Some Contributions Of South India To Indian Culture

SOME CONTRIBUTIONS OF SOUTH INDIA
TO INDIAN CULTURE

FIRST EDITION 1928
SECOND EDITION 1942

PEINTID IN INDIA

PAINTED AND PtfBIrffiHED BY BH0PBNDBALAL BAMRBJBB AT THB
CALCUTTA UK1VEB9ITT PBB83, 49, HAZBA ROAD, BALLIOUHQB, CALCUTTA

1865B-Apri], 1943-*,

INSCRIBED

AS A MARK OF PERSONAL REGARD AND ESTEEM

TO

THE HON'BLE JUSTICE

SIR ASUTOSH MOOKERJEE, KT., C.S.I.,

SARASVATI, SASTRA-VACHASPATI, SAMBUDDHAGAMA-

CHAKRAVARTI,
VICE-CHANCELLOR, CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY,

PRESIDENT OF THE

COUNCIL OF POST-GRADUATE TEACHING,
CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY

CONTENTS

PAOB

PREFACE ... ... ... i x

ABBREVIATIONS ... ... xxxix

CHAPTER I
The Beginnings of South Indian History 1

CHAPTER n
Brahmanism in the Tamil Land ... 43

CHAPTER III

Connection with Ceylon, Generally one of
Hostility ... ... ... 68

CHAPTER IV
South India, the Seat of Orthodox Hinduism 102

CHAPTER V
The School of Bhakti ... ... m

CHAPTER VI

TheKural: A Characteristically Tamil Classic 122

CHAPTER VII
The Eise of the Pallavas ... ... 132

CHAPTER VIII
Early History of the Pallavas ... ... J46

CHAPTEK IX
History of the Early Pallavas ... 172

Viii CONTENTS

PAOI

CHAPTER X
The Pallavas and the Gangas ... ... 183

CHAPTER XI
Kanchi, the Centre of the Pallavas ... 203

CHAPTER XII
Saivism ... ... ... 212

CHAPTBR XIII
Literature of Saivism ... ... 236

CHAPTER XIV
Vlra Saivism ... ... ... 245

CHAPTER XV
Vaishnaviem in South India ... ... 261

CHAPTER XVI
Muhammadan Invasions ... ... 292

CHAPTER XVII

The Character and Significance of the
Vijayanagar Empire ... ... 298

CHAPTER XVIII

Greater India : Expansion of India beyond
the Seas ... ... ... 318

CHAPTER XIX

Administrative Evolution in South India . . . 391
INDEX ... ... ... 422

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

The following pages contain the substance of
the Readership Lectures that I originally intended
to deliver at the Calcutta University early in
1920, The honour of a Readership at the Univer-
sity was bestowed upon me, in distinguished
company, at the instance of the ever watchful
President of the Council of Post-Graduate Teach-
ing at the time, the Hon'ble Justice Sir Asutosh
Mookerjee, whose exertions in the cause of Indian
History and Culture are too well-known and
too well-founded to require any commendation
from me. Owing to official exigencies and ill-
health it was impossible that I could carry out
my engagement as originally intended, although
I was able later to discharge the responsibilities
involved in the honour by delivering a shorter
course of lectures on the same subject. Among
a certain number of subjects ' Some Contributions
of South India to Indian Culture * was selected
as likely to be more attractive to the Calcutta
University, and hence the effort in the following
pages to lay before the public some of the main
contributions to Indian culture which South India
could be credited with having made in the course
of bar history*

X PREFACE

Any estimate of the contributions made by
South India to Indian culture involves, as a
necessary preliminary, an elaborate study of the
history of India as a whole, in all its cultural
aspects. An attempt at such a study in a syste-
matic way has but recently been inaugurated in
the University of Calcutta by the institution of
a; Master's Degree in "Indian Culture" with
provision for teaching the subject as a part of
the scheme for post-graduate teaching at the
University. It is a happy sign of the times
that the need has been recognised in Calcutta; but
Calcutta will need the co-operation of the other
Indian Universities to study the subject in all
its vast and varied ramifications* South Indian
history and culture has a character of its own
notwithstanding the fact that the interaction of
cultural forces between the north and the south
is very much more full and frequent than has
hitherto been recognised. Despite this constant
and almost continuous influence, it is possible to
distinguish the special features in the course of
cultural development which are ascribable to
South Indian influence. An attempt is made
in. this work to describe a few of the main contri-
butions, and, for obvious reasons, the treatment
bfta to be historical in character.
J. The! first question* therefore, that attracts
^ is the .peculiar position the Brahman

has occupied in the South, so much so that, to

tftfiFACB Xi

an outside observer, South India presents to-day
Brahmanical orthodoxy almost in its Vaidik form
though not unmodified in essential particulars.
The position of the Brahman in South Indian
society has been very much to the fore latterly,
and a historical investigation of his position may
not be uninteresting. His position in the Indian
society of the age of the Brahmanas is clearly
indicated in a Satapatha Brahmana passage, an
extract from which is quoted, and that seems
to be the identical position which he occupied in
South India to which he emigrated from the
north. That position involved the double respon-
sibility of performing the elaborate ritualistic
sacrifices for the benefit of society, and the con-
servation and cultivation of learning that . it
involved as a necessary corollary. This conser-
vation and cultivation of learning implied its
propagation as well. From a careful investigation
of the subject, as far as the material accessible
to us enables us to do so, the Brahman has striven
to discharge these responsibilities to the best of
his ability and opportunities, setting up such a
high example in actual life as to invariably exert
influence in the direction of uplift which has
been felt throughout. The tendency has, always
been for those below him in the social organi-
sation to imitate him and come up to .his leyeL
It was a characteristic feature of the Brahmauical
organisation that the least developed

PREFACE

jn the vast and varied population of India bad a
recognised place in society moving upwards slowly,
it may be too slowly for enthusiastic social
reformers, but none the less surely in the direction
<0f rise. In the sphere of conservation of learning
through ages when the material agencies for its
preservation were so ill-developed and so easily
capable of destruction, the success he achieved is
nothing short of marvellous. It was not exactly
that he enjoyed the monopoly, but it was un-
doubtedly his influence that gave it the form,
and cast it in a mould, to enable its preservation
notwithstanding the destructive hand of time
itself, and other historical agencies which contri-
buted towards that end. In the sphere of propa-
gation of learning he may have fallen short of the
modern compulsory universal education, but his
achievements in the sphere, both in Sanskrit
and the Sanskritic and other vernaculars of the
country, were magnificent. One has only to
examine the names of eminent contributors to
the literature of Tamil to confirm this statement.
Tbe manuscript imperfections of to-day are largely
capable of rectification by the traditional banding
down of this teaming ; but this traditional handing
down is primarily responsible for the preservation
of much that must otherwise have been irrecover-
ably lost. It may be said with truth that the
Brahffianical organisation of society was mainly
responsible for this.

PREFACE Xlll

The transformation of the ritualistic Brahma-
nism into the much more widely acceptable
Hinduism of modern times is due to the increasing
infusion of the tbeistic element into the religious
system of the day. In this new development
South India played an important part. It
probably borrowed the elements of bhakti from
the rising schools of Vaisnavism and Saivism in
the north, and gave it a special realistic develop-
ment by infusing into it features characteristic
perhaps of the Tamil land and its literary develop-
ment, making thereby religious experience fall
in line with life itself. This development worked
itself to its full in the age of the Fallavas so that
about the end of the first millennium after Christ
the religion of bhakti got to be so associated with
South India that the reputation as a land of bhakti,
stuck to it ever afterwards. Along with this
notion o! bhakti, or devotion to a personal God,
runs another stream which is perhaps best des-
cribed as Tantr&m, worship offered by means of
mystic signs and formulae of various character t
The same influences seem responsible for the
transformation of Hinayanist Buddhisip into the
Mabayana. Even in this latter transformation
India south of the Vindhyas bore an important
part, but it does not appear to be the Tamil
country, or South India proper, which really
played the most important part. The honour of
it perhaps must be ascribed to a religion farther

north than the Tamil country the country of the
Andhras. Bbakti which transformed Brahma-
nism into Hinduism may therefore be regarded
as an important contribution of South India to
Indian culture, not in reference to its origin but
in regard to the important features of its further
development.

Another important contribution of South India
consists in the spread of Indian culture and the
expansion of Indian Commerce. In both of these
important departments South India played a
prominent part. South India is primarily respon-
sible for the spread of Hindu culture to the islands
of the East and the Indo-Chinese peninsula,
reaching even as far east as China. The outspread
of Southern Buddhistic culture into the islands
belongs to a later period of South Indian history.
In commercial enterprise, articles of trade from
South India were carried in great quantity to the
west. In this commerce the commodities of the
Eastern Archipelago formed a considerable part
of the exports. The import of the eastern commo-
dities into India seems to have been managed as
a thoroughly Indian business though tbeir trans-
portation across to the west might have been
in part, or even as a whole, in the hands of others*
The expansion towards the east seems to have
been in full and self-contained colonies of Hindus,
including Brahmans, as the Eoetei epigraphs and
the statement of Fa-hien together will indicate.

PREFACE XV

In overseas enterprise therefore, South Indifc,
comes in for, comparatively, perhaps the most
important share.

In administration, particularly in local ad-
ministration, which is a characteristic feature of
Indian administration generally, South India has
its own characteristics which appear to have
developed earlj and been carried to the fullest
fruition under the great Cholas AJX 850-1350.
The local part of it seems to have been developed
on the indigenous system such as it was, and,
even in respect to central administration. South
India shows characteristics which may justify
giving it a distinct character though the prevalent
general notions and admitted general principles
were the same both in the north and in the south.
This has been carried to such perfection that it
continued undisturbed down to the end of the
period of Vijayanagar Empire. Even after, much
of it has been carried down intact so that the
revenue and fiscal organisation of a considerable
part of the Madras Presidency under the East
India Company is derived from the system which
obtained at the commencement of the nineteenth
century, as a lineal descendant of the ancient Chola
administration* It was this continuity which
gave South India its distinct character, and made
a separate treatment necessary even in the now
famous Fifth Report which was submitted
to Parliament on the eve of the renewal of

Wli PBBFAGB

tile charter of the East India Company in
1813.

These are some of the main features of the '
contributions that South India made to Indian
civilisation and culture generally, and much more
could be said by way of details both in the
preservation of Indian religions and Indian learning
when they were subject to great . pressure an<F
unavoidable modifications by the impact of Islam
which came with the Muhammadan invasions/
The conservation of both was due, as was pointed
out, to the Empire of Vijayanagar, the supersession
of which empire by the Muhammadans being a
short parenthesis in the history of the general
development of religion and culture in South
India.

The whole of this investigation rests upon the
Chronology of Tamil literature and history, which
I have adopted as the result of along series of
researches by a band of South Indian scholars,
and my own. The main features of this, settitog
aside details which are not of much tncmeni, are
that that portion of Tamil literature, generally
called Sangam literature, is-of * pre-Pailava
character and as such referable to the eariy
centuries of the Christian ~ Era ; that the Jitera-*
ture, the typical representatives of whic^ we the
TSvaram and Tiruvoymoli o! the stint* of tlje
Saiyas and Vaishnavw r belongs to ^he age of He
Pailavas and, as a whole, id aasigittbJ*; to

PREFACE

period A.IK 300 to 900. Then follow the works
of the later writers who gave form and shape to
the teachings of these saints, and those marked
the third age beginning from very near the end
of the first millennium and going on to about
the end of the seventeenth century. There is not
much difference of opinion amon g scholars in
regard to the third of these periods. The main
lines of the second are also more or less agreed
upon though there is a certain amount of difference
of opinion in regard to details which however
do not affect the general position. In regard
to the first however there continues to be an
acute difference of opinion yet. Even in regard
to this the chronological difference will not affect
the general position except in the case of one
school of scholars who base their conclusions
upon Astronomical considerations and thus claim
for their investigations a finality which an exact
science dike mathematical astronomy would give
them a title te. It 'therefore becomes a matter
of sonae necessity that* the position should be
examined, hpwever imperfectly, so as not to lay
one-self ope$ to the charge pi neglect of an im-
portant line^f instigation bearing vitally upon
this <Juestio$, This astronomical
calted, j^lls into two divisions ;
oerns itself with the col^i^
jute found fti literature of an ast
and their investigation from the

^ XflU PBBFAOB

'astronomy with a view to arrive at a chronological
conclusion. The second is of a more general
character and has reference more or less to a
knowledge of the zodiac that the Hindus had
generally, and the use of week days in Indian
literature. The two are connected more or less
closely, but can, for the purpose of this investi-
gation, be treated separately.

The first of these questions has assumed great
prominence, as it naturally should, in the data
provided in a poem included in one of the ancient
collections, called Paripadal, generally regarded as
a Sang am collection. This has reference to an
eclipse of the moon of which the author gives
some details. These partake of the character of
fixing the position of the planets leading to the
casting of a horoscope of the occurrence of this
eclipse, thus making it possible for calculations
to be made as to the particular eclipse of the moon
to which this has reference. My esteemed friend,
Dewan Bahadur L. D. Swamikkannu Filial, in
bis valuable work on the Indian Ephemeris t
published by tha Government of Madras, has
investigated this question with sufficient elabora-
tion and has offered his conclusion that the actual
date of the eclipse is June 17, A.D. 684. If this
conclusion should be acceptable without question,
it will make a fundamental change in the angle
of vision in regard to the literary and cultural
development of South India, and therefore has

XU

to be examined with care. In this examination
I do not propose to go into the mathematical
part of his work for which I have none of the
qualifications that my friend has. Bat the data
upon which he bases his conclusions seem capable
of re-examination with a view to considering
whether the available data would justify his infer-
ence.

Poem 11 of the collection, Paripacjal, generally
described as a $angam collection, is a work by
the author Nallanduvanar, a iSangam celebrity,
by all known literary tradition. The object of
the poem is to celebrate the river Vaigai which
flows by Madura, and the poet chooses two annual
features of the river for special description. The
one is a description of the river when the monsoon
bursts on the Western Ghats and the river is in
full freshes when people go to it in large numbers
to take a bath in the fresh water. The other has
reference to the river in low water in the cold
weather when people, particularly unmarried
women folk,, go to bathe in it in the month of
Margali (Margafiirsha) A December-January, in cele-
bration of a bathing festival generally described
as Tai-Nir, the bath of Tai (the month, Pushy a).
The second does not concern us at present. The
first part of it is what actually does describe the
eclipse. In the first three lines the poet describes
that the starry heaven has a road falling into
three divisions beginning with Kfttika, &rdra t

Bharani standing respectively a* the commen-
tator explains, for Rishabha, Mithuna, and MS&ha.
This kind of division is described also in the
Tamil Nighantu Pingalandai. Then follows the
position of the planets. Sukra was in Risbabha,
Angftraka was in Mesba, Budha was in Mithuna,
Guru was in Mina, Sanaischara was in Makara,
when Bahu appeared and shut off the moon from
view. So far the statements of the poet are direct
and may be taken not to admit of any doubt.
The position of the Sun and the Moon, and of
Babu and Ketu are so far not indicated ; but
there is an expression after fixing the position
of Budba which merely states that at dawn
or break of day ' Krttika was on high/
This statement, the commentator takes to
mean that Krttika was at the zenith at
daybreak, and explains it as having been put
in there to indicate that the sun was in the
bouse of the zodiac, Simba or Leo, at daybreak.
The fixing of the position of the Sun in Leo
would naturally give us the position of the MOOT,
and since Bahu is described as being with the
Moen, Ketu will naturally occupy the house
opposite. Thus the poet would have supplied
the position of ail the planets in the zodiac/
Objection is taken to this interpretation of the
commentator, and the expression equivalent to
'OB high' is rendered somewhat more loosely so
aMjgindicatetbat the commentator was responsible

xxi

for giving it the interpretation to fix the posi-
tion of the Sun, thus releasing the author from
that responsibility. If the expression could be
interpreted as the Krttika being merely high up in
the heavens, not necessarily at or near the zenith,
the position of the Sun could be fixed elsewhere and
the position of the Moon, Rahu, and Ketu would
therefore be altered also.

Proceeding on these data and rejecting such
of the lunar eclipses as are necessarily to be
rejected as not satisfying these, there seem to
be two possible dates which satisfy the condi-
tions more or less. The first, according to
Mr. Swamikkannu Pillai, is the lunar eclipse on the
27th July, A.D. 17, and the other is that on the
17th June, A.D. 634. As against the first date
there are two objections : it necessitates, first of
all, the complete abandonment of the position of
Mercury (Bud ha) as given by the poet, and the
position of Venus (Sukra) is only approximate.
The second and perhaps a still more valid objection
is that the eclipse took place an hour after sunset,
whereas the poem requires an eclipse in the early
morning of the day. Rejecting this on these
grounds the other alternative is considered, and
that alternative falls short of the data in the poem
in that it makes the position of Saturn fall 130
short of Makara, the position ostensibly given to
the planet in the poem, and the eclipse is in the
month of ishada instead of Sravana

commentator takes it. To explain the first in-
accuracy, Mr. Swamikkannu Pillai has recourse to
finding the commentator wrong in his explanation
of the phrase describing the position of Saturn,
and giving a new expla nation suggested to him by
another Tamil scholar Mr. Manikka Nayagar.
The text has in regard to Saturn, 'villirkadai
Makaram meva - reaching Makaram adjacent to
the house of the bow (vtt). The first term
* villirku- breaks into, vil il ku. The last of these
is the dative affix, the second means house, the
first means a bo w, to the house of the bow. That
would make the commentator quite correct ; while
the interpretation actually given by my friend
takes the whole of the first part of the term to
mean 'from the end of the bow passing on to
Makara* taking the second part il meaning
house and the third kadai meaning end. It seems
unusual to express in this fashion the transit of
Saturn from Dhanus to Makara. It would make
no difference in meaning if il, the middle word be
omitted. The inaccuracy of statement in regard
to Saturn according to calculation will still remain.
The second point of defect in this date is that it
rejects the commentator's position of the Sun in
Leo. This would make the poet give a horoscope
without indicating the position of the Sun, Moon,
Bhu and Ketu. This is hardly satisfactory, if the
date are to be giveo a chronological interpretation.
It may be that the commentator is wrong as the

PBBFAOB *

poem leaves the matter open to differences of
interpretation.. What we feel bound to consider is
that each of the two dates, the two most satisfac-
tory ones, according to my friend, falls short of
being satisfactory from the point of view of the
poem itself. It seems open therefore to question
whether the author had astronomy enough in him
either of the practical observational kind, or of the
more scientific, to give us astronomical data for
chronological purposes. Since an elaborate inves-
tigation does not yield correct results, it would be
quite justifiable if we consider that the horoscopic
details in the poem had other objects in view than
the chronological. The point that the author
wishes to indicate seems to be the commencement
of the rains. He seems merely to be projecting in
the poem such a position for the planets, etc., as
would be propitious for a copious rainfall. The
month of Simha seems therefore necessary to be
postulated in that connection.

Then there is one statement in the poem itself,
that the star Agastya (Canopus) abandons his
position on high (in the zenith) and enters
Mithuna when 'scorching summer gives place to
the rains/ 1 According to Hindu Astrology, the
heliacal setting of Agastya begins at the commence-
ment of the rainy season and his heliacal rising is
a general indication of the cessation of the rains.

1 Vide proceeding* of the First Oriental Conference t Poooa,
pp. 448-49 for soother m vement of Canopu*.

PBSFAC&

In some parts of the country there are ceremonies
performed in propitiation of Agastya for rains at
the commencement of the rainy season. The
authorities for this are fully described by
Mr. B. Ganapati Ayyar, B.A., B.L., in the Tamil
Journal, Sen-Tamil, in Vol. XIX, No. 11, October,
1921. Hence it is open to us to make the
inference that the poet had no other object in view
in giving these astronomical details in the poem
than to describe the coming of the rainy season
with the planets in such positions as to indicate an
abundant rainfall. Strict astronomy perhaps is
not to be expected here, and perhaps, false astro-
nomy from the scientific point of view, may even
be possible. That I am not alone in this view will
become clear from the following extracts from the
letters of Professor Jacobi (to whom I acknowledge
my obligations with gratitude) who was so good
as to put himself to the trouble of investigating the
matter on my account and giving me the results of
his investigations.
^ f

Letter, dated 4th May, 1922.

1 After having looked at the matter from all points of
view imaginable, I ha?e arrived at the persuasion that the
horoscope has been invented by the author* because it is
astronomically impossible. 9 . - ><.

*

PREFACE XX\

'Now, it is not difficult to 'guess what prompted the
author to assign to the planets and the 'Sun the positions
stated in the horoscope under discussion. For he places
the Sun and the five planets in those Bais of which they
are the adiphaa (cf. Laghu Jataka I. 8) where they are
the most powerful (16. II. 4). Only the Moon is not in
his dominion, because in an eclipse, which is a very
auspicious moment, he stands opposite the Sun. The
author had the dominions of the planets before; his mind;
for describing the place of Jupiter he mentions that he
was next to the two signs belonging to Saturn ; and the
latter was in the sign next to that belonging to the
former. So I think we can account for the places which
the author assigned to the several planets. Now, if the
horoscope is, as I believe to have proved, altogether fictive,
it may not be used for chronological purposes, and the
Age of Early Tamil Literature must be proved by literary
and historical arguments as you have tried to do.'

Letter, dated Uth October, 1922.

'I beg to thank you for your kind letter of 20th Sep-
tember about the horoscope in the Paripadal and the date
to be assigned to it. You refer to Mr. L. D. Swamikkannu
Pillai who kindly visited and discussed the whole question
with me. The divergence of our results was caused by the
difference of interpretation of the passage in the Paripadal.
Mr. Swamikkannu has given his interpretation in Indian
Ephemerift, I, Part I, p. 109 ; I went on your interpretation
which is also that of the commentator Parimelalagar. The
points of difference are : (1) The commentator under-
stands the passage, ' at first dawn, when Krttika stood high
up' to mean that Krbtika was culminating just before
sunrise, thus indicating the place of the Sun and implicitly
that of the Moon and Bahu; but Mr. Swamikkannu
D-1B63B f

XXVl PREFACE

denies to the statement any astronomical signification
assigning it only this aaaaaiag that the Krttikas were
high up in the sky, i.e., at a good altitude above the
horizon. (2) The commentator places Saturn in Makara,
Mr. Swamikkannu at the end of Dhaaus. The point is of
less importance.

Now, if the commentator is right regarding (1), then
as t told you in my last letter and has also been pointed
out by Mr. Swamikkannu 1. c. p. 101, the positions of
Mercury and Venus are impossible. Nor can we avoid this
difficulty by assuming that not the true planets, but mean
planets are intended ; because the place of mean Mercury
and mean Venus always coincides with that of the Sun (c/.
Surya Siddhanta, I, 29). My conclusion, therefore, was
that the horoscope in question is not a real one, but has
been freely invented by the author as in the horoscopes of
Rama, Yudhishtira, Buddha, etc., the idea of the poet
being that the planets should have been in the signs which
are their own houses as the commentator pifts it. Such a
horoscope is, of course, without any value for chronological
purposes. If, on the other hand, Mr. S^vamikkannu's
interpretation, is admitted, then his chronological conclu-
sions must also be accepte 1 ; for it goes without saying
that his calculations can be relied on without reserve. The
whole question, therefore, depends on the right interpreta-
tion of the original passage, and, as I am ignorant of
Tamil, I must leave the decision of the question to those
who know it and are well versed in its old literature. I
may, however, call attention to one point. The statement
that 'Krttika stood high up* occurs in the midst of
entirely astrological items ; hence it was very likely also
intended to convey an astrological information, viz. t that
suggested by the commentator. Besides, aft the whole
passage no doubt states a horoscope, it would be strange
indeed, if it contained no explicit bint about the place of

xxv

the Sun, the Moon, and Bahu. But whether this course
of reasoning is borne out by the mental habits of ancient
Tamil writers, is beyond my ken. I have stated the case
and my way of looking at it ; now it is for you to decide
the matter. '

In the light of these remarks of the veteran
scholar, and Mr. Swamikkannu Pillai's own,
"Horoscopes are liable to all the failings to which
human compositions are subject and unless one was
certain of all the elements in a horoscope having
been recorded, the time inference drawn therefrom
may turn out to be widely discrepant from the
truth," I may be excused if I hesitate to accept
the conclusion of my friend in regard to the date
indicated by the horoscopic details such as they
are in Paripadal 11. The acceptance of this date
would make the Paripadal, at least Nallanduvanar,
the author of the particular poem, an author who
lived in the middle of the seventh century A.D.
Nallanduvanar would then be contemporary with
the great Pal lava king Narasimhavarmao Maha-
malla of Kanchi and of the two most prominent of
the Tevaram hymners, viz., Sambandarand Appar.
If this couclusion regarding poem 11 'of Paripadal
should be made to apply to the Paripadal itself as
a whole and to the whole of the so-called Sangam
Literature as a consequence, the position becomes
far less acceptable from considerations, literary,
historical, and linguistic.

One influencing consideration that led to the
preference of this date by my friend is the general

iXvni

position that he has taken in regard to the
borrowing of the week days by the Hindus from
the Roman week after Constantine had changed
the Sabbath from the seventh day of the Jews to
the first day of the week. In regard to the
naming of the week days the following quotation
maybe appropriate. 'The Semitic peoples gave
no names to the days of the week, and Babylonians
had apparently no week, their Sabbath being the
15th of the month, the AraM named it Yom el
Jumah or day of congregation and the Yom es
Sebt or Sabbath. The Aryans, on the other hand,
dedicated one week-day to a God, apparently
under Roman influence in the West, while the
Hindus and Tamils alike have such names in
India. * * * * All alike, place the Sun first
and the Moon second. Tuesday is sacred to Mars
and Siva, Wednesday to Mercury or Budha,
Thursday to Jove or Byhaspati, Friday to Venus
or Sukra, being also the sacred day of the Arabs
who worshipped the Venus of Makka. Saturday
belonged to Saturn, originally the God of
"Agriculture/ * * * The Greek week days
are those of Christian times. The Tibetan planets
are connected respectively with light, water, flame,
copper, wood, gold, and earth. The Semitic
names only mean first, second, etc., excepting
"those above statedFriday and Saturday'. 1

i J. G* B. Forlong, Faitbi of Man, I, pp. 51446

fi xxix

It will be seen from a comparison of the names
that there is no connection between the one set of
names and the other except that they indicate the
same object. The Hindu notion of Budha is
perhaps something quite, different from Mercury
as also Jove or Jupitar and Brhaspati. It would
be very difficult to trace any connection between
the names Venus and Sukra except that they
stand as the names of the same day. Unless it
be that the Hindus borrowed the week days
from the Greeks and invented their own names
for the presiding deities, these differences can
hardly be accounted for.

Apart from these considerations it is open to
doubt whether the week originated from the
astronomical considerations which are held to have
brought the week day into existence. It is
generally taken that, for the constitution of the
week, the division of the day into the nychthemeron
or of twenty-four houw is absolutely necessary.
As another consideration, the planets are supposed
to be taken in the order of diminishing distances
beginning with Saturn, appointing each of these
planets to be the presiding deity of a particular
hour of the day in rotation. At any particular
date when the week got to be originated, reversing
of the order with a view to bringing it in line
with the twenty-four hours division would perhaps
imply very much more knowledge of scientific
astronomy than could have been possessed by the

PfeEFACE

originators. Hence it would bear the conclusion
that this probably is- a later astronomical adjust-
ment of an already existing week system. It
would seem more reasonable to ascribe the origin
of the week to causes other than astronomical,
for which there is a considerable volume of
evidence in Hindu literature. The week seems
actually to have originated in a division of the
month into quarters, and each quarter is taken
roughly to be seven days, necessary adjustments
following when the error got to be discovered.
There were several such divisions known from
Vedic times, as Dr. Shamasastri demonstrates 1
clearly. That the week arises naturally from a
division of the day into sixty periods as the
Hindus have, comes out clearly from the following
remarks of Professor Rawlinson. 2 'There is
further no evidence to show that the Medes, or
even the Babylonians were acquainted with the
order of the planets which regulated the. nomen-
clature of the days of the week. The series in
question, indeed, mast have originated with a
people who divided the day and night into sixty
hours instead of twenty-four ; and so far as we
Jcnow at present, this system of horary division
was peculiar in ancient times to the Hindu
calendar; the method by which the order is
eliminated is simply as follows : The planets in

i Annali of the Bhtndarkftr Institute, for July, 192*2, pp. 1-81.
B* 1.226.

PREFACE XXXI

due succession from Moon to Saturn were supposed
to rule the hours of the day in a recurring series
of sevens, and the day was named after the planet
which happened to be the regent of the first hour.
If we assign then the first hour of the first day
to the Moon we find that the 61st hour which
commences the second day belongs to the fifth
planet or Mars ; the 121st hour to the second or
Mercury, 181st to the sixth or Jupiter, the 241st
to the third or Venus, 301st to the seventh or
Saturn, 361st to the fourth or the Sun. The
popular belief (which first appears in Dion Cassius)
that the series in question refers to a horary
division of twenty-four is incorrect ; for in that
case, although the order is the same, the succession
w inverted. One thing indeed seems to be certain,
that if the Chaldeans were the inventors of the
hebdomadal nomenclature, they must have
borrowed their earliest astronomical science from
the same source which supplied the Hindus ; for it
could not have been by an accident that a horary
division of sixty was adopted by both races'.
Dr. Shama Sastri has attempted to prove that
this division originated with the Hindus, while
a school of Assyriologists would give the credit
to the Babylonians.

Without labouring the point further we might
proceed to the consideration whether we have any
evidence of the Hindus having had any knowledge
of the planets either generally, or in the week

XXX11 PBEFACB

day order. It is now generally admitted tha
the division of the ecliptic into 27 constellation
was known to the Hindus from Vedic times
It is not quite clear that they knew its divisioi
into the twelve houses of the zodiac. It seem:
inferable from the mention of the term Sauramasi
of thirty 1 days and a half, and a few othe)
details like Uttarayanain and Dakshinayanam
that some kind of division answering to the
division of the zodiac existed among the Hindus
in the fourth century B.C. The mention of the
planets in the week day order in the Baudhyana
Dharma Sutra is equally significant in this direc-
tion. This . happens to occur in the first two
books (actually in II. 5.9) of the Sutra which
are regarded by the late Dr. Biihler as not
having been tampered with to the extent that
the later books are, and these Sutras, at least
the genuine parts of them, are referable to the
fourth century B. C. according to the same
authority. 2 The Sardula Karnavadana, which was
translated into Chinese in the third century A,D.
and 'the framework of (which) avadana itself
must be of great antiquity ' according to its
learned editors Co well and Neil, not merely con-
tains reference to the planets including Rahu
and Ketu, but even a division headed Dvadasa-
raika, the twelve signs of the zodiac. This

i Chapter X2L of the Artha Sastra, Shama Sastri's translation.
9 Sacred Books of the Bast! II, pp. x*iy and xliii,

PREFACE XXX111

avadana contains a volume of astrological infor-
mation which would warrent great astrological
knowledge among the Hindus. In avad&na 19 of
the same work, called Jyotishka-avadana, there is
a reference to an astrologer named Bhurika as
having made a calculation and verified a prediction
of the Buddha. 1 It is hardly necessary to multiply
references. In the face of these, it would be
too much to postulate that the Hindus had no
knowledge of astrology, or of the signs of the
zodiac, or that they borrowed the week day from
the Christian week in the age of the Guptas.
It would be safer to hold with Biihler, ' I do not
think it has been proved that every work that
enumerates the ra6is must be later than the
period when Ptolemy's astronomy and astrology
were introduced in India.' 2 From the point of
view of mere historical considerations, parts
of India were very much more in contact with
the Greek world of Asia from the time when
Selucus I became king of Asia down to the end
of the Kushans, and cultural elements like
astrology or the week days, if they came from
the West of India, had ample opportunities of
coming into the country before the days of
Paulus Alexandrinus, or even befor
Ptolemy. In the present state
of the cultural histories of

1 16., p. 268.

Buhler's Mann, p. orvii, ,

E-4863B

XXXIV PREFACE

Asia respectively, it is too much to build on the
available evidence and to state categorically that
any reference to a week day in any work of
literature ipso facto condemns it to a period
posterior to the age Xryabhat^a. Aryabhafta
was born, according to his own statement! in
A,D. 472-73 and composed his principal work
in his 23rd year, i.e., A.D. 496-97. But the
inscription of Budhagupta mentions the week
day, Thursday, more than ten years before this.
In the light of the evidence cited above, and
having regard to the uncertain character of the
evidence offered against, I may be excused if I show
myself to be somewhat sceptical, however regret-
fully, in regard to the conclusions of my esteemed
friends Messrs. Swamikkannu Pillai and Kames-
wara Ayyar, who have committed themselves,
each in his own particular way, to the view that
the Hindu knowledge of astronomy is post-
Alexandrian in all its details. I do not exclude
the possibility that Hindu astronomy, such
as it was, was wrong in details and adopted
corrections from the Greeks when Greek astro-
nomy came to be fully known to them in the
age of iryabhat^a, or somewhat later in that of
Varahamihira. If I sitll persist in relying more
upon historical considerations in my classification
of Tamil literature, I hope I have demonstrated
above that I have good reason to support me
in my position,

PREFACE XXXV

In concluding this introduction I must
acknowledge my gratitude to the Council of
Post-Graduate Teaching at the Calcutta Uni-
versity, and, to the University as as a whole, for
the honour they have done me in nominating me
Reader. My acknowledgments are also due
to my friend Professor D. E. Bhandarkar and
several 8ther members of the Calcutta Univer-
sity. My debt of obligation to Sir Asutosh
Mookerjee is so great that I could hardly dream of
acknowledging it adequately. I have dedicated
the following lectures to him as in some measure
expressive of my great esteem, without his
permission. I trust that he will accept this token
of my personal regard for him and the high esteem
in which I hold his services to the cause of Uni-
versity Education in general and to Indian History
and Culture in particular. I have great pleasure
in acknowledging the assistance that Mr. E.
Gopalan, B.A. (Hons.), the University Eesearch
Student working with me, rendered in the com- \
piling of the index. I acknowledge with equal
pleasure the ready courtesy of Mr. A. C. Gbatak,
the Superintendent of the University Press,
Calcutta, and the excellent manner in which he
saw the work through the Press, which, under his
expert guidance, proves to be very efficient.

MADRAS UNIVERSITY : *)

v S. K. AIYANGAR.

36th March, 1923. )

PKEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The Calcutta University wished to bring out

a second edition of my Eeadership Lectures

last year having gone out of stock of the first

edition. A careful reading of the work showed

that it would be much better to reprint the work

as it is, as a revision of the work for a new

edition would need re- writing which could be

done satisfactorily only by writing two or three

separate works on the topics covered. I thought,

on a careful consideration of the matter, that

it would be much better to leave the work as it

was, and print it over again as only a reprint

and nothing else. The Lectures are, therefore,

published just as they were printed first in 1923,

making only the necessary corrections and leaving

the body of the work just as it was. I have,

however, attempted to revise the book and make

all the corrections of errors found in it and

making additions of just a few notes here and

there giving references to further work on the

topics by me. Otherwise the work is substantially

what it was in the first edition. I hope it

will still continue to interest students of Indian

History and the general reader as when it was

first published.

Xxxviii PREFACE

I am grateful to the Calcutta University for
having brought out this new edition with their
accustomed thoroughness.

BANGALORE,

8. K. AIYANGAB
llth October, 1942.

ABBREVIATIONS

C. P. C.s= Copper plate charters.
Chalukyas.

F.N.*= Foot-Note.

Insc. = Inscription.

K.=King.

Pall. = Pallava.

Tarn. Li t. = Tamil Literature.

Vaiah. = Vaiahnava.

CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNINGS OF SOUTH INDIAN HISTORY

History begins for India with the coming of
the Aryans into the country. It may be said
with almost equal truth that the history of South
India, of India south of the Krishnn-Tunga-
bhadra frontier, begins with the coming of the
Aryans into the South. In this particular con-
text the term "Aryan" seems to stand for the
Brahman. The coming of the Aryan therefore
would be the coming of the Brahman as a settler
in this remote and sequestered region of India
from the point of view of the northern Aryan.
As far as we could trace the term Aryan in
early Tamil literature, it is used in a broad and
narrower sense. In the broader sense, it means
the northerner, with the northern culture; the
typical representative of the latter was, so far
as the southerners were concerned, the Brahman.
But there is a sense in which the term is used
synonymously \vith the Tamil* 1 Vadavar " (nor-
therner). There is specific reference to a class
known by this name, whose profession seems to
have been elephant-training. They are referred

2 CHAPTER I

to as men who were expert in capturing wild
elephants by trained female ones. * In the general
sense there are references to Aryans, who were
defeated in the battle-field of Vallarn by the
Cholas. 2 These Aryas are also said to have been
defeated in a northern invasion by a Chera king
who is said to have imprinted his bow emblem on
the face of the Himalayas and brought some of
the Aryan kings captive to his capital Vanji.
These are associated with the Himalayas. 8 They
come in for another reference as laying siege to
the hill fortress of Mullur, the citadel of the
Malayaman chieftain Tirumudik-Kari. 4 A. people
therefore other than Brahmans were known
under the name " Arya " in the south. That
this is synonymous with the northern Aryans is
in evidence in the title assumed by the Pandyan
Nedum-Seiiyan t who overthrew the forces of
the Aryas. 05 Among the synonyms given to
the term in the Divakaram, the oldest Tamil
Lexicon, occurs the term Mlechcha. This term
seems to be used in the sense in which it is
explained in the Satapatha Brahmana, and not
meaning a foreign barbarian as in later times.

1 Piiranar in Aham 296, II. 9 and 10, nnd MnUaSppittu. H. 35-86.

Pftvaik-Kot<ilar in Attain 886, 11. 20 22.

Padirrupptttu. Poem 1, 11. 23-26, and IT, Padigato.

Narfinai 170 of an unknown author.

gilappadbikiram, canto XX TIT. Epilogue, JJ. 14 to 18.

III. 2. 1. 28 and 24, Manu X. 45. Sacred Bookg of the Bait,
3fXV, pp. 81 and 82. Cf. Mrchchkatika, p. 255, speech of Chaadanaks :
(Bom :tftrn : Bdn. of 1916).

BEGINNINGS OF SOUTH INftlAK HISTORY 3

These Aryas are known to the Tamils
by the general name Vadavar, literally
northerners. They seem also to carefully distin-
guish those who were immediately to the north
of their frontier as Vadukar. This word seems
to be formed on the analogy of perhaps the
later Kanarese word Badaga, which, in its origin,
had the sense northerner also. But the use of
the word seems confined to those immediately to
the north of the regular Tamil frontier. This
frontier was marked by Puhkat, the northern
extremity of the Tamil country proper, on the
east coast, and possibly Karvvar point on the
west coast. These people the Vadukar, are des-
cribed as robbers by profession habitually
engaged in cattle-lifting. The chieftain Brumal
of Kudanadu is referred to as a Vaduka. 1 The
corresponding chieftain on the eastern side with
his capital at Tirupati 2 was also possibly a Vaduka
by name Pulli who is described as the chieftain
of robbers, Kalvarkoman. Entering this region
from the Tamil country, the language changed. 5
They are described by one poet as Vadukas who
kept cruel dogs and the words of whose language
were *' long and unlearned," as much as to say
" barbarous," in the original sense of the term. 4

1 Nakklrar in Aham 253, 1!. 1649.

* Mamfilanar in A ham, 11. 1547.

a Mamular in Aharo,31, 197, 211 and 295.

4 Karik-Kamjun of Kaveripaftagam io Aham, 107, i. 11,

4 CHAPTER I

Another poet of this group refers to the sacrifices
that these people offered in thanksgiving for
the capture of herds of cattle. In this connec-
tion the hill Vengadam (Tirupati) is described
as belonging to Ton4aiyar on the borders of the
country of the Vadukas, These are some of the
references to the Aryas or the northern people
in the earliest extant literature of the Tamils.

KNOWLEDGE OF SOUTH INDIA IN SANSKRIT
AND PALI LITERATURE

Looking from the other side it is a well-known
fact that the grammarian Panini has little or
nothing to say about South India. We have to
come to the time of Katyayana for some know-
ledge of places in South India. Katyayana bad
heard of the Pandya and the Chola Kingdoms.
Contemporary Buddhist literature does not
mention anything beyond Dandakd lying south
of Agmaka OB the Godaveri, so that down to
the middle of the 4th century, comparatively
little was known of the South, as far, at
any rate, as our knowledge of it goes at
present. This IB in a way confirmed by the
dramatist Bbasa whose political vision seems to
be bounded by the Vindhyas and the Himalayas
for the south and north, and the seas for the west

* dftnbbugft Jfttafcft (622) *nd c/. Arthtlftitr*, p. 11, ed. 1911.

SOUTH INDIA IN SANSKRIT LITERATURE 5

and east. 1 Megasthenes had however heard of the
Pandya country. It was under the rule of a
woman and her territory extended from sea to sea
in the south. It was, according to him, composed
of 365 villages. He gives a queer story that one
4 village or township brought in its revenue every
day. This arrangement, according to him, was
intended to give the queen the assistance of the
escort carrying the tribute to compel others who
may not be so readily inclined to pay. He gives
the precise information that the Pandyan
army was composed of 500 elephants, 4,000
cavalry and 130,000 infantry. He also refers to
the possession of the rich fishery for pearls which
the later Greek writer Arrian says were sought
for by the Greeks and the Romans. Coming to
the Arthasastra of Chanakya, referable almost
to the same time as Megasthenes himself, we
gain a few details which exhibit a certain amount
of definite knowledge. He speaks of two classes
of pearls which must be referred to this country.
One is called Tamraparnika, apparently pearls
fished for near the mouth of the Tamraparni,
namely, the Gulf of Mannar; and then Pandya
Kavdtaka that which is obtained in Pandya
Kav&fa, which would mean literally the door of
the Pandya. The commentator, however, renders
this expression by " Malay akoti." That could

1 Jtwdm s&garaparyantam Himatad-Vindkyakvnfatem mahim
fiajatimla protastv na)i

6 CHAPTER I

only mean the pearls fished for in the Pancjya
country where the promontory of Malaya, the
southern portion of the Western Ghats, dips into
the sea ; in other words, the sea very near Cape
Comorin. Speaking of cotton cloth he refers
to the fabrics of Madhura noted then as now, for \
the fine textures produced in the town or dis-
trict. When we come down to the age of
Patanjali a little more knowledge of South India
is exhibited. He knew Mahishmati and Vidarbha 1
both of which might be referred to the Dakhan,
and Kanchipuram and Kerala in the south. One
point of some importance in his references is
where he says that the word " Sarasi" is used
in the South to denote large lakes, giving us a
hint that he knew not only the geography of the
country, but had noted even some of the pecu-
liarities of the language of the south. That is so
far only from literature.

EVIDENCE OF EPIGRAPHY

Coming to inscriptions there are no South
Indian inscriptions, as far as is known at present,
anterior to the Christian era excepting copies
of the Asoka edicts which have been found in
two localities, one in the North-Eastern corner
of Mysore and the other in the South- Western

1 Already known to Brabmana literature : Ait. Br. vii, 14 and
Jaimici Up. Br, ii, 640.

EVIDENCE OF EPIQBAPHY 7

corner of Hyderabad. A third one found near Gutti
in the Bellary District is awaiting publication.
There are a few cave-inscriptions in Brahmi
character which may be referable to the first
century B.C. or even somewhat earlier, but they
await interpretation. Lastly there is just one
Satavahana inscription in Talgunda in the state
of Mysore. Beyond these, inscriptions which
throw light upon the history of South India are
to our knowledge up to the present, non existent.
We are therefore driven necessarily to a body of
literature referable to the century on either side of
the Christian era most of them, and which con-
tain embedded in them glimpses of an earlier
time. But turning to the northern inscriptions,
the inscriptions of Asoka give us some definite
knowledge of the political condition even of the
remote south, and provide the earliest reliable
information on the political condition of South
India. Such of Asoku's edicts as do mention
these Southern kingdoms mention them as out-
side the pale of the empire of the great Buddhist
ruler, liable only to be influenced by the emperor
regarding the teaching of ''the law of piety."
The Chola, the Pandya, Keralaputra ard
Satijaputra are mentioned as among " those
nations and princes that are his neighbours,**
and therefore outside of his empire. Coining
down to the next century the Hathigumpha
inscription of the Kalinga King, Kharavela

8 CHAPTER I

refers to the arrival of a tribute of jewels and
elephants from the Pan<Jya King to the Kalinga
ruler thereby confirming, what is inferable from
the word kalingam used in Tamil for cloth of
a particular kind, that there was trade connection
with the country of Kalinga. Even these ins-
criptional sources do not advance our knowledge
of South India very much ; but they do give us
to understand that there was a certain degree
of communication and a certain amount of
knowledge of each other between the two parts
of the country. Asoka's edicts themselves make
it clear that his empire stopped short of South
India, and such communication as did exist was
of the peaceful neighbourly kind without giving
us any hint of any warlike effort either on his
own part or on that of his predecessors. What is
wanted in detail in these edicts is supplied to us
in Tamil Literature to which we shall now turn.

THE MAUBYAN PERIOD

Prom what has been said above it is clear
that any definite knowledge of South India
does not reach back beyond the Mauryan period.
What we do learn from the scanty sources
of information accessible to us gives us but a
glimpse into the political condition of India in
the age of the Mauryas. Such glimpses as we get
warrant the presumption that the states of the

MAIN SOUBCE : TAMIL LITERATURE 9

south must have had an anterior history of some
length. Our knowledge of that history however
does not carry us back beyond the period of the
Mauryas. Thus the Buddhist chronicles of Ceylon
which pretend to carry us back to the age of the
Buddha himself are so meagre in point of that
history before the age of Asoka that the conclusion
seems inevitable that there was in Ceylon itself,
no real knowledge of its history anterior to the
age of the great Buddhist emperor. We shall
presently see that such information as we get from
Tamil Literature does not take us any further
back than this, and we are driven round again
to the same conclusion that our knowledge of
the history of the south dates back to the age of
the Mauryas and no farther, although absence of
information available to us does not inevitably
mean absence of history in the region concerned.

THE MAIN SOURCE OF INFORMATION, TAMIL
LITERATURE

The main source of information for the
period previous to the rise of the Pallavas into
importance is Tamil Literature, of which we
have a body with a character all its own. This
body of works is known among Tamil Scholars
by the collective designation, " Sangam works'*.
This designate a assumes the existence of a body

2-1363B

10 ...-- CHAPTER I

er an * academy of scholars and critics, wlose
imprimatur was necessary for the publication of
any work !of literature in Tamil. The Tamil
word "Sangdm" is the Sanskrit " Sangha "
arid means ordinarily no more than an assembly.
In this particular application, however, it means
a body of scholars, of recognised worth and
.standing in the world of letters, who were
maintained by the contemporary kings and
constituted themselves a board before whom
every work seeking recognition had to be read.
It is only when this body as a whole signified
its approval that the work could go forth into
the world as a Sangam work. It does not,
However, mean that other works were not
written and published. There are some which
have -come down to us, which do not appear to
have gone before the Sangam. The function of
this body seems theiefore to be merely to set up
a standard of excellence for works which aspire
to the dignity of Sangam works. Tamil scholars
recognise a body of works which are acknow-
ledged to have passed this gauntlet of criticism
an&ong the Sangam works. Some others also
are included in this group apparently as belonging
to-tbfe same age and partaking of the same
character. This is not done by scholars of to-
day, f i>r is it a 'matter purely of present-day
opinion. The commentators who lived five or
centuries before us and more, also

THE THREE ^ANGAMS 11

this classification and treat the works according-
ly. It is the tradition of the commentators
that has come down to us and the whole position
in respect of this classification rests upon' the
authority generally of these commentators.

Of these Sangams, tradition knows of three.
The numbers of scholars in the first and the
second, and the numbers of Pandya kings that
took an active part in the work of these bodies,
were according to this tradition very large.
Although some of the works referred to as
belonging to these Sangams, and mentioned as
such, have come down to us in isolated quota-
tions the actual existence of these bodies as
stated in tradition would be difficult to postulate
with the evidence yet accessible to us. It rather
seems to be that this body of scholars was a
permanently existing body, and did exist for a
certain number of centuries continuously. In the
work of these bodies there were periods of great
output and periods of comparative barrenness.
We have no means of ascertaining what
exactly might have been the cause of this
alternation. But such brilliant periods Seem
marked as the period of the first Sangara
and of the second Sangam, not very far behind
their historical successor, the third $aogam.
What actually does make the tradition look
very suspicious is the extraordinary length
of time that is given to each one of:

3$ CtfAPtlfitt 1

periods* It is this impossible longevity in
the traditional account tbat stamps the whole
tradition connected with these two bodies as
entirely false in the estimation of modern scholar-
ship, The third Sangam counts among its
scholar members 49, and 3 Pandya rulers, who
bore an honourable part in the work of the
academy. The bulk of the works that have come
down to us may be ascribed actually to this
body, in our present state of knowledge of
these three academies, as a whole. It would
perhaps be better to assume that they refer
to three brilliant epochs in the active work of
a single academy which might have existed for
a number of centuries. This body of antique
literature contains embedded in it various
details reminiscent of what to them must have
been contemporary or other history, as also a
considerable amount of information very interest-
ing to us in regard to their own times.

ITS CHARACTER AND CHRONOLOGY

The bulk of this body of works in Tamil
partakes of the character of heroic pieces cele-
brating incidents in the lives of particular
patrons, or illustrative of various modes of com-
position according to the canons of Tamil
rhetoric. Several of these fugitive pieces are
like the heroic tales from out of which sprang

Its CftAtlACttR AKb< CHftOKOtOGt J3

Homer's Iliad, and, according to modern
criticism, the Ramayana and the Mahabbarata of
our own country. As such, therefore, they are of
great value historically. Most of these are short
poems relating to some particular kind of emotion,
or to the exploits of an individual hero, and fall
into two classes which might be labelled for con-
venience "erotic" and "heroic". As a rule these
are short poems in various styles of composition,
and should have been collected and thrown into
the form in which they have come down to us, at
a particular period. In collecting them, this
classification into two is the main principle of
division. There are various cross divisions which
are of minor importance for our purposes. The
feature that makes them all common to a parti-
cular period of activity of this body of learned
men, is that a very large number of these collec-
tions receives poems in invocation from one poet
Perum-Devanar who is distinguished from others
of the name by the qualifying designation "who
rendered the Bharata in Tamil." There a're 4
celebrities of this name Pcrum-Devanar, in Tamil
literature and the attribute is absolutely necessary
to mark out the particular individual. The
BhSratam that he composed in Tamil has not
come down to us, and is quite different from the
portion of the Tamil Bharata that is available as
the work of another Perum-Devan. The rendering
of the Bbaratam in Tamil, the establishment of

14 CHAff Eft I

the Sangam in Madura and the winning of a
victory over the forces of the other Tamil kings
and chiefs at a place called Talai-llanganam are
Described as the achievements of an ancient
Pan<Jyan in the Sinnaraanur-grant of the 10th
century. 1 This ancient Pandya is treated as
distinct from and as having preceded by a
stretch of time, the dynasty to which the donor
of the Velvikudi-grant, who is the seventh
in succession from the first member of this
particular dynasty, belonged according to the
genealogy of the Pandyas accepted by the
Epigraphists.

One of the most important of these collections
which is known to Tamil scholars under two names
Ahananuru, which means the 400 relating to
"erotics," or Necjum-togai, meaning collection of
longer poems, was made by a Brahman Rudra-
4arman, the son of Uppurikudi-Kilan of Madura
at the instance of the Pandyan Ugrapperuvajtudi.
This by itself would not lead us very far; but this
RudraSarman comes in contact with a well-known
poet and president of the Sangam by name
Nakkirar who wrote the accepted commentary on
an abridged work on the vast department of
rhetoric relative to this particular section of Tamil
poetry. This poet Nakkirar was the contemporary
of the Pandyan victor at Talai-Alanganam.

* Madmi EpigrapbJst's Report, 1907, pp. 62-07. S. led. Ini M Vol.
HI, PI. IV, pp. 460 ff. and Indian Hist. Quarterly, Vol. JX.

ITS CHARACTER AND CHRONOLOGY 15

Hence this great Pandyan, Nakkirar, Rudra-
garman, and Perum-Devan all belonged apparently
to the same generation, and that is the generation
when the Sangam activity was at its height
under this Pandya, and Nakkirar, when the
Bbarata was rendered into Tamil verse by Pernih-
Devanar and the Ahananuru was collected into its
present form by Rudra trman. The works there-
fore which are thus collected relate to the genera-
tions preceding, several of them proximate, some
of them, it might even be, remote. It would be
impossible in this context, to deal in sufficient
fulness with all the arguments which would enable
us to fix the age of this Sangam activity. But
some of the more salient arguments that lead to
the conclusion that the age of the Sangam is the
first and the second century of the Christian era
may be indicated :

(1) The whole body of the Sangam works
taken collectively give us a picture of the Tamil
country in a period of great prosperity,

(2) There are considerable number of
references direct and indirect to active trade both
internal and oversea.

(3) This commercial prosperity and the pre-
valence of comparative peace are reflected in the
writings of the classical authors from whom we
gain a considerable amount of knowledge of the
commercial prosperity of the land.

10 CHAPTER I

(4) There is no indication in the vast body
of literature of the existence of various dynasties
of the Palkvas known to history. The rulers of
Kancbl appear as viceroys of the Choi as, and often-
times princes of the blood-royal of the Cholas.
The only chieftain who is called in Tamil " Ton-
4amSn " is "Tondaman Ilam-Tirayan " said to be
the son of a Chola ruler by a Naga princess. His
designation Ilam-Tirayan presumes another
Tirayan, and there is one such not associated
necessarily with KanchL The name Tondaiyar
is given to the people inhabiting the country
round Kanchi; and the hill of Tirupati, the
northern limit of the Tamil country, is said to
have been in the country of Tondaiyar or the
Pallavas, thus establishing the equation that the

* people called Tondaiyar in Tamil are the Pallavas
of Sanskrit. 1

The inference is clear that the age of the
San gam activity must be regarded pre-Pallava in
charcter.

(5) An epic work composed of the twin
kavya Silappadhikaram and Manimekhalai, not
& Sangam work in the sense that it received
the Sangam imprimatur, is the work of two
authors. The first was written by a Chera
prince, a younger brother of the great Cbera

ruler Sem-Kuttuvan, who adopted the life of an

^

* Old poem quoted by Ntcbcbiutrkiniytr in hie comment on
$4 of

ITS CHARACTER AND CHRuNOLQflY 17

ascetic; and the second by his friend Sittalai-
Sattan of Madura, who was one among the 49
who composed the third Sangam and a friend
both of the King Sem-Kut$uvan and his ascetic
brother Ilamko-Adikal. Sem-Kuttuvan undoubt-
edly was a Sangam celebrity having been
celebrated in several poems by poets like Paranar,
which poems are found in the collections known
as the Sangam collection. Without going into
fuller detail we might say at once that he was
the exact contemporary of Gajabahu of Ceylon,
undoubtedly the earlier of the two Gajabahus in
the Ceylon list.

The name Gajabahu occurs as among those
who congratulated Sem-Kuttuvan on the success-
ful celebration of the establishment of the
temple to the goddess Pattini (chaste-lady) in his
capital of Vanji. Attempts have been made to
get round this by saying that this reference
occurs outside the body of the work and by
arguments based thereon. Except betraying the
ignorance which often adds emphasis to an
opinion, the objection is not worth considera-
tion. It may be pointed out that this reference
to Gajabahu among those who were present,
occurs in the body of the poem in line 160 of
canto thirty, not in the epilogue that comes at the
end of it; although the statement in regard to the
establishment of a temple to this same goddess
in Ceylon by this Gajabahu occurs in the

3-18683

\

18 CHAPTER I

prologue which might be the composition of
another author and possibly of a later time even.
Without labouring the point further it is clear
that this particular period of activity of the
dangam must be referred to the second century
A3). The works collected during this period
have undoubtedly a range of a few generations
which may amount at least to a century, possibly
to a period much longer.

This body of literature relating to the two
sections already indicated contain embedded in
them many expressions by way of compliment
or some otherwise to actual patrons. They give
a number of ethnographical and geographical
details of an important character relating to
various parts of the country, and various other
details from which important inferences could
be drawn if they should be sorted and arranged
with sufficient knowledge of the general back-
ground in which to set these small details. In
dealing with the whole matter the classical
grammarians recognise two modes which, for
convenience, may be described as the conven-
tional and the real. The first of these they
call nadaha valakku (the dramatic usage)
in which it is open to them to introduce
creations of pure imagination. It seems never-
theless to be an understanding that as the
purpose of these works is the general impression
that these produce upon the people for didactic

ITS CflAfcACfEft AND CHRONOLOGY 1

purposes, they must still have a realistic
colour. To achieve this they make use of even
real historical material somewhat idealised to
produce the correct impression according to their
notions. This mode is applicable generally to
subjects that come under the classification
" erotics/' In regard to the really dramatic part
of the subjects treated, viz., those which relate
to action, the mode adopted is that of what
actually obtained in the world around them,
ulak-iyal-valakku (the usage of actual life).
This section, having mainly to do with the
doings of kings and chiefs, both principal and sub-
sidiary, is admittedly of a historical character. 1
In the use, therefore, of the mass of material
which, with labour, one could collect from this
literature, a considerable degree of discrimina-
tion and judgment is required. Carefully
studied and properly selected one could obtain
a very considerable knowledge of the history of
the times to which this body of literature
relates.

For an examination of this literature the
standard work of grammar and rhetoric is the
Tolkappiyain though its original, Agattiyam
comes in for large application, though the work
itself is not extant. The traditional belief among
Pandits is that the text of the Tolkappiyam,

] Tolkippiyim Peru) 66 and comment thereon by Ntcbchinirkkiniyar
and Ijaifc Pflrt.$r.

20

as we have it at present, is anterior to the
great bulk of this class of literature now
extant. Beading through the various commen-
tators on this vast grammatical work one often
comes across statements which would imply the
existence of a body of this kind of literature
before a systematic work like the Tolkappiyam
could have been written. That, however, is
matter which it is hardly necessary to labour
in this context. What is to the point here
is that the literature available contains a con-
siderable mass of material which, with judgment,
could be made to yield very good material for
history. Such as it is, it does not take us back
beyond Mauryan times.

GLIMPSES OF MAURYAN INVASION IN IT

In this mass of literature we get some allu-
sions to the Mauryas, and Mauryan invasions of
South India which throw a new light upon this
particular period of history. Among the number
of poets whose works are found collected in this
volume of literature there are three authors who
refer to the Mauryan invasions specifically. One
of them is the Brahman poet, Mamulanar, the
much respected Brahman poet of the Agastya
gotra belonging to the south country ; the other
is one Param-Korranar and the third is KaJJil-
ittirayanar. Mamulanar has got two references

GLIMPSES Of MAURVAN INVASION Itf IT 21

in respect of this particular matter, and the other
two one each. The general character of these
references is to a distant hill worn by the rolling
cars of the Mayuryas beyond which a young lover
might have gone in quest of wealth. His love-
lorn sweetheart at home, pining away in solitude
for his return, is assured in various ways that,
even if he should have got past this hill, he would
keep his promise and return on the appointed
day. That is the general purport of the passages 1
in the first two authors. This means that a
particular hill marks the frontier limit of the
Tamil land, going beyond which one gets into
foreign land and unknown country, return from
which in safety is problematical. The hill under
reference marks therefore some well-known frontier
hill a considerable distance from the Tamil land
across which the war chariots of the Mayuryas
had to be taken at considerable labour. A tribe
of people, foreigners apparently, specifically called
Kosar, advanced southwards so far as the Podiyil
Hill and defeated some enemy there when the
chieftain of Mohur declined to submit. In con-
sequence the Mauryas marched upon the territory.
In regard to this the points to be noted are that the
KoSar, of whom 4 divisions are known in this
body of Tamil literature, were somehow connected
with the Mauryas. There is only one Mohur

* Abam251.

OHAtTEft 1

known to Tamil literature of which a chief of the
name Pajaiyan played an important part against
various enemies, most conspicuous among them
being Sem-Kuttuvan Sera. It is to subjugate this
Mohur which is a place about 7 miles north-east
of the town of Madura with a fortified temple and
some remnants of a comparatively old chieftaincy,
that the Mauryas are said to have advanced after
the failure of the Kosar. The other poem of this
author refers to the southern invasion of the
Mauryas. This time the Mauryas came led
forward by the Vadukar, or pushing them in
front. In this connection there is the same
reference to the hill worn by the war chariots
of the Mauryas. 1 The second author merely refers
to the Mauryas and the cutting down of the hill
to make a roadway for the war chariots of the
Mauryas. The third author refers similarly to the
cutting down of the hill side to make way for the
rolling cars. But the word Moriyar has a second
reading Oriyar which the learned commentator
on the work has adopted as the reading. On this
point it must be noted that a dispassionate
and close examination of the passage shows
clearly that the reading Moriyar would read very
much better and would be very much more in
keeping with the general sense of the passage
than the reading Oriyar. Having regard to the

GLIMPSES OF MAURYAN INVASION IN IT 23

class of works concerned, the other passages
under reference in connection almost with the
same matter ought to be the best commentary
on this doubtful passage. It therefore leaves no
room for doubt that there is a Mauryan invasion
or invasions under reference, and that in the
course of this invasion they had to get across a
difficult hill making a roadway for themselves.
That this hill was at some considerable distance,
from the point of view of the Tamilian, and to a
love-lorn damsel of the Tamil land going across
the hill is as much as Shakespeare's " her husband
is to Aleppo gone/' The author Mamulanar
refers in the first passage rather familiarly to the
wealth of the Nandas. The same author in another 1
passage refers to this wealth of the Nandas
as having accumulated in Patali (Pataliputra or
Patna), but got hidden in the floods of the Ganges
in times gone by. The point of the reference
in these cases is, as is borne out by a corresponding
passage 2 of the same author in connection with
the accumulated wealth of the Seras, that the
Nandas had accumulated vast wealth and the
accumulated wealth at one time came to be of
no use to them having been hidden in the one
case in the waters of the Ganges, in the other
by being buried in the earth. We have then
in Mamulanar an author who had heard of the

* A barn 264, * Abam 127

24 CHAPTER I

wealth of the Nandas and who speaks of the
southern invasions of the Mauryas. By way of
confirmation, the two other authors speak of the
invasions of the south by the Mauryas also in
equally clear terms excepting for a difference of
reading in one of the two cases. We shall
now proceed to consider who the Vadukar and
the Ko6ar are, the two people who are brought
into connection with these Mauryan invasions.

VADUKAR

Of these two sections of people referred to
the term Vadukar is used for those who lived
across the Tamil frontier on the north for which
Pulikat on the one side and the northern
frontier of Nannan's territory, including in
it both Tulu and Konkan, provide the limits.
The Chief of Vengadam (Tirupati), Pulli by
name, comes often in contact with the people
who are described in various ways in these
poems. The general trend of all this descrip-
tion is to make of them a class of hunters.
Their chief occupation was cattle-raiding and
they are always said to be accompanied by
cruel dogs. 1 Entering into their territory
language changed. 2 This language is referred
to by a poet Kari-Karnjian of Kaveripattanam '

i Abam 213 and 381. * Mamflknfcr, Ahain 295. * Abam 107.

MALAVAR 125

as unlearned in character and long in sound*
The latter characterisation would apply to Telugu
even now, if it is the Telugu of the northern
districts, from the point of view of the Tamilian.
The former characteristic, whatever foundation
there was for it in the days of our author, has
long since worn off, and Telugu is regarded now-
a-days as specially musical among the Indian
languages. The language of the Vadukar must be
different from the Telugu. The Vadukar were
found on the frontier across the hill of Tirupati.
Nakkirar speaks of Erumai of Kudana<Ju as the
chief of the cattle-lifting tribe of Vadukar. 1 Another
poet gives a Chola ruler a victory at Pali on the
west coast against the Vadukar. 2 Thus we find
the Vadukar all along the northern frontier from
'sea to sea. When therefore Mamulanar 8 says
that the Mauryas came to the south, sending in
front of them the Vadukar, the natural interpreta-
tion is that they came practically into occupation
of the territory which was the natural habitat of
these Vadukar, and pushed the Vadukar in front
of them in their further march southward.

MALAVAB

Another tribe of people are described almost
in the same terms as these Vadukar. They are

1 Aham 253. See Aham. 116, 1. 6, for Mamtilacftr's reference to
Erumfti u the chieftain of Kud anfcju.

1 !<}wiyan Seadn Kofran. in Ahara 875,
4-186SE

S6 CHAPTER I

called Mafcavar in Tamil, who suffered a defeat at
the hands of Ne<Juvel In at Podini (Palnis). 1
They were habitually resident in forests and lived
by way-laying travellers. They worshipped Nadu-
led * (stones planted in honour of warriors who fell
in battle), and offered sacrifices to them. These
are again referred to as uneducated and with raised
bows, and entering their country language
changed. 8 The forest ways infested by these
Malavar, says Mamulanar, were safe as at the
time they happened to be under the protection of
Ku^tuvan 4 (Chera ruler). In another connection
the same author refers to the subjugation of these
Malavar by Pulli of Vengadam. 5 This series of
references to the Vadukar and Malavar, and their
being described in almost identical terms would lead
to the inference either that the Vadukar and the
Malavar were the same tribe of people, or were at
any rate of very similar habits and language. It
was already pointed out that this term Vadukar,
on the analogy of the Kanarese Badaga, might be
interpreted as northerners. They were northerners
to the Tamil in the purely geographical sense ; but
in the sense of northern Aryas, the term used is
Vadavar, the grammatically correct form in
Tamil.

i KtaftlMtlr ia Alum 1.

* Ammfivanin AhamSC; tlioKaral vewe771.

I Mimfllwtr, Alum 127.

. * Ab*m6l.

KolAR 2?

KdgAR

Passing on to the KoSar they are referred to
as entering the country of Tuju by defeating
Nannan and killing his state elephant. 1 Nannan's
territory included in it both Tuju 2 and Konkan
(Konkanam). 8 These K66ar are under reference
in Aham 196 as having put out the eyes of the
father of a lady Anni Gnimili, and to have been
destroyed at her instance by two chieftains Kurum-
bian and Tidiyan. 4 They are found mentioned as
Kongu-ilam-K66ar in the Silappadhikaram, and get
themselves associated with the Kongu country
(Salem and Coimbatore districts). One clan of
them get associated with Podiyal Hill and the tribe
that settled there is known as Nallur K66ar. fi In
almost the same terms Mamulanar describes the
Kosar winning a victory against their enemies at
Podiyil hill, and as Mohur declined to submit to
them the Mauryas advanced south. 6 The other
poets such as Marudan-Ilanagan, Kallacjanar,
Nakklrar and Aiyur Mudavanar make mention of
these Koar also. Of these the first and the

Paiaijar in Korumtogai 78.
M&mulaoftr in Ahtm 16.
Palai-pI(Jiya-Penim-K4ungo in Na^iasi 491.
Parwjar in Abam 196-262,
Karoiiiitogai; PerumKa<}ango.
Aham 251.

38 CfiAftBRl

fourth associate the Edgar with Sellur. It seems
to have been a place in the Ghola country. 1
Nakklrar's reference is to a Chola having made
an effort to conquer their territory. Kallacjanar's
reference is to their having protected on one
occasion the chieftain Ahdai. They therefore seem
to have been a well-known tribe of people, foreign-
ers to the Tamil country, who settled in various
localities ultimately and came to be known as
Nalur Kofer, meaning the KoSar that settled in
four places, if the particular reading of the first
word is correct. Who were these K66ar and what
was their connetion with the Mauryas? The
suggestion was made elsewhere 2 that these may
be a tribe of people the same as the Kogakara of
the Ramayana, and possibly the Khagas who led
the advanced part of the army that marched upon
Pa^allpura in favour of Chandragupta according to
Mudrarakshasa. They were a people who have
had a great reputation in the south as warriors and
are described invariably as people who kept their
word. Kari-Kannan of Kaveripa$aam refers to
the practice of the younger members of this tribe
learning the use of weapons by hurling them
against a pillar made of wood of the Murungai '
(Erythrina Indica) tree. The four places of their
establishment, if the reading Nalur is not a

l

* Bginoing of SotithloditD History, pp. 92-gC,

ASOKA'S SOUTHERN tlMlt OF BMPIBB 29

corruption for Nallur, 1 would be the Nallur near
Podiyil hill, Sellur probably in the Chola country
on the east coast 2 ; Pali in the Chera country
wherefrom they were dislodged by the Cholas ;
and Kongu south-east from this territory. The
incidental details brought together from various
authors in regard to this particular race of people
make a Mauryan effort at the conquest of the
south clearly a historical fact.

ASOKA'S SOUTHERN LIMIT OF EMPIRE

Turning to the inscriptions of Asoka the
southernmost limit reached by them is in the
north-east corner of the Chitaldroog district of
Mysore where Brahmagiri, Siddhapura and
JatingarameSvara hill edicts were discovered. We

1 That the Kolar were known in four divisions is clearly stated in
11. 508-09 of the Maduraik-K&nji. The author there institutes a comparison
between the appearance of the four groups of councillors at the Pftn4yan
Court (other than the ministers) to the coming of the four sections of the
Ko6ar ' 4 of unfailing word, ' *

2 There is a Sellur between the Railway station Korag&oheri on the
Tanjore-Negapatam line, and Kcx}aivS6al, a place of some importance
now, but of great repute in the age of the Sangam. The only objection to
the identification is that it is not as near the sea as the texts would
require. The local Aiyanar (S*sta) temple seems identifiable with the
44 sacrificial abode '* of Parasurami. There is a Sellur, on the
west-coast associated with Parasurfima, in the Kerajolpatti. This work
calls the place Parum-Sellur, great Sellur. This must have been sear
Cannanore. The coast near Mount D'Ely is called Bixnandaji Tarn.
Eaman and to{* or Rama's temple, and must be regarded as a later
settlement or a colony. It may seem far-fetched to connect the K6tar
with the Cuthitea who were banished from their native land of Blam
after the Assyrian conquest till we get mote evidence of a definite
character, or identify them with Satiyaftutra of the Asoka edict*, taking
the worf as lite Sanskrit Safcyapatra.

30 CHAPTER I

shall now have to add Yen-agtuji near Gutti (Gooty}
in the Bellary Dt., though the record is not yet pub-
lished. Eock Edict II speaks of " his neighbours
such as the Chodas, the Pandiyas, the Satiyaputra,
the Keralaputra; Tambapanni, the Yona king
Antiyoka as well as among those who are the vassal
kings of that Antiyoka " in connection with the
establishment of hospitals, etc. The fifth edict refers
to the appointment of the overseers of the Law
who were concerned with the ** welfare and
happiness of my loyal subjects, as also among
the Yonas, Kamboyas, Gramdharas, Kishtikas,
Pitinikas and all other nations who are my
neighbours." In respect of these overseers of
the Law a distinction is clearly made between
Asoka's loyal subjects forming one class ; Yonas,
Pi^inikas and others forming another class, and
his neighbours forming the third class, .The
second of these have therefore to be regarded as
not his subjects, nor exactly his neighbours. The
geographical position of these would make them
his feudatories^ the first three being on the
North- Western Frontier, the last two Rish^ikas
and Pi^inikas in the coast region set over
against the Dakhan plateau, being respectively
RashtrikaR and Pratishjhanakas. In Bock Edict
XHI referring to conquests through the sacred
taw be claims having effected that conquest over
lib subjects in his empire and over all hid
neighbours for a distance of 600 yojanas of the

ASOKA'S SOUTHERN LIMIT OF EMPIRE 31

country of Amtiyoka and the four kings his
neighbours. Coming down to the south he refers
to the Cholas, the Pandyas and Tambapanni or
Ceylon. Then he proceeds to the second class
in edict V of whom specific mention is made of
Vigas, Vajris, the Andhras, and Pulidas (Pulin-
das) apparently tributary communities in the
neighbourhood of the emperor's regular territory,
but politically tributary to him according to the
notions of the Artbagastra. Then follows the
important statement " even those to whom the
messengers of the * Beloved of the gods ' do not
go, follow the sacred law, as soon as they have
heard of the orders of the ' Beloved of the gods '
issued in accordance with the sacred law, and
his teaching of the sacred law, and they will
follow it in future/' 1 The corresponding portion
of this last statement in Vincent Smith's version
of Rock Edict XIII based on the Shabbasgarhi
edicts, reads slightly differently, and the reading
may be set down here for comparison " and here
too, in the king's dominions, among Yonas, and
Kambojas, among the Nabhapantis of Nabhaka,
among the Bhojas and Pitinikas, among the
Andhras and Pulindas everywhere men follow his
sacred majesty's instruction in the law of piety.
Even where the envoys of his sacred majesty do
not penetrate, there all men hearing his sacred

1 E. lod., Vol. II. BGhler'f edition of th edict* of A***.

i

S3 CHA WBR I

majesty's ordinance based on tbe law of piety and
his instruction in that law practise and will prac-
tise the law/' This makes a considerable
difference in respect of the recital of the tribes
that are concerned. While Smith's version is
certainly fuller and more correct than that of
Buhler quoted above, the tribes Vigas and Vajris
are clearly mentioned in the Shabbasgarhi and
MAnsera edicts as Visha, Vajri. In the Kalsi
version however, the reading 1 is Vi6a, Baji.
Therefore the Visha of the one version is what
exactly is Vifa in the other, and the Baji of
the other version is Vajra of the former. The
point I am particularly concerned with here is
that the Vi&is and Vajris are apparently tributary
tribes of whom Tamil literature refers to the
latter. One passage in the classical work
Silappadhikaram referring to the northern
invasion of the great Chola Karikala states that
three kings made him presents which formed the
ornaments of his capital Kaveripattanaro. Of
these three kings one was a friend, another an
enemy recently compelled into treaty terms, and
the third one was neither friend nor an ally, that
is, a neutral. The king of Vajra is referred to
as the neutral king who was neither his %Jly nor
bis enemy. His territory must have reached tbe
sea-shore at any rate, and is explained by the

i File Bftmiwtlfft Sarmft'i Pi/adtsi Inscriptions, Vri*nt re*4-

ASOKA'S SOUTHERN LIMIT OP EMPIRE 38

commentator as territory on the banks of the
river Sone. If we make an inference from the
general description given, it would mean the
territory of Bengal between the Sone and the
Ganges reaching down to the sea as it is clearly
stated to be bordered by " great waters on all
sides. 1 ' The next king is the king of Magadha
who having been an enemy submitted and became
his friend. The next one is the king of Avanti
who was his ally. The first one presented a
canopy of pearls. The king of Magadha gave
him what is called a Vidyamantapa, 1 apparently
an ornamented platform pillared and roofed
over. The king of Malva gave him a triumphal
arch by way of a present. 2 The Vajras therefore
as a people of considerable importance and holding
the important territory of Bengal on this side of
the Ganges, were known to the Tamils of the first
century A. D. 8 It was apparently a princess of
this kingdom f which seems to have been powerful
at the time, that Kharavela of Kalinga married. 4
In such a case Simhapura would be the capital
of the Gangetic Ealinga included in the

1 For a description of this see Bijasekhara's Kftvyamlmaihsft, Oh. X.
Also the author's article " How Learning was honoured in Ancient Times "
in the Oatotta Beview, 1921.

* Siiappadhik&ram, Canto 5, 11, 95-105.

3 Vajra was one of the two divisions of Ltgha or Rfcjha, the two
divisions being VajjabhQmi and Subbabb&mi. Ayaranga Butt* and
other references quoted in " The Ijlvikts " by B* M* Barua Ft. I,
pp. 67-58. Calcutta University Publications.

* J. B. 0. R. 8., Vol. IV, p. 378.

34 CHAPTER I

Kalinga l kingdom very often referred to as the
capital of Kalinga as a whole.

As oka* s empire then may be regarded in
three parts : the whole of Hindustan, the country
between the Vindbyas and the Himalayas, with
an outstretch along the west coast to take in
the Pitinikas, Riahtikas, and along the east coast
to take in the whole of Kalinga, would have
constituted his own kingdom. Then comes the
borderland of the great forest of Dantjaka. On
the frontiers of the forest were situated the
territory of several of the semi-civilised
tribes till we come to about 14 of north latitude
roughly. These had been reduced to some kind
of allegiance which apparently involved the
responsibility of paying tribute and being in the
kind of tribal subordination recognised in the
Artba6astra. Then follow naturally the terri-
tories of his southern neighbours. This disposi-
tion is what is actually reflected in Tamil
literature which states in clear terms that
Fulikat was the northern boundary in the east
and that Tulu-Konkan the kingdom of Nannan
was the western boundary, a whole belt of
country across being occupied by tribes whom
the Tamilians called Va<iukar. These were
border-tribes engaged in cat tie -lifting and

I Referred along with KapiJapuram in the Silappadh itrarim at the
two capital* of JUlinga ; Cftrio XXTII, 11. 140*41.

ASQKA'S SOUTHERN LIMIT OF EMPIRE 35

waylaying people as occasion offered. Referring
to the achievements of a Chera ruler who is
known to literature Aduko^paftu-Seral-idan, that
is, the Chera who captured cattle, the poetess
Kakkaipadiniyar Nachchellaiyar states in clear
terms that he captured cattle in Dand&ranyam,
distributed them in Tondi, among Brahmans,
giving along with these one special kind of a
cow classified as kapilai (a cow of a dark colour,
the darkness spreading over even to the udder)
and a village in Kuda-nadu (western bill country),
and having defeated the other Malavar in battle,
turned back the kings, apparently their kings.
The term Dandaranya in this reference is ex-
plained by the old commentator as a na<Ju or
division of country in Arya-Nadu thus confirming
the statement in the Sarabhanga Jataka that
Dancjaka was a Bhoja-kingdom with capital
KumbhavatL This means clearly that the forest
of Danda or Dandaka was, according to the
political divisions of those days, included in the
territory of the Aryas as distinct from the Tamils,
a semi-civilised tribe or tribes being interposed
between the two frontiers across the whole of the
Peninsula.

36 CHAPTER I

BUDDHIST PROPAGANDA STOPPED SHORT OF
THE TAMIL LAND

This political southern limit of Asoka's
empire marks also the limits of active Buddhist
propaganda reflected in the last sentence quoted
above from Bock Edict XIII. The meaning
of this statement in the edict is that while people
in the neighbouring kingdoms followed the
teachings of the Buddha of their own motion
the active propagation of the gospel that he
actually organised stopped short of this limit.
This inference is confirmed by what we find
detailed in the MahavamSa of Ceylon. Referring
to the missions for the propagation of the faith
sent to various localities for the purpose of spread-
ing the teachings of * the enlightened one ' the
Mahavamsa has the following passage : " When
the thera Moggaliputta, the illuminator of the
religion of the conqueror had brought the (third)
council to an end and when, looking into the
future, be bad beheld the founding of the
religion in adjacent countries (then) in the
month of Kattika he sent forth theras, one
here and one there. The thera Majjhantika
he sent to Easmira and Gandhara, the thera
Mahadeva he sent to Mahi^atnandala. To Vana-
v&sa be sent the thera named Rakkhita, and to
Apar&ntaka the Tons named Dhammarakkhita,

BUDDHIST PROPAGANDA STOPPED 37

but the thera Maharakkbita he sent into the
country of the Yon a. He sent the thera Maj-
jhima to the Himalaya country, and to Suvanga-
bhumi he sent the two theras Sona and Uttara."
The great thera Mahinda, the theras Itthiya,
Uttiya, Sambala and Bhaddhasala his disciples,
these five theras he sent forth with the charge :
" Ye shall found in the lovely island of Lanka
the lovely religion of the Conqueror."

In this recital the places referable to the
country south of the Vindhyas stopped short at
Vanavasa, all the other places being obviously
north of Vanavasa with the doubtful exception
of Mahi$amandala. This was hitherto identified
with what is now the state of Mysore, but from
Tamil literature we find the present state of
Mysore occupied altogether otherwise, though
undoubtedly one frontier chieftain of Ku^anadu
(western hill country) was known by the name
Erumai (Sans. Mahisa) and apparently gave the
name to the country in the following generations.
It could hardly be regarded as the country to
which Asoka's mission was sent as it is doubtful
if it was known by that name in the days
of Asoka. Mahismat! the capital city of the
Mahigakas has satisfactorily been identified with
Mandhata on the Narbada round which there
were a tribe of people called Mahimsakas. The
Mahisamamjala of Asoka's mission has to be
referred to that district. Hence Vanavasa,

38 CHAPTER I

Banavase in Dharwar, the capital of the division
of Banavase 12,000 was the southernmost limit
of the missionary activity of Asoka.

The great centres of Buddhist activity
get enumerated in another context in the
Mah&vaih6a, The Ceylon ruler Du$tag&mam
Abhaya held a great congregation on the occa-
sion of laying the foundation stone of the Great
Stupa (Maha Vihara) which he constructed. To
this congregation he invited the priestly commu-
nities from the various well-known Buddhist
centres. This invitation was responded to by
brethren^of the holy order in as many as fourteen
centres, the centres being: "Rajagrha, the
ancient capital of Magadha, I&tapatana, the deer
park in Benares, Jetararna-Vihara in Sravasti
in Nepal-Tarai, Mahavana in Vaisall (North
Bengal), Ghositarama in Kau^ambi not far from
Allahabad, Dakkhi^agiri-Vihara in Ujjain in
MaJva,. Atokarama in Puppbapura (Patallputra
or Patna), Kashmir, Pallava bhogga , probably
somewhere in the region of the Indus, 'Alasanda
of the Yonas, probably the Alexandria represented
by the modern Uch in the north of Sindb, ' the
road through the Vindhyan forest mountains 9
possibly the centre Mahigmat! of the Mahiija-
man4ala, Bodhinaancja-vibara (Bodh-Gaya), the
Vanavasa country and lastly the great Kejftsa-
vibara/' This KailaBa-vihara may refer to Ama-
ravati io the Guntur district while it is barely

BUDDHIST PROPAGANDA STOPPED 39

possible it may refer to Ellora in the Nizam's
dominions ; but the trend of the description
would indicate the former rather than the latter.
This detailed list of Buddhist centres excludes
the Tamil country altogether. Whether the
representatives actually came or no is a different
matter. But these were centres of holy reputa-
tion at the time in the estimation of the author.
He apparently had recourse to older chronicles
kept in the Mahavihara the construction oi
which is under discussion. If the Tamil country
did contain any vihara of similar reputation it is
not likely that that would be omitted in the
narration. Hence the inference seems quite
warranted that active Buddhist propaganda stopped
short of the Tamil land both in the days
of Asoka and in the centuries following almost
to the middle of the fourth century before Christ.
Kemembering that there was nothing to prevent
individual Buddhists, or even bodies of them,
following the bent of their mind in matters of
religion even in the Tamil country, it is clear
that the active propaganda under the imperial
impulse of Asoka might still have stopped short
of the Tainil country. That seems the state of
things in respect of Buddhism reflected in this
body of Tamil literature referring to the times
under discussion.

40 CHAPTER I

THE NORTHERN LIMIT OF TAMIL LAND

In the previous sections the limits of Tamil
land were marked by a belt of country beginning
with Pulikat on the east coast and terminating
with the Kalyanpuri river, the northern limit of
Eanara on the west coast. On the farther side of
this frontier were the class of people regarded as
robbers by profession and described in Tamil
literature as Vadukar, who extended even south-
ward of this frontier line in certain localities. This
is just exactly the limit indicated in the Periplus
for the Tamil country as all the Dakhan further
north fell into a distinct category which
the author of the Periplus 1 called Dachinabades
(Sans. Dakshinapatha). According to this author
" beyond Baryagaza (Broach) the adjoining coast
extends in a highland from north to south ; and
so this region is called Dachinabades, for Dachi-
nos in the language of the natives means ' south '
the inland country back from the coast towards
the east comprises many desert regions and great
mountains and all kinds of wild beasts leopards,
tigers, elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas and
baboons of many sorts and many populous nations
as far as the Ganges." The work further states

thai all the muslins, etc., of the east coast of this

*

Bdo-byW. 8boff,p.48.

**#

NORTHERN LIMIT OF TAMIL LAND 41

country had to be brought across ' great tracts
without roads' to the two marts of Paethana
(Pai^han) on the Godaveri and Tagara (Ter in the
Nizam's dominions). The limit of this region is
marked at ' Wjhite Island ' on the west coast, an
island situate a little to the north-west of Manga-
lore with which according to this author Damirica
(Dramidaka or Tamilakam) began. This descrip-
tion of the country, set against the west coast from
Broach to Bangalore almost, will answer to the
description of the Tamils who called the whole
region, a little more or less, Dandaranyam.
According to the information that could be gather-
ed from Tamil literature of this period the western
boundary of this forest region would stop short
somewhere near Goa on the west coast. Next the
frontier on this side came the Tulu-Konkan terri-
tory of the Tamil Chief Nannan. To the south of
this territory was the territory of Kerala, the land
of the Cheras. One Chera ruler of this time went
by the name, rather a distinguishing epithet,
1 Idu-kotpattu-Seral-idan,' i.e. t the Chera king
who carried off cattle. The Chera is celebrated
in the sixth ' ten * of the classical collection
called 'ten 1 tens' by a poetess by name Kak-
kaipa4iniySr Nachcheljaiyar ; in other words
' the poetess the good Sellai who sang of the

* PftQdH Maha. Swaminitha A i jar's edn., pp. 98*99.

42 CHAPTER I

crow/ In the epilogue he is said to have taken
these cattle in Dandaranyam which the com-
mentator explains as a division of country in
Aryanadu or Aryade^a. Thus then it is clear that
across the northern frontier of the Tamil country
was a belt of land occupied by various tribes, and
behind them was the great forest country of
Dandaka, the far-famed Dandaka of the Eamayana
and the Mahakantara perhaps of a later time.

CHAPTER II
BRAHMANISM IN THE TAMIL LAND

Tamil tradition of comparatively late age
describes the Tamil country as mainly composed of
forests and practically uninhabited till Agastya
came from the far north. In a solemn conclave
on the Himalayas the Devas and the Eishis had
assembled on one occasion. Finding the earth
sinking from the weight of the august assembly
and much exercised about this phenomenon, they
hit upon the device of sending somebody to the
south to balance the assembled weight of the north,
and pitched upon Agastya, who alone of all those
assembled was capable of balancing the rest of
them all together. When the request was made
to him he readily agreed to proceed on such a great
errand of benefit to this divine humanity. Start-
ing southwards therefore on this beneficent mission
Agastya went first to the Ganges and obtained
from her the river Kaveri. Then he went to the
Rishi Jamadagni and tobkntoi him his son
Trnadhumagni, and from Rishi Pu^astya his virgin
sister Lopamudra. Going further onward in his
journey he came to Dvaraka, and took from there
18 of the ruling family of Vishpu (Vrgnis^ and

44 CHAPTER II

18 crores of two classes of people, VZlir and
Aruvalar. With such a following he proceeded
south destroying the forests, and transforming
the forest-region into inhabited country till he
made his home in the hill of Podiyil in the south-
ern part of the Western Ghats keeping Bavana
and his Bakshasas away from that part of the
country. 'It was then that he ordered his disciple,
the son of Jamadagni, to go and fetch his wife,
keeping a distance of four rods' length on all
sides of her in the course of their journey. As
they were crossing the river Vaigai a sudden flood
carried her off. Going forward to her assistance,
and, putting forward a bamboo stick for her to
take hold of, the dutiful pupil brought her success-
fully out of the water, and then took her to his
master. For this transgression of instructions
Agastya pronounced both of them ineligible for
entry into heaven. Protesting their innocence
they in turn said that he might have a similar
fate also for his inconsiderate anger. It was on
account of this anger of his master that he directed
his disciple's grammar Tolkappiyam, as the
disciple assumed the name Tolkappiyar since his
advent into the Tamil country, be not heard. The
point in this story is that the reclamation of the
forest tracts in this region is somehow associated
with" a southern migration led by Agastya, and
among the tribes that came with him are found
mentioned V9\ir and Aruvd\ar, two well-known

BRAHMANISM IN THE tAMIL LAND 45

peoples of Tamil India. For tbis Tamil land the
most accepted boundary given is the Tirupati
hill in the north (Va<Javenga4am), Cape
Coraorin (Kanyakumarl) in the south, and
the two seas on either side. Whenever this
great migration took place, and whether such
a migration was historical or no, there is
something like the march of civilisation from
the north into the south, and under northern
guidance and influence. Agastya himself came
and brought a disciple along with him, the son of
another sage. Along with him came presumably
the northern culture especially associated with
the Brahman.

Leaving tradition aside we have evidence, in
the earliest extant literature of the Tamil land,
of the very high position ascribed to the
Brahman in the literature of the south. In one
of the earliest of the Tamil classics recently
made available a king is described as following
the path of the " Andanar " (Brahmans) who
follow the Dharma by doing the six duties
imposed upon them by immemorial prescription.
These are described as learning and teaching,
sacrificing and conducting sacrifices, receiving
gifts made to them and making gifts to
others. 1 In the same collection comes later on a
reference to another monarch of the same
dynasty where he is spoken of as " not knowing

* Padirruppattu, poem 24j II. 6 to &

46 CHAPTBB n

obedience except to Brahmans." The authors
in these two cases happen to be themselves
Brahmans. In the one, the author was a
Brahman by name Gautama who was distin-
guished for composing poems in a particular
mode in Tamil. He celebrated the father of
Sem-Kuttuvan and requested as a favour that
he and his Brahman wife should go to heaven.
This Chera consulted other elderly Brahmans
how this could be done to Gautama. Under
their advice he celebrated ten VSdic sacrifices
on the completion of the tenth of which the
Brahman and his wife ceased to be visible.
The other one is the famous poet by name
Kapilar. This Brahman was regarded as a
model of a virtuous man and spoken of in such
terms by poets who were not themselves Brah-
mans. He celebrates another Chera by name
Selvak-Kadungo. The same description of the
ordinary occupation of the Brahman is given in
the classical grammar Tolkappiyatn where the
Grammarian lays down what were the custo-
mary occupations of the Brahmans. 1 The same
six occupations are there given as those to which
they generally devoted themselves. Almost the
same language is used in referring to the
Brahman by Buddhist and Jain writers in similar
connections. The Silappadhikaram, a work of

i Pom), Sutra, 75.

BRAHMANISM IN THE TAMIL LAND 47

the Chera prince-ascetic Hango, refers to what
happened to Gautama above referred to in
the account which is given of a Brahman Para^ara
of the Chola country who went on a visit to
the Chera " who gave heaven itself to the
Brahman Gautama," having heard of his great
liberality. In describing this Brahman this
author 1 speaks of him as one devoted to the
attainment of heaven, of two births, whose
wealth consisted in the three fires, whose learning
embraced the four VSdas, who had special
charge of the celebration of the five sacrifices
and whose chief occupation consisted of the six
items : learning and teaching, sacrificing and con-
ducting sacrifices for others, receiving in gift and
giving, brought in under the same epic category
as the grammatical enumeration referred to in
Tolkappiyam above " of the victorious Brahman "
(parppana-vakai). Strangely enough on his,
return journey he came to a Buddha Vihara 2 at
a Brahman village Tangal in the Pandya country
and halted there in the course of his journey.
In the companion work Manimekhalai n also we
come upon references almost exactly the same
in tenor to the occupation of the Brahman
although that work, true to its character, in one

* Canto XXHI, 11. 62 to 80.

* See Artha&ttrft.
9 Canto, XIII.

48 CHAPTER II

connection l holds up to ridicule the celebration
of these sacrifices by inflicting pain upon the
animals sacrificed. It will thus be seen that
although these references are found in the
literature of the first centuries of the Christian
era they indicate an immigration of the
Brahman in times much anterior, and the charac-
ter of the Brahmanism of which we gain
glimpses in this literature shows itself to be
preJBuddhistic.

PRE-BCTDDHISTIC CHARACTER OF BRAHMANISM
IN THE TAMIL COUNTRY

We have already referred to the Brahmanical
tradition concerning the coming into the .south
of Agastya. Buddhist Tradition has altogether
a different version of the coming of Agastya
into the Tamil country. According to the Akitti
Jataka which relates to a Brahman magnate's
son and daughter who renounced their vast
wealth and settled down near the banks of
the Ganges some leagues farther down from
Benares, Agastya the brother remained in the
new settlement for some time. Finding that
even in the forest people came to him in large

CtntolXHI, 11. 393-8.

PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM 49

numbers he left the place unknown to his
sister and travelled through the Tamil country
(kingdom of Damila), and took up his abode
in a park in Kaveripattana (the capital of the
Cholas at the mouth of the Kavgri). Even
there he was not left in the isolation he desired;
he therefore flew across to an island called
Kara set over against the island of the Nagas.
This Karadlpa was also called Ahi-dipa or
the isle of snakes. In the island and in the
rock-cell hermitage which he took up for his
residence he could find nothing to eat except
the leaves of the kara tree (Ganithium Parvi-
florum) which grew there. These he used to wet
in the water and boil and eat without salt or
spices. When in that condition, Indra came in
the guise of a Brahman to beg for alms. Akitti
gave the prepared food each time Indra appeared,
himself not taking any. It is to exhibit the merit
of this gift that Buddha is said to have related the
story on a particular occasion. Akitti is generally
taken to stand for Agastya, but there is so little
common between the Brahmanical tradition con-
cerning Agastya and this story that the identifica-
tion itself would seem not to have very much to
support it excepting the name. But the Buddhist
work Manimekhalai has certain references to
Agastya. He carried the water that flowed
afterwards as the Kaveri, in his water- vessel
(kamandala) , and at the request of a Chola king

7 1868B

50 CHAl'TRR 31

Kandama, he let the water flow as the river Kaveri.
This king at one time was afraid of the coming
of Para^urama, and sought asylum of Agastya
having entrusted the kingdom to his illegitimate
son Kakanda. Agastya gave him the asylum on
that occasion. Another Chola king whose name
is not specifically given was advised by Agastya
to celebrate the annual festival to Indra which
lasted for 28 days, during which period all the
Devas even left their abodes and were resident
in Kaveripattanam. The Chola capital Kaveri-
pattanam had the name Champa because Champa-
Patl, the goddess Jambudvlpa, made it her place
of residence. When the Kaveri began to flow
through that town the name was altered. 1 In
either of these two c;ises the connection of Agastya
is with the Chola country and the river Kaveri.
But the Manimekhalai refers to Agastya as " the
ascetic of rare austerity of the Malaya (mountain)," 2
making it clear that he is referring to Agastya of
the Brahmanical tradition associated with Malaya
or Podiyil hill in the southern part of the Western
Ghats. The tradition connecting Agastya with
the south therefore seems to be an accredited tradi-
tion of long standing ; and his coming into this
part of the country is symbolical of the breaking
in of Aryan civilisation into the Tamil land. It

1 MaQimekbakti, Padikam (prole gue),
l. 3.

!?&E-BUt)DHlSTIC BfcAHMANISM 61

would therefore seem inferable that the Brahman-
ism such as was prevalenc in the Tamil country
must beBrahmanism of a Pre-Buddhistic character.
That it was so is in evidence in the importance
that is invariably attached to the position of the
Brahman as the conductor of the sacrifices intended
for the good of the community as a whole.

That this was the character of Brahmanism
in the Tamil country is clear from a poem included
in the collection Purananuru. It is a poem by
Mulam-Kilar of Avur in celebration of the learn-
ing and character of the Brahman Kauniyan
Vinnam-Tayan of Pum-Sarrur in Sonadu (Chola
country). The first part of the passage refers to
his being a descendant of a family of learned men
who made it their life occupation to study by
means of the six auxiliary sciences (angas), the
four Vedas whose one object was truth, and which
was perpetually in the tongue of Siva himself.
This great learning was attained by them in order
that they may be enabled thereby to beat down
all those outer religions which base themselves on
works which set themselves against the Veda.
Having acquired this learning they understood the
false teachings of those religions which appeared
like truths, and exhibiting their false character
established the truth of the VSdic religion by
celebrating sacrifices in the twenty-one l orthodox

1 This IB also interpreted as the 21 methods of logic, or the 21 ways
of interpretation

& CHAPTER JI

ways. " Coming of such a family you wear a
bit of deer skin in the thread lying across the body
adorning your shoulders. Your wives constant
in their chastity, wearing the jewel specifically
assigned to wives of those who celebrate sacrifices,
and possessed ol personal charms conduct them-
selves in full accordance with your station. They
carry out your commands by making ghee flow
like water by tending the several kinds of cows
whether you lived in forest or in country. With
their assistance, having celebrated innumerable
sacrifices and spread your fame over the whole
earth, you shine by feeding largely at the end of
the sacrifices those who attended. May we have
the good fortune to see this exalted position of
yours for ever. Let ine go back to the place full
of the gardens on either side of the Kaveri which
brings in freshes as soon as it thunders on the
Western Ghats, and thus fosters the earth. I
shall enjoy your vast gifts by eating that which
ought to be eaten, and riding that which ought
to be ridden, and thus celebrate your liberality.
You remain on earth where you are, firm as the
Himalayas with high sloping sides, making like
the Himalayas themselves unfailing rain." This
poem is intended to celebrate the excellence
in Brahmanical accomplishments and is therefore
specifically intended to give an idea as to what
exactly a Brahman's learning and conduct were
expected to be in those times. The poet who

I'RE-BUD&fllSTIC BtlAfiMANISM 53

celebrates the Brahman in this wise is, as the
title indicates, not a Brahman himself, and the
character that he gives to the orthodox Brahman
here is supported in full by the corresponding
sutras of the Tolkappiyam. The commentators
of the Sutras quote this poem as the illustration
par excellence. It is not the Brahman alone
who comes in for praise for his faithful perform-
auce of sacrifices. One of the earliest knoun
Pandyan kings is known to lauie a^ one who
celebrated many sacrifices. The poet Nettimai-
yar asks the question whether the sacrificial
posts he planted after celebrating various sacri-
fices are in larger numbers, or those enemies that
live in disgrace, having been defeated and turned
back by his valour. 3 A later Pandya grant
known as the Yelvik-kudi grant refers to a gift
by this Pandyan of the village, the title to which
\\as established by satisfactory proof. 2 A Chola
contemporary of the poetess Avvaiyar is known
by the name " The Great Chola who celebrated
the Bajasuya." 3

A great Chera the younger brother of the
" Chera of the Himalayan boundary " and uncle
of the Red-Chera celebrated ten sacrifices and
gave heaven itself to the Brahman Palai Gau-
tama 4 and his wife.

a, Poem 16, pp. 17-21.

2 Bpi. Rep.. 1908, Sec. 20 (Madras).

3 Ibid, poem 367 by Avvaiyar.

4 Paddin*uppattu-" Ten-tens/' section 2.

54 CHAPTE& II

Thus we see that Tamil kings had adopted
the practice of getting sacrifices celebrated
the peculiar function of the Brahmana according
to the accepted canon of law of the Tamil land.

This is not altogether the only detail of pre-
Buddhistic Brahman ism which we find in these
Tamil classics. There are clear indications of
the kind of theism which could be generally
described as Bhakti where people could devote
themselves to the service of the god of their
heart with the assurance of salvation. Four
such sections find prominent mention according
to the peculiar form of god to which people com-
posing these sections devoted themselves. Pour
such gods get mention in a poem by Nakkirar, 1
an early and a very prominent poet of the
Sangam. Celebrating his contemporary Pandyan,
he points to the special qualities in which he
resembled each one of the four ' world-protect-
ing gods.' These are according to him respec-
tively Siva of the ' dark-throat,' Baladeva
of ' white colour ' with the plough for his
weapon, Krishna of the deep-blue colour with
the flag of the bird (Garuda) and Subrahmanya
(the red-one) of the ' Pea-cock carrier.' Of
these the Pandya addressed resembled in anger
Death himself, in strength Baladeva, in fame
Krishna or Vishnu, in determination in carry-

1 Puram., 56,

PRK-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM 55

ing out his wishes Subrahmanya. It must be
noted that Siva described circumstantially in the
first part is equated with Death in the second,
as Rudra is specifically associated in the Trinity
with destruction. Almost the same four are
found mentioned as the guardians of the different
kinds of land in the Tolkappiyam. The forest
country is under the special protection of Krishna
or Vishnu, the hill country under Subrahmanya,
the cultivated country under the protection of
Indra and the coast country under the protection
of Varuna. Here the two Indra and Varuna
come in in place of the two Siva and Baladeva. It
is hardly necessary to describe the possible signi-
ficance of these discrepancies, but it seems to
imply the recognition of the six as distinct
entities rather than postulating the non-existence
of any two. Describing the temples that were
in existence in Kaverippattanam, the author of
the Silappadhikaram 3 refers to a temple of Siva,
to one of Subrahmanya, to one of Baladeva and
to one of Vishnu or Krishna in the order stated,
followed by the temple of Indra the festival to
whom the canto actually describes. 2

This is summarised in the companion work
Manimekhalai by the statement that temples

1 Canto V, II. 169-175.

1 Compare the deitiea invoked in the NanSghat Inscription of the
Sfttavfthana Queen Nftganika; NO. 1113. LtMer's lit of Brabmi
Inscriptions, Bp. Ind., X.

56 CHAPTER II

beginning with that of Siva with an eye in the
centre of his face, and ending with that of the
guardian-deity of the public square (Bhuta of
the Chatushka) " should all be tidied for the
coming festival." 1 Much the same idea is found
expressed in 11. 453-9 of the poem Madurak-
Kanji by the poet Mangudi Marudan.

We therefore seem warranted in inferring that
the Brahmanism which prevailed in the Tamil
country was in character pre-Buddhistic, and
had for one of its specific objects an exhibition
of the heretical character of the sister religions,
Buddhism and Jainism. This gives a certain
controversial character to it which is not altogether
strange having regard to the character of both
Buddhism and Jainism. This body of literature
exhibits the existence of these religions side by
side with Brahmanism, having attained to a
certain amount of organisation for effective
controversy.

TAMIL OPPOSITION TO BUDDHISM ON BEHALF OF
BRAHMANISM

We have noticed above already that ASoka's
propaganda in favour of Buddhism stopped short
of the Tamil country. That it did not get into

l Canto I* 11. 54-57.

TAMIL OPPOSITION TO BUDDHISM 57

the Tamil country is clearly in evidence in the
fact that no important Buddhist centre indubit-
ably referable to the Tamil country is found
enumerated among those who sent delegates to
the great assembly for the consecration of the
Mahavihara in Ceylon in the 2nd century B. C.
That f coupled with the knowledge of the county
in the period previous to the Christian era we
gain from Tamil literature, would warrant the
conclusion that the advance of Buddhism into
the Tamil country in the fashion contemplated
by A3oka was kept back by force. But this
is confirmed by the opposition set up in the
Tamil land against the encroachment of the
northerner of which we get glimpses in this body
of Tamil literature. Agoka would not have
stopped short in his propagandist mission if he
could have carried it into the Tamil country
although it is possible that the self-abnegation
that prompted desistance from war might be
regarded sufficient explanation. This latter fact,
however would not explain his abstention from
propagandism of the organised character that he
carried through in the rest of India. Along
with this has to be taken the number of refer-
ences in Tamil literature to the Aryans (Vadavar)
being beaten back. It is just likely that we
shall have to take into consideration the wars
against the Vadukar also in various localities,
vbich would not have been undertaken by the

8-1S6SB

68 CHAPTER II

rude tribes along the northern frontier unlesB
there was an organised power behind them, either
to incite them to it, or at least to encourage
them if they did it. The early Chola, Pandya
and Chera rulers, all of them take credit for
achievements againt the Aryas of the north. The
Chola Karikala, the Pandya Neduih-Seliyan
and the Cbera Nedum-Seral all of them claim to
have set their emblems on the Himalayas, and
even the Malayamani chieftain of Tirukkovilur
is given credit for having beaten back an Aryan
force besieging his citadel of Mullur. Even
omitting the references to the Vadukar for the
time, 1 this opposition seems to have been set up
not so very much in mere hostility to the peace-
ful pursuit of Buddhism or Jainism; but seems
essentially intended for securing the freedom
for the unfettered pursuit of Brahmanism in the
Tamil country. This it would be difficult to
explain except by the assumption that in the
empire of Asoka, it was difficult to pursue this
form of religion unmolested if not by active
persecution at least by the propagandist effort
at the imposition of a certain kind of uniformity,
or much rather conformity.

1 For aeta*] reference! see pp. 95400 of the author's Beginnings of
South Indian History.

THE CONTINUITY OF HINDU CULTURE 59

THE CONTINUITY OF HINDU CULTURE IN THE
SOUTH

A special feature o/ its History

It is this state of things, of which we gain
a direct glimpse only from Tamil literature, that
gives character to south Indian History for the
earliest period of the History of the Tamil country.
Brahmanism having found a welcome home in this
region when Buddhism was in the ascendency in
North India, pursued its path unmolested, if it
did not actually occupy a position of advantage
in comparison witb.the other two religions. This
freedom made the Tamil country at this period,
as it proved in other later periods, a special refuge
to Aryan culture whenever it was hard pressed in
the North. From this period onward Brahmanism
both in its early and in its later developments
went on continuously unmolested, not un-
influenced, by the various changes that took place
across the Tamil frontier. In this body of
literature and in this particular period we see a
certain amount of development in agamaic worship
of the Vaishnava Paneharatrins. There is
nothing exactly to show that the Saiva agama did
not come in along with this into the Tamil
country although we have not corne across any
direct statement of it so far in the same manner
as the Vaishnava. That with tbe spread of

60 CHAPTER tt

Buddhism and Jaimsrn there was a collateral
development of the Orthodox Brahmanism in the
middle country of northern Indian seems
warranted by the position of these religions in the
Tamil country. The rise of the school of Bhakti
which Sir B. G. Bbandarkar laboured bard, but
successfully, to prove as a normal development
from the Upanishadic culture, receives welcome
support from the position of this particular school
of Brabmanism in the south. This establishes
an intimate connection, in the age to which this
body of literature has special reference, between
the north and the south. This special develop-
ment could not have been on this side of the
Christian era if the intimate connection of the
development both in the north and in the south
has to be taken as established, as we have to, on
the basis of this evidence.

ITS CONNECTION WITH THE NORTH

This special development in the south of the
orthodox systems of Brahmanism of the north
apparently took form with the rise of the
Sungas to power in northern India. Pushya-
initra's was perhaps the first organised effort
for the revivification of Brahmanism in the
face of a foreign enemy like the Greeks of Bactria
thundering at the gates of orthodox India both
in the political sense of a foreign enemy, and in

IfiE KSARAVELA INSCRIPTION 6l

the sacerdotal conception of heretics in religion.

This opposition, although comparatively short-
lived in the case of Pushyamitra and his successors,
seems to have put new heart into the southerners
of the orthodox creed, and given them the occa-
sion to organise themselves for any possible
struggle against their rivals. Apart from the
various references in Tamil literature to the north
and of the claims put forward for conquest against
the Aryans which ought to be referred to the
period following the period of Andhra domi-
nance the period of this religious ferment and
activity seems referable to the period of revival
under the Sungas and Kanvas. That such connec-
tion was maintained even politically is in evidence
in the Kharavela inscription itself.

THE KHARAVELA INSCRIPTION

The famous Hathigumpha inscription of Khara-
vela which has been recently read and re-read, and
published by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal in the Bihar and
Orissa Research Society's Journal, and the contro-
versy over which is not yet unfortunately over, has
one detail which seems clearly to refer to the
sending of tribute or presents in the shape of
elephants and valuable jewels from the Pandya
country. These presents were sent over-sea. In
itself, communication over-sea with Kalinga is
quite possible, and that raises actually no difficulty ;

62 CHAPTER II

and if presents did come from there it must be of
the character described. If the reading of the
inscription in regard to that particular part is put
beyond a doubt, that would establish communica-
tion between Kalinga and the south. In the
period following, the great Chola Karikala went
north as was pointed out already and received in
his turn presents from the kings of Vajra, Magadha
and Malva or Avanti. The existence of a country
like Vajra in the valley of the Sone is brought to
our notice only in this connection. And that
possibility finds confirmation in another reference
in the same Hathigumpha inscription) where Khara-
vela is said to have married a princoss of the Vajra
rojal family. This reference seems to give the
character of historicity to the references contained
in Tamil literature, in a connection to which
captious objections, may, it is just possible, be
raised. This inscriptional reference to a geographi-
cal detail like that puts the character of the literary
reference on a somewhat better footing. We shall
have to revert to this point later.

THE DAWN OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA

The country south of the Krishna was divided
among 'the three crowned Kings' and seven
chieftains, with an eighth coming somewhat later.
There were a host of minor chieftains of lesser
dignity. It is the coast region and the more open

THE DAWN OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA 6P>

country that belonged to the kings, while the
middle regions of hills and forests belonged to the
chieftains, and perhaps even a few tribes (Nagasand
others). The east coast from Pulikat to the south
of Tondi in the Zemindari of Ramnad, belonged to
the Chola, although midway between the kingdom
proper and its northern viceroyalty of Kanchi lay
the hill-country round Tirukkovilur in the posses-
sion of a class of chieftains named Malayaman ;
and between his territory and the coast were the
chieftains of Oyma-nadu very often loyal supporters
of their suzerain, occasionally turbulent and rebelli-
ous. South of the Chola kingdom lay that of the
Pandya, which extended from coast to coast, and
embraced within its borders the modern districts
of Madura and Tinnevelly, and the State of
Travancore, taking in also a part of Coimbatore
and Cochin. This included in it the chieftaincies
of lay (The Aioi of Ptolemy) round the Podiyil
hill in the Western Ghats and the domains of
Pehan round the Palnis which come under their
sphere of influence as well. North of this and
along the Western Ghats on the sea-side lay the
territory of the Chera ; a territory stretching right
across the Palghat gap through Salem and Coimba-
tore* South Mysore was parcelled out among a
number of chieftains corresponding to the modern
Palayagars, whose allegiance was at the disposal of
either , but the more powerful of their neighbour
kings* Such were the Irungo of Araiyam, Pari of

64 CHAPTER II

Parambunad (west of the Kaveri in Kongu),
Adiyaman of Tagadur (Dharmapuri) and Ori of the
Kollimalais. The first of these was within the
Mysore territory proper and to the east of his
domain lay the Gangas, and Kongu to the south.
The northern frontier of the Tamil land was held
by Nannan of the Tulu country and Konkan in the
west, and Pulli of Vengadam (Tirupati) in the
east, the further north having been the land of the
Vadukar and Uandaranyam (Sans. Dandaka-
ranyam).

These chieftaincies were the bone oi conten-
tion between the Cholas and the Cheras. When
the period under treatment begins, the Cholas
were supreme under Karikala, who ascended the
throne, probably after defeating the Chera and
Pandya in a battle at Vennil (Koilvenni as it is
now called) in the Tanjore District. He was
a remarkable sovereign who in many ways
contributed to the permanent welfare of his
subjects, and has consequently been handed
down to posterity as a beneficent and wise
monarch. He constructed the embankments
for the Kaveri, and his chief port Puhar was the
great emporium of the east coast. His reign
was long, and, taken along with those of his two
predecessors and the successor next following
him, constitutes the period of the first Chola
ascendancy in the south. In the reign of his
successor a great catastrophe befell Puhar, and

PANDYA HEGEMONY 65

the city and port were both destroyed. This
was a hard blow to the ascendancy of the Cholas.
But Karikala had, after defeating his contem-
porary Chera, given probably one of his daughters
(it is just possible a sister) in marriage to the
son of his vanquished rival. This alliance stood
the Cholas in good stead. Karikala' s successor
began his reign with a victory, which his heir-
apparent won for him, against the Chera and
Pandya combined at Kariyar, probably in the
Salem District. 1 When Puhar was destroyed, at
least in part, there was a civil war owing perhaps
to the untimely death of the young Chola prince;
and the Chera ruler for the time being advanced
through the central region. He intervened in
favour of his cousins with effect, as against the
rival claimants of royal blood, and restored the.
Chola dynasty to some power; but the ascendancy
surely enough passed from them to the Chera.
The Chera ascendancy under the ' Red Chera V
(Senguttuvan) lasted only one generation. In
the reign of his successor the Pandyas rose to
greater importance, and the Chera suffered defeat
and imprisonment at his hands. This Pan4ya
ascendancy probably lasted on somewhat longer
till about the rise of the Pallavas in Kafichl.
This course of the political centre of gravity in

1 It is shewn to be the river Kalern which falls into the Syarna-
mqkhi near Kajabasti. See the authors' work Manim&khalai in its
Historical Setting.

66 CHAPTER II

southern India is borne out in very important
particulars by the Ceylon chronicle called the
MahavamSa. According to this work, the Cholas
were naturally the greatest enemies of the
Singalese rulers. There were usurpers from the
Chola country in Ceylon in the first century
B. C. ; and there were invasions and counter-
invasions as well. On one occasion the Chola
invaders carried away 12,000 inhabitants of
Ceylon and set them to work at ' the Kaveri ' as
the Chronicle has it. 1 This looks very much
like an exploit of Karikala seeing that it was he
who either built the city of Puhar, or greatly
extended it. King Gajabahu of Ceylon 2 was
present at the invitation of the Red-Chera, to

witness the celebration of a sacrifice

and the consecration of the temple to the c Chaste
Lady ' (Pattini Devi) at Vanji on the west coast.
The ascendancy of the Chera, however,, passed
away as already mentioned, to the Pandyas in the
course of one single generation. The Red-Chera
was succeeded by his son or successor, "the Chera
of the elephant look," who was his predecessor's
viceroy at Tondi, and figured prominently in his
wars'in the middle region. He was defeated and
taken prisoner in a battle, which he had to fight
with the contemporary Pandyan, designated the

1 Uptown's Mfthftvathfe, Vol. i. p 226.

Silappadhikftram, Canto 30, i. 160, apart from tbe prologue.

PINDYA HEGEMONY 67

victor at Talaiyalanganam. With this mishap to
the ruler the Chera ascendancy passes away.
The Pandyans of Madura take their turn now, and
continued to hold the position of hegemony up to
the time that the Pallavas rise into importance.
This, in brief and in very general terms, was the
political history of South India at the beginning
and during the early centuries of the Christian
era.

CHAPTER III

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON, GENERALLY
ONE OF HOSTILITY

Ceylon was known to the ancients perhaps as
early as South India itself, and Tamil literature
contains a few references earlier than that in
Buddhist tradition, which associate the island with
the story of the Ramayana. In one poem, 1 a
poet of the city of Madura who is known by the
name Kaguvan Mallanar, who was by profession
'an actor in the Tamil mode/ refers to the
ancient Kcxji (Kori of the classical geographers,
end of * the bridge * as the commentator renders
it) of the Kauriyar (Pandyas) where in the fore-
shore of the boisterous sea the warlike Rama held,
with his companions, a council under a big banian
tree, when by a mere look he put an end to the
noise that the birds were making on the tree.
This " Council of Rama" is apparently the
Council held for constructing the dam across the
sea to reach the Lanka of Ravana. There is
another reference in an early poet tTnpodi Pagum-
Kcxjaiyar in a poem, 2 celebrating the famous Chola
IJam-Set-Senni who destroyed Serup-P&li. The

* Aharn 70, 11. 18-16. ' Purairi.878.

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 69

reference there is to the abduction of Sita by
Havana, and the incident is brought in there for
a comparison to the wondering monkeys which
took up the jewels she dropped while she was being
carried across in the aerial car. Tbe next poem
of the same collection refers to Lanka as the terri-
tory of one Villi Adan. There are references in
the Silappadhikaram to three incidents of the
Ramayana. The first is Rama's going to the
forest at the command of the father (XIII. 11.
63-66). The next is to divine Rama having gone
to the forest at the command of the father and
being put to great sorrow owing to his separation
from his wife. (XIV. 1). 46-49). The third relates
to the going of Rama and his brother to the forest
and the destruction of well-fortified Lanka (XVII,
p. 401). There is a similar reference to the build-
ing of the bridge of Rama, alluding to materials
thrown in going to the bottom, in the Mani-
mekhalai (XVII, 11. 9-15). There is another
reference to the building of the harbour of Kumari
by monkeys in Canto V. 37.

It is clear from these stray references taken
along with that in Abam 70 already referred to,
that to the audience of these poets the story of the
Ramayana was familiar in minute detail. But
turning from Tamil classics to the Mahavamga,
the history of Buddhism in Ceylon, the first
occasion when Ceylon is brought into communica-
tion with this part of India is in connection with

70 CHAPTER 111

the occupation of the island by Vijaya and his
followers, passing over for the occasion the mythi-
cal references to the visits of the Buddha and his
predecessors to the island. According to the story
as incorporated in this chronicle and divesting the
story for the time being of the mythical colouring,
Vijaya was a prince of Bengal (Vanga). He was
the great-grandson of the king of Bengal by a
Kalinga princess whom he had married. His
mother the Bengal Princess was an amorous young
woman and was abandoned by the parents. She
joined a caravan travelling to the Magadha country,
apparently from Bengal. The caravan was attack-
ed in the Lata country by a lion which killed
several of the party and drove the rest. Among
those that escaped was the Bengal Princess who
ran away along the path the lion came by. When
the lion returned to its cave it discovered the
beautiful princess on the way and is said to have
been charmed, according to the story, by her good
looks. The result of the amorous daliance of the
lion with her was the twin birth of a boy and a
girl. After various adventures both the children
and the mother escaped from the guardianship of
the lion which was ultimately killed by the son.
In return for this good service the king of Bengal
gave his " lion-handed " grandson the kingdom,
having had no son. The grandson, however, made
it over to an uncle of his who had married his
mother and retired from there with his own

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 71

sister to the land of his birth. He there built
a city which he called Sihapura, (Sans. Simha-
pura), and cleared the forest round for a great
distance founding villages. This according to the
story was the kingdom (of Lata) where he ruled.
The sister-queen bore him 16 twins of whom he
designed the eldest for the succession. Finding
that he was an intolerably wicked young man the
king had to subject the prince and his friends to
the disgrace of being half-shaved and banished
from the kingdom. Vijaya, his companions, and
their wives and children were all put on board a
ship and sent upon the sea. In the course of the
voyage they got separated, probably in consequence
of a ship-wreck ; the children landed on an island
which the Mabavamsa calls Naggadipa (Sans.
Nagnadvlpa) the island of the naked, the women
landed in an island called Mahiladipaka (islet of
women), while Vijaya himself is said to have
landed at a haven called Supparaka. This last
place had been identified with Sopara on the west
coast of India as Vijaya is ordinarily taken to
have sailed from Lata or Gujarat. We shall
see presently that neither the one nor the other
is tenable on the material furnished by the story.
The Mahavam^a then introduces the prophecy
of the Buddha that the island of Lanka would be
occupied by Vijaya coming from the country of
La^a and to his direction to Sakka, Indra, to do
the needful, as through Vijaya, Buddha's religion

72 CHAPTER in

was going to be established in Ceylon. In the
course of this narration Ceylon receives both the
names Lanka and Tambapanni.

Vijaya came with 700 of his followers. He
was told by an ascetic whom he saw that the
island was called Lanka which was uninhabited.
Vijaya thereafter had to overcome the Yakshas in
the island and take posession of it completely.
The island where he first . landed from the ship
which carried him and his followers was called,
according to this story, Tambapanni (Sans.
Tamravarni), because on landing their hands and
feet which touched the ground became red with
the dust of the red-earth, and the city founded
on that spot was named therefore Tambapanni.
The whole island was named Slhala (San. Siriihaja)
from his name, Sibabahu (Sans. Siiiihabahu).
His followers went about founding villages here
and there in various parts of the island in the
northern portion of it, and got into some kind of
settlement. It was then that it was felt by
Vijaya that a mere body of men cannot make a
country. In order to obtain the necessary com-
plement of women-folk be sent a special embassy
to Madhura in Southern India asking for the hand
of a princess, daughter of the Pandya, who agreed
and sent along with the princess a number of
young women of the noble families and of the 18
guilds to go and colonise Ceylon and marry the
new settlers there. They all came across apparent-

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 73

ly by way of RSmeSvaram and landed in the port
of Ceylon, Mahatitha (Mantota) opposite the island
of Mannar almost where the railway line starts
in the island now. Thus was founded civilised
society in Ceylon. It is clear that the story
contains elements of history in it although the
historical elements are so covered over with myth
that it would be difficult to believe at first sight
that it contains anything historical at all. A close
examination of the story, however, will exhibit
that there are some elements of history un-
doubtedly in it. The story conveys the information
that the northern parts of the island of Ceylon
were colonised from Bengal, to be more accurate,
Gangetic Kalinga. That comes out clearly from
the story itself, and we find it confirmed from a
somewhat overlooked circumstance in the story
itself. The Bengal princess who was banished
from her father's capital joined a caravan going to
Magadha, which would mean, she left some town
in Bengal which might have been on either side of
the Ganges, and went along the road to Bihar.
If the story is to be taken as authority at all, it was
in the course of this journey that the caravan was
attacked by the lion, it may be an animal lion, or
more probably a tribe of wild people with a lio&
for th&r totem. The region where they were
attacked is called Lata. This has been apparently
,too readily equated with La$a (Gujarat) which also
becomes Lada in Tamil. It certainly would b$

10-1368B

74 CHAPTER III

far more reasonable to equate it with Eadha which
in the eastern Prakrit would appear Lfi<Jba, or by a
further modification Lala dha and la interchanging
Usually, The Asoka edicts give us authority for
this, as oftentimes the term "Raja" is in the
language of these parts represented by l " Laja"
and Rajjuka by Lajjuka. One of tha inscriptions
referable to the period of the Kushanas refers to a
district in this region as Radha. Mr. Bannerji*
identified this Radha, at least northern Radiha, with
Burdwan and the southern Radha, must be south
or south-west of it, in either case towards
Ealinga.

, Bjth the Bhagavati Sutra forming the fifth of
the Jain Angas and the AySranga Sutra contain
references to the meeting of Mabavira with the
ijlvaka M.ikkhali Gosala in Nalanda, and their
residence in Paniyabhumi together for six years.
This last place is said to have been in Vajjabbumi,
one of the two divisions of Ladha, which is des-
cribed as a forest country difficult to travel and
inhabited by rude people who sst their dogs upon
mendicants wandering in the country. 8

2 Vide Kalsi, DbsuU and Jaugada versions in Blmavatara Samoa's
Bdi'ion of the Aaoka Edicts.

1 B. D Baaoerjt* PiU Kiag of Bengal, pp. 71-75, Memoirs of
the Ben. A. 8. 9 V. 8.

> Fl the I;lTlca* by Mr. Biraa, pp. 57 sod 58 (C&lcutU Unir.

CONNECTION wrrfe CBYLON ?6

This location confirms what Tamil literature
has to say of Vajra-nacju already referred to as
being country in the basin of the river Sone.
Vajra-bhiimi and Svabhra-bhumi constituted two
division* on the basis obviously of the peculiar
geographical features. It must also be noted
that this part of the country contains many
other divisions up to the present time ending in
"bhumi," such as Manbhum, Singbhum, and
Birbhum.

In a subsequent part of the story Simhabahu
gave up the Bengal kingiom to his mother and
her cousin-husband, and took himself away to an
uninhabited region where he cleared a kingdom
for himself in the forest and settled with his
queen-sister to rule there, having founded the
capital Simhapura. On the basis of the story
therefore there was a kingdom known as the king-
dom of Lala which was on the high-road between
Bengal and Magadha where Simhabahu cleared
the forest of the savage tribes and constituted for
himself a kingdom with a capital Simhapura*
That this was either a part of Kalinga itself, or
not very far from the frontier of it, is in evidence
in both the Silippadhikarain, 1 and Manimekhalai, 2
which refer to a fatricidal war between two cousins
of Kalinga. They ruled respectively over two parts

* Canto 93,11. 138-168

* Canto 86, 11. 1&25.

76 CfcAfrTEfe III

of the kingdom with their capitals ' Singapuram '
(Sans. Simhapura) and Eapilai (Sans. Kapila).

The only detail which has to be satisfactorily
accounted for on this hypothesis is the islands
where the banished party, men, women, and
children respectively landed. Na^gadipa, where,
according to the story the children landed is cer-
tainly the Nakkavaram of the Tamils (the modern
Nicobars). Mahiladvipa may have to be looked
for among the innumerable islands in the same
region. The Ptolemaic name Maniolai is near
enough in sound to Mahila. The Suppara where
the man landed may be another island about the
same region, and for a guess Sabadeibai islands of
Ptolemy on the west coast of Sumatra might very
well answer the purpose. It is certainly matter
for great doubt whether Suppara of the West
coast ha* anything to recommend it for identifying
it with this place. As a matter of fact, if the
party set sail from the Gangetic region, it -must
have been very near Damlok at the mouth of the
Itupnarayan river, wherefrom other missions to
Ceylon started. For that region of Bengal
this port or somewhere near seems exactly the
starting point ; and then if they went adrift, they
must have gone towards this island region rather
than sail all the w$y round* The identification
with Suppara on the West coast of India became
possible, once Laja was equated with Gujarat for
whicb there is absolutely no warrant whatsoever

CONNECTION WI*H CEYLCM 77

in the tradition as embodied in the Mahavam^a.
Suppara would mean merely the good shore, the
shore that offered safe anchorage in a storm almost
like the Cape of Good Hope. Any place that
afforded a good landing might have been so named.
If the Mabavam^a story is to be accepted as con-
taining history, Laja will have to be Ra<Jha a
region of Kalinga (Bengal), and other places will
have to be looked for in the Bay of Bengal and
none whatsoever on the Arabian sea side of India.
Vijaya is said, in the story again, to have landed
in Ce>lon at a place which he named subsequently
Tambapanni where he laid the foundations of a
town. This ultimately gave one of the names to
the island itself. The whole party went in a ship
and the landing was effected by Vijaya with 700
men and no more. It would be difficult to iden-
tify the Ajanta painting which ordinarily goes by
this name with the landing as* described in the
Mahavam&t itself. What is to our purpose
here is that Vijaya had to find womenfolk for
himself and his companions from Madura* If
he came from Bengal or Kalinga, settled in the
island and entered into wholesale marriage rela-
tions with the Pfin<Jya country the
details of this narration work out
clear that the northern part
Ceylon, in fact the earlier
colonised partly from Bengal
Tamil country. What actually

CHAPtBR HI

Vijaya's occupation of Ceylon and in consequence
the migration from the Pandya country does not
rest upon so clear a foundation. The Mahavam^a
claims that Vijaya landed in Ceylon as the Buddha
was passing into Nirvana in the Nepal Tarai, and
according to the chronology of the Mahavam^a it
would be sometime in 544-43 B.C. But the extra-
ordinary length of the reigns of the immediate
successors of Vijaya make it suspicious that Vijaya's
landing took place so^early. It is likely that
it took place much later, but some time anterior
to the conversion of the Ceylon king to Buddhism
and the establishment of regular relationship
between Agoka and his contemporary Devanam-
piya Tissa. The edicts of Asoka mention the
name Tambapanni for Ceylon. Tambapanni is a
name unknown to the Tamils. It is certain there-
fore that the colonisation from Bengal came
in some time anterior to the period of ASoka,
may be at least about the time of his grand-
father Chandragupta Maurya when people in
Pataliputra had some knowledge even of distant
Madura. It is in connection with Vijaya that
the Pan4ya country first comes in contact with the
history of Ceylon.

On this occasion, however, the connection
it must be remembered, is entirely of a friendly
character* So far as the Mabavam^a or the
Dlpavam&i is concerned South India is not
Brought into contact again with Ceylon subee-

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 79

quently to Vijaya's coming, but it is stated that
when Vijaya died without leaving a successor he
had to direct his ministers to go for a successor
to his father to send in his stead his brother,
Sumitta (Sans. Sumitra) to be king. Before,
howeveri the embassy could arrive the father
bad died and the said Sumitra was actually
ruling; and this Sumitra had married a Madra
(Maddha) princess and had three sons by her.
He directed his younger son Pandu Vasudeva to
go and succeed the uncle in Ceylon. He reached
Ceylon with 32 followers and was much in the
same predicament for lack of a consort as Vijaya
himself. He looked about himself for a suitable
bride in the daughter of a Sakya chief who had
settled on the other side of the Ganges when the
whole clan was destroyed by the Magadha ruler.
He had a beautiful daughter by name Bhadda-
kaccana who was so warmly wooed by seven
princes that to save her and himself from their
importunities, the father sent her .with 32
' attendants on a ship down the Ganges. The
ship sailing safely arrived in Ceylon. Pancju
Vasudeva married her and made this princess his
queen. In course of time all of her brothers
followed excepting one t and they settled in
various localities in Ceylon and founded com-
munities of their own. It is by him that the
dynasty was founded and there was a continuous
succession of rulers, among whom was one who

80 CHAPTER III

** ,
* *

brought about the conversion of Cefton to
Buddhism. In this part of the story again the
indication is fairly clear that the emigrants came
from the region of the Ganges rather than from
anywhere near Gujarat,

During the period of rule of Devanfim-piya
Tissa embassies went backward and forward
several times and the connection indicated is with
the Gangetic delta naturally enough, and in all the
transactions in connection with the establishment
of Buddhism in Ceylon and all the doings of
Mahinda and Sangamitta in connection there-
with, there is no mention direct or indirect
with South India. Sangamitta / sailed straight
from the mouth of the Ganges and Mabinda came
up to Vidisa in eastern Malva ; and there-
from is supposed to have come by way of air.
Asoka himself is said to have sent Sangamitta
and the branch of the Bodhi tree down the
Ganges while he himself Ciime down to the port
of embarkation over the Vindbya mountains.
It is very doubtful if Mabinda's aerial passage
took him over the region of the Tamil country
at all. Except for this possibility there is no
mention of South India till we come to the year
177 B.C, according to the Mah&vamga. Dev5n8m-
piya Ti&sa died leaving three brothers to succeed
him one after the other and the period of their
rule covered about twenty years* At the end of
the third reign however, the administration had

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 81

so far* gone in ineptitude that two horse traders
from the Tamil country were able to overthrow
the ruling dynasty ; which part of the Tamil
country they came from is not stated. After
a reign of twenty-two years the usurpers were
overthrown by a member of the ruling family who
occupied the throne for a period of ten years.

It was after this that a Tamil of noble
descent came from the Chola country, seized the
kingdom and ruled for a period of forty-four years
' with even justice towards friend and foe on
occasions of dispute at law.' This Tamil chief
is named in the Mahavamga Elara, but is known
to Tamil tradition as Elela&ngam; but this
tradition however, tells us little that could be
brought into connection with the story as
told of him in this work. Some of the stories
recorded of him in the MahavamSa in regard
to his acts of extraordinary justice are, trace-
able in the accounts of the semi-mythical
Cholas. While confirming the Chola origin
of the chief, these do not lead us to any
definite kind of connection with any of the ruling
kings of the Chola dynasty so far as we know at
present. So much, however, seems clear from
the Mahavamsa itself that he continued through*
out bis long reign in the religion of his fathers
and did not adopt Buddhism even though in
regard to the Buddhists themselves he exhibited
the same beneficent liberality as to h|s

11 1863B

82 CHAPTER III

co-religionists. The Mahavam&t itself admits
of this heretic from their point of view, that
'only because he freed himself from the guilt
of .walking in the path of evil did this
(monarch), though he had not put aside false
beliefs, gain such miraculous power ' as to
regulate and control rain. The connection this
time is with the Chola country as is clear from
the account, and is admittedly of a hostile
character. The most powerful usurper who had
a comparatively long reign was a man who
continued to be other than Buddhist, and has
evoked the admiration of the hostile witnesses to
his equitable rule. The description in circum-
stantial detail of the war between the usurper
Elara and Duttbagamani gives one a feeling that
the event is of a historical character. The
hostility thus started between the Tamils of the
Chola country, wbich for some reason or other
appears to have been nearest for this purpose,
and the Ceylonese of northern Ceylon, continued
permanently ever afterwards, so much so that
this hostility had become more or less the normal
relation between the two Kingdoms.

In the consecration of the "great Vihara,"
it was already pointed out, the Tamil country
proper look no part. None of the localities from
which representatives came to take part in the
consecration, with the doubtful exception of
the representative from Mabishaaian^ala, is it

CONNfcCWOtf WITH CfiYLON 83

possible to locate in the Tamil country. It is
impossible to refer this Mahisbamandala to the
Mysore territory to which there are a number of
references in early Tamil literature from which
I have drawn so largely. None of the references
however, gives us even a hint that the country
was Buddhist, or that there was a Buddhist
establishment in it. It seems likely that the
Mahishamandala from which Buddhist repre-
sentatives did come was the Mahishamandala
dominated by MahishmatI on the Narbada, the
country of the Mahishakas round Mandhata (an
island in the Narbada river). The hostility,
therefore, between the Hindu Tamils and Buddhist
Ceylon that is inferable gets indirectly supported
by this significant omission.

The next time that Ceylon comes into con-
nection with the Tamils is under the rule of
Vattagamani about 44 B. C. In his reign there
was a rebellion set up by a Brahman by name
Tissa, who, according to the Buddhist account,
instigated by the prediction of an astrologer set
up in rebellion against the newly installed King
Vattagamani. At the same time seven Tamil
chieftains landed at Mabatitha (Mantota) with
their troops apparently in alliance with the rebel
Tissa. Vattagamani skilfully appealed to the
Brahman by telling him that the kingdom was
already his and that he might exert himself
to get the Tamils out. The Tamils easily won

84 CHAPTER nt

a victory against the Brahman first, and then
attacked the king himself and defeated him in
a battle near Kolambalaka. For fourteen
years afterwards the king remained in exile.
During this period five Tamils ruled one after
the other, the remaining two having gone
back with such booty as they could lay hold
of, one of them carrying Somadevi the queen,
and the other the Buddha's alms-bowl, from
Anuradhapura. One Tamil chief by name
Pulahattha reigned for three years ; bis com-
manderrin-chief Bahiya after killing him, ruled
for two years. Bahiya was succeeded in his turn
by his commander-in-chief who slew his master.
The succession passed on to Pilayamaraka
and from him to Dathika. After fourteen
years and seven months of exile Vat$agamani
was able to overcome the last Tamil usurper
Dathika and entered his capital again. His
great work was the construction of the Abhayagiri
Vihara after having destroyed a Jain arama
(park or garden). He is said to have brought
back his queen Somadevi from the Tamil country
and restored her to her position as queen. He
built in her honour the Manisoma-arama, In
these doings of Va(tagamani Abbaya the Tamils
again came into contact with him as enemies,
having come apparently in support of the Brahman
usurper and ending in usurping the kingdom for a
period of nearly fifteen years.

COtftfECTION Wltfl CEYLON 8l>

After the death of Vat^agamani two successors
followed, the second of whom was Vattagamani's
son Choranaga, He was followed by Tissa.
Choranaga made himself unpopular with the
Buddhists by destroying a number of their
monasteries which refused him asylum while he
was a fugitive rebel. His queen murdered
him and set up a changing succession of her
lovers on the throne, among whom was a Tamil
by name Vatuka who occupied the position of a
city carpenter. Another of this infamous queen's
lover was also a person named Niliya, a Brahman
palace priest as he is described, who had a short
reign of about six months. She changed her mind
and got rid of him as she did the others before
him. These Tamils apparently were people
who had settled in Ceylon, and their connection
with the throne does not bring Ceylon into any
connection with the Tamil country. Then
we pass over a succession of rulers whose
doings do not bring them into connection
with the Tamil country till we come to the
reign of Chan<Jamukha-Siva who ruled from
A. D. 101-110. His queen was named Damila-
devi. Whether she was a princess from any of
the Tamil countries in the neighbourhood is
not made clear. ChamJamukha-Siva was assassi-
nated by his younger brother, Tissa by name,
who ruled for a period of about eight years. He
indulged a fancy of his by, setting on the throne

86 CHAFER m

a gate watchman who (looked like him and
enjoyed the joke from his place as a watchman
instead, when his courtiers in succession made
their obeisance to the watchman on the throne.
The watchman took advantage of this unseemly
conduct of the king in the watchman's guise,
and ordered his being to death for such conduct.
The rule of the gate watchman apparently
became unpopular and a person named Vasabha
of the Lambakanna race, and belonging to tlje
northern provinces of Ceylon, apparently
Jaffna, set up a rebellion and overthrowing
Vasabha in battle occupied the throne for the
long period of 42 years. From the term Latnba-
kanna designating the class of people to whom
this ruler belonged, it seems as though the
Lambakanna rulers were Tamils as well. Lamba-
karna means merely pendant ear. Whether
that name was given to them because of the
physical deformity, though brought about
artificially, of ears lengthened by making big holes
in the lobes seems just possible. In the later
period of the history of Ceylon and even of the
Pa$<Jya country these Lambakarnas play an impor-
tant part, and a number of chieftains in the
present-day district of Bamnad are described as
Lambakannas in the Ceylonese account, They
had a specific function to discharge on occasions of
royal coronation though what exactly the function
was is not made clear. A Lambakann&dhura,

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 87

apparently the chief of the Lambakannas, along
with a number of chiefs of that class, was sent by
the victorious Ceylon general Lankapura to officiate
at the coronation of a Pandya King in the twelfth
century. If they belonged to the community of
chieftains in that part of the district which is
peculiarly the district of the so-called Nat^uko^tai
Chetties, the term Lambakanna may well apply to
them. The Lambakanua usurpation, therefore,
would mean the usurpation by the warriors of the
Lambakanna race who must have formed a
recognised part of the military forces of the state
of Anuradhapura in Ceylon. This ruler is des-
cribed in the Mahavam&t as having been a parti-
cularly pious monarch, who anxious to extend the
short life that was predicted for him, did make
very large donations to the Buddhist priests and
institutions ; and earned the grateful encomiums of
this class of people. This Lambakanna chief was
succeeded by his son for a short term of three
years ; and his son Gajabahuka Gamani, or more
briefly Gajabahu, succeeded to the throne. His
rule, according to Geiger's. chronology, beginning
in 483 B.C. lasted from A.D. 171 to A.D. 193.
The MahavamSa itself has very little to say of him
except that he built a Vihara in honour of his
mother and a stupa. He is also given credit for
having constructed a tank and a few other minor
works of merit to the Buddhist shrines. His
reign is 1 however, of great importance in South

88 CHAPTER m

Indian History as be was the ruler of Ceylon who
was present at the completion of the ceremony of
the institution of the temple to Pattini-Devi in
the Chera capital of Vanji. The Silappadhi-
karam refers to him definitely as among the kings
who were present, along with others, on the occa-
sion ; the other rulers mentioned being tbe Aryan
princes who were just released from prison, other
Kings who were similarly set at liberty, tbe rulers
of Western Kongu, the kings of Malva, and king
Gajababu of -Lanka* ' surrounded by the sea.' All
of them prayed that the goddess might honour
their territory as she did that of the Chera, which
was answered by a voice from the air proclaiming
assent. 1

This is in a way confirmed by a statement
prefixed to the work either by the author himself
or more likely by the author's friend or preceptor
or disciple, who usually write the introduction t0
tbe poem. The statement in this part follows that
in the body of the work, and states that these
temples were built in the Chola, Pandya, Kongu
and Lanka, and duly consecrated as a mease of
expiation for the suffering to which, at any rate,
the Pandya country was subjected as a result of tfie
miscarriage of justice which constituted the seed
of the tragedy. The statement in the text is a
prayer, and the statement in the preface is a record
of the accomplishment of all that was prayed for ;

* Silappadhikftram, Canto 30, 11. 151-64.

