THE REGIONAL KINGDOMS OF EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIAantecedents are unknown. Some historians maintain that their origin
could be traced to the Pahlava (Parthians) of northwestern India. But it is
more likely that their name is derived from the Sanskrit equivalent
(pallava, meaning ‘leaves’, ‘foliage’) of the Tamil word tondai which
designates their original domain: Tondaimandalam. On the other hand
there is a legend that the first Pallava was a stranger who married a
native Naga princess. The Nagas (snakes) are symbols of fertility and
indigenous power. Similar stories of the rise of Hindu dynasties abound
also in Southeast Asia.
The Pallavas certainly did not belong to the ancient tribal lineages of the
Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras and they owed their rise to their defeat of the
Kalabhras who had crushed these old lineages. Perhaps the Pallavas would
never have been able to gain supremacy over these ancient lineages if the
Kalabhras had not paved the way for them. King Simhavishnu, the founder
of the Pallava dynasty, extended his realm after defeating the Kalabhras to
the north up to the mouth of the Krishna and to the south into the heart of
the Chola country in the Kaveri valley. Under his successors,
Mahendravarman and Narasimhavarman, the Pallavas confronted the
Chalukyas.
Mahendravarman has the reputation of a very talented ruler who
composed Sanskrit poetry and constructed the first great Hindu cave
temples of southern India. It is said that he had adhered to Jainism
originally but was then converted to Shivaism by Appar, one of the early
Bhakti saints. Narasimhavarman who was also known as Mahamalla
(Great Wrestler) was associated with the construction of the port
Mahabalipuram (Mahamallapuram). Some of the most beautiful rock
temples there, especially the ‘Rathas’, and the huge relief of the ‘Descent
of the Ganga’ were completed during his reign. But the greatest builder of
the Pallavas was Narasimhavarman II (c. 680–720) who is supposed to
have ordered the construction of the two magnificent Shiva temples, the
Shore Temple of Mahabalipuram and the Kailasanath Temple of
Kanchipuram. The southern style of the temple tower, a steep pyramid,
was perfected here and was soon transmitted to Southeast Asia,
especially to Java, where temples of the Pallava style were constructed
only a few decades later.
Kanchipuram flourished as the royal capital of the Pallavas and though
they were Hindus they also extended their patronage to the Buddhists. The
Chinese monk Xuanzang who visited the Pallava kingdom in the reign of
Narasimhavarman I reported that there were about 100 monasteries with
10,000 monks all studying Mahayana Buddhism. To the south of
Kanchipuram there was a large monastery which was visited by many
foreign scholars who wished to participate in learned debates. Xuanzang
also saw eighty Hindu temples in Kanchipuram, and he also reported that
down south in the Chola country Buddhism was nearly extinct: