Origin of Pallava
Encyclopedia
 Pallava kingdom c.645 CE during Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I was a Tamil king of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630–668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mahabalipuram.... |
|
| Official language Official language An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a... s |
Tamil Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore... |
| Capital | Kanchipuram Kanchipuram Kanchipuram, or Kanchi, is a temple city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district... |
| Government | Monarchy Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected... |
| Preceding state | Satavahana Satavahana The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward... , Kalabhras Kalabhras The Kalabhras dynasty ruled over the entire Ancient Tamil country between the 3rd and the 6th century in an era of South Indian history called the Kalabhra interregnum. The Kalabhras displaced the kingdoms of the early Cholas, early Pandayan and Chera dynasties. Information about its origin and... |
| Succeeding states | Cholas, Chalukya |
The Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
were a Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
who ruled the Northern Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
and Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
with their capital at Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram, or Kanchi, is a temple city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district...
for a period of about six hundred years from the early 4th century CE until the end of the 9th century.Kambar mentions Pallava King in Silaiezhupathu. Silaiezhubadhu tells that pallava is sambu kothram . Silaiezhupathu was written in front of the Pallava King.
Tamil ancestry
The word Pallava means "branch or twig" in SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and "a province of" or "a shared" (in general) and "raining (bliss), famous, bards, rock-men (hill tribe), embossed, peacock feather" (variant meanings) in archaic Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. The word is rendered as Tondaiyar in Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
meaning "in continuum". The Pallava kings at several places are called Thondaimans or Thondaiyarkon. One view is that in archaic Tamil Pallavar denotes "donors of (Jain) cave assemblies/niches-palli".
Karikala Chola
Karikala Chola or Karikala Chozhan was one of the great Tamil kings of Early Chola during the Sangam period. He was the son of Ilamcetcenni and ruled around 270 BC....
annexed the region now referred to as Tondaimandalam after overthrowing the Kurumbar/Kuruba
Kuruba
Kuruba / Kuruba Gowda or Kuruma is a caste of Hindus who mainly were shepherds in the past. The community is present in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. They are known as Dhangars in Maharashtra, Kurumba / Kurumans / Kurumbar in Tamil Nadu, Kuruba Gowda or Halumatha Gowda in...
sovereignty and gave it to his valiant son Aa-thondaimaan. The region henceforth came to be known after the king Aa-thondaimaan.
Thus the Pallavas were an offshoot of the Cholas. Thus the dynasty is named Pallava derived from the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word Pallavam means bud, branch refers to the separate branch of dynasty founded by the Karikala Chola
Karikala Chola
Karikala Chola or Karikala Chozhan was one of the great Tamil kings of Early Chola during the Sangam period. He was the son of Ilamcetcenni and ruled around 270 BC....
's son Aa-thondaimaan Ilanthiraiyan in early 2nd century.
The presence of Sangam Cholas in the present South Telugu country is indicated from the mentioning of Vengadanadu(Tholkappiyam) and Kaariyaaru (Purananooru). The fact that Tamil was the popular language or at least lingua franca in the 2nd century Satavahana kingdom is indicated in the legends of Vashishtiputra's coins. Traditionally Kanchi is considered to be the homeland of Pallavas, as though they asserted themselves on the collapse of the Satavahana power, they never had or moved the capital into the old Satavahana states, and might have annexed a part of Chola territory by 250 C.E. And the epithet Tondai remained and their territory also came to be called Thondaimandalam literally meaning the region of Thondaimaan in Tamil. R. Sathainathaier seems to connect the Pallavas with ancient Pulindas, who according him, were identical to the Kurumbas/Kuruba
Kuruba
Kuruba / Kuruba Gowda or Kuruma is a caste of Hindus who mainly were shepherds in the past. The community is present in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. They are known as Dhangars in Maharashtra, Kurumba / Kurumans / Kurumbar in Tamil Nadu, Kuruba Gowda or Halumatha Gowda in...
s of Tondamandalam.
Sri Lankan origin
Tamil literatureTamil literature
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
relates the story of Chola king Killivalavan
Killivalavan
Killivalavan was a Tamil king of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature, and of a period close to that of Nedunkilli and Nalankilli. We have no definite details about this Chola or his reign. The only information we have is from the fragmentary poems of Sangam in the Purananuru.- Sources...
who moved his capital to Uraiyar after the destruction of the Chola capital of Puhar. Mudaliyar C. Rasanayagam of Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
claims that Killi Valavan had a liaison with the daughter of Naga
Naga people
The term Naga people refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland...
king Valaivanam of Manipallavanam (in Jaffna
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
) in Ceylon. From this union was born a child who was named Tondaiman Ilantirayan whom his father, Killi Valavan, made the ruler of a territory which was named Tondamandalam with capital at Kanchi. It is pointed out that name Pallava derives from the last syllable of Manipallavanam ....the land of prince’s mother.