Early Pandyan Kingdom
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| Vimanam (Tower) of the Great Temple at en Thanjavur |
The kings of the Pandyan Dynasty are frequently mentioned in Sangam literature of the third century BCE and onwards, in works such as the Mathuraikkanci and other early Tamil literary works such as Cilapatikaram, which have been used by historians to identify their names and, to some extent, their genealogy. Nedunjeliyan II is referred to as the most popular warrior among the Early Pandyas, winning a battle at Talaialanganam against a coalition of forces from Cholas and Cheras and five other kingdoms. The early Pandyan kingdom extended between Travancore in the west, Vellaru river in the north and all the way to the ocean in the east and the south.
The Early Pandyas had active maritime trade relationships with the west, a fact testified by western classical writers such as Pliny the Elder (1st century CE), Strabo, Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus. The Pandyan country was well known for pearl fishery, with Korkai being the principal center of the trade. Some of the exports were pearls, spices, ivory and shells, while the imports included horses, gold, glass and wine.
Origin and Sources:
The origin of the word "Pandya" has been a subject of much speculation.
Some scholars believe that it descended from the "Pandavas" of Mahabharata, while some others argue that the name could be derived from the word "Pandi" the original name of the Tamil country. Because the Country of Pandya was already mentioned in Ramayana which is early to the Mahabharat. When Sugriva sends his monkey warriors to search Sita, he mentions Chera, Chola and Pandya of south. Hence "Pandyas" were not from "Pandavas".
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.
Another theory is that the word Pandya is derived from the Tamil word "Pandi" meaning bull. Ancient Tamils, considered the bull as a sign of masculinity and valor. Pandya became the epithet of the first Pandyan king of ThenMadurai, Kulasekharan Pandya as he was built like a bull. It was used as an epitome of masculinity. His son, the second king of ThenMadurai, the legendary Malayadwaja Pandya who sided with the Pandavas and took part in the Kurukshetra is described as follows in Karna Parva.
Malayadwaja Pandya and his queen Kanchanamala had one daughter Thathagai alias Meenakshi who succeeded her father and reigned the kingdom successfully. The Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple was built after her. The city of Madurai was built around this temple.
Yet another theory suggests that in Sangam Tamil lexicon the word Pandya means old country in contrast with Chola meaning new country, Chera meaning hill country and Pallava meaning branch in Sanskrit. The Chera, Chola and Pandya are the traditional Tamil siblings and together with the Pallavas are the major Kings that ruled ancient Tamilakkam.
Literary sources in Tamil:
Several Tamil literary works, such as Iraiyanar Agapporul, mention the legend of three separate Tamil Sangams lasting several centuries before the Christian Era and ascribe their patronage to the Pandyas. The Sangam poem Maduraikkanci by Mankudi Maruthanaar contains a full-length description of Madurai and the Pandyan country under the rule of Nedunjeliyan II. The Nedunalvadai by Nakkirar contains a description of the king’s palace. The Purananuru and Agananuru collections of the third century BCE contain poems sung in praise of various Pandyan kings and also poems that were composed by the kings themselves. Kalittokai mentions that many Dravidian 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.
Literary sources in Mahabharat:
O Yudhishthira, in the country of the Pandyas are the tirthas named Agastya and Varuna! And, O bull among men, there, amongst the Pandavas, is the tirtha called the Kumaris. Listen, O son of Kunti, I shall now describe Tamraparni. In that asylum the gods had undergone penances impelled by the desire of obtaining salvation. In that region also is the lake of Gokarna which is celebrated over the three worlds, hath an abundance of cool waters, and is sacred, auspicious, and capable, O child, of producing great merit. That lake is extremely difficult of access to men of unpurified souls. Mahabharatha 3:88
And similarly, Pandya, who dwelt on the coast-land near the sea, came accompanied by troops of various kinds to Yudhishthira, the king of kings. Mahabharatha 5:19
Steeds that were all of the hue of the Atrusa flower bore a hundred and forty thousand principal car-warriors that followed that Sarangadhwaja, the king of the Pandyas. Mahabharatha 7.23
In return, Malayadhwaja pierced the son of Drona with a barbed arrow. Then Drona's son, that best of preceptors, smiling the while, struck Pandya with some fierce arrows, capable of penetrating into the very vitals and resembling flames of fire. Mahabharatha 8:20
Literary sources in other languages:
The Sinhalese chronicle Mahawamsa claims that the prince from Sinhapura known as Vijaya (c. 543 BCE) captured Sri Lanka and later on married a daughter of the Pandyan king of Madurai, to whom he was sending rich presents every year. After Prince Vijaya, Sri Lanka was ruled by his brother-in-law, a Pandyan prince. Valmiki (400 BCE), refers Pandyan king in several places in Ramayan. Kautilya, in his Arthashastra refers to the "easy to travel" trade route to the South and to the products of the Pandya kingdom. He also mentions the city of Madurai and the city of Tirunelveli and the river Tamirabarani in the Pandya kingdom. The famous Greek traveler Megasthenes (c. 302 BCE) mentions the "Pandae" kingdom and refers to it as "that portion of India which lies to the southward and extends to the sea". 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....
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..."
The Roman emperor Julian received an embassy from a Pandya about 361 CE. A Roman trading centre was located on the Pandyan coast (Alagankulam - 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 an Indian King "named Pandion or, according to others, Porus" to Caesar Augustus around 13 CE .
Epigraphical sources:
The 2nd and 13th rock edicts of Ashoka (273 - 232 BCE) refers to the Pandyas, Cholas, Cheras and the Satyaputras. According to the edicts, these kingdoms lay outside the southern boundary of the Mauryan Empire. The Hathigumpha inscriptions of the Kalinga King, Kharavela, (c. 150 BCE) refers to the arrival of a tribute of jewels and elephants from the Pandyan king. The stone inscriptions discovered at Mangulam (a.k.a. Meenakshipuram) mentions the name of Nedunj Cheliyan III and his contemporary and subordinate, Kadalan Vazhuthi. These inscriptions have been used to estimate that Nedunj Cheliyan III ruled in the 2nd century BCE.
Archeological sources:
Excavations in Tamil Nadu in the last fifty years or so have yielded remnants of black-and-red pottery ware, normally assigned to the Tamil speaking areas around 300 BCE. Some all-black and Russet coated ware assigned to the same time period have also been found. Rouletted and Amphorae wares, made in the Roman empire and brought by traders, have been excavated in several parts of Tamil Nadu, including the Pandyan country. These imported wares are dated to the early centuries of the Christian Era.
Numismatic sources:
The excavations at Algankulam, near Madurai, recovered two copper coins of the early Pandyas along with Northern Black Polished Ware. These coins have been assigned a broad time period ranging from 200 BCE to 200 CE. Several coins issued by the Pandyan king Mudukudumi Peruvaludhi have been recovered in the Madurai area and have been dated to around 200 BCE. Many gold and silver coins of the Roman empire have been found around Madurai: these coins bear the names of emperors ranging from Augustus (27 BCE) to Alexander Severus (235 CE).
The Mahavamsa does not say that Vijaya's bride came from Madurai or that she was the daughter of the Pandyan king. That is a 19th century distortion done by British colonial government scholars. What the Mahavamsa says is that Vijaya sent his envoys to southern Mathura (Dakhina Mathura) to ask king Pandu to ask for the hand of king Pandu's daughter. Until the late 19th century/early 20th century Sinhalese who knew this legend never placed Mathura in Madurai, but in Mathura. Many Sinhalese scholars in Sinhalese history in the 19th-20th centuries totally rejected the English translation and interpretations, but that seems to bother the pseudo scholars.
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