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 89

but the statement in the text itself is very clear
and leaves no doubt as to the contemporaneity of
the '"Bed-Chera ' with Gajab&hu of Ceylon. The
introduction of the supernatural in the poem leads
some scholars to doubt the historicity of several of
its statements. These scholars forget that the
author was a younger brother of this self -same
Chera. He refers more than once to the contem-
porary poet, his own friend and a much valued
friend of his elder brother the king, Sattan, the
author of the companion work Manimekhalai,
apart from the reference in the introduction to both
the works. As a kavya the two works together
constitute one, as otherwise this work alone would
deal with only the first three of ' the four ends of
life ' (chatur-vida-purushartha). If Gajabahu then
went as far out as the court of the Chera and
constructed a temple to Pattini-devi why does not
the Mahavam&t say so ? The Mahavaih&t is essen-
tially a history of Buddhism in Ceylon, and not a
secular history of Ceylon. It deals with those
kings of Ceylon whose benefactions to Bud-
dhism were the greatest, and passes over
those with rare exceptions, who were not Bud-
dhists . with comparatively short notice. The
establishment of the temple to Pattini-devi would
go just against the grain of Buddhist tradition, and
the Buddhist priests of the Mabavi^ara, therefore,
apparently felt disinclined to record this particular
incident. There are other histories of Ceylon

131368B

99 CHAPTER III

however, which have much more to say of this
Gajabahu. They ascribe to him an invasion of the
Chola country for the recovery of a large number
of the Ceylonese who were taken prisoners and
who were detailed for work at the city of Kaveri
in the country of Soli,' which apparently means
they were set to work as prisoners in the city of
Kaveri pa ttanam, the Cbola capital. He is said to
have taken back some of the Buddha relics and
Buddha's begging-bowl which, according to this
account, was carried away before his time. We
know from tradition on this side of the channel that
the great Cbola Karikala it was that constructed, or
vastly enlarged the Chola capital Puhar or Kaveri-
pat$anam. We have noted already that one of the
Tamil usurpers among the seven carried away * the
alms-bowl of the master endowed with the ten
miraculous powers ' that was in Anuradbapuram
in the period B.C. 44-29, according to Geiger's
chronology. One of these other accounts of
Ceylon actually does state that the King of Ceylon
on that occasion brought away the ' foot orna-
ments of Pattini-devi ' and also the four arms of
the gods. Thus the evidence on both sides seems
inevitably to lead to the conclusion that it was
Gajabahu I of Ceylon that came into connection
with the Tamil country. 1

* For fuller reference in regard to thi particular incident aee
pp. 368 B67 of my "Ancient India. " Tbe Rajftvtjfya traniUted bj

OONtfECflON WltH CfiTtOK &1

/

We have a -date for Gajabahu whicfr we have
not for the others. On the basis of the date of
Buddha's nirvana being 544-43, the Ceylon
dating for Gajabahu would be 112-32 ; with 483
B.C, for the Buddha's nirvana, the date in
Christian era would be 171-93. Overlooking for
the moment the discrepancy of 60 years, Gajabahu
and his contemporaries must be placed in the
middle of the second century A. D. which is
exactly the conclusion to which we have arrived
without this specific chronological datum.
Gajabahu's relations with India as is clear from
the above account was of a friendly character.
He appears to have been one of those monarchs
who like the monarchs of India in general
patronised all religions alike, and this latitudi-
narianism of the monarch was not quite
approved of by the monkish chroniclers of the
Mahavihara, on whose accounts the Maha-
variiSa is professedly based. The omission in
the Mahavamga proper of the details regarding
the temple to Pattini-devi is perfectly natural from
the point of view of the orthodox Buddhists,
but that is no evidence that that incident is not
historical.

The following extracts from the Eajavajiya
contains a fuller account of Gajabahu' s doings 1
which it would be interesting to note here :

1 Edq, by B. Gu^uttbara, Colombo, pp. 47-48. s

III

%

r His son King Bapa, surnamed Vaanesi or
King (1) Vannesinambapa, (2) Sinnanambapa,
reigned 3 years. During his reign the king of the
Soli country landed on this islanj} with an army
of Tamils and carried away 12,000 prisoners/

? Gajaba, son of King Bapa Vannesi, suc-
ceeded to the throne. One night, when walking
in the city, he heard a widow weeping because
the king of Soli had carried away her children.
He said within himself "some wrong has been
done in this city," and having marked the door
of her house with chalk, returned to his palace.
In the morning he called his ministers and in-
quired of them what (they knew of any) acts
of justice or injustice in the city. Thereupon
they replied, ' Great King, it is like a wedding
house/ The King, being wroth with his minis-
ters, sent for the woman the door of whose house
he had marked with chalk and asked her (why
she wept). The poor woman replied, " I wept
because among the 12,000 persons taken captive
by the Soli king were my two sons." On hearing
these words the king expressed anger against his
royal father^ and, saying " I will go to-morrow
and to the Soli country," assembled an army
and went to Yapapatuna, 1 thinking " I will
(myself) bring back the people forcibly carried
off by the king of Soli/ 9 and having declared it

, modem Jftffa*.

tf WlTti CEYLON

openly, he dismissed the army. Taking the giant
Nila with him he went and struck the sea with an
iron mace, divided the waters in twain, and
going quietly on arrived at the Soli capital,
struck terror into the king of Soli, and seated
himself on the throne like King Sak ; whilst
the giant Nila seized the elephants in the
city and killed them by striking one against
another.

' The ministers informed the king of Soli
of the devastation of the city thus being made.
Thereupon he inquired of Gajaba, " is the
Sinhalese host come to destroy this city/'
Gajaba replied " I have a little boy who
accompanied me; there is no army," and
caused the giant Nila to be brought and
made to stand by his side. Thereupon the king
of Soli asked " why has your Majesty come
alone without an army?" Gajaba replied, "I
have come in order to take back the 12,000
persons whom your royal father brought here as
prisoners in the time of my father.'* To this
the king of Soli saying, " a king of our family it
was who, in times past, went to the city of the
gods and gained victory in the war with the
f Asura8," refused to send for and deliver the
men. Then Gajaba grew wroth and said ^forth-
with restore my 12,000 people, giving 12,000
more besides them ; else will I destroy this city
and reduce it to ashes/ 9 Having said this, he

$4 CHAPTER 111

squeezed out water from] sand and showed it;
squeezed water from his iron mace and showed
that. Having in this way intimidated the king of
Soli, he received the original number supplemented
by an equal number of men as interest making
24,000 persons in all. He also took away the
jewelled anklets of the goddess Pattini and the
insignia of the gods of the four devala, and also
the bowl-relic uhich had been carried off in the
time of king Valagamba ; and admonishing the
king not to act thus in future.

On his arrival he landed the captives, sent
each captive who owned ancestral property to his
inherited estate and caused the supernumerary
captives to be distributed over and to settle in
these countries, viz., Alutkuruwa, Sarasiyapattuwa,
Yatinuwara, Udunuwara, Tupane, Hewahata,
Dansiya, Pattuwa, Egoda Tiba and Magada Tiha.
This king reigned 24 years and went to the world
of the gods."

There is an interesting reference to a famine
in the short reign of Kunchanaga of two years.
This would correspond under the Geiger scheme
to the years A.D. 243-44, but under the scheme
of Ceylon chronology beginning B.C. 543, it would
be A.D. 183-84. This latter dating would bring
it close to the date of a great famine in the Pan<Jya
country which figures in traditions concerning the
history of Tamil Jiterature. The famine in Ceylon
is called Eka-Nftlika famine, which means, under

CONNECTION. WITH CEYLON 95

the ordinary acceptation of similar expressions,
that the staple grain, apparently rice, was
sold at one NdUka (one-eighth of the standard
measure) for each main unit of currency. The
next reign of importance itf this religious history of
Ceylon, which brings Ceylon into connection with
India is that of a Tissa known generally by his
surname Voharika-Tissa, the adjunct Voharika is
the Pali form of Vyavaharika meaning, ' know*
ing the law because he put an end to physical
injury as a penalty under law.' His reign
is of importance in this particular connection
as it was then for the first time that the heretical
sect of the Buddhists following the Vetulya 1
doctrine is said to have assumed importance in
the island. This heresy under Voharika Tissa
was suppressed by the king by means of a minister
of his named Kapila. The king is said to have
followed the orthodox doctrine as a result
of the discourses of the tfcera-De\a who was a
resident of Kambugama. This heresy of the
Vetulya is said to have originated in AJB. 752,
the equivalent of A.D. 209 in the first year of
the reign of Voharika Tissa, according to Tumour
the translator of the Mahavamga ; the peculiarity
of the doctrine of these heretics consisted in
regarding (1) the Buddha as a supernatural
being, and (2) the doctrine (Dharma) as having

1 Kera'i Indian Buddhism , pp. 121-126,

96 * CHAPTER ni

been preached not by the Buddha himself but by
JLnanda his chief disciple. 1 This seems to give us
a clear indication of the connection between this
school of Buddhism and the school of Bhakti in
Hinduism, thus apparently harmonising somewhat
with this rising school of Hindu thought, such
harmonising being one of the special features of
Mahayana Buddhism. TaranStha makes a state-
ment of value in this connection as, according to
him, Nagarjuna's preceptor, the Brahman Rahula-
Bhadra, the Mahayanist, is said to have been
' much indebted to sage Krishna, and still more
to Gane6a.' This would ordinarily mean no more
than that Mahayanism was indebted to special
schools of Bhakti, both Vaishnava and Saiva,
rather more to the latter than to the former.
What minister Eapila did for suppressing this
heresy we are not told. What exactly was the
occasion that called for any special preaching on

1 I-tsing's Record, p. 14. Takakasu's Trine,

" Both (Mahayftniats and Hioayftnists adopt one and the same dig-
cipline (Vinaya), and they have in common the prohibition of the five
tkandhat (groups of offences), and also the practice of the " Fdu& Noble
Truths."

" Those who worship the Bodhisattvas and read the Mabiyana Sutras
are called Mahay Joists (the great), while those who do not perform these
are called the Hinayftnisfcs (the small). There are but two kinds of the
00*11*4 Hahsjftna. First the Mftdhyamika; second the Ydga. The
former profess that which is commonly called existence it in reality non-
existence and every object is bat an empty show, like an illusion;
whereai the latter affirm that there exist no other things in reality, but
only inward thought!, and all thcjif exist only in the mind (lit. all things
swbtrt one mind),'* Ir

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON T

the part of the Thera Deva we are left in equal
darkness about ; but so much is clear that the
Vetulya heresy had assumed such importance and
had apparently shown itself to be so aggressive
that the attention of even the judicially-minded
monarch was called for, for * keeping it under
control. If the date 209 A.D. could be regarded
as the correct equivalent, it will lead us a long
way towards settling the date of Nagarjuna.
The Deva who discoursed effectively to .this
Voharika Tissa and kept him in orthodoxy, it
'is very probable, was the rival of Nagarjuna,
who could not have lived very long anterior to this
actual date. The importance of the connection
between the coast region of India and Ceylon will
appear later. The successor of this monarch
became a fugitive from the country as a result of
an intrigue of his brother with the queen, and
was sometime resident in the Tamil country. He
returned from there at the head of a Tamil army
and overthrowing his brother ruled as monarch.
He was succeeded on his death by his elde?
brother's son who ruled for another two year*
followed by a short reign of one year of his SOB.
Then there was a Lambakanna usurpation by threi
officers of this race. There is record of another
famine in the reign of Sri SanghaboShi of two
years, A.D. 300-302 under the Geiger scheme*
He was followed by the third of the Lambakannaa
Abhaya by name, who^n known otherwise at

96 CHAPTER U

G-othahaya or MeghavannSbhaya who bad a reign
of 13 years* There is a story regarding the last
days of this Abhaya's predecessor which resembles
the story of the Tamil patron Kumana and his
younger brother, and which is recorded in poems
158-65 of Purananfiru. In either case the story
has reference to a prize put upon the head of a
fugitive. In either case likewise, the fugitive
offered to take off, and actually took off, his own
head to gratify a friend by enabling him to get the
prize* In this Abhaya's reign the Vetulya heresy
comes into great prominence. He is said to have
suppressed the heresy which had found great
strength in the community of the Abhayagiri-
Vihara, and had to exclude from the community
60 of the heretical priests who went to the
opposite shore of the continent and found asylum
there. A Bhikshu by name Sangamitta in the
Chola country attached himself to one of these
excommunicated priests and came to Ceylon
with a bitter hatred of the orthodox community
of the Mahavihara. He is said to have been an
expert in the exorcism of spirits and such other
black-art. Having defeated one of the chief
monks of the Tuparama, apparently of the
orthodox school, he attracted the attention of the
monarch and rose so high in his favour as to be
eventually appointed tutor to the sons of the
king, Gotbabhaya's eldest son Jefta-Tissa when
be succeeded set up a persecution of such of

CONNECTION WITH CEYLON 99

the heretical ministers as would not take their
place in the funeral processioq of his late father.
Fearing for his own life the chief heretic teacher
Sangamitta had to go back to his country and
await the accession to the throne of his other
pupil Mahasena, the younger of the two sons of
Go^habhaya. At the death of the elder brother
the heretical thSra Sangamitta came back to
Ceylon for the purpose of the consecration cere-
mony of the young ruler. At his instigation
the orthodox community of the Mahavihara
got to be so far thrown into neglect that they
abandoned the Vihara and left it vacant for
a period of nine years. The Vihara and its
properties were appropriated by the state as
unclaimed property. This persecution of the
orthodox community led on to the proportionate
rise of the community of the Abhayagiri-Vihara
into importance chiefly through the instrument-
ality of the them Sangamitta and minister Sona. 1

The orthodox minister by name Meghavan-
nabhaya set up in rebellion, and, on the field of
battle, made it up with the monarch and came <
to an understanding with him. In the mean-
while Sangamitta and Sona were put to death
through one of the King's wives who was an
orthodox devotee of the Mahavihara* One of

t'.

1 This is briefly alluded to in the DTpavazhfo at well Verses 66-76*.
The names of these two are some what altered in shape; Sangamitt*
it referred to M Dummitto and minister Sona a* Ppa-8ona. ' ' ' ' ''

100 CHAPTER III

the great offences that Mahasena gave to the
orthodox community seems to have been the
setting up of numbers of images of the Buddha
and the building of regular temples for them f
the Mahayanist practice apparently. This time
he must have set up the images of the Buddha
within the Mahavihara itself at the instigation
of another priest Tissa. This heretical temple
in the near proximity of the Mahavihara was
Otlled Jotivana-Vibara in the garden called Joti.
This action caused the vacating of the Maha-
vihara for some time, and the matter was settled
actually in favour of the orthodox community
by the high judicial minister in spite of
the wishes of the king to the contrary. The
king is also said to have founded three other
Viharas destroying the temples of the Brahma-
nical gods. When this king Mahasena died the
Mabavihara of the orthodox community and that
of the Abhayagiri occupied positions practically
of equal strength and uncompromising rivalry,
so much so that the Chronicler closes the ac-
count of him with the following statement : " thus
this monarch Mabasena by his connection with
ill-disposed persons having performed, during
the whole course of his existence, acts of piety
and impiety, his destiny (after his death) was
great to his merits." The inference from this
statement is clear, namely, that Mahasena
whatever his own private predilections (which

WITH OBtfiON lOl

apparently inclined towards the heretical) let
the two sections grow side by side, and perhaps
even ceased to exhibit any special favour to the
community of the Mahavihara. This attitude
was naturally unacceptable to the orthodox com-
munity of the Mahavihara whose account actually
constitutes the Mahavamga.

CHAPTER IV

SOUTH INDIA, THE SEAT OF ORTHODOX HINDUISM

This brings us to the year A. B. 808 to 835
equal to A. D. 325-352 according to the Geiger
scheme or 60 years less on the basis of 543 for
A. B. JL So up to the commencement of the fourth
century the actual connection between Ceylon
and South India may be described as one of
hostility, often political^ but always to a certain
degree religious in the sense that Buddhism
which commanded the most influential clientele
in Ceylon did not command the support, or gain
even the sympathy, of the Tamils who came into
occupation of Ceylon from across the sea. We
have already noticed that the religious condition
of South India was one of complete freedom.
From such evidence as is available to us, there
were Buddhists and Jains pursuing peacefully
each sect its own particular persuasion though
it undoubtedly seems that Hinduism was the
dominant religion. In the headquarters of the
Chola Kingdom as well as of the Pandya, of
both of which we get elaborate descriptions in
works written by Buddhist, Jain and Hindu,
we find all of these co-existing^ so much so that
it Would deem ordinarily to be difficult to infer

THE SEAT OF ORTHODOX HINDUISM 103

what exactly was the particular leaning of the
monarch for the time being. The Vaidik learn-
ing which was held in high esteem and of
which we gain glimpses even in the writings of
authors professing religions hostile to the claims
of the Veda seems, on the evidence of the poem
irom Purananuru quoted above, specially organis-
ed here for controverting what was regarded
by this school as the false learning of those
who ceased to hold the Veda in the highest esteem.
That is not all. Puram 166 quoted above tran-
slates (II. 1-10) : " Hail 1 descendant of a family
of first among wise men who enjoy the reputa-
tion of having perfected without defect the
twenty-one kinds of sacrifice ; who were learned
in the ancient Veda which is habitually much
cultivated and which is unceasingly in the
tongue of the venerable Siva of long-matted
locks ; which has for its sole object Dharma
which is four-footed and learnt, with the aid of
the six auxiliary sciences, with a view chiefly
to controvert with success the truth-like convic^
tions of those whose persuasions lie outside the
Veda, and to put a stop to their increase by im-
posing upon people ; understanding the actual
truth of these seemingly true^ convictions, these
ancestors of yours succeeded in exposing their
hollowness and thus prevented their increase.
01 such distinguished ancestry have you come
-: world.'*. ,

404 CHAPTER IV

Whether the stimulus actually came from
the north or no, there is nothing in the evidence
for an inference either way ; but Brahmanism
in the Tamil country took the same development
that it did take according to Sir B. G. Bhan-
darkar, in the orthodox middle country of Hindu-
stan. We see already the coming into promi-
nence of the cult of particular gods such as Siva,
Vishnu or Krishna, etc. The four gods, Siva,
Baladeva, Krishna and Subrahmanya referred
to already as having been regarded as the guid-
ing divinities of the world on the authority of
a poem by Nakkirar are the divinities whose
temples the Silappadbikaram describes as having
existed in Madura and even Kaveripattanam.
It may be that the existence of the temples
of a prominent character to these four in
Madura was the reason for Nakklrar's convic-
tion in the poem quoted above. We have
already pointed out the importance that was
attached, in the prevalent Hinduism of this
part of the country, to sacrifices such as
the Buddhists and even the Jains condemned.
In the society of Tamil India of those days the
Brahman found the celebration of these sacri-
fices normally allotted to him. The function
tod the celebrant alike came to be treated with
great honour by the community as a whole as
benefactors of society. While, therefore, it would
be safe to assert that the heterodox sects of the

THB SEAT OP ORTHODOX HINDUISM 105

Buddhists and Jains were allowed to prosper
peacefully and tbere was no persecution in the
country, it would still, on the evidence available,
bear assertion that the orthodox Hinduism was
the religion of the south. This Hinduism had
already undergone a certain degree of modifica-
tion towards subordinating the purely ritualistic
part of the Brahmanic religion by a very strong
infusion of the devotional element in it. While
the Brahman was -expected rigorously to con-
form to bis duties as the sacrificer for the com-
munity, the rest of the community could look
forward,, in the security that 'the Brahman was
discharging his duties to the community as a
whole, to the attainment of earthly prosperity
here in this world and salvation in the next
by the comparatively easier method of devotion,
each to the god of his heart. The notion of
god and that of a ministering priest to stand
between God and individual man had already
come into relief! This peculiar feature of devotion
to God under the right guidance of a preceptor
is a feature peculiar to Bhakti on the one aide
and to the development of Buddhism of the
Mah&yHna form in its more abstruse aspect on
the other. This feature seems to have been
the peculiar feature of the heterodox VStulya
followers (of the Abhayagiri Vihara) of Buddhism
itself* and be it noted it is a development of
Buddhism which as noticed by the Ceylon

106 CHAPTER IV

Buddhists is peculiar to the continental part
set over against their own coast ; in other words,
the Tamil country and the region adjoining.
It would seem, therefore, as though the school
of Bhakti and the Vetnlya heresy of Buddhism
alike were the developments of Brahmanism and
Buddhism respectively as a result of the same or
similar influences. If Nagarjuna's association
with Sri-Sailam should turn out to be historical,
and, if he were the contemporary of Arya Deva 1
it is quite likely that Nagarjuna's responsibility
for this feature of -Mabayana Buddhism is
easily understandable, irya Deva, the rival of
Nagarjuna, seems the same as Deva who preached
the Ceylon Voharika-Tissa into orthodoxy. The
term irya may after all mean in that particular
connection no more than &charya. l

At the end of this first stage of our enquiry
into the history of Brahmanism in South India
we have come to this state of things before the
rise of 'the Pallavas in the south! Brahmanism
of the Vedic' character came from the north and
established ready superiority over such indigenous
systems of religion as existed, if these could
be called systems at all. The Brahraans that
came in small colonies must have been compara-
tively few in point of number, but impressed

* The Mahavamift baa a reference to reading on particular
occaaio&f, of what if called Irya-Vajfoda, i.e., a tort of an IcBlrya-
t&mfi& which wtf being publicly j*a4 on itated occaiiom.

THE SEAT OF ORTHODOX HINDUISM 107

the whole society by a certain degree of austere
simplicity and of loyal discharge of their duty to
the community which involved a sacrifice of all
their time and energy in the doing. The system
of ritual they brought with them was very compli-
cated and required more or less complete detach-
ment for performance. They did perform this
duty, and there was a widespread notion that the
performance of the sacrifice and the maintenance
of the holy fire were essential to the prosperity of
the community. Hence it was enjoined upon him
as a duty that he owed to the community to do
this laborious and troublesome task faithfully.
Bemissness in detail, or failure in the performance,
either of them involved some kind of calamitous
visitation for society, and his service, therefore, was
regarded as of peculiar value to the community.
Thus we see bow he came to the first two of his
duties, the performance of sacrifice, and getting
others to enable performing such.

Learning got associated with the Brahman
probably from the days of the Big Veda itself. At
any rate in the next stage of development when
the hymns got to have a ritualistic significance a
class had necessarily to be detailed for the preser-
vation of this learning. While therefore learningi
even holy learning, was the common property of
alltfce twice-born, its development and growth
naturally required a special section* of tfce
community to be set apart for the pursuit of it^

108 CHAPTER IV

and either that community became Brahman or
the Brahman took up that duty along with the
one already described. Thus by a process almost
of natural selection he became the custodian of
learning. Not content merely with being the
custodian he added the important function of dis-
pensing this learning, so that he became not
merely the special student who learnt all that was
worth learning at the time, but he also regarded it
as his duty to hand down the torch of learning
undiminished, if not improved and extended. This
brings us to the other two of his functions in the
Tamil country, learning and teaching. This double
function gave him, as it were, the natural right to
be the authority for consultation and guidance in
matters relating to conduct in society. It was not
merely teaching of book-learning that he took upon
himself t but the far more serious duty of ' perfect-
ing the people ' (janapakvata). This ' perfecting of
the people* which, in more modern language
would mean civilizing the people, involved in the
peculiar circumstances of the times the free gift of
education and the free acceptance of rewards
therefor. One was not to teach for fees but
having been taught there was the moral obligation
on the part of the taught to contribute his mite
to the continued maintenance of the beneficent
office. It was not merely an obligation on the
part of the taught, but became gradually to be
Jelt ** an extended obligation upon the whole of

SEAT OF ORTHODOX HINDUISM 109

t

the society. Those who were capable of being
taught should have the opportunity to teach
themselves, and thus arose the obligation to
'maintain the Brahman on the part of society.
That brings us to the third pair of his functions,
the giving and the receiving in gift. He taught
freely and laboured hard to elevate society. The
people gave freely and maintained him in comfort
in order that he may pursue the good work
untrammelled by considerations as to his mainte-
nance. We thus find that the duties specially
allotted to the Brahman and the privileges to
which he became specially entitled were both
alike the natural development of his position in
society and the function that he allotted to himself.
The following passage from the Satapatha Brah-
mana puts the whole of his duties and responsibili-
ties in a nut-shell :

* The study and teaching (of the Veda) are a source of
pleasure to him, he becomes ready-minded, and indepen-
dent of others ; and day by day, he acquires wealth. He
sleeps peacefully; he is the best physician for himself; and
(peculiar) to him are the restraint of the senses, delight on
the one hand, growth of intelligence, fame and the
task of perfecting people. The growing of intelligence
gives rise to four duties attaching to the Brahmanas
Brahmanical descent, a befitting deportment, fame and the
perfecting of the people ; and the people that are being
perfected guard the Brahman by four duties by (showing
"him) respect and liberality, and by (granting him) security
against oppression and security Against capital punishment.*

llO CHAPTER IV

Much the same idea is conveyed in a far more
simple way when the Tamil poet speaks of a roya
family as the one which had never known to dc
anything that would cause pain, of mind to a
Brahman.

On Brahmanism so constituted came to bear
new influences for the rudiments of which we
have to go back to times much earlier, and that
influence is the rising cult of Bhakti. Bhakti
involves the notion of a personal God who inter-
venes in the affairs of man for the benefit of huma-
nity. We can see the emergence of the notion of
the personal God in the Satapatha Brahmana 1
itself in the striding Vishnu. This theistic notion
of personal God and of service to him comes in its
further development to be known as Bhakti. This
was the orthodox answer to the rising of agnostic
cults of Buddhism and Jainism, and in its further
development it influenced both Brahmanism and
Buddhism vitally as we saw. The modification of
orthodox Brahmanism of the Vedic kind by the
influence of this new and still orthodox cult of
Bhakti we shall trace in the next section.

l I. 6, 8, 14 and L 9, 3, 10. Also K0i Up. I. 8, 9 sad MtoNiool't
Indian Thdwn, p. 81. *

CHAPTEB V
Trie SCHOOL OF BHAKTI

A tbeistic system of Bhakti consists in the
worship of a personal God who is the Creator
and Lord of the Universe. Devotion to him
by unremitting service is the best way to the
attainment of salvation or release from the ever-
recurring cycle of births and deaths. As such
it becomes recognisable as a system in the age
of religious ferment of the Upanishads. The
natural development of this religious ferment led
to the rising of Buddhism and Jainism in the
east. A more legitimate and orthodox system
also grew simultaneously in the home of orthodoxy
in the middle country of Hinduism. This system
is represented both in the Narayaniya section of
the Mababharata as well as in the Bhagavat Gita.
Both of these Sir B. G. Bhandarkar traces to a
period anterior to the rise even of Buddhism and
Jainism, but not in an organised form. He would
regard the Gita as a system which came into
existence as a protest against the atheistic systems
which resulted from the intellectual ferment
of the age of the Upanishads. The following is
Sir E. Gr. Bhandarkar 's summary of the position :
' The state of things which must have led to the
evolution of the religion of the Gjta seems to me

112 CHAPTER V

to be this. About the time when the systems of
religion we have been considering arose, there
was a tendency amongst the people which often
forked itself out, as is evident from the Pali
birth-stories, to give up worldly life and betake
themselves to residence in forests or mountains.
Even Buddhism, Jainism and other like systems
considered an ascetic life to be a sine qua non of
religious elevation. There is reason to believe
that Sramanas existed before the rise of Buddhism,
The religious systems that had sprung up were
mostly atheistic. The Indian mind had become
prone to indulge in mere moral discourses and
thoughts on moral exaltation, unassociated with
a theistic faith as appears clear from Buddhism
and other systems, and also very dry moral
dissertations of which the Mahabbarata is full.
Such a system as that of the Bhagavat Gita was
therefore necessary to counteract these tendencies.
Theistic ideas were so scattered in the Upanishads,
that it was necessary for practical purposes to
work them up in a system of redemption capable
of being grasped easily. These appeared to be
the conditions under which the Gita came into
existence. I am not inclined to dissolve VasudSva
and Arjuna into solar myths ; Vasudeva could not
have been living when the Bhagavat GltS was
composed as a discourse delivered by hin^ any
more than Buddha was living when his discourses
were reduced to the form of books. It is worthy

THE SCHOOL OF BHAKTI * 118

of remark that both of them are called Bhagavats
when speaking, Vasudeva must already have
been deified before the Bhagavat Glta was
written.' The School of Bhakti, therefore, can
go back to Vedic beginnings reaching back to the
Upanishads certainly and may be traced even
anterior to this particular stage of development.
As a system it may be regarded as pre-Buddhistic
judged by the Glta alone. Bhakti consists as was
already pointed out in love of God and complete
devotion to Him. Such a notion is traceable in
some of the Upanishads themselves. As a system
the school of Bhakti regards Vasudeva as the
supreme soul, the internal soul of all souls. He
is regarded as the supreme creator. All living
beings are represented by Sankarshana, who is a
form of Vasudeva. From Sankarshana sprang
Pradyumna, the mind and from Pradyumna,
Aniruddha, self-consciousness. From him sprang
Brahma. The first four are regarded as the four
Vyuhas of the Supreme. A similar hierarchy of
gods is found in connection with the school of the
Tantra, only instead of Vasudeva, MaheSvara has
to be substituted and perhaps even behind this the
great mother or ParaSakti. On a detailed consi-
deration of references in literature Sir B. G.
Bhandarkar arrives at the conclusion ' still it is
dtfl&tful, and it may be taken for granted that
the two Vyuhas Vasudeva and Sankarsha^a only
were known up to the time of the earliest

15-1863B

114 CHAPTER V

inscription which is to be referred to about the
beginning of the first century before the Christian
era, so that the system of four Vyuhas was not
fully developed up to that time. 1 From this be
draws the further inference that as the Bhagavat
Glta has uo specific reference to the four Vyuhas it
must have been composed at a time anterior to
this period and to a period up to which we could
trace references to the Vyuhas in literature
reaching back to the 4th century B.C. The
worship of Vasudeva and Baladeva, among the
very large number of deities including even
animals and trees, is referred to in a passage in
the Buddhistic Niddega l referable to the 4th
century B.C. There is a reference to a shrine
to Sankarshana in the Arthagastra. Patafljali
refers to Vasudeva as God in his comment on
Papini IV, 3, 98. In an inscription at Ghasundi
in Eajputana there is a reference to the temple
for Sankarshana and Vasudeva. This inscription
is dated about 200 B.C. on Palaeographical
grounds alone. 2 The Besnagar inscription refers
to the erection of a Garutjadhvaja ' in honour of
Vftsudeva the God of Gods.' That was construct-
ed by one who bore a Greek name Helio-dora
(Heli odoros) who describes himself as the son of
Diya (Dion) and as a Bhagavata. He further

flir H 0. Bhtndflrksr** VaiahBaviam, etc,, p. 8.
Lfider'a List of Brahi&i Inscriptions, No. 6,

THE SCSOOE OF BHAKTI

states that he was a native of Taksha&la and was
an ambassador of the Yavana Antalikita (Antial-
kidas) to Bhagabhadra, probably ruler of eastern
Malva, This inscription is referable to the second
century before Christ. There is a reference to
Sankarshana and Vasudeva in the Nanaghat 1
inscription No. 1, dated the first century of the
Christian era on palseographical grounds. The
particular way in which the name Vasudeva occurs
in the Sutra of Vanini and the explanation that
Patanjali offers, support the presumption that
Vasudeva was regarded as a divine person even
in the days of PaninL Clearly historical
references, therefore, take back the worship of
Sankarshana- Vasudeva to the 4th century B.C.
Sir E. G. Bhandarkar, however, doubts whether
the four Vyuhas were known so early and
concludes 'It may be taken for granted that
the two Vyuhas, Vasudeva and Sankarsbana,
only were known up to the time of the latest
inscription which is to be referred to about
the beginning of the first century before the
Christian era, so that the system of four Vyuhas
was not fully developed up to that time.' 2
Apart from these, however, the
would regard the essential
Bhakti school traceable in

1 Lader'a List of Brahmi Inacriptions,
-Ontbe whole of this see Mr. R.
No. 6,

H6 CfiAfcTER V

themselves. He gives reference to two passages
from the Upanishads, which contain according
to him, ' a verse to the effect that this
supreme soul is not to be attained by lectures
(from a teacher), nor by intelligence nor by
much learning; He is to be attained by him
whom the supreme soul favours; to him he
discloses his form. Again we have the doctrine
that the supremely wise Being, the life of all,
leads a man to do good deeds, vfoom he desires
to elevate (K. U. II. 8) ; and another that God
dwelling in the heart of all beings controls them
which latter forms the subject of a celebrated
passage in B. U. HI. 7. From this it is clear
that the doctrine that the individual soul is
dependent on the Supreme and that the latter
alone works out the salvation was acknowledged
in Upanishadic times.' We shall show later
on that this is exactly the doctrine of the Sotfthero
School of Bhakti.

SOUTH INDIA, ITS SPECIAL HOME, THOUGH NOT
ITS ORIGIN

This idea of Bhakti or devotion to a personal
God is traceable in the earliest extant pieces of
Tamil literature, Some of the oldest poems
contain references to theistic gods both Vaifbnava
and Saiva, and what is, more to tfie four
Vytihas for which Sir B. G. Bhandarkar could

SCHOOL OF BHAKTt ll 1 /

find no clear reference in Sanskrit literature
before the let century B.C. The Paripatjal, an
ancient collection of the Sangam poems contains
among one of its oldest pieces an unmistakable
reference to the four vyuhas of Vishnu. Its
poem 3 is devoted entirely to Vishnu. There
are a number of other poems in the same
collection where various other Vedic aspects of
the God are adverted to, but nothing so clear as
this to the four Vyuhas. The worship of Krishna
and Baladeva seems to have been quite an ordinary
feature of Tamil civilization in the earliest
periods of which we have knowledge. One
of the oldest of South Indian 1 shrines for which
we have a reference is devoted to the worship
of Krishna. This feature of that temple seems
to have continued till about the 8th century
A. D. s Among the numbers of temples men-
tioned fis having existed in Kaveripattinam,
the capital of the Cholas in the first century of
the Christian era figure temples to Krishna and
Baladeva. Temples to these two are found
mentioned among the four principal shrines of ,
Madura, namely those to Siva, Krishna, Baladeva
and Subrahmaoya. These are again the four
deities celebrated by the poet Narklrar, the Presi-
dent of the Third Sangam in Madura. A
numbet bf minor deities do of course come in

7*

1 Tirntn&lironjoli ne*r Mftdnz*

118 CHAPTER V

for reference particularly among the deities to
whom temples were found in Kaveripattaijam.
This multitude of gods and godlings to whom
temples were in existence in the same city is
referred to in the Buddhist work Manimekbalai
in general terms ; all temples beginning from that
to Him with an eye in the forehead and ending
with that to the Bhuta in the public square. A
similar sentiment in Maduraik-Kanji was already
referred to. The early grammatical work Tolk-
appiyam referring to the presiding deities over
the various divisions of a country refers to the
forest country presided over by Krishna, the hill
country presided over by Subrahmanya, the plain
country presided over by Indra (the king), the
country on the sea-shore presided over by Varuna ;
the Vtdic gods Varuna and Indra being brought
into line with Subrahmanya and Krishna. We
see, therefore, the germs that fructified into the
school of Bhakti, both Vishiju-Bhakti and Siva-
Bhakti, in the Tamil country already, and they
exhibit the features which the northern school
of Bhakti does in all its detail. In the course
of development South India came to be regarded
as the special provenance of Bbakti although the
VSdic form of ritualistic religion was maintained
by the colonies of Brahmanas who had come and
settled down, and who were countenanced and
maintained by the ruling powers and society
as a whole. The unmistakable beginning of

THE SCHOOL OF BHAKTI

this development we could *see already in early
Tamil literature. Several of the features pecu-
liar to the Gita itself are found in the poems
devoted to Vishnu, and even some of those more
abstruse features for the worship of God, reaching
behind the Bhagavat Gita itself to the Upa-
nishads.

THE ARYAN CHARACTER OF ITS LITERATURE

This makes it clear that the literature of the
South taking into consideration only the literature
extant, is essentially Aryan in character exhibit-
ing, no doubt, occasional features other than
Aryan which get absorbed into the system.
Buddhist and Jain works must necessarily have
this character of the northern literature by the
very necessities of their origin ; not so the Hindu
part of the literature of the Tamils. These show
unmistakably their Brahmanical character, not
because they necessarily originated from or were
handed by the Brahmans, and this feature is to
a great extent true but because of something
deeper still than that. Writers who were
Buddhists and Jains, writers who were not
Brahman exhibit this special character of the
literature which has come down to us. It is possible
to refer ton umbers of poems in any collection
referable to this period and known collectively as
th^Sangam collection which show this tendency

120 CHAPTER V

very plainly. We "shall examine tbe most
characteristic of Tamil works with a view to this
end and see how far there is any iryan influence
traceable in it. Before proceeding to that
examination, however, it is worth while pointing
out at once that it is acknowledged on all bands
by comm&n tradition that the Tamil language
originated with Siva and that its grammar was
put into systematic form first by Agastya and
then by his disciple the author of the Tolkappiyam
on the moflel of the Aindra School of
Grammarians. The earliest tradition regarding
the emigration of these people exhibits Aryan
lead also. It was Agastya that led the emigration.
The bulk of the people belonging to the ruling
and agricultural classes were led forward by him
in a colony from south-western Hindustan, tbe
land of Krishna. It is they who destroyed forests
and turned these into arable land ; in other words,
introduced the first elements of civilization from
the north. This tradition no doubt states that
Agastya' d grammar preceded that of Panini and
that the division of the Vzdas accepted in tbe
Tamil country is based on the older 3akas, rather
than tbe division into four recognised groups by
Vy&sa. The only authority extant for all these
traditions, however, it must be noted, is tradition
preserved for us by the commentators of a much
later period; and tbe one that is preserved which
offers full details is that preserved by the Brahman

THE SCHOOL OF BHAKTI 121

commentator Nachchinarkiniyar who lived in the
twelfth or the thirteenth century after Christ. We
are not however dependent upon this later tradition
for our authority . We can trace innumerable details
in the body of the literature in original that has
come down to us, and if these details should be
put together it becomes fairly clear that so far as
literary Tamil is concerned it is undoubtedly of
iryan character with equally indubitable traces of
other than iryan features in it, features which
are primitive in comparison.

16-1868B

CHAPTEK VI

THE KU&AL : A CHARACTERISTICALLY
TAMIL CLASSIC

Among the number of works and collections
that have come down to us from this remote
period, most of which have a character of their
own, the KuraJ of Tiruvalluvar stands easily pre-
eminent as a peculiarly Tamil classic. The word
'Kural' means no more than short literally,
because the whole work is composed of stanzas in
the aphoristic couplets of 4 and 3 feet respectively ;
hence the name KuraL It is actually composed
of 1330 of these stanzas divided into 133 chapters.
These are again thrown into three larger groups
which give another name for the work muppal
(trvarga, three kinds). This division into three
consists of three out of four divisions which
go by the name * objects of life ' (purushartha).
This is supposed to be a peculiarity of that work. It
is a peculiarity no doubt, but not so characteristic
of Tamil as there is a corresponding division
known to the Sanskritists who speak of the
trvarga which is the exact equivalent of muppal.
It can be described as a didactic work the
purpose of which is to enforce the teachings of
ethics common to all religions then obtaining
in India, so that whatever might be the actual

A CHARACTERISTICALLY TAMIL CLASSIC 123

persuasion adopted by the individual he would
still find a guide for conduct in life in this work.
Being thus eclectic in character, Buddhists, Jains
and Brahmanas claimed the work as -relating to
their particular form of religion, while there are
not wanting people who would see in the work an
anti-Brahmanical character, recognising it at the
same time as relating to the religion of the
Hindus.

The four objects of life are, as is well-known,
Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama
(love) and Moksha (salvation). The work of
course gives Tamil names for these respectively
Aram, Porul, Inbam and Vidu, which are the
exact Tamil equivalents of the corresponding
Sanskrit terms. The author omits any elaborate
treatment of the last for the very logical reason
that that is not a subject which lends itself to
didactic treatment, being unearthly in its
character. If the first three objects of life are
attained by adopting a moral life, the other follows
inevitably in consequence. Hence the omission
of the fourth in this. The book devotes 34 chap-
ters of the 133 to righteousness taking into it all
the four stages of disciple, householder, a retired
life and that of the hermit, the four well-known
Brahmanical divisions of life. Of these the liff
of the householder comes in for elaborate treatment
naturally in 20 chapters. Then follows forest life
treated in 10 and lastly comes the life of renunci*-

124 CfeAtTBfc VI

tion dealt with in 3^ chapters ; one chapter is devot-
ed to the study of fate. Following this comes the
part relating to life in society which presupposes
some kind of Government. In this section parti-
cularly, the indebtedness to the Arthagastra of
Chanakya stands out clear. Almost the same
division of treatment happens to be followed as in
Kamandaka's Nitigara if not the Artha&lstra
itself.

The section on King is treated in 25 chapters,
ministers in 10, the country, fortifications and
royal wealth each in one chapter, army in two,
alliance in 5, enmity in 6 and other miscellaneous
matters relating to the conduct of the king, the
conduct of subjects, the conduct of agriculture,
jetc., in 19 chapters making a total of 70 chapters
for this section out of the 133 of the whole work.
Coming to the section on love the division follows
the characteristic flora, the feelings evoked and
the actions resulting therefrom. These are all
treated in the remaining 25 chapters. That the
author of the Kural knew the Artha&Lstra is very
clearly in evidence. One Kuj-al, 501, as pointed.
out by the commentator Parimel Alahar, is not
capable of interpretation properly, and has actually
been misread, for want of knowledge of the Artha-
fastra text,

Therefore then it must be posterior to the
Artha&etra, It is quoted with acknowledgment
in the Manimekbalai, and, without the Explicit

A OBtAfeACtERlSTICALLY tAMlL CLASSIC 12&

reference, in a few places in the Silappadhikaram
thus referring it to a period before the two.
There is a collection of poems in appreciation of
this work ascribed to the members of the ' Third
Tamil Sangam,' including in it one stanza each
by ' the voice in the air,' Sarasvati, Siva and
the contemporary Pandya Uggrap-Peru-Valudi, the
other 49 by the 49 members of the famous
Academy. The fact that one of the members,
Sattanar, actually quotes from it implies that the
work had already attained to a certain amount of
vogue among the learned.

STRONG INFUSION OF SANSKRIT CULTURE :
ETHICAL AND POLITICAL

We have already pointed out that the peculiar
feature in the Kural of dealing with only the first
three of the four objects of life is not altogether
so peculiar, having regard to the notion exhibited
in Manu in regard to trvarga in Chapter II, gloka
224. The author of the Kural apparently adopted
the same principle as the gloka of Manu above
referred to. That that was the principle adopted,
and the actual details of the division of the whole
work on those particular lines, taking into consi-
deration even the Vaidik four stages of life are
found explained in an old manuscript which
contains an introduction to the commentary by
Parimel Alakar, This authority considers the

126 CHAPTER VI'

first four sections, namely, invocation, celebration
of rain, celebration of those that renounce the
world and the celebration of conduct as purely
introductory, and the following chapters take up,

one after the other, conduct in household, in forest

%>
life and lastly in renunciation, thus taking up 34

of the chapters. Then follow the 70 chapters
dealing with politics in the widest sense of the
term, being synonymous with all that consti-
tutes earthly prosperity. Then follows the
chapter bearing on the kind of life dealing with
the relation between man and woman. In this
he adopts, to a far more prominent degree, the
customary divisions of land in Tamil along with
much that may be found in the northern lore.
To show how far this didactic work, the professed
purpose of which is to enforce moral conduct
of an eclectic kind so as to provide a general
rule of conduct for all, whatever their religion,
is indebted to the ArthaSastra, we have only to
refer in some little detail to chapter 51 of
the work dealing with the selection of
ministers by the king. The first verse of this
chapter contains an expression which indicates
unmistakable affinity with Kaujilya's Artha-
6astra. The substance of the verse is that a man
before being selected for admission into the body
of ministers should be tested by the four ways
of righteousness, wealth, love and fear of life.
This & subjecting the man to temptation in the

A CHARACTERISTICALLY TAMIL CLASSIC 127

various ways to which a minister is peculiarly
liable. In these four items the first three
are common enough, but the last one is an
expression which according to the commentator was
misunderstood and altered into a wrong reading
for lack of knowledge of the original source of
inspiration, that source being Book 1, Ch. 10
of the Artha&istra (translation), or Chapter 6,
page 16 of the text, referring to what Chanakya
calls upada. The last expression in Tamil is
uyir achcham literally fear for life. The second
of these two words has been altered into " &ch-
cham " meaning " that which remains/' These
are the four upadas which Chanakya refers to.
That the commentator is not drawing from his
imagination is fully in evidence in the following
eight out of nine verses constituting this chapter.
Each one of them refers directly to the various
objections of schools of politicians referred to
in the Artha^astra, Chapter VIII of the tran-
slation or Chapter IV of the original. Except
for the difference in the name of two of those
quoted , which may be after all alternative
names, the whole chapter agrees point for point
with Chapter VIII of the Artha Sastra. The
last verse winds up the discussion by agreeing
wiib the conviction arrived at by Kautilya.
The only pity of the whole is that these authors
are not so named in the text itself. We have
no right to expect it having regard to the fact

128 CHAPTER VI

tbst the whole of this work is thrown into the
form of aphorisms which have necessarily to be
very brief, and, as was pointed out already, each
one of these verses could contain only 7 feet,
four and three each, in two lines. But to any
dispassionate reader the similarity of idea is
quite clea^ detail for detail, so that there is no
reasonable doubt left that the author of the
Kural had full knowledge of the Artha&istra
and adopted several of its conclusions strangely
enough. It is to the credit of Tamil scholarship
of an elder age that this similarity had already
been pointed out by a commentator who preceded
Parimel AJakar in this work. 1 It is possible to
refer to a number of other verses in which the
relation between the Kural and the Nitisara
of Kamandaka appears very plainly. It is a well-
kpown fact that the Kamandaka is only an
abridgment of the Arthagastra of Chanakya,
and the author acknowledges his indebtedness
to this latter work and its author. We shall
indicate the similarity, only in respect of just a
few other Sanskrit works.

Kuyal 259 where the author says, ' It is better
by far not to kill for eating than celebrate a
thousand sacrifices ' may be compared with
Manu, Chapter V, Sloka 53. 'He who during
a hundred years annually offers a horse sacrifice,

1 Quottd by Pandit B. Baghava Aiyangar m Sen-Tamil, Vol. I,
pp, 46-48,

A CHARACTERISTICALLY TAMIL CLASSIC

and he who entirely abstains from meat, obtain
the same reward for their meritorious Tf conduct *V
Kural 166 which says that he who grows jealous
of another's making gifts will himself with all
his relatives suffer without food and clothing^
is found in the Dana-Chandrika. Kura] 256
which says if there were no one in the world
who would kill for eating there would be none
in the world to kill at all ; is an idea embedded
in the Bblshraaparva of the Mahabbarata. Kural
58 again : T If women only conducted them-
selves faithfully and dutifully they would lead a
much respected life in heaven.' This may be
compared to Chapter V, Slcka 155 or 156 of
Manu ' no sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be per-
formed by women apart (from their husbands); if
a wife obeys her husband she will for that (reason
alone) be exalted in heaven. A faithful wife
who desires to dwell (after death) with her
husband must never do anything that might
displease him who took her hand whether he
was alive or dead.' It is hardly necessary to
multiply quotations. Surprising as it may seem
at first sight that there is such an intimate
connection between the two cultures the Aryan
and the Dravidian in Kural, we would be no
less surprised if it had been otherwise having
regard to the historical circumstances under
which this remarkable work had been produced
in the Tamil land. A close study o the work

100 CHAPTER VI

in intimate connection with Sanskrit literature
goes to heighten our admiration of the extra*
ordinary learning of the commentator Parimel
Alakar, who in many of these matters exhibited
these features most accurately. That his judg-
ment that the author of the Kural set before
himself a work which would give to everybody
a practical rule of conduct in life irrespective of
his peculiar religion, and therefore it is a work
eclectic in character and liable to be claimed
by the various sections of people as belonging
peculiarly to themselves, is fully justified. The
work has reference to the Hindu society of South
India. That the author had much respect
for Bra h mans and Brahmanism as an integral
part of the social order, is unmistakably in
evidence in the following three verses : Kural
134 states briefly that the Veda if forgotten could
be learnt' again ; but the Brahman loses his charac-
ter if he falls off from conduct peculiar to his sta-
tion. Kural 543 lays down that the righteous rule
of a monarch stands as the main support of the
learning of the Brahman and righteousness;
and Kuya} 560 similarly states that if the king
ceases to render protection cows will cease to
yield, and Brahmans who have to do their six-
fold duty will forget their learning, the Veda. In
each one of these cases the consequences are
regarded as nothing short of calamitous to society.
It may not be possible positively to assert that

A CHARACTERISTICALLY tAMlL CtASSlC 1S1

the author was of the Brahmanical persuasion^
as other than Brahmans, even Buddhist and Jain
authors often speak in the same strain of the
Brahman as a member of the Hindu society ; but
on a dispassionate examination of the work there
seems justification for the assumption that the
author of the Kural though undoubtedly belonging
to a lower caste, was Brahmanical in religion.

CHAPTEB VII
THE RISE OF THE PALLAVAS

The question who the Pallavas were is one
which can hardly be described as being out
of the stage of discussion yet. The theory
that held the field till recently, almost
unchallenged, was that they were a tribe of
foreigners supposed to be of Parthian origin who
having effected a lodgment in the part of the
country near the mouth of the Indus, moved
south-eastwards gradually till they came to be
found in possession of the region dominated by
Kanchl. The main reason for this contention
is that a class of people called Pallavas figure
among the lists of tribes on that frontier in the
Bamaya^a, the Mahabharata and other such
sources of information. They are also found
to figure among the enemies overthrown by the
Satavahanas, namely Gautamiputra Satakarni
and bis son. The Ceylon chronicle also mentions
a tract of country which seeins to be located
in that region which is named in the MahavarWa t
Pallavabhogga. This collection of references to %
the Pallavas is held to justify the conclusion
that they were a body of foreigners who entered
India by way of Baluchistan! and moved on till
they JJinctaised themselves so far as to forget

RISE OF THE PALLAVAS

their foreign origin and raise no suspicions
among the peoples over whom they imposed
their authority. There are, however, grave
difficulties in the way of accepting this appa-
rently satisfactory account as we have some
information in Tamil literature which militates
strongly against this view of their origin. We
have already pointed out that, in the days of the
early Cholas, KanchI was a Chola Viceroy alty,
Palatine Viceroyalty though it was. We have
already giten a number of references to show
that the Tamils regarded Pulikat as their nor-
thern boundary, and the people or the tribes
who inhabited the region immediately north of
it have invariably been referred to as speaking
a language different from that of the Tamil?,
Those people are invariably referred to as
Vaijukar, which is the name by which the
Telugus are ordinarily known in the Tamil country
to-day. But in that early age the term Vadukar
seems to have been invariably applied both to
the Telugus and the Kannada people across the
Tamil frontier. l

Even <the Periyapuranam a work of the early
12th century observes this classification as ijb,
speaks of the Karnatakas as Vadukar. 2 That
designation is still preserved in the name of the
Badagas of the Nilgiris. The region on the

1 For references see Ob. I above.

* See Mfirti Niynfirprtytm, ftantft 11. *

134 CHAPTEfc Vll

eastern side of this portion of the Peninsula
occupied by this people is the region where we
find the earliest memorials of Pallava rule.
When the Pallavas emerge into the full light of
history we find them in possession of Kanchl.
Whether they were Tamils or Telugus they are
people we find along the region between the
lower course of the Krishna and the river Palar.
To begin with, this region, at least the major part
of it, was designated Tondamandalam in those
days. In regard to their origin and their previous
habitat we have already exhibited a certain number
of references from the old classical collection
Ahananuru referring to what actually constituted
Tondanadu ; both Kanchl and Tirupati were ^like
included in this territorial division Tondaman<Ja-
lam. We have also quoted an old passage I from
Nachchinarkiniyar's commentary, by an author
whose name is aot quoted, giving the important
equation that the people called Tondaiyar, people
of Tontjamandalam, were treated as the same as
the Pallavas. During the period to which this
reference must be held to relate the words
Tondaiyar and Pallavas A were considered to be
synonymous. 1

On this basis alone there is good reason for
regarding the Tondaiyar as the name of

> Ntcbchinlrkifiiyar's comment on SUtnt 54, Pora]adhikirm
Tolkippiyam.

THE RISE OF THE PALLAVAS 135

the people living in the country who were
subsequently called by a Sanskrit translation of
the same. This inconvenient position is sought
to be got round, by votaries of the foreign origin
of the Pallavas, by bringing the Chola occupation
of KanchT, and of the, literature bearing on the
period, to a comparatively short period of inter-
regnum which is supposed to have intervened
one of the early dynasties of the Pallavas and
the later great dynasty ; in other words, by bring-
ing the Sangam age itself to the fifth century
A.D. We have already demonstrated clearly
that it would be impossible for a variety of
reasons to move the period down by about four
centuries in that arbitrary fashion. The question
rests still upon the specific Gajabahu synchro-
nism supported by so much of valuable historical
evidence that it would require a very strong case
on the other side to turn it upside down not to
speak of the insuperable difficulty in detail which
would have to be confronted in any attempt at
constructive criticism. Kanchi figures in this
body of early literature as a viceroyalty of the
Cholas, and the only Tondaman who figures in the
whole body of this literature as the ruler of this
part of the country is the Tondaman Ilam-Tirayan
of Kanchi who ruled over Conjivaram not so
much in his own right but by right of bis
Chola ancestry. We shall come to this point a
little later.

136 CHAPTER VII

THE PALLAVAS : NATIVE TO SOUTH INDIA

Among the large number of places in which
the Pallavas get mention in Sanskrit literature
they are found mentioned with the well-known
tribes of the north-western frontier such as the
Sakas and the Yavanas. It would be difficult
to find any clear reference to these anywhere in
South India. There are a certain number of
places in which the South Indian kingdoms are
mentioned. We do not find anything corres-
ponding to the Pallava State or tribe in
the south. The Asoka edicts do not mention
any. Even where the reference occurs in classical
Sanskrit literature, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the
Keralas are referred to, and where we should,
from geographical position, expect the Pallavas
a class of people by name Dravi4a is mentioned.
Dr5vi<Ja or Darmida is generally taken to be the
equivalent of the word Tamil. Tamila in Tarn i la-
kam (Sans. Drami<Jaka), the whole of the Tamil
country. It is also used in a somewhat narrower
sense as indicating one of the four kingdoms, a
kingdom which would correspond to, and gets
to be known to later history as, the Pallava
kingdom with Kanchl for its centre. It would
be rational, therefore, to regard the Pallavas
native to South India, and as the people who were
befpre then known by the name Ton<Jaiyar more

THE RISE OF THE PALLAVAS 137

generally. There are some objections to be met
before taking this particular position. By a
careful study of the available Pallava records that
epigraphy has unearthed, we are able to throw the
early Pallavas into three groups. They are found
first of all as tribal chieftains ruling their various
little states, three or four of them could be speci-
fically mentiooedj in the region extending from the
lower course of the Krishna to almost the PalSr,
Da^anapura, Palakkada, Menraattura and Kanchl.
The records of some of these rulers happen to be in
Prakrit and the others in Sanskrit ; and they are
found scattered across from the west coast to the
frontiers of the Godaveri district in the east, the
actual belt of country constituting the Vaduka
frontier of the Tamils of the classical Tamil litera-
ture. Their association with Amaravati, the dis-
covery of certain statues of Roman workmanship,
as it is thought, and the statement that one of
these early rulers attained to his royal dignity by
marriage, are all brought into requisition to give
them a marriage alliance with the Andhras, to
give their art a Roman origin and to make these a
foreign people who imposed themselves as rulers
over the vast region extending almost from the
Godaveri to at least Palar in the south. The
matter requires, therefore, careful consideration.

In the region which these later inscriptions
indicate as peculiarly the Pallava Province we
fiad in the days of the Satavahanas certain records

18-1363B

138 CHAPTER VII

which called it peculiarly the district of the Sata-
vahanas. The Myakadoni inscription refers to the
region round Adoni as Satdhani Ihara, and the
person responsible for the government of it is
named Ehanda Naga (Skanda Naga) , the Maha-
senapati (great general). If the dh&ra or district
of the S&tavShanas in this record meant anything
it must refer to the district which was the fief of
the Satavahanas peculiarly, the Satavahanas being
a clan of the powerful race of the Sndhra people as
a whole. This interpretation of the term Satava-
hana is quite in keeping with what we find in
Tamil literature. The Hirahadagalli copper-plates
found in the Bellary district would confirm the
same position ; but being on copper-plates, it is
likely that the record had travelled before it
reached its final resting place at the village named
above. This spread of the Satavahanas from east
to west along the region which the Tamils called
Vaduka region would make the Satavahanas,
indhras, and give the region the character of an
indhra frontier province. The name Kha^cJ* Naga
itself shows a family likeness to the early Pallava
names that we know of from other records. Along
with these must be considered the records of
another class of Satavahana officers who give
themselves Naga names and symbols in their
records, and are associated with the district which
went by the name of Nagara Kha^a afterwards.
That is the region along the Western Ghats with

THE RISE OF THE PALLAVAS

Banavase for its capital. The expanded cobra
hood at the beginning of the inscription and the
very name Qutu being Tamil and old Kanarese for
crest, in this case the crest of the cobra, would
make them Nagas clearly. This interpretation
can be supported by a familiar use in classical
literature of Sudu, being frequently associated with
cobra hoods ; and utukula can, without violence,
be taken to stand for Nagakula, a family of the
Nagas. We find this chieftain and his records
associated with the western part of the belt of the
country extending from the east coast to the west
which the Tamils of the classical age invariably
called the country of the Vaduka. There is also
the feature that Andhra coins bearing on the
obverse the representation of a two-masted ship are
found extensively in the Tondamandala country
proper. This would argue the possession of this
tract by the Satavahanas at least for a time. The
representation of a ship on the Satavahana lead
coins found in this region is very appropriate as
the more important section of the people who
inhabited this tract of country^ is known ta Tamil
literature as the Tiraiyar (lit. sea-people). It
is one of their chieftains, the son of a Chola king
by a Naga Princess, who figures in classical Tamil
literature as the first Viceroy, other than a Chola
royal prince, of Kanchi. He is invariably given the
name Tonijaman, the great one among the Tondar
or Tonijai^ar. The classical passage quoted bj

140 CHAPTBB yn

Nachchinarkiniyar already adverted to equates the
Ton<Jaiyar with the Pallavas. Naturally, therefore,
if the region* occupied by the Tondaiyar or the
Pallavas passed under the authority of the Satava-
hanas, and if they appointed Governors for this
particular region from among them, these
Governors would be Governors of the Tondamari4a-
lam or the Pallava country, and would get to be
known popularly as PaJlava Governors. The name
of the great general in authority round Bellary
having a family likeness to the names of the early
Pallavas would warrant the assumption that it is
these Mahasenapatis of the south-eastern territory
of the Satavahanas that were the division of the
family which came to be known to history as the
Pallavas. They extended their authority from
Amaravati in Guntur southwards to KanchI itself
and the territory dependent thereon extending to
the banks' of the south Pennar. The Naga or
snake as one of the ensigns on the banners of the
Pallavas would argue some intimate connection
with the family of the Nagas, and that is what
we find on an examination of such records of
theirs as are so far accessible to us. There might
have been foreigners in the region of the Guntur
district. That is something different from calling
the dynasty a dynasty of foreigners. So far as the
available evidence goes they were a dynasty of
officers of the Indhras probably related to, or even
springing out of, the clan of the Satavihanas,

THE RISE OF TEE P ALLAY A 8 141

When the power of the latter extended southwards
as the result of constant struggle on this frontier,
the Governors of the Guntur district extended their
sphere of authority so as to take in the newly
acquired territory. When the Satavahana dynasty
broke up in the middle of the third century these
apparently set up independently and founded the
new dynasty of the fallavas as distinct from the
older chieftains, the Ton4amans of the region.
As the Tamils did not note any distinction
between these Vadukas and those who lived to the
westward of them along their northern frontier
they must have been near of kin to each other in
many respects. Belonging to the same clan as
the ruling dynasty of the Dakhan it is nothing
strange that they should have entered into
marriage alliance even of an important character.
All these circumstances would only be natural
in their particular position. Hence the con-
clusion seems warranted by the known facts in
relation to these people, that they were natives
of South India, and are not a dynasty of
foreigners. 1 The conquest of the Tondamandalam
by the Satavahanas would amply account for the

1 R&jaiSkhara, the great poet and critio who lived in the Courts of
Mabeodrarila and Mahlpala of Kananj, gives an account of the
geographical divisions and peoples of India in his time. He distinguishes
between the Southern Pallatas and North* Western Palhava*. In his
time the Pallavas of K&ncbl were just losing their ascendency in Sooth
India or had just lost it (Bee Introduction to Kivyamlmimaa, Baroda
Sanskrit Series.).

142 CHAPTER VII

eclipse of the Chola power in that particular
region which had hitherto remained unaccounted
for. When the Pallavas emerged into importance
we find them engaged in a two-faced struggle one
'against the Cholas of the south in alliance often
with the other Tamil powers, and the other against
the newly rising power of the Chalukyas in the
north-west. In the beginning of this struggle we
find the Cholas not the great political power that
they were, but comparatively insignificant and
depending upon the support of the Pandyas.

PALLAVAS : PATRONS OF NORTHERN CULTURE

We find in the earliest known inscription of
the Satavahanas that they were votaries of the
well-known Hindu Gods Vishnu and Siva, The
Nanaghat inscription refers to some of the
names of the Lokapalas (the guardian deities of
the directions), the vyuhas (forms) of Vishnu, and
Skanda or Subramanya. The Myakadoni inscrip-
tion itself is the record of the gift of a village by a
queen to a Vishnu temple. If, therefore, as was
pointed out in the preceding section, the dynasty
of the Pallavas was native to the locality and
were in close association, official and personal;
with the ruling family of the Satavahanas, we
should find them devoted to the same cult generally
as the main branch of the Satavahanas, their
religious culture being naturally northern, probably
in both forms Vaishgava and Saiva. 5V e find in

THE RISE OF THE PALLAVAS 143

the indhra country, even a foreigner like the
Saka Rishabhadatta, a votary of this comprehensive
cult of the Andhras themselves as we are enabled
to understand from the inscriptions recording his
various donations. It is that broad culture that
the Pallavas carried into the Tamil country when
they moved into the northern part of it. Although
we find evidence of the prevalence both of the
cults of Siva and Vishnu in the Tamil country
already, the patronage of this northern culture
generally seems to have been associated with the
Pallavas. Their inscriptions, till late in the
history of the dynasty, happened to be either
Sanskrit or Prakrit ; their earliest temples, even
the cave ones, are devoted to Siva and- Vishnu, and
to none of the other deities known to the some-
what miscellaneous pantheon of the early Tamil
classics. Hence the advent of the "foreign
Pallavas " into the Tamil country not only meant
the rule of the foreigner to the Tamils but also
carried along with it the special patronage of the
distinct culture of.fhe north. The hostility between
the Pallavas and the Tamil kings of the farther
south seems to be accounted for, to a certain extent
at any rate, by this p&rtiality apart from their
character as barbarian foreigners in the eye of the
Tamil. Throughout the period of Pallava history
which may extend from A.D. 200 to almost the
last quarter of the 9th century the Pallavas and
the southern powers were in constant hostility if

144 CHAPTER VII

they are not always at war. The hostility
between the early Chalukyaa and the Pallavas,
which is a prominent feature of the history of
both the powerful dynasties, is due to the effort
of the Chalukya successors of the Andhras to
extend their authority over the whole of what
was once the indhra Empire, and the correlative
effort of the newly founded dynasty of the Pallavas
to make good their own possessions against these
new claimants. It is the necessities of this
struggle on the northern frontier that sometimes
gave respite to the southern frontier but otherwise
the normal state of relationship seems to have
been one of hostility between the Pallavas and the
Tamils all through this long period of close on
seven centuries.

PALLAVAS : NOT GREAT PATRONS OF TAMIL
LITERATURE

This long period of 1 Pallava dominance, as it
may well be called, was a period of no doubt
considerable activity and output in regard to
Tamil literature. A large number of Tamil works
are referable to this period ; but in none of them
do we find the Pallavas as patrons of Tamil
literature in the sense that we find the kings and
the petty chieftains of the age preceding are.
Several of these poets were contemporaries of some
of tbe great sovereigns of the Pallava dynasty.

THE RISE OF THE PALLAV4S 145

The Tgvaram hymner Appar, a Jain first and a
Saiva afterwards, was a contemporary of the great
Pallava Mahendra Varman whose conversion to
Saivism is said to have been due to him. His com-
panion but a much younger man, Sambandar, was
a contemporary of Mahendra's son and successor
Narasimha Varman; but neither of these rulers
can be considered as a special patron of either of
the authors that the kings or chieftains of the
Sangam age could be said to be ; and the works of
most of these writers have no reference directly to
the celebration of the exploits of the patrons.
They devote themselves more or less to other
themes, and such references as we get to these
rules are merely incidental. It is only one work
so far known that can clearly be considered to have
had their patronage, and that is the work Nandik-
kalambakam dedicated to a Nandi Varman victor at
Tellara, a late Pallava of the 8th or 9th century,
So far as is known therefore the Pallavas do not
show themselves to have been in any special sense
patrons of Tamil literature as their predecessors
were."

OHAPTEE VIII
EARLY HISTORY OF THE PALLAVAS

What was said of the origin of the Pallavas
in the previous sections would have made it clear
that they were in all probability a family of
feudatories of the Satavahanas of the Dakhan.
These feudatories are clearly described as belong-
ing to the family of the Nagas, whatever that may
mean to us now. Northern Mysore, and the
country set over against it up to the western sea
which later on became a fief of the Kadambas,
was in the possession of a Naga family of Mah&ratis
belonging to the Chutukula, apparently a Naga
designation. The Satavahana Rashfra proper,
set over against the territory of Kanchi farther to
the east of this division, was the fief of the great
commander (Mahasen&pati, Skanda Naga). In
the days of the greatest expansion of the indhra
Empire under Pulumavi II and his immediate
successors, the whole of the southern frontier of
tbeindhra country, the region of the Vfujukas
according to Tamil literature, was held by power*
ful families of these Nagas. When the Sndhra
Empire broke up early in the third century, these
powerful feudatories made themselves independent
in the regions " under their government. Ton4a-
man<Jalam which in the reign of the great

filSTOBY OF THE PALLAVAS I4t

PuIumSvi was under the Satavahanas should have
fallen to the lot of the Mahasenapati referred to
above^ or his successors in the same region, the
district which was called peculiarly the district
of the Satavahanas. The advance of the
Satavahanas themselves under Pulumavi must have
put an end to the authority of the Cholas in this
particular region. When the Governors set up
independently of the Satavahanas, a generation
or two later, the Mahasenapati Skanda Naga
himself, or one of his successors, became heir to
this region of the Tondamandalam as well.

According to the available inscriptions of the
Pallavas, the Pallavas could be divided into four
separate families or dynasties. The connection
of some of these to one another we know, and of
others we do not know. We have a certain
number of charters in Prakrit of which three are
important ones. Then follows a dynasty which
issued their charters in Sanskrit ; following this
came the family of the great Pallavas beginning
with Simba Vishnu ; this was followed by a
collateral dynasty of Nandi Varman, another great
Pallava. We are overlooking for the present the
dynasty of the Ganga-Pallavas postulated by the
Epigraphists. The earliest of these Pallava charters
is the one known as the Mayidavolu 1 (Guntur
district) copper-plates.

1 Bp. Ittd.,Vol.VI J p.a4.

148 CrfAtfTBR Vlli

These plates contain the charter issued by the
heir-apparent -(Yuva Maharajah) Siva Skanda
Varman making a grant in the division Dhanna-
kada, Sanskrit Dhanyakataka, that is Amaravati,
in the tenth year of the reign of his father whose
name is not given.

