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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Mahendravarman I

Pallava king of Kanchi (about 600–630), son of Simhavishnu. In his reign the Chalukya Pulakesin II took Vengi and the Pallava provinces of the Guntur and Nellore country, though Mahendravarman defended Kanchi. Some of his surnames in his cave inscriptions in the Tamil country are Telugu. This led Jouveau-Dubreuil to argue that his family and his cave style came from the Telugu country.

Mahendravarman I ruled at Kanchi at the beginning of the 7th century. R. Gopalan dated his reign about 600–630.1 For the Telugu country his reign marks the end of Pallava rule north of the Nellore district.23 In his time the Chalukyas of Badami took Vengi and the Guntur country.23

Family

Mahendravarman I was the son of Simhavishnu. The Kasakudi, Kuram and Velurpalayam plates give the line Simhavishnu, Mahendravarman I, Narasimhavarman I.4 Reliefs in the Adivaraha cave at Mamallapuram, labelled with their names, show Simhavishnu and Mahendravarman with their queens.51 His son and successor was Narasimhavarman I.4

G. Jouveau-Dubreuil suggested that Simhavishnu married a daughter of a Vishnukundin king named Vikramahendra.6 In his view Simhavishnu named his son Mahendravikrama after the boy’s grandfather on his mother’s side.6 Gopalan rejected this, because it rested only on a likeness of names.78 His editor pointed out that the two names were formed differently.78

The loss of the north

The Aihole inscription of the Chalukya Pulakesin II records his march down the east coast.910 He took Pishtapura (Pithapuram) and ravaged “the water of Kunala”, which F. Kielhorn identified with the Kolleru lake.910 The Pallava king had opposed the rise of Pulakesin’s power.910 In the inscription’s words, Pulakesin “caused the splendour of the lord of the Pallavas … to be obscured by the dust of his army, and to vanish behind the walls of Kanchipura”.910

J. F. Fleet had already quoted this passage in 1876.11 Gopalan noted that the Kasakudi plates credit Mahendravarman with a victory at Pullalura, near Kanchi, and thought it was over the Chalukyas.2

The sources agree that the Pallavas lost their Telugu provinces at this time:

  • Robert Sewell wrote in 1884 that “early in the seventh century the Pallavas were driven out of their northern possessions, the Kingdom of Vengi, by Kubja Vishnuvardhana”.12
  • Gopalan wrote that Pulakesin II “made himself Master of Vengi which till then was under the Pallavas”, and placed his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana there.2
  • Jouveau-Dubreuil concluded that Mahendravarman kept Kanchi but “lost the districts of Guntur and Nellore which remained in the hands of the Chalukyas”.3
  • Sewell and Aiyangar’s chronology of 1932 has Pulakesin II drive Mahendravarman out of the northern Telugu country.13
  • The Nellore gazetteer of 1942 thought that one Chalukya army attacked Kanchi and another the northern part of the Pallava kingdom, Nellore and North Arcot.14

Telugu surnames and the Krishna caves

Mahendravarman carved cave temples in the Tamil country and wrote his many surnames in them.1516 Some of these, such as Nilvilanayambu, Pasarambu and Ventulavittu, are Telugu.1516

Jouveau-Dubreuil argued in 1917 that Mahendravarman had Telugu names “because he or his father perhaps reigned over the Telugu country”.176 He held that the Pallavas of the late 6th century ruled the Guntur and Nellore districts.176 In his view Mahendravarman learnt his taste for rock-cut temples on the banks of the Krishna.176 He found the cave temples at Undavalli entirely in Mahendravarman’s style, but credited them to the Vishnukundins, not to the Pallavas.1819

Gopalan found no clear evidence that Mahendravarman’s style was borrowed from the Krishna caves.8 He thought the origin of the Undavalli caves was still unsettled.8

The name of Mahendravarman was borrowed beyond the Pallava kingdom.20 Sewell and Aiyangar dated the Telugu Cholas of Renandu on an assumption about one of their chiefs, Mahendra.20 They assumed that he was named after Mahendravarman I.20

Footnotes

  1. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 88 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 89 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 69 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 83 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 87 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 77 and editor’s note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 78 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. F. Kielhorn, “Aihole Inscription of Pulikesin II”, Epigraphia Indica VI (1900–01), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Kielhorn, “Aihole Inscription of Pulikesin II” (1901), p. 11, translation of verses 27–29 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. J. F. Fleet, “Sanskrit and Old-Canarese Inscriptions, No. XII”, Indian Antiquary V (1876), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Robert Sewell, Lists of Inscriptions, and Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India (1884), p. 212 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (1942), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  16. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas (1928), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), pp. 27–28 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), p. 30 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Dynasties

Pallavas

c. 250–900 CE

Dynasty of Kanchi (Kanchipuram) whose kings held the Telugu country south of the Krishna for much of the 4th to 7th centuries CE. Their earliest charters, in Prakrit, were sent from Kanchi to an officer at Dhanyakataka near Amaravati. A later line issued Sanskrit grants of villages in the Guntur and Nellore country from camps such as Palakkada and Dasanapura. The Chalukyas took Vengi and the Guntur country early in the 7th century. But Pallava kings still granted villages in Nellore until about 700, and their vassals held parts of Chittoor and Rayalaseema until the Chola conquest about 900.

References

Sources (8)
  1. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI (1900–01) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1901, pp. 2, 11. F. Kielhorn, Aihole Inscription of Pulikesin II. [Public domain]
  2. James Burgess (ed.), The Indian Antiquary, Vol. V (1876) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1876, pp. 51. J. F. Fleet. [Public domain]
  3. Robert Sewell, Archaeological Survey of Southern India, Vol. II: Lists of Inscriptions, and Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India (Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. II) (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1884, pp. 212. [Public domain]
  4. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil (tr. V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), The Pallavas (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry, 1917, pp. 27–35. [Public domain]
  5. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 69–70. [Public domain]
  6. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1928, pp. 77–78, 83, 88–91. [Public domain]
  7. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 21–22. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  8. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 32. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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