Pandya Kingdom

Pandya Kingdom refers to the Pandyas of Mahabharata Period about whom, we only know from the traditional legends and epics. Of this ancient Pandya Kingdom was a king known as Sarangdhwaj, had taken
part in the epic war of Mahabharata. This Pandya Kingdom and its landmarks such as Rishabha Mountain, Agastya and Varuna Tirthas, Kumari, Thamiraparni, Gokarni etc. find their place in Mahabharata. The other references, which may or may not be historically correct, link them with the events of Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, the Pandya Kings were allies of the Pandavas.

However, the Pandya Empire was a dynasty, which finds its place in Sangam literature, and later sources show their rule till 15th century AD. The territory was also known as Pandya Country.

The Pandya kings adopted the fish or a pair of Fishes as their family crest.

Extent of Pandya Empire:

The Pandya country, as per the traditions extended from the Podukottai district to Kanyakumari in south and Achankovil River in Kerala (west) to River Vegai (Madura) in East. The kingdom was ordinarily divided into 5 principalities which were known as “Five Pandyas“. The early days capital of Pandyas is Korkai.

Capitals and Main Cities:

• Korkai, which is now an insignificant village in Tamil Nadu, was the commercial capital and important port of the Pandya Kingdom. Korkai has been a cradle of South Indian Civilization and as per traditions; it is considered the home of three brothers who were supposed to have founded the Pandya, Chera and Chola Kingdoms.
  
• Korkai was center of Pearl trade and this trade was the chief source of wealth for the Pandya Kings. Today, Korkai is located 6 kilometers from the coast. The shift is because of the silting up of the delta, which rendered Korkai inaccessible to ships. After Korkai, the commercial capital of the Pandyas was shifted to a new port of at a town Old Kayal, which were about one and half kilometers from the mouth of river Tambraparni and located in present Tinnevely district.
  

Visit of Marcopolo

Marcopolo landed in Pandya Empire (at Kayal) in 13th century and impressed by the wealth and magnificence of the King, Prince as well as people, tagged it as the richest kingdom in existence. However, the same silting process in 14th century caused the abandonment of the Kayal too, and the Portuguese were compelled later to shift their business to a port of Tuticorin, which was free from silting of Delta. The capital of Pandyas was later shifted to Madura (now Madurai).

Madura, the Later Capital of Pandyas

Madura, the later capital of Pandyas was the central seat of Tamil Sangam literature. Today, Madurai is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities. Madura was located on the banks of River Vaigai in Tamil Nadu. As early as 3rd Century BC, Megasthenes visited Madurai and quoted this city as “Methora” in his document Indika. In Sangam literature, Madura finds special place in Mathuraikkanci, a Pathinenmaelkanakku anthology. This work praises a Pandya King Nedunchezhiyan. Similarly Madura has been described by Pliny, Ptolemy and Strabo too.

Political History of Pandyas

No continuous history of the Pandya Kings prior to 12th century AD has been clearly written. In Maurya Period, the Pandya Kingdom was independent. One of the Pandya Kings had sent an embassy to Augustus Caesar. Pandya Kingdom was well known to Greeks and Romans for its pearl trade. Many Roman coins have been found on many places in Pandya Empire, which shows an existence of a well-developed trade between the Romans and Pandyas in the early centuries AD.

First Pandya Empire

Post Sangam period, the first Pandyan empire was established by a King named Kadungon, who defeated Kalabras in 6th century AD. The successors of Kadungon indulged in fighting with the nearby Chera and Chola Kings. Huen Tsang, who visited in 6th century AD traveled up to Kanchi which was southernmost point of his itinerary. He has mentioned the people of this area as Malakottai. Malakottai may refer to the Pandyan kingdom. Huen Tsang mentions that the people in this reason little cared for learning; there were Buddhist Monasteries, which were almost in ruins.

The last Pandya King of this first Pandyan Empire was Maravarman Rajasimha II who ruled from 900-920 AD. He was a contemporary of the Chola King Parantaka Chola I, who overran his kingdom and captured Madura. Parantaka Chola-I after this victory, earned the title of Maduraikonda. Rajsimha II fled to Ceylon after this defeat and returned to Kerala, where he lived in low profile under a Chera King.

The great Rajaraja Chola-I in 1000 AD, reduced the Pandya Empire, akin to the other kingdoms of South, to a tributary and after that, it continued for a century or even long under the Cholas. In the turn of the 13th century, a vassal of Chola Empire named Jatavarman Kulasekaran I ascended to the Madura Throne in 1290, turned rebel to Cholas. The Cholas invaded him and sacked Madurai. Jatavarman Kulasekaran I surrendered to the Chola king Kulothunga with wife and son and acknowledging his surrender, he was returned his capital. But during this, the ancient coronation hall of Pandyas in Madurai was destroyed and it also destroyed the records if any of the previous Pandyas. This was the reason that the history of Pandyas lost in obscurity.

Sundara Pandyan

To take revenge of this assault, younger brother of Kulasekaran, named Maravarman Sundara Pandyan, who came into power in 1216 AD, invaded the Chola Kingdom. The armies of Sundara Pandyan sacked the cities of Thanjaur and Uraiyur of Chola Kings and drove the Chola kings out in exile. His armies marched up to Chidambaram and in memