Pandyan Kingdom

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பாண்டியர்
Pandyas

Extent of the Pandya Territories c. 1250 C.E.
Official language Tamil
Capitals Korkai
Madurai
Government Monarchy
Preceding state Kalabhras
Succeeding states Delhi Sultanate,Vijayanagar, Nayaks of Madurai,

The Pandyan Kingdom (Tamil: பாண்டியர்) was an ancient Tamil state in South India. The Pandyas, Chola, Chera and Pallava Dynasties are the four Tamil Dynasties which ruled South India till the 15th century CE. They initially ruled from Korkai, a seaport on the Southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai. Pandyan was well known since the ancient period, with contacts, even diplomatic, reaching the Roman Empire; during the 13th century of the Christian era Marco Polo mentioned it as the richest kingdom in existence[1].

The Pandyan Kingdom of Southern India is believed to have been founded around five to six centuries before the Christian Era. Their recorded existence and mention are found in records dating to as early as 550 BC. Emperor Augustus of Rome at Antioch knew of the Pandion of Dramira and received a Pandyan ambassador with letters and gifts from this ancient Tamil Kingdom. Strabo described an ambassador to emperor Augustus Caesar from a South Indian King called Pandion. The country of the Pandyas, Pandi Mandala, was described as Pandionis Mediterranea by Periplus and Modura Regia Pandionis by Ptolemy[2].

The early Pandyan Dynasty of the Sangam Literature went into obscurity during the invasion of the Kalabhras. The dynasty revived under Kadungon in the early 6th century, pushed the Kalabhras out of the Tamil country and ruled from Madurai[3]. They again went into decline with the rise of the Cholas in the 9th century and were in constant conflict with them. The Pandyas allied themselves with the Sinhalese and the Cheras in harassing the Chola empire until they found an opportunity for reviving their fortunes during the late 13th century.

The Later Pandyas (1150-1350)entered their golden age under Maravman Sundara Pandiyan and Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan (c. 1251), who expanded the empire into Telugu country, conquered Kalinga (Orissa) and invaded and conquered Sri Lanka. They also had extensive trade links with the Southeast Asian maritime empires of Srivijaya and their successors. During their history, the Pandyas were repeatedly in conflict with the Pallavas, Cholas, Hoysalas and finally the Muslim invaders from the Delhi Sultanate. The Pandyan Kingdom finally became extinct after the establishment of the Madurai Sultanate in the 16th century.

The Pandyas excelled in both trade and literature from before the Christian Era. They controlled the pearl fisheries along the South Indian coast, between Sri Lanka and India, which produced some of the finest pearls known in the known ancient world. Tradition holds that the legendary Sangams were held in Madurai under their patronage, and that some of the Pandya Kings were poets themselves.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

Historians have used several sources to identify the origins of the early Pandyan dynasty with the pre-Christian Era and also to piece together the names of the Pandyan kings. Unfortunately, the exact genealogy of these kings has not been authoritatively established yet.

[edit] Sources

Main article: Early Pandyan Kingdom

[edit] Sangam Literature

Four-armed Vishnu, Pandya Dynasty, 8-9th century CE.

Various Pandya kings find mention in a number of poems in the Sangam Literature. Among them Nedunjeliyan, 'the victor of Talaiyalanganam', and Mudukudimi Peruvaludi 'of several sacrifices' deserve special mention. Beside several short poems found in the Akananuru and the Purananuru collections, there are two major works — Mathuraikkanci and the Netunalvatai (in the collection of Pattupattu) — which give a glimpse into the society and commercial activities in the Pandyan kingdom during the Sangam age.

It is difficult to estimate the exact dates of these Sangam age Pandyas. The period covered by the extant literature of the Sangam is unfortunately not easy to determine with any measure of certainty. Except the longer epics Silapathikaram and Manimekalai, which by common consent belong to an age later than the Sangam age, the poems have reached us in the forms of systematic anthologies. Each individual poem has generally attached to it a colophon on the authorship and subject matter of the poem. The name of the king or chieftain to whom the poem relates and the occasion which called forth the eulogy are also found.

