Kanchipuram Tamil Nadu India

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.

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

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.

Mahendravarman, king of Kanchi, ascends the Pallava dynasty’s throne in Kanchipuram in 600, inheriting an extensive southeast Indian kingdom bounded by the Krishna River on the north and the Kaveri River on the south.

Pulakesi turns south with his army following his defeat of Kalinga and Koshala, crosses the Krishna River, and marches on the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram.

Mahendravarman mounts a successful defense of his capital, but is forced to cede substantial northern territory to the Chalukya king.

The Pallava rulers of Kanchi trace their roots to Parthians who, according to some accounts, had quit the Ganges area to rule Dravidian-speaking regions as southern India’s first emperors, displacing an early Chola dynasty from a narrow strip of the east coast and establishing their capital at Kanchipuram.

The Pallava dynasty under Mahendravarma rules an extensive kingdom bounded by the Kaveri and Krishna rivers.

Chalukya king Pulakesi II, after conquering Koshala and Kalinga, turns south with his army, crosses, the Krishna River, and marches on the Pallava capital at Kanchipuram.

Although Mahendravarman successfully repels the attack, he is forced to cede extensive northern territories to the Chalukyas.

Narasimhavarman succeeds Pallava king Mahendravarman at the latter’s death in 630.

The inquisitive Xuanzang, after spending years in North India, proceeds in 643 to Kanchi, the imperial capital of the Pallavas and a strong center of Buddhism.

The Western Chalukyas have kept the Pallavas out of the Deccan since recapturing the temple-fort of Vatapi in 655.

The Eastern Chalukyas have meanwhile advanced south of Vengi into the Nellore district, thus confining the Pallavas to the narrow strip of formerly Andhra coast from which they had launched their assaults three decades earlier.

In 670, the Chalukyas capture and partly destroy the Pallavan capital at Kanchipuram, sacred to Hindus as “the Benares of the south.”

The Pallavas, their dynasty intact, eventually reoccupy the capital, but refrain from major actions against their northern neighbors.

Immediately after coming to power, Vikramaditya II sees an opportunity in the ensuing civil war in Kanchipuram and espouses the cause of Chitramaya, against that of Nandivarman II.

Vikramaditya II fights many battles with the Pallavas and wins three important victories, occupying Kanchipuram on these occasions.

Around 730, as the Chalukya crown prince, assisted by the Western Ganga Dynasty prince Ereyappa, he attacks the Pallava Paramesvaravarman II.

The Pallava king has to sue for peace at a great financial loss to his kingdom.

The Pallava king subsequently try to mount a counterattack upon the Ganga ally King Sripurusha (731), but he is killed in the battle of Vilande.

Sripurusha seizes the king’s insignia, the royal umbrella, and earns the title Permanadi.

Though this victory to the Chalukyas had happened during the rule of King Vijayaditya, the records of the Chalukya monarchs give full credit to Vikramaditya II.

The Pallavas’ capital at Kanchipuram is again overthrown in 742 during their long and sporadic conflict with the western Chalukyas under Vikramaditya II, initiating the slow decline of the dynasty.