Pallavas of Kanchi, Kingdom of the

The Pallavas, feudatories of the Andhra Satavahanas, had become independent after the decline of the latter at Amaravati around 220.

Manchikallu, Mayidavoiu, Darsi and Ongolu had been the centers of their activity at the beginning of their rule.

The Pallavas had gradually moved southwards and established their capital at Kanchipuram, one of the oldest cities in South India, by the second quarter of the fourth century CE.

Skandavarman, who seems to have been the first great ruler of the early Pallavas, performing the Aswametha and other Vedic sacrifices, extends his dominions from the Krishna in the north to the Pennar in the south and to the Bellary district in the West.

Konganivarman Madhava, the founding king of the Karnataka region’s Western Ganga dynasty, makes Kolar his capital around 350.

There is controversy as to whether the Western Gangas were an independent kingdom or a feudatory to the Pallavas during the early decades of their rule from Kolar.

Like their contemporaries, the Kadambas of Banavasi, the Western Gangas also may have taken advantage of the confusion caused by the campaigns of Samudragupta in South India and created an independent kingdom.

Mayurasharma (or Mayurasharman, Mayuravarma), a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda (in modern Shimoga district), establishes the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi (near Talagunda), the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India, in 345, taking the name of Mayuravarma to emphasize his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya caste.

Until this time, the centers of power ruling the land have been outside of the Karnataka region; thus the Kadambas' ascent to power as an independent geopolitical entity, with Kannada, the indigenous tongue, as a major regional language, is a landmark event.

The earliest Kannada language inscriptions are attributed to the Kadambas of Banavasi.

Some scholars postulate that the rise of Mayurasharma against the Pallava hold over the Talagunda region was actually a successful rebellion of Brahmins against the domination of the Kshatriya power as wielded by the Pallavas of Kanchi; others believe that Mayurasharma's rebellion had been well timed to coincide with the defeat of Pallava Vishnugopa by the southern invasion of Samudragupta of northern India.

In an effort to rejuvenate the ancient Brahminic faith and to perform the royal rituals and the related functions of the government, Mayurasharma imports many learned Vaidika Brahmins from Ahichchathra in northern India.

Samudragupta's expedition of 350 CE defeats Pallava ruler Vishnugopa (350-355 CE), signaling the beginning of the eclipse of Pallava power.

Some Indonesian peoples probably began writing on perishable materials at an earlier date, but the first stone inscriptions (in Sanskrit, using an early Pallava script from southern India) date from the end of the fourth century CE (in the eastern Kalimantan locale of Kutai) and from the early or mid-fifth century CE (in the western Java polity known as Taruma).

These inscriptions offer a glimpse of leaders newly envisioning themselves not as mere chiefs (datu) but as kings or overlords (raja, maharaja), taking Indian names and employing first Brahmanical Hindu, then Buddhist, concepts and rituals to invent new traditions justifying their rule over newly conceived social and political hierarchies.

In addition, Chinese records from about the same time provide scattered, although not always reliable, information about a number of other "kingdoms" on Sumatra, Java, southwestern Kalimantan, and southern Sulawesi, which, in the expanding trade opportunities of the early fifth century, have begun to compete with each other for advantage, but we know little else about them.

Historians have commonly understood these very limited data to indicate the beginnings of the formation of "states," and later "empires" in the archipelago, but use of such terms is problematic.

We understand that small and loosely organized communities consolidated and expanded their reach, some a great deal more successfully than others, but even in the best-known cases we do not have sufficient specific knowledge of how these entities actually worked to compare them confidently with, for example, the states and empires of the Mediterranean region during the same period or earlier.

More generalized terms, such as "polities" or "hegemonies," are suggestive of social and political models that are more applicable.

Another Sinhalese king praised in the Mahavamsa is Dhatusena (459-77), who, in the fifth century CE, liberates Anuradhapura from a quarter-century of Pandyan rule.

The king is also honored as a generous patron of Buddhism and as a builder of water storage tanks.

Dhatusena is killed by his son, Kasyapa (477-95), who is regarded as a great villain in Sri Lankan history.

In fear of retribution from his exiled brother, the parricide moves the capital from Anuradhapura to Sigiriya, a fortress and palace perched on a monolithic rock one hundred and eighty meters high.

Although the capital is returned to Anuradhapura after Kasyapa is dethroned, Sigiriya is an architectural and engineering feat displayed in an inaccessible redoubt.

The rock fortress eventually falls to Kasyapa' s brother, who receives help from an army of Indian mercenaries.

The Tamil threat to the Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms becomes very real in the fifth and sixth centuries CE.

Three Hindu empires in southern India—the Pandya, Pallava, and Chola—are becoming more assertive.

The Sinhalese perception of this threat intensifies because in India, Buddhism—vulnerable to pressure and absorption by Hinduism—has already receded.

Tamil ethnic and religious consciousness also matures during this period.

In terms of culture, language, and religion, the Tamils have identified themselves as Dravidian, Tamil, and Hindu, respectively.

Pallava king Simhavarman IV, who ascends the throne in 436 CE, restores the fallen prestige of the Pallavas during his reign.

He recovers the territories lost to the Vishnukundins in the north up to the mouth of the Krishna.

The early Pallava history from this period onward is furnished by a dozen or so copper-plate grants in Sanskrit, all dated in the regnal years of the kings.

India has fallen into anarchy following the collapse of the Gupta empire and decline of the Kadamba Dynasty.

The small states of the Deccan Plateau begin warring with one another for regional control, where one Jayasimha ("victory-lion") had established rule over a small kingdom, founding the Chalukya dynasty, with its capital in Badami.

The Chalukya dynasty begins pressuring to control territories on India’s northwest coast.

South India’s Western Ganga Dynasty, with their capital in Talakad, had in 470 gained control over the Kongu region in modern Tamil Nadu, and the Sendraka (modern Chikkamagaluru and Belur), Punnata and Pannada regions (comprising modern Heggadadevanakote and Nanjangud) in modern Karnataka.

King Durvinita had ascended the throne in 529 after waging a war with his younger brother, who his father, King Avinita, had favored.

Some accounts suggest that in this power struggle, the Pallavas of Kanchi had supported Avinita's choice of heir and the Badami Chalukya King Vijayaditya supported his father-in-law, Durvinita.

It is known from the inscriptions that these battles had been fought in Tondaimandalam and Kongu regions (northern Tamil Nadu) prompting historians to suggest that Durvinita fought the Pallavas successfully.

Considered the most successful of the Ganga kings, Durvinita is well versed in arts such as music, dance, ayurveda, and the taming of wild elephants.

Some inscriptions sing paeans to him by comparing him to Yudhishtira and Manu—figures from Hindu mythology known for their wisdom and fairness.

During Durvinita's rule, the hostilities between the Pallavas and Gangas had come to the fore and the two kingdoms have fought several pitched battles, but Durvinita had defeated the Pallavas in the battle of Anderi.

Though the Pallavas had sought the assistance of the Kadambas to the north to tame Durvinita, the Gummareddipura inscription states that Durvinita had overcome his enemies at Alattur, Porulare and Pernagra.

It is possible that these victories enabled him to extend his power over the Kongudesa and Tondaimandalam regions of Tamil country.

He may have also made Kittur his capital.

Although the early Gangas are worshipers of Vishnu, Durvinita has a Jaina guru called Pujyapada and his court is attended by several Jaina scholars.