It is from these colophons, and rarely from the texts of the poems themselves, that we gather the names of many kings and chieftains and the poets and poetesses patronized by them. The task of reducing these names to an ordered scheme in which the different generations of contemporaries can be marked off one another has not been easy. To add to the confusions, some historians have even denounced these colophons as later additions and untrustworthy as historical documents.

Any attempt at extracting a systematic chronology from these poems should take into consideration the casual nature of these poems and the wide differences between the purposes of the anthologist who collected these poems and the historian’s attempts to arrive at a continuous history.

[edit] Epigraphy

The earliest Pandya to be found in epigraph is Nedunjeliyan, figuring in the Minakshipuram record assigned from the second to the first centuries BCE. The record documents a gift of rock-cut beds, to a Jain ascetic. Punch marked coins in the Pandya country dating from around the same time have also been found.

Pandyas are also mentioned in the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273 - 232 BCE). In his inscriptions Asoka refers to the peoples of south India — the Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas and Satiyaputras — as recipients of his Buddhist proselytism.[4][5] These kingdoms, although not part of the Mauryan Empire, were on friendly terms with Asoka:

"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka)." [6]

Kharavela, the Kalinga king who ruled during the second century BCE, in his Hathigumpha inscription, claims to have destroyed a confederacy of Tamil states (‘’Tamiradesasanghatam’’) which had lasted 132 years, and to have acquired a large quantity of pearls from the Pandyas.[5]

[edit] Foreign Sources

Coin of the Roman emperor Augustus found at the Pudukottai, South India.

Megasthenes knew of the Pandyan kingdom around 300 BC. He described it in Indika as occupying the portion of India which lies southward and extends to the sea. According to his account, it had 365 villages, each of which was expected to meet the needs of the royal household for one day in the year. He described the Pandyan queen at the time, Pandaia as a daughter of Heracles.[7].

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 60 - 100 CE) describes the riches of a 'Pandian Kingdom':

...Nelcynda is distant from Muziris by river and sea about five hundred stadia, and is of another Kingdom, the Pandian. This place also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the sea.... [8]

According to Hiuen-Tsang, the Pandya country was a depot for sea pearls, its people were harsh and of different religions. They were very good at trade[3].

The Chinese historian Yu Huan in his 3rd century text, the Weilüe, mentions The Kingdom of Panyue:

...The kingdom of Panyue is also called Hanyuewang. It is several thousand li to the southeast of Tianzhu (Northern India)...The inhabitants are small; they are the same height as the Chinese...[9]

The Roman emperor Julian received an embassy from a Pandya about 361. A Roman trading centre was located on the Pandyan coast at the mouth of the Vaigai river, southeast of Madurai).

Pandyas also had trade contacts with Ptolemaic Egypt and, through Egypt, with Rome by the first century, and with China by the 3rd century. The 1st century Greek historian Nicolaus of Damascus met, at Damascus, the ambassador sent by a king from Dramira "named Pandion or, according to others, Porus" to Caesar Augustus around 13 CE (Strabo XV.1-4, and Strabo XV.1-73).[10][11]

In 1288 and again in 1293 the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited the Pandyan kingdom and left a vivid description of the land and its people. Polo exclaimed that:

"The darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than the others who are not so dark. Let me add that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and their idols black and their devils white as snow. For they say that God and all the saints are black and the devils are all white. That is why they portray them as I have described."

Herodotus (484BCE – 425BCE) the Greek historian, in his work The Histories, mentions an unidentified Indian tribe called the Padaei[12]. James Rennell and others have commented on Herodotus' geographic and ethnographic description: the Padaei have been variously connected with inhabitants of the river Ganges, the river Paddur (between Kutch and Gujarat), Ladakh, and even Tamil Nadu or Sumatra; and whether they were really cannibals, as Herodotus said, may be doubted [13][14]. Some see in the ethnic the Sanskrit padja, 'evil'; others the Dravidian population of the Pandyas of Southern India[15]. All that can be inferred from the name is that certain Indians called tribes of their frontier by that name[16]. Nevertheless, Herodotus' story shaped the historically ambivalent attraction and repulsion of India for Europeans [17].