The next record is what is known as the
Hirahadagalli plates (Bellary District). 1 This
record is dated in the 8th year of Sivaskanda
Varman and confirms the gift made by his father
who is described merely as ' Bappa-deva '
(revered father). Another copper-plate charter,
found in the Guntur district, is dated in the
reign of a Vijaya Skanda Varman and is the
record of a grant made by Cb&rudevi, 8 wife
of the Yuvamaharaja Vijaya Buddha Varman
and mother of Prince Buddhyankura. There is
no doubt that the Yuvamaharaja of the first
record is the same as the ruling sovereign of the
second, the name and circumstances of the two
records giving us full warrant for the identifica-
tion. The question is a little less certain in
respect of the sovereign mentioned in the third
record ^ namely Vijaya Skanda Varman. Is he
the same as the Siva Skanda Varman of the
previous two records? Among the records of
that age Siva, Vijaya and sometimes even
Vijaya-Siva, are used as prefixes indicating the

1 Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 3.

* Bp. Ind., Vol. TIB, pp. 2, 143.

jfeARLY HISTOR* Of THE t ALLAVAS 140

regard or respect in which the ruler was helcU
Apart from this the use of the attribute Vijaya
before Skanda Varman does not alter the name,,
but only gives an additional circumstance of
importance. It would not be therefore doing
any particular violence to identify the Vijaya
Skanda Varman of the third record with the
Siva Skanda Varman of the other two. These
three charters all of them refer to the region
which was peculiarly the district of the Sata-
vahanas. If this identification of Vijaya Skanda
Varman turns out true, the succession could be
arranged in the following table :

"Bappa-deva"
* (Siva or Vijaya) Skanda Varma

Yuva Maharaja, Vijaya Charudevi
Buddha varmao. I

Prince Buddhyankura.

The Mayidavolu grant was issued, from Conjiva-
ram (Kanchi) by the heir-apparent to the
Governor at Amaravati, and the village granted
is described as being in the Andhrapatha (Vadu-
kavali of the Tamils, the indhra country). Thus
it is made clear to us that Kanchi was already
the capital of a region taking in naturally, th&
- Ton<3aman<Jalam and the districts north of it at

CHAPTER VIlI

feast, as far as Amar&vati or the River Krishna.

In the second charter the ruler Siva Skanda

Varma lays claim to having performed the

Agnishtoma, V&japZya and AtoamZdho, sacrifices.

Of these the last could be performed only by a

conqueror, or one who set up as such. The. way

that he addresses his grant to the lords of provinces,

royal princes, generals, rulers of districts, customs

officers, prefects of countries, etc., gives us an

insight into the distinct Adokan character of the

organization of the government and its affiliation

even to the Artha$astra polity. What is more

important it exhibits an organization which is

northern in character, perhaps quite distinct

from that of the Tamils of the farther south. There

is another interesting detail in it that the father

of this king, whatever his name, had granted many

crores of gold, and, what is more important to us

in connection with the origin of this dynasty, one

hundred thousand ox-ploughs. This/if it means

anything, indicates undoubtedly the effort made

by this ruler for the conversion of the great forests

into arable land. It would be well to remember

in this context that this part of the country

was known to the Tamils as Dandaranyam,

the same as the Sanskrit Dandakaranya where

cattle-rearing was the principal occupation,

and cattle-raiding the principal sport. It was

apparently this "Bappa-dSva" who made an

effort, with what success we are not told, to *

EARLY HISTORY OF THR PALLAVAS 151

transform the forest into cultivated country. It
mil thus be clear that this dynasty of the Prakrit
charters beginning with Tr Bappa-dva " were
the historical founders of the Pallava dominion
in South India. It is taken here that all the
rulers whose charters in Prakrit have come down
to us are to be regarded as members of a single
dynasty while there is the possibility that they
were members of two dynasties which may not
after all be connected with each other ; but there
is little doubt, if this alternative should turn out
true, that the two dynasties followed each other
without much interval.

Passing on to the Pallavas of the Sanskrit
charters we come to a number of dynasties which
would at first sight appear to be so many separate
dynasties. According to the Uruvapalli copper-
plates the succession is as follows :

Skandn Varman

i

Vlra Varman

Skanda Varman II

I
The YuvamaharSja Visb^ugopa

Simha Varman II

The Dar& fragment refers itself to the time of
the great-grandson of Virakorcha Varman, that
is Vlra Varma, deferring apparently to Simba
Varman, son of Yuvamahar&ja Vish^ugopa,

152 CHAPTER VIII

The Chendalur Plates, issued from the " victo-
rious Kanchlpura " gives

Skanda Varman

Kumara Vishnu

Buddha Varman

Kumara Vishnu II.

The Udaiyendram grant similarly gives :
Skanda Varman

i

Simha Varman

Skanda Varman II

Nandi Varman.

The newly discovered OngcxJu-Plates give :
Kumara Vishnu

Skanda Varman
Vlra Varman

Skanda Varman

These four separate genealogies were apparently
not altogether separate in respect of the fact that
several of these grants were issued from Kftnchl,
and others from places like Daganapura, Palakka^a,

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVA6 153

and Menmattura. There are considerations which
would lead us to consolidate these four separate
genealogies into one genealogical' table.

The Uruvapalli copper plates record the grant
of Yuvamabaraja Vishnugopa; but the grant is
dated in the reign of a king named Simha
Varman. If Vishnugopa issued the grant as
Yuvainaharaja and dates it in the region of a
Siinha Varman, Simha Varman must have been
the Maharaja, either the father or an elder brother
of the donor. According to the grant itself
Vishnugopa' s father is a Skanda Varman. The
only other alternative therefore is that Simha
Varman was in all probability an elder brother of
Vishnugopa. So the genealogy will have to be
extended by the addition of Simha Varman and
would stand

Skanda Varman

I
Vira Varman

i

Skanda Varman II

Simha Varman I Yuvamaharaja Vishnugopa

Simha Varman II.

The Chendalur genealogy contains four names'
beginning with Skanda Varman. Dr. Hultzsch
from paleeographical considerations held that
these rulers must have come in between

154 CHAPTER VIH

, Simha Varman II and Siraha Vishnu. There
are considerations however which would lead
to the identification of the Skanda Varman of
these plates with the Skanda Varraan the father
of Yuvamaharaja Vishnugopa. This arrange-
ment would make Kumara Vishnu another
brother of * Yuvamaharaja Vishijugopa, with a
son Buddha Varmau and his son Kumara
Vishnu II. The genealogy of the Udaiyendram
grant gives again at the top a Skanda Varman
followed by three other names ending in
Nandi Varman. The Velurpalaiyam plates
introduce what appears a gap with Kumara
Vishnu II and brings in a Nandi Varman before
introducing Simha Varman, the father of Simha
Vishnu. The only Nandi Varman referable to
this period would be the last name mentioned in
the Udaiyendram grant. Therefore it is possible
to include this genealogy in that of the line of
Simha Varman, the elder brother of Vishnugopa;
Skanda Varman being the father, Simha Varman
his eldest son and the elder brother of )Tuva-
mabaraja Vishnugopa, his son Skanda Varman
an I his son Nandi Varman. This last will, accord-
ing to the Velurpajaiyam plates, bring us on to
the line of Simha Vishnu. The Ongotfu plates
discovered in the year 1915 introduce us to yet
another line beginning with Kumara Vishnu.
The last of these Skanda Varman issued the
document not from KancbJ but from Tftmbrapa.

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS

None of these names figure in the Velurpajaiyam
plates in this order ; nor does ' the Vayalur Pillar
contain the four names in this order as given in
the Ongcxju plates. The Kumara Vishrm at the
head of the table therefore may be Kumara
Vishnu I or Kumara Vishnu II, and the whole
dynasty, a local dynasty having had nothing to
do with the regular succession of the main line.
If it should .actually have been so we get the final
genealogy as follows :

Skanda Varman I

i

Vira Varnuui

I
Skanda Vartnaa II

Simha Varman I Yuvamabaraja Kumara Vishnu I

| Vish^ugopa or |

Skanda Varman III Vishnugopa Varman Buddha Varman

Nandi Varman Simha Varman II Kumara Vishnu II

Verse 10 of the Velurpalaiyara plates intro-
duces then, without specifying any connection,
Simha Varman, father of Simha Vishnu and that *
introduces us to the line of the well-known
Pallava dynasty. Before proceeding to a con-
sideration of that dynasty we have to consider
one or two questions which arise in respect of the
dynasty of the Sanskrit charters, and Vishnu-
gopa of Kanchi, the contemporary of Samudra
Gupta. Incidentally also we shall have to con-
sider the question whether the dating of the

156 CHAPTER Vlll

Uruvapalli, Mangalur and Pikira grants respect-
ively from Palakkada, Da6anapura and Men*
mattura, all of them placed in the Guntur district,
warrants the assumption of a Pallava interregnum
in Kanchi; if there had been such an interregnum,
whether that is the time to which we could
refer the ancient Cholas, Karikala and others.

AN INTERREGNUM IN THE PERIOD OF THE
PALLAVAS.

The question of this interregnum is so closely
connected with the question of the origin of the
Pallavas that the one cannot be separated from
the other for any clear understanding of the
early history of the Pallavas. The late Bai
Bahadur V. Venkayya made an excellent con-
tribution on the subject of the Pallavas to the
annual report of the Archaeological Survey of
India for the year 1906-07. This article was an
elaboration of his presidential address to the
South* Indian Association on the same subject.
He states it as his opinion, on page 221, that
'the Pallavas with whose history we are
concerned may, until their origin is satis-
factorily established by indisputable evidence,
be supposed to be identical with the Pahla-
vas, Palhavas and Pahnavas of the PurfiQas.
This identification is based on etymological
grounds and supported by the fact that Palhavas

HISTORY OF TBfi EARLY PALLAVAS 157

formed a distinct element in the population of
Western India early in the second century A.D.
Their movement from Western India to the East
Coast is not only possible but rendered likely by
known historical facts. Future researches must
disclose the actual circumstances which led to
the movement of the Pallavas to the East Coast
and to their assumption of sovereignty/

' As I have already remarked, the Pallavas
were the political successors of the Andhras in the
Godaveri and Kishna deltas and consequently,
the former must have acquired sovereignty soon
after the latter ceased to be the ruling power.
The Andhras probably lost their dominion about
the. middle of the third century and the Pallavas
may be supposed to have taken their place about
the end of the same century/

The late Mr. Venkayya arrived at these conclu-
sions by dismissing the consideration that the
Tondaman IJam-Tirayan, who is known to Tamil-
literature as the Viceroy of Kanchi, was the
Tondaman who was the son of the Chola King
by a Naga Princess ' as it is not stated anywhere
specifically/ The connection is however clearly
enough indicated in lines 29 to 37 of the Tamil
poem Perumbanarruppadai, a work of Kacjiyalur
Rudraa Kaipian. This same poet has celebrated
Karikala in the Paftinappalai. Both the poems
are included in the collection Pattuppattu. But
Mr. Venkayya would bring down Karikala to the

158 CHAPTER VIII

period of interregnum, and llam-Tirayan will
therefore naturally go also to that period according
to his arrangement. 1

He was led to this consideration by tbe fact
that in the eastern Chalukya grant of Vimala-
ditya of the early llth century, a Trilochana
Pallava is mentioned. This Trilochana Pallava
Mr. Venkayya takes to be the feudatory of the
Chola King Karikala, and therefore Karikala must
be brought down to his period.

f Though this story is found only in records
of the llth century and is not corroborated by
earlier inscriptions, it is evidently based on tbe
belief current 'in the llth century that the Pallava
dominions extended in those early times to the
modern Ceded Districts. 1 If this consideration
is due to a grant of the llth century, it is hard
to understand why a commentator who might
have followed, it may be a century after, should
not be shown similar consideration in regard to
the connection of llam-Tirayan of Kanchi with
a Chola, as the Peruriibanarruppadai makes it
certain. The learned scholar admits that there
is no evidence of the eastward movement of the
Pallavas, and still would postulate that the
Pallavas got into tbe country and imposed them-
selves upon the people of the locality. We have
already quoted references from early Tamil litera-
ture to the territory of tbe Tonflaiyar, that is,

* A.S.I., 1906-7, note on p. 994

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 159

Ton<Jamandalam, dominated by Kanchi, the
capital of IJam-Tirayan. We have also quoted
one passage in which the hill Vgnga<Jam (Tirupati)
is said to have been in the territory of the
Tondaiyar. What is more we have referred to
a passage apparently from the ancient classics,
though the actual source is not known at present
from the commentary of Nachinarkiniyar on the
Tolkappiyam*that these Tondaiyar were also known
to these early Tamils by the name Pallava. These
cogent considerations would make it certain that
the terms Pallava and Tondaiyar were synony-
mous in the estimation of the early Tamils. If
therefore we have to look for the origin of the
Pallavas, here are the people from among whom
they must have sprung. The region of the
Tondamandalam, the more extended division, was
known to the. Tamils by another name. The
Tondamandalam proper was called Arurva-Nadu,
the northern portion of which dominated by
Tirupati was apparently known Aruva-vada-talai.
The people were also called Aruvajar, people of
the region Aruva, or people with the bill-hook.
The two descriptions therefore of these people 3 as
Ton4aiyar and Aruvalar are descriptions based the
one upon the totem of the tribe, the creeper
Tondal ; and the other a professional name from
the scythe which must have been their weapon as
cattleherds. We have pointed out already that the
whole border land of the Tamils bfeyond this was

160 CHAPTER vra

occupied by a race of people known to them by
the generic name Vacjukar whose profession was
cattle-rearing. That this region was divided
among a number of petty chieftains is also known.
These chieftains were called by the Tamils
Kujrumbar, sometimes also " Kurunila manner, "
petty chieftains. They are also classed as cow-
herds (Idaiyar). Among these one name comes
out prominently, and that is the name of a
chieftain Kaluvul who was very troublesome on
this frontier, perhaps on the western side of it,
and a victory against whom by the early Cheras is
made much of in poem 88 of the Padirrupattu.
That same passage, taken along with poem 71 of
the same collection, makes it clear that Kaluvul
was a chieftain among the cowherds. 1

It is apparently these people who are referred
to in poem 88 as Andar. Andar is a term in
Tamil which is taken to be synonymous with
cowherds. The index to the work makes An<Jar
mean enemy. In that sense the penultimate
syllable must have been shortened for which
process there is no need as the metre of the poem
does not require it. It seems therefore open to
the interpretation that the term Andar is a modi-
fication of the Sanskrit Andhra which Ptolemy
renders Andarae, apparently Andhra (Vacjukar
of the Tamils). I<Jaiyar would be a term applied

Compare potmi 18$ &4 865

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 161

to them as cattle-rearing was their main occupa-
tion. That that region was remarkable for cattle-
rearing, and that even southern kings undertook
expeditions against that region and its petty chief-
tains for the purpose of bringing in their cattle
are in evidence in two pieces. One of the early
Cheras is described as the Chera who carried off
the cattle from Dandaranyam (Adukotpattu-
Seral). There is a reference of a similar character
to the ofws from this country being carried off
to the head-quarters of Pulli of Tirupati. There
is some justification therefore for Sir Walter
Elliott's classification of certain early coins as
those of the Kurumbar of this region ; but any-
thing like a dynasty of Kurumbar would seem
unwarranted as the Pallavas never gave themselves
that name, and the Kurumbar chiefs never seem
to have advanced to the dignity of founding
dynasties. Hence it is a far cry to connect the
Pallavas of the Tondamancjalam with the Yavanas,
Sakas and Pahlavas of the west till more evidence
of a specific character becomes available to justify
the hypothesis of a migration of the foreigners
southeast wards from the region of Gujarat and
North Konkan to the Ceded districts part of the
Tondamandalam .

Evidence of Tamil Literature. The validity
of evidence from Tamil literature would be ad-
missible only if the chronology of the latter could
be fixed with some degree of, certainty. If with

fcl 1363B

162 CHAPTER VIII

Mr. Venkayya we should believe that Karikala
and Ilam-Tirayan lived in the 5th or 6th century,
the period of the interregnum he finds warrant
for in the Sanskrit Charters of the Pallavas, we
shall have to demonstrate that all the region
that came into the literature of the Tamils of
this period had, in the 5th or 6th century, the
general political division and the distinct charac-
ter that could be gleaned from this body of
literature. I have elsewhere thrown into relief
the political condition of South India in this
period* It does not require very much of
argument to show that this is not the political
condition of South India in the 5th or 6th
century as we know it from such information as
is at our disposal. For one thing, the social
organisation of the region as portrayed in this
body of literature is too primitive for these
data. Other specific facts which would fix the
age of this body of literature to the 1st and 2nd
Centuries A.D. have all been indicated, and they
relate to a period anterior to the rise of the
Pallavas both of the Prakrit and the Sanskrit
charters. It is the Satavahanas under Pulumayi
that made the first conquest of the Tondamancja-
lam as the coins of this Satavahana ruler find
their provenance in the Tondamandalam region.
The type of the lead coins with a two-masted
ship found in this region is appropriate for the
locality of the Tiraiyar ; and it is probably this

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 163

invasion of the Satavahanas that deprived the
Oholas of the viceroyalty of Kanchi which must
have followed immediately the rule of the Chola
Killi referred to in the Manimekhalai. This
inference is supported by a number of references
in the same body of Tamil literature which relate
to invasions of the south by the Ariyas and
Vadukar which were beaten back with great
exertion "by the Tamil chieftains. One of the
Cholas is praised for having subjugated the
Paradavar in the south and Vadukar in the north. 3
Another Chola claims credit for having broken
up the Ariya forces on the field of Vallam. 2
The Malayaman chieftain Kari is said to have
beaten back single-handed the Ariya forces
besieging Tirukovilur, his capital. 8 Similarly
a Chola king, probably the same as the one
already referred to, is said to have beaten down
the heads of the Vadukar at Pali or Seru-Pali, 4
a place very likely on the West Coast, or at least
in the western part of the ' Tamil country. The
fact that Dandaranyam was a forest in the country
of the iriyas according to the Tamils would
make the iriyas under reference the people
of the country named Ariake in the Periplus,
or their rulers, and the region in their
occupation the country included in the name,
the Dakhan. It may be as the ultimate result of
this struggle that Chola assistance was called

* Pttram378. Aha m 886. ' tfatfi$i!70. < Ahara Sft.

164 CflAPTEE VIll

in, and the Cholas constituted the viceroyalty of
Kanchi under Karikala. There is clear evidence
from the Ahananuru that one chieftain by name
Tiraiyan ruled over the Tondamandalam and
Vengadam was included in it. It is doubtful
whether he was the same as Ilam-Tiraiyan ; but
the fact that the latter takes the attribute " Ilam "
(young) is a clear indication that there was another
Tiraiyan before him. This would make it possible
that the Satavahana conquest under Pulumayi
came in after the disappearance of the Chola
ascendency. In any case it is clear that the Sata-
vahana hold on this region could not have lasted
long.

This seems the condition of things reflected
in the latest Pallava grant, the Velupajaiyam-
plates. This document together with a few
others of quite recent discovery seem to make
the interregnum hardly called for. It seems
quite possible from the known facts relative to
the genealogy of the Pallavas of the Sanskrit
charters to arrange them in a continuous line,
and even bring them into connection with the
Simhavishnu line. The late Mr. Venkayya him-
self and the epigraphists consider it impossible
that the Prakrit charters could be brought down
to a date after the middle of the fourth century,
the date of the invasion of Samudragupta and
his victory over Vishnugopa of KSnchi. The
Prakrit charters therefore and the dynasty or

HISTORY OF THfc EA&L* PALLAVAS 165

dynasties evolvable from them must be anterior to
about A.D. 350. As we have nothing to lead to
the identification of Samudragupta's Vishnugupa
of Kanchi with either of the two known Vishnu-
gopas of the later Sanskrit charters we shall have
to regard him as a separate person distinct alike
from the dynasty of the Prakrit charters and of
the dynasty of the Sanskrit charters. We shall
have to find room therefore for the dynasty or
dynasties of the Sanskrit charters after this
particular period. This arrangement seems war-
ranted by one circumstance which may fix the
chronology. The Velurpalaiyam plates state it
clearly that Skandasishya, Skandavarma I of the
genealogical table, seized from King Satya Sena
the "Ghatiha" of the Brahmans. This Satya
Sena seems to be the same as Svami Satya Simha, a
Mahakshatrapa who is known to us from the coins
of his son Mahakshatrapa Svami Rudra Simha III. 1
The transcript of the legend may be read
Satya Sena but it is rendered by the learned
Professor, Satyasimha. It might as well be

1 Prof. Rapson, pp. 191-92 of Catalogue of the Indian Coins in
the British Museum, Andhras, etc. In regard to the reading of the
coin legend suggested above, Prof. Rapson is of opinion, " The letters
of the coin legends are so minute and so carelessly formed (at this
period the close of the Kahatrapa Dynasty! that I consider it quite
possible that the true reading may be Satyasena and not Satyasimha,
as given by me on page 192 of the B. M. Catalogue of the Indbra
Dynasty." On a kind reference by the obliging Professor in my behalf,
Mr. John Allan of the British Museum examined the coin in question
and gives it as his opinion, " I certainly think you would be justified in
reading tne name as Satyaseua and not Satyasimba."

166 CHAPTER VIII

Satya Sena. His son would be Budrasena as well.
Names ending in Sena are not unknown among
the rulers of this dynasty. The date of this
Satyasena would be sometime anterior to A.D. 388.
If Skanda&shya's date be 388, the three genera-
tions before him would have for them about 40
years if all three of them did rule. It is Skanda-
gishya's father who according to the Velurpalaiyam
plates <c simultaneously with the daughter of the
chief of serpents grasped also the complete insignia
of royalty and became famous."

Passing on now to the Velurpalaiyam plates
themselves we are provided with the following
succession of the early Pallavas up to Sirahavishnu :

Kalabhartr

i

Chutapallava
Vlrakurcha

-i

Skanda&shya
Kumaravishnu

i

Buddhavarman

i

Nandivarman

i

Simhavarman

Simhavisbnu.

Along with these have to be taken the table
provided by the Chura plates.

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 167

Skandavarman
Maharajah Vishnugopa Varman

Simhavarman *

I
Vijaya Vishnugopa Varman.

The two Ongodu plates give us two genealogies :
I. Maharaja Kumara Vishnu

Maharaja Skandavarman

Vira Varman
Maharajah Vijaya Skandavarman

II. Maharajah Viravarman

Maharajah Skandavarman
Yuvamaharajah Vishnugopa

Simha Varman.

These separate genealogies are obviously in-
timately connected with one another and have to
be worked up into one table as many of the
names are common and are apparently connected
with one another. This is to a certain extent
facilitated by the full list of Pallava succession
given in the so-called Vayalur Pillar Inscription.
Eao Bahadur Mr. Krishnasastrigal proposes to
identify Kalabhartr with the Kanagopa of the
Kagakucji plates, and also with Maharajah
Kumara Vishnu of the Ongo<Ju plates L Simi-
larly in respect of the second name Chutapallava

168 CHAPTER VIII

which would mean a '* tender twig of the mango/'
he would regard it as a surname of Skanda-
varman I of the Uruvappalli grant, the Ongodu
plates I, also giving the name Skandavarman.
The names that follow do not differ. Virkurcba
and Viravarman are not so different, nor
Skanda&shya and Skandavarman. He is led to
this identification of the genealogy of the Ongodu
plates with those of the Velurpalaiyam ones as
he finds the palaeography of the Ongodu plates
No. 1 older in point of character, and almost the
earliest known record of the Pallava dynasty of
the Sanskrit charters. The Maharaja Vijaya
Skandavarman, the donor of the grant would be
Skandavarman II, Skanda&shya of the Velur-
palaiyam plates. If this is agreed to, there is
no difficulty in accepting this except for the
first name Kumaravishnu which has no affinity
with Kalabhartr or Kanagopa. One part of the
genealogical tree gets then settled. The genealogy
in the Ongodu plates No. II amounts to almost
the same as the Mangalur plates giving the
genealogy from Viravarman to Simhavarman II as
in the table below. The Chiira plates add to this
and carry the genealogy to Maharaja Vijaya
Vishnugopa Varman the son of Simha Varman II,
the donor of the Ongcxju grant No. II and
Mangalur grant.

The point that the donor's grandfather
Vishnugopa is given the title Maharaja in this

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 169

may be overlooked as a similar discrepancy is
noticeable between the Ongodu plates I and II
in respect of Viravarman, the first grant omitting
the adjunct Maharaja. The fact that the first
Ongodu grant was made from' the victorious
camp of Tambrapa is taken to warrant the con-
clusion that it was a subordinate family, by
M. Jouveau-Dubreuil, and, taking advantage of
the name Kumaravishnu, he would make the
members * of the Pallava dynasty whose names are
found on this table another line of descendauts
of Kumara Vishnu I. That would make a
difference of three generations between the Epi-
graphist's estimate of time and the Professor's,
both of them based on Paleography and nothing
else. Three names being in agreement we are
rather inclined to accept the Epigraphist's dictum
on a question of Palaeography. We arrive then at a
consolidated table of Pallavas somewhat as under :

(I) Kfcjabhartr (Kftgagopa)

(II) Cbutapallava

(perhaps a surname of Skandavannan I,
mentioned in the Uruvapalli grant)

(III) Virakurcha (Virtkorchavaiman
or Vlravarman)

IV) Skandagishya (Skandavarman II)
(V) Simhavarman I Yuvamaharija'hvishnagopa VI. Kumiravishnu I.

(XI) Bkandavarman III I VH. Buddbavarman

I (IX) SimhavArman n. I

(XII) NtDdivaroQan. I VIIL Kam4rvish^u II.

Mabiraja Vijaya
Vi

2S-1968B

170

CHAPTER VIII

Turning now to the Vayalur Pillar the names
31 to. 36 are in the recognised
order of the later dynasty. The
name 30 is a Vishnugopa which
may be the Vishnugopavarman
of the Chura plates in which
case, we go on to the Simha-
varman II in No. 29, No. 28,
Simhavarman teems an addi-
tional name. 25, 26 and 27
may be the names Simhavarman
I, Skandavarraan III and Nandi-
varinan 1 of the table. No. 24,
Skandavarman then would be
Skundavarman II on the table.
Then comes in a Viravarman,
No. 23, who may be the Vlra-
kurcha of the table. He is
preceded by a Simhavarman No.
22 for whom and for three pre-
ceding names we can find no
equivalent on the table. Then
follows the names Skandavarman
preceded by three names Skanda-
varman r Kumara Vishi>u,Buddha-
varman which may be the
names Skandavarman II Kumaravishiju I and
Buddhavarman ; but the same three names repeat
frox$ 12 to 14. These are preceded by two other
names 10 and 11, Kanagopa and "Vlrakurcha ; then

1. Vimala.

2. Konkaglka.
8. K&Iabhartr.
4. Chutapallava.
6. Vfrakurcha.

6. Chandra varm an.

7. Kar*U-

8. Visb^apopa.

9. Skandamula.
10. Ka^ftgopa.
H. Vlrakurcha.

12. Skandavarman.

13. Kumiravishnu.

14. Boddhavarman.
15. , Skanda varm an .

16. Kumaravishnu

17. Buddha varm an.

18. Bkandavarmao

19. Vish^ocopa.

20. Viehnudasa.

21. Skandavurman.

22. Simbavarman.
28. Viravarman.

24. Skandavarman.

25. Simhavarmm

26. Skaodavarman.

27. Nandivarman I.

28. Simhavarman.

29. Simbavarman.
SO. Viabnugopa.
81. Simhavarman.
32. Simbavisbnti.
88. Mabendra-

varman I.
84. Narasimha-

varman I.

35. Mabendra-

varmao II.

36. Paramefivara-

varman I.

HISTORY OF THE EARL* PALLAVAS 1?1

from 9 to 3 there is a considerable agreement with
the table here except that No. 6 Chandravarman
has to be taken as a mistake for Skandavarman.
The name Karala does not appear in any of the
grants at all and the connection of the first two
names Vimala and Konkanika do not find refe-
rence in any of the grants available to us. In
respect of this list of 36 names, it must be borne
in mind that it is a list made up in the reign of
the later Pallava Narasimhavarman II, and in
all probability the list was put together from a
comparative study of the various tables discussed
above from some record of these various grants ;
what is worse, put together perhaps without any
accurate knowledge of the connection of the vari-
ous members to each other, or their actual posi-
tion in the succession. This seems the only
explanation for the repetitions and variations
which one notices in the list in comparison with
the genealogies of the grants. It would be safer
to guide ourselves by the various tables discussed
above rather than by this one omnibus list which
otherwise provides us with no details whatsoever.

CHAPTER IX
HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS

Having arranged the various genealogies in
the Sanskrit charters of these Pallavas in a con-
solidated table, we might now turn to enquire
what exactly it is possible for us to know of the
Pallavas from these records and other sources
of information available to us. Turning to
the Velurpalaiyam plates we can pass over the
document till we come to Kalabhnrtr described
as the head jewel of his family like (Vishnu) the
husband of Indira (Lakshml). This perhaps
gives us a hint that he bore the name Kumara
Vishnu, as the Ongodu plates No. 1 would make
us infer. No information of an historical charac-
ter is given in regard to him. Then follows
his son Chutapallava identified in the table
with Skandavarman of the Uruvapalli and other
grants. Even that name seems to be a mere
eponymous name, the later tables giving instead
the name merely Pallava. It is in his son
Vlrakurcha that emerges the first historical
character. He is said to have grasped the com-
plete insignia of royalty together with the hand
of the daughter of ' the chief of the serpents/
thereby becoming famous. Put in ordinary

OF THE BAllLY fALLAVAS 1?3

language this would mean that he married a
Naga Princess and thereby acquired the title to
sovereignty over the region which he ruled.
This obviously has no connection with the birth
of Tondaman-Ilam-Tiraiyan who, according to
the tradition embodied in the classical poem
Perumbanarrunnadai, was the son of a Chola
king by a Naga Princess whose union with him
was not exactly what Vlrakurcba's union, as
described, is intended to be. The former is purely
an affair of love which may even be regarded as
a liaison. Virakurcha's is a regular marriage to
a Princess and, through her, the acquisition of
sovereignty. Neither the detail of the marriage
nor the acquisition of sovereignty will agree
with the story of Ijam-Tiraiyan. The explana-
tion of this apparently is that the Pallava
chieftain, whoever he was, contracted a marriage
with a more influential Naga chieftain in the
neighbourhood and thereby acquired his title to
the territory which came to be associated with
the Pallavas. We have alreadv noted that the
Satavahana viceroy of the region round Adoni
was the great commander Skandanaga. We
also noted that even before his time the territory
round Ohittaldrug, extending westwards to the
sea almost, was in the possession of a family
which went by the name Qu^ukula the members
of which family sometimes described themselves
an Satavahanas also. This would mean that they

174

were a clan of the Satavahanas other than that
which held rule over the Dakhan, but connected
by blood 'and perhaps even by alliance with that
clan* At one time under the rule of the later
Satavahanas these Nagas appear to have ex-
tended their authority and even acquired a
considerable portion of the kingdom of the
Satavahana themselves. If the Pallava chief-
tain in the neighbourhood made himself suffi-
ciently distinguished and contracted a marriage
alliance with these Nagas from whom came the
early Satavahana queen Naganika, it would have
been possible for him to have become recognised
a feudatory sovereign of the region either of
the Satavahanas themselves nominally, or of
their successors, the Nagas. This hint, vague as
it is in the inscription, seems to let us into the
secret of the rise of this dynasty of the Pallavas
to power, and may give us even a clue to the
time when these Pallavas should have risen to
the kingly position. This must have happened
at a time when the Satavahanas as a ruling
dynasty had passed away, and the attempt at
the assertion of the Gupta power over this region
under Samudragupta had in a way shaken the
authority of the older dynasties and left the
field open for new dynasties to spring up. The
character of the invasion of Samudragupta itself
makes it clear that the whole of the western
portion of the empire of the Andhras was in the

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PALLAVAS 175

hands of a power whom for some good reason
Samudragupta did not attack. One such reason
might have been that they held possession of the
territory with some power. It is likely that
their authority was not readily acquiesced in by
the smaller chieftains, feudatories of the Sata-
vahanas along the east coast. If this surmise
should turn out correct, it is possible to conceive
that the western portion was held by the power-
ful family of the Nagas, relations of the Sata-
vahanas, and the Pal lavas were among the
feudatories who showed a ready inclination to
throw off the Satavahana yoke. When Samudra-
gupta bad come and gone, the western power,
whatever that was, might have entered into a
marriage alliance with the Pallavas and recog-
nised them in the position to which they had
already risen by their own efforts. This state
of affairs seems supported from what is said of
Virakurcha's successor. Skanda&sbya, son of
Virakurcha, succeeded the father and is described
as T the moon in the sky of his family ' ; in
other words the most distinguished member of
the family. He seized from King Satyasena the
" Ghatika " of the Brahmans. We already indi-
cated the possibility that the Satyasena here
referred to may be Mahakshatrapa Svami Satya-
sena of the coins whose ,time would be the ninth
decade of the 4th century A.D. We do not know
definitely that the power of the Mahakshatrapas

176 CHAPTER IX

extended as far south as to come into contact
with the Pallavas, The probability seems to
be the Pallavas co-operated with the dynasty
of the Western Dakhan in a war with the
Kshatrapas of Malva who might, it is possible,
have made an effort to extend their authority
southwards into the region of the Dakhan.

DECADENCE OF THE &NDHRA POWER

The state of things foreshadowed in the
previous section is confirmed by the history of
the decadence of the power of the indhras who
held sway for more than three centuries in the
whole of the Dakhan extending even into the
Tamil country round Kanchl. According to
Professor Eapson an elaborate study of the coins
and inscriptions relating to this dynasty leads to
the conclusion that after the long reign of
Yagfia-Sri Satakarni the empire broke up into
two. The Puranas mention only three names
after this Satavahana. One of the names. Sri
Chandra could be read on coins found in the
SndhradeSa proper. There are three other
names ateo traceable in the coins of this region
and in the Chanda district of the Central Provin-
ces. The coins of neither of these groups have
been found in western India. This distribution
of the coins of the later And bras seems to justify
the conclusion that the empire was divided*

THE HISTORY OF THESE PALLAVAS 177

What is more, this investigation seems to confirm
what the Matsya Purana has to say regarding
the dynasties that succeeded the And bras. This
portion of the dynastic list according to the
version common to several manuscripts of the
Matsya, Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas begins,
" AndhranQm samsthite rajy?, tsam bhrty
anvaya nrpah, Sapt-aiv-Andhra bhavisyanti,"
meaning that while the indhras were still
ruling, a family of their servants who were them-
selves indhras ruled for seven generations. One
version of the Matsya Purana, however, has
" Andhrah tfrlparvatiyas fa te dvi-pan$aatam
samah," that the Sri Parvatiya Andhras ruled
for 52 years. Taking the two together we get to
this. That one section of the Andhras who
could be designated Sri Parvatiya Andhras who
were subordinate to the authority of Yagfia-Srl,
asserted their independence and ruled for 52
years in the region round Sri Parvata, that is, the
home territory, if it may be so called, of the
Andhras. There is no mention in that list of
what had happened to the western portion of
their territory unless we take the next following
passage to refer to what probably happened to
that part. Ten Abb Iras, servants of the Andhras
as the others, ruled for 67 years. We have an
ibhlra governor of the Mahakshatrapa Budra
Simha, son of Budra Daman with a date 103
which is equivalent to A,D. 181. The Abhira

83 1368B

178 CHAPTER IX

concerned here is the General Rudra Bhuti, son
of the general Bapaka, the Abhlra. 1

The Puranas seem to be correct to this
extent that the Abblra feudatories in the region
of Gujarat set up rule on their own account
in the later years of the Andhras, in all
probability in the years following Yagna-SrI.
This would have reference to the early years of
the third century A.D., and if the Abhiras ruled
for 67 years it would bring them practically to
the end of third century. The inscription
of the Abhlra king l^vara Sena at Nasik is a
clear indication that that part of the Andhra
country was under the rule of the Abhiras.
Ivara Sena himself was the son of the Abhira
Sivadatta. If with Professor Rapson we can
take these Abhiras to be identical with the
members of the Traikutaka dynasty, the Trai-
kutaka era beginning A.D. 249 would be the
era of the Abhiras as well. The Abhira ISvara
Sena may therefore be referable to about the
same time. The inscription found in Jaggayya-
petta of one 3ri Vira-Purusha Datta of the family
of Ikshvaku, and dated in his 20th year shows
that even the eastern territory of the Andhras
was passing into other hands. This inscription
is referable on palaeographical grounds to the
period of the later Andhras. What is most

list of Brahrni inscriptions, Kip. Ind., X., No. 968,
i Southern list.)

THE HISTORY OF THESE t>ALLAVAS 179

important to our present purpose here is that
the southern portion, and perhaps by far the
largest portion of the Empire of the Indhras,
passed into the hands of a family of feudatories
who called themselves Satakarnis as well, and
had for their capital Banavase (VaijayantI).
This is the famous Qutu dynasty who give
themselves the name Naga as well, and who
hav?, for their crest an extended cobra hood.
Their inscriptions are found in Kanheri, in
Kanara and in the Shimoga district of Mysore.
From their inscriptions so far made available to
us, we know of three generations of these and
two reigns, namely, that of Harltlputra Vishnukada
5u$ukulananda Satakarni and his grandson by
the daughter Siva Skanda Varman, also called
Siva Skanda Naga Sri in the Banavase inscrip-
tion, and Skandi Naga Satavahana in the
Kanheri inscription. These two rulers appear
to have preceded the Kadainbas almost without
any interval. It would appear as though the
Kadarnbas made the conquest of the territory
which became associated with them from this
Siva Skanda Vannan himself. The inscriptions
of this dynasty at Kanheri may be tal
indication of the extent of the terrij
they had become heir when
power decayed. These were
karnis, and almost from
of the rule of the Satavahana

180

the southern viceroyalty for them. Their
ascent to independent power would again support
the statement of the Puranas that it was the
Andhrabhrityas who ascended to power and inde-
pendence while yet the indhras were still
ruling. It is these Cu(ukula successors of the
Andhras in the territory immediately adjoining
that of the Pallavas that must be the Naga
family by a marriage alliance with which Vira-
kurcha was able to make good his position as ruler
of the south-eastern viceroyalty of the indhras.
Prabably the Pallavas in the locality of the
Prakrit charters fought and took possession of
the territory from the later Andhras. It may be
that the Sri Parvatiya And bras and the Pallavas
of the Sanskrit charters, at least the early mem-
bers among them, either felt it necessary, or
considered it advantageous, to get their possession
validated by this alliance with, and countenance
of, perhaps the most powerful among the suc-
cessors of the Andhras. It may be possible even
that the Princess mother of Siva Skanda V arm an,
Skanda Naga, had married the Pallava chieftain
perhaps a Mahabboja, as holding an important
viceroyalty of the Andhras. If this surmise
should turn out correct, as we have as yet no
direct evidence to confirm it, Siva Skanda Naga
Sri of the western inscription would be the
Skanda&shya of the Pallava inscriptions. Such
a position for Skanda Varman would be in

JHB MlSTORY O# TflHlSB PALtAVAS I8i

accordance with the tradition associated with the
foundations of the dynasty of the Eadambas.

LIGHT FROM KADAMBA INSCRIPTIONS

According to the tradition as we find it recorded
in the inscription of Eakustha Varman, it was a
Brahman by name Mayura-Sarman who went to
exhibit his Vedic studies at the " Brahman settle-
ment," (Ghatika) of KanchL There he got into a
quarrel with either some important upholder of the
authority of the Pallavas, and gave up the life of a
Brahman in consequence, and assumed that of a
warrior. 1 He was so successful in his new life
that he acquired possession of all the forest
country up to Sri Parvata, laid the great Bana
under contribution, and otherwise made himself a
very considerable obstacle to the pretensions of
the Pallavas who were just then rising into
importance. The Pallava monarch for the time
being considered it prudent to recognise the re-
doubtable Brahman as a military officer of his
with the government of a considerable province
extending from the sea in the west to the eastern
limit of " Prehara." 2 Who were the Pallavas to
appoint this Brahman to the Governorship of the

1 This change of language is necessitated by the term afoa
being the assembly of Brahmins dozing the celebration of a horse-
sacrifice clearly and not a group of horsemen.

* Gould this be Perar in the Cuddapah district with which the origin
of the Gacga dynasty is connected?

2 - CHAPTER IX

*

province whose capital was Banavase? The
Pallavas must have possessed the territory which
the Brahman perhaps made his own, and tken the
Pallavas rightfully conferred it upon the Brahman
as his fief. If it had not been so, there is no
sense in a Eadacnba inscription claiming this as
the rightful foundation of their title to the
province. It seems therefore that the alliance
between the Naga and the -Pallava which gave the
title to the Pal lava for the possession of the whole
of the territory means nothing more than an
alliance between the Pallavas and the Cutus.
This alliance resulted in the Pallavas becoming
ultimately rulers not only of the Pallava territory
proper but of practically the whole Empire of the
indhras as much of it at any rate as had not gone
into the possession of others like the Abhiras and
the Iksbvakus of the east. This assumption
would satisfactorily explain the setting up of
the Kadarnba power in the region which was
peculiarly the province of the Cutus. If that
Should turn out to be so, the statement regarding
Skanda&shya that he took from Satyasena the
ghatika of the Brahrnans would become not
merely possible but very likely. It is perhaps
a subsidiary branch of this family of the Cujjus
that ultimately overthrew the Kadambas in this
region, and founded the dynasty of the Chajukyas.

CHAPTEB X

\

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS

It has already been shown above that the
Pallava overlordship of the territory associated
with the Kadambas indicates that the Pallavas
succeeded to the whole of the southern portion
of the indhra Empire. This accessiqn of territory
to the Pallavas is explained by the fact of a mar-
riage alliance between the Pallavas and a race of
the Nagas who held the southern viceroyalty in
behalf of the Satavahcinas, and claimed to belong
to the same clan of the Satakarnis as well. A
similar position of overlordship over the Gangas
is given to the Pallavas in the so-called Penukon-
daplates l of the early Ganga, Madhava, the
third of the name according to the complete list
of Mr. B. L. Rice. These plates record the gift
of a number of villages adjoining Parigi about
seven miles north of Hindupur in the Anantapur
district, and therefore quite on the borders of the
Kolar district with which the rule of the Gangas
is peculiarly associated. The document being
undated the late Dr. Fleet, who held that
most of the Ganga plates hitherto known were
spurious, records it as bis opinion that these* plates
t

, . Kp. lad., XIV, pp. 331 ff.

184 CHAPTER X

must l>e regarded genuine, with the remark
that * A.D. 475 seems a very good date for it. 1
The plates give a genealogy :

Konkanivarman

" i

M&dhava

I

Ayyavarman
Madhava

In regard to the first two there is nothing
worthy of note except that according to other
records of this dynasty Konkani-Varman had
the name Madhava and was the uncle of the
other Madhava rather than the father. This
difference may be explained on the ground
that the table given here is a list of succession
not necessarily from father to son. Ayya-
varman may be Ariyavarman, and may be syno-
nymous with Ari-Varman and Hari-Varman,
and even possibly with Krishnavarman as Mr.
Bice suggests. What is of peculiar importance
in regard to him in connection with the Pallavas
is that he was installed by a Maharajah Simha~
varman, * the Indra of the Pallava kula ' ' in
a literal sense ' (yathartham). His successor,
according to this record, Madhava, had the
alternative name Simhavarman, and he is said to
bate been similarly installed ' in the literal

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANG AS 185

sense* by Maharaja Skandayarmjin of the
Pallavas, According to the other records of these
Gangas however a Vishnugopa comes after
Ayyavarman. Mr. Eice who is the editor of ,tb<&
Penukonda plates finds it possible that there! is
an omission of the name ID these plates by the
fault of the engraver. It seems likely however
from the unanimity of the records in respect of
this ruler, Vishnugopa, that a ruler, by name
Vishnugopa, did precede Madhava, the last of
the name in this pedigree, whether he was the
latter's father or grandfather ; or there is still
the possibility that he might have been an uncle
for which assumption there is no authority in
any of the records. The fact that Simhavarman
installed Ayyavarman and that he was followed
by a ruler with the name Vishnugopa, and that
this Vishnugopa was followed by a ruler who
was installed by a Pallava Skandavarman seems
to imply a Pallava overlordship over the Gangas*
If, as suggested above, Vishnugopa happened to
be an uncle or grand-uncle of Madhava, the name
Simhavarman given to Madhava would be an
honour done to Simhavarman who installed Ayya-
varman on the throne. There is therefore
reference to a Pallava ruler f imbavarman who
must have had a successor following, either
immediately or in the next generation, by name
Skandavarman with just the possibility that the
Vishtiugopa of the Gangas was a name given to

24 1863B

CHAPTER X

the rater in honour of a Vishnugopa, the Pallava

overlord. If this possibility should turn out a

fact then we have this Pallava succession :

Sitnhavarman, Vishnugopa and Skandavarman .

According to the Udayendram grant we have had

a succession Skand ivartnan, Simhavarman, an-

other Skandavarman followed by a Nandivarinan,

and we have for good reasons regarded this

Simhavarmin as the son of Skanda&shya, father

of YuvamaharSja Visbnugopa. The possibility

of connection therefore between the Pallava

sovereigns of the Penukonda plates and the suc-

cession list of the Pallavas we have arrived at,

seem clearly indicated to the period following

the reign of Skandasishya or Skandavarman II ;

but the identification of the actual rulers is not

thereby made easy. Simhavarman I, his younger

brother Vishnugopa and Skandavarman, the son

of Simhavarman, may be one set of names, if

that is the order in which they ruled ; for our

present purpose it would quite do if Simhavarman

was followed by Skandavarrnan, Vishnugopa

being a mere Yuvamaharaja. There is another

alternative; the three names referred to may

be Simbavarman II, son of Yuvamaharaja Vishiui-

gopa, bis son Maharaja Visbnugopa of the

Ohtlra plates followed by the name Skanda-

varman, the son of Simhavarman I, if this had

been the order of the Pallava succession. Which-

ever of the two alternatives should ultimately

tHE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS 187

turn out correct the three (ranga rulers Ayya-
varnun, Vishnugopi and Madbava, the second
or third of the name, .must have ruled in the
period between Skandt&ishya or Skandavarman
II, and Simhavarman the father of Simhavishnu
of the dynasty of the great Pallavas that, ior
good reasons, we have ascribed to the period
A.D. 380 to A.D. 500. Even the approximate
date of ttiese rulers would depend entirely ujpon
the arrangement of the Pallava order of suc-
cession. After Skandavarman II we might take
it almost certain from the Uruvapalli plates that
Simhavarman I succeeded the father, Vishnu-
gopa being the Yuvamaharaja under him. If
Vishijugopa did not rule Simhavarman was pro-
bably followed by Simhavarman II, Skandavarman
perhaps having been very young. It is also
likely that he was followed by Vishnugopa II
of the Chura plates, he in turn being succeeded
by Skandavarman III ; then must have
followed the dynasty of the other son Kumsjira
Vishnu I. If \\e can safely follow the Velur-
pajaiyam plates, Kunmravishnu must have been
succeeded by Buddhavarrnan, Nandivarman
following then. The fact however that ,th$
VglurpSlaiyam plates speak of a host of ruler&
following Buddhavarman before Naodivarmap
at last succeeded, would indicate that Simba*
varman I was profeably followed by KuraSra*-
vishnu ; he by bis son Buddba varman perhaps

1S8 'CHAPTER 3t

followed for a short while by Kumaravishnu II.
The succession perfiaps passed then to Simha-
vishnu II of the table ; then Vishnugopa II ;
then Skandavarman III and lastly Nandivarman.
We may accept this crder of succession tenta-
tively till we get more clear lead as to the
actual order of succession of these. If we turn
to the Vayalur Pillar for this lead it would be
difficult to find any. Simhavarman, the father of
Simhavislmu, is preceded by Vishnugopa whom
we might take to be the second of the name.
He is preceded by a Simhavarman which is so
far correct. He is preceded by another Simha-
varman and the only Simhavarman available is
Simhavarman I of the table. He is preceded by
five names 23 to 27 which are the names found
in the Udayendrara plates already referred to,
of which No. 28, Simhavarman, must be one.
Nos. 15 to 22 seem difficult of adjustment on the
table ; some of the names are new and there is
also confusion in the order. As was pointed
out already this list seems to be a jumble of
various genealogies collected and put together as
the order of succession without a correct know-
ledge of the. actual succession. It would there-
fore be better to accept the arrangement last
suggested, namely, Simhavarmau, the eldest son
of Skanda&shya, being followed by KumSra-
vishiju I and then by Buddhavarman and
perhaps even by Kumaravishnu II, the

i'ALLAvAs AND tMB GANGS AS 189

succession going back to the son and grandson
of Vishimgopa I, and then on to a son and
grandson of Simhavishnu. That will bring
Simhavishnu, Vishnugopa and Skandavarman of
the Penukonda plates late in the succession
making the date A.D. 475 for the plates possible.
It may even be somewhat later. Skandavarmaa
was according to the Velurpalaiyam plates fol-
lowed by Nfitndivarman ; then comes in a break
in the succession as far as our present knowledge
of it goes. Then follows the line of Simha-
varman, father of Simhavishnu; Nandivarman,
Simhavarman, Simhavishnu and Mahendra-
varinan occupying almost a century, and perhaps
a little more, between Simhavarman of the Penu-
konda plates and Narasimhavarman the great
Pallava whose accession might be dated approxi-
mately about A.D. 600.

It was already pointed out that the Ganga
territory lay in the Auantapur and Kolar districts
particularly, and later on extended to take in
practically the whole of the Mysore district as
well with an alternative capital at Talaka<J.
Kolar however is regarded as the ancestral capital
of this dynasty even when the capital was actually
at TalaklUj ; and the hill Nandi is regarded as
peculiarly the hill of the Gangas. According to
one traditional verse defining the boundaries of
Ton4aman4alam, the Pallava territory proper,
the western boundary is fixed at Pavalamalai

190 CHAPTER t

(coral hill) ; according to another it is taken
westwards to Rishabhagiri. The former appa-
rently denotes the foot hills of the Eastern Ghauts
that skirt the foot of the plateau and have a
westward trend till they strike the Western
Ghauts beyond the Nilgiris ; while the latter is
obviously tha hill Nandi. This latter boundary
perhaps explains the overlordship which was
clearly admitted by the Gangas themselves accord-
ing to the PenukondU plates. It is clear from
this that the original territory of the Gangas, at
least the eastern part of it, formed a portion of
the Tondamandalam and the Pallava claim to
overlordship rested upon a sound historical basis.
The overlordship claimed in regard to the terri-
tory specially associated with the Eadambas was
already explained as being due to the Pallavas
becoming heir to the territory by virtue of a
Naga marriage, that is, the marriage of Vlra-
kurchfi with the Naga princess which gave him
a wife and a kingdom together. This historical
union has nothing whatever to do with the period
of the Tonflaraan Ilam-Tiraiyan of KSnchl. We
thus see that the period extending from the
latter half of the fourth century dowm to almost
the commencement of the seventh is occupied
by what seems a continuous succession of Pallava
rulers* Anything like an interregnum postu-
lated by the late Mr. Venkayya, within wbich
has to be brought not merely the great Chofo

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS 191

Karikala, but the successioa of political changes
centering round his name and that of his succes-
sors, for a generation or two at the lowest, seems
impossible.

' THE THEORY OF INTERREGNUM BASELESS

After all, this theory of a Chola interregnum
in the fifth century rests upon the flimsy founda-
tion of the eleventh century information that a
Trilochana Pallava reclaimed the forest country
of the ceded districts and started a dynasty of
the Pallavas from whom the later rulers of the
locality claimed descent. This reclamation of
the forest country is clearly indicated to have
been the achievement of the first important
member of the Pallava Prakrit charters who is
given no name and who is credited with having
bestowed crores of money and a hundred thousand
ox-ploughs. Nothing could be clearer than this
statement in regard to the reclamation of the
forest country by him. The fact that he is
referred to only by the term Bappadeva (revered
father) and not by any other specific name points
to the fact that his services were specially dis-
tinguished in regard to this matter, and that he
left such a deep impression upon the people that
it was hardly necessary he should be defined by a
specific name. Although Dr. Hultzsch attempted
another explanation of the expression occurring

192 CHAPTER X

in the Uruvapalli plates in regard to Simha-
varman II that he was ' a worshipper at the feet
of the Bha^taraka Maharaja Bappadeva' as
meaning his father, it will bear the interpretation
that the Bappadeva described as the Bhattaraka
Maharaja is the Bappadeva of the Prakrit char-
ters, the founder of the authority of the Pallavas
in the Telugu districts. The objection to Dr.
Hultzsch's interpretation, quite justifiable in
regard to later documents, is, in regard to this
particular document, that Vishnugopa was not a
Maharaja and could not perhaps exactly be
described as Bhattaraka Maharaja. There is no
indication of a reason for the departure in respect
of him particularly. If Trilochana Pallava were
regarded by later tradition to be credited with
having cleared the forest country to turn it into
occupied land, here was Bappadeva's work which
later tradition might indicate as that of Tri-
lochana Pallava. It is just possible that Bappa-
deva's name was some equivalent of Trilochana
(Siva) taking the fact that his son called himself
Sivaskanda-Varman into consideration. If he
bore anything like the name Siva he could be
spoken of as Trilochana and the late tradition
seems to be an echo of the achievement of Bappa-
deva himself.

On palaeograpbical considerations above the
Prakrit charters have to be regarded earlier
than the southward march of Samudragupta, that

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS 193

is about A.D. 350 ; Samudragupta's date being
known it is impossible to bring either of the two
Visbnugopas that figure in the genealogical table
to a date about A.D. 350. Visbnugopa of Kanchi,
the contemporary of Samudragupta, must have
been a ruler different from the two Visbnugopas
of the later table. Therefore then after the
Satavahanas, we have the Pallava dynasty or
dynasties of the Prakrit charters, then follows
the reign of Vishnugopa, and then the dynasty of
the Sanskrit charters to whose history actually we
shall now turn.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL DATUM IN

THE L6KAVIBHIGA

The Archaeological Department of Mysore
discovered a manuscript of a Digambara Jaina
work named Lokavibhaga of which an account
is given in their report for 1909-10. The subject
treated of is Jaina cosmography. The work
was supposed to have been first given by word of
mouth by Vardhamana himself, and is said to
have been handed down through Sudharma and
a succession of other teachers. Risbi Simha&uri
or Simhaura made a translation of it, apparently
from the Prakrit into Sanskrit. The work is
said to have been finally copied some considerable
time before the date of the copy (pura) by Muni
Sarvanandin in the village named Pafcalika
(TittippadiripuliyGr ; Cuddalore New Town) m^

2S-4868B.

194 CHAPTER X

the P&nara&tyra (Bana country) ; then follows
the date of the completion of this task. It was
in the year 22 of Simhavarman, the Lord of
KanchI, and in the year 80 past 300 of the Saka
year, in other words, Saka 380. This piece of
information is confirmed by two other manuscripts
of the work since discovered. The late Dr. Fleet,
who was suspicious of early Saka dates, after
having examined the date carefully, -and making
a correction in respect of the month and date,
has arrived at the conclusion that it is equivalent
to the year A.D. 458. The Simhavarman under
reference therefore must have begun to rule in
A.D. 436. Unfortunately for us there are two
Simhavarmans according to our genealogical
table, Simbavarinan I and Simhavarman II. As
we have arranged it on the table three reigns
come between the one and the other. It is just
possible that the reference is to Simhavarman I
except for the fact that Skanda&shya's reign
would be very long having regard to the Satya-
sena datum already examined. If the Simha-
varman referred to in the Penukomja plates is
Simhavarman II as we have shown reasons that
he was the persoq referred to, the Lokavibhaga
was a work that was composed in the reign of
Simhavarman II having regard to the fact that
the Penukonda plates are datable about A.D.
475. A.D. 436 to 475 is a period of 40 years,
and might be regarded long enough for the reign

PALLAVA6 AND THE GANGAS 196

of two kings and of part of the reign of a third.
After the Skandavarman referred to in the
Penukonda plates there should have followed
three rulers before we come to Mahendravarman
whose date would be somewhere near A.D. 600 ;
namely, Nandivarman, Simhavarman, the imme-
diate successor of Nandivarman according to
Velfipalaiyam plates, his son Simhavisbnu fol-
lowed by Mahendravarman. One century might
be considered too long & period for three reigns
on an average computation ; but there is nothing
impossible about it if one had been an unusually
long reign or if any two of them bad been fairly
long reigns. The possibility of anything like an
interregnum, in which we could work in the
kings and potentates associated with Karikala
and intimately connected with the so-called
Saingam literature, would then be obviously
impossible.

As a result of this somewhat detailed, investi-
gation the trend ol Early Pallava History ntey
be described as follows : White yet the Gbolas
were ascendent in the south holding Tdnda-
mandalam under their control with Kanebi for
its capital the later SatavUhana under Vasish$i-
putra Pulumavi made an effort at conquering
the country answering exactly to the Ton^a-
man^alam extending from North Permar to
South Pennar. This effort is reflected in Tamil
literature by references to various incidents ia the

196 CHAPTtSR X

struggle between the Ariyar or Vacjugar on the
one side and the Tamil rulers, particularly the
Cholas, on the other. Among these rulers stands
out the name of Ilam-Senni who is given credit
for having defeated the Paradavar of the south
and the Vadugar of the north in one context.
In another he is similarly credited with having
crushed the Vadugar at Pali on the west coast.
That these Vadugar should be no other than the
Andhras (Tarn : Andar) is in evidence in a passage
of the Pattinapalai where Karikala is said to have
brought under his control the Oliyar and then
the Aruvalar and then the Vadugar, these last
being interpreted by the commentator as those
next north to the Aruvalar.

The region indicated by this reference is the
region which would correspond exactly to the
south-east frontier province of the Andhras
dominated by Dhanakataka (Amaravati). In
this region at one time the Satavahanas had so
far succeeded as to create a frontier province
under a Naga general Skanda Naga who is des-
cribed as a Mahasenapati. Under Pulumavi
therefore the war had gone on for a considerable
time. After the death of Karikala, owing
apparently to the civil war that raged in the
Chola country, the Cbolas lost hold on the country
almost up to the banks of the southern Pennar
as the ship coins of the Andhras in this region
indicate. It was during that period that the

JPALLAVAS ANb ttiE GANGES 19?

indhras felt the necessity of a viceroy alty in
the south-east of an important character to which
none other than a great general and possibly
even a blood relation of the ruling family was
considered necessary. After some time, probably
in the reign of Yagna Sri, they felt the vice-
royalty so far settled as to appoint a local chieftain
of some influence to the position. This appa-
rently was the Bappadeva referred to in the
earliest Prakrit inscription accessible to us. His
gift of money and a large number of ox-ploughs
seems to be a continuation of the good work
begun by Karikala of destroying jungle and
creating arable land from it, and digging tanks
and providing for irrigation. This chieftain is
of the Bharadvaja Gotra like the later Pallavas,
and both he and his son ruled over Kancbi as
their headquarters. Whether these were in any
manner connected with the Tondamandalam of
Ilam-Tiraiyan, Viceroy of KanchI, in the age
immediately preceding is not known. Ilam-Tirai-
yan's viceroyalty passed down from Chola Ilam-
Killij the younger brother of Nedumudi-KiJli.
After the viceroyalty of this prince we do not
hear of Kanchi being under the Cholas. It is
very probably then that it passed into the hands,
of the Pallavas. As was already pointed out
there were four generations of these rulers, it
may be two dynasties of two rulers each, who
ruled over this territory.

198 CHAPTER X

Whether the territory passed to another dynas-
ty, or whether it was the same dynasty which
continued, we do not know for certain ; but it is
clear that the territory of the Pallavas bad broken
up at least into three as, in the Hari&na inscrip-
tion of Samudragupta, three rulers at least are
said to be governing the territory under the early
Pallavas. That inscription refers to Hastivarman
of Vengi, Ugra Sena of Palakka and Vishijugopa
of Kanchl. This probably was the result of a
struggle between the new dynasty of the Ikshvakus
who came from the north and occupied the eastern
portion of the Satavabana territory, and the
Pallavas of the south. The rulers of Palakka
and Vengi may have been offshoots of this intrud-
ing dynasty of the Ikshvaku king Sri Vlra Purusha
Datta. If that is so,, Vishnugopa of Kanch!
would represent the native Pal lava as against the
new dynasty of intruders from the north. Samu-
dragupta 's defeat of these rulers seems to have
brought about a change in Kanchl. Vishnu-
gopa's power was apparently undermined by the
defeat, and his throne was usurped by the founder
of the dynasty of the Sanskrit charters. This
seems the actual course of events as Visbnugopa's
name is not mentioned in any of the charters,
and Virakurcha is the man who is said first to
have acquired possession of this territory along
with the band of the Naga princess. Tins
clearly indicates a struggle, and the struggle

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS 199

must have been between Visbnugopa himself
and a collateral branch of the family, it may be,
who sought the alliance of the powerful Nagas in
the immediate west. Virakurcha or Viravarman
who, we have pointed out, might be the unnamed
son-in-law of the Cutu chief of Banavase whose
son is named Skanda Naga in one of the records
and Skandavarman in the other. This Skanda-
varman was apparently the Skanda ^ishya of the
Sanskrit charters. In other words Viravarman
became heir alike to the south-eastern Viceroy-
alty of the Satavahanas held by the Naga ^general
first in behalf of the Satavahanas, and later by
the usurping local dynasty of the Pallavas of the
Prakrit charters, it may be by right of birth, but
certainly by an act of policy. Through bis wife
he became alike heir to the most powerful south-
western viceroyalty of the Cutu family of the
Satakarnis, thus uniting under one ruler the
whole southern block of Satavahana territory about
the time that the northernmost part of that
kingdom was being disputed for by the Nagas from
the soutbj and the reviving power of the Kshatra-
pas from the north. Either Virakurcha himself
or his son Skandavarman was able to reassert the
authority of the Pallavas over the territory ex-
tending as far north as Vengi. Several of the
Sanskrit charters were issued from their victorious
camps in various of the well-known localities along
the lower course of the Krishna. Skanda&shya's

200 CHAPTER X

SOD Simhavarman, perhaps much more the
younger son Visbnugopa, probably took part in
this reconquest of the north for the Pallavas.
Another son Kuinara Vishnu who probably
ascended the throne after his elder brother Simha-
varman is given credit for the conquest of the
Cbola country ; that is the first effort at expansion
southwards by the Pallavas. The history of
the next following generations is somewhat
obscure, but when we come to Simhavarman
and his son Simhavi^hnu we are more or less on
firm historical ground. There was a reassertion
of the Pallava authority over the Chola country
under Simhavi^hnu, and Mahendravarman was
able to make very much more of a permanent
advance.

THE RISE OF THE CHALTJKYAS

In the meanwhile changes of a momentous
character had taken place to the west of the
Pallava territory. The region of the Naga
chieftains, cousins of the ruling Satavahanas, had
been taken either in the reign of Skandavarman
himself or his somewhat feeble successor by an
enterprising Brahman who succeeded almost as a
rebel in putting an end to the Pallava power in the
northern half of their territory extending southwards
from Sri Sailam. 1 He extended his power

1 This if re3 tt Trl-Kuta and identified with * hill of that character
pp the nortli-eftttero border of Mysore J.I-H.

THE PALLAVAS AND THE GANGAS 201

so far as to levy contributions from the territory
of the Banas (Tarn, Panas) immediately to the
west and south of the Pallava territory proper.
The Pallavas apparently recognised his hold upon
his native country by conferring it as a fief upon
him thereby purchasing peace and perhaps a
restoration of the Pallava territory of the Ceded
Districts. This achievement of Mayura Sarman,
the Veda Scholar, must have taken place in the
reign of Skandavarman himself or in that of his
son Simhavarman. A certain number of genera-
tions of these had actually ruled. We find the
Pallavas slowly gaining strength and reasserting
their authority over the Gangas by successively
anointing and thus ratifying the - succession of
two Ganga rulers. The inference of a weakening
of the power of the Kadambas at that time seems
possible and this was taken advantage of by a
feudatory dynasty of the Kadambas, themselves
a dynasty connected with them by blood and
perhaps similarly claiming authority v from the
Satavahanas themselves. These are the western
Chalukyas who like the Kadambas claimed to
belong to the Manavyasa-Gotra, and described
themselves as Harltiputra. Their later
charters trace their descent from the rulers of
Ayodbya and lay claim, in their behalf, to belong
to the family of Ikshvakus ; the Cholas laid claim
to the same descent as did Sri Vira Purusha
Datta, the interloper in the eastern half of the

3&-1368B

302 CHAPTER X

territory. By the time that Siinhavishnu
had placed himself firmly on the throne of
Kanchi, the Chalukyas bad so far established
themselves in power first in the north-western
part of the Andhra dominions gradually extend-
ing downwards to occupy what belonged to the
Cutu Nagas, the cousin-viceroys of the Andbras.
It is in this frontier that they came into contact
with the Pallavas necessarily hostile as it meant
an expansion of Chalukya power and territory
in that direction. It is then there began the
war between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas
which is the feature of their later history.

CHAPTER XI
KiNCHl, THE CENTRE OF THE PALLAVAS

During the whole period of their history ex-
tending from about A.D. 200 to the end of the
9th century the Pallava power centred round
Kanchi, which became definitely associated with
them, at any rate from the days of Samudragupta
onwards, though a very much earlier ruler states
in a charter which he issued that he ruled from
Kanchi. Kanchi was the centre and capital of
the region known to the Tamils as Tondaman-
dalam, and the Pallavas came into possession of
that region. They show almost from the
beginning of their history, to have brought along
with them the culture of the north that is
Aryan culture as distinguished from what may
be called Dravidian. Their charters were all
issued either in Prakrit or in Sanskrit. It may
even be regarded that during their age, Sanskrit
literature came in for some encouragement in the
territory which must be regarded Pallava. The
Jain work Lokavibhaga already referred to, is a
work which was composed in Cuddalore in the
fifth century. That is not all.

PATRONS OF RELIGION AND ART
They seem to have been great patrons as well,
of religion and art. With the accession to power-

cfcAPt Efc ii

of the great dynasty of the Pallavas beginning
with Simhavarman and his son Simhavishnu
they extended their power southwards and
brought it up to the banks of the Kaveri. As a
matter of fact, Simhavishnu is stated to have
taken possession of the country of the Kaveri.
Throughout this region we see evidence of the
work of his son Mahendra-Varman, otherwise
called Mahendra-Yishnu. The tanks, the cave
temples, and some even of the smaller temples
are ascribable to him. A Sanskrit burlesque
ascribed to him and called Malta- vilasa-prahasana
is not merely evidence of what may be regarded
as partiality for Sanskrit literature, but it also
throws considerable light upon the religious
condition of the times. The purpose of the
work is to bring into ridicule the votaries of the
various cults that prevailed at the time. An
ascetic Pa^upata, a Kapalika and his wife, and a
Buddhist mendicant are brought into colloquy in
the play and held up to ridicule. The omission of
the Jain in this group may lead to the inference
that at the time he composed the work Mabendra
was a Jain, and might thus lend support to
the Saiva tradition that rather late in his life he
was converted to Saivism by the Saint Appar.
That a work of the character of Matta-vilasa-
prahasana should be composed in Kanchi for the
purpose for .which it shoujd have been intended,
is : evidence of a certain degree of prevalence of

, THE CENtfcE C* tHE fALLAVAS

Sanskrit learning. This position of Ranch! is
supported by its having been known a Ghatika of
the Brahmans at an earlier period, and by the fact
that Mayura Sarma of the Kadambas found
it necessary to go to Kancbl to gain recognition for
his Vedic learning. Mahendra seems to have been
a patron of music as well, and a short musical
treatise referable to his time is inscribed on the
face of 'the living rock in the great Siva temple at
Kudimiyarnalai in the Pudukofta state so that
Mahendra in particular was a patron of art as well
as of religion.

SANSKRIT LITERATURE DURING THE PERIOD

Among the finds of manuscripts brought to
light by the search-parties sent out by the
Government Oriental Manuscripts Library are
two works ascribed to Dandin, the author of the
rhetorical work, Kavyadar&u This last work has
a verse illustrating a particular kind of composi-
tion. The verse which has to be of a recondite
character takes for its illustration the city Kancfyl
and its rulers the Pallavas. This reference alone
would lead one to suspect that Dandin had some-
thing to do with Kanchl. These manuscripts newly
brought to light relate to the subject-matter of
the prose-work Da^akumara Cbarita generally
ascribed to Dandin. The poetical work seems to be
called Avanti-Sundari-katha-sara, and of the
original prose version a few fragments alone ate

206

yet available ; but the substance of the story is
put in poetic form and contains an introductory
chapter which gives some information regarding
Dandin himself and bis ancestry. The matter
of peculiar importance to our subject at present
is that Dandin calls himself the great-grandson
of Bharavi, the author of Kiratarpniya Further
Dandin seems to refer himself to the reign of
Rajasimha or Narasimha II among the great
Pallavas. This seems supported by the fact
recently brought to notice by Kao Bahadur
R. Narasimhachariar that a Ganga king by name
Durvinita lays claim to having written a com-
mentary on the fifteenth canto of the Kiratar-
junlya of Bharavi. In this account Bharavi is
also brought into contemporaneity with the
Chalukya Vishnuvardhana, an ancestor of
Jayasimha I, who became famous afterwards as
the founder of the Chalukya dynasty. This
would make Bharavi a contemporary with either
Mahendra Pallava himself or his son Nara-
simha 1. In either case Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya
may account for the great popularity that this
particular incident, in the epic tradition of the
manifestations of Siva, attained in this part of
the country, Apart from its being one of the
most oft-quoted instances of Siva's beneficence,
the cutting out of this particular episode on the
face of the big rock in Mahabalipuram which
remained somewhat inexplicable .till now finds

KiNCHl, THE CENTRE OF THE PALLAVAS 207

a satisfactory explanation. Though we have
another instance of a sculptural illustration of
this in distant Bihar in Chandi Mau, still it was
a matter which could not readily be explained why
the Tevaram hymners should have pitched upon
this particular incident among a large variety,
and the sculptors of Mahabalipuram should have
chosen this for an illustration. If Bharavi and
Dandin flourished in Kanchi, Kanchi must have
been a very important centre of Sanskrit learning
at the time.

