Simhavishnu also known as Avanisimha , son of Simhavarman III

Simhavarman III

Simhavarman III was a ruler of the Pallava dynasty who reigned in the first half of the 6th century AD. He is the father and predecessor of Simhavishnu. There are no remnants or inscriptions from his reign. The only source of information about Simhavarman III is a genealogy given in the Vayalur...

 and one of 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...

 kings of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond 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...

 (Kanchi) in the South. He was portrayed as a great conqueror in Mattavilasa Prahasana

Mattavilasa Prahasana

Mattavilasa Prahasana , is a short one-act Sanskrit play. It is one of the two great one act plays written by scholar King Mahendravarman I in the beginning of the seventh century....

(drunken revelry), a drama written by his son Mahendravarman I

Mahendravarman I

Mahendravarman I was a Pallava king who ruled the Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was the son of Simhavishnu, who defeated the Kalabhras and re-established the Pallava kingdom....

.

Reign

Hero stone

Hero stone

Hero stone is a memorial commemorating the honorable death of a hero in battle of Tamil People. A hero stone can display a variety of adornments, including bas relief panels, statues, and figures of carved stone...

s of the reigns of Simhavishnu and his father Simhavarman show his highest regnal year to be the thirty-third, and on this basis he ruled for over 33 years. However, there is no exact consensus as to Simhavishnu's period on the throne. Recent epigraphical evidence supports the period of 537–570 CE, whereas older generation historians like T.V. Mahalingam claimed it to be 575–615 CE. KAN Sastri tentatively places Simhavishnu's reign between 555–590 CE.

Expansion of Kingdom

When Simhavishnu ascended the throne, the Pallava dynasty was beginning to reassert its supremacy. His father Simhavarman was an accomplished militarist who according to a grant by Rajasimha Pallava (Narasimhavarman II

Narasimhavarman II

Narasimhavarman II or Rajasimha was a Pallava king who ruled in South India during the 6th century. Succeeding his father Paramesvaravarman I in the year 700 CE, he ruled for nearly 3 decades, until he was succeeded by his son Paramesvaravarman II in 728 CE.-Ascension to the throne:By the time...

) in the 8th century AD, had destroyed the town and army of Ranarasika, a Chalukyan king of the Deccan.

The southern peninsula of India was then ruled by five dynasties. The Pallavas, the Cholas and the Pandyas shared the power in 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...

, 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...

, parts of southern and eastern Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 border and Ceylon; the Cheras controlled Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 and the Chalukyas controlled Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

. Simhavishnu, who was known for his gallant martial courage and judicial wisdom from a young age, overthrew the 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...

 and conquered the region up to Kaveri, where he came into conflict with the Pandyas and Ceylon. He dispatched a naval expedition and occupied Malaya and Sri Lanka and established Kanchipuram as his capital. The presence of the Pallavas, much before further naval expeditions to Indo-China by their illustrious succeeding and contemporary empires such as the Pandiyans and the Cholas, is attested by the existence of specimen of art bearing striking resemblance in countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, as well as scores of inscriptions in those lands in the Grantha script (a script in which both Tamil and Sanskrit can be written) in which the Pallavas were the first to specialize. **

Simhavishnu led the revival of the Pallavas, and the period starting with him came to be known as the Greater Pallavas or Later Pallavas dynasty. The great struggle between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas, which would last for more than two centuries, began during the reign of Simhavishnu.

Contribution to Literature

Simhavishnu is known to have been the patron of 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...

 poet Bharavi

Bharavi

Bharavi was a Sanskrit poet known for his Mahakavya , the Kirātārjunīya in 18 cantos based on an episode from the Mahabharata.-Time and place:...

, who wrote of the duel between Siva and Arjuna

Arjuna

Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...

 known as Kirata Arjuneeya, after which Lord Shiva blessed Arjuna with the divine 'Pasupata' missile. The structure of Bharavi's play suggests that it was written for koodiyattam

Koodiyattam

Koodiyattam or Kutiyattam is a form of Sanskrit theatre traditionally performed in the state of Kerala, India. Performed in the Sanskrit language in Hindu temples, it is believed to be 2,000 years old...

plays for worship in temples during festivals. Kirata Arjuneeya is used as a subject for koodiyattam performances even today.

Religious affiliation

As with most Indian monarchs, Simhavishnu also accepted his servility to the Almighty. Great endowments were given to temples across the Tamil region. His father Simhavarma also may have entered the Tamil pantheon of Saivite saints who had gained mukti at the feet of the lord.

Periyapuranam mentions a Pallava ruler, Aiyatikal Kaadavarkon, who at Chidambaram

Chidambaram

Chidambaram is a fast growing industrial city in Eastern part of Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. It is located in 58 km from Pondicherry, 60 km from Karaikal, and 240 km south of Chennai by rail...

 composed hymns in praise of the Lord in venpaa metre of Tamil and attained mukti. There is evidence that this could have been Simhavarman, as it is said that he had first gilded the temple with gold after bathing in the temple tank cured him of illness.

In the Udayendiram copper plates

Tamil Copper-plate inscriptions

Tamil copper-plate inscriptions are copper-plate records of grants of villages, plots of cultivable lands or other privileges to private individuals or public institutions by the members of the various South Indian royal dynasties. The study of these inscriptions, has been especially important in...

 of Nandivarman II

Nandivarman II

Nandivarman II was a Pallava ruler who ruled in South India.-Ascension to the Throne:In A.D 731, the Pallava king Parameswaravarman died without any heir and hence the Pallava empire was kingless...

, Simhavishnu was a devotee of Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

. This is a noteworthy point as his son Mahendravarman I was a Jaina

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

 who opposed all the Saivaite practices before being converted to Saivism. Simhavishnu's portrait can be seen in the stone engraving at the Adivaraha Mandap

Varaha Cave Temple

Varaha Cave Temple, an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century, is a rock-cut cave temple located at Mamallapuram, is a finest testimonial of anciest Vishwakarma Sthapathis, a tiny village south of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India...

, an elegant shrine at Mahabalipuram. The monuments and temples in Mahabalipuram are achievements of the Pallava dynasty, and they still exist in 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...

. Simhavishnu was succeeded by his son Mahendravarman I

Mahendravarman I

Mahendravarman I was a Pallava king who ruled the Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was the son of Simhavishnu, who defeated the Kalabhras and re-established the Pallava kingdom....

.