The Pallavas

About the Book:-The author reveals that he does not know if any writer has so far attempted to ascertain what kind of art flourished at the time of the first kings of the Pallava dynasty. That is what we shall try to determine in this book. There is a document which is particularly important for a study of the early history of the Pallavas; it is the Viripara plates discovered at Mayidavdlu, a village situated at a distance of 12 miles from Narasaraopet in the Gunttur district which lies on the southern bank of the Krishna. There is no doubt that this prince belongs to the dynasty whose history we are studying, for it is expressly stated that Sivaskandavarman lived at Kanchi, and was of the family of the Pallavas and of Bharadvaja Gotra. The Pallavas have thus succeeded the Andhras on the banks of the Krishna; but how long after and at what epoch? The Andhra dynasty came to an end about 236 A.D. There is nothing, however, to prove that the Pallavas did not succeed the Andhras many years earlier at Amaravati, and that the prince Sivaskandavarman was not the contemporary of the last Andhra kings whose kingdom had now become much smaller.

Edizione: 1917