GREAT RELIGIOUS FERMENT IN THE COUNTRY

This period must also have been one of great
religious activity. Many of the existing temples
came into existence during this period, and most
of them in Kanchi and the surrounding locality
received encouragement and extension. The
town of Kanchi itself is so full of these Pallava
monuments that it would be possible for one to
make a complete study of Pallava art and archi-
tecture without going out of it. The great re-
naissance of religion and literature characteristic
of the age of the Guptas in the north found a
reflex during the age of the Pallavas in KanchL
Both Saivism and Vaishnavism, the two offshoots
of the school of Bhakti, took form and shape
during this period. Literature bearing upon
both of these in Tamil is almost entirely the pro-
duct of the age of $te Pallavas, Of the 63 Saiva

208 CHAPTER XI J

Devotees one of the earliest is the Chola king
Ko-Sengan who must have followed the age of
the Sangam very closely. We have shown else-
where 1 that the earliest of the Vaisbnava Ajvars
were in all probability contemporaries of the
Tondaman-Ilam-Tiraiyan himself. It is not at
all unlikely that some of the sixty-three Saiva
Adiyars may be referable to an age as early as
these. The latest among the Aj,vars is Tiruman-
gai Aivar, and he lived as certainly as it is possible
for us to know the fact, in the middle of the
eighth century. The latest of the Saiva Adiyars,
Sundaramurti, lived perhaps a generation later
in the closing period of the Pallava dominance
in the south. The greatest among the Adiyars
Sambandar and Appar, two of the three most
celebrated among the Adiyars, were undoubtedly
contemporaries of Narasimba I. Thus we see
the schools of Bhakti, to the early features of
which we already find reference in the Sangam
literature, began their great development under
the Pallavas and took the form that they have at
present, in this period.

INFLUENCE OF THE GUPTA CULTURE

How much of this development may be due
to any direct Gupta influence we are not in a
position to trace in detail yet. It is impossible

* Early Hiitory of Vaisbaavigtn ; OxfpJP* UairertHy

KINCHl, J[HE CENTRE OP THE PALLAVAS 209

4*

that there should not have been that ' kind of
influence, but the whole of the Pallava develpp-
rnent in point of religion of the Bhakti school
is explainable without this external stimulus.
It certainly was the age for the south of a certain
amount of reorganisation of the Brahmanical
religion such as it had been in the earlier centuries.
The reorganisation seems to have taken the form
of a great emphasis being laid on what is generally
described as * theistic religion 'religion whose
centre and heart-core is a personal God watchfully
beneficent for the salvation of devotees. Such a
movement was called for to remedy one of the
vital defects of Vaidic Brahmanism, and the
great success which attended the early efforts of
Buddhistic teachers, and to a certain degree of
the Jain as well, was due to the Congregationalism
of both these religiously stems. It is this need
therefore of a religion which would appeal to the
masses that led to this great development in
Brahmanism in the period of Brahmanical reorga-
nization as against Buddhism and Jain/ism. The
recognition of a personal God and of a popular
religion necessitates the form of worship associated
with temples.

TEMPLE BUILDING IN THE SOUTH

'If this happens to be the age during which
the great majority of temples in the * south came
into existence the explanation is here ready. It

27 1368B h

SfO CHAPTER XI

was an age when the people were auxious to
bring themselves into communion with God *nd
*bsrt43ould be done only by means of the cult of
Bkakti which necessitated the embodying in a
vfeibte fonn of the all-beneficent personal Gk)d.
It is possible to trace the history of many of
these temples to this particular period, and the
work of temple-building, at least so far as
Siva temples are concerned, is closely associated
with the early Chola Ko-Sengan. It is demonstra-
ble that this great Chola built temples both
to Siva and to Vishnu so that he could be described
by the Saivas as no less than an Adiyar (devotee)
among the sixty-three. The Vaisbnava Alvar
Tirumangai refers to him also as having cons-
tructed 70 temples to Siva. It is thus clear that
temple-building on a large scale was only the
outward exhibition of the spiritual ferment that led
to the great development of the Bhakti school of
religion.

CLEAR EVIDENCE OF HINDU EXPANSION
IN THE EAST

It is to the earlier portion of this period that
Dr. Vogel refers the sacrificial idscription
discovered at Koetei in East Borneo. The lan-
guage of the inscription is Sanskrit, the character
is Pall&va-grantha and the donations have rfela-
tion to the v irious benefactions and gifts that
followed the completion of a Brahmanical sacrifice.

KINCHl, THE CUHTRE OF THE PALLAVAS 211

by the ruler Mulavarman. This document illus-
trates the prevalence of Brahmanism so far out
as East Borneo in a form which made the
celebration of a sacrifice of the greatest importance,
and which proves beyond doubt, the existence
of a colony of holy Brahmans whb could celebrate
sacrifices- in the distant east. Later, we have
it on the authority of Pa-Hien that in Sumatra
and the , Malay a Peninsula there were large
settlements of votaries of the Brahmanical
religion ; but as yet nothing that could be called
a community of Buddhists. A later traveller
of this age, I-Tsing fouud the prevalence of
Sanskrit culture in Sumatra so great that all
the wealth of manuscripts that he was able to
acquire by years of travelling in northern India
he could take over with him and translate
in Sumatra as offering all the facilities that-
India itself could have offered for that kind
of monumental work of devotion and learning.
He states it clearly that be despatched 500 volumes
of the translation as a first instalment.

CHAPTER XII
SAIVISM

Among the two principal schools of Bhakti
cult prevalent in South India, Saivism comes
in for a large clientele. Saivism consists in the
recognition of Siva as the supreme benieficent
deity. Siva is believed to exercise the functions
of creation, protection, destruction, prevention
from lapses in the enjoyment of the results of
one's action, and beneficence. These functions
he is said to discharge with a view to release
struggling souls from the bondage resulting
from their previous action, and to present unto
them the knowledge of the nature of Siva, so
that they might ultimately attain to the much
desired release. In order to discharge these
self-imposed functions of his, Siva assumes the
position of Lord with the following six attri-
butes ; omniscience, limitless contentment, know-
ledge that does not spring out of experience,
self-possession, undiminished power, and limit-
less power. It is the possession of these qualities,
exhibiting themselves in extreme purity, in the
capacity to destory the bondage of action and
to improve the power for good, that gives
appropriateness to the name of Siva.

213

It is under command of this Supreme Deity
that souls assume forms, and struggle in the
world. * They work their way gradually through
the six outer forms of religion, viz., Lokayata,
Bauddha, Arhata (Jaina), Mimamsa, Mayavada
(Advaita) and Pancharatra by faithfully carrying
out the various regulations for conduct laid down
by them. In the course of this struggle Siva
assumes the forms of the various beings who
guide these souls, and make them attain to the
respective benefits resulting from what they do.
They pass from this to the methods of the inner
religion (inner to Saivism), sucb as Saivam,
Pagupatam, Vamam, Bhairavam, Mahavrtam and
Kalamukham.

Souls in their next stage of development
enter the inner religions as a result of their good
action in their pursuit of life in the outer religions.
Then they follow the "path of the F?da," or
the regulations of the Smritis and adopt the life
of the four castes and the four orders. As a
result of good action in this method they go to
heaven and enjoy a higher life, only to be born
again on earth at the end of their course of
enjoyment. As a result however, of their good
deeds while living in the path of the VSda and
by the grace of Siva they get into the "path of
Siva/' and understand the significance of Chary a
(conduct), Kriyd (duty), Yoga (contemplation
by concentration), and JMna (knowledge). Adopt-

CHAPTER

ing this course they attain to the position of being
at sight of Siva (Salokya), or in proximity to him
(Sdmlpya), or of attaining to a form like him
(Sdrtipya). Those among them who have weaned
themselves of the notion of enjoynaeot cease to be
born on earth and get rid of the cycle of existence,
and, as a result o* the grace of Siva, gain Sayujya.
It will thus be clear that, according to Saivism,
salvation is attainable only by means of the Saiva
Siddhanta ; the only way to attain salvation is by
the knowledge of the nature of diva ; the attain-
ment of this knowledge is achieved by the adoption
of the four methods, conduct, etc. The rights and
ceremonies prescribed b\ the Veda, however, pro-
duce good fruit, but these latter are not eternal.
The results of action in the path of the VSda are
no less productive of bondage than evil action,
only these are something like golden fetters, while
those may be likened to iron ones* These lead to
the enjoyment of good, but bring on re-birth
inevitably. It is only the right knowledge of
Siva that puts an end to this re-birth. Of these
four, Sariyai, Kiriyai, Ydgam and Jn&narn, the
first two constitute what is understood by the term
Siva-dharma. This 3iva-dharma is pursued both
by an easy path and by a difficult path. The
mere adoption of the rule of conduct laid down in
the $iva-dharma constitutes the former ; while, as
a result of the adoption of this line of conduct, the
affection for Siva has thoroughly engrossed the

SAIVISM 215

whole soul, that it shrinks from nothing in doing
what it conceives to be pleasing to Siva. This duty
extends even to the killing of parents and children,
and the pulling out of one's own eyes in the
service that would please the Supreme Deity.
Those who pursue their unswerving duty to Siva
in either of these ways constitute His Bhaktas.
Those who pursue it by the latter method might
well be called Vlra Saivas, though this name is
reserved for a class of people who adopted a similar,
but a somewhat modified creed. Some of the
well-known Adiyars of the Saivas actually adopted,
according to the traditional accounts, this method
and such classification could not be regarded as
actually exclusive, or really strictly correct. In
the ultimate analysis Saivism comes to be this.
It recognises the supremacy of Siva as the bene-
ficent deity who makes it his function to save souls
(pa&u) from their bondage in the fetters of action
(pa&iw, the results of karma or action) ; he does .
this as the result of his own grace.

EARLY TRACES IN TAMIL LITERATURE

We have already seen that the Sangam liter-
ature does give evidence of this supremacy of
Siva though not quite exclusively. In the
passage already quoted from Nakklrar, Siva
figures first among the four world-ruling deities,
Krishna , Baladeva and Skanda taking rank with

216 CHAPTER XII

him. ID the passage quoted from the Madurail
k&nji, Kudran Kannan seems to go a step furthe:
and indicate more clearly the supremacy of Sh
where he is distinctly placed as the first. It wi
thus be clear that the rudiments were alread
there in the earliest period to which Tarn
literature can take us, while in the age immediate!
following a further vast development become
discernible.

THE NiYANMARS

Among the Siva Bhaktas a certain numbe
stand out as pre-eminently the devotees of Siva
They attained to this distinction by various kind
of service extending from the simplest to the mos
exacting. These are grouped into two classei
by the Saivas. The first class consists of sixty
three and stand each one by himself. Thei
follow nine who are taken altogether in one group,
constituting on the whole seventy-two. These
are the recognised Saints of the Saivas. The
Saiva canonical literature of prime importance
consists of one group called Arutpa (Poems of
Grace) as a group. This group consists of the
Tevaram of the three ujost prominent of the
devotees : Sambandar, Appar, and Sundarar.
The next is Tiruva&gam, Tiruvi&uppa and
Tiruppallandu, all of them the work of Manikka-
vaagar. This is followed by an outcrop of other
literature dependent on these.

SAIVTSM 2it

The chronology of these Adiyarsr cannot jret
be regarded as a settled matter, but a rough and
ready classification of these is possible from in-
ternal evidence of their works alone; They
might all be regarded as pertaining to the age of
the Pal lavas, and this group of devotees had all
lived and passed away before the Pallava dominance
in South India gave place to that of the Chola.
Practically the last of them Sundara composed
a poem of 11 stanzas in which he describes him-
self poetically as a servant of all the rest of them
who devoted themselves to the service of Siva,
and the date of Sundara had been for various
reasons allotted to the commencement of the ninth
century as that of his contemporary Seraman
Perumal. Early ninth century therefore would be
the downward limit of the sixty-three Nayanmars.
The upward limit is not as easily, or even with
the same degree of confidence, fixable. One
at least of the earliest lends himself to this kind
of inquiry and that is the early Chola king,
Ko-Sengan. Even the Saiva hagiologists have
but little of historical detail to give us regarding
him. All that they vouchsafe to us is that a
spider devoted itself to the service of diva at
Tiruvanaikkaval l3y weaving its web over the
linga every day to prevent leaves dropping on
the image. Every morning, at the same time, a
white elephant used to come for performing
worship. The elephant used to sweep off the

28-1868B

$18 CHAPTER XII

cob- web, poor over the linga the water that it
had brought in its trunk, and offer a few flowers
similarly brought with it. Wearied by this act
of wanton destruction of his own efforts, the
spider managed to get into the trunk of the
elephant and worried him so much that unable
any longer to bear the pain the elephant struck
its trunk against the eatrh violently and died ;
the spider also died in its pious efforts to destroy
the elephant which so regularly and wantonly
molested him in his act of worship. For this act
of devotion the spider was ordained by the grace
of Siva to be born a Chola prince. So he was born
of the Chola king Subha Deva and his wife
Kamalavatl. The only feature of this story that
might be at all considered historical is, and that
is almost practically the only detail given of his
life, that be built the temple of Tiruvanaikkaval
(JambukS^varam) across the river Kaveri from
Trichinopoly. His special service of devotion to
Siva therefore consisted in the construction of
temples to diva either by himself or through the
agency of his officials. A later Vaishnava 5jvar
Tirumangai, the last of them, speaking of the
Vishnu temple at Tirunaraiyur goes out of his
way to state in clear term 1 that he built seventy
temples to Siva. We may therefore take it
that he was a historical person who contributed

: VJ. ti. 8,

&UVISM 319

to the development of Saivism by the particular
service of constructing numbers of Siva temples,
and the mention of such by a Vaisbnava
ijvar has its own peculiar significance. Both
Appar and Sambandar of whose age we have
some precise knowledge, allude in several places
to the transformation of the spider into the Chola
king. 1 This would mean that by their time the
miraculous transformation had got so much into
vogue t&at neither they nor their audience had
any difficulty in accepting it as true. That
would make Ko-Sengan anterior to the age of
the great Pallavas of Ranch! whose period of
rule began about A.D. 600.

There is a Ko-Sengan who fought a battle
against a Chera King whom he threw into prison
after defeating him in battle. A poet by name
Poygaiyar, who seems identifiable with the Vaish-
nava Alvar Poygai, celebrated the battle of Kalu-
malam (generally taken to be Siyali) in the
poem of 40 Stanzas known in Tamil literature
Kalavali, forty. This identification rests on
literary and stylistic grounds alone so far. There
are certain historical considerations which make
him contemporary with the Ton<Jaman Ilam
Tiraiyan of Kane hi. 2 This line of investigation
therefore would take Ko-Sengan to a period

1 Appar, TiranalJafn 5; 3ambandar Ari6ilkripputtur 7;
yaikftl, 4 ; Arobar 1. 2, 6 and 9.

3 Earlj History of Viihi?aviim, pp. 78 et #eg.

20 CHAPTER XII

which may be the closing period of the so-called
Sangam literature.

Of the three Tevaram byinners, we have
referred Sundara to the commencement of the
ninth century. The other two were contemporaries
according to tradition ; and several historical cir-
cumstances connected with each of the two,
bring them into contemporaneity likewise. Appar
lived to be a very old man, was born a Saiva,
became a Jain, and at tbe latter end of his life
returned to Saivism and was instrumental in
converting the great Pallava king Mahendravar-
man. The other, Sambandar, was his younger,
but the more distinguished contemporary, who
visited another Saiva devotee Siruttondar in the
course of bis peregrinations at Tiruchengattan-
gudi. This Siruttondar was the general of
Mahendra's son Narasimha, and rendered valiant
service to his master in tbe destruction of Vatapi
(Badami), the capital of the Western Chalukyas
under Pulikesin II. This battle was fought
some time about A.D. 642, and therefore these
two Sambandar and Siruttondar must have lived
about that time and a little later. Appar, as the
older, was apparently the contemporary of the
father and the son among tbe Pallava rulers,
and probably lived to the middle of the seventh
century. The Adiyars who are referred to either
directly or allusively in the works of these two,
Sambandar and Appar, have to be classified as

221

the early AdUyars; Sambandar and Appar and
their contemporaries as perhaps the middle ones ;
Sundara, Seraman Perumal and those who could
be associated with them as the last ones. K6-
Sengan was probably one of the earliest of those
who flourished from say about A.D. 200 to
A.D. 600, that is, among the early A<Jiyars.

KANNAPPA NIYANIR

We have already seen that the peculiar form
of service rendered to Siva by Ko-Sengan con-
sisted in the building of temples to him. There
are others who devoted themselves to rendering
some kind of bodily service-gardening for Siva,
sweeping Siva temples, providing garlands for
Siva and various other sundry acts of service all
of them rendered with absorbing devotion. These
are the milder forms of service. Keference was
made already to a more vigorous form of exhibi-
tion of this single-minded devotion to Siva. To
illustrate this and along with this various other
items of devotion that went to make up the
teachings of this school of Bhakti, the story 'of an
ignorant hunter whose secular name was Tinnan,
is given below. He attained to the sacerdotal
designation of Kanijappa Nayanar, by which
name alone he is generally known. He is refer-
red to specifically by both Sambandar and Appar,
and therefore he was anterior to both of them.
In {act he is among the earliest of the Saiva

222 CHAPTER XII

devotees* Sankaracharya refers to him in the
Sivananda Lahari.

Kannappa was the sou of a hunter-chief by
name Naga and his wife Tattai. He was born in a
village Ucjuppur in what used to be known as
Pottappinadu (south Nellore District). The
parents were long childless, and got this boy as
a result of service to Skanda rendered by making
over to his temple numbers of ordinary fowls
and pea-fowls. The boy was naturally brought
up to be a hunter and was given the respon-
sibilities of the chieftainship while yet a young
man as the father had grown too old. On one
occasion he went along with others, his com-
panions, on a boar hunt. One of these beasts
was so powerful that it sprang out of the net,
tearing it away in the act, and ran into the
forests, Tinnan with two others Nana and Kada
gave the animal the chase and overtook it after
covering a great distance. Tinnan who was
the frontmost and near enough to the animal
drew out his sword and cut it in two. The
other two came up and all of them were very
hungry. They wanted to roast the flesh and
eat it to satisfy their hunger ; but water was a
prime necessity. Nana said he knew there was
water at some distance on the side of the hill.
Carrying the beast they walked along towards
the water, and came in sight of another hill in
the distance. Tinnan made the suggestion they

SAIVISM 223

might proceed to that hill before they sat down
to make a meal of the quarry^ when Nana f his
companion, made the casual femark that that hill
contained the God ' Kudumitt&var.'- That was
the seed of the hunter Tinnan's devotion. The
three friends walked along carrying the boar till
they reached the river flowing at the foot of
the hill. Leaving one of them behind to make
the fire and roast the pork, Tinnan and his
friend Nfinan went up the hill. At the sight of
the ling a, Tinnan was so attracted to the deity
that he began to exhibit the extraordinary
affection of a mother who had been separated
from a child for a long time. Overpowered
with affection then he began to conduct himself
like one beside himself* It was some time
before he noticed that somebody had . washed
the linga with water and put flowers on the top
of it. Saying that somebody had done ill
to have so treated the God, he learnt from his
companion that a Brahman was in the habit
of performing this kind of worship. On hearing
this he thought that kind of worship must be
acceptable to God, So he began to perform
worship similarly according to his lights. He
made it his business thereafter daily to go up
the hill carrying roast meat strung together on
an arrow & a mouthful of water from the Ponmtt-
khari and a few flowers tucked on to his hair.
On reaching the linga, he used to spit the

5424 CHAPTER XII

water over it from his mouth, take the
flowers from out of his hair and put it
on the top of the jjnga, and place the roasl
meat chosen by taste before it, and thus
perform his worship. This desecration, as the
Brahman considered it, gave moral pain to him,
and, in his extreme distress of mind, he appealed
to Siva himself as to who brought about this
desecration and why Siva should have suffered
it. Siva appeared to him in a dream and point-
ed out to him that, hunter as Tinnah was, his
devotion to Siva was whole-hearted and hence
was more pleasing to him than even that
of those who had offered him excellent prayers
with a mind prepared by the long study of the
Vedas and vaidika agamas. He directed the
much distressed Brahman to remain in hiding
and see for himself. When next the hunter
appeared before the idol, blood was coming out
of one of the eyes of the idol.

Tinnan fainted away at the sight of it, and,
when he came back to himself, he took his bo^
and arrows and looked about for those who might
have done this harm. Not finding anybody
within sight of the idol he set about thinking
as to how exactly he should cure it. Do what
he might the blood still continued flowing,
Then it struck him that the best way to cure
such a disease was to put in flesh for flesh, that
IB, removing the rotten flesh and putting a fresh

AIVJSM

piece a form of cure hunters know very. well.
He pulled out with an arrow his own right eye
and put it in place of the right eye of Siva. He
found that the bleeding stopped. He was so
delighted with his performance that he danced
in sheer joy. In order the better to exhibit hi*
single-hearted devotion, Siva made bis other eye
bleed. When Tinnan was about to pull out his
other eye to substitute it for the bleeding one of
Siva, Siva put forth his arms from the linga and
took hold of his hands that were in the act of pull-
ing out his second eye and cried out * eye friend
eye' ('Kannappa, Kannappa ' ) and this ejacula-
tion of Siva gave him the name 'Kannappa.-
The Brahman who was witness to all this was
surprised and delighted at the intensity of devotion
of the hunter, rude, unmethodical and uncanoni-
cal as the form of devotion was. This is briefly
the tale of Siva's miracle in respect of this
particular devotee Kannappa.

The story of Kannappa has become so famous
and hallowed by tradition that it is familiar to
everybody not only in the Tamil country but in
the Telugu. The simple-hearted devotion of the
hunter, and Siva's special approval of it exhibited
by the miracle regarding him, have struck the
fancy of the people so much that one of the
Telugu poets of the first rank t Snnatha by name,
made it the theme of a poem called Haravilasam.
The devotion of Kannappa has also become the

29-1S63B

226 CHAPTER XII

model of austere penance to the Saivas of a
somewhat later persuasion. I have given the
story above as it is found detailed in the
Periyapurftnam of SekkilSr who lived early in
the twelfth century. As it is worked by the
hagiologist, the story exhibits certain features
which are worthy of special note. The object
of the writer is here to bring into contrast the
single-minded but ill-considered and ill-formed
performance of devotion to Siva such as the
hunter's, with the performance of similar devotion,
by the cultured and pious Brahman performing
his prayer according to recognised form. The
moral is the victory of single-minded devotion,
however crude in form and even objectionable
from the point of view of recognised usage. As
a result of this the story makes a few points clear.
The hunter gets into an ecstasy of devotion on
hearing the name of Siva as a result of preparation
in previous existences. At the sight of the linga
his affection for his God so overpowers him that
he forgets himself, and in this self-forgetfulness
nothing is shown except affection for the God and
anxiety for his safe keeping. When at last the
idea is brought home to him that somebody else,
more respected of human beings and obviously
toore acceptable to diva himself A had performed
an act of devotion, the idea goes into him at
once and without further consideration he makes
up his mind to do so also according to his lights

and in the manner familiar to him. This goes
so far in its singleness of purpose that the height
is reached when the rude man and crude
worshipper does not hesitate to pull out his eye
to put it in place of what he thought the ailing
one of Siva. It is immaterial whether all these
were acts ascribable to the hunter historically.
These were the ideas that underlay the notion
of bhakti.&s it was understood in his time: These
ideas almost in the same form are found scattered
all through the work of Saiva hagiologists and
required to be organised and put into form for
sectarian purposes later on as we shall see.

In the cult of bhakti the first feature to be
taken note of is unalloyed affection for God, and
this affection springs from the notion that God
looks after man with an affectionate interest
superior even to that of himself, and therefore
deserves the return of unqualified devotion. 3

Such an affection when it does exist exhibits
itself on all occasions whenever there should be
the slightest stimulus as in the case of Kannappa
at the mere mention of the name God, and
afterwards at the sight of Him. Unless devotion is
exhibited to the fullest extent of singlehearted-
neagj it is hardly possible to expect Him to exhibit
His grace to the suffering human beings.
According to Appar it is impossible that God

228 CHAfrTFB XII

should exhibit himself unless one performs his
devotion with a mind unalloyed with other feelings
than that of affection and, devotion. A similar
idea is more forcibly expressed in the Tirumandiram
of Tirumular. The offering of sacrifice of one's
own flesh by cutting it from out of one's own body
and throwing it into a fire lighted with one's
own bones is not as efficacious to evoke His grace
readily as devotion which melts away one's heart
and mind.

This goes one step further when the notion
gets to prevail that pilgrimage to holy places,
the contemplation upon the supreme and the
performance of prayer in the approved style are
all of them of no use in comparison to the realising
of oneself in the extremity of affection for God
Himself. *

This extraordinary affection for God springs
in a human being as a result of deeds in previous
existences without regard to the fruits thereof and
as the result of Siva's grace and that grace alone.

In the last resort the moment that one attains
to this "single-minded and unalloyed devotion, he
attains to the condition of Siva, as this affection
for him is not separate from Siva Himself. Where
tiiis affection exists, there Siva is bound down to
the offer of this devotion. Wherever there is
ibis affection, there Siva becomes visible.

The story of Kannappa is intended to illus-
trate this development in the course of

AIVISM 229

bhakti. The extraordinary devotion that the
uncultivated hunter exhibited is believed to be
due to what he did in his previous incarnation
as Arjuna with whom Siva wrestled in the dis-
guise of a hunter. It is the ripened effect of his
good deeds which required merely the stimulus
of the mention of the name of Siva to make him
lose control over himself altogether like a virtuous
young wife whose affection overpowers her com-
pletely at the mention of the name of her beloved.
Being an uncultivated rude man not knowing
how exactly to exhibit his devotion at sight of
God be could only show his affection in the man-
ner he was accustomed to do, and exhibited it as
a father or mother would at the sight of a long
lost child. But the devotion that he felt for Siva
so overpowered him that he forgot altogether
the animal requirements such as hunger, sleep,
etc., for six days.

In regard to his performance of devotion,
that is the result of the ignorance that goes along
with the birth and bringing up of this hunter.
What is acceptable to Siva and what is not,
requires a preceptor to teach. Such a preceptor
he had not had. And having heard but imper-
fectly what another man has been doing by way
of devotion, he just imitated, to the very best of
his ability, what he thought was being 'done
by that other person, who, he thought, ought
to know. So he bathed the ling a, cleaned the

CHAPTEE xii

surroundings and provided the food in a manner
that appealed to him* In spite of all this there
was at the back of it all in the rude crude man
a devotion which knew no limit and which shrank
from nothing by way of sacrifice to do that which
according to him pleased Siva* It is this single-
ness of purpose in devotion that made even the
objectionable form of worship acceptable to Siva
and this same idea is expressed in the Tiruvada-
kam of Manikkava^akar.

The crisis of this devotion is reached in regard
to Kannappa when it comes to Siva's bleeding
eye. The hunter had absolutely no hesitation
in pulling out his own eye to put in place of the
ailing eye of Siva as he thought, and when that
is done, the ultimate limit of devotion is reached.
Kannappa is ripe for the attainment of Sivahood
and attained it as a result of the grace of Siva
which showed itself by look.

Thus then we see from the history of this
devotee that bhakti as understood by the early
Saivas was not incompatible with other forms
of propitiation of God, but gradually developed
by adding on the teacher to make bhakti ex-
clusively the method for the attainment of God's
favour. .

' It was already pointed out that in its un-
developed form bhakti consisted merely in the
exhibition of unalloyed affection for God by
some form of service however simple or humble.

6AIVISM 231

Visiting places of holy reputation or doing some
act of personal or even menial service to God in
some temple or elsewhere, was apparently con-
sidered enough provided the feeling within of
unmixed devotion was swelling up as occasion
afforded; and where persons subject to this
ebullition of emotion had the means to give
vent to this feeling, there naturally came the
outpouring of the heart in the shape of verses
in prayer. The works of such Saiva devotees
as left their impress upon their contemporaries
were collected some time after and put in form
for being chanted! and constituted the canonical
literature of the Saivas in Tamil. These were
naturally thrown in forms peculiar to the expres-
sion of the feelings evoked, and the very composi-
tion of these poems partook of the character of
the modes of expression peculiar to Tamil litera-
ture, and defined by Tamil grammarians and
rhetoricians. This peculiar method of exhibition
of one's love to that particular form of God which
appealed to his heart, gave the whole body of
this literature a peculiarity all its own. These
poems were in course of time set to music and
were adapted to representation by the art of danc-
ing. A class of people set up separately for the
study and development of these features of the
works, so that one set came to be known aa
specially expert in setting the tune and rendering
the poems in music ; and the other, generally,

232 CHAPTER XII

women, gave themselves up to the practice of tfce
art of rendering it by dancing to the accompani-
ment of music. It is these developments which
made the greatest appeal, and maintained the
character of the melting strains of music, to the
songs of these devotees, even to the present day.
Practised within limits and under the control of
the dominating passion of selfless devotion to God,
it exercises an influence unique in character.
But at the same time it is liable to abuse where
the controlling feeling is feeble, and when pre-
tenders set up for prophets. This feature of the
devotional works seems to have attained full
development at the time when the works were
originally collected and put in form about the
tenth century A.D. Though the Vaishnava
devotional works partake of this character to a
great extent, they did not combine the practice
of the accessory arts in connection therewith in
the same form as Saiva devotional works. This
special development seems to be what ultimately
associated bhakti with the Tamil country peculiar-
ly, in works treating specially of the subject.

One other feature seems also to come into
prominence in the course of development of this
school. This feature is the emergence of the
saving priest or preceptor who becomes essential
to the attainment of salvation ; and unless one
attains to what is called dlksa from a guru or
preceptor of the proper kind, Siva's grace becomes

JAINISM IN THE SOUTH 233

impossible. As far a^ it is possible to trace this
institution, we see that the preceptor does not
figure prominently in the case of the early and
less developed devotees, but with the later ones
the preceptor becomes indispensable ; and this
feature of the preceptor has developed a promi-
nence, which it has not since lost, in regard to
Manikkavasakar in whose case the preceptor
proves an indispensable necessity. This feature
attained to its o\vn peculiar development and gave
rise ultimately to the development of the sects as
we shall see.

JAINISM IN THE SOUTH

According to Jain tradition as preserved in
the various Pattavalies there was a schism and
the Jains divided into two sections. This split
is said to have taken place in the reign of the
Maurya Emperor Chandragupta. The leader of
one of the sections is known by the name Badhra-
bahu, and he was the recognised head of the
section known as Digambara (who made the
directions their clothing, i.e., who were unclad).
He is supposed to have lived in Magadha. A twelve
years' famine supervening, he had to leave the
country and move across till he finally settled
in Sravaija Belgola in Mysore. According to
this story, Chandragupta is said to have abdicated
in favour of his son, and, adopting the vow of a
Jain mendicant, followed his master

CHAPTER XII

and lived and died in the region of Mysore.
There are certain place-names and other circum-
stances which seem to lend support to this tradi-
tion. Whether Jainism came into the South
along with Badhrabahu, and in this manner
or not, we have evidence, in the Sangam litera-
ture, of considerable value for the existence of
the Jains in the South. Among the systems
controverted in the Manimekhalai the Jain system
also figures as one, and the words Saman and
Aman are of frequent occurrence as also references
to their viharas so that from the earliest times
reachable with our present means, Jainism appa-
rently flourished in the Tamil country. Buddhism
seems to have had a clientele of its own also, and
it is these systems that the poem 116 of the
Purananuru already quoted refers to ' as religions
though seeming true still undermined the autho-
rity of the Vedas.' These flourished side by side
and enjoyed a certain degree of patronage from
the rulers generally, while it seems likely that at
one time one sect and at another time another
bad the more influential lead, and was capable
of throwing the others into the shade by its in-
fluence. It has, however, been pointed out that
there is nothing whatsoever to justify the old
classification that there was an age of the Jainas
which preceded all others, followed by an age of
the Buddhists, and that again by the Brahmani-
cal or the Puracuc age. No such clearly marked

IN THE SOUTEt 235

chronological division 'is discernible in the evidence
at our disposal. These lived side by side, and the
most that we are warranted in stating from the
evidence at our disposal is, these waxed and
waned in influence at different periods of their
history, and this variation of influence .was in
many cases due to the acquisition of influence
over the monarchs for the time being.

CHAPTER XIII

LITERATURE OF SAIVISM

Nayanmars in the Age of the Pallavas

It was already pointed out that practically
all the sixty- three devotees must have lived in the
period which for convenience may be called the
age of the Pallavas, taking it in the broadest
sense as extending from about A.D. 200 to 900.
It was also pointed out that the earliest of
them may reach back to quite the commence-
ment of the age of the Pallavas and the latest of
them cannot have been many generations after
the practical abolition of the Pallava power in
South India. The Chola Ko-Sengan and the
hunter Kannappa, and some others among these
are referable to the early period of the age of
the Pallavas. Sambandar, Appar and a certain
number of others are referable, on what might be
regarded certain evidence, to the seventh century
A.D. Of these, Sambandar had a comparatively
short life while Appar must have lived a man
of ripe old age. The two are however generally
referred together, and the younger is generally
regarded as the more influential of the two,
both in regard to his following and the import-
ance of his teaching. Then follows the third

Lit HEAT URfe OF ^AlVlSM

section headed by Sundaramurti. He had a
friend in another of the sixty-three, a Seraman
Perumal. These had been referred, the one as
providing the occasion for the founding of the
Kollam era and the other as having celebrated
in a poem the other sixty-two devotees, to the
early part of the ninth century A.D. Of
these, Sambandar, Appar and Sundaramurti
constitute the three recognised leaders of the
school of bhakii as represented by the sixty-three
Adiyars or Nayaninars, and the works of the
three constitute the first seven sections of
the Saiva literature of this school. The oldest
among these Appar was born a Saiva, became a
convert to Jainism and leader of the Jain
settlement at Patali (now the new town of
Cuddalore) and became a Saiva again as the
result of a miracle, by means of which Siva
cured him of what seemed an incurable disease.
Saiva tradition has it that it was threugh his
influence that the Pallava King Mahendra
Varman was converted to Saivism from Jainism.
There is a burlesque 'Matta Vildsa Prahasana'
ascribed to this Pallava Mahendra Varman
where he brings into a somewhat ludicrous *
colloquy a Pa&ipata, a Kapalika and his wife,
and a Bauddha, and no Jain however is brought
into this religious squabble. This may support
the contention that he was a Jain to begin with.
His. monuments, however, seem alike devoted

CHAPTER ilfc

to the Brafamanical trinity though this is no bar
to his having been a Saiva.

According to the story as embodied in the
Periyapuranam of the life of Sambandar the
v Pandya contemporary had adopted the faith of
the Jains while his wife, a Chola Princess, was a
devoted Saiva. So also was his chief minister.
Through the influence of these latter two,
Sambandar obtained the opportunity to convert
this Pan<Jya to Saivism. Both the queen and
the minister are counted among the sixty-three
canonical devotees. The miracle which brought
about the conversion of the king was that after a
successful disputation with the Jainas, Sambandar
made the hunch-backed king stand erect and
gave him the name 'iVinrr^Zr Nedumaranar*
which can be interpreted the great Pan$ya of
enduring prosperity, or the great Pandya who
had stood erect. It is on this occasion that, at
the instigation of Sambandar, the whole body
of Jains in Madura are said to have been
impaled. This story of persecution has in it
features which seem the common features of
similar stories. Such stories are told of a Jain
king of Kanchl who gave to Buddhists similar
treatment, and of the Vaishnava apostle Bama-
nuja having treated the Jainas similarly by
instigating the Hoysala king Vishnu Vardhana
against them. In such cases these stories seem
to hare been concocted by the later hagiologiflts

LITERATURE OF SAIVISM 239

to enhance the glories of their own particular
form of religion. In each one of these cases it
can *be proved conclusively that there is no
evidence of a general act of persecution such
as is described, as these religions flourished in
undiminished influence even after the period to
which these persecutions are ascribed.

MINIKKAVA^AKAR

The eighth of the twelve sections of the Saiva
canonical collection consists of Manikkavasakar's
Tiruva^akam and Tirukovaiyar. Manikkavasakar
was, like Sambandar and Sundaramurti before,
a Brahman by birth, and enjoyed the title and
the responsibility of the ministry to a Pantjya
king, apparently the Pandya king Varaguna
referred to in the Tirukkovaiyar. The story of
his life briefly is that he was deputed by hie
sovereign to go and make large purchases of
horses for his cavalry. Going on this mission
with the requisite amount of treasure, he came
on the way to a place called Perumturai where,
under the shade of a kurunda tree, he saw a
priest at the head of a body of Saiva disciples.
Feeling the call and seeing the opportunity
presenting itself in this fashion, he stopped there,
received the teaching and dik$a (ordination)
from this devoted preceptor, and spent away the
money which he carried with him for purchasing

240 CHAPTER XIII

hbrses in devotional works and charity. For
this act of sheer neglect of his duty to his
sovereign and state, he was subjected to various
acts of bodily punishment from which Siva
saved him by the performance of miracles. Of
these one took the form of converting the jackals
of the forests into horses and leading them into
the Pandyan stables. He obtained the release
of MaaikkavaSakar by working as a labourer in
Madura and showing himself to the Pandyan
king. Manikkava&ikar thereafter was allowed 1o
follow the bent of his mind, and having visited
various Saiva shrines of importance, he stayed
for some considerable time in Chidambaram
having overcome in controversy, a large body of
Buddhists from Ceylon and attained to Sivahood.
He has been ascribed by various scholars to a
very early period, but the weight of scholarly
opinion seems to support the order in the arrange-
ment of Saiva canonical literature which
groups his works in the eighth of the twelve
canonical sections.

Manikkava^akar's works partake of the
character of the Tevaram hymners before him.
They exhibit however a more intense kind of
devotion, if that were possible, and a literary
form which is perhaps more directly in accord-
ance with the canons of criticism. His second
work in particular is supposed to provide the
model, for that special sectiw of rhetoric? .

LITERATURE OF gAIVTSM 241

we have labelled for convenience, erotic. We
have stated before that the modes of expression
characteristic of Tamil literature, gave that
peculiar character to bhakti in the Tamil country
which raises it from the region of mere abstrac-
tion to that of actual realisation in life even
by the imperfect human being. While all
considerable writers of this school have more
or less contributed towards this end by their
mode of composition, the matter itself appeals
straight to the heart. ManikkavaSakar excels all
of them both in form and in feeling.

The ninth section of this canonical literature
is composed of the works of nine others in-
cluding in it the Tirupallandu of Sendan. The
tenth is composed entirely of the Tirumandiram
of Tirumular. The eleventh is composed of a
miscellaneous collection including in it the
works of Pattinattadikal, a devotee of con-
siderable influence, and those of Nambi Andar
Nambi who is given the credit of having com-
piled the whole collection. This collection
is composed of about 40 poems of these various
authors. Nambi Andar Nambi lived in the
eleventh century and is regarded by the Saiva
Tamils to have done for Saivism what Vyasa is
believed to have done for V$dic Brahmanism*
These eleven sections of what the Tamils call
Tirwnurai, together with the lives of these saints
written by Sekkil&r constitute the complete set

W-1363B'

242 CHAPTER XIII

of Saiva canonical literature which in the
estimation of the Saivas corresponds to the Vedic
literature of the Brahmans. Sekkilar lived in
the twelfth century, and by his time the whole
body of Saiva canonical works were collected and
thrown in form so that he could take upon
himself to write a classical poem on the lives o
these saints. The whole body of these works
including the Periyapuranam of Sekkilar have
this character in common. They are all works
of devotion, and each work or each set of verses
could be regarded as some form of prayer addressed
to Siva in various modes as occasion demanded.
Hehce the whole set is compared to the mantras
of the Veda. This comparison acquires a certain
degree of validity when there grew up in the
age immediately following an outcrop of litera-
ture, the purpose of which was designedly to give
logical form and philosophical shape to Saiva
Siddhanta as a religious system.

The tSastras of the Saivas

The Saivas claim fourteen treatises which are
named either after the author or from some
characteristic of the work itself.

All of these were composed in the age imme-
diately following that of Sekkilar. The two
authors, however, called respectively Tiru-Undiyar
and Tirukkalirruppadiyar, called so fipm the
circumstance that he presented his work to God

LITERATURE OF &VIVISM 243

Nafcaraja at Chidambaram from the steps sup-
ported by elephants on both sides, form a sort
of transition between the twelve books of prayer
we have dealt with before, and the other twelve
books of science that constitute the Saivd Sastras
proper. The most important of the fastraik
section of Saiva canonical literature is the work
of Meykandadeva entitled Sivagnanabodham.
This is a work composed of twelve Sutras framed
in Sanskrit forming part of Raurava Agama.
He not only wrote the Sutras but also provided
a Varttika, prose passages in explanation. He is
said to have provided the work with a churnika in
addition. This work which constitutes the basis
of thea gamic or sastraik portion of the Saiva
Siddhanta was somewhat elaborately expounded
in the work of an elder contemporary scholar
who became the disciple of Meykanda. His
name is Arulnandi Sivacharya, and the work is
known by the name Sivagnana Siddhiyar. This
work is composed of two sections. The first part
is called parapaksham, and examines the various
other systems in vogue such as Lokayata, Baud-
dha, Samana (Jain), Bhaftacharya, Prabhakara,
Sabdabrahmavadi, Mayavadi (Advaita), Bhaskara,
Nirftvara Sankhya and Pancharatram, And con-
demns them all as not meeting the religious
needs of humanity. The second part is called
svapaksham in which he deals with the Saiva
Siddhanta, and establishes the truth of it as

44 CHAPTER Xill

against the former. The last among this group
of sastraik works is what is called Sankalpa-
nirakaranam which like Sivagfiana Siddhi was
composed to convert votaries of other systems
by a member of the Brahman community of " the
three thousand " of Chidambaram by name Uma-
pati Sivacbarya. He was also an author of several
other works bearing on the same subject. These
three together with the preceptor of the last by
name Maraignana Sambandar constitute the four
pontiffs who are called by the Tamils Santdna
Kuravar (succession of pontiffs). This nomen-
clature for these four is in contrast to the four
Samaya Kuravar , preceptors of religion, a name
collectively applied to the four devotees Sambandar,
Appar, Sundarar, the three Tevaram hymners,
and ManikkavaSakar, the author of Tiruvafakam.
The former founded the system of religion, or at
least expounded it, and thus provided the philo-
sophy indispensable to the successful maintenance
of it as against controversialists of other creeds.

CHAPTER XIV
VIRA SAIVISM

The course of development of what might
for convenience be called orthodox Saivism of

the Tamil land r was described in the last two
chapters. Along with this there were other
forms of Siva worship prevalent in the Tamil
country, and these come in for reference in
the course of some of the works accepted by
the orthodox Saivas. We have referred already
to the five divisions of what is called outer
Saivism, that is, Saivism outside the circle of
orthodox acceptance. These are* Pafiupatam,
Vamam, Bhairavam, Mahavratam and Kala-
mukham. Several of these had at various times
attained to considerable influence and patronage
in Southern India. They do not differ much in
the essentials of their teaching and differ mainly
in the rigour with which they carry out single-
minded devotion to the form or aspect of Siva to
which they devote themselves. It is this charac-
teristic that generally groups tl*em together
under the designation of Vlra Saivism. We already
referred to the prevalence of both PaSupatam
and Kfcjamukham under the Pallava King,
MahSndravarman. It is these apparently that

246 CHAPTER XIV

are referred to as prevalent in north-western
India, the Frontier-Province, in the accounts of
the early Chinese travellers. Notwithstanding
the prevalence of Saivism of these rigorous types
in the North- West, Bana, the biographer of
Harsha, makes Bhairavacharya come from the
South to the^Court of Harsha's ancestor Pushpa-
bhuti. 1 Strangely enough a form of Bhairava
is the presiding deity in a temple in the Tanjore
District hallowed by the tradition connected with
the Pallava general Siruttondar who, with the
assistance of his dutiful spouse, cooked up their
boy son to satisfy Siva appearing in the form
of a Saiva Sannyasi of one of these sects : and
this form of Siva is called Uttarapatha Nayaka
clearly indicating his northern filiation. We
have reference to a colony of Siva-worshippers
from Bengal, who were imported and settled
by the great Chola Rajendra I 2 in places
like Kanchi and the Chola country hallowed
by th$ Saiva holy places. This region has
from the earliest times been associated, though
not quite exclusively, with the worship of
Siva. Thus, it is clear that even the more
vigorous and aggressive forms of Saivism were
prevalent in the Tamil country ever since
the beginning of historical times, reinforced,
time and again, by the infusion of Northern

1 B*$'0 HarshacbtriUm, p. Ill, Nir^aya Sagara edition.
A. fc D.,

VIKA gAIVISM 247

teaching and by influx of Northern votaries.
It was left however to the Kakatiya country of
Telingana, and for the twelfth century, to in-
augurate a new movement of this form of
aggressive Saivism which is generally known
by the term Vlra-Saivism in modern times. What
exactly was the exciting cause of this movement,
we are not able to see quite clearly, unless it
be the settlement of the Saiva Brahmans from
Bengal by the Great Raj end ra already referred to
and a later influence from Bundalkhand in the
reign of Kakatiya Rundra I. 1 The movement
seems to have received a special impetus from a
certain zeal for social reform by the abolition
of caste and by otherwise removing some of
those social restrictions, against which there has
generally been much feeling among social
reformers down to this day. This movement
falls into two sections of which one may be
described as conservative and the other radical.
The conservative movement seems to be a
Brahman movement essentially, and is confined
to a class who claimed to have been Brahmans
before and after the separation "of this Vira Saiva
sect. The common feature of these are a
considerable subordination of VSdic rights
and rituals, and a proportionate raising into
importance of personal devotion or bhakti.
While attaching all importance to bhakti and

i Bp. Hep. 1W7, Sec*. 30-3fc

- . * \

248 CHAPTER XIV

according acceptance even to the self-surrender
which is a characteristic of Vlra-Saiva teaching,
this particular section of them base their teachings
in great part on VZdic philosophy and are be-
lievers in the principles even of Vedic religions.
These go by the name of Zradhyas, and are
found as a distinct class largely in the Telugu
country and in some number in the Kanarese
country as well. The more extreme form of
these Vira Saivas, Lingayats as they are called,
hold these beliefs in comparatively little esteem
and follow the teachings of Basava, himself a
Brahman and the founder of their sect.

According to tradition embodied in the
Basava Purana, Basava was a Brahman born in
a village in the Bijapur district of the Southern
Maharatta country, who attracted the attention
of the chief minister of the Kalachurya usurper,
Bijjala. Bijjala was a Jain and usurped the
throne of the descendants of the great Cbalukya
Vikramaditya VI in the year A. D. 1156, and
ruled for a period of about ten years, when he
abdicated in favour of his sons/ four of whom
ruled in succession for a short period of less
than ten years . Basava rapidly advanced in
his official career and became one of the Ministers
of state. He made use of the position for the
advancement of his particular sect. His fol-
lowers growing in numbers and influence conse-
quently came into conflict with the Jains of the

VJRA &AIVI8M 249

capital. Bijjala had to intercede and in spite
of the miracles which fiasava is said to have
worked in favour of his new cult in the capital,
Bijjala's influence could be got rid of only by
assassination, according to the Parana. It states
circumstantially that Basava found his position
untenable in the capital and had to flee for
safety. He instigated two of his faithful fol-
lowers to assassinate Bijjala, himself proceeding
to a place called Kudali Sangame^vara, where
he was absorbed into Siva. The mantle of
leadership fell upon Channa Basava, the son of
his sister by favour of Siva. He had however
to keep out of headquarters with his followers
and pursue his religion beyond the reach of
the royal arms. Such in tradition is the story
of the two founders of this form of Vlra Saivism
according to their canonical literature.

It will thus be clear that the course of
development of this particular section of the
school of bhakti which, for the Aryan or the
northern part of it, might reach back to the
Sveta6vatara and Atharva&ras Upanishads. #nd
may even be anterior,^ is found if somewhat in
a rudimentary form in the South in the earliest
extant literature of the classical Tamils where
Siva i is regarded as the dominating deity and
may even be regarded with something of per-
sonal : attributes. Therefrom .the development
takes oa the form of devotion and pergopal

250 CHAPTER XIV

service to the personal god Siva by human
individuals with a view to the attainment of
salvation which to the Saivas is nothing less
than absorption into Siva. Throughout the ago
of the Pallavas, roughly from about A.D, 200
to 900, this development takes on the peculiarly
emotional loHfe of the out-pouring of these devotees 1
love to God, and the whole body of literature
may be characterised as emotional. Each parti-
cular poem might be regarded as thrown in form
to illustrate the various modes of expression of
emotion in current use in the literature of the
Tamils to which some similarity could be dis-
covered in the Gatba Saptariati of Hala. It is
this sensuous character of the emotion, which
has drawn particularly from human analogies
and human experience, that gives the peculiar
character to this class of literature and associates
with this somewhat realistic form of bhakti, this
peculiar characteristic of the Dravidian country.
While therefore the analogy which the Tamil
Saivas acknowledge between the Vedic Mantras
and the pious songs of the sixty-three devotees
and their immediate followers, is not without
justification, there is this peculiarity to be noted
that this attempt at devotion is realistic to a
degree that appeals straight to the heart of
human beings and justifies itself by the experi-
ence of each individual. This realism may be
carried too far and may be liable to abuse, and

vlBA 6A1VISM 251

such abuse IB not altogether without illustration
in later developments. The establishment of
the ascendancy' of the Cholas at the commence-
ment of the tenth century introduces a new
factor. The Cholas were many of them Saivas
themselves, and it is the Saivism of the ruling
sovereigns that is the real factor in its further
development. The period seems to be an
age of renaissance, and there is a renascent
spirit in the general attempt that one notices
at the rehabilitating of the works of all worth
having for civilised life. It is as part of this
general movement that the schools of bhakti,
both Saiva and Vaishnava, attempt to provide
themselves with a philosophical system intended,
chiefly for purpose of controversy, and there-
fore providing the very essentials of sectarian
religion. In this re-modelling Sanskritic culture
from the North perhaps bears the main part.
It was not that there was no Sanskrit influence
before, but now it is not a question of influence*
It is a question of copying the actual model
as it were of the post-Vedic Sanskrit works.
This is clearly traceable in the attempt to
provide the school of tfiva-bhakti with the
characteristic Gastric literature of its own. This
character is discernible in Southern India
throughout the whole period extending from
A.D. 900 to almost 1700. Hence every
acholar of eminence o! this particular age it

252 CHAPTER XtV

primarily a controversialist, and everything else
afterwards. This is also the age of the special
school of Sanskrit commentators and contro-
versialists especially, and the same character
is visible even in the vernacular works of
the time. The age therefore may be likened
to the so-called age of the Sutras in the
north.

Comment and controversy lead on to reform,
and reformers become the normal product of
the age. The history of the two reformers of the
Vira Saiva sect is wrapped in considerable
obscurity in spite of the fact that there is a
Basava Parana and a Channa Basava Parana,
dealing professedly with the legendary history
of these two respectively. The former of _ the
two constitutes the first of the three canonical
works of the Lingayats, and is a work composed
in the thirteenth century, whereas the other one
Channa Basava Parana is a work belonging to
the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the
seventeenth century. Basava's death according
to the latter is ascribed to a year corresponding
to A.D. 785 which is impossible from the known
dates of 'Bijjala with whom Basava is connected
in all accounts. The Channa Basava Parana
Was composed by the Poet Virupaksha in the
year Salivahana 1507, corresponding to A.D.
1585. The historical value of these works
therefore seems comparatively little as several

VlRA ^AIVISM 253

mis-statements of the main incidents, such as the
death of Bijjala, make it clear. 1

The Bijjala Raya Charitam which is the
Jain version of the story of Bijjala differs in
very many particulars from the puranas of the
Lingayats. Bijjala is there said to have been
poisoned at the instance of Basava, and had time
enough to warn his son who is called Immadi
Bijjala that it was Basava who was responsible
for the deed.

The fact of Baso,va's death is mis-stated here
and the dating even is wrong as Bijjala's death
is ascribed to a date 12 years before Bijjala's
abdication in favour of his son in A.D. 1167 and
even before 1156, when Bijjala established himself
upon the throne. The actual date given in the
Jain poem, Kaliyuga 4255 expired would corres-
pond to Saka 1077 or A.D. 1154-55. 2 In spite of
these discrepancies, there is enough in the cir-
cumstantial accounts for assuming that Basava
and Channa Basava did live and were reformers of
the Saiva religion as it was practised, one result
of the reforms being an aggressive assertion of the
superiority of this particular Saiva sect as against

1 For a summary account of these two Puranas ~in English see J.
Bom. 4.8,, Vol. VHI, pp. 65-221.

2 This actual date wa* taken by Sir Walter Elliot apparently from a
work which he calls Bijjala K&vya. The late Dr. Fleet does not find the
authority for the statement however. Mad J. of Lit. and Science, VII,
pp. 218-14, Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, p. 481* Note 8,

254 CttAPTEft XIV

Jainism which seems to have been the religion of
Bijjala.

EKINTADA RAMAYYA

Early epigraphical records however- seem to
lend support to another tradition which ascribes
the origin of this form of Vira Saivism to a certain
Brahman called Ekantada Ramayya, and this
story is found recorded in an inscription in the
temple of Somanatha at Ablur in the Dharwar
district, pertaining to the time of Mahamandal&j-
vara Eamadeva of the family of Kadambas of
Hangal (A.D. about 1181-1203). According to
this version of the story, Ramayyu was the son of
Purshottama Bha^a and his wife by favour of
Siva, chiefly with a view tc putting an end to the
prevalence of Jainism, The child was called
Rama and he grew up so intensely devoted to
Siva that be came to be known as Ekantada
Ramayya l ("Single-minded" Ramayya).

When he had completed his period of prepara-
tion, he set himself up at Ablur as an ascetic
ready to controvert any votary of a hostile religion.
It would appear one- day the Jains led by the
village headman chanted the praise of Jina within
the hearing of Ramayya in the temple of
Brabme6vara of the locality. Ramayya accepted

1 In fee teehnfeftl re'jgiwi feme tWt term i|*ad* for "the right of
private tntrit to the Divfe* jpeteaoe. "

VlRA iAXVISK 255

their challenge to controvert them by cutting off
his head and getting it restored to him. The
Jains on their side agreed that if he should success*
fully perform this miracle, they would destroy their
Jain temples and become Saivas* Ramayya sang
the praise of Siva and cut off his head, which
came back to him on the 7th day after the mutila-
tion. As the Jains did not carry out their part of
the promise, Eamayya was supposed to have
carried out a wide and systematic persecution
against the Jains, and built at Ablur the temple of
Somanatha under the name of Vira Somanatha.
The suffering Jains carried the news to Bijjala.
Ramayya produced the written agreement of the
Jains and offered to repeat the miracle, letting the
Jains even burn the head detached from his body
promising to recover it as before, if the Jains
would stake their 700 temples as wager therefor.
The Jains would not accept the challenge. Bijjala
ordered the issue of a Jaya Patra, "a certificate of
Victory/' to Uamayya. Bijjala so far appreciated
the single-minded devotion of Ramayya that he
performed the acts of veneration due to ascetic
votaries of all Indian religions, and granted to
Raraayya's temple of Vira Somanatha a village*
The miracle performed by Ramayya was repeated
to Chalukya SomeSvara IV, the last of the
dynasty, in a public assembly and he similarly
showed bis respect to Rftraayya by the grant of
another village to the same temple. A similar

286 CHAPTER XIV

grant was made after a similar interview with
Barnayya by Kamadeva, and it is this chieftain
who is responsible for the inscription. The story
of Ekantada Bamayya is found mentioped in the
Channa Basava Parana with variation in details of
minor consequence, but Bamayya's story as des-
cribed in the inscription seems to favour the
inference that he was the founder of the Lingayat
Sect rather than the two Basavas, uncle and
nephew. It is just possible that Bamayya preced-
ed the two Basavas by a short period as Bijjala is
referred to in the record not as a ruler, but as
only a governor (MahamandaleSvara). There is a
lithic representation in the temple of Brahme^vara
at Ablur of Bamayya's performance. Although it
would be unwarranted to infer therefrom that
the actual performance was quite an historical
event, Bamayya's name figures among the four
sages of the Lingayats who are taken to be the
predecessors of the two Basavas. It is a common
feature of both the Lingayats and the Aradhyas
on all solemn occasions to set up four vases
of water in the name of the four Aradhyas
(worshipful ones). These four are Bgvana,
Marula, Eko-Bama, and Pandita Aradhya. The
third of these apparently stands for Ekantada
Bamayya. If such is the case, Bamayya has to
be counted among the predecessors of Basava
uniformly regarded as the founder of the religfon
of the Jangam or Lingayats. It is likely therefore

VlRA &UVI8M 257

tbat Ramayya was responsible for really originat-
ing this sect, the teachings of which had been
organised and carried into actual practice .by
Basava.

-The sacred literature of the Lingayats con-
sists of the Basava Parana, the Prabhu Ling a
lAla and Panditaradhya-charita. These are briefly
known to them as the Purana, the Llla and the
Gharita. There is a superficial resemblance in
this tripartite classification to the Buddhist
Tripi^aka, but the resemblance is only superficial.
These three are apparently formed on the earlier
Saiva creed which might for convenience be des-
cribed in their later modification as Saiva Siddhau-
tam. These Siddhantins have their literature
which can also be classified into a purana part, a
lila part and a charita part. An instance in
point is Manikkavagakar's life described in the
Vadavurar Puranam, which describes a certain
number of lllas (playful acts) that Siva performed
in favour of Maiiikkavasakar, the other parts of
the work being pf the character of a life-history
of Manikkava^akar himself. The three works
referred to therefore constitute v the canonical
literature of the rigorous Lingayats. The Aradhya
still exhibits attachment to the Brahmanical lore
of the Vedas and the literature springing therefrom,
Of these, Prdbhulinga Lild is a work found in
Teltiftt, Kanarese and Tamil. The Tamil version f
which deems to be the latest of them all t is

33-18683

258 CHAPTER XIV

referable to about A.D. 1620, and is ascribed to
the Saiva ascetic Sivaprakasa. This was
apparently founded on the Kanarese version.
Whether the original was written in Telugu
remains an open question.

The Panditaradhya-Charitra is the legendary
and miraculous history of Panditaradhya, one of
the four sages already referred to. This work
seems to have been first written in Telugu by an
author who goes by the name Palkuriki Soma
or Somanatha, an Aradhya Brahman who is said
to be a contemporary of the Kakatiya Rudra.
There are two kings of the name Rudra among
the members of the Kakatiya dynasty. It is
probable that Soma was a contemporary of the
first Rudra, in which case he might have to be
assigned to the commencement of the thirteenth
century. If however it should turn out that the
Rudra referred to is the second of the name, he
would iave to be assigned to tho commencement
of the fourteenth century. In either ca^e, it
falls within the age when thig* form of Saivism
was in the ascendancy in the Telugu country,
the Kakatiyas of Telingana being special patrons
of the Saivas to begin with, the Hoyasalas and
other dynasties of the Southern Maharatta
country later extending their patronage to this
particular form of the creed.

During the age of Vijayanagar the Lifigayats
certainly existed and flourished. We know of

VlRA &UVISM 259

cou temporaries of Vidyaranya belonging to this
sect occupying high positions in the service of
the state. Several sovereigns of the first dynasty
of Vijayanagar seem to have patronised this
particular creed. But it does not appear to have
been exactly what might be called the state
religion, as in fact it would be misleading to speak
of state religions in regard to Hindu sovereigns.
From what has been said, it would have become
clear that Saivism like Vaishnavism began in
the South during the historical period as not
a systerrmtised religion or creed, but merely as
the convictions of individual men who could
give expression to their own convictions in
felicitous language full of overflowing emotion.

The early part of bhakti literature is in a
sense emotional, resting upon faith and appeal-
ing to the hearts of- those who came under its
influence. Naturally, therefore, that literature
must be somewhat unsystematic and unconnected
by any logical arrangement of sequence. That
w^s the condition of both the religions in the
centuries from A.D. 200 to about A.D. 1000
roughly.

With the Great Cholas, there comes a free
infusion from the North of Brahmanism chiefly
from Bengal. About the time of the Great
Chola Rajendra I, the forest regions of Kosala
became hallowed by Brahman colonies who fled
for protection from the land of iryavarta which

260 CHAPTER XIV

received then the repeated onslaughts of the icono-
clastic Mabmud of Gazni. Bajendra's invasion
of this locality has to be ascribed to A. D. 1024-
25, and that was the year of the last invasion of
Mabmud.

The foundation of Golaki Matba in the
Telugu . country was due to the incoming of a
colony of Saiva Brahmans from Dahala, the
region of Bundelkhand. l These influxes of
Northern Brahmans gave a stimulus to the
systematisation of the teachings of the votaries
of Siva and that is the period to which we have
to ascribe at any rate the so-called Sastric
literature of the Saivas. The first work belong-
ing to this school is in Sanskrit Sutras and is
based on one of the Agamas, the Raurava Agama,
as was indicated already.

8*6 note at foot of p. 247 al/ove.

CHAPTER XV

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA

We have already shown under the section
bhakti that the rudiments of Vaishnavism in the
ordinary form and in the agamaik, are traceable
in the classical literature of Tamil. This form
of bhakti had a course of development on much
the same lines as Saivism in the Tamil country.
In general outline, this would involve the sub-
stitution of Vishnu for Siva as ' the soul-saving
supreme being ' whose grace is of paramount
importance to the attainment of salvation by an
individual. We have already pointed out that the
most popular form in which Vishnu figures
in early Tamil literature is that of several of his
avataras of the paurdnic character. It would be
easy to quote references from the early classics to
the avataras (descents of God), Rama and Krishna
even in secular literature. Along with this,
simultaneously, we find indubitable references
to the dgamdik four Vyuhas. But the idea of
Vishnu is of course indicated by the general
name Tirumal for the god. We thus find that,
Almost at the beginning of the Christian era, the
features of northern Vaishnavism in all its
variety were prevalent in the south. It is the

262 CHAPTER XV

course of further development of Vaisbnavism
which lends character to the movement and makes
it a distinct feature of South Indian history.

VAISHNAVA LITERATURE

The literature pertaining to this school falls
into two classes also, similar in character to that
of the Saivas of the Siddhanta school. The
Vaishnavas have their saints and their teachers.
They count twelve of the former and give them
the general name A],vars. The latter go by the
name Acharyas, and constitute a continuing
series differing for each group, and in some cases
even for smaller groups, of families, as the list
proceeds to nearer modern generations. The
twelve Alvars composed hymns in praise of
Vishnu in the Various forms in which his re-
presentation is worshipped in the various temples
of South India. These partake generally of the
character of the pauranic pantheon of the
Hindus. The most popular of these, of course,
are Rama and Krishna ; but references are
traceable in their works to the most recondite
manifestations of Vishnu traceable in the Pura-
nas. The twelve Aivars fall into three groups :
the early f the middle and the later ones. The
first of them consists of four names, of whom
three are undoubtedly contemporaries and the
fourth is certainly so regarded by the Vaishnavas.

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 263

These four are Poygaiajvar, Bhudattalvar,
Peyalvar and Tirumali^aialvar. In the middle
group come Nam Alvar and Madhurakavi,
followed rather closely by ' Kula^ekhara,
Periyalvar or Vishnuchitta and the daughter
of the last, Goda or Andal. The last group
is composed of Bbaktangrirenu or Tondara-
dippodi, Yogivaha or Tirup-Pan Ajvar and
Tirumangaialvar, the last of them all. The
works of these Alvars and their poems of devo-
tion are admittedly renderings ot the teachings
of the Veda and Vedic literature to a far greater
degree than even the literature of the Saiva
Adiyars. On u historical examination of this
orthodox order of the Alvars and their grouping
according to chronology, it has been pointed out
elsewhere 1 that there is sufficient historical
evidence available to make the accepted order
more or less correct, and that the range of time
during which this particular group flourished
corresponds to the age of the Pallavas, as in
fact the age of the Saiva Adiyars was already
pointed out to be, If the age of the Pallavas
was characterised by the infusion of northern
culture into the distant land of the south, this
provides an excellent and unmistakable illustration
of the position.

1 See my Early History of Vaishijavisra in South India (Oxford
Unmnity Preis),

264 CHAPTER XV

THE AGE OF THE ALVARS

The first of this group of saints, Poygaialvar
has for good reasons been connected with the
early Tondaman chieftain of Kanchi by
name Tondaman Ilarh-Tiraiyan who must have
lived in the same generation, coining late in it, as
the great Chola Karikala. His work included in
the Prabandham collection comes in for reference
by later commentators, and they invariably group
it along with very early classical poems. This
Slvar is invariably associated with the two others
who follow him immediately in the lists and the
three are referred to as ' Sem Tamil Paduvar '
singers in classical Tamil by Tirumangaialvar, and
the fourth comes into the group though not in such
intimate association. All of them are associated
with Kanchi and the part of the country dependent
on it, that is, Tondaman dalam. Each one of the
first three is the author of one hundred stanzas
(a tataka) in praise of Vishnu and these form part
of the fourth section of the Vaisbnava ' Praban-
dham, Four Thousand. 9 Bhaktisara, the fourth,
has similarly one hundred stanzas included in this
group. He bas also a poem of 120 stanzas in-
cluded in the first ' Thousand 1 of the satrie
collection. This one among the four gives un-
mistakable evidence of acquaintance with all
that was best in the Sanskrit literature of the
time. It is possible also to trace in his works

VAlsHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 265

references to the Vaishnava agamas. 1 A fugitive
stanza is generally ascribed* to him which states
' we have learnt the religion of the Sakya, that
of the Srarnanas and examined the Agama work
composed by Sankara (Siva). But by our own
good fortune, we have put our faith in the Black
One with the red-eye (Vishnu) and got rid of all
that is evil. There is nothing that is beyond us
hereafter/ Whether he was actually the author
of this verse or no, the same idea repeats in a
modified form in one of his own verses, where he
puts it in a somewhat modified form as follows :
' The Sramaijas do not understand ; the Bauddhas
are in a delusion, and those that worship Siva are
unknowing innocents. Those who do not worship
Vishiju are of low intelligence indeed.' In
another place he sums up his conviction by
saying that * the God who exists as the Devas,
and 'the arrangement by which he shows himself
as ' the Three ' (Brahma, Vishou and Siva)
among the Devas, and his showing himself in
other forms besides, all this is the manifestation
of Vishnu. To those who do not know this truth,
all that they learn is of no value/ This shows
that, very early in the course of this movementi
the essence and the teaching of the orthodox
school of bhakti bad assumed, the form of an
interpretation merely, though a liberalised inter-

, * Tiruriruttam, !Stanst7,
S41368B

26fi CHAPTER XV

p relation, of tbe orthodox creed of the North. So
little that is historical <is known about the life of
these early saints that it is difficult to postulate
anything definite about their position in society.
The feature of their teaching however, seems to
be that the way of salvation was attainable even
to the uninitiated according to the orthodox stan-
dards. It is this element and its teaching by
these saints which gave them the ultimate ascen-
dency among the people even as against the rival
creeds of Buddhism, Jainism and to a certain
extent even of the Agaraaik Saivism. It was said
in tbe poem translated in an earlier part of this
work that even the Vedic Brahmans of South
India had to organise themselves for purposes of
controversy to expose the hollowness erf the teach-
ings of seemingly Vedic religions. It would,
therefore, be reasonable to infer that this move-
ment, represented by the Vaishnava Saints, w*as a
continuation of the orthodox development of the
Brahmanism in the South liberalised in the
manner already indicated. Among these twelve
saints of the Vaishnavas as among the sixty-three
of tbe Saivas, were men and women, women
being perhaps not unnaturally the fewer. There
were also people of all castes. The greatest
among these twelve goes by the sacerdotal name,
Nam-JUvar, and he was a Sudra. What is more,
be does not show in the very least that his having
been of this particular caste was anyway matter for

VAISHNAVISM IN SOOTH INDIA 267

regret to him. One of them at any rate belong-
ed to the class even of Paraiya (a Pana drummer
really). He goes by the name Yogivaha, as
according to the traditional life of this Saint, a
Brahman Ydgi carried him on his shoulders into
the sanctum of Ranganatha at Srirangam. The
story briefly is this. Being a Paraiya or Pana he
could not get into the temple. He used to come
none the less every morning, have his bath in the
Kaveri altogether aside of the bathing ghats of
the higher classes, and used to offer his devotions
to Ranganatha therefrom. The god was so
delighted with the single-minded devotion of this
man that he directed a Brahman ascetic Bhargava
who was in his hermitage not far off to carry him
to the temple on his own shoulders, as the Paraiya
kept out of the holy spot lest he should contami-
nate the holy ground by his unholy tread. His
own name was Tiruppan Alvar. The word Pan
indicated a caste akin to the class of the Paraiyas
whose usual profession was that of the wandering
ministrel. That is the really liberalising part of
this movement. This consisted in an effort, and
an organised effort too, at uplifting those who must
necessarily have been outside the circle of those
admissible to divine grace, so long as that grace
was attainable in the exact performance of an
exceedingly difficult and elaborate series of
ceremonial rites. The simplification of the pro-
cess for the attainment* of the divine grace Was

268 CHAPTER XV

in response to the needs of the time, and one
might even say was so recognised as very
often one comes upon the statement that for the
Kaliyuga more elaborate courses were impossible
of adoption in practice.

The Vaishnava hagiologists do not give any
more information about Yogivaha, and it is only
a work of 10 stanzas ascribed to him which is
included in the Vaishnava collection. There is
nothing by which to fix his age and the probabili-
ties are that he was one of the later saints, when
class or caste distinction needed to be smoothed,
and a recognised compromise between the oppos-
ing principles of religion seemed called for.
Following perhaps close upon the first four, who
have all been ascribed to the earliest period of the
Pallavas comes in Nam-Alvar ty common con-
sent, the greatest of the Alvars. He is pre-
eminently the Vaishnava Saint and stands out of
the group both by the eminent quality of his
teaching and by the very volume of his work
Tirumangai Alvar's contribution to this collection
is slightly in excess of that of Nam-Alvar. He is
known among those who followed him in the field
of literature as the one pre-eminently who ren-
dered V$dic lore in Tamil. They even go the
length of dividing his works and classifying them
according as they relate to the one Veda or
another of the recognised four Vedas. Of the
details of his life we kaow very little and if

VAISHNAV1SM IN SOUTH INDIA 269

the hagiologists could be given full credit for
their statements, his life was absolutely an
uneventful, and withal a comparatively short one.
He was - born of Kari and his wife. Kari
was the Adhikari (officer) of the village Kuruhur
and belonged to the Sudra caste as was already
stated. The child from the moment of its birth
declined to take any nourishment and conducted
itself in a peculiar way without weeping, or
otherwise having food, as babies do. The parents
in their perplexity consigned the baby to the
trod in the local temple, and found it seated in
what is generally described as the Yoga mudra
pose ( in the pose of one rapt in contemplation)
for a period of sixteen years under the sacred
tamarind tree in the temple. At the end of
this period he received divine inspiration and
began his teaching. Such as he was, an agent
was required, through whom he could give
publicity to his teaching. 1 The one found was
a scholarly Brahman, somewhat miraculously
directed on this mission. This saint goes by the
'name Madhurakavi, probably a title. He was a
Brahman of the top-knot community belonging
to the Tinnevelly District and of the Sama Veda
section. After finishing his schooling he went
on his pilgrimage, and was in Ayodhya (Oudh) at
the time. Thinking of his own native country

1 Stanzas 8 and 9 of the poem ascribed to Madhurakavi.

270 CHAPTER XV

one evening, he looked in the direction of his
native place and found to his surprise a huge
column of light. Somewhat taken, aback by
this apparition, he set forward in the direction
indicated by the light to investigate what* it was,
till he ultimately reached the temple and the
tamarind tree under which Nam-Alvar was
seated. When he set forward from there he
found the light in the opposite direction and
thus discovered that the place indicated to him
was the temple where Nam-Alvar was in
contemplation. After making an enquiry and
obtaining an answer which satisfied him, he
adopted the Ajvar as his Guru (preceptor in
religion) and put himself in the position of a
disciple. He then took down all that was given
out by the Aivar; and what was thus given out
and recorded constitutes the principal work of
this Vaisbnava saint. This is called by the
Vaisbnavas Tiruvaymoli, which can be rendered
literally as 'the word of the mouth.' But the
expression Tiruvaymoli has another significance
for which there is classical literary authority and
that is the Veda, for the good reason that it
emanated originilly by word of mouth from
Vishnu, and Brahma received the inspiration
(Sruti). The Tamils of the classical age made the
distinction between Vaymoli and Marat, the first
standing for the Veda and the second standing
for the Upanishads, which lie bidden in the

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 271

VSda. It is this distinction which seems em-
bodied in the name given to Nam-Alvar's work,
Tiruvaymoli.

It was already pointed out that to the Vaish-
navas Nam-Aivar is the type of Alvars and
stands pre-eminently as the representative of
the whole group and their teachings, so much so,
that in the daily recital of the Vaishnava creed,
Nam-Alvar alone among the Alvars is counted in
the succession of ' Holy Preceptors/ proceeding
from the actual preceptor of the individual back-
wards to Vishnu himself. This acknowledged
pre-eminence is owing entirely to the character
of Nam-Alvar's works as it is acknowledged to
embody the whole essence of Vedic teaching.
So much is clearly stated to be the case by
Madhurakavi .

One other point which comes out clearly from
what little we know of the life and work of Nam-
Alvar is the emergence of a preceptor (guru) as
essential to the attainment of salvation by the
individual. The whole burden of the teaching of
Madhurakavi in the short poem ascribed to him
amounts " to this and no more. Madhurakavi
states clearly thit having found the preceptor
in the Alvar, his salvation was as good as
guaranteed to him. This notion of the essential
need of the preceptor comes out in another poem
included in the Prabandham 4000, where a disciple
of Ramanuja's chief follower Kurattajvan, by

272 CHAPTER XV

name Amudan of Arangam (Srlrangam), makes
a confession of his faith in this creed of his own
salvation being the responsibility of his preceptor
so long- as he had taken the pains to dircover
the suitable one and put bis faith in him. The
idea of the need of a preceptor could not be
said to have been non-existent at any stage of
this kind of development of the teaching of the
bhakti school, whether Saiva and Vaishnava ;
only at this particular stage in the history of
Vaishnavism it emerged into greater prominence
as it does in regard to Saivism in the case of
ManikkavaSagar. The importance of this deve-
lopment consists in this that bhakti or devotion
as the means to attain salvation, develops certain
prescribed methods for prosecuting this work of
devotion to God which become essential. The
approved method begins at first to be simple,
but *as various influences come to bear upon this
personal devotion to God, it gets modified in
the attempt at effecting a compromise with other
lines of thought. A methodised and formal
system of worship emerges as the result of the
compromise, the adoption of which in the rough
and tumble of ordinary life becomes impossible
to a great many people. At this stage it becomes
necessary that a class of people take up the
actual and unerring performance of these acts
of worship, and leave the bulk of the people to
proceed in the simple way of the earlier and

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA < 273

/

the more primitive form of personal devotion.
This naturally Develops into each man or voman
finding a suitable preceptor whose duty it will
be to direct the individual in his daily life and
take the responsibility for the attainment of his
salvation. From out of this ultimately develops
the doctrine of self-surrender that one puts his
faith in God, and places the burden of his salva-
tion upon Him through one of His instruments
on earth in the 'character of a worthy and ac-
credited preceptor. This emergence of the Gum
and the doctrine of self -surrender (prapatti) whicb
is implied in the idea of the preceptor, become
an essential portion of the creed hereafter a&d
develops more fully as we advance from the age
of the Aivars into that of the so-called Acharyas
of the Vaishnavas. V

Nam-Alvar was followed in the course of
centuries by the six others of whom Kula^ekhara,
a king of Travancore, is a representative of un-
alloyed devotion. There is one 31oka of his
Sanskrit work Mukundamala which summarises
his unlimited devotion and faith in the saving
character of God. Asa free rendering, *he has
no ambition either for the acquisition of merit
(Dharma) or for wealth ; nor for the enjoyments
of this world or other. He would let things take
.their course shaped by his previous deeds. He
would only make .one prayer and that is that,
whatever may be the number of his births to

35 1S63B

274 CHAPTER XV

\

come, io all of them his devotion to the feet of
Gtod may remain unchanged and firm. 1

Periyfilvar and his daughter Andal, each one
shows this devotion with a peculiarity all their
own, and the last of them Tirumangai Alvar
brings this group to an end chronologically. He
was, according to the traditional account, an
official of some importance in the Chola kingdom,
and had his place of birth and office in the
Tanjore District. He got his inspiration in a
very peculiar way in the act of committing
robbery upon a Vaisbnava bridal party said to
have been composed of no other than Vishnu
himself and his followers, and thereafter he gave
up secular life and devoted himself entirely to
works of service to Vishnu and the Vaisbnavas.
This aspect of his life is indicated in the arrange-
ment of his works which begin with 10 stanzas,
each one of which ends in the refrain where ho
breaks out into the declaration that he had
discovered the saving truth in the name Nara-
yana. His works constitute the largest portion
of the Prabandham, and count more than 1,300
stanzas out of the 4,000 of the total. They are
far more elaborate in their mode and matter, and
are considered by the orthodox to be more or
less an elaborate commentary upon the teach-
ings of Nam-SIvar in particular* If tradition
preserved by the Vaishnavas could be relied on,
be organised the teaching of Nam-Iivar to the

VA1SHNAVI8M IN SOUTH INDIA '

extent of celebrating annually a festival in
honour of this Saint, where Nam-Alvar's works
were recited in extenso. This is what continues
to be done to-day, though after a break between
Tirumangai Alvar and the first Acbarya Natha-
muni, in the so-called Adhyayana Utsavam in
grirangam in the month of December-January.
There are references in his works to some con-
temporary kings among the dynasty of the great
Pallavas which* enables the inference that he
was probably a contemporary of the great Pallava
Nandivarman I, who was himself a Vaislmavu
probably, and that gives us the age of this Alvar
to be the latter half of eighth century. It
will thus be seen that the age of the Vaish^iava
development represented by the Alvars and their
works could be brought into the six centuries
extending from A, D. 200 to A, D. 800 approxi-
mately, by tradition alone which happened in this
particular case to be confirmed by various other
items of circumstantial evidence. The teachings
of the Aivars must have been of the same
character as the teaching of the Saiva A4iyars,
and required to be organised for the effective
creation of a school of that teaching to come into
existence. What was said about the effort of
Tirtipansral Alvar to set up an annual festival and
get people to recite the works of Nana-Ajvar in
Srirangam indicates that the nwd for oiganisitig
it had already begun to be felt, but the orgaai-

276 CHAPl'Efc XV

sation thus created seems to have fallen early
into desuetude and remained for sometime
so, so that when the first Acharya started active
work the whole of Nam-AJtvar's works had
so far got into neglect as to have been forgotten.
It is by a revival of the teachings of Nam-Aivar,
and by a provision against a similar neglect after-
wards -that the succession of Acharyas came into
being. This ' Acltarya Parampara' of the
Vaishnavas begins with Nathamuni, and conti-
nues in an unending series down to the present
time, each section of the Vaishnavas having its
own list ; but all the Vaishnavas however have
a certain number of names in common and they
cover the first eight or ten generations of these
preceptors,

THE ICHIRYAS OF THE VAISHNAVAS NATHAMUNI

Nathamuni was the fifth ancestor of Rama-
nuja and from the known age of Ramanuja cal-
culating backwards, Nathamuni ought to have
flourished in the first half of the tenth century
A. D* According to the traditional account
of Natbamuni's life, he lived in a village called
Viranarayanapuram, and was following the life of
an ordinary Vaishnava of those days. He heard a
certain number of Vaishnavas in the course of
th&ir pilgrimage recite, in the temple of his village,
a particular verse from the works of Nam-Hvar.

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 277

The verse appealed to Nathamuni as embodying in
the happiest phraseology, the sentiments of devo-
tion, which must have infused the author. Making
enquiries as to whose work it was, they were
only able to recite to him the particular ten of
which the verse under reference was one ; but
beyond that they were not able to recite any
more of Narn-Alvar's works. As these ten related
to God enshrined in the temple at Kumbha-
konam, Nathamuni was referred to that, locality.
He proceeded there and found the people knew
no more than the ten. Therefore he proceeded
to the birthplace of Nam-Alvar, in the hope
that perchance he might recover the whole there
from somebody; but it had been so far forgotten
that one among the Vaishnava inhabitants of the
locality who bore the name Parankusadasa
(Purankusa being a name of Madhurakavi)
stated that they had heard of the name Tiruvay-
moii, but knew nothing more of it. He could
however recite the eleven stanzas ascribed to
Madhurakavi in praise of Nam-Alvar. Nathamuni
received these eleven stanzas ascribed to Madhu-
rakavi, and is said to have recited these repeatedly
till both Nam-Aivar and Madhurakavi appeared
to him and gave him not merely the Tiruvaymoii,
but also various others of the works, Sanskrit and
Tamil, which went to constitute the basal autho-
rities of Vaishnava teaching. The story goes on
to say in so many words that Nathamuni had to

278 CHAPTER XV

remain practising single-minded contemplation
upon Nam-ijlvar (yogic practice) for full 340
years before the two Alvars appeared to him in
the manner indicated above. This is only the
hagiologist's way of stating something like a
gap of 340 years, or roughly three and a half
centuries between Nathamuni, it may be, and
Nam-Ajvar, or at the very best Tirumangai
Aivar. The works were apparently in existence
according to this tradition in the age of Tiru-
mangai Aivar, and the traditional teaching of
these had been broken since his time. Counting
five generations backwards from Eamanuja and
taking three centuries more for this interval
gives us the approximate age of Tirumangai
Aivar or, at any rate, the latter end of the
age of the Alvars. Other lines of investigation
confirm this chronology more or less. What we
are concerned with here is that the work of
Nathamuni, the first Acharya consisted in the
revival of the teachings of the Alvars and the
organisation of that teaching by providing for
its unfailing continuance. This last object was
attained by the creation of a pontificate not of an
official character like the Christian pontificate, but
of a more or less popular character.

One other feature of Nathamuni's work that
deserves attention is the setting of the tune and
the prescribing of the form of recital of the
works of Nain-Alvar. This arrangement would

VAISHNAVLSM IN SOUTH INDIA 279

n3CG3sitate a cLw of people whos3 contribution
practically it woull be to recite the work in
the truly orthodox style, and even accompany
the recitation with action of a suitable character.
A class of people known by the name Araiyar
at Srirangam recite even to-day and perform in
this style on the occasions of festivals in the
temple. The adoption of the tunes and the
singing was not confined to this class of
men alone. A* class of women whose profes-
sion had come to be music and dancing also
adopted this as part of the temple order which
continues, in certain places at any rate, up to
the present time. All this seems to have formed
part of the arrangement by which Natbamuni
first made the collection of Nam-A](var's works.
And this was confirmed by the final arrange-
ment made by Ramanuja who collected not merely
the works of Narn-Alvar but even went
forward to collect the works of the other
Alvars and arrange them in the form in
which the Prabaniham 4000 is accessible to
us at present. A similar arrangement, it was
already pointed out, was made in regard to
the works of the Saiva Adiyars by Nambi
Andar Nambi under the patronage of a Chola
ruler who is called Raja Raja Abhaya Kula-
Sekhara, in all probability Raja Raja the Great
It. was on that occasion that the Saiva works
also got set to tune and there is a reference

280 CHAPTER XV

under the later Cholas to a class of dancing
women, who rendered these poems in the esoteric
mode 1 (dhamargam). It may be pointed out
again that it is not likely that either Nathamuni
or Nambi Aijdar Nambi' originated this mode.
We have stated already that, even from the
classical age, there was a class of people who set
devotional poems to tune, and that this arrange-
ment is exemplified in the early classic
ParipadaL All that this means is that the two
classes of works got set to music for purposes of
devotional recital by these two teachers respectively.
Though the Vaishnavas count the succession
of Gurus in the line of descent from preceptor
to disciple, the more prominently recognised
apostolic succession of Vaishnavism passed from
Nathamuni to his grandson Yamunacharya,
whose sacerdotal name is Alavandar. He received
the teachings of Nathamuni from two of his
disciples, who may be taken to be in their turn
preceptor and disciple.

YlMUNICHIRYA OR ALAVANDAR

The mantle of the leadership of the
Vaisbnavas fell by common consent upon the
shoulders of this teacher, who was a married
man and led the life of a householder. He lived
In the age of the early great Cholas and the

1 Ins. of Bftja Baja III, at TiruYorriyflr, Ep. Hep., 1912, No. 911, ,

VAIS&NAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 281

age was one of great religious ferment, the out*
ward exhibition of which in India took the form
of controversial activity. Yamunacharya (Tamil
Yamunaitturaivar) comes into prominence as the
result of a successful controversy that he held
against a Saiva. He was a great dialectitian and
indisputably secured success by a clever stroke.
His opponent seems rather too foolishly to have
undertaken to establish the contrary of whatever
Yamuna would state categorically. The Vaishnava
turned the tables upon him by making three
statements : (1) ' The king who was presiding
over the controversy was a Sarvabhauma ; (2) the
queen who was seated by him was beyond question
chaste ; and (3) the mother that gave birth to him
(the Saiva champion) was certainly not a barren
woman.' The establishment of the categorical
negative of these statements was obviously
impossible. But the story has it that he contro-
verted him successfully, even on questions of
philosophy and religion, and established his
position at the court. As the wager of the contro-
versy he obtained the means to live in comfort,
and even in some affluence, and that put him
beyond the need of earning a livelihood. He
lived to a ripe old age and obtained as the bequest
of his grand-father all that was worth learning
of the Vaishnava philosophy and religion from
the successors of Natbamuni. The one thing that
remained uncompleted at the. latter end of his life

36-1863B

CHAPTER XV y

was tbe provision of a successor to continue the
Vaishnava teaching and organisation. He looked
about and found a suitable young man in a great-
grandson of his who was undergoing education at
Kancbi. While still under his teacher the young
man had made such an impression/ that his
reputation bad already reached the ears of the
saintly old Acharya in Srirangam. The venerable
old man undertook a journey to Conjeevaram to
see if reputation sp^ke true of the achievements of
Ramanuja, and the story has it that he caught
sight of the young man in the company of his
fellow disciples and the great teacher Yadava-
praka&a in tbe enclosure of the great Vishnu
temple at Kanchi. Tbe site at which AJavandar
caught the first glimpse of his successor is
yet pointed out by the old residents of the
town.

RlMINUJA

Ramanuja was the son of a grand-daughter of
XJavandar. One of the grandsons of SJavandar
obtained his permission to go and live at Tirupati,
and took along with him his father and two
sisters, who were in course of time married by
him to two eligible young men. The elder of
these bad married a Keava Somayaji belonging
to Perumbudur. In course of time Ramanuja was
born of this marriage. After undergoing tbe
recognised early education in bis own native

VA1SHNAV1SM IN SOUTH INDIA 283

village, he went to Conjeevaram to complete it
by a course of instruction in philosophy under the
famous " Vcdanta " teacher Yadavaprakasa in
Kanchl. It was while under this professor that
llavandar caught a glimpse of the young man and
was impressed with his appearance as a fit person
for ultimate succession to his position. In course
of time 5Javandar was drawing near his end, and
sent people to fetch Ramanuja from Conjeevaram.
Before Ramftnuja could reach Srlrangam, however,
Alavandar had breathed his last. It was mira-
culously indicated however to Ramanuja that
Ajavandiir had left three things unaccomplished,
and designed Raman uja as the chosen one to
discharge the responsibility of fulfilling these
cherished wishes. These were a commentary,
according to the Vaishnava teaching, on the
Brahmasutras, a similar commentary upon the
Sahasranama and a similar commentary upon the
Tiruvaymoii of Nam-iivar. This was the mission
to which Ramanuja had become heir on the death
of Ajavandar. He had ultimately to settle down
in Srlrangam to fulfil this mission and all that
was involved in it by way of getting the
Vaishnavas together, providing them an organisa-
tion with sufficient vitality to continue, overcome
controversies and meet the needs of the timfes by
putting the teachings of this form of religion in
shape to continue from generation to generation
unimpaired. Ramanuja himself performed the

2&4 CHAPTER xv

first, commissioned the son of bis chief disciple
Kurattalvan by name Parasara Bbalta, to do the
second, and got his uncle's son known by the
name Piljan, who was adopted by him as his
successor, to write out the commentary on the
Tiruvaymoli, After a varied life, he succeeded
ultimately in making grlrangam the headquarters
of the Vaishnavas, and providing for the perma-
nent continuance of the teachings of these
commentaries and various other works. He also
provided for the propagation of this teaching by
the recognition of seventy-four persons as * ' occu-
pants of the apostolic throne " of the teachers of
Vaishnavism. He had to carry on controversies
with the advaitins generally called Mayavadins,
with the Jains, and with others even including
the Saivas. He succeeded in his mission so
far as to put Vaishnavism on a permanent
footing.

As it came to Kamanuja, several problems of
a religio-secular character confronted him. Of
these, two features deserve special mention. It
was already pointed out that the teaching of
the Aivars might be regarded as an adaptation
merely of Pauranic Hinduism ; there was a rival
popular creed in the Agamaik form of worship,
of which two sections at least, Pancharatra and
Vaikhanasa Agama, are recognised as Vaiahnava.
The , former of these two seems , the more
important/ from the point of view of

VA1SHNAV1SM IN SOUTH INDIA 285

community as a whole. This Pancharatra was
regarded as unvedic by Kumarila Bhatta. 1

It is similarly regarded to be outside of the
fold of the Vedic religion by Sankara in his
commentary on the 2nd of the Brahmasutras.
Even the Saiva works on their Siddhanta view
Pancharatra as a separate religion, and contro-
vert it in the recognised text-book Sivajnana
Siddhi. The Vaishnavas of the Ramanuja School,
at least the great bulk of them now-a-days^ are
Pancharatrins. The establishment of the teaching
of the Pancharatra as Vedic in character and
as one form of Vaishnavism 2 was one of the
achievements of Ramanuja.

The next item has reference to the needs of
the community composed of classes of varying
grades of intelligence and mental outlook. It
was one of the items of Ramanuja's teaching,
which, in this particular case, happened to be
merely laying an additional emphasis upon the
teachings of the Alvars generally, that salvation
was attainable alike by all, whatever their earthly
position. Here again Ramanuja effected a com-
promise as in the case of the Pancharatra. Rama-
nujVs position amounts to this. Whatever be the
position of a man or woman in society, one stood

1 Tantravarttika, translation by Ganganath Jha, p. 165, AJio
Mr. Bamaprasad Ohanda's Indo Aryan Race, p. 99.

9 See the Parama Saznhita of the PSncharatras, edited by me in
the Gaikwad Sanskrit Series, No. LXXXVI ; Introduction.

286 CHAPTER XV

as near to God as anyone else, provided ,one kept
to the high requirements of godly life. What this
amounts to, as a measure of social reform, has
since become a moot point and there has been
considerable division of opinion on the question.

Bamanuja lived in the age of the great Cholas
having been a contemporary of the great Chola
Kulottunga. It was already stated that the
period of the Chola ascendency began about the
end of the ninth century and lasted till about the
middle of the thirteenth century. During this
age, it was already pointed out, Saivism carne in
for a considerable amount of patronage under
some of the Cholas, of whom Eajendra, the
Gangaigondachola, stands out pre-eminent.. It
was under the first of these that the Saiva works of
the Acjiyars were collected and put in the form in
which they have come down to us. It was also
the age when Sekkilar wrote the lives of the Saiva
saints in his great work Periyapuranam ; and
Sekkiiar lived either as a contemporary of Bama-
nuja or slightly later. The four later teachers of
the Saivas also belonged to this age and the vari-
ous Mutts (religious houses) of the Saivas were
founded at this period. Similarly though the
Vaisbnava organisation began with Nathamuni
practically at the commencement of this age of the
Cbola ascendency, it received full shape and final
form of its teaching under Bamanuja early in the
twelfth century. From Bamanuja onwards, as in

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 287

fact from Nathamurii, the succession of gurus
continued unbroken, and the Vaisbnava temples
became the attractive centres of propagation of
this teaching. Among tbese Srlrangarn and Con-
jeevaram constituted the two principal centres.
The religious literature of this age both of the
Saivas and Vaishnavas are thrown into a contro-
versial form clearly indicating that it was an age
of great controversy in matters religious. The
religious ferment 6f which religious controversy is
merely the outward expression, became a promi-
nent feature, as soon as the Chola ascendency gave
to the country the requisite degree of peace.

The great temples of South India, which
came into existence, at any rate the great majority
of them, in the age of the Pallavas beginning from
the time of the early Chola Ko-Sengan, received
considerable additions by way of patronage under
the Cholas, These naturally constituted active
centres for the propagation of the teachings both
of the Saivas and of the Vaishnavas. The chief
opponents they had in view in all their controver-
sies seem to be the Jains. This is but natural, as
Jainisin was just emerging full-grown owing to
the active support and patronage of the Rashtra-
kutas who seemed several of them to have been of
that persuasion. The active controversy against
the Jains began with the Saivas of the days of
Sambandar and Appar under the great Pallava
Mahendravarman and his contemporary Pandya

288 CHAPTER XV

Sundara. These religious controversies seemed
to have attained to a considerable degree of
bitterness that a series of general persecutions of
the Jains have become the common feature of
the lives of these saints, Saiva and Vaishnava,
compiled at a later period. The most prominent
instances of these are a persecution set up at
the instance of Sambandar by his Pandya contem-
porary Nedumaran, otherwise Kun Pandya and
Sundara, who was at first a Jain and was conver-
ted to Saivism by Sambandar. The story has it
that the whole body of Jains were impaled by order
of the monarch at the instigation of the Saint. The
late Dr. Vincent Smith has so far gone in accept-
ing this story as embodying a historical incident
that he regards it as one of the genuine though
exceptional instances of persecution for religion. He
relies principally upon the evidence of a painting
of this incident on the walls of the great temple
at Madura. It is not only on the walls of the
temple of Madura, but in all the bigger Siva
temples of the South the representation of this
story is found. The historicity of this incident
will have to depend upon the particular date at
which the painting or even a stone representation
of this incident, was set where it is. When once
the hagiologists set the fashion by giving currency
to these stories, it is not difficult to understand
that they passed into popular currency, and in
the representation of various lllas of Siva or

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 289

,

Vishnu (performance of miracles in sport) or any
other God, these would naturally figure. This
position is most clearly illustrated in the renova-
tion of temples carried out by the class of Nattu-
kottai Chettis at the present time. Whether"'
pictures of these already existed or no, such
representations, as constituted the lllas of , Siva,:
are made by them without sacerdotal impropriety.
It does not require much interval of time even, as
we have already stated, that a lithic representation
of the performance of Ekantada Ramayya is
found built in a temple constructed at a period
following close upon the age of this Ramayya.
It need hardly ba said that it is impossible for*
history to believe that Ramayya actually cut
off his head and got it back after it was turned
to ashes. The stories of such persecution
occurred time and again in the accounts of the
hagiologists (Saiva, Vaishnava, Jaina, or Bauddha),
and these stories have always a family likeness
in the details regarding the incidents, thereby
stamping them as pious fabrications of latter-day
hagiologists.

The Jains are said to have conducted a whole-
sale persecution of the Bauddhas under a king
by name Himasltala at the instance of a Jain
Acharya Akalanka. A similar story is told of
Ramanuja of having persecuted the Jains' by
getting them ground in oil-mills. Vishnuvar-
dhana, the Hoysala, who adopted Vaishnavism,

37-1363B

290 CHAPTER XV

is said to have perpetrated this atrocity. We
have pointed out elsewhere 1 that the chief queen
of Vishnuvardhana died a Jain. His loyal and
faithful commander-in-chief of all his forces
lived and died a Jain under him, and his son
succeeded in the same persuasion. When late
in life, a son was born to the king, the tutor
for the son was a most respected Jain Acharya. It
need hardly be added therefore that these stories
of persecution as they are found current could
hardly be regarded as historical/ and one ought
to look for satisfactory evidence in each separate
case before accepting the historicity of any of
these incidents of persecution, or even for postu-
lating that no persecution took place. This does
not necessarily involve the assumption that
religious riots and excesses by parties of people
were always non-existent. The Rashtrakutas,
as already pointed out, were great patrons of the
Jains and in the best days of Rashtrakuta
Empire it was that Jainisrn did its best work
in literature in the Southern Mahratta country
and Mysore. These are the portions of South
India that happen to be the great Jain centres
even now, and in that region Jainism flourished
even in the age of the great Cholas. One of the
constant complaints of the destructive operations
of the war carried on by the Cholas against the

1 Ancient India, Chapter IX.

VAISHNAVISM IN SOUTH INDIA 291

latter was that the Cholas destroyed these Jain
monasteries and temples, without showing the
usual consideration due to these holy places.
Jainisrn continued to flourish under the Chalukyas
and under the Hoysalas at a later time and even in
the age of Vijayanagar.

The Saiva Adiyars and Vaishnava Alvars,
hoth of them had to carry on an active propa-
ganda against Buddhism and Jainism, and there
are many indications in their works that the
aim of their tench ing was to overcome these two
religions which apparently had a large popular
clientele. Both Kumarila Bhatta and Sankara-
charyya's works give clear indication that they
set to themselves the serious task of controvert-
ing the Jains and Buddhists, also incidentally of
various other forms of teaching outside the sphere
of the Veda. It was this need for a controversy
that gave the turn to the literature both of the
Saivas and the Vaishnavas, and as we advance
in this history, we find the tendency is in this
body of literature to develop the controversial
character.

This work so far as the Vaishnavas were con-
cerned was carried on for three generations- both
in Srirangain and in Kanchi, when the Mubam-
madan invasions broke in upon South India.

CHAPTEB XVI

MUHAMMADAN INVASIONS

It is well-known that the Muhammadan irrup-
tion into this side of tbe Vindbyas commenced in
the last years of the thirteenth century, under the
Khilji ruler Alau-d-din, and that it began as a
mere raid for purposes of plunder. Once Alau-d-
din obtained a considerable amount of wealth
which served him the useful purpose of paving the
way to the throne, he often had occasion to
look out to this source of revenue to fill his
treasury even when he had placed himself firmly
upon the throne. Alau-d-din's needs were great
as the main purpose of his reign was to keep the
Moghals out of the North- Western frontier. If
the Muhammadan historian Wassaf speaks tbe
truth, and thefre is nothing to doubt his veracity
in this particular, Alau-d-din bad to maintain
a standing army of 4,75,000 at a cost of 180
dinars a month each man, and 230 for each
horse ; he even allowed a spare horse to a
soldier ; and to those who maintained a second
animal be gave an additional allowance of this
amount. One could understand therefore that
the demands of the military department of
Aiau-d-din's reign were more than the ordinary
revenues could meet. He therefore adopted the

MU'HAMMADAN INVASIONS 293

prudent policy in respect of South India by
making an impression upon the Hindu rulers of
his own great power and putting these Hindu
rulers under heavy tribute. Such in fact were
the instructions which he actually gave to the
generals he deputed on these several invasions, ,as
is actually recorded by Ainir Khusru.

In the carrying out of these instructions the
generals, had a great deal left to their own dis-
cretion, aud these invasions generally meant a
considerable volume of destructive work. The
first object of these generals was to take posses-
sion of what was termed ' royal wealth/ This
consisted iu what in modern parlance would be
called materials of war, not necessarily contraband
of war, and included elephants as the first item,
horses, gold and jewels, and other commodities
of value which could be carried off easily. The
royal treasuries were one source ; and the generals
soon found the temple treasuries equally fruitful
as a source of revenue. The armies sent out
could not be very large having regard to the
distance, which in the language of the Muham-
madan historians were six months' journey and
twelve months' journey. They consisted merely
of picked cavalry, and had, as a military necessity,
to carry on the war on a more destructive method
than . would otherwise have been necessary. Hence
to the South Indian, Muhammadan invasions
meant destruction of all the cherished wealth of the

294 CHAPTER XVI

people. One specific instance of such destruc-
tion recorded by the Muhammadan historians
is the destruction of fruitful trees, which some-
times were cut down by the thirty thousand, to
the great horror of the Hindus, Naturally there-
fore these invasions of the Muhammadans exten-
ding over a period of about thirty years struck
the Hindus of the south with consternation and
terror to such an extent that they felt it necessary
very early to organise themselves for fighting for
their existence. This organisation found its
leader in the Hoysala ruler of Mysore at the time,
Vira Baljaja III.

Almost after the first raid upon his capital
by Malik-Kafur, he understood what the Muham-
madan invasions meant and as a consequence he
adopted a temporising policy. Till his contem-
poraries should be of a temper to act together
as against this common enemy, he entered into
terms of treaty with Alan-d-d in, and kept up to
the terms of the treaty as long as he found it
necessary to do so. But fortunately for him, the
death of Alau-d-din created such a series of dis-
turbances in Delhi, and, thanks to the exertion
of Alau-d-din, the Moghal troubles ceased to be
imminent. The Hoysala had found time to
organise his forces and put himself in a position
of readiness for eventualities. He slowly set
about reorganising his own resources, leaving
his neighbours to do what they thought best in

MUHAMMAD AN INVASIONS 295

the circumstances for themselves ; so much so,
that, when Mubarak organised a South Indian
Province for the Mubammadans with Deogir as its
capital, the Hoysala showed no activity outside of
his frontier even when garrisons of Muharamadans
were planted quite close on his northern frontier.
It is when Mabammad-bin-Tughlak placed himself
upon the throne and undertook his invasion of
the South, that the time had coine for a Hindu
organisation of South Indian rulers, and that was
brought about by the Hoysala with the co-
operation of the contemporary Kakatiya ruler*

In the meanwhile the Muhammadan garrisons
left by Malik-Kafur had been dislodged from the
Tamil country by the Kerala ruler, Ravivarman
Kula&khara, who broke out of his mountain
frontier and carried his armies successfully as far
as Poonaraallee, perhaps only to retire, when /the
Kakatiya general advanced against him, or it ma^
be by his own death. The Tamil pDwers having
become powerless or practically extinct, it was
left to the Kakatiyas and the Hoysalas to <ip the
work of organising a successful resistance. This
was made the more necessary, when Mahammad
undertook another invasion to re-assert his
authority in South India and locate a permanent
garrison in Madura. This was don?, successfully,
and the South was held in the interests of Maham-
mad for a period of about seven years by the
successful general sent out to conquer Madura,

296 CHAPTER XVI

A rebellion set up early in the reign by his cousin
Bahau-d-din at Sagar gave the signal for other
rebellions, and the establishment of a Muham-
madan Sultanate at Madura by Mahamrnad's own
governor provoked the Hoysala and the Kakatiya
rulers to join their resources and make a stand for
themselves. A too early rising would have put
them between two fires, Mahammad's province
of Deogir in the North and the Muhammadan
Sultanate in the South. But Mahammad, with
his wonted imprudence, involved himself in a sea
of trouble nearer his headquarters, and that
engaged him fully. The two high powers of the
South were left to watch the Northern frontiers
and carry on a campaign to destroy the Mubani-
madan garrisons in the South, including that
at Madura. The latter portion of the work fell
upon Vira Ballala himself who, since A.D. 1328,
the year of Mahammad's last invasion of the
South, made Tiruvannainalai his capital, and was
carrying on a systematic campaign against the
Sultanate at Madura. The Northern frontier was
left in charge of a number of generals of whom
three happened to be brothers. They held the
frontiers successfully against the Mubaramadans,
and this frontier extended from the West coast,
somewhere a little north of Goa, right across
to the mouth of the river Krishna. The flank
of the Muhammadan province of Deogir 'was
watched by the Kakatlyas, nominally under

MUHAMMADAN INVASIONS 297

tribute to Mahammad. The Hoysala was there-
fore able to carry on war in the south unmolest-
ed by any action of Mahammad. He fell in the
fight however about the end of the year 1342,
and his son followed after a short rule of about
two to three years.

In the meanwhile Mahammad involved him-
self inextricably and iied in the course of the
next five or six years. His death was the signal
for the generals ' of the Hoysalas to carry out
the policy of their late master to a successful
termination, and it is to a son of one of the
brothers who held the northern frontier to whom is
due the credit of having destroyed the Mahammadan
Sultanate of Madura.

This war takes on the character of a patriotic
struggle by the Hindus for mere existence and
for the preservation of all that was cherished as
sacred from the point of view of religion and all
that was worth having by way of secular re-
sources. This aspect of the movement it was,
that gave it its peculiar character and culminated
in the foundation of Vijayanagar. Vijayanagar
stood forth as the visible embodiment of the
national resistance to save this enclave for the
Hindus and keep it free from being over-run by
the Muhammadans.

88-1383B

CHAPTER XVII

THE CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE VlJAYANAUAR EMPIRE

Coming into existence from out of the ashes of
the last powerful Southern kingdom, that of the
Hoysalas, Vijayanagar stood out for all that was
worth preserving in Hindu religion and culture.
As a necessary concomitant therefor, it pitted
itself on the south bank of the river Tungabhadra
itt a position of advantage wherefrom it satisfac-
torily kept the Muslim tide from advancing
farther south, and thus saved South India as the
home for the uddisturbed further development
of Hinduism, such as it had come to be under
the great Cholas of the South. The movement
was national, a nationalism which was infused
through and through with the sentiments of
religion. In the actual circumstances of the
origin and growth of Vijayanagar anything like
an attachment to a particular form of Hinduism
was out of the question. The object of Vijaya-
nagar, and those who were responsible for it,
was to preserve all that was Hindu, irrespective
of the multifarious minor differences that went
to constitute the Hinduism of those days as they
do that of these days. It was a comprehensive

VUAVANAGAfc

movement and adopted a policy of comprehension,
so as to take into its fold ail forms of the
Hindu faith, including in it to a great extent
even the prevalent form of Jainism of the loca-
lity. The one object was the preservation of
Hindu independence in South India, with all
the multiplicity of its religions, Hindu and Jain,
perhaps even to a very slight extent Buddhist,
and providing, for the further development of
these on peaceful lines, a home in the country,
south of the river Krishna. The whole organisa-
tion of the forces of Vijayanagar had this object
in view.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL RECONSTRUCTION

When, the first struggles for the dislodgment
of the Muhammadan garrisons from the south
were over and the hostile Muhammadans from
the north had been successfully driven out from
their strongholds in South India, chiefly Madura
and Trichinopoly (actually Kannanur, 8 miles
from Trichinopoly), those who were responsible
for it set about organising social and political
life with a view to the dominant needs of the
new imperial foundation. The first need was a
political organisation, which would place in the
hands of the Government the necessary resources,
material and men, to keep the aggressive Muham-
raadan efforts confined to the northern side of
the Krishna. This involved the organisation of

300 CHAPTER XVII

an administration and the development of the
military resources which would assure a successful
resistance against the repeated attacks of the
Muhamrnadans to break through the barrier set
up by the new Empire. The Empire was orga-
nised into great Viceroyalties called Maharajyas
of which there were as many as three along the
northern frontier. The first from the west
coast took into it two Governments, those of the
Malerajya and Tulurajya. The former took into
it the whole of what is now the Malnad terri-
tory of Mysore and the whole of what might
be called Karnatic Dakhan, almost as far north
as Kolhapur. It went by the name of its
capital, the great Viceroyalty of Araga, now a
village in the Shimoga district of Mysore,
This was probably under the overlordship of
Harihara I whose capital must have been at
Bankapur or Goa. Next to that, came the head-
quarters Viceroyalty having for its capitals in
the early stages, Dvarasamudra (Halebid in
Mysore) and Vijayanagar itself, alternately.
Later on the latter became the chief capital
and the former suffered comparative neglect.
Military necessity however called for other
places coming into importance. This region
was therefore dominated by the fortified cities of
Vijayanagar and Adorn, at the two vulnerable
spots along the northern river frontier. At
the, back of these two and almost midway

VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE 301

between, lay the bill fortress of Penukoncla
which later on became the capital of the empire
of Vija^anagar itself. The last of the three vice-
royalties was the Maharajya of Udayagiri with its
capitals, Nellore and Udayagiri. The three elder
of the five brothers were Viceroys of these to
begin with. Behind this front line lay another
Maharajya with its Viceregal headquarters, at
Mulbagal in Mysore, and taking into it the
territory of the Gangas, the Banas and the whole
of what used to be known as "Tondamandalam,
or the Dravida country. Later on another Vice-
royalty was constituted with Madura for its head-
quarters and the charge ' the Lordship, of the
Southern Ocean ' attached to it. Within this
great province the administration was organised
on the lines on which it had existed from time
immemorial in the country. The civil adminis-
tration was so organised over this vast region
that the people carried on the administration
themselves, more or less completely, subject
to the supervision and control of the great officers
of state, who constituted a comparatively small
hierarchy touring the country to set matters
right, wherever their attention sfiould be called
for. This kind of an organisation left the
Imperial revenues almost exclusively for the
purposes of organising the military resources
for the defence of the northern frontier. It
was necessary on this frontier to adopt the

302 CHAPTER XVII

policy of avoiding war by being ever the most
ready for it. Such a pDlicy involved a military
expenditure which would have exhausted the
resources of any ordinary Empire.

Tim organisation implied a considerable
amount of social reorganisation also, and this
took on naturally the form of hardening and
more clearly demarcating the rights and duties
of the various castes of which Hindu society was
then composed. The system was there with an
organisation of its own, being the only organisa-
tion on which society rested ; that had to be made
use of even for administrative purposes, perhaps
more largely than heretofore. This necessity
coupled with the ever present danger of the
Mubammadan irruptions from the north, gave
this organisation a hardening, some of the worst
features of which remain even yet, though
several of the best features have gone out of it
by desuetude. Such an organisation of society
had this advantage that society looked after itself
and the civil administration had but comparatively
little to do except when called upon to interfere
in matters of serious dispute between communities,
territorial or social. The imperial resources might
then be concentrated upon the organisation for the
predominant purpose of defence, and, if occasion
called for it, of offence as well, against the
northern neighbour who was perpetually on the
look-out for> regaining lost hold. There was

VUAYANAGAR EMPIRE 303

complete devolution of the civil administration
except for a certain degree of control exercised by
the officers of the Government; the central
Government, divested of the ordinary civil power
to a very large extent, devoted itself entirely to the
needs of defence.

That this was the idea that dominated the
rulers of Vijayanagar is clearly in evidence in the
policy adopted by successive rulers of which we
gain glimpses here and there with the imperfect
resources for their history at our disposal.

The greatest monarch of the first dynasty,
Devaraya II, who crowned a series of efforts by
completing the fortifications of Vijayanagar so as
to include in it a bit of country measuring
diagonally 13 by 8 miles, providing facilities for
irrigation and cultivation to an extent, that the
capital city might have food resources tb fall
back upon within its walls for a considerable
period of time. He also adopted, on the advice
of the most responsible officers of the State,
measures for improving his military resources by
removing a vital defect. It was brought to his
notice that the Hindu arms proved inferior to
those of the Muhammadan in cavalry and archery,
and that the Turkish soldiers employed for this
purpose in the Muhammadan armies were found to
be very efficient. Devaraya at once ordered the
enlistment of two thousand of the Muhammadan
archers, chiefly Turks; gave them a separate

304 CHAPTER XVII

quarter of the city and conciliated their religious
feeling to the extent of providing them with a
mosque and a slaughter-house in their own
quarter. He got by this means about 60,000 of
his soldiers trained in this branch of the art of
war. It was not the Muhammadan as Muhamma-
dan that they hated ; much rather, it was the
destructive work of the first Muhammadan invaders
which left an indelible impression of hatred in
them. This reorganisation was carried out
actually by Lakkanna, the Brahman Viceroy of
Madura, who was called from his Viceregal head-
quarters obviously for this purpose at a critical
period in the history of Vijayanagar.

The first usurper Saluva Narasimha fully
realised what exactly were the needs of the
Empire, and his usurpation was with a view to
meeting these needs which, as it appeared to
him, had not received at the hands of his prede-
cessor the attention that they deserved. His last
testament which the Portuguese chroniclers record
indicate his policy clearly. He had repaired the
damages suffered by the Empire during the weak
rule of his two predecessors, but had failed to attain
to the fulfilment of his wishes, as he had not had the
time to take back from the enemies of the empire
the fortresses of Mu<lkal, Baichur and UdayagirL

Udayagiri happened to be in the hands of the
Gajapatis of Ka^ak. Kaichur and Mu4kal were
in the hands of the Bahmani Sultan. His

VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE 305

successor Krishna, the great Krishnadeva Eaya
of Vijayanagar, made it his life-work to fulfil' this
desideratum of his great predecessor. He could
however take up this work only after quelling
the internal rebellions which had occurred in the
short reign of bis elder brother, whom he suc-
ceeded* Having taken the fortress of Siva-
samudram and destroyed the chief rebel of
UmmattQr, he set himself seriously to the task
of regaining these three fortresses afte* he had
carefully provided himself against a flank at-
tack by entering into a treaty with the Portu-
guese at Goa. He then undertook a war first
against the ruler of Orissa f who was in occupa-
tion of Udayagiri. He beat Orissa garrisons
from out of all the fortresses beginning with
Udayagiri right up to the frontiers of the Ganjam
District. Having gone so far, he deliberately
adopted the policy of not driving the powerful
enemy to desperation ; but entered into a defini-
tive treaty with him restoring to him all his
conquests up to the river Krishna. He was
then able to turn his attention to the recovery
of the other two fortresses of Mudkal and
Raicbur, confident of having secured both his
flanks. He succeeded wherever his great prede-
cessor failed and brought under the Empire the
two fortresses, the possession of which was to the
Mahammadans a source of vital weakness to the
Empire.

I9-4WB

806 CHAPTER XVH

As he returned from his campaign against the
ruler of Kalinga, while he was still on the banks
of the Krishna and in the region of Bezwada,
be made a grant of 10,000 gold pieces to the
temples of South India, and set about the work of
restoration and repair to all the temples tohich had
suffered any damage during the Mabammadan
invasions. There is one other act of his wbich
exhibits even more clearly than this, the policy
that underlay his operations. He made an effort
during his reign to provide temples in Vijayanagar
to all the gods that had suffered at tbe bands of the
Mahammadans, Tbe great Vittalasvami temple
in Vijayanagar, which in many features exhibits
Vijayanagar architecture at its best, was pro-
jected with a view to providing accommodation
at the headquarters to God Vi^tala of Pan<Jar*
pur, whose temples had suffered at tbe hands of
the Mahammadans. It is with a view to similar
reparation tbat the great temple of Ananta&yana
on tbe road from Hospet to Vijayanagar was also
projected. His work as a whole indicates clearly
tbe character of tbe movement wbicb culminated
in Vijayanagar, and the policy adopted by the
Empire when it bad established itself permanently
is shewn in its efforts to realise this ideal in practice*

BELIGION UNDER VIJAYANAGAR

The Sanskrit epic poem Kamparaya Charitam
of Ganga Devi, wife of KuojSra Kampana, who

VlJAYANAGAR EMPIRE

conquered, for his father, both Tondaman<Jalam
from the rebel SambavarSyans, and the Madura
country from the Sultans of Madura, makes the
goddess of the south appear to the Prince in a
dream. The Goddess is made to recount to him all
her sufferings, material and moral, as a result of
the irruption of the Mahammadans in the south.
At the end of this doleful tale, she assured him
that he was no less than an avatar of God for the
purpose of repairing injuries that she had suffered,
and encouraged hinrto proceed on the expedition of
conquest on which he had already proceeded
some way, to carry it to completion. In token of
her goodwill she presented him a sword with
which he was to overcome in single combat the
Mahammadan Sultan of Madura. Notwithstanding
the epic treatment, it is clear that the poetess
wishes to convey to the readers that the invasion
of the south by Kumara Kampana of Vijayanagar
had in it something of the crusading spirit.

He went on his campaign dislodging the
Mahammadan garrisons from the various centres
and completed it by killing one Sultan of Madura*
He abolished the Sultanate finally by further
campaigns round Madura itself. When the
hostile Mahammadan garrisons were dislodged
from the south and when they felt quite clear
that the death of the Sultan Mahammad Tugblak
and the succession of his nephew Feroze did not
produce any change of policy in the imperial

$08 CHAPTER xvii

in regard to the distant south* they
signalised the re-establishment of Hindu dominion
*4b South India by ordering the reconstruction of
the great temple at Madura destroyed by Malik
Kafur and carrying out a complete restoration
of Srirangam, and the re-establishment of God
Ranganatha there. This rehabilitation of the
-Vaisbnava " holy of holies " is symbolical of the
|K>licy which started the movement, and exercised
A strong influence throughout the history of the
Empire of Vijayanagar. The restoration of
temples and rehabilitation of gods merely did not
complete the religious policy of these, rulers.
' The first ruler of Vijayanagar who assumed
imperial titles was Haribara II, son of Bukka,
ibe third of the five brothers, who were respon-
bible for the foundation of the Empire. The
ftve brothers and their friends and officers did
yeomen service in this national effort. In spite
of it all, Bukka, to whom, more than to any
other, the credit of this enterprise must be given,
did not feel that the time bad come for the
assumption of imperial titles all the time that he
lived. He died sometime in A,I>. 1378, and his
eldest son succeeded as Haribara II. It is he
who assumed imperial titles sometime about
JiJX I860, almost about the end of the reign of
ferosf* ^ughlak and when the first two well-
known kings of the Bahrnani kingdom had ruled
afcd passed away. Among the titles assumed by

VIJAYANAGA& BM&RE .809

Haribara occur the following which call for
attention here: ' f The establisher of , the four
.castes and orders ; the publisher . of the com-
mentaries on the Vedas, the master in establishing
ordinances prescribed by the Vedas ; he who has
provided the Adhvaryu (priests) with, employment,
the auspicious ornament of Kings." These titles
clearly indicate the ideas underlying . the move-
ment and the duties that the founders of this
Empire prescribed to themselves.

In this great work of Hindu rehabilitation in
South India a number of great men played a
very prominent part, each according to his
opportunity. With the foundation of Vijaya^
nagar is associated the name of the two Brahman
brothers, Madhava Vidyaranya and his* brother
Sayana, two Vedic scholars of high rank. An-
other Madhava, generally called Madhava Mantri,
is generally described as Upanishan marga-
pratisthapanacharya, he who established the path of
the Upanishad, to distinguish bim from the other
Madhava who takes the attribute Veda-marga-
pratishthapanacharya, the 'title by which learned
Brahmans are addressed even now. This Madhava
belonged to the orthodox Brahman school, white
the other was a disciple of Kadi Vilasa Kriyagakti
Pan<Jita, a Saiva icharya.
i The brothers Madhava and SSyana were both
of them scholars and statesmen. The elder
brother is spid to have occupied the position /of

'310 CHAPTER XVll

chief adviser to Bukka at the court of Vijaya-
nagar, Mobile S&yana was associated with the
Viceroyalty of Udayagiri, and was the guide,
philosopher and friend in a literal sense of the
elder Kampana, while he was alive. At the death
of Kampana, while bis son Sangama was yet
a child, Sayana assumed the responsibilities of
the regency, conducted the administration for
the boy, educated him as his teacber, fought
a battle for him when his Viceroyalty was
attacked, and thus discharged his debt to his
sovereign. The names of these brothers are
not so widely known for their achievements as
statesmen, but are handed down to us as Vedic
scholars.

Sayriha was grammarian and commentator,
commented on the Vedas, and did all the work
under the inspiration of bis brother, called some
of them by Madhava's name, such as Madhaviya
Dhatu Vfitti. Madhava seems to have been i
sort of venerable president of an academy of
scholars assembled from various parts, and these
were set to work to comment upon and to commit
to writing various Vedic works which were
dangerously near to being lost. These brothers
and their companions discharged their duty to
the community to which they belonged, which
community had already, for thousands of years,
discharged the duty of preserving learning. The
spirit underlying this work of VidySra^ya is best

VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE 311

illustrated by a story in connection with the life
of hie great Vaishna\a contemporary Vedanta
De&ka.

After the second sack of the temple of
SriraBgam in 1328, Vedanta De&ka had to retire
to the southern border of the Mysore plateau,
and was there leading the life of a teacher which
was the Brahman's birthright. For the sake of
maintenance, because be lived as a married man,
and we know be had a son, be used to go out
asking for alms in the shape of raw rice. The
moment he had collected enough for the day he
returned to the duties of the scholar. Vidya-
ranya, who had known him and his worth, sent an
invitation on behalf of himself and his sovereign,
requesting Vedanta De&ka to come and live in
Vijayanagar. In fact, he seems to have taken
pains to collect all the well-known scholars about
him for the great purpose that he had in view.
Vedanta De&ka politely declined the invitation on
the ground that, having undertaken to serve God f
the Great King of Kings, he found it impossible to
accept services under an earthly King. Notwith*
standing this refusal Vidyaranya continued to
maintain a~high regard for his scholarship and set
about his work and completed it with the aid of
a number of other scholars.

Vedanta Deika pursued his life quietly and
unostentatiously, and gave, in many respects,
final shape to the Vaish^avism of South Incli*

812 CHAPTER XVII

fpllowkjtg closely the teachings of
explaining and supplementing it wherever it was
necessary. He was the author of about 120
works, of which about one-fourth of the
number was in Tamil, the rest of them in Sans-
krit including a few which he composed in
Prakrit. The Madhva Mutt at Udipi under the
third Acharya in the succession seems to have
received a certain amount of patronage under
Vijayanagar. Two Saiva centres flourished, one
in the Malnad country of Mysore and another in
Sri Sailam, not to mention various other locali-
ties of Vira Saivism. The Jains were a flour-
ishing community in the Tulunad, the country
between the Western Ghauts and the Sea, and
one of the most trusted generals of Harihara II
was Irugappa, the Jain, a native of Conjivaram, at
whose instance the lexicographical work NanarthV
ratnamala was composed, and to whom is given
the credit of having erected in Vijayanagar itself
the Jain temple which goes by the popular name
Ganigiti Temple (the Oil- woman's temple). With-
out going into too much detail, it may safely be
said that, for good and for evil, the present-day
Hinduism of South India retains the form that
it received under Vijayanagar, which ought to be
given the credit of having preserved Hindu-
ism such as it is; When at one time in the
life of Sivaji he set up a claim to Hindu Empire
ijnihe south and wished to stand forth as

VIJAYANAOAR EMPIRE 313

champion of Hinduism as against the puritanic
Great Mughal, Aurangazeb, it was not as a mere
bombast that he did so. It was hardly a ffew
years since the widow of the last king of Vijaya-
nagar appealed to Sivaji in behalf of her children
for maintenance. Sivaji made a grant of two
villages and got the grant l indited, with a sense
of delicacy all his own, on silver plates which
have recently been discovered. He could well
feel, in the position to which he had elevated
himself at the time, that he stood in the position
of the sovereign, to whose widow and children
he made this grant. That such a notion was
entertained by him is indicated by the coinage of
Sivaji. Mr. R. D. Banerji, the Superintendent
of Archaeology, Western Circle, notices a coin
of Sivaji carrying the effigy of a pagoda on it and
.containing the inscriptions characteristic of Vijaya-
nagar. It will thus be seen that in South India,
Hinduism has had a history of peaceful develop-
ment culminating in the efforts of Vijayanagar
to give it the final form in which it has come down
to us to modern times.

Cataclysmal irruptions of foreigners causing
revolutionary changes in doctrines and practice
there were none. Into South India.

1 The date of the grant has since
bhu cast* a suspicion upon Ha character for
likely a grant waa made in the
kubV^facU of history and to th* coin refe

40-1863B

314 CHAPTER XVII

Brahmaos brought with them the pristine religion
of the Veda which produced protestant movements
Uto Jaiaism and Buddhism in the north. They
found a congenial home in the south and went
on developing peacefully without being subjected
to aggressive influences, like that of Buddhism
under Asoka. Other influences there were, and
these evoked responses by way of modifications
and readjustments, but beyond these there was
nothing of a radical character by way of change.
Buddhism and Jainism flourished, but flourished
side by side with Brabmanism, and with it contro-
versies there seem to have been, but these contro-
versies apparently were under the control of the
civil authorities for the time being. When the
religion of bhakti came in, probably in two
ways, one in a somewhat developed form from
the north, and perhaps another by a process of
natural evolution from the popular culture of the
time, a series of influences came into rivalry
with the Vedic religion of the Brahmans. One
could see a serious effort at the reconciliation of
the one with the other, and the result for South
India is a compromise which exhibits a school
of bhakti which on the one side countenances
Vedic ritual and preserves it to a considerable
extent; and on the other adopted some, even
perhaps of the non- Vedic practices and gave
them a place in the religious system of the Hindus
of to-day. The works of the early saints give

VttAYAfcAGAR BMPlfeE 315

clear indication of this effort at synthesis, and the
teaching of the earlier Acharyas give considerable
evidence of the effort at a logical compromise.
The effort at giving to this religious compromise
a logical character naturally develops schools of
thought which in the progress of society hardens
into sects. The feature therefore of South Indian
development from the second or third to the tenth
century. A. D. is the slow evolution of that compro-
mise, and the further course beyond the tenth
century is characterised by the evolution of the
sects. The invasion of the Mahammadans gave
the necessary corrective to the rancour and
animosity which were creeping into the relations
of these sects and the resulting foundation of
Yijayanagar had its best to do in introducing civil
order so that each sect by itself might live at
peace with the others and achieve each its destiny
unmolested by the others. This position is very
clearly illustrated by what Bukka did, according
to the so-called Kamanuja inscription. The
Vaislmava holy place Tirunarayanapuram was
knov^n among the Jains as Vardhamanapura.. The
Vaisbnavas apparently took to ill-treating the
Jains, who carried a complaint to the head-quarters.
Bukka conducted an enquiry and, as it is said
in the inscription, committed the charge of
seeing that the Jains were not molested by ihe
Vaishnavas to one of the Vaishnava Acbftryas
at court belonging to the family of the

316 CHAPTER XVII

Tatacharyas of Conjivaram. That spirit of
compromise and insistence upon peaceful living by
the various sects was adopted as the religious
policy of the civil authorities by the sovereigns
of Vijayanagar, who each had his own particular
persuasion .

It is the-reflex action of this bhakti school of
thought which one could trace in Vaishnavisin as
it is prevalent in northern India. In some cases
the somewhat sensuous feature that was imported
into the literature of bhakti in the south is carried
beyond the limits imposed under the recognised
canons of Tamil literature. This excessive zeal
leads to a corruption of the faith where the effort
is made to translate a mental realisation into the
physical. That is a result, and an evil result at fc
that, of transplanation, On the whole this
undesirable development has not shown itself in
southern India, at any rate to any noticeable
degree. The contribution therefore of South India
in this particular sphere is to have a genuine
school of bhakti, and it is small wonder that the
later purSnas accord to Southern India the mono-
poly of it, as the Bhagavata and the Padma
Parana would make one believe. Outside the
sphere of Aryavarta as it is, it could claim to be
the land where Vedic Brahmanism could be
found to-day in the form which is the product
of actual evolution from the Brahmanism of the
Vgdic age!

VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE 317

The Brahman has been able, thanks to the
goodwill of the communities amidst which he
cast his own lot, to carry his Brahmanical life
unimpaired and even encouraged by the com-
munities on whom he exercised his influence in
the direction of elevating them to a higher 'plane
of life. So much so was this the case that an
European writer making a study of Indian women
gives it as the characteristic of southern Indian
women folk as a whole, that their ideals in this life
are other-worldly. The Brahman has on the
whole discharged his responsibility as the teacher
of the community by preserving the ancient
learning of the Hindus ; he has made an honest
effort, according to his lights, at preparing the
people to lead a good life here, and to go to a
better life hereafter ; and had through the ages
maintained the ideal of uplifting, however short be
may have fallen in actually achieving this ideal.

CHAPTER XVIII

GREATER INDIA : EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND

THE SEAS

Overland Communication of Northern India

India falls geographically into two divisions
in respect of her comrnunicatipn with the outside
world. In spite of the mountain barriers on the
north, north-west and north-east, there is a
volume of evidence, though of an indirect
character, of considerable communication with
the rest of Asia, with the portions of China
and Indo-Chinese Peninsula on the east, with
Tibet and the western portion of China in the
middle, and Central Asia stretching westwards as
far as Asia Minor itself and the Mediterranean Sea
on the west. In respect of these overland com-
munications with the west, we have comparatively
speaking, few glimpses by way of evidence. The
discovery of the Bogaz-Keui inscription referring
to the Vedic deities, Mitra, Varuna, Indra and
Nasatya, and the Aryan character of the people of
Mittani have led to the possibility of the inference
that one section of the Aryans moved into that
region. The irruptions of the Kassites who over-ran
Babylonia about three centuries previous to this, also
implies the existence of a powerful community of

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 319

Aryan-speaking people so far out. The question
wherefrom they came is involved in the general
problem of the Aryan home which is still a matter
for discussion. The representation of apes, Indian
elephants and Baktrian camels on an obelisk of
Shalmanesser III in B. C. 860 gives the first clear
indication of a communication between India and
Assyria. It is the expansion of the Empire under
Cyrus and his successor Darius that brings the
Persian Empire directly into touch with India,
and opens the way for the establishment of regular
communication with western Asia. Similarly, on
the eastern side, there is evidence of considerable
early communication with the east ; much of the
continental civilisation of the Indo-Chinese
Peninsula seems derivable from northern India of
the Buddhistic age, some of which may possibly be
referable to times earlier. This communication of
northern India with the outside world 1 is not what
concerns us directly.

Overseas Communication of South India

Such communication as South India had with
the rest of the world, must of necessity have
been across the ocean. The early navigators
of the Indian Ocean seem to have been many,
and the history of this subject is only very

1 866 t&6 reoent work of Sir Awl Stein, "On Arcwat Central -
A*i*n Tracks,"

320 CHAPTER XVIII

partially worked for the satisfactory reason that
the material that exists for such work is at the
very best, scanty. The Egyptian efforts under
the Pharaohs have reference only to the coasts of
Arabia and of Africa, certainly as far down as
Somaliland, and it may be^ much farther down
towards Zanzibar. The expedition to Punt under
the eleventh dynasty and before then, had for
their object various articles of value to the
Egyptians. 1 The most famous of this enterprise
under the Pharaohs is the great expedition sent
out by the great Queen Hatsheput. It had for
its object the bringing of quantities of gold,
incense and other articles, much prized in,
Egypt. They are all of them represented on her
monument at Der al-Bahri. 2 It is possible
to refer some of these articles to India ; but
most of them are obtainable in the region of the
Somali coast as well. It is the enterprise of
Alexander which found its visible embodiment
in the founding of Alexandria, that gave an
additional stimulus to this navigation of the
Indian Ocean. Patrocles, an officer of Seleucus I
and bis son, sailed the Indian Seas, and under the
Ptolemies, great efforts were made to open the Bed
Sea trade with the East. It is put down to
the credit of Ptolemy-Philadelphus that he cut

1 EL R. HU; tb Ancient HUtorj of the-E*it, p. 147,
* Bwted, History of Egypt, pp. 274-5.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 321

out a canal connecting the Nile with the Bed Sea
either newly, or by opening up an old channel.
As a necessary corollary to this, he founded a
number of ports on the Red Sea. Among these
foundations, Arsinoe of Ptolemy near the Suez,
and Berenice, lower down on the Bed Sea coast,
appear most prominent. Almost up to the time
of the Roman conquest however, trade seems to
have been carried on even in Indian commodities
from the great exchange marts of Arabia Felix or,
as the Greeks called it, Eud&mon, that is, the
coast district round Aden. The discovery of blue
cloth wrapped round the mummies, recently
excavated, 1 and the further discovery that they
were all dyed blue with Indian indigo is clear
evidence of Indian trade, but not necessarily of
communication with India. With the Roman
conquest of Egypt, a new impetus is given to
this eastern trade and we come upon a new
era of nautical enterprise on this side of
Egypt.

Indian Trade with Western Asia

In respect of Indian trade with western Asia,
the matter seems to rest on a somewhat better
footing. The earliest definite reference that we
can get is a commercial expedition sent out by

1 India and the Western World* . ,

41 1368B

3S2 CHAPTBB rvm

*

Soloman with the assistance of Hiram of Tyre*
According to Josephus, Soloman gave the com-
mand to the pilots of the expedition, " that they
should go along with his stewards to the land,
that of old was called Ophir, but now Aurea
Chersonesus which belongs, to India, to fetch
gold." The expedition left Ezion-Gebeir (Akaba
at the head of the Gulf of Suez), and was three
years on its voyage. It brought with it 420
talents of gold, almug wood, ivory, apes, and
peacocks. According to the statement of
Josephus, the objective of the expedition should
have been the Malay peninsula, the fl golden
Chersonese " of Milton. Several scholars take
it to mean the Malay peninsula and Sumatra,
both of which produced enormous quantities of
gold, and came to be known to the inhabitants of
India by the name Svarna Bhumi. But the
variant of the name in the Septuagint is Sophir.
Sophir and Ophir can be considered equivalent if
the word with "S" passed through Persia. Sophir
is the proper form, or the form nearest to the
Indian equivalent. Thus the country under
reference may be taken to be Sauvira which might
have been one of the stages, or the final stage,
which the mercantile fleet of India left as the last
part of a coasting voyage. The only difficulty
-that scholars appeared to have felt against
this identification seems to be, the 420 talents
of gold. That this region Sauvira between the

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 523

mouths of tbe Indus and Broach produced gold is
in evidence in the name of one of tbe rivers being
"golden sands " (Svarna-sikata). This name is
found recorded in the Junaghad inscription of the
famous Ksatrapa king, Rudradaman of A.D. 150.
Of about tbe same time, we have another reference
to a region lower down the west coast of India,
which contained gold mines. The territory of
north and south* Kanara under the Tamil chief
Nannan is said to have contained hills showing
gold- veins. What is more telling as a piece of
evidence is a story connected with this chieftain,
who had been branded with ignominy as woman-
killer. He is said to have had a fruit garden
producing specially delicious fruits. A girl who
went to a canal for water, picked up a fruit float-
ing down the canal which happened to be flowing
through the royal garden. She took tbe fruit and
ate it without a thought ; and, for this great crime
against His Majesty, tbe king ordered the gjrl
to be killed. Her parents and relatives offered
to ransom her by giving to the king a Itfe-size
statue of the girl in solid gold, or whatever else
,the king might require by way of ransom. The
story concludes by saying that tbe king refused
the offer, and handed himself down to evil fame
as woman-killer. The river Kaveri is known to
classical Tamil literature by the name Ponne,
and tbe name is said to have been given to it as
it carried gold in her sands* Hence the difficulty

324 CHAtTEfe xVllt

on the score of gold ceases to be of force in regard
to this identification.

Indian Names of Imported Aricles

Taking the othar articles, almug wood
is no other than sandal. It occurs in
Greek as santalan, and could have come
from Tamil fandana, or Sanskrit chandana,
the pure Tamil word for it is aram. This
is a peculiar product of the Malaya Hills,
the southern portion of the Western Ghats.
Apes are known in Hehrew as koph. In
Egyptian, the \vord takes the form kafu, and these
are derived from the Sanskrit word kapi. Satin
(cotton cloth) becomes sadain in Hebrew and
sinthon in Greek, probably from Sanskrit Sindhu.
These are all traceable to a part of India
where the prevailing language might be Sanskrit.
There are two words however for two articles
imported from India which cannot be traced to
Sanskrit, . and these are peacock and rice.
Peacock occurs in Hebrew in the form of tukim.
In Persia, it occurs as tains; in Greek as to Jos.
All of them seem derivable from the original
tokai which is unmistakably Tamil, at the worst
Tamil-Malay alam. Rice occurs in Aramaic in
the form aruz ; Greek, oruza, Latin oryza, atfd
Spanish anus, all apparently from the Tamil
ariti. The last two words must be held decisive,

EXPANSION Ot 1 INDIA feEYOKD HE SfiAS

and must have reference to their origin in the
Tamil country. This is confirmed by the dis-
covery of a beam of teak in the excavations at
Ur in Chaldea ascribed to the King Ur-Bagas,
the first ruler of united Babylonia (circa B.C.
3000) according to Sayce and Hewit. A similar
teak beam was found by Rassam in the same
locality in a building which was known to have
been constructed by Nabonidus to the Moon-God
in the middle of the sixth century B.C. Another
beam of Indian cedar was found in the palace of
Nebuchadnezzar at Birs-Nimrud. It is impos-
sible that the teak wood could have gone to these
places from anywhere other than the Malabar
coast or from Burma. Rice and peacock were
known in Athens in their names of Indian deri-
vation in 430 B.C. Thus for about 500 years
from the 5th century B.C. backwards, direct
communication with India seems provable. That
this \Vas across the sea directly from India, and
not overland through Persia may be established
by the word for muslin being sinthon without the
change of " S " into "H" as the Persians invari-
ably change the "S" of Sanskrit into " H." This
assumption of direct communication ;receives
some confirmation from the fact that the South
Indians, .particularly of the classical Tamil litera-
ture, knew the western people by the designation
Yavana, not by the northern designation of Yona
even after the days of Asoka, showing thereby

ivni

that communication between the Yavana region
and South India belonged to an age when the
Greek digamma had not dropped out of the word.
The Bavem-Jataka, the^ Supparaka-Jataka, and
the Mohosada-Jataka, all of them would be
confirmatory equally, though these might well
refer to communication between Northern India
and Babylon. The explicit statement of Berosus,
that the Babylonian market exhibited crowds of
all nationalities, may be held to include some
Indian nationalities as well. That it was so will
acquire greater probability from the following
extract from Mr. Hornell's work already
quoted : " This sea-trade with Babylon, carried
on in Indian vessels, cannot be less ancient than
the sixth century B.C. and is probably a good
deal older. Its continuance in Achaeinemd times
is rendered probable by the discovery of Indian
-articles in the ruins of Susa, these consisting of
libation cups, bangles and ornaments made from
the shell of the conch fished even yet in
quantities in the Kathiawar coast. 1 The age of
these ruins brings Indian trade with this region
down 'into the fifth century, but some of the
ornaments, one bangle especially, obtained from a
lower stratum belong to a much older date, as
Susa was a capital of the Elamites long Before the
Achaemenid occupation of the site, I have also

' * Horneli, J. : Mad** Zoology of OkUmAndU, Pt. It

EXPANSION OF IKBIA BEYOND THE SEAS

identified chank ornaments from Tello (the site of
ancient Lagesb) in the Louvre Museum, Paris/*? ,

The Situation of Ophir

In respect of the question as to the situation
of Ophir, whether it was somewhere in southern
Arabia, or whether we should look for it on
the continent of India, or the Malay peninsula,
the decisive factor would be the three years* navi-
gation from Akaba to the region of Ophir and
back, which would mean a voyage of more or less
18 months up and 18 months down* An eighteen
months' voyage being regarded as the fact, it
must have been generally a coasting voyage so
far as the westerners were concerned : it would
seem to indicate the coast of India as answering
to Ophir, though Malay peninsula may be pos-
sible. A station on the south coast of Arabia
would hardly answer this indication satisfactorily.
All this would -have reference however, only
indirectly to the Indians haviug sailed across
even the Arabian Sea. Direct evidence of
Indian navigation is however not wanting. Even
the Big Veda knew of hundred-oared ships,
although these have reference more to eastern
navigation than to western. The Baveru-Jataka
however is certain evidence of western navigation,

P .

