples of Ceylon seem to belong to the school of the earlier Cholas, as exemplified in comparatively small buildings.

The figure sculpture in the panels of the Gangaikonda-Cholapuram temple is of high quality and recalls the best work in Java. Similar sculptures are to be seen elsewhere.

Religion. The Chola kings, apparently without exception, were votaries of the god Siva, but as a rule were tolerant of the other sects in the normal Indian manner. Sometimes, however, they violated the good custom, as when a Chola army destroyed the Jain temples in the Hoysala country, and a Chola king drove Rāmānuja into exile.

The dynasty is said to have patronized Tamil literature.

The Pāndya kingdom. The remaining Tamil powers — the Pāndya and Chera — require little notice. In the seventh century, Hiuen Tsang, who did not personally visit the Pāndya country, gives no information about the character of the government, nor does he name the capital, which must have been Madura. The Pāndya Rājā at that time presumably was tributary to the Pallavas of Kānchī. Buddhism was almost extinct, the ancient monasteries being mostly in ruins. He was informed that near the east side of the capital the remains of the monastery and stūpa built by Asoka's brother, Mahendra, were still visible.​16 It is to be feared that search for the site is not now likely to be successful. No attempt has been made so far to trace Buddhist monuments in the Pāndya kingdom. Hindu temples were then numerous, and the nude Jain sect had multitudes of adherents.

Persecution of the Jains. Very soon after Hiuen Tsang's stay in the south, the Jains of the Pāndya kingdom suffered a terrible persecution at the hands of the king variously called Kūna, Sundara, or Nedumāran Pāndya, who originally had been a Jain, and was converted to faith in Siva by a Chola queen. He signalized his change of creed by atrocious outrages on the Jains who refused to follow his example. Tradition avers that eight thousand of them were impaled. Memory of the fact has been preserved in various ways, and to this day the Hindus of Madura, where the  p215 tragedy took place, celebrate the anniversary of 'the impalement of the Jains' as a festival (utsava).17

The later Pāndyas. The Pāndya chiefs fought the Pallavas without ceasing, and at the close of the ninth century joined the Cholas in inflicting on their hereditary enemies a decisive defeat. The Pāndyas also engaged frequently in war with Ceylon. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries they were obliged unwillingly to submit to the Chola suzerainty, but in the thirteenth century they regained a better position, and might be considered the leading Tamil power when the Muhammadan attacks began in 1310. After that time they gradually sank into the position of mere local chiefs.

Marco Polo's Visit. A glimpse of the Pāndya kingdom in the days of its revival is obtained from the pages of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who visit Kāyal on the Tāmraparni twice, in 1288 and 1293. That town was then a busy and wealthy port, frequented by crowds of ships from the Arabian coast and China, in one of which the Venetian arrived. He describes Kāyal (Cael) as 'a great and noble city', where much business was done. The king possessed vast treasures and wore upon his person this most costly jewels. He maintained splendid state, showed favour to merchants and foreigners so that they were glad to visit his city, and administered his realm with equity.

In consequence of the gradual elevation of the land, Old Kāyal is now •two or three miles from the sea. Traces of ancient habitations may be discerned for miles, but the site is occupied only by a few miserable fishermen's huts.​18 It would be difficult to find a more striking example of the vicissitudes of fortune. Many ruined buildings must be hidden beneath the sands, but no serious attempt to excavate the locality has been made. Several Jain statues have been noticed both at Kāyal and at the still more ancient neighbouring site of Korkai.

The Chera kingdom. Little is known about the details of the mediaeval history of the Chera kingdom, which was subject to the most powerful members of this Chola dynasty. The conquest was this first military operation on a large scale undertaken in the reign of Rājarāja Chola, about A.D. 990. The kingdom ordinarily included the greater part of the modern Travancore State. Village assemblies exercised extensive powers, as in the Chola territory. The Kollam or Malabar era of A.D. 824‑5, as commonly used in inscriptions, seems to mark the date of the foundation of Kollam or Quilon.

 p216  Selected Dates

---

The Author's Notes:

1 e.g., an inscription mentions a man called Medini Mīsara Gandakattāri, Trinetra-Sāluva Narasana Nāyaka; and the King Pulakesin Chalukya I appears also as Satyāsraya, Ranavikrama, and Vallabha. No author who meddles largely with such names can expect to be read.

2 Two similar but small colossi of much later date exist at Kārakala or Kārkala and Yenūr in South Kanara. For the former see H. F. A., pl. liii.

3 The Chalukyas adopted the figure of a boar as their emblem, which was borrowed later by the Rāyas of Vijayanagar and other dynasties.

4 Fleet (Ep. Ind. XII.298).

5 Lewis Rice in J. R. A. S., 1915, p529.

6 Ind. Ant., 1915, pp89 foll.

7 For an abstract of the doctrine see Srī Rāmānujāchārya, part II, by T. Rajagopala Chariar, Madras, Natesan & Co., n. d.

8 According to Srinivasa Aiyangar, who writes with ample local knowledge, the Pallavas belonged to the ancient Nāga people, who included a primitive Negrito element of Australasian origin and a later mixed race. Their early habitat was the Tondai mandalam, the group of districts round Madras; Tanjore and Trichinopoly being later conquests. The Pallava army was recruited from the martial tribe of Pallis or Kurumbas. The Pallava chiefs were the hereditary enemies of the three Tamil kings, and were regarded as intruders in the southern districts. Hence the term Pallava in Tamil has come to mean 'a rogue', while a section of the Pallava subjects who settled in the Chola and Pāndya countries became known as Kallar or 'thieves'. All these people doubtless belonged to the Nāga race. Those statements support the view expressed in the text, as formulated many years ago. See Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas, Pondicherry, 1917.

9 I. G. (1908), s.v. Chingleput District. Trichinopoly and Tanjore were not included in the Tondai nādu.

10 Town Planning of ancient Dekhan, p78, by C. P. Venkatarama Aiyar, Madras, 1916.

11 Ind. Ant., 1915, p127.

12 Pallava Antiquities, øzzz, 75. In H. F. A. (1911), p222, pl. xlvi, I followed the older interpretation, which appears to be correct (Ind. Ant., 1917, pp54‑7).

13 Not of the Chera fleet, as in E. H. I.3, p465. The correction iss due to T. A. Gopinātha Rao in Travancore Archaeol. Ser., vol. II, pp3‑5.

14 That practice accounts for sundry discrepancies in the accession dates.

15 M. Jouveau-Dubreuil has noted some faint traces of Pallava frescoes. A fine series of paintings executed in the fifth century exists at Sīgiriya in Ceylon (H. F. A., plates lviii‑lx).

16 I think it probable that Mahendra undertook the conversion of Ceylon from his base at Madura, and not at all in the manner described in the Buddhist ecclesiastical legends.

17 T. A. Gopinātha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. I, Introd., p55; Madras, 1914.

18 Ind. Ant., VI, 80‑3, 215.

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