[edit] History

The earliest Tamil literary works, such as the Kalittokai, mention a continent called Kumari Nadu or Kumari Kandam, which was believed to have been located to the South of the present-day Kanyakumari tens of thousands of years ago, between the then Kumari and Pahruli rivers. Pandyan kings such as Chenkon, and the Cheras supposedly ruled this country, tens of thousands of years ago. They fought and defeated the Nagas, who might have been a non-Dravidian people, or another species of living beings. Kalittokai again mentions a war between the combined forces of Villavars and the Meenavars (the Cheras and the Pandyas), who fought a fierce war against the Nagas, their arch-enemies, eventually losing the war, and subsequently Central India to the Nagas. Bhil Meena of North India could be the equivalent rulers in North India.

Also, the Pandyas, along with the Cheras and the Cholas, find mention as one of the three ruling dynasties of the Southern region of the then Bharatavarsha, in the very ancient [Hindu] epic of the Ramayana.[18][19] They are also mentioned in the Aitareya Aranyaka, and the Mahabharata, where they are (along with the Cheras and the Cholas) believed to have been on the side of the Pandavas in the Great War.[20][21]

Although there are many instances of the Pandya Kingdom being referred to in surviving ancient Hindu texts including the Mahabharata, we currently have no way of determining a cogent genealogy of these ancient kings. In order to maintain verifiability of this article, the names of these early Pandya Kings have been omitted. We have a connected history of the Pandyas from the fall of Kalabhras during the middle of the 6th century. Kalittokai mentions that many ethnically different non Tamil Naga tribes such as Maravar, Eyinar, Oliar, Oviar, Aruvalur and Parathavar migrated to the Pandyan kingdom and started living there in the Third Tamil Sangam period 2000 years ago.[22]. The Pandyan kings had the title Maran.

The following lists of the Pandya kings are based on the authoritative A History of South India from the Early Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar by K.A.N. Sastri, Oxford U Press, New Delhi (Reprinted 1998).

[edit] Early Pandyas

Main article: Early Pandyan Kingdom

The following is a partial list of Pandyan emperors who ruled during the Sangam age:[23][24][25]

  • Nedunj Cheliyan I ( Aariyap Padai Kadantha Nedunj Cheliyan )
  • Pudappandiyan
  • Mudukudumi Paruvaludhi
  • Nedunj Cheliyan II
  • Nan Maran
  • Nedunj Cheliyan III ( Talaiyaalanganathu Seruvendra Nedunj Cheliyan )
  • Maran Valudi
  • Musiri Mutriya Cheliyan
  • Ukkirap Peruvaludi

[edit] First Empire

After the close of the Sangam age, the first Pandyan empire was established by Kadungon in the 6th century by defeating the Kalabhras. The following chronological list of the Pandya emperors is based on an inscription found on the Vaigai riverbeds.

After the defeat of the Kalabhras, the Pandya kingdom grew steadily in power and territory. With the Cholas in obscurity, the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas and the Pandyas, the river Kaveri being the frontier between them.

After Vijayalaya Chola conquered Thanjavur by defeating the Muttarayar chieftains around 850, the Pandyas went into a period of decline. They were constantly harassing their Chola overlords by occupying their territories. Parantaka Chola I invaded the Pandya territories and defeated Rajasinha III. However, the Pandyas reversed this defeat to regain most of their lost territories.

[edit] Under the Cholas

The Chola domination of the Tamil country began in earnest during the reign of Parantaka Chola II. Chola armies led by Aditya Karikala, son of Parantaka Chola II defeated Vira Pandya in battle. The Pandyas were assisted by the Sinhalese forces of Mahinda IVPandyas were driven out of their territories and had to seek refuge on the island of Sri Lanka. This was the start of the long exile of the Pandyas. They were replaced by a series of Chola viceroys with the title Chola Pandyas who ruled from Madurai from c. 1020.

The following list gives the names of the Pandya kings who were active during the 10th century and the first half of 11th century. It is difficult to give their dates of accession and the duration of their rule. Nevertheless, their presence in the southern country requires recognition.