S28 CHAPTER XVIII

by the Indians as also the Supparaka Jataka.
Brit behind this period lies the 'far older one
of possible communication between the Persian
Gulf ports and the west coast of the Indian penin-
sula. Some antiquarians, incline to the opinion
that the early summerian civilisation, the mother
of Babylonian, may, after all, be Indian. 1

Early Indian Voyage to Babylonia and the West

Whatever might be the ultimate verdict of
scholars in regard to this question, there could be
no doubt even on the indirect evidence avail-
able to us of early communication between
Babylon and India. There is considerable reason
for the opinion, if it is not yet put beyond 'doubt,
that the Indians borrowed the week-days, from
the Babylonians, rather than from the Greeks,
leaving the possibility open that they might
themselves have originated it. We have already
urged reasons 2 and are pleased* to find ourselves
supported in this position by Dr. Vogel in an
article published in the "East and West, "
January, 1912. We have direct evidence of the
westward navigations of the Hindus in two
references. The first is that Q. Metellus Celer
received from the King of the Suevi, some

1 H. B. Hall : Ancient History of the Far East, pp. 173-74.
8 Vide Beginnings of South Indian History, pp. 804 fl.

EXPANSION OP INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 32$

Hindus who had been driven by storm into
Germany in the course of a voyage of commerce;
according to Cornelius Nepos. 1 The other i
contained in the visit of an Indian named Sophon
(Subhanu) to which reference is made in a Greek
inscription 2 found in the ruins of a shrine between
the Bed sea port of Berenice and Edfu near the
banks of the Nile. The few sentences of Kanarese
found by Dr. Hultzsch embodied in a Greek Farce
contained in the Papyrus of Oxyrhynchus 8 and
the same learned Doctor's find of a silver coin of
Ptolemy Soter in the bazaars of Bangalore would
only be evidence of communication and not of
the Indians voyaging westwards.

With the beginning of the Christian era and
with the discovery of the south-west monsoon
by Harpalos, voyages of communication became
more regular and we have even reports of Indian
embassies to the Emperor Augustus, one of which
is said to have reached him at Terragona in Spain
and another in Cyprus. The westward navigation
and communication had become so great that
there are constant references to Yavana ships
coming to the west coast bringing gold in their
well-rigged ships to pay in exchange for the spices
which they carried from that coast of the Indian

1 Macrindle's Ancient India, p. 110,

* The inscription is quoted in H. GL Ha wlin son's India and the
Western World, p. 99 ; J. B. A. 8., 1904, p. 409.

* J. B.A. 8 M 1905, p, 899.
42-1363B

330 . CHAPTEB xvm

Peninsula. 1 What is perhaps a more important
point from the Indian side is that these Yavanas
had at one time suffered defeat at sea at the
hands of the Chera ruler of the west-coast who
is said to have punished * them by tying their
hands behind their back, pouring ghee or oil
on their heads, and holding them up to ransom
after this punishment. 2 There are other references
to Yavanas. Yavaoa women are referred lo as
immediate servants of South Indian monarcbs,
particularly the Pandya king, and Yavanas are
said to have constituted his body-guard. One of
these references is to Yavana women handing
bira western wine in golden cups for the
delectation of their royal master. 8 The otber is
much more interesting as it exhibits these Yavanas
constituted as a body-guard of cavalry men. The
Pandya king is described as being in camp in
solitary bed overnight, and his tent constituted
the centre of the camp which was surrounded
by tents of women-guards enclosed by partitions of
cloth ; and then came the tents of men-guards
Yavana and Mleccha and their camp of occupation.
The whole camp was enclosed within a stockade
of wooden palisades, sometimes even of the steel
javelins that the soldiers carried/ The question

1 Afasm 148, Beginning! of Sooth Indian History, p. 12.
1 Padrrupp*ttu, pp. 22-28, Hah. Bvamioath Aiyar'a edition.

* Nakkirar in Por*m 56; also N4on*M$ai, 11. 101-2 d
8il*t>p*dbikirwD, XIV*

* MoiltippAttiu, 41-46*

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS

arises whether these could all be Greek and
whether the Indian king could have obtained
BO many Greek men that could hire themselves
out for service of this character. The dress and
other details of the 'description seem to lead to
the inference that these might have been people
other than Greek. It seems far more likely
that they \*ere Arabians who hired themselves
out for service in this fashion. That the
ancient Arabs were known by the designation
Yavana is wafltented by the term Ethiopian
applied to the inhabitants of Abyssinia. The
term is derived from Atyab meaning incense,
and Yavan the Yavana collectors of incense in
the region of the Somali country. 1 Those that
constituted the original inhabitants of this locality
are regarded by scholars, to be colonists from
Arabia. If that is so the term Yavana must be
the ordinary designation for an Arabian at any
rate, as much as for a Greek. However it is
an open question whether the carpenters from
Yavana 2 who are said to have worked with a
number of other foreign workmen from various
divisions of India in the building of Kaveripatara,
were Grfcek Yavana or Arabian. It may even
be Chinese Yavanas. It would bet hazardous to

* Bcboff's Pcripluf, p. 62.

1 Ma^Dekhalai, Canto XIX, pp. 10740; c/. ftteo ptsstge froni PftrnJfe
Kidai (Tim Brhatkitbft* quoted thereunder.

fcviii

attempt to be precise in the face of the statement
contained in the Paftinappalai, 1 that one quarter
of Kaveripatam close to the sea was set apart
as the quarters of the sea-going inhabitants of
various countries who iiad* come in for residence
in the course of their voyages and who spoke
a multitude of tongues, almost in the same
style as Berosus speaks of a multitude of people
of all nationalities collecting in the Babylonian
market. The picture that we can form of this
branch of Indian enterprise frftn the classical
geographers would only confirm this indirectly.

The Evidence of Classical Geographers

The classical geographers, the author of the
Periplus and Ptolemy the geographer, who
date respectively about A. D. 80 and A. D. 150
at the latest, exhibit knowledge of a division of
the country that we derive from the Tamil
classical literature. The author of the Periplus 2
begins his account of the west of India with
the Indus (Sinthus). He says that the river
had seven mouths, shallow and marshy, and
therefore not navigable. On the shore of the

central channel was the sea-port Barbaricum

%

i

* Ll. 214-15 ; alaoSilappadfcikaram, 11. 9-12. The term gavanaris
rendered donagar by the earlier and Mlec char by the latter of the two
commentator*.

1 The Periplos of the Brythraao sea, tranalated and edited hj
W, B. Sehoff, Seoa. 42 to 66.

fekPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 333

with a capital in the interior of ^he Scythians
called Minnagara (the city of the Min, Scythians) ;
the port Barbaricum has not satisfactorily been
identified. It seems to be the Sanskrit Barbaraka
(belonging to the country of the Barbara, perhaps
the same as the Gk. barbarian). Passing down
from there, the Periplus comes down the
Surashtra coast (Syrastrene), and the Eann of
Cutch (Eirinon) ; sailing across what is the Gulf
of Karabay, "he takes us to Barygaza (Sans,
Brgukacbcha, Mod. Broach). With this is
supposed to begin Ariaca * which is the beginning
of the kingdom of Nambanus and of all India.',
In regard to the divisions of that part of the
country both Ptolemy and the Periplus agree
except for the omission of sorae in the latter.
The Southern limit of the coast of Ariaca is Tindis
according to both. The corresponding portion
of the country inland is described in the Periplus
as Abhlra, th coast portion being Surashtra, as
was already stated. This part is described as a
fertile country producing wheat, rice, sesame oil
and clarified butter ; cotton and coarser sorts of
cloth made therefrom. Pasturing of cattle seems
an important occupation and the people are
described as of great stature and dark in colour. 1
The chief point to note here in connection

1 Note the tradition that Agaitya took with him a large colony of
people from here in his southward migration above.

$84 CHAPTER *vni

with this statement of the Periplus is that the
boast under reference is described as the beginning
' of the kingdom of Nambanus and of all India,'
The latter expression indicates clearly thfct
Whoever Nambanus was, he was, at the time that the
author of the Periplus got bis information, known
to the outside world as the king of India. Iii
other words, it seems to have been the days of the
Atodhra empire of Magadha. The name Nambanus
itself is a correction of the text which has
Mambarus, This latter might well be the
Lambodara of the pauranic list of the Satavahanas
.or the Andbras of the Dakhan. The chronology
of the early rulers of these Satavahanas cannot
yet be regarded as being definitely settled, and at
any rate the expression in the text seems of very
doubtful application, to identify Nambanus with
Nahapana, the Kabarata ruler. After describing
the -difficulties of navigating up to .the port of
Broach and the arrangement mmde by the ruler for
piloting the vessels safely into the port, the
Periplus proceeds to give the countries inland
set over against that coast between Barbaricum*
at the mouth of the Indus obviously, and
Broach. He notes among them the Araftas O f
thePunjabj the Arachosii of Southern Afghanistan,
thft Gatidaraei (Sanskrit, Gandhara), and the
people of Pocalais (Sans. PushkalSvati) both in
the region between the Kabul and the Indus in
Northern Afghanistan including also the Northern

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 335

portions of the Punjab where was also the city of
Alexandria built over the tomb of Bucephalos
Alexander's charger, located very near the
Jhelum. Beyond these he says were the warlike
Bactrians. He gives an interesting fact that, in
his day, coins bearing Greek inscriptions or
Greek legends were circulating in the country
round Broach, and they contained, according to
the Periplus, the devices of the Greek rulers,
among them, Apollodotus and Menander. Coming
further east from these countries he speaks of
Ozene (Ujjain), and refers to it as the former
royal capital. Passing over all that he says about
the trade of Broach which is not to our present
purpose, we come, in Sec. 50, to another state-
ment which is of immediate interest to us. He
says ' beyond Barigaza the adjoining coast
extends in a straight line from north to south
and so this region is called Dachinabades, for
Dachan, in the language of the natives, means
' south/ The inland country back from the
coast towards the east comprises many desert
regions and great mountains ; and all kinds of
wild beasts, leopards, tigers, elephants ; enormous
serpents, hyenas, and baboons of many sorts,
and many populous nations as far as the Ganges.'
This clearly indicates that he describes the whole
of the region known as the -Daksbinapatha or
the Dakhan, and the Dandakaranyam of the
Sanskrit writers, the central region of India

336 CHAPTER XVIII

corresponding to our modern division of the

Dakhan. He then describes the interior marts

of Paitan and Tagara, and of the sea-ports along

the coast till he reached Naura and Tindis, the

first marts of Damirica as he calls them (Sanskrit

Dramidaca, the correct equivalent of the Greek),

and the Tarniiakam of the Tamil classics.

Damirica, .sometimes written by error Lymirica,

is the Sanskrit Dramidaka which the author

must have heard in contradistinction to iryaka.

It is perhaps a little far-fetched to see in it

Tamilakam except through the Sanskritised

Dramidaka. With Tindis began, according to

both Ptolemy and the Periplus, the kingdom

of Cherabothra (Cheraputra or Keralaputra).

The next port of importance we come to, is

50 miles from Tindis again at the mouth of

a river; the port called Muziris (Muyiri or

Mu&ri of the Tamils, the modern Cranganote).

Fifty miles further south was the sea-port of

Nelcynda which the late Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai

correctly identified with Nirkunj-am in the

country of the Pan<Jyas. This place was situated

about ten or twelve miles in the interior with an

out-port at the mouth of the river, the village

Bakare, Vaikkarai as we know it now. The

kings of both these market towns, the Periplus

says * live in the* interior/ The imports into

Muziris are given T as a great quantity of coin ;

topaz, thin clothing not much, figured linens.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 337

antimony, coral, crude glass, copper^ tin, lead,
wine not much but as much as at Barigaza ;
realgar and orpiment, and wheat only for the
sailors, for this is not dealt in by the merchants
there/ The exports from this place are the
' pepper ' coming from ' Kottanora ' (Ku$a
Natju in the interior) ' great quantities of fine
pearls,' ivory, silk cloth, spikenard from the
Ganges, malabathrum from the interior, trans-
parent stones o! all kinds, diamonds and sapphires
and tortoise-shell, ' that from the Chryse (golden)
island and that taken from among the islands along
the coast of Damirica.' One may so far compare
this statement with the following two extracts
from Tamil Literature :

(1) The Kut$uvan king of the beautiful garland
dropping honey like water, gives away in bead-
loads, to those who go to him, the sandal from the
hill and the pearl from the sea, along with the
gold brought in payment by ships, and carried by
canal boats into his port of Mu&ri of the noisy
beach Paranar in Puram, 343.

(2) The prosperous Mugiri to which come the
well-rigged ships of the Yavanas tearing up the
foaming great river Sulli of the Cberas, carrying
gold to pay for the cargo of pepper with which
they returned usually Kaffir Tayaih Kannan in
Aham 148.

Beyond Vaikkarai, the Periplus refers to the
dark-red mountains and of the district (stretching

48-1863B

338 CHAPTER XVIII

along the coast towards the south) ' Paralia '
generally taken as equivalent to Parali or Coast ;
the first port in this coast region is what he calls
Balita, identified with Varkkali or Janardanam,
which in those days had a fine harbour and a
village by the sea shore. Then comes Kumari
with a cape and a harbour. It is also referred to
as a holy bathing place, and the coast region is
then described as extending eastwards till it reaches
Korkai * where the pearl fisheries are/ and the
Periplus offers the interesting piece of information,
* that they are worked by condemned criminals' .
Then follows another coast region with a region
inland called according to the Periplus Argaru, 1
taken to be the equivalent of Uraiyur. These
two regions of the coast country are somewhat
differently named in Ptolemy. He calls the region
between Nirkufiram and Camorini as in the country
of Aioi (Tamil lay). Then follows the region
which he calls Kdreoi (Tamil Karai or Karaiyar,
a class of fisherfolk), and the coast country ex-
tending from Korkai upwards is spoken of by
Ptolemy in two divisions. The country of the
Batoi (Tamil Veftuvar) and Poralia in the country
of the Toringoi (error for Soringoi, Cbolas). The
exports from this region according to the Periplus

1 latbisnot more correctly Dragapnra (Hllisya or Madura), the
pit*Uf$b P*o$yi? Urwjfir the, C&ola capital and th country
dependent thereon mutt have begun far north of thit region-toauwberc

EXPANSION OF iNblA BEYOND tHE SEAS 3S

are the pearls 1 collected from part of what was
gathered each season in the appointed pearl-fields,
and a kind of fine muslin called Argaritic. The
next important ports mentioned in this region by
the Peri plus are three, Camara (identified with
Kaveripaftanam), Poduca (may be a Puduvai) and
it is doubtful whether it stands for Pondicherry
or a place in the vicinity. Then Sopatma (Tamil
Sopa^tinam or fortified-port) . There come ships
from what he calls Damirica and from the north

1 Pliny says (McCrin lie's Ancient India, Chapter IX, pp. 54-58) :
*' Our ladies glory in having pearls suspended from their fingers,
or two or three of them dangling from their ears, delighted even with
the rattling of the pearls as they knock against each other; and now,
at the present day, the poorer classes are even affecting them, as people
are in the habit of saying, that ' a poarl worn by a woman in public
is as good as a liotor walking before her.* Nay, even more than this,
they put them on (heir feet," and that, not only on the laces of their
sandals hut all over the shoes ; it is not enough to wear pearls, but they
must tread upon them and walk with them under foot as well.

" I once saw Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Gains it was
not at any public festival, or any solemn ceremonial, hut only at an
ordinary betrothal entertainment covered with emeralds and pearls,
which shone in alternate layers upon her head, in her hair, in her
wreaths, in her ears, upon her neck, in her bracelets, and on her
fingers, and the value of which amounted in all to 40,000,000 sesterces;
indeed she was prepared at once to prove the fact by showing the
receipts and acquittances. Nor were these any presents made by a
prodigal potentate, but treasures which had descended to her from her
grand-father, and obtained by the spoliation of the provinces. Such are
the fruits of plunder and extortion. It was for this reason that
M. LoJlius was held so infamous all over the East for the prevents which
be extorted from the kings; the result of which was, that he was
denied the friendship of Caius Otesar, and took poison ; and all this
was done, I siy that Mi granddaughter "'&* be seen, by the glare of
the temps, covered all over with jewels to the amouot 0! forty miilioos
of sesterces I' 1

$40 CHAPTER XVtll

for the exchange of commodities. Here the
Periplus has an important statement to make in
respect of the capacity for navigation of the
Tamils. In these ports that he mentions, he says
there were ships of two kinds, those intended for
coasting voyages as far as Damirica as he calls
it ; these were small and large, and are called
by him Sangara (Tarn. Sangadam). Those in-
tended, however, for the voyages to Chryse and
to the Ganges were called, according to him
Colandia, and are described as very large. The
term Chryse which in Greek is the equivalent
of gold, seems to refer to Svarnabhumi in
Sanskrit, and has been identified with the Malaya
Peninsula, spoken of by the Periplus in another
place as an island. That it indicates the region
about the Malaya Peninsula is clear from what
he says in regard to the direction of the land ;
just opposite this (river Ganges) there is an
island in the ocean the last port of the inhabited
world to the east under the rising sun itself ;
it is called Chryse and it has the best tortoise-
shell of all the places in the Erythraean sea.'
There are said to be imported into these ports
everything that is made in Damirica ' the
greatest part of what is got from Egypt/ Then
he proceeds to mention Palaesimundu, ' called
by the ancients Taprobaue.' Further north
from this, according to him, was the region
Masalia, and further north of this Dosarene

EXPANSION Otf INDIA BEYOND THE SKAS 341

(Sans. DaSarnaX Ptolemy however interpolates
between the Chola coast and Maisalia (Masalia
of the Periplus) the country of the Aruvarnoi
or Arvarnoi (the Aruvalar of the Tamils) whose
country was known to the Tamils in two divisions
Aruvanadu and Aruva Vada-talai (northern
Aruva) which would take us more or less close
to the mouth of the Krishna river, the Maisalos
of Ptolemy.

Of the trade of this coast, the most important
ports are the three referred to already, and the
imports of trade are set down as * everything made
in Damirica and the greatest part of what
is brought at any time from Egypt comes here
together with most kinds of all the things that
are brought from Damirica and of those that are
carried through Paralia.'

We have similar reference to the imports at
Kaveripatam in the Tamil work Pat^inappalai :
' horses were brought from distant lands beyond
the seas, pepper was brought in ships, gold and
precious stones came from the northern mountains,
sandal, akir (aromatic aloe wood) came from the
mountains towards the west, pearls from the
southern seas and coral from the eastern seas ;
the produce of the regions watered by the Ganges ;
all that is grown on the banks of the Kaveri ;
ariticles of food from liam or Ceylon, and the
manufactures of Kajakam in Sumatra." 1 This

, II, 127 ff.

34$ <3HAPTfe xVnt -

looks like a restatement in a somewhat expanded
form of what is found briefly stated in the
Peri pi us.

Tamil Knowledge of the Eastern Archipelago

It was already pointed out in a previous
section that the Malabar coast got into touch
with the western world, Egypt, Western Asia,
and across as far as the western extremity of
Europe. The Hebrew references to various
articles of Indian, particularly South Indian,
production, the Baveru Jataka 1 which apparently
relates to Babylon, the Supparaka 2 Jataka
and a story in the Kathasaritsagara relative
to the westward voyage from the port of Patri,
and the Sanskrit origin of the name of the
island Sokotra, all these mfght be cited as evi-
dence of westward trade, at any rate, as arguing
familiarity with navigation on that side. That
Indians did take part in these* distant .voyages
is directly stated in the reference in Tacitus
to a Hindu sailor having been stranded in the
region of the North Sea, and that in Eudoxus,
to the famished Hindu sailor who piloted
the Greeks across the Arabian Sea to the
Malabar Coast. 8 There is further evidence of

* Tbe Jfctaktt* T &. by Coweli, etc., No. 889, III, p. 88.

* No. 463, IV 86-90. Trans, by Coweli and Rouse.
McCrindte ' Ancient Indi*, p. 110.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEJOKD THR SEAS

a reference in an Egyptian inscription to a
Sophon-Indos (Subhanu the Indian) 1 in the heart
of Egypt, apparently along the road from the chief
Bed Sea port to Alexandria. The busy and the
profitable character of the western trade and the
part that the Roman empire took in it in the
early centuries of the Christian era have already
been indicated. The question in these circum-
stances would naturally arise whether the Tamils
had any knowledge of the Eastern Archipelago
and whether they even came into direct touch
with it.

Evidence from Tamil Literature

The Eastern Archipelago was a region
with which the Tamils were much more familiar
apparently, and their commercial efforts seem
to have gone on as far as the comparatively
distant coast even of China. 2 We have direct
evidence on the Tamil side of not merely know-
ledge of the islands near the eastern shore of
the Bay of Bengal, but also of regular com-
mercial voyages and even settlements of people.
During the period with which we are concerned,
people in the south, particularly the coast of the
Chola country, kept up a busy trade over-sea.

1 H. G. BawHnwn's India and the Western World, p. 99, where the
Greek Int. is quoted.

1 In the excavations at Chandravalli, Mr. E. Nanwinba Chiriar
sift a oio of the Chinese Han. Emperor Wu-ti of the 2nd oeniary
B.C. waa found as alao a denarius of Augustus.

344 CHAPTER XVIII

The principal ports from which these fleets of
commerce started and of which we have any
reference, are two in the Chola country, namely,
Kaveripatam at the mouth of the Kaveri, and
Tondi farther south of the coast of Eamnad set
over against Jaffna. Puhar which is the Tamil
name for the port at the mouth of the Kaveri
is spoken of as a great port where a crowd of
merchant shipping brought horses from across
the waters, spices, particularly pepper, gold and
precious gems from the northern mountains
(Himalayas). Sandal and aloe-wood (akil) from
the western hills, pearls from the southern sea,
coral from the eastern sea, various kinds of
commodities from the Ganges, other commodities
coming down the Kaveri, food articles from
Ceylon and the wealth produced in Kalaham,
other rare articles (such as camphor, rose water,
etc.) from China and other places. 1 This cata-
logue of articles coming from various places in
the east into Puhar is confirmed by various
references in the Silappadhikararn which state
specifically sugar-candy from the western region
of the Yavanas, black aloe from the east, stones
for rubbing sandal from the northern mountains 2
and sandal from the, southern hills. There
is a further reference in the same work

i Paftiotppftlai, 11. 185-192.

* Canto IV, 11. 36-38. This ! alto referred in the Ne<Juualv6<J t i
nd Pcnuh Kuriocbi.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 345

to the special quarter of the town near the port
occupied by the Yavanas (rendered by the com-
mentator Mlecbchas) 1 and people from various
countries whose profession it was to go overseas
and trade.

Referring to the port of Tondi 2 which
in those days was considered a port in the
Chola country, the fleet of* ships arriving
there brought the following commodities;
aromatic aloe (akil), silk, sandal, fragrant
articles and camphor. The commentary explains
elaborately the varieties of these articles which
came in indicating also the sources from which
they came. In regard to the first akil, four
varieties are mentioned, of which two seem to
take their name undoubtedly from the localities
of production. They are respectively named
takkOli (product of Takola) and Icidaravan
(the product of Kidaram). Under camphor,
there are two varieties that are named respec-
tively varafan and varou both of which
seem the Tamil name of Barus or Barusai
of Ptolemy, and another variety which is
specially called China camphor. Apart from
Barus there stand out the names Takkola and
Kadaram. Takkola, or as it is sometimes written
Takkolam in Tamil, is the famous port in the
Malay Peninsula near the mouth of the Takopa

1 Ctnto V. H, 9-12.

1 Cnto XTV f 11.106-111. . . ,

44-I363B

846 CHAPTER xvra

rivet which gives the name to one of the aromatic
plants, the fruit of which is called takkolam.
The port of Takkola is mentioned as a prominent
mart of .the east "shore of the Bay of Bengal by
Ptolemy. Kadaram that is referred to there is
apparently the Kadaram that is found associated
with one of the titles of Rajendra Chola, and
which figures in the records of both Rajendra
Chola and his father Raja Raja. These records
refer to the same place in Sanskrit as well in
the form Kataha. Hence we are justified
in taking it that the Sanskrit Ka^aha is the
Tamil Kadaram. Is it the same as the Tamil
Kalaham ? Kajaham used to be identified
hitherto with Burma by antiquarians. Kalaham
is equated with Kadaram by the commentator
Nachchinarkkiniyar 1 ; and the articles of import
therefrom referred to by the commentator as
'articles of enjoyment/ seem similar to the
articles that the embassy .from San-fo-Chi carried
to China in the tenth and eleventh centuries of
the Christian era. We seem therefore justified
in taking Kalaham, Kadaram and Kataba all
of them to be one place, and that place as being
the island or group of islands dominated by
Sumatra, the Savakam of the Tamils, the
Yavadvlpa of Sanskrit, and Sabadiu of Ptolemy.
The classic Manimekbalai has much so say in its
own legendary fashion of Savakam, and a

1 The Kightntu Pingalandai givtt tbt qn*tiou tlto.

EXPANSION OP INDIA BBYOND THE SfiAS 347

mythical king of tbe island by Dame Punyaraja.
The work refers to a famine for the relief of
which a man possessed of a miraculous bowl
which supplied* food without its being ever ex-
hausted, agreed to go. The information of the
famine was given to him in one of the ports of
the Pancjya country by a body of people who
came from over-sea. He started with the next
commercial fleet that sailed forward towards the
east. Being overtaken by a storm the fleet had
to go for shelter to one of the islets round
Ceylon. When the fleet set sail again they
sailed away in the belief that he was on board. 1
In 'another connection the same work refers to
an island which the work calls the island of the
' naked Nagas * apparently Nakkavaram, the
modern Nicobars, then inhabited by naked
cannibals. The particular point to notice in
this connection is that the individual concerned
was born a rich man and bad squandered
away all bis wealth in evil company. Dis-
gusted with himself be set forward on a new
life and got into the company of a body of
merchants trading overseas. In the course of
the voyage the fleet of ships got tempest-tossed
and several of them destroyed. He took hold
of a broken piece of mast and reached tbe island*
The story goes on to say that he was threatened
with death having been sighted by tbe cannibals.

i Cwfe XIV*

,348 CHAPTER XVIII

\

He managed however, to satisfy the cannibals
that what they were doing was wrong, and so far
, persuaded them into friendship to him that they
were quite prepared to send him away with
whatever he cared to take from the accumulated
wealth of the previous ship-wrecks near the
shore. They brought him quantities of all kinds
of articles of wealth and let him take whatever
be liked of them and as much as he pleased.
When the next regular fleet of ships touched
that port under the lead of the merchant chief
Chandradatta he got on hoard ship and sailed
across to the Tamil coast. The story indicates
regular caravans of ships going backwards and
forwards across the sea, and the number of in-
cidental references that we get to various
matters connected with overseas navigation in
this class of works goes to confirm the conclu-
sion that they were familiar with the islands on
the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal. This
is confirmed by the specific statement of the
author of the Periplus in reference to the eastern
ports of the Tamil country that ' there are
ships of the country coasting along the shore as
far as Damirica, 1 large vessels made of single
logs bound together called Sangara; but those
make the voyage to Chryse* and to

apparently to tbe end of the Tmil- country on tb*
* Gold country, Sw^ftbhtUoi, the Malay peninsula generally,

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 349

the Ganges are called Colandia and are very
large. 91

Other Confirmatory Evidence

There are various pieces of evidence of a
somewhat indefinite character which would
lead to the inference that there were a large
number of settlements of the Tamils in tbis
region and that the southern culture had
spread so far out as the Eastern Archipelago
itself. This is made clear in the voyage of
Fa-hien on his return journey from Ceylon to
China. He set sail from Ceylon and was caught
in a storm, and after a difficult and dangerous
voyage arrived at Javadvipa (the Tamil Savakam)
where he found 'various forms of error and
Brahmanism flourishing ' ; while he found,
much to his regret, that the Buddhists in the
locality were not worth speaking of. This charac-
ter of the Indian emigrants in the Eastern
Archipelago is in a way put beyond doubt
altogether by the so-called Yupa inscriptions
of a king Mulavarman found in East Borneo
(edited formerly by Dr. Kern) and of which an
excellent new edition is given us by Dr. J\ Ph.
Vogel. These inscriptions are four in number and
refer to a colony of Brahmans who celebrated a
yQga in the true orthodox Vedic style giving at

1 Schoff's Periplus, p. 46, Sec. 60.

350 CHAPTER XVIII

the end of the ceremony various gifts including
even the kalpavrkshadana. 1

These are put on the yupa stambhas (sacrifi-
cial posts) by th6 Brahmans who officiated in
the sacrifice. Unfortunately the inscriptions are
not dated, but they are of the ' Pallava-
Grantha ' character which Dr. Burnell called
* Vengi-alphabet, ' a misnomer which is now no
more accepted. Here are the words of the
learned doctor who gives us the revised version :
c among the epigraphical records of southern
India we cannot point to any specimen which
exhibits exactly the same stjle of writing
as is found in the earliest inscriptions of
the Archipelago. But among the southern
alphabets, it is undoubtedly the archaic type
of the ancient grantha character (to retain
Biihler's terminology) used by the early
Pallava rulers of the Coromandel coast, which
appears to be most closely related to the
character of the Koetei epigraphs/ Arguing
on palaeographical grounds alone and admitting
the defective state of our knowledge of the
palaeography of this particular period, Dr. Vogel
would ascribe this inscription to the middle
of the 4th century A.D. This indicates that
in that early period there were colonies of

1 Tbe expression sakalpavfkshad&narn (gift of a gold tfrish-giving
toe of & same form, leaves and all, as in nature) in the inscription
is badly rendered.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 351

Brabmans apparently from South India so far
east as East Borneo celebrating a sacrifice there
and handing down the fact of such celebration
by putting up inscriptions on the very sacrificial
posts in the unmistakably south Indian characters
of the fourth century of the Christian era. The
question would arise whether these colonies
maintained any connection with India which
could be regarded as of a political character and
whether such colonisation would warrant any
assumption of a greater India are questions
answers to which we cannot attempt yet with the
material available for this period.

The Character of this Period of South Indian
History

The period with which we are concerned in
this portion of South Indian History is coeval
with the position of dominance of the Andhras
in the Dakhan and over the empire of the
Mauryas. The question would naturally arise
whether these Andhras had. anything to do with
South India. As far as the material available
to us goes they do not appear to have been
brought into direct connection unless we could
interpret the hostile Aryas who figure in the
history of many of the Tamil rulers as indicating
the contemporary Andhra sovereigns of the north ;
as in the case of the Chera who defeated the

o62 CHAPTER XVIII

Aryas, and the elder Pandya, , th6 bero of the
Silappadbikaram who claims to have defeated
the Aryas as well. There is a more precise
reference to the Kannar in the Tamil classic
Silappadhikaram. This term could be rendered
Karnas and they are clearly stated to be ' the
hundred Karnas/ Whatever the significance
of the hundred may be by itself, it is doubtful
if we could regard it as the equivalent, even by
mistake, of the Satakani or Satakanis of the
Dakhan.

These last, however have left us a few ins-
criptions 'among the earliest of which is a Prakrit
inscription of the second century A. D. This
is in a pillar at Malavalli in the Shikarpur 1
taluk of the Shimoga district, recording a grant
by Harltlputra-Satakarni for the god I^vara of
the village. The next inscription comes from
the same taluk 2 and is on a pillar standing in
front of the Pranave^vara temple. This record
states that the God Pranave^vara had been
worshipped by Satakarni and other kings. Near
the town of Chittaldroog itself some recent
excavations unearthed* several lead coins of the
Andbras and their Viceroys. The Prakrit ins-
cription on the Malavalli pillar is followed by an
i ascription of the early Kadamba king, Kakutstha-
varma dated by the late Prof. Kielhorn, about

1 Shikftrpor, 263, Ep. C*r., Vol, VH.
* Tbid.,m.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 353

the middle of the sixth century. The inscription
(Shikarpur 176) known as the Talgunda pillar
inscription contains the further reference to this
Kakutsthavarman and gives him credit for the
construction of the tank in front of the temple.
This Kakutsthavarman was a contemporary of the
Guptas and seems to have entered into a matri-
monial alliance 1 with them. During this period
therefore the Andhra power stretched southwards
as far as northern Mysore. Their frontier
extended southwards on the eastern side as far as
the south Pennar at one time as their ship coins
found in that region would enable us to infer.
Generally speaking, however, the Andhra power
came into touch with the Tamils on the northern
frontier marked by Tirupati and Pulikat. The
wild people called Vadukar by the Tamils must
have interposed between the Tamils and the
Andhras. It was probably to keep guard over
this somewhat dangerous frontier, one capital of
the Andhras was located at Dhanakataka near
Amaravati in the Guntur district. This would
mean that the Krishna in this region constituted
the normal southern frontier of the indhras.

1 Mr. Bice would date the record in the third apparently on the
ground that Kakutstha\arman claims to have entered into marriage
alliances with the Guptas, that is, according to him Baoiudragupta, who
oame at far south as Kanchi in his southern conquest. This is hardly
necessary ; but the boast would be pointless if we date the record at a,
period when the Gupta power was on the decline. The fifth century
would be a better date. . . . ,

45 IflftSR *

864 CHAPTER XVIII

This position of the And bras and the interposition
of tbe tribes of Vadukar between them and the
Tamils, raises tbe Question whether the Audhras
of to-day, the Telugu-speaking peoples, can lay
claim to any affinity with the imperial Andhras
of the two centuries on either side of the beginning
of the Christian era* The evidence available to
us at present does not seem to warrant a categori-
cal answer one way or the other. Tbe A ad bras
are described as Aryan people who had given
up tbe Aryan customs and practices in religion,
in other words Mlecchas or even Vrdtyas. In the
Mahabbarata the region of wild tribes is said to
have intervened between the Andhras and tbe
Tamil country which constitutes at the present
time the heart of the Andhra country. It is a
well-known phenomenon in history that people
still in tribal organisation keep moving forward
from place to place and give their name to tbe
districts which they may occupy for tbe time
being. Their name certainly attaches itself to
the locality where they effect something like a
permanent settlement. Even other people that
come and settle in that locality afterwards take
their name from the district rather than give
their name to the district. Tbe present-day
Andhras are undoubtedly Andhras in the sense
that they occupy the indhra country, but
whether they ire the .legitimate successors
0! the Andhras by race is more than can fce

BiPANSlON OF INDIA BBfOND THE SEAS

postulated on the evidence available to us so faft
Unless the reference to the iryas in Tamil litera-
ture be to the indhras of the Dakhan 1 (or the
imperial Andhras if they ever rose to that
dignity), it may be safely stated that the
indhras as such do not find mention in Tamil
literature. There is a chieftain known by the
name S.ay-Andiran. The second word of this name
is rendered indhra by some. It is just possible
that it is the Tamilised form of the word indhra* 2
It would be unsafe, however, to assert that
the Andhras as such came and settled in the
south. This position is made still more difficult
by the reference to the Vadukar, which term
occurs very often in the literature of this period.
Vaijukar js the present-day vernacular name for
the Telugu-speaking people in the Tamil country
but they are described in this body of literature,
as still in the savage stage of frontier tribes living

1 There IB some ground for this equation Irya-ftndhra, as tbe Tamil
Lexicon Divakaram gives among the synonyms of tbe term irya, tbe
word Mlechchar. This last cannot mean here the foreign barbarian in
tbe face of tbe statement tbat tbeae were Ksatriya Vratyas. Tbe term in
here used in the sense indicated in the Satapatha Brahman a as those
who changed the letter r into I in pronunciation. This phonetic peculiarity
ii a feature of the Indbra country, at is exemplified in the Aaoka inscrip-
tions.

* If the term Ancjar uaed to designate shepherds, comes from the
San*. Andhaka (a Tamil derivation seems impossible) there is justifica-
tion for this interpretation. The term Angirsn is used in tbe compound
in contradistinction to the term By in an in iay-Eyinan, nndoJbted4jf
denoting tbe caste or tribe from which he came. The two names - would
stand lay, tbe phepherd and lay , the hunter.

856 CHAPTER xviii

as marauders* They are located in the region'
immediately to the .north of the Tamil frontier
of Pulikat and Tirupati. This would seem to
preclude the equation that the Tamils regarded
the Vatjukar and the Xndhras as one* Hence for
the time the question has to remain open whether
the Telugus of the present day as a body should
be traced to the Vadukar or to the Andhras.

It thus seems clear that the Tamil country
remained a compact territory with a well-defined
frontier in the north inhabited by wild tribes,
who were kept under control, separating the
Tamil country from the territory of the Andhras.
This Tamil country remained the asylum of the
orthodox Brahmanical religion, which was able
to hold its own as against the sister religions of
Jainism and Buddhism within this territory.
Daring the four or five centuries of its history
from the period of Asoka onwards the Tamils
seem to have set themselves up in opposition to
the systematic propagation of Buddhism under
the imperial influence of Asoka himself. This
apparently it was that caused the perpetual
hostility between the Buddhist Ceylon and the
Tamil country set over against it particularly the
Chola country. This attitude of hostility would
naturally have continued when the Indbras suc-
ceeded to the empire of Asoka and his successors
in the south. So the Andhras were kept out of
the Tamil country on the northern frontier. The

fiXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SBA8

Tamil country therefore remained the land of
freedom in point of religion, and Brahmanism
seems to have received the countenance, if not
the active support, of the rulers and the body of
the people as a whole. Hence the development
of Brahmanism here was on the more natural
orthodox lines which do not exhibit the ever-re-
curring reorganisation necessitated by the impact
of foreign invaders and hostile religions.
In the course of this evolution of Brahmanism
there appears to have been . a stage of orthodoxy
when sea-voyage was not held to make a Brah-
man fall from his high estate Manu's objection
seems tb have had but a restricted applicability ;
but the Koetei epigraphs seem to make even the
restriction of feeble force, as a prohibition of
sea- voyage for the Brahman. That the emigrants
apparently started from the Pallava country and
not the Tamil country proper may be significant
of the fact that these were followers of Baudha-
yana jind not of Apastamba.

The Industrial Arts of South India

Passing on from the political to the industrial
condition of India, we have already described
the principal sea-ports, both on the western and
eastern seaboard. If, as has been pointed out,
there were so many thriving ports and, if foreign
merchants sought these for trade at considerable

368 CHAPTER

risk of pirates, and if there was so much eater-
prise in sea-going among the inhabitants of the
country itself, the conclusion is irresistible that
the country had a prosperous industry, and so,
on examination, it appears certainly to have
been. Apart from the complaints of Fetronius
that fashionable Roman ladies exposed their
charms much too immodestly by clothing
themselves in the 'webs of woven wind',
as he called the muslins imported from India.
Pliny says that India drained the Roman
Empire annually to the extent of 55,000,000
sesterces, equal to 486,979 l Bending in return
goods which sold at a hundred timed their
value in India. He also remarks in another
place, /this is the price we pay for our luxuries
and our women/

That the industrial arts had received attention
and cultivation in early times in India is in
evidence to the satisfaction of the most sceptical
mind. The early Tamils divided arts intjp six
groups : ploughing (meaning thereby agriculture),
handicrafts, painting, commerce and trade, the
learned arts and lastly the fine arts. Of these agri-
culture and commerce were regarded as of the first
importance. Flourishing trade pre-supposes a
volume of industry, the principal of which was
weaving then 1 as it also has been until recently,

* Jl oramten gives the total 11,000,000,^6,000,000 for Arabia,
#,000,000 forlfidift.

ESPANSIOK OF INDIA BHfOND THE SEAS 359

Cotton, silk and wool seem to have been the
material that were wrought into cloths. Among
the woollens we find mention of manufactures
from ' the wool of rats fl which was regarded
as particularly warm . There are thirty varieties
of silks mentioned, each with a distinctive
appellation of its own, as distinguished from the
imported silks of China which bad a separate
name. The character of the cotton stuffs that
were manufactured is indicated by the com-
parisons instituted between them, and 'sloughs
of serpents/ or 'vapour from milk/ and the
general description of these as ' those fine
textures the thread of which could not be followed
even by the eye/

Exports and Imports.

The chief exports from the country, as the
author of the Periplus says^ were these : ' the
produce of the soil like pepper, great quantities
of the best pearl are likewise purchased here,
ivory! silk in the web, spikenard from the
Ganges, malabathrum from the countries further
to the east, transparent stones of all sorts A
diamonds, rubies and tortoise shell from the
golden Chersonese or from the islands off the

1 3%i MOBS ft technical expreuion raeftaiag th* kiod tf wogl

360 CHAPTER XV III

coast of Damirke/ This is all from the port of
Muziris on the west coast. He goes on to say,
'there is a* great resort of shipping to this port
for pepper and malabathrum ; the merchants
bring put a large quantity of spice and their
other imports are topazes, stibium, coral, flint,
glass, brass and lead, a small quantity of wine
as profitable as at Barugaza, cinnabar, fine cloth,
arsenic and wheat, not for sale but for the use
of the crew.' That Pliny's complaint about the
drain was neither imaginary nor hypersensitive
is in evidence in a passage descriptive of Muzirig
in one of the ancient classics of Tamil literature 1
' Musiri to which come the well-rigged ships of
the Yavanas 2 bringing gold and taking away
spices in exchange.'

Kegarding the trade of the east coast, here
follows the imports into Puhar, ' horses were
brought from distant lands beyond the seas,
pepper was brought in ships, gold and precious
stones came from the northern mountains towards
the west 8 ; pearls from the southern seas, and
coral from the eastern seas. The produce of the
region watered by the Ganges ; all that is grown

1 See Aham 148, quoted above.

1 Yava&as in this connection stand undoubtedly for the foreign
Greeks and Romans. Other foreigners also were known and these-
were called Mleehchas. MuUaippafta, 11. 61-65, Maha., Srtminatba
Aiyar'f Edn. of Pattap&tt**

* The Western Ghats in Konkan and To]n seem to have produced
gold, See Aham, 70.

EXPANSION OP INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 861

on the banks of the Kaveri, articles of food from
Ilam (Ceylon) and the manufactures of Kalaham
(Sumatra) *, were brought there for sale as was
stated already. The products of particular
importance received in the port of Tondi (east
or Chola Tondi in the Eamnad Dt.) are
akir (a kind of black aromatic wood), fine
silk, camphor, silk stuff (from China), candy t
sandal, scents, and these articles and salt were
carried into the interior by means of Waggons
drawn by teams of oxen or buffaloes slowly
trudging along through town and village,
effecting exchanges with commodities for
export. Tolls were paid on the way and the
journey from the coast up the plateau and
back again occupied many months. A brisk
and thriving commerce with the corresponding
volume of internal trade argues peace, and
the period to which the above description
will apply must have been a period of general
peace in the Peninsula. They did not forget
in those days to maintain a regular customs
establishment, the officials of which piled
up the grain and stored up the things that
could not immediately be measured and
appraised, leaving them in the dockyards
carefully sealed with the tiger signet of the
king, 2 The Tamils built their own ships, and

1 Pattinappilat, 127 ff.

' Ptrtmapp&lai, 184-6. Sibppadhikftram t Cinto VI, 11. SW,

46-1368B

862 :: CHAPTER xvra

in the other crafts of the skilled artisan, they
seem to have attained some proficiency, though
they availed themselves of experts from distant
places. In the building of the royal palace
at Puhar, skilled artisans from Magadha,
mechanics from Maradam (Mahratta), smiths
from Avanti (Malva), carpenters from Yavana
worked l together. There is mention of a temple
of the most beautiful workmanship in the same
city, built of Gurjjara 2 workmanship. In tbe
building of forts and in the providing of them
with weapons and missiles, both for offence and
defence, the Tamils had attained to something
like perfection. Twenty-four such weapons are
mentioned among the defences of Madura. 8

Sources of Information.

I now proceed to consider the sources of
information which are the classical writers,
Indian literature, Tamil and Sanskrit, and the
Ceylonese chronicle. Of the first group, Strabo
wrote in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius ;

1 Mttfmekbalai, Canto XIX, 1. 107 ff

* Ibid., XVIL 1. 146. Tbis his reference to the small temple of
Cbarapfcpati tbe guardian-Mty of Jambudvlpa The Tamil kuclichara
can have a number of equivalents in Sanskrit and Prakrit, ens of which
of jDoweti0arj;ara. If it is proved that tbe Gurjjara* ware unknown
in India before tbe end of the fifth century A, D. this equation with
Gurjiaia will have to be given up Apart from this it it possible we
get * more satisfactory equivalent. Either way this cannot txsheld
to be a decisive test 01 chronology.

EXPANSION OF INDtA BEYOND THE 8BA3 363

Pliny published his geography in A, D. 77 ; the
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was written in the
first century A. D., probably A.D, 60; Ptoletny
wrote his geography about A.D. 150; the
Peufcingerian Tables were composed in A.D. 232.
There were other writers who wrote later, but we
are not concerned with them directly, i would
draw attention to three points, taken from the
works of classical writers. Pliny remarks : At
the present day voyages are made to India every
year, and companies of archers are carried on
board, because the Indian seas are infested by
pirates. Later on he says : It (Muziris) is not a
desirable place of call, pirates being in the
beighbourhood, who occupy a place called Nitrias,
and besides it is not well supplied with wares for
traffic. This was before A.D. 77. Ptolemy
regarded this port Muziris as an emporium, and
places the country of Aioi south of Bakarai.;
Though Ptolemy does mark the division of the
Konkan coast extending northwards of Nitra
(Nitrias of Pliny) and up to the port of Mandagara
which is identified with some place not yet
definitely accepted in the southern Mahiratta
country north of Goa, as Ariake Andron Peirationj
meaning the Ariake of the pirates in his time,
says no more of pirates at all, meaning there wad
no piracy at the time to which his work relates,
a period not far from him. Tba Periplas on the
contrary does make mention of the piratic

364 criAptER xvitt

character of this coast and gives a straightforward
account of its active prevalence at the time in
regard to the ports in the neighbourhood. The
bearing of this we shall see presently. 1

1 The following account from Marco Polo of this coast it worth
noting : There go forth every year more than a hundred corsair
Teasels on cruise. These pirates take with them their wives and
children and stay out the whole summer. Their method is to join in
fleets of 29 or 80 of these pirate vessels together and then they form
what they call a sea cordon, that is they drop off till there is an interval
of 6 or 6 miles between ship and ship, so that they cover something
like a hundred miles of sea, and no merchant ship can escape them. For
when any one corsair sights a vessel a sign*! is made by fire or smoke
and then the whole of them make for this and seize the merchants and
plunder them. After they have plundered them they let them go
saying go along with yon and get more gain, and that may-hap will fall
to as alm>.

He also notes in respect of the kingdom of Eli the following :

If any ship enters their estuary and anchors there, having been
bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo. For
they say, you were bound for somewhere else, and it is God has sent you
hither to us, so we have a right to all your goods. And they think it
is no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all over the
provinces of India* to wit, that if a ship is driven by stress of weather
into some other port than that to which it was bound, it was sure to be
plundered. But if a ship came bound originally to the place they
receive it with all honour and give it due protection.

It would be interesting to note, as Tale remarks, ' that it was in this
neighbourhood that Ibn Batuta fell into the hands of pirates and was
stripped to the very drawers.' That region continued to be
piratical up to the days of Clive and Watson as we know. In the days
of Sitaji it continued to be piratical also, as he is said to have replied
to an English embassy protesting against this piracy that " it was
against the laws of Conohon, to restore any ship or goods that were
driven ashore/' The Central Asian Ambassador Abd er-Eazaak has
something to say of pirates near the Calient coast. Marco-Polo* Tola
and Cordier (3rd Bdn,), III, Chaps. XXIV and XXV, pp. 885-893.

ofr INDIA feEYokb THE SEAS 36&

The Peutingerian Tables state clearly that
two Eoman Cohorts were maintained in Muziris
for the protection of Roman commerce.

Mr. Sewell who has made an elaborate
study of the Roman coins found in India con-
siders that an examination of the coin finds leads
to the following conclusions 1 :

1. There was hardly any commerce between
Rome and India during the Consulate.

2. With Augustus began an intercourse
which enabling the Romans to obtain oriental
luxuries during the early days of th& empire,
culminated about the time of Nero, who died
A.D. 68.

8. From this time forward the trade de-
clined till the death of Caracalla, A.D. 217.

4. From the death of Caracalla it almost
entirely ceased.

5. It revived again, though slightly, under
the Byzantine emperors.

He also infers that the trade under the early
emperors was in luxuries ; under the later ones
in industrial products, and under the Byzantines
the commerce was with the south-west coast
only, and not with the interior. He differs from
those who find an explanation of this fluctua-
tion in the political and social condition of
*

* J,BA.S.,1904,p. 591. -

366 CHAPTER

India itself, and the facilities or their absence for
navigating tbe seas ; and considers that the
cause is to be sought for in tbe political and
social condition of Borne.

: From an examination of the second class of
my sources of information alone, we find that
there was a period when South India was under
great rulers, who gave the country peace and
thus provided the indispensable security for
commerce. This period can be shown to
correspond to that of the Boman empire from
Augustus to Caracal la. After this period we find
the country in a condition of political flux. So
then we may still find one, at least, of the most
potent causes of this commercial decline in the
internal condition of India itself. Pliny and
Ptolemy do not mention the Boman cohorts at
Muziris which the Peutingerian Tables do. The
first exploit of the Bed-Chera's father is the
destruction of the Kadambu 1 tree of the sea.
Another compliment that the poets never
miss an opportunity of bestowing upon this
Eed-Ckera himself k that the Chera fleet
gfciled on the "waters of that littoral with a
sense of dominion and security. 2 The Ka<Jambu
mentioned above is explained as a tree of extra-
ordinary magic powers which could not be cut

.* PadijTftppattuII, 11.12-13,11.17,11.5*6.
9 Pupun 128, WSrSkktttu Nappii*laiy4r, on MslaymAo
Kftri,

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 367

down by ordinary man. I rather think from the
context that it has reference to a piratical rendez-
vous of the tribe of people who were known as the
Kadambas, This view seems to be directly
countenanced by the extract 3 in the note before
the last which says in effect that be crossed the
sea, destroyed the Kadambu and brought his
enemies to subjection. 1 If this view is correct, the
advent of the said Chera brought along with it
security. This would be in conformity with
Ptolemy's reference to Aay, who was one of the
seven chieftains known to literature as ' the last
seven patrons.' From the body of works
known to Tamil scholars as the Sangam works
their contemporaneity could easily be established.
I find the name Aay a distinctive name of two
individuals, and not quite of a family. The
Aay must have been the contemporary of, or a
little older than Ptolemy, and the age of
Ptolemy would practically be the age of the Eed
Chera, and the Chera ascendancy. This conclu-
sion only confirms what has been arrived at
independently of this class of evidence. ,. The

1 It would be not bine surprising if fhe Ka<jtfmbu tree, the coor try-
date or some tree like it bad been the tree-totem of tbii tribe. One tree
in particular niipbt have been j eg aided aspeculiaily sacred by the tribe
like the famous Oak at Dodono of the Ancient Greeks, or tbe slightly
leas famous oak trunk of the Saxons of tbe days of Charlerragne. Such
trees with the Tamils were called guard-tree* D d cutting them $own
was an invitation to a war to the death; c/. tbe i&argossa tree of

368 CHAPTER XVIII

Gnjabahu of Ceylon who visited the Ked-Chera
almost at the end of his reign, ruled according to
the Ceylohese chronicle from A.D. 113 to 135.
Even allowing for the difference between the
Ceylonese date of the Nirvana of the Buddha, and
that arrived at by modern scholars as Dr. Fleet,
namely 60 years, that date for Gajahabu would be
A.D. 173 to 193. The Chera ascendancy then
would cover the middle fifty years of the second
century A.D. Here has to be brought in the
Paisachi work Brbat-Katba. Satavahana or
Salivahana was the ruler in whose court flourished
the minister Gunadbya, who was the author of
this stupendous work which stands at the root
of all romantic literature in India, Sanskrit or
Vernacular, and may be of the rest of the world
as well. It was this work that set the fashion
for the composition of the romantic epics. The
age of the original is still matter under investi-
gation. The latest authority on the question is
the Dutch scholar Speyer who would place it in
the third century A.D. at the earliest a date
clearly impossible according to our line of
inquiry. 1 I shall not say more about it here;
but only remark that one of the works clearly
t>ased upon this, has to be referred to a period

1 The Ma^Ioiekhalai knew the story aa the Kaamirian Somadava
knw it, referring to tbe iropriaoDmeDt of Udayana, the Vatsaraja, in
Ujjain, and ibe itratagem -by which Yaugandharftyana brought about
hii escape.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BBtOND THE SEAS 369

anterior to the astronomer Varabainihira, A.D.
533. This work Manimekhalai refers to the
asterism under which the Buddha was born as
the fourteenth which according to modern compu-
tation following Varahamihira ought to be the
sixteenth. 1 The Ceylon chronicle also deserves to
be given more credit than heretofore. ' So far
investigations from different points of view only
appear to confirm its chronology.

The date of the death of the Roman Emperor
Caracalla corresponds closely to the disappearance
of the Satavahanas of the Dakhan. According to
the latest opinion the power of the Kushanas also
vanished about the same period. In South India
likewise the Pandya ascendancy passes into
darkness.

This prosperous and flourishing Roman trade
with India lasted over a little, more than two
centuries, as we saw, beginning almost from the
reign of Augustus and coming to an end practi-
cally with the death of Caracalla. In India
also the Kushana Empire in the north and that
of the* Andhras in the Dakhan and the rule
of the Tamil kings in the South came to an
eclipse almost about the same time, as the rise
of Sassanid power in Persia. What may be jfche
exact connection between the rise of the Sassa-

*

1 This can be otberrcite explain* d as due to copying* the older
northern tradition irrespective of the date of the work containing the
reference.

47 186SB

870 CHAPTER XVIII

nian power on the one hand and of the extinction
of the Indian powers on the other has to be
unveiled by future research. It is, however,
clear that Roman commerce suffered practically,
because of the rise of this power which inter-
posed itself along the route of Eoman commerce
overland and perhaps to a smaller extent across
the long over-sea route. The Persian Gulf
route passed effectively under the control of the
Sassanids who seem early to have exerted them-
selves to capture the trade of the Arabs and
whose efforts had succeeded so far in it that they
could extend their voyages of commerce across
the whole width of the Indian Ocean and venture
as far as the Shantung Peninsula in China.
While the rise of this power seems to have
diminished the maritime enterprise of the Tamils
in the Arabian Sea region, it did not actually
extinguish it. It left the Tamil enterprise across
the Bay of Bengal unaffected although not
altogether alone.

From what has already been said above, it is
clear that the Tamils of South India had' com-
menced their colonial enterprise across the Bay
of Bengal earlier than we know anything of.
The familiarity with which Savakana and the
voyages thereto are spoken of and the description
of the imports into the port of Tondi in the
Eamnad District and Kaveripatam at the mouth
of the river Kaveri, which answer detail after

kki>ANSION OF INDIA BEYONb THE SEAS
t

detail to what we learn from the Peri plus and
Ptolemy, warrant the inference that the Tamils
had an established system of over-seas trade OB
this side of the coast of the Peninsula. Taken
as a whole, then, the knowledge we gain of the
over-seas enterprise of the Tamils reaches back
to times perhaps centuries before the age of the
classical literature from which these details are
gained. The ship coins of the Andbras whose
provenance according to Sir Walter Elliot is the
coast region between the two Pennars, north and
south, the region pre-eminently of a class of
people known by the name Aruvalar and Tiraiyar,
goes only to confirm what we learn from Tamil
literature. What is more, we hear of a class of
merchants described in Tamil as ma-4attu-vanigan
(Sans, maha-sartha-vanik) as great sea-going mer-
chants. This indicates the existence of a class of
people whose profession it was to trade over-
seas. When actually this communication began
we are not in a position to state, but that there
was something like a settled communication and
regular voyages of commerce cannot be doubted.
This prevalence of communication between
South India on the one side and the Malaya
Peninsula and the islands on the other, is con-
firmed in a very unlooked-for fashion by the
recently discovered Koetei inscription, to which
we have already referred. That Brahmans
emigrated to the distant east, as far

CflAPTBft XVitl

us the east coast of Borneo, and the character
of the emigrant colony, make it indubitable
that this was an emigration from South
India t probably from the region of the early
Pallavas.

:'. Among the ruins of monuments discovered
all over this region, both in Further India and the
islands, the general position seems to be that
the earliest monuments have reference to the
worship of Vilfcnu, according to recognised
authorities* Saivism followed, these two being
followed later by Buddhism. This order of suc-
session, not necessarily exclusively so, seems to be
the case in regard to Further India as far as explo-
ration work has gone on there. A similar conclu-
sion seems warranted -from all that we know of
monumental Java as the position is explained by
the explicit statement of Fa-hien in regard to
bis own Java which must be the same as
Ptolemy's Sabadiu and the Tamil Savakam. That
this Java is Sumatra and not the island Java, as
we know at present, may now be stated with con-
fidence for the following reasons, summarised
by Colonel Gerini as a result of an elaborate
investigation in his researches on Ptolemy's
Geography, p, 462 :

" As to the name Java being applied to the
whole or part of Sumatra, we have the evidence
(1) of the Kedah Annals (Ch. 13, Low's transla-
tion in Journal of Indian Archipelago, Vol. Ill)

feif ANSlOk OF INDIA feEtOND THE SEAS

that Achin or Acheh was called the country of
Jawi (Javi) ; (2) of Ibn Batata, who records
Sumatra in 1345-46 under the name of ' Island
of Jawah (or Java)* (see ' Defremery and
Sanguinetti,' Ed. and Trans., Vol. IV, p. 228)
and (3) the still more decisive and far older testi-
mony of the Pagar-ruyang inscription in the ^cen-
tral part of the island (Menang-Kabau district),
dating from A.D. 656, where King Aditya-
dharma is called the ruler of the ' First (or Prim-
eval) land of Java Prathama-Yava-Bhii, meaning,
apparently, the first kingdom founded by the Yava
or Java race in Sumatra, or, still better, in the
Archipelago (see J.. Bom. K.A.S., June, 1861,
Appendix, p. Ixvii). It should moreover be noted
that the natives of Nias speak of the Malays
of Sumatra as Dawa, a term which evidently is
but a corruption of Jawa or Java, especially
as the Battak apply to the same people on their
borders the slightly different denomination of
Jau.

This Savakam was known to the Tamils as a
kingdom ruled over by a king by a name Bhumi-
chandra. The name of his queen was Amara
Sundari and both of them brought up a child, an
avatar of Buddha, somewhat miraculously born
of a cow. But the geographical detail in connec-
tion with this story is that it had for its capital a
town known as Nagapuram (see Maijimekhalai).
Colonel G-erini in his researches labours haard

CMAPTfeR

to explain what Ptolemy's Argyre, 1 the capital
of his labadiu or Savadiu, actually was, and
identifies it with Achin or Acheh on the north-
west coast of Java. If Nagapuram ^ was the
capital, Savakam, the capital of Sabadiu, must
be the equivalent of Nagapuram. Ptolemy's
Argyre does not come any way near it at first
sight, but this Nagapuram passes by the alter-
native designation Bhogavatfpura, and has yet
another . alternative Uragapura which comes
nearest to Argyre. II is well known that Kalidasa
speaks of the capital of the Pandyas as Uraga-
pura/ meaning thereby that the capital of the
Pandyas was in his time known as Uragapura. To
the classical Tamils, although Madura is by far
the most familiar, the term Alavay or Halasya
(abr. of Hala-halasya) was not unfamiliar. If
the Tamil name Savakam was due to Tamil, the
capital may well be ascribed to the same source,
and, if the capital city had been founded under
the auspices of Madura, it might well take the
name Uragapura, giving Ptolemy his equivalent
Argyre. Whether Uragapura in its alternative form
Bhogavatlpura is actually responsible for the
term Sri-Bboja for the later capital of Sumatra is
more than we can assert at present. Hence it
would be more reasonable from every point of
view to regard Sumatra as the ' Prathama Yava,'

* ,0p.ca. f pp. 656ff.

* BftgtaTOblft* Canto VI, ftokft 59.

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 375

the other island Java being so called by tbe
immigrants from this original Java, As we pass
from Fa-hien to the other Chinese traveller to
whom we are indebted for a considerable volume
of information regarding Java, we find a different
state of things from the point of view of religion.
This traveller, I-tsing, left the Shantung Peninsula
in a Persian ship and came down to Sri-Bhoja ;
proceeded from there to Timra-lipti and travelled
therefrom in India learning Sanskrit and collecting
manuscripts bearing on Buddhism. Having lived
a number of years in India, he returned to
Sri-Bhoja with hundreds of manuscripts. After
taking a holiday home, he returned with several
collaborators to Sri-Bhoja. He stayed some years
there and completed the translations of several of
tbe manuscripts he bad collected and sent home
500 volumes of translations. He settled down in
SrI-Bhoja for the obvious reason that he command-
ed the convenience for carrying on his literary
labours. The period of his travels covered the last
quarter of the seventh century. He 'then found
the kingdom of Sri-Bhoja which exercised autho-
rity not only over its own territory, but over the
islands and principalities across the straits in tbe
Malaya Peninsula, so that we might say that the
period of expansion of the kingdom of SrI-Bhoja
had already begun. He was hospitably treated
and was provided with a state ship by the
Maharaja of Srl-Bboja, who apparently supplied

376 . CHAPTER XVIII

him with all requirements for conducting his
literary labours after his return from India* The
country vas then essentially Buddhist. The
change, from just the beginnings of Buddhistic in-
fluence in the age of Fa-hien, to the dominance
of Buddhism during I-tsing's stay in the island,
gives us clearly to understand that the intervening
centuries, the fifth, sixth and the seventh centuries
of the Christian era, constitute the period of
Buddhistic outspread* in this region. It may be
due to the influence of Buddhistic scholars like
Buddhaghosha, who is said to have travelled from
Ceylon to Burma on a religious mission. Either
he himself or others like him, before and after,
were responsible for this expansion of Buddhism.
This does not seem unlikely, as we know that the
sixth century South India contributed three suc-
cessive principals to the Nalanda University, of
whom perhaps the most distinguished was
Dharmapala of Kanchi. When Hiuen-tsang was
in Kanchl, he had to cancel the project of going
to Ceylon, where he wanted to learn certain parts
of the Buddhist Vinaya. During his stay in
Kanchl there arrived a number of Buddhist
divines from Ceylon to |aachl and they told
him that the island was so disturbed by inter-
necine war that it would not be worth his while
going there then. When he told them what
exactly his mission was, they undertook to instruct
him themselves as they were by far the most

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE SEAS 377

learned in that particular section* This disturbed
state of the country relates to the middle of the
seventh century. Some of the Buddhists from
Ceylon might have found asylum in Sri-Bhoja,
and that perhaps was the reason why in I-tsing's
days Sri-Bhoja had become a great Buddhist
centre. Whatever the cause, Sri-Bhoja -in
which I-tsing stayed was an important Buddhist
centre where he could carry on his literary
work quite as well as in Nalanda itself, the
climate of which was not agreeable to the Chinese
scholar. Hence we see, the outspread of religion
from South India into the islands of the Archi-
pelago probably was in the same order chrono-
logically as in the case of Further India.
Vaishnavism, Saivism, and Buddhism, are
found to have come in the exact order in
respect of the archaeological monuments in Java*
The most remarkable ones, such as the Boro-
Boudur, are entirely Buddhist and this Java
monument is described by competent authority
(such as Prof. Foucher) to belong to the eighth
or the ninth century A.D. In the central pro-
vince of Java, however, on the heights of the
mountains could be discovered ruins of temples
dedicated to Siva considered to belong to a period
not later than the seventh or the eighth century.
In the western part of Sumatra island, however,
Sanskrit inscriptions of a Vaishnava character
have been found. And these are ascribed to the

48 1363B

pHAPTEB XVIII ,

fcbout A JX 450 to 600: This, according
to Colonel Gerini, indicates the order of religious
ftoui Sunjatra into Java. This,
the point of view of In^ia, is essentially a
stion of wherefrom the emigrants started
to what particular region of South India
jkhey belonged. Vaishnavism and Saivism flourish-
ed.side by ttde at the dawn of the Christian era, in
South India and they could both of them have gone
eastwards at any time since that period. If it
should have been that the first colony went from the
region of the Pallavas, that is, from the country
extending from the mouth of the Krishna to
that of the S. Pennar, naturally Vaishnavism
;would have been established first. Whatever
was the origin of this chronological order, there
is no question about the order itself. The Koetei
inscription is evidence of the spread of Vedic
Brahmans from South India. The Takopa
inscription on a stone found near the mouth of
the river Takopa in the Malaya Peninsula is
again in Pallava characters of the /seventh or the
early eighth century, and relates to a Vishnu
temple of Nirayana-Venugopala on the top of a
hill oailed Jfarayaija higher up the river. The
actual purport of this inscription is the construc-
tion of a tank near the temple, and the placing
pf it under the i$te&&ion of certain' communities
of people detprftUT as Sena-mukham,. Mani-
ancl Chapattar (?). The first seems to

EXPANSION OF INDIA B^YO^D THE SBAS

refer to a military force, Sena-mukhanci being
explainable as ' the Royal Guards' ; Mamgramara
is a well-known mercantile community of the
West Cc&st and " Ghapattar," the last, if the
reading of the first part of the word is quite,
correct, would mean " body of archers."
Manigramam is certain indication of a colony;
from the west coast. Tli3 origin of the colony;
would explain the Vaishnava character of the,
settlement. So far then we see the influence of
South India to have continued intact, and'
the period ranging from before the days of
Ptolemy Eight on to the beginning of the tenth
century almost may be regarded as the period
of the greatest South Indian influence in this
part of Asia.

During the period extending from the first
quarter of the seventh century onwards, a new
influence began to be felt in the rise and expan-
sion of Islam in Arabia. The fall of Persia as at
result of the successful war conducted by Khalif
Omar introduced a new political' element in mid-
Western Asia which was likely to exercise
a considerable influence upon Indian Ocean"
navigation. We hear of descents of Arab Muham-
madan fleets, on the coasts of northern .Konkan
and the region of Sind in "the reign of Omar
himdelf. But the Persiana un<Jer the Sassanids.
seem to have established' themselves so well oa
the Indian Ocean, that even Utis conquest did not

$80 CHAi>TriR iViit

displace Persian nautical enterprise in the eastern
arm of the Indian Ocean. Late in the seventh
century, the Persians so far maintained them-
selves as to carry on a regular trade, as far east
as the Shantung Peninsula, That I-tsing travel-
led in a Persian ship from the Shantung Peninsula
to Sri-Bhoja in the island of Sumatra is the
clearest possible evidence of it. At the same
time the fact that I-tsing performed the rest of
his journey to Tamralipti in a ship provided by
"the Maharaja of Srl-Bhoja is equally a clear
indication of the rising sea-power of this enter-
prising state of Sumatra. While therefore ' the
Arabs and Persians had to carry on eastern trade
in friendly rivalry, this new element of a native
power in Sumatra was somewhat disconcerting to
the rivals themselves. It cannot be stated that
during this period the Hindus of South India and
Bengal, and the inhabitants of Ceylon, necessarily
ceased their maritime activities. The Takopa
inscription already adverted to, is evidence of
some enterprise, as it happens, on the part of the
colonists from the region of the Malabar coast ;
but more than that, this was the age of Buddhistic
outspread from South India, and all this ex-
pansion, it would be difficult to assert, took place
by means of available foreign shipping. The
fact that an invasion set out from the coasts of
the Pallava country against Ceylon consisting
of a fleet of 900 ships is certain indication that

Otf INfalA BEYOND TflE SEAS

nautical efforts on the Tamil coasts had not come
to an end. A Tamil poet could still speak in
the eighth century of ships bringing elephants
and gold, and lying in harbour at Mahabalipurarf
(the Seven-Pagodas of Anglo-India). There
are records ol several invasions of Ceylon and
the West Coast by the Cholas ; what is more, of
a greater invasion fitted out and sent against
Kamaiina, the ruler of Pegu, by the great Ceylon
Buddhist King Parakramabahu. The sounder
conclusion from the available evidence therefore
is that this had all traded together in peaceful
rivalry during this period.

The rise of the kingdom of Sri-Bhoja and
the prominent position which it occupied when
I-tsing was on his travels in India, that is, in
the latter half of the seventh century A.D.,
was the beginning of a career of expansion for
this kingdom. The number of references that
we get to ^missions sent from this kingdom to
China, and the early references in Muhammadan
Arab travellers, gives us clearly to understand
that the kingdom of Sri-Bhoja beginning as a
small state was fast advancing to what might
be described as a sort of imperial position in
the Eastern Seas. Sulaiman, (A.D.
ing of Zabej says ' that the entire
a single king/ Both Ib
864) and Abu-Zaid of the later
have much the same thing to say of

'

k$$lf * CHAPtER

"'<)$' 'JSabej. He is said to rule over a large
jrnmber of islands stretching for a distance of a
parasangas (2,100 miles). Among his
sions are counted (1) Sarbaza or Serboza
.both of them alike standing for Sri-Bhoja
^(modern Palembang), (2) Kami producing cam*
*phor this Kami is the same as Lambri or
Latneri including in it Eansur or Barus (camphor
Jorests) and (3) Kalah on the Malaya Peninsula,
According to Ibn Khurda-dbih, it was ruled
Over by the Jaba prince of India (ruler of Pegu).
|Jut : Abu-zaid includes it in the territory
of the Maharaja of Sri-Bhoja. This position
Miven to it in the ninth century is confirmed

4 V*

*ky later writers, those who obtained their
information from previous writers, as well as
those who wrote from first-hand information of
*fcheir own. What we learn therefore from Arab
writers would justify the inference that in the
centuries of Chola ascendency in South India,
Sri-Bhoja was the dominant power in the
Arphipelago. It is apparently of one of these
rulers that Benaudot records a somewhat legendary
story of invasion of what seems the Pandya
country for the purpose of punishing the
contemporary Pandyl ruler for having spoken
iU of tl#;great Maharaja.

%;,, ffc-t!^, Tamilian^ Craters, however, across the
of Bengal the Maharajas of Sri-Bhoja -wart/
As such they are brought to

EXPANSION OF INDIA BEYOND THE S#A8

our notice in a few records relating to them.

In regard to the identification of the rulers
Kadaram with the Maharaja of Sri-Bhoja, tbl
evidence has been discussed elsewhere. 1 *

A ruler of Kadaram by name Chudamani
Varman applied for permission and obtained a
license from the great Chola Eaja-raja for the
building of a vihara in Negapatam which is called
in the record Chudamani Vibara. About the same
time an embassy wpnt from him to China, asked
for the blessings of "His Celestial Majesty " for
a new vihara that he built and obtained from him
approval of the name and the presentation of
bells. The vihara perhaps was not completed
in the time of Chudamani Varma. His sotf
Mara Vijayottunga Varrna purchased and made
over to this vihara two villages, the record con-
veying which is known to epigraphists by the"
name, ' the large Leyden Grant/ This is a
Chola charter on copper-plates licensing or
ratifying this transaction, Thi& relationship
apparently continued for about twenty years, when
for some reason or other a cause of war had*
arise. An expedition was fitted out against this
Raja of Kadaram, known this time Sangraina
Vijaya-uttunga Varma, probably the son #nd
successor of Mara Vijaya-uttunga Varma. As is

* Rijendra, the Gngigon<Ji ChoU ih tha
tfop Vplumti ; Vol. H

384 CHAPTER xvm

explained in the article quoted above, Rajendra
had, as a necessary preliminary to conquer Orissa,
as the royal families of Orissa and Srl-Bhoja
appear to have been -related to each other, both of
them belonging to Sri Sailendra Vama. The war
which Rajendra carried on as far as the banks of
the Ganges, and the thorough-going way that he
carried it to bring the Ealinga rulers to sub-
mission to him were both necessitated for the
safety, of his own flank. One possible cause of
this invasion oversea seems to be that the Tamil
states in the east were being absorbed by the
ruler of Sri-Bhoja in his imperial expansion.
The several embassies referred to in the record
of the Chinese Trade Superintendent, Chau-Ju-
Kua, 1 and the one in particular of date A, D.
1033 from a Lo-Cha-Into-Lo Chulo is from
SrI-Rajendra Deva Chola, that is, Rajendra
the Gangaigonda Chola, had probably the same
object in view. This distant embassy was
apparently sent by Rajendra with a view to
putting matters on a permanent footing in
^respect of his eastern territory across the seas.
The last mission we hear of, is of date A.D.
1077 from the Chola country belonging to the
reign of the great Chola ruler Kulottunga,

l TraatUted by Dr. Hirtb in J. R. A. 8., 1896, p. 489. Kepobliibed
in book form in 1912 by F, Hirth tad W. W. Rockbill. See alto Gwini
optt* ctt. t p, 609, Note 2,

EXPANSION OF INDII BEYOND THE SEAS

A.D. 1070 to 1118, The Sung history relating *o
this mission states that Ghti-lien (the Chola
country) had become tributary to Saa~fo-ch'i
(Sri Vijaya of the time) which seems to be the
name that Sri-Bboja assumed at that time. The
Sung reference cannot therefore be to the Ghola
country on the peninsula of India. It is appa-
rently to the Chola possessions on the Bast
Coast and the islands of the Bay of Bengal.
We do not hear of any relation between the
Chola country and the east after this period,
and therefore the inference seems warranted -that
the Chola overseas dominance was thenceforward
as good as given up. The century following is
a century of the decline of the Chola power and
a revival of that of the Pandyas. The great
P&ndya king who ruled from A.D. 1268 to 1310-11
had considerable maritime trade both with
the west, as far, at any rate, as the Persian Gulf,
if not Arabia, and as far east as China. But this
vast trade which was the cause of the prosperity
of the vast Pandya kingdom seems to hare been
in the hands of a chief of Arab Mubaoimadans
whose head-quarters were in the Persian Gulf,
in the island of Eis or Kais. He was known
by the title Malik-ul-Islam Jamalu-d-din aad bad
not only fche monopoly of the &orae trade <tf the
Pan<Jya kingdom, but seemed, also to ihave enjoy-
ed the control of the eastern trade. His
agent Abdur-Rahiman-utThaibi ; had Ilia

49-1S68B

,.38& . . . ' . CHAPTRfi XVIII

. quarters at Kay al, the chief port in the south-
east of the Pandya country, and had control of
the Whole coasting trade. It was a cousin of
this agent, a JamahT-d-din (Chamalatang), who
went on a mission to China on behalf of the
great Pandya king Kula&kbara. This trans-
formation, the trade passing from the bands of
the natives of South India into the hands of the
.Arab 'agents of the local monarchs, seeros to
have come about in the course of the decline
of the Ghola power. The inference then is that
:the Cholas were the chief maritime power of
the Coromondal coast, and that their decline
meant the decline of the maritime activity of
the Tamils.

The Arab Mubammadans , must have for
some considerable, time settled down along this
coast for purposes of trade. We have already
stated that there were small settlements of these
even in a town like Kaveripatam. That state
of things must have continued, and it was probably
the passing of the bulk of the eastern trade
under their control, and of the Coromondal coast
proving the exchange mart between the goods
from^tbe west and goods from the east, that
.explains the Arab name Ma'abir (landing-place)
which the Arabs gave to the South Indian coast
extending from Quilon to Nellore according to
jWassaf . It is just about this time of the rising
-Of Die Arab agencies on the Indian coast that

OJ? IfcDlA bE*OfoD THE SEAS

%

were founded a number of settlements of these
Arabs along the Ceylon coast as well. It is
to this age that is again ascribed the gaining of
sufficient influence by the Arabs on the north
coast of Java, wherefrom by a few important
conversions to Muhammadanism they began to
exercise that influence which ultimately led to
Java and the islands adjoining, adopting the
Muhammadan faith. It is this conversion to
Muhammadanism of the East Indian Archipelago
which is responsible for the cessation of the
Hindu maritime enterprise in the east. It does
not appear, however, to have ceased entirely.
The famous charter to oversea traders granted
by the Kakatiya king, Ganapati, and which is
found recorded on the pillar at Motupalli near
the mouth of the river Krishna, seems to have
revived a little of the Hindu enterprise in this
particular. The Telugu poet Srlnatha in the
dedication of bis poem Haravilasam to one Avachi
Tippaiya Setti of Nellore says, that Tippaiya
Setti had the monopoly of supplying all valuable
articles to the great Devaraya II of Vijay-
nagar, to the Sultan Mahammad of the Bahmani
kingdom and the Red<Ji chief, Kumaragiri Re^i
of Kontjavuju. He is said to have 'imported
camphor-plants from the Punjab, gold from
Jalanogi, elephants from Ceylon, good horses
from Hurimanji (Ormuz), musk from (tea/
pearls from Apaga, musk from Chotangi

or Drfshadvati) and fine silks from

' Whether we should take it that he got them
alt through the agency of the Mubammadan
overseas merchants may be doubted. There is
however the patent fact that, in the two and a
half centuries of the ascendency of the Vijaya-
nagar Empire in Southern India, something
like 300 ports were 6pen to trade along its coast.
There is no reference to any effort on the part of
this Empire to build up .or maintain a navy.
It is the want of a navy on the part of Vijaya-
nagar, and its failure to provide one that opened
the way for the enterprise of foreigners, European
foreigners, during this period in India.

This somewhat cursory survey of the maritime
enterprise of the Hindus of South India makes
it clear that the South Indian Hindus exhibited
commendable enterprise overseas, and carried
their civilisation and religion across the Bay of
Bengal to the East Indian Archipelago in the
centuries perhaps anterior, to the Christian era.
With the dawn of the Christian era, this enter-
prise takes form and shape, and we begin to see
therefore merchant communities of South Indian
inhabitants along the eastern shores of the Bay of
Bengal. These communities began to grow and
ftorarfeh to such an extent that they ceased to
be meraly temporary trade settlements, becoming
pttttt*2te*t ooiomes 0f Hindus necessitating even

UXf-ANSION Ofl INDIA fcBSONb THE SEAS

^

a considerable amount of Brahman emigration
essential to the life of the Hindu community as a
whole. The whole turn that was given to the
civilisation of the East Indian Archipelago is the
form that religious and cultural development
exhibited in South India,. Vaishpavism and
Saivism, or subsequently Southern or Hinayanist
Buddhism spread over from South India and
Ceylon to the east, and gave rise to those
magnificent monuments, some of which even excel
those of the mother country. The character of
these monuments as far as they could be studied
from their ruinous condition, and the few inscrip-
tions which have been discovered indicate
unmistakably that the inspiration came from
South India. The culture was South Indian
undoubtedly. The cause of prosperity of these
might be regarded as due to South India, as it
is South Indian enterprise which built up the
trade of the Archipelago and the Malaya Pennisula.
These maintained a continuous trade in commo-
dities of rare value, and gained from South India
the practical monopoly for several of them. In
the development of a commerce from their
exuberance of nature, South Indian Hindus played'
a prominent part. At one time it looked as
though it had succeeded in establishing a Greater
India ; but the want of sustained enterprise in %is
particular! combined with efficient rivalries,
stopped them short as soon as it was well on*, the

390 CHAW Eft XVttl

way to its full development. This failure proved
a vital defect in tbe imperial career of Vijayanagar,
and made a permanent Hindu Empire in India
impossible.

CHAPTER XIX

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA l

As a result of recent research work, chiefly
epigraphical, it is now generally agreed that
South India, particularly the Tamil country, bad
'developed a good and thorough-going system of
local administration under the Cbolas. This
period extends from the end of the ninth cen-
tury to well-past the middle of the thirteenth
century. The same system continued during the
Pandya revival with hardly any difference.
Even the Vijayanagar rulers did not interfere with
the system as it then obtained, but much rather
confirmed and continued it. As in this particu-
lar region, Muhammadan rule was of a very
temporary character, the system continued down
to the British times ; that is, down to the com-
mencement of the nineteenth century when the
East India Company took over the administra-
tion of various parts of South India. It can
therefore be safely stated that the system con-
tinued more or less unchanged except under
the British. Under the Cholas, the system stands
revealed to us Athena-like in full working

1 For fuller information reference may be made to my later work cf
the name constituting Sir William Meyer Lectures to the Madraj
Uniferiity published by tbat body.

392 CHAPTER XIX

order* Wben it actually did come into existence,
who had the credit of originating it would be
interesting speculation; but with the material
accessible to us, it could be nothing more than
speculation.

The first certain historical glimpse we get of
this part of India is in a sowewhat specific state-
meat of Megasthenes preserved to us through
one of his many successors who have, each in
his own way, handed down to us such of the
details as interested Megasthenes and recorded by
him. He says that Herakles begot a daughter
in India, whom he called Pandaia. He is said
to have assigned to her the part of India lying
to .the southward and extending to the sea.
Hferakles divided this territory into 365 villages
and so arranged matters that each village brought
into the royal treasury its revenue on a particular
day BO that the 365 villages brought in the revenues
in the 365 days, obviously of the year. This
arrangement is said to have been made with a
view to giving the queen the assistance of the
guard that brought in the tribute, so as to enable
her to compel defaulters to pay up with their
assistance if need be. He states that this queen
had an army of 500 elephants, 4,000 ,cavalry
api 1,30,000 infantry* She is said to foave
possessed great treasure in the fishery for pearls
which according to Arrian were greatly prized
by the Greeks and the Romans. , This is the

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 393

first clear statement that we get in regard to
a governmental organisation in South India*
The introduction of Herakles and the doubt
among scholars as , to the exact Indian deity for
whom the Greek Herakles is made to stand,
would vitiate the correctness of the details given
by Megasthenes. While differences of opinion
may be possible in regard to the particulars,
there could be no reasonable difference of opinion
in regard to the part of the country under
reference. This is the part of the country
extending southward to the sea, obviously the
peninsular part of India corresponding to the
Stri-r5jya of the Puranas, and what is more, the
specific mention of the pearl-fishery leaves no
doubt that it is the Pan<Jya country, which is
under reference in this passage from Megasthenes.
Tamil tradition knows of a queen, daughter
of the first king, Sundara, who is nD less than
God Siva worshipped at the great teinple at
Madura. Being the only daughter she was
heiress of the kingdom in her own right and
probably it is this story that Megasthenes had
heard of, thereby indicating that the tradition
goes back, to an age anterior to Megastheoes.
In this case Megasthenes' Herakles would be
the .equivalent of Siva. The division of the
territory into 365 villages or revenue units is- an:
indication of early civil division of the Pancjya.
territory. Some such division seems to haye;

394 CHAPTER XIX

obtained in the age of the classical literature
where we hear of divisions like Nadu and
Va}ana4u t explicitly and of fortresses dominating
adjoining country. But anything like a clear
and specific division of the country into various
parts, and the actual organisation under which
these parts were governed we are not enabled to
see in this body of literature.

But we do gain a glimpse from the somewhat
longstanding tradition regarding the country
called the Tondamandalam ; that is, the region
extending between the two Pennars and sur-
rounding Madras, the headquarters of the
Presidency in modern times. This was originally
forest country inhabited by people who were in
the semi-nomadic stage of civilisation of cattle-
rearers and cattle-lifters.

Civilisation was introduced into this country
by the great Chola ruler, Karikala, and bis
successor, through the agency of an illegitimate
son, as tradition has it, who goes by the name
idon<Jai. This Adondai was the valiant son of the
Chola ruler through one of the women attendants
of the palace and had been brought up secretly
like a prince. He showed himself to be a young
man full of spirit and fit to be entrusted with
commissions worthy of royal princes. [When
the king discovered the young man, he entrusted
to him the task of the conquest of the uncivilised
region of Tondamandalam. After several un-

KVOLUtlON IN SOUTri INDIA

successsul attempts against the fortress of Pulal,
which was the principal stronghold of these
forest-folk, he ultimately captured the fortress
through the miraculous intervention of Siva
himself. 1 Having brought the country under
the authority of the Chola, the conquering prince
was entrusted with the commission, under the
authority of t>he said Chola himself, to reclaim the
country to civilisation, and introduce the neces-
sary means for its development. The very
cultivators had to be introduced from the sur-
rounding territory and as they could not be
found in sufficient number for this vast region
in the Chola country, they were imported from
all over the surrounding region, quite a large
number coming even from Tulu almost on the
west coast. Hence down to the present .times,
the inhabitants of this region are composed of
Vellaias (land-holders and cultivators), who fall
into several divisions, of whom the Choliya
Vejlala and Tuluva Vellala form the two principal
sections. Before the introduction of these culti-
vators the country Lad to be secured and kept
free of robbery by the predatory folk, who
constituted its original population. This was
done by clearing the better parts of the country
and erecting in suitable localities 24 forts all
over the region, each fort to dominate the

1 Thia tradition finds reference in the TevAram of Sundara,
ninth century A.IX Tiru.V^ft*MUt*vftyiI 10*

country around it and remain the citadel thereof.
The country dependent on each fort was
constituted into a division, to which the name
of the dominating fort was given. Hence down
to quite modern times, the region of the
Ton^amandalam was divided into ktytams, the
name of each one of which is derived from a
fortified townlet or city. The larger divisions
in this part of the country are therefore known
by the term kottam (Sansk. goshtaka), answering
to the mandalam and mahamandalam of the
neighbouring regions. The survival of this
division from a time long anterior to the great
Cholas of South India confirms the tradition that
this particular organisation had existed in
early times. If a newly-conquered territory had
been thus organised, the presumption that the
Country already under a well-organised govern-
ment must have had a similar division would
seem warranted. If the conquest and organisation
was through the agency of the Cholas, it is perfect-
ly natural that this organisation took on the form
of the actual organisation then obtaining in
the Chola country. The great Chola Karikala,
as is said in the poem Pattinappalai, destroyed
the forests where they existed, dug tanks
where water facilities did not exist, and thus
spread fertility over the region which, for the
far greater part of it, was remarkable for its
unrivalled profusion. Whether this does not

EVOLtttlOtf IN SOtfTfl INDIA

indirectly indicate his achievement in the con-
quest and civilisation of the Tondamandalam
does not seem to need discussion. It may be
mentioned however that another old verse,
relating to this Karikala and his kingdom,
states in so many words that the crops produced
in other countries, watered by tanks and
water-lifts, would not equal the paddy gathered
by gleanefs after a harvest in the ancestral
territory of the* great Chola. This contains the
clear indication that the efforts of the Chola to
reclaim forest land and bring it under cultivation
cannot be held to refer to the Chola country of
his forefathers. Not very long after this age
must have come in the rule of the Pallavas in
the northern half of this region. One of the
very earliest of the Pallava charters, the Mayida-
volu grant, is a copper-plate charter which
was issued from Conjivaram by the then heir-
apparent to the governor of this part of the
country. The prince's name was Sivaskanda-
varman ; but the father's name is not given ; the
latter is referred to however under the style
* Bappa-sami ' which might m'ean, the revered
father, as was pointed out already. What is of
interest in this particular context is that the
prince issued the charter from the royal head*
quarters of Conjivaram to what obviously was
the provincial headquarters at . maravati in the
Guntur district. The village granted is given

the name Viripara 1 and is described as being
situated in the Andhra-patha, the VatJugavaU of
the Tamils, meaning the Andhra country of
course. The royal charter granting this village
was addressed by the prince to a hierarchy of
officials which gives us an insight into the
character of the political organisation of the
country. As translated in the Epigraphia Indica
it reads, ' to the Lords of provinces, royal princes,
agents, rulers of districts, customs officers,
prefects of countries, etc.'; but the original
is capable of being rendered, ' in all of this
region, the royal prince, the general, tbp
governors of districts, the customs officers and
rulers of sub-divisions, those in the enjoyment
of villages, the chiefs of cattle-herds and of cow-
herds, ministers, officers of forests, commanders,
peons, orderlies and others of our officers deputed
by us on commissions, to tour the country.'

This gives us the complete system of organi-
sation that obtained in the government of this
regipn. What is more it gives us clearly to
understand that it is the kind of organisation
we gain knowledge of in the Artha^astra. It
shows further that this Mauryan organisation
had been introduced in this remote part of the
Dakhan, in all probability in the Mauryan age.
The interesting question then would be whether

1 There it * tillage of the name VipprU about 12 miles west of

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 399

tbe organisation, such as we are enabled to
gain glimpses of in the Tamil country, is a copy
of this. It would be reasonable to answer
the question in the negative, so far as an actual
copying of it is concerned, though one would
notice a considerable similarity in the general
character of these two organisations. It is
impossible that some kind of an organisation
should not have existed in the Tamil country
before the forest region that intervened between
the Krishna and the Kaveri had been brought into
civilisation. The general lines of organisation
however were not so different as between these
two to make a ready assimilation impossible. As
we shall see in the course of the later history of
this territory, tbe unit of administration must
have been the village or a group of villages. A
certain geographical area containing a number of
these units constituted a small division which in
the Tondamandalam was dominated by a fort,
while in the Chola country an important town or
city dominated it. A number of these bigger
units taken together constituted a district ; a
number of these going to form a division giving
us the regular gradation indicated both in the
Chola division of administration and what we
have already noticed in the Mayidavolu grant.
That such divisions were not the invention of the
great Cholas is amply proved as these divisions
are found recited in documents of the age of

400 CHAPTER XIX

Pallava rule, certainly of the great Pallavas,
extending from the commencement of the
seventh century A.D. In all of these, and
through all the periods of existence of this
organisation, there is a well-marked division of
the sphere of the local and central 'governments
recognised. All the officers mentioned in the
Mayidavolu grant refer to a series composed of a
certain number of royal officers ; but these by
themselves could not have been enough to carry
on the administration. Even this small hierarchy
could have exercised enough control and oversight,
while the actual administration was carried on by
local bodies. That is the feature that we find in
full working order as we come to the age of the
great Choi as for the very simple reason that we
have access to a large number of official documents
relative to Chola rule. The fact that such docu-
ments have not come down to us from an earlier
period does not necessarily imply the absence
of that kind of an organisation of the governing
power. The one Mayidavolu grant is evidence
of the existence of a similar organisation in the
region of the Krishna river. Evidence in regard
to the Tamil country is not however so direct for
that early period.

Coming to the period of the great Pallavas
we have a number of copper-plate charters
issued by them, although they did ot bear
iquite so largely and quite so directly upon

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 401

matters of administration. Being the charters
(hat they are, they give us a few glimpses of the
organisation by means of which the administration
was actually carried on. These generally show
the same character of organisation that' we find
fully developed under the Cholas. The divisions
of territory and the details of revenue and fiscal
administration, as far as these charters give them,
show the existence of an organisation quite similar
to that which prevailed in the age of the
Cholas. There is nothing in the now accessible
documents to indicate that they were innovations
by the Pallasras. At the very best the influence
of the Pallavas might have gone to the extent of
assimilating such organisations as existed in the
Tamil country to that which obtained in the
outermost southern frontier of the Mauryan
empire of Asoka. We find no warrant for going
farther in the direction of affiliating the one to the
other.

The Tamil classic Rural to which reference
has already been made, devotes the largest part of
the work to Porul (Sans. Ariha> wealth) and deals
with what might perhaps be indicated by the
term political economy, a combined treatise on
politics and economics. Like Sanskrit works
bearing on the ArthaSastra and Nittdastra, thfs
section of the KuraJ has to do with thfe king and
kingdom, even the abstract noun " State " beiag
derived from a word standing for king, : lt

402 CHAPTER XIX

88eia strange that there should have been no other
organisation known than that of the kingly. It
would be a mistake however to draw that inference.
As in the ArthaSastra so in this work the subject
dealt with happens to be merely ,what would
in modern language be called the central adminis-
tration,

A central administration had to be super-
imposed upon such tribal and communal organisa-
tions as existed already when the state came to be
recognised as such. This fundamental fact has
to be clearly borne in mind in discussing the
administrative organisation of the South of India.
A similar caution seems necessary in respect even
of other parts of India, What the text-books
teach us therefore is the character of the central
organisation, which welded the local organisations
for local purposes into one unity which might be
the state of those times. The local organisations
were certainly of a democratic character, and
rested for certain purposes on the communal basis.
The devolution of power was complete. The
central organisation, had merely the control of local
administration f the maintenance of peace and
order in the country, and providing for defence
against external enemies. That being understood
it is clear these begin with describing the king and
defining the qualifications which go to make a good
king. It was already pointed out in a previous
section that this work exhibits considerable

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOU*TH INDIA 408

indebtedness to the ArthaSastra; the one chapter,
bearing on upadhd (test), makes escape from this
conclusion impossible. Like the Artbaastra, the
king is described as possessing the six angas, such
as the army, people, wealth, counsel, friendship
and fortresses, or defences; together with the king
himself, it makes the total seven angas of royalty.
He is to be easily accessible and one who speaks
softly and pleasantly. If he deal out justice and
protect the people from injustice, he comes to be
regarded as a god on earth for his subjects. A
king educated in the functions of royalty would
find happiness only ia the happiness of his
subjects, a statement which reminds one of an
important sentence in the proclamation of Queen
Victoria. These are some of the personal qualities
of the king according to this work, parallels to
which one could find repeated in the course of the
Ramayana and Mahabharata. The work goes on to
describe the objects of rule as the maintenance of
Dharma ; and this can be best obtained by the
choice of suitable persons, well-born and well-
educated to assist him. He is to make the choice
of his ministers on the lines laid down by Cbanakya
by subjecting them to temptations with the four
objects of desire, and accept those who show
themselves to be beyond temptation. He has to
see to the spreading of fertility over the land and
the removal of obstacles that may come in the
way of prosperity. His rule of righteousness is at

404 ctiAi'Tiiii Jcii

the root even of the VeJas of the Brahmanas who,
if his rule were otherwise, would forget the Veda.
Each one of the six angas then conies in for
description in turn.

The minister must be a man fully informed
in the knowledge of the duties of a king, equipped
with learning by means of which to enforce those
duties upon all about, and possessed of the skill
and judgment to adopt the proper means for
carrying out his object. In this manner each of
the angas gets described, and the whole of this
political science occupies 70 chapters, out of the
133 chapters of the work ; tbat is, just a little
more than half of it. But the point to be noticed
here, as in the Nlti Sastras of Sanskrit Litera-
ture, is that all this applies to the central
government.

Such as it is described here the government
seems at first sight to be an autocratic power
dependent entirely upon the will of the individual
man who Occupies the throne for the time being*
30 it appears at first sight ; on a careful analysis
however it will be found .that it is hedged in by
go many jfestrictions, all of them enforceable by
4he will of the community so long as that
cortimunity had an organisation to express that
will, i Such an organisation was provided by the
assembly of ministers, who constituted five groups*
Thes6 were the priest,' the great accountant, the
#rahinai?a judges, the tax-collectors and the

ADMINIStRAtlVE EVOLUTION IK SOUTM INDIA

secretarial establishment; that is how 'the old
classic ' Silappadhikaram ' defines it. Of these
groups two were composed of individuals. The
other three constituted boards apparently with
establishments of their own. When a king died,
it was the* charge of this ' group of five * to
consider what had next to be done, the choice of
a successor, even where the succession was
hereditary and the making of the arrangements for
the carrying on of the administration. It is in a
connection like that, that this group of people are
brought in in the work under reference. In
another connection, regarding the consecration of
a temple only the first three of these figure along
with the sculptors and architects. Thus then
this council had a recognised standing, and they
were susceptible to public opinion. What the
force, of that public opinion was, and how fat it
expressed itself effectively we have no means of
ascertaining definitely. But as we shall see the
documents which issued under the Chola adminis-
tration do require the counter-signature of two
at least of the ministers for their validity, an
indication of their responsibility in regard to
the matter. These ministers are referred to a&
men of unchanging word and appeared like the
four divisions of the foreign KoSar, omitting
the accounts officers in that particular by the
author ,of the ppem Maduwik-Kanji. That would
naetfn .that , these ministers were expected to,

CHAfrTBfe JtlX

speak their minds fearlessly and did do so often-
times.

The central administration thus constituted
had first of all to provide for the defences of the
country by occupying the frontier fortresses
provided with adequate defences both in material
and men. They had to see to the prevalence of
peace and goodwill within the country by inter-
ceding in disputes between communities and
corporations. They had to be constantly on the
look-out for means of increasing the prosperity
and fertility of the country, thereby increasing
theii own revenues and warding off such evils as
may befall the people or their property and interfere
with the prosperity of the community as a whole.
There their duties ended.

Local administration was carried on entirely
by popular assemblies constituted under a form of
election and lot combined so that these adminis-
trative bodies may be regarded as aristocratic in
character with a democratic responsibility.
Elaborate regulations were laid down for
their constitution. Serious misdemeanour dis-
abled not only the individual, but all of his-
relations of the first degree from the exercise
of political franchise. Judgment in regard to
the misdemeanour was the judgment of the com-
munity, and that was perhaps the most effective
way possible then of making, representatives
responsible to the community as a whole. The

ADMINISTRATIVE KVOLUJION IN SOUTH INDIA 407

property qualification was the possession of about
an acre and a half of land. The alternative edu-
cational qualification laid down consisted in the
capacity to recite a Veda in the orthodox fashion or
the capacity to expound one of the Brahmanae,
which required perhaps a more or less equal degree
of intelligence and effort. A town or a commu-
nity was divided into wards, according to size and
the worthy men in the wards were registered.
From out of this group of the worthy men, the
men who actually constituted the administrative
bodies, were chosen by lot. The village accountant
was the umpire in all matters of dispute and bad
to hold himself unconcerned in matters of material
interest with the various communities constituting
the township. A large committee thus chosen
was broken up into sub-committees, generally of 5
or 6, each with its duty defined. There were com-
mittees for the supervision of tanks, committees
for looking after temples, and a number of other
committees like that. One committee however
seems to stand out distinct from all these. It is
called by the compound name panchavdravariyam
The last word 'variyam* se6ms to mean control,
training or discipline, such as in the expression
vativariyam or horse-trainer. These were probably
men who had to control the affairs of the commu-
nity generally from day to day, and the previous
word pancha seems to indicate that that body was
composed of five members* That was the supreme

408 < CH AFTER > XIX- *:

panchayat, undet whose control, the variqus Com-
mittees carried on the details of the administra-
tion. Where general matters were concerned,
they were brought before the assembly as a whole
and discussed, and resolutions were, arrived at.
It was the duty of the village accountant to keep a
faithful record of all these and that is why be was
expected to keep himself uncontaminated by the
party politics of that locality.

These local bodies practically controlled all
revenue matters included in the revenue adminis-
tration of modern times. They had charge of the
communal lands ; they controlled the division of
land among the members of the community under
their charge. They arranged for the reclamation
of uncultivated wastes by giving them to enter-
prising cultivators on favourable terms beginning
with free cultivation gradually rising through a
series of years to the normal revenue roll of the
district according to the quality of the land. If
individuals or communities or even royalty wi&hed
to purchase lands to make gifts to temples, the
Brahmanas or to some other party or body, the
village assembly had to make the necessary pre-
liminary enquiries, assessed the value of the land;
arranged for its purchase and completed the tran-
saction. It is on a satisfactory report from them
that the final order for the conveyance of ,the
property was made from the headquarters. * The
community received the compensation in the case

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 409

of communal lands and administrated it ai theft
discretioD. It was they who estimated the outturn
t)f particular holdings and assessed the revenue
thereon, which sometimes was less than the dues(
according to the revenue register, sometimes everi
exceeding it. The state seems however to have
carried out general surveys and classification of
lands, and we have references to three such surveys
in the records that have come to us. The first of
these was Undertaken in the reign of Raja Raja
A.D. 985-1016. The next one was apparently a
local revision settlement for some reason or other,
which is not clearly explained to us, under his son
Rajendra A.D. 1011-1044. The next one which
seems to be more or less a general survey undei 1
Kulottunga A.D. 1070-1118. The last operation
was undertaken in the year A.D. 1086, the year
of the Doomsday-survey in England. Holdings,
were carefully registered and they were dorrectly
measured, or calculated correct to 5 ^ o6' tbabla
square inch.

Disputes about holdings, or about incidences of
revenue etc., were settled by the assembly, and if it'
was a graver question in regard to these, assenK
blies from the neighbourhood were made to join
together and make their award, which the con-,*
trolling officer of the region accepted and issued
as a general order. v/ *

Transfer of land from party to party ha4 tfe!
be done with the final approval and sanctiofc p

52 1363B

410 CHAPTER XIX

the headquarters authority with the direct sanction
of the monarch, where a complete register of hold-
ings was maintained, and that constituted in all
probability the authoritative record of holdings of
land. One such instance under' Raj a Raja III is
that the lands had to be transferred from the royal
register to the register of temple-lands (deva dana).
One good instance of the division of responsi-
bility between the officers of Government and the
local bodies has recently been made accessible to
us in an inscription of the time of Devaraya II.
The inhabitants of Valudilambattu in the Tanjore
District had suffered successively from the irrup-
tions of the Hoysalas, and consequently a consi-
derable amount of confusion was introduced
in the revenue administration of the division. The
inhabitants were oppressed by the uncertainty of
the demands, and therefore began to leave the
locality in small bodies, so much so that at the time
cultivable lands were lying waste and uncultivated.
In this condition the matter was brought to the
notice of the king, who immediately ordered an
inquiry as to the circumstances which brought
about the state of things. It was found on
enquiry that since the days of the Hoysala irrup-
tion, the local authority bad become weak or
non-existent ; that the demands upon the lands
became uncertain, and there came to prevail some
kind of local anarchy. The inhabitants found it
intolerable to go OB in the division in these special

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLtltlOtt ttf SOUt'M INDIA

circumstances. An order was issued at once that
the assemblies of the surrounding unions together
with such of the inhabitants of the suffering unit
itself as were present might assemble together,
conduct an enquiry and make a register of revenue
incidences as they prevailed in the days previous
,to the irruption of the Hoysalas. The enquiry was
conducted and the details called for were set
forth in full. This document was incorporated in
a royal circular and issued to the locality calling
upon the original inhabitants to return under the
assurance that they could go on as before under
the authority of the document thus issued. This
record illustrates that the authorities of the Central
Government did not directly interfere in these
matters, and, even in a serious case like this,
they had to work through local agencies and see
to it that there was nothing arbitrary in their
proceedings.

In regard to the functions of the village
assemblies which would come under the depart-
ment of public works, it was the duty of the
assembly to see that the tanks and the irrigation
channels were kept in good condition, that the
roads of which there are references to some as
wide as 64 spans and 100 spans, were kept in
repair. Large irrigation projects were not carried
out by the village assemblies. Such projects were
undertaken either by the Government itself in ,
which case Government became proprietor and

CHAPTER XIX

out the land, pr these were undertaken -by
wealthy and enterprising individuals. In such a
c'ase, they were given certain privileges by way
pf special allotments of revefiufe, or by the
assignment of a fraction thereof. In either case
the completed works were made over to the
possession of assemblies ; it was the charge of the .
Assemblies themselves to see to their being in an
efficient condition and to put them through repairs
when called, for. The assemblies also regulated
the local taxes and dues, which seem in the first
instance to have been levied by themselves under
& recognised royal schedule. It was the duty of
One of their committees that the villagers rendered
ffee labour. They were bound to see that no
undue advantage was taken of it. We have
instances of vexatious taxes or dues being
removed. Qne such act apparently gave the great
Chola Kulottunga, the title " the Chola who
Abolished the tolls/' Tolls were specially set
apart as royal revenue and is regarded even in

Rural as one of the legitimate sources of
revenue. We do not know under what
circumstances exactly Kulottunga abolished the
tolls. We have \nstances on record of the great
Vijayanagar ruler Krishna Devaraya abolishing
marriage taxes, and taxes upon barbers so that the
abolition of taxes, which proved to be oppressive
qjr ijrks0me, certainly was not unknown under;

AbMlNIStRATlVB E^QHUfiON IN SOtttl INDIA

The village assemblies bad the responsibility
of tracking crime. They had their own village
officers whose special duty it was ; when criminals
were traced, they were brought before the assembly
for punishment. The guilt was brought home
to the culprit before the assembly, and the
punishment was accorded according to law. by the
special body of judges, who had knowledge of it,
or by royal officers when once the guilt was proved
to the satisfaction of the assembly. These
assemblies went about administering justice,
generally tempered with mercy. We have num-
bers of instances of death brought on by neglect,
or under circumstances of peculiar provocation.
Allowances were made in extenuation of the crime
of murder in these cases. In circumstances of
peculiar enormity ,< or where desperate gangs ol
robbers sometimes Defied the village authorities^
Government assistance was invoked and was
readily provided. We have pqe instance in point.
A certain number of Brahman^s anjd others set up
as decoits, and carried on their depredations in
defiance , of the village authorities; The village
appealed to the local governor, who provided a
section of the guards to arrest the criminals..
They arrested the culprits once, who even went <
for 'as to. overpower the' ,gtiards, and escaped,, *A
second successful arrest was made, and among th<>se?
arrested happened to be a couple of Brahmanas,
$ri#g-leaders. Then a question

414 CHAPTER

whether as Brabmanas, they could be punished as
robbers. A reference was made to headquarters
and the ruling was .obtained, that, since the;
set up as robbers, they were ^guilty of an act
unworthy of a Brahmana, and they ceased to
be such ia consequence. They* were liable to be
punished according to the law like other robbers.
The punishment was accordingly carried out.

The Cholas dating from the time of the
ancient Karikala were remarkable for their works
of irrigation. The Hindus of South India are
credited with the discovery of the device of
controlling the water of a river at the head of
the delta and taking off irrigation channels to
regions which could not be irrigated under
gravitation ordinarily. The delta of the Kaveri
is the supreme instance of the achievements of
the Cbolas in this particular. The very last
irrigation channel known, branching off from
the south main arm of the river Kaveri within
25 miles of the sea, and the artificial canal
taking off from the Coleroon, were alike made
in the days of the great Cbolas. The great
Gangaikonda Chola was responsible for what
must have been an enormous irrigation tank
near his capital, the feeder channel for it coming
from the Coleroon and the Vellar rivers, higher
up.

The waste water of this tank must have gone
to fill the now famous Vir&$am tank. This

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 415

latter is now known as one of the best irrigation
tanks of the South Arcot district. Another
great tank in a more arid tract of the Tanjore
District was made by another Ghola, whether
he was a ruler or prince we do not know. This
is the great irrigation tank in the village Vacju-
vur about 10 miles from Mannargudi. This is
fed by a canal branching from the Vennar and
passing close under the fortress walls of Tanjore
to this particular tank. This canal was known
Vlra&>la-Vadavaru.

They were builders of temples as well. The
Tanjore temple itself is one instance. There
are numbers of other instances which could be
cited ; for example, the temples at Gangaikofida,
Cholapuram, Tirbhuvanam and Darasuram near
Kumbhakonam. Some of these are typical in
regard both to magnitude and majesty. It was
already pointed out that the age of the Oholas
was an age of great literary output chiefly in
Tamil literature although they extended theix
patronage to a certain extent to Sanskrit also.
In point of religion, it was a period of organisa-
tion as in other fields of human activity ; the
religious organisation in this age took on the
form of the "organisation of the sects as waa
already pointed out. In these matters, the
succeeding dynasties carried on the tradition
of the Cbolas undiroinished and in some respects
improved upon it, in art, architecture, literature

416 CHAPTER XIX

and administration, in fact in everything that con-
tributed to a successful human organisation of
society. The Empire of Vijayanagar, is but a
development and extension of what this organi-
sation was under the Cholas. Some of the
magnificent buildings which stand in South India,
temples in particular, some few civil buildings also,
show the development to which they are indebted
to Vijayanagar; the magnificent colonnaded
halls, each composite column or portion of which
is covered with sculptural representations, form
the work of the age of Vijayanagar.

We have instances of their irrigation activity
in Vijayanagar, in some of the tanks in the
peculiarly arid locality of the ceded districts,
as for instance, those at Anantapur, Ajiantasagara,
Kambam, etc. We have reference to an ani-
cut work on the Tungabhadra above Vijaya-
nagar itself.

Learning flourished under Vijayanagar and
the rulers extended their patronage according
to locality to the various languages and to Sans-
krit. Several of the great governors and officers
of Vijayanagar were scholars themselves and
patronised scholars. Vidy&ranya, Vedanta Dg&ka
and Appayya Dik^ita, to mentioiTonly the pre-
ernment, born in any age or country would, havte
shone as luminaries of the first magnitude in
literature. The usurper SSluva Narafciihha is
recorded ! as a Sanskrit scholar -and <pe Sanscrit

ADMINISTRATIVE! EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA 417

work , is ascjibed to . him. The great Krisbna-
devaraja was a Sanskrit . apd Telugu scholar,
and two works of Iris have .come down to us.
Jambavati Kalyanam is a Sanskrit work and
Amuktamalyada, a high class Telugu work, are
ascribed to him. Tirumalaraya, the kipg *<who
Occupied the throne after the battle of Talikotta
is considered . as a scholar, and one learned' com-
mentary at any rate, is ascribed to him. The
example of royalty was imitated by provincial
governors, several of whom set up as scholars
and have ip'ore systematically encouraged
scholars. The full efflorescence of the spirit of
encouraging literature is seen .in the Tanjore
ruler Baghunatha Nayaka. He was ruler,
scholar, musician,, patron and warrior, all rolled
into one. He could himself compose both in
Sanskrit and Telugu, and a version of the Bama-
yana which he wrote in Telugu was considered so
excellent that a lady of his court rendered it
into Sanskrit again and earned the title Madhura-
vani (lady of sweet speech) for the service.
Another , lady of his court wrote an epic in
Sanskrit, Bagbunathabhyudayam, and was such a
great expert in the various kinds of composition in
eight languages including Sanskrit, that she was
elevated ito the dignity, of Sahityd Samrajya in eight
languages* and other instances could be quoted. 1
, >\ ' '

o T i 8e Swrces of Vajaytnagftr Hirtory, PublicttioD by the

University. , i . .

53~-1868B

418 CHAPTER XIX

This is enough to indicate the patronage ex-
tended to literature by the rulers of Vijayanagar.

Before closing, it would be well to draw
attention to a certain 'number of political
maxims, for which King Krishnadeva Baya
of Vijayanagar is given credit. He scatters
through the fourth canto of bis Telugu work
imuktamalyada, 1 a number of these, which in
substance agree more or less with what we find
laid down in professed works on the NitiSastra
and could be traced in the Dharma Sa&ra as
well as in the Tamil work Kural. The peculiar
importance of these maxims coming from Krishna-
deva Baya is this. We have the means of proving
that this monarch did make successful efforts at
putting his precept into practice.

This monarch apparently found Brahmana
officials of great service to him, and he speaks in
glowing terms of Brahmanas 'as administrative
officers both civil and military.* He would entrust
fortresses, well-equipped, to Brahmanas. He
would have his Brabmana officers, mature men
between 50 and 70, who are scholars, who are
afraid of adharma and who are well-versed in
raja mit, and offer to rule according to raja riiti.'*
He gives his reason also, ' because a Brahmana
would stand to his post even in times of danger

1 To Mr. A. Bangftswami Sarmati, UoiYersitj Bewarch Student,
&0* JUsittant Epigrapbist belongs the credit of collecting and translating
tbete extracts, published in the Journal of Indian History.

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SO0TH INDIA 419

and ttould continue in service though reduced
to becoming a subordinate to a Kshatrya or
Sudra. It is always advisable for a king to
make Brahmanas as officers/ This high opinion
that he had for the Brahmana, he carried into
practice. His chief minister and adviser was the
Brahmana Saluva Timma whose brother Saluva
Govinda was the first Governor of the recently
conquered province of Ummattur in Mysore
and was subsequently promoted to be killedar of
(governor of) Vijayanagar itself.

The new provinces conquered from Kalinga
or Orissa were entrusted to the Government of two
nephews of the minister Timma, When Udayagiri
in the Nellore district was taken from Orissa
the organisation and administration, and the
holding of the new conquests against attack, fell to
Bayasam Kon4amarasayya, another Brahmana. It
is not exactly that other officers were not appoint-
ed, or that the Brahmana officers were all of them
unerring. He had a number of officers who
were not Brahmanas but the most trusted ones
among them seem to have been Brabmanas. One
Brabmana proved false, as did one Sudra. The
Brabmana, Vira Narasimha Baya revolted in the
last year of Krisbnadeva Raya ; so did Nagama
Nayaka of Madura. Krishna wanted that the
temple management should be kept separate from
the other departments of administration, for the
good reason that the temple revenues were not to

CHAPT9H XIX '

be mixed with the other items of revenue in the
administration as these, were specially liable to
peculation. He wanted horses and elephants
kept in royal stable's and superintended by royal
officers, and not to be entrusted to governors
which was the practice of mediaeval administra-
tions. He adopted this device as the best remedy
against rebellion. According to him, a king
should improve the properties of big country and
encourage commerce; this he tried to put into
practice as did some of bis predecessors and
sotfte of his successors by the treatment
that they accorded to the Portuguese and
to the other foreign ambassadors who came into
the country for commercial purposes. Whan
Udayagiri fell, some of the ladies of the house-
hold of the Orissa Governor who was uncle of the
.king of Orissa, fell into his hands. The Portu-
guese Chroniclers have it on record that he treat-
ed .these royal ladies in quite a kingly fashion*
.There is one Averse of Krishna which prescribes
..exactly tigs kind of treatment. He has another
referepce to treatment of princes, who may
Jbecocpe prisoners. He followed that precept into
practice by what he did to the son of tjbe Kalinga
; ruler Pratapa Rudra. Prince Virabhadra wak
.takeq prisoner at Kondavitju. According to the
Portuguese chronicler, Nuniz, he was mide a
, prisoner, and JMM, insultingly aaked'to exhibit bis
swordsmanship : against the professional fencer

ADMINISTRATIVE EVOLUTION IN SOUTH INDIA

of the Court. The prince, according to this chro-
nicler, is said to have committed suicide as a
result of this insult. We have records however
, which show that prince, Virabhadra was governor
of Maligabennur Slme in the Mysore state, and
made a grant for the spiritual benefit of his own
father and his royal master himself, there again
showing that Krishna was as good as his word
in regard to his precept in this particular instance
as well. These few instances go to show
that even the maxims of polity had considerable
weight in shaping the administration of monarchs
who made their mark and left their impress upon
the government of the realm which came into
their charge.

Thus then in matters of administration, in all
its branches, South India established for itself a
distinct line of development which as in other
branches, have continued quite down to modern
times and have been in several particulars carried
down into the present day administration of the
locality. It would require far more space; to
trace these in detail, but this must suffice to.
indicate the distinct character of South Indian
administration. ' /

INDEX

Abliayagiruibara, 99, 100, JOS.
Adiyamsn, chief of Tagadur, 64.
AcJukctubttu-Seral-Aduu, ' Chera

ZTiler, 35,41,
Anni-Gnlujili, 27.
Xay-Antjiran, Tamil chief, 355.
jLbbirff*, 177, 178
AdministrHtion, ev lution of, in

South India, Cb. XIX, 390 ff.,

421.
Agastya, Sage, Southern migratiou

of, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50.
Agattiyam, Tam. Gram., 19.
Ahananuru, Sangnm Col!eriii,n, 14,

134, 16.

ALiH^pi, isleof, 49.
Aindra school, of grau mariana, 120.
Akajnka, Jain AcHarya, 289.
Alau*d din, 292, 294.
Ilbvay (Ha!asya) = Madura, 374.
Alexandria, 320.
Araaravati, 137.
Amir-Kl.usm, 2:3.
Amuktamalyada, Telugu work, 417,

418.

Anantasayana, temple of, 300.
ADdaJ, 274

Anrtanar= BrahmaDB, 45.
An4ar, 160, 355 F. N.
Andhrapatbn=-(Va<Jugavali), Telu-
gu Road, 149.
Appnr (Ciron&vukaraiQiyftmigal),

145, 204 208.
Appayya-Dikfhitu, 417.
Argarn(=Draiyur),338.
Arthasastra of Chijakya, 5, 34,

114, 124, 126, 127.
Arulnandi givacbarya, 243.
Arua.Ni4'. ^9, 841
Aruvftrnoi=Aruvl!ar, 44. 45, 159,

841;
Iryan ( = Vjwjavar), significance of

t^eterrn. 1,57.
Atoka 4 ! edicts, on the Southern

kingdojni, 7, 8.
Asoka'a enipire, 84.

si Indian embassy to, 329.

Atanti Sundari, Katha Sara, of
Dandin, 206.

B

Barbdricum,332, 383.
Beryfiaza = Broach, 40, 338.
Hbudrababu, 238, 234.
Basava Parana, 248,252,
Baveru-Jataka, 326, 327, 342.
Bhftktjhara ( = Titumali^ai Ihan,

264
Bbutriichnndra , n.ytb king of Java,

373

Blogavatipura, 374,
Bharavi. 206, 207.
Bhagavat GHa, 112, 113.
Bhandarkar, B. Ci., 60, 104, 112,

114.

Bbasa, drum* fist, 4
Bijjala Bayacharitarn, 258
Bi;jala, 248, 249.
Biabman, pcsition and duties of, io

early Poutb India, 43, 106-10
Brahman officialR in der- Vijaya-

nagar rule, 418-19
Brabmani-m, in Eart Borr eo, 211.
Brab:m cave inscription ID the

Bouth, 7.
Br hat Katha, Pa i sac I. i work, age

of, 368.

Buddhi-t activity, centres of. 88.
Buddbyankura, Pall. Prince, 148.

Ceylon =Lanka, 68, 69.

early connection with South

India, 68 ff .
Cbampapati, 50.
Chfit8pallav,167,172.
Lhanna Basavapurana 252
ChandravarmHP= (?) Pkandavat-

man, 171.

> 884,

, in Negapatim,

INDEX

423

Cbuxjamani Varman. ruler of

Kadaram, 383.

Champa = Kaveripattinam, 50.
Chaudragupta, Maur. Emperor, 233,

234.

Charudevi, Pali. Queen, 148.
Choranftga, 85.
Cornelius Nepot , 329.

Dancjaka, forest of (-Daodaran-

yam), 84, 35,41,42,161. '
Dandin, bis connection with Kanchi,

205, 206.
Dafonapura, Pall. Camp., 137, 152,

156.

Dasakumdra Charita, 306.
Devaraya II, character of hia *ork,

303, 304.

Divakaram, Tarn. Lexicon, 2.
Dipavamsa, 79.

Durvinlta, W. Gaoga, K., 206.
Dvarasaomdra=HalabId, 300.

E

Eastern- Archipelago, Tarn, know-
ledge of, 342 ff.

East Indian Archipelago, Muham-
inadan conversions jn, 387.

Elamites, capital of, 327.

Brumai, chief of Kudauadu, 8, 25.

Elelasingam, Tamil chief, 81.

Fa-Hien, Chinese pilgrim, 211, 849
G

Gajab&hu, Ceylon ruler, 17, 66, 8,

92, 93

Ganapati, KakatTya King, 387.
Gautamiputra Satakarni, 1^2.
Qerini (Colonel), on Java, 373.
GoJaki-Matba, 260.
Gunacjbya, 368.
CJupta calture, influence of, 209.

Hsrpalos, 329.
Blmasitala, 289.
Hirsm of Tyre, 822.

Tflaiyar. 160.

Ikshyftkus. 182.

I|aui-9et donni, Early Chola E.,

C9. Indian Uak, djscovery of, in

Babylon, 325.
Indian trade, with Western Asia,

822

Indo-Boman trade, duration of, 369.
Indra temple of, in Tamil land, 55.
Industrial arts, of South India,

857 ff.
Interregnum, alleged Chola, in

Kanchi, 156 ff.
1 1 script JOB s, fetone and copper plate

records :

Besna^ar msc , 115.

Chendalur, 152, 153.

Cbura plates, 168.

Darsi, 151.

Hathigumpha insc., 7.

Hirabadagalli, 148.

jHggayyapetta insc., 178.

Junagad, 323.

Eoetei, 210.

Kudumijamalai, Hock insc., 205.

Malavallipill. insc., 852.

Mangalur C. P. grant, 168.

Majidavolu ,, 148*49

Myakadoni , , 132.

Omgodu , j 152.

Penukonda . , 182.

Pikira , , 156.

Sinnamanur , 14.

T&lgunda pill, insc., 858.

Udayeudiram Cop. grant 152.

Uruvappalli M 151.

Vayalurpill. insc., 167.

Velvikkudf plates, 14.
> Velurpalayam 154, 155, 165.
Irugappa, geneial, 312.
IruDgo, cbieftain, 64.
I6varo-9ena, 178.
I-teing, on the kingdom of Bri-

Bhoja, 211, 875-76.

Haravilasam, 285, 387.
HariharaII,308.
titles of, 309,

in Sangaw Literature, 284.

under Pallavaa, 237.

Under Vijeyanagar empire, 819

434

INDEX;

Jfimbavati-KalyGnam, Sans, work

of Kriahnadeva Bya 417*
Jayaswal,E. P., 60.
Josephus, 822.

.s, 179.
Kao>van Majjanar, 68.
Eakkaipatfiniyfir (NachchelJaiyar),

85 1 41.

Kafavafr, 219.
Eakustbavai man, Kad. King, 181,

852, 858 fa. 1.
Ealabhartri, Myth. Pall. E., 167,

168.
Xalaham=Ea4aram (Kataha),

identification of, 846.

manufactures of, 361
KaJumalam = (Siyali) battle of, 219.
Eamadeva, Mabainandaleavara,

254, 256.
Eamand&ka, 128.
Kampardya Charitam, 806.
Eanchj=Eaochipurain, 132, 133,

134, 135, 136, 140,149, 152, 157,

159, 164, 165.

ceotie cf Pallc VBB 202 f., 291.
Eannappa Nayanar=Tinnan, life

of, 221, 225.

its significance, 225-26.
Karadipa, isle of, 49.
Kari, Malay am an chief* 163,
Karikala, Chola giDg, 32, 58, 62,

64, 65,. 66, 91, 156, 157, 158, 162,

164.

Kari-kannan, on the Vaguka lan-
guage* 24.

Kariyar, battle of, 65.
Karala 171.

Kasaitee, irruptions of, 319.
Kanniyan Vinnam Tayan, 51.
E&tyayana, 4.
Kayeripattanam = Puhar, 32, >65,

91, n7,.118, 381, 841.

merchant shipping at, 344.

imports into, 860, 861.
Eayai, Pandytn port, 880.
Khanda-Kiga ( - Bkanda-Naga) ,

188, 178.

Kharavela, of Kalinga, 33, 61.
Ki}Ji, Chola ruler.
Kirltfrjunlya, 206.
Kolar, tribe of Kbaaas, 21, 27, 28,

29, 29n.

f 27,

Nalfefcoiar, 27, 28.

identification of, 28-29.
Ko-Sengan, Cbola King, 208, 210,

217-219.

age of, 219, 287.

Konkanika, myth. W. Q. King, 171.
Kriahnadeva Bays, importance of

his work, 805-06.
% his scholarship in Sanskrit and

Telugu, 417.

his political maxims, 418.

his faith in Brahman officials,

.419.

bis administrative ideas t 420.

his treatment of defeated

princes, 420-21.
Enmara Kampana, campaigns of,

307.
Kumaravishnu, Pallava King, 154,

158.

Kumarils-Bbatta, 291.
Kulatekbara's Chinese Mission of,

386.

Eulasekhara, Vaisb. Saint, 273, 274.
Eumaragiri, Reddi chief, 387.
Eural, Tamil Classic, 122-31.

its divisions, 124.

indebtedness of its author to

Aithasftstra, 124, 126-27.

age of, 125.

infusion of Sans, culture in, 125.

on Brabmanigm, 130-31.

religion of, 131.
Eurattalvfin,272.
Euruxnbar, Eurunila-mannar chief-

tains, 160, 161.

Lambdkannm, usurpation, 98.
Jjankapora, Ceylon general, 87.
La$a, couotry of, 70, 71.

identification of, 74, 75, 77.
Lingayats, 252, 256.

sacred Literature of, 257, 259.
Lokavibhdga, Jain work, datum of,

208.

Mftdbava-Vidyarsnya Madhavt-
mtntri, 809, 810, 311, 417.

Mftdhvamutt, of Udipi, 312.

Madwrai JT&n/t, Tarn. Class, work,
6. 118, 216. ,, . .

INDEX

Maduraktvi, Vaish. Sain*, 269, 271.
Mal-'ammadan invasions of South

India, 292 ff., 298.
Mahtitha (Mantota) 73.
Mabavihata, in Ceylon, 57, 100,

101,

Maliayaoiam, 97, 106]
Mahendravarman I, Pall. K., 204,

220, 237.

Mahishaman jala,; 83.
Malaytrnan chieftain, 2.
Malavar, tribe of, 26, 35.

their defeat at Podini, 26.
Mangudi-Marpdan, 56.
Manikkavasakar, 216, 230/239-41.

nature of his work, 240-41.
Mamulanar,

Tarn. dang, celebrity, 21.
Manimekhalai, Tarn. Class, work,

16, 49, 50, 69, 89, 118, 163.
Manu, 129.
Maradam, (Mahratta) Smiths of,

in the Tamil land, 362.
Marco-Polo, on piracy in Indian

coast, 364, F. N. 1.

on the kingdom of Eli, 364,

F. N. 2.

Mara VijayoUungavarma, 383.
Matsya-Purana lt7
Uatta-vildsa-pTaJiasana, Sanskrit)

burlesque, 204, 205, 237.
Manryan invasion of the South,

glimpses in the Tamil Sangam

literature, 20.
Mayavadins, 284.
Mayura-garma, Kadamba K., 205.
Megasthenes, on the Pandya coun-
try, 6.

Menmattura, 137, 153, 156.
Meykangadevs, work of, 243.
Minoagara, 838.
Mohur, chief of, 21,
Moriyar^Mauryas, 22, 28.
Mubarak, 295.

Mu<Jkal, fortress of, 804, 805.
Mukundamata, 273.
Miilam-kilftr, of Ivor, 51.
Mulavarman, 211.
MulJfir, hill-fortress, 2.
Muziris, Anc. Tarn. Port, 860,

Ptolemy on, 868.

Nactchioarkiniyar, 121, 140,
Kagadipa-Nakkavaram (Nicobmrs),
76.

W-I368B

Nftganika, BataTahana Qoeec,. 174.
Nagapuram >( capital of BaragtB.

374.

NAgirjunt, 97, 106.
Kagas, 49, 63.

$ak*aviram, Iftlafid of, 347.
Nam. Ilvar. Vaish, Saint, 266, 274,

277,
N*mbiln(Jar Nambi,

Nandas, wealth of the, 23.
Nandikkalambakam t Taol. poem,

145.
Najlnao, defeat of, by Eotar, 27, 41.

' wealth of, 323.
Naraaimbavarnjan II

(See Bajasiojha)

Narklrar, Sangam president* 14, 15,
Nathamnni, Icharya,275, 276, 277.
^ native of his work, 278.
Nay a nm are, in the age of the

PaUaras, 236-40,
Nebuchadnezzar, Palace o'f, 825.
Ne^um^deliyan, Pandiyan King,

2, 58.

Nedu-inaranKftn-Pandya, 288.
NettjioQaiyar, 53.

Opbir=8ophir. Sauvlrt, 322.

situation of, 327 ^.
Ori, chieftain, 64.

Padirrupattaj Sargam collection.

160.
Palakkada, Pall. Gamp, 137, 152,

156.
Pablavag (Pahnavas, PaJhitvai),

136, 156, 157, 161.

Bajasekhara on Pah lavas, 142

F.N.
Pallavas, 133 ff.

alleged Parthian Origin of, 182,
388*

their real origin, 136-42, early

history o t 146-71*
Pallavabbogga, 183,
Pali -fleraSili, 168.
Pincharitrtes,59.
Panditar&dhw ckarita, 258.

i, 4, 114. , :

1KDEX

Tan* dangtm

Ba*an*r; 8anga*> celebrity, 17,

Paraanrftma, 50.

Parimel-AJahar, Tamil eommeata-

tor, 124, 128, 180.
Portpddfll ftangam coll, rtf. to

VyShaa ofViabnu in, 117.

tali iCuddalore), Early Jain

Settlement it, 287.
li Patae, 28.
Patanjeli, 6, 114.
PeitwideYi. 66, 90, 91.
Pattinoppalai, 882.
Pattlnatracjikal, Sajva Saint, 941.
Penukonda plates* its importance to

Gaoga and Pallava history, 182.
Periyalvar, Vaisbo. Paint* 274,
Periyapwanam t 183 t 226.

date *f, 286,
Persecution*, alleged religioaa per-

secDtiona, 288-90.
Pewvnb&n&Truppaijaii 167, 168,

178,
PerudevaDr, Saagaifc celebrity,

13.

PeutiDgerian Tables, 368, 866.
Pliny, on India *B drain of Betne,

868.

on Indian voyages, 868.
Pcdiyil, Malaya, Bill of, 21, 60, 68.
Poygaiyir, (P< ygai*Alvftr., 219.
Ptrabhulinga Lila, 268.
Pratapa-Eudra, Kaltnga ruler, 421.
Ptolemy, 160.

PtoJemy- Philadelphia. 821.
Ptolemy- 8oter.com of 329,
PuhAr, see Kaverippattmam, Tamil

port, import! into, 860 61.
Pulumftvi, 147, 162.
Punt, .expedition, 820.
Purananuru, dangam Coll., 61, 98.
Puihyamitra, 60.

Raghun&thabhyudayam, Sans.

Epic, 418.
KaghnnStha Nayaka, poet^klng of

Tanjore, 417.

Baichur, Fortre**, 804, 806.
Bftjaaekhara, his locate of the

Pahl?aa and t>llftta*f 142 F.N,
B&iMimha=Nira Bitob* II, Pal-

lave E.I 171> 906.
Eajtodra I, Chola K.> **0 286, BS4.

Ramanja* Life of, 282 JK

workof, 2d4ff.

teaching of, 281.

age of, 286.

JRimayana, 69 '

ixanga Swami SarasTati (A^, 418

F.N. 2.

Ravivaram-Kulalekafa^ 996.
B&yasam.Kondamaiaaayyaiii Vijaya-

nagara Brthain Orn^er, 419.
Hithabhadatta, 148.
Koman Coborte, at Mezirit, 866.
Rock-Edict II of Aftok*, 80.

Do. XIII, 81, 82.
Endra, I, Kakatiya K., 247.
Rndradftman, Eahatrapa K., 322.
Budran-Kannan, Tamir poet. 157,

216.

Budrasarman, 14.
Budraainh*, Ibhira governor! 177.

SaiTa-Siddhanta, 242, 248, 267.
BiJova-Narasimha, 304, 417.
Sajuva-Timma, Bial min minister,

419.
Bahsndar (Tirujnina- Sam bandar),

146, 208, 288.

SamudrftRupta, 164, 174, 176.
Sangam Tamil Acadamy, its func-
tion, 10.

traditions about, 11.

members of the III Sangam, 12
Sangam works, 9-10.

tbeir character and chronology,

12-20.

Bangrftma-Vijay6ttunga*arttra, 884.
Sankalpa-nirakaranam, 244.
Sankarachftrya, 291.
Sanskrit msorintiona, at SutnUtta,

878.
datapathm>Brabm*na, 2,

on the Brahman 'a duties, 109-10.
Sataval.anai, 188, 139, 141, 148,

149,162,168.
Batya-sena^Swattii ftitya flinha,

166, 176.
fiavakam = Yavadtlpa. (Babtdiu),

846, 849, 872

Sftyana, works of, 809, 810.
Scholar-kings, of VijayanagaR dj>
fc naatjr,417*. n
School of Bbalti, 111.

itf origin, ll.

1NDBX

427

southern school, 117.
age of, 208.

contribution of South ladi* to,
316.
flekkijar, Saiva hagiologist, 226,

age of 242.

Self-surrender, doctrine of, 278.
Sellfir identification of, 99 P. If. 1.
Stxh-Kuftuvan, Chera ruler* 16, 17,

46,66.

Seramftn-Perum&j, 217, 221.
Bhip-coinB of Indhras, 187.
Simhapura, 71, 75, 76.
8imhavarir.au, Pallava K., 153,

164, 155.

Simbavisbnu, Pallava K , 147.
Silappadhik&ram, Tamil epic, 16,

88, 104.
SiruttOQdar, Pallava general, and

Saiva saint, ape of, 220.
Slttalai Sattan, Sangarn celebrity,

17,89.
Siva-AcJiyars, age of, 208, 217,

220.
Saiva canonical literature, 216,

236-44.
Siva Jrldna-Siddhiydr, 243.

Saivism, 208, 212-33.

early traces in Tamil literature,

215 ff.
fiivaji, village grant of, 313, 313

F.N.
Sivaskandavarman, 147, 150.

Awkan character of bis t govern-

ment, 150-61.
Skanda Stsbya (Skandavarman I),

Pall. K., 165, 166, 182.
Somesvara, IV, 255.
South-Indian enterprise, in over-
seas commerce, 389.
South-India, in Early Sanskrit and

Pali literature, 4.

SrI-Bboja, EinRdom of, 380, 381-83.
Sri Cbandra, 176.
drlnatba, Telujni, poet, 225, 387.
Srf.Parvata Hill, 181.
8rI-Prvattya Indbras, 177, 180,
grlvlrapurnshadatta, 178, 198, 201.
Sultanate, at Madura, 296, 297.
Sumatra, Sanskrt culture in, 211.
Suppara, 76.
Sundara (SundaramtirtI Svami),

date of, 217.

Supp&rakaj&taka, 326, 328.
Buvarna-Bhfimi, 322.
Punjai, rite of, 60.

Takkdla, ancient port, 345.
Talai-ilangftnain, battle of, 14, 67.
Tatiii lakam , = Drami4aka (Dam-
arica), Tamil land, limits of, 40.

Tamil Literature, historical valae

of, 9.

Us Aryan character, 119 f.
Tamrapa, Pall, camp, 169.
Taranfrtba, 97.
Tell&ru, battle-field, 145.
Teujple management, KrigboadeTa

Baya's views on, 420.
Tirumandiram, message! of, 226.
TempIe-buildlDg age of, in Soetit

India, 210.

Tirayar, 8e&-tribe, 139, 169, 371.
Tirumalaraya, Scholarship of, 417.
Tirmnangai, Ilv&r, Vaish. St4nt,

age of, 20d, 210, 218, 276 f.
Tirumu4i Kari MaUyaittati chief , 2.
Tirumular, 228, 241.
Tirunirayanapurttti *= Vardbfcdiioa-

poranr^ 315
Tirupall&n4u> 216.
Tjrruvanaikkaval (Jambuke^varam),

218.

Tifuvatakam, 216.
Tissa, Ceylon K.,85.
Tolkdppiyam, Tarn. graBamar, 19,

44, 159.

references to Vedic gods ifl, 118.
}im-Tiraiyan, Chola-

vioeroy of Kanchl, 16, 185, 157,

158, 159, 173, 219* 264,
Tan(Jaiyar=Pllavas, 134, 1% 140,

159.
Tondana^u = Tonjamandalam . 134 ,

142, 147, 159, 164, 2l3.
Trilocbana Pallava, 158.
Ton^i, anc. Cbola port, 345, 361.

Udayagiri fortress jof<
Ugrapperuva]ud) ~
Umapati Sivachf
Ur, Excavation!
Uragapura, Pa:

Va^oka

INtfBX

Vi$&* (Telugae), 3,24,26,84, Vim*la,171.

B. Chtlok E.,158.

2%.
VIra NtlitiiDba Blji, revolt of,

, Fall

., IIL

, 168,
208, 262, 266.

of, 8, 168.

Pall.

PrioqeVJ$8t54.,

, w, <*>?. vijhnpgdpaof Kancbif Pall* K,

ika f VaJsh. 1 chary a, 158f,164. ,
2, U7, , Vi*hnnvv4fean* Qbalukya (3,), 206.

. Tribe. 44,45. Vlrabbadrl, alleged ill-treatment

of, 42i.

Vittalaswami temple, 806. , . M
Vishnu, ref. to in early Tamil Lit,,
261.

genealogical

tiill, 4, 164. .

_-.-,. ),flifllij Of .PftP

tb|n~origip of Pallava* diKUf i-
t lft6-J7,
~ 51$) battle-field, 64.

Pall. K,, Wanaf,292.

. - Jjar JSmpire* ik ,

'and significance, 298 f ,-817.
social and political reconttroc-
. _tton under, 299-306, Yadavaprak&te, 282, 283.

under, 806. Yagfii-SrI BStakarni, indbra K.,

. f , . 9
YSmuDachirya (Ilavtndar), 280-

of learning under, Yapipatuna (Jaffna), 98.

; * . . Yavana woman in early Tamil

;of, ber Soyereignflj , courU, 880.

f , Yavanai, 161, 880 f.. 831, 844, 845.

Pall. King, Yoghiba (Tirupin Ajvar), Yaith.

f Saint, 267, 268 f.
life of, 269.

\\88e