further information see Fred Clothey,
“Pilgrimage Centers in the Tamil
Cultus of Murukan,” in Journal of the
American Academy of Religion,Vol. 40,
No. 1 (1972).
Palanquin
Platform or litter supported by poles on
the shoulders of two or more men, and
used as a respectful way to carry some-
thing or someone in procession. A
palanquin can be used to carry the
image of a deityin a ritual procession, or
an ascetic leader or spiritual teacher
(guru) by his (or more rarely, her) disci-
ples, or the sandals (padukas) or other
possessionsconnected with one’s spiri-
tual leader, as in the Varkari Panth’spil-
grimage to Pandharpur.
Pallava Dynasty
(6th–9th c.) Southern Indian dynasty
whose capital was at the city of
Kanchipuram, and which ruled over
much of the southern Indian peninsula
between the sixth and ninth centuries.
The greatest Pallava rulers were king
Mahendravarmanand his successors
Narasimhavarman Iand II. The reign
of the Pallava dynasty was marked by
the explosion of southern Indian cul-
ture: the development of Tamil litera-
ture, the devotional (bhakti) religious
fervor of the groups known as the Alvars
and the Nayanars, and the magnificent
religious monuments at Mahabalipuram.
Throughout much of its existence the
Pallava empire carried on a running bat-
tle with the Chalukya and Pandya
Dynasties, neither of which could pre-
vail against it, but it was eventually
absorbed by the next great southern
Indian empire, the Chola dynasty. See
also Tamil languageand Tamil epics.Palm Leaves
Until commercially produced paper
became readily available, palm leaves
were the most common writing medium
in traditional India. The palm leaves
were cut into narrow strips held together
by a cord (sutra) running through a hole
punched in the middle of the leaf. Palm
leaf books usually had a top and bottom
made from strips of wood, to protect the
leaves, and these covers were often
ornately decorated. The fragile nature of
these palm leaves made regular copying
necessary to preserve manuscripts, even
though such frequent copying generally
introduced errors. If left untended, the
life span of a manuscript was at most
fifty years, due to the deteriorations
caused by the climate and the damage
from a species of termite known as
“white ants,” which fed on palm leaves.
See also pustaka.Pan
See betel.Pancha Dravida
Collective name for the five main south-
ern Indian brahmin communities,
whose names largely correspond to the
regions in which they live: the GujaratisPalanquin
A palanquin is used to carry images of a
temple’s deity in ritual processions.