[edit] Pandya Revival

A Pandya sculpture

The 13th century is the greatest period in the history of the Pandyan Empire. Their power reached its zenith under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan in the middle of the 13th century. The foundation for such a great empire was laid by Maravarman Sundara Pandya early in the 13th century.

[edit] Zenith followed by the end of Pandyas

The Pandyan kingdom was replaced by the Chola princes who assumed the title as Chola Pandyas in the 11th century. After being overshadowed by the Pallavas and Cholas for centuries, Pandyan glory was briefly revived by Maravaramban Sundara Pandyan and by (probably his younger brother or son) the much celebrated Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan in 1251. The Pandya power extended from the Telugu countries on banks of the Godavari river to the northern half of Sri Lanka. The revival of the Pandyan dynasty was to coincide with the gradual but steady decline of the Chola empire. The last two or three Chola kings who followed Kulothunga III were either very weak or incompetent. The Cholas of course did not lack valour but had been unable to stop the revival of the Pandiyan empire from the times of Maravaramban Sundara Pandyan, the revival of the Kadava Pallavas at Kanchi under Kopperinchunga I and indeed the growing power and status of the Telugu Cholas, the Renanti and the Irungola Cholas of the Telugu country; for the last three-named had been very trusted allies of the Cholas up to Kulothunga III, having helped him in conquering Kalinga. The marital alliance of Kulothunga III and one of his successors, Raja Raja III, with the Hoysalas did not yield any advantage, though (initially, at least) Kulothunga III took the help of the Hoysalas in countering the Pandiyan resurgence. Kulothunga III had even conquered Karur, Cheranadu in addition to Madurai, Ilam and Kalinga. However, his strength rested on support from Hoysalas, whose king Veera Ballala II was his son-in-law. However, Veera Ballala II himself had lost quite a bit of his territories between 1208-1212 to his local adversaries in Kannada country, like the Kalachuris, Seunas etc. The resurgent Pandiyans under Maravarman Sundara Pandiyan went to war against Kulothunga and first at Kandai and then near Manaparai on the outskirts of modern Tiruchirappalli, the Pandiyans routed the Chola army and entered Tiruchy, Srirangam and Thanjavur victorious in war. But it appears that in the Tiruchy and Srirangam areas, there was renewed control of the Cholas, presumably with the help of the Hoysalas under Vira Someswara with the Hoysalas later shifting their allegiance to the Pandyans either during the last years of Maravarman Sundara Pandyan or the early years of his successor Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan was a very brave, ambitious warrior king, who wanted to completely subjugate the Cholas. He initially tolerated the presence of the Hoysalas under Vira Someshwara with his son Visvanatha or Ramanatha ruling from Kuppam near Samayapuram on the outskirts of Srirangam. This was because other feudatories of the Hoysalas were also growing in power and threatening the Hoysala kingdom itself. Besides, the Muslim invasion of the Deccan had started under Malik Kafur. The challenged Hoysalas did have a foothold in and around Tiruchy and Srirangam for a few years and seemed to have indulged in some temple building activity at Srirangam also. But Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan, who challenged Rajendra III in 1276-79, seems to have first concentrated on strengthening himself with the help of the Hoysalas. He first vanquished the Kadava Pallavas under Kopperinchungan-II, who had challenged the Hoysala army stationed in and around Kanchi and killed a few of their commanders. This alliance of the Hoysalas and the Pandiyans seems to have antagonized Rajendra Chola III, who veered away from the Hoysalas. For a while the Kadava Pallavas and the Cholas came together, despite an earlier Chola, Raja Raja III, having been held in captivity by Kopperinchunga II and his release being secured by the Hoysalas.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan seized the opportunity with the Hoysalas being in Tiruchy and not having any ally, the rapidly weakening Cholas seeking alliance with the Kadava Pallavas who were themselves being threatened by the Telugu Cholas. In 1254 (or 1260) Jatavarman first dragged the Hoysalas into war by routing his son Ramanatha out of Tiruchy. Vira Someshwara Hoysala, who had given the control of the empire to his sons, had to come out of his slumber and tried to challenge Jatavarman. Between Samayapuram and Tiruchy, the armies of Vira Someshwara were routed with Vira Someshwara losing his life in this battle. This ended the presence of the Hoysalas in Tamil country. Jatavarman did not stop there: he went inside Kannada country after conquering Tiruchy and occupied parts of Hoysala territory up to the Konkana coast and established his son Vira Pandiyan as ruler of those territories. Temporarily, at least, the Hoysalas were in disarray in Kannada country itself.

Next the Pandiyan prince Jatavarman concentrated on completely wiping out the Chola empire. Rajadhiraja III had interfered in an earlier Pandiyan war of succession and defeated a confederation of Pandiyan princes. The predecessors of Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan had suffered at the time of the Chola invasion and he wanted to take revenge. This was his opportunity. Rajendra III had been counting on Hoysala assistance in case he was challenged by the Pandiyans, keeping in mind the earlier marital alliance of the Cholas with the Hoysalas. Unfortunately for Rajendra III, the Hoysalas had lost any claim to regional power in Kannada and the Tamil countries, as they had been wiped out of Tamizhagam and indeed lost territories inside Kannada country itself to Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan. Initially, Jatavarman consodlidated the Pandiyan hold on Tiruchy and Srirangam and marched towards Tanjore and Kumbakonam. The Chola capital of Gangaikondacholapuram, too, was not far from reach. During the years 1270-1276 it appeared that Rajendra III ruled mainly in and around Gangaikondacholapuram and Tanjore. Tiruchy and Srirangam had been lost to the Cholas forever, at least from 1254 AD. Though Rajendra III had been opposed to the Hoysalas due to their alliance with the Pandiyans, with new hostilities emerging between Hoysalas and the Pandiyans, Rajendra III had hoped for renewed friendship and military alliance with the Hoysalas. When challenged by Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan, the brave but tactically naive Rajendra III marched against the Pandiyans between Tanjore and Tiruchy, hoping for assistance and participation in war from the Hoysalas. However, the already vanquished Hoysalas were in a defensive position. They did not want to go to war and risk yet another defeat by the resurgent Pandiyans. Rajendra III, hopelessly isolated, was thoroughly routed and humiliated in this war, which is variously dated as between 1268-1270. The known rule of Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan is of course, up to 1268 only. Probably Rajendra III fled the battlefield and had continued in obscurity up to 1279 but without any of the erstwhile Chola territories. By 1280 AD, the Chola empire was no more.

On the death of Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I in 1308, a conflict stemming from succession disputes arose amongst his sons. Sundara Pandyan and Vira Pandyan fought each other for the throne. Sundara Pandyan however with the help of his loyal generals and Veera Ballala III was successful in supressing Vira Pandyan into a petty army chief with just 500 Maravars who was indeed supported for the throne by his father Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I and the people of madurai. Since then an uneasy truce existed between the two brothers. The Kingdom now under Sundara Pandyan revived its infrastructure and military strength to gain autonomy and drive out Hoysala Empire from its political affairs.

Scenarios changed during 1311, when Alauddin Khilji of Khilji dynasty sent his favourite slave general, Malik Kafur, on a buccaneering expedition to the kingdoms of the South. Malik Khafur was not seeking to expand the borders of the Delhi Sultanate; he was merely engaging in a military treasure-hunt on the Sultan's behalf. Malik's victory over Veera Ballala III and loot of hindu temples at Halebidu sent alarming bells to the Pandyan Kingdom. Kafur on the other hand, heard about the raised strength of the pandyan army and its defensive position within the walls of madurai was reluctant in carrying out his expedition further south. It was Alauddin Khilji himself ordered and sent reinforcements to Kafur to attack Madurai after hearing the richness of it via Veera Virupaksha Ballala who was sent to Delhi as an act of peace by his defeated father Veera Ballala III.

Being a strong Saivite, Sundara Pandyan was enraged by the destruction of the hindu temples by the invading muslim armies. He assembled his army and planned to march them at once to face the invading armies of the Delhi Sultanate. This idea was however opposed by Vira Pandyan who felt that taking a defensive position might be more advantageous. Sundara Pandyan ignored his words and ordered his army to march leaving Vira Pandyan to safeguard madurai with his men. The pandyan army managed to march well intact till Melaithirukattupalli. But their reliance on the river Kaveri as the water source turned disastrous as the river ran dry during the hot summer of 1311. The already exhausted pandyan army planned to march west in search of nearby water source. Their speed was drastically reduced due to the general's decision of marching on the dried beds of River Kaveri. Kafur's forces on the other hand tactically planned on their ration and water supplies, met Sundara Pandyan much before Thiruchirapalli. The physically exhausted Pandyan infantry easily fell prey for the Sultanate's army. However, the Pandyan cavalry revived its attack on the mulsim cavalry. But, the mulsim cavaliers were well armed with turcopoles and chain mail armors while pandyan horsemen were inferiorly armored and heavily relied on heavy swords. Tactical strikes by Kafur's crossbow men over the hindu cavalry, followed by the muslim infantry's attack blocked any possible retreat for the Sundara Pandyan's army. The generals of Kafur's army took Sundara Pandyan as captive and beheaded all the others captured. Few Pandyan cavaliers managed to escape to Madurai to report their defeat to Vira Pandya. The victorious sultanate went on plundering the temples of Thiruchirapalli and Srirangam.

The walled city of Madurai was now left only with the Vira pandyan's men along with the aid from maravars of Ramanathapuram. Their sole aim was to safeguard Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple and also yield time for the safe passage of women and children to the hilly regions of present day Kerala. Understanding the fact that they were largely outnumbered, the defenders' only hope is to delay their enemies long enough for them to negotiate. Kafur's siege on Madurai continued for weeks, however, it turned futile as his army lacked any Ballistas or Trebuchets and relied on Battering Rams of inferior quality. On the other hand, continuous archery attack by Maravars and surprise cavalry attacks on the muslim infantry during night times tremendously increased the casualties on Kafur's side. Kafur losing about half of his army against few thousands of maravars managed to breach the wall after weeks of siege. Vira Pandyan and his men still managed to hold the line, thus making Kafur to finally come down for negotiation. Kafur offered the following terms to Vira pandyan: 1. Hand over all the treasures belonging to the Meenakshi Temple and Madurai Treasury which included 96,000 gold coins and precious stones 2. Half of the Rice rationed inside the walls of madurai 3. All the elephants and horses available with Pandyas. In return, Vira Pandyan was promised the relase of his brother, Sundara Pandyan and safety of the idols in the inner scantrum of the Meenakshi Temple.

Following this there were two other expeditions from the Delhi Sultanate in 1314 CE led by Khusrav Khan and in 1323 CE by Ulugh Khan. These expeditions led the already weakened Pandyas to confine around the small region of Tirunelveli. No inscriptions about Pandyas are known since then. Sayyid Jalal-ud-Din Ahsan was appointed governor of the newly created southern-most Ma'bar province of the Delhi sultanate by Muhammad bin Tughluq. In 1333 CE, Sayyid declared his independence and created Madurai Sultanate which was replaced by Vijayanagar Empire in 1378. Telugu kamma Nayak governors were appointed to rule Madurai. These Nayaks continued to govern Madurai until the arrival of British forces.

[edit] Government and Society

[edit] Trade

Megasthenes reported about the pearl fisheries of the Pandyas, indicating that the Pandyas derived great wealth from the pearl trade. [26][27]

[edit] Religion

Historical Madurai was a stronghold of Saivism. Following the invasion of Kalabhras, Jainism gained a foothold in the Pandyan kingdom. Jainism was something not new to the land of Pandyas as references to a jainist (and buddhist) past are found in ancient Tamil literature (see Civaka Cintamani). With the advent of Bhakti movements, Saivism and Vaishnavism resurfaced. The latter-day Pandyas after 600 AD were Hindus who claimed to descend from Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Pandyan Nedumchadayan was a staunch Vaishnavite.[28]

[edit] Culture

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.tamilnation.org/heritage/pandya/index.htm
  2. ^ The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia By Edward Balfour
  3. ^ a b Ancient Indian History and Civilization By Sailendra Nath Sen
  4. ^ Kulke and Rothermund, p104
  5. ^ a b Keay, p119
  6. ^ S. Dhammika, The Edicts of King Asoka: An English Rendering; Buddhist Publication Sosciety, Kandy (1994). Also ISBN 955-24-0104-6
  7. ^ India By John Keay
  8. ^ Periplus 54. Original Greek: "Ἡ δὲ Νέλκυνδα σταδίους μὲν ἀπὸ Μουζιρέως ἀπέχει σχεδὸν πεντακοσίους, ὁμοίως διά τε ποταμοῦ (καὶ πεζῇ) καὶ διὰ θαλάσσης, βασιλείας δέ ἐστιν ἑτέρας, τῆς Πανδίονος· κεῖται δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ παρὰ ποταμὸν, ὡσεὶ ἀπὸ σταδίων ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι τῆς θαλάσσης."
  9. ^ Hill, John
  10. ^ Strabo XV.1
  11. ^ Keay, p121
  12. ^ Thalia III.99
  13. ^ James Rennell, The Geographical System of Herodotus Examined and Explained by a Comparison with those of the Ancient Authors, and with Modern Geography, 2nd ed. v. I Rivington (1830), pp. 403-410.
  14. ^ James Talboy Wheeler, The Geography of Herodotus, Developed, Explained and Illustrated from Modern Researches and Discoveries, London, Longman, Brown Green and Longmans (1854)
  15. ^ David Asheri, Alan B. Lloyd, Aldo Corcella, Oswyn Murray, Alfonso Moreno, Barbara Graziosi, A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV, tr. Barbara Graziosi, pp. 497-8. Oxford University Press (2007) ISBN 0198149565
  16. ^ R. G. Latham, Descriptive Ethnology v. 2. London, John Van Voorst (1859), p. 305
  17. ^ Jyotirmoy Datta, "Travelers Tales", News India Times (November 21, 2008)
  18. ^ http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/dutt/rama07.htm
  19. ^ http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/hinduism/ramayana/bk07.asp
  20. ^ www.bvashram.org/articles/105/1/Mahabharata-The-Great-War-and-World-History/Page1.html
  21. ^ www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/10-07/features806.htm
  22. ^ The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago By V. Kanakasabhai
  23. ^ Husaini, AQ, p 8-17
  24. ^ Sastri, KAN, pp 22-25
  25. ^ Purushottam, Vi.Pi, pp 42
  26. ^ Kulke and Rothermund, p99
  27. ^ Kulke and Rothermund, p107
  28. ^ Lloyd V. J. Ridgeon, Major World Religions: From Their Origins to the Present

[edit] References

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  • Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [1]
  • Husaini, A.Q. (1972). History of The Pandya Country. 
  • Keay, John (2000) [2001]. India: A history. India: Grove Press. ISBN 0802137970. 
  • Nagasamy, R (1981). Tamil Coins — A study. Institute of Epigraphy, Tamilnadu State Dept. of Archaeology. 
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta. The Pandyan Kingdom: From the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century. 
  • Purushottam, Vi. Pi. (1989). Cankakala Mannar Kalanilai Varalaru. 
  • Ray, Himanshu Prabha, ed. 1996. Tradition and Archaeology: Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean. Proceedings of the International Seminar Techno-Archaeological Perspectives of Seafaring in the Indian Ocean 4th cent. B.C. – 15th cent. A.D. New Delhi, February 28 – March 4, 1994. New Delhi, and Jean-François SALLES, Lyon. First published 1996. Reprinted 1998. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.
  • Reddy, P. Krishna Mohan. 2001. "Maritime Trade of Early South India: New Archaeological Evidences from Motupalli, Andhra Pradesh." East and West Vol. 51 – Nos. 1-2 (June 2001), pp. 143-156.
  • Shaffer, Lynda (1996). Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500 (Sources and Studies in World History). Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 1-56324-144-7. 
  • Tripathi, Rama Sankar (1967). History of Ancient India. India: Motilal Banarsidass Publications. ISBN 8-120-80018-4. 

[edit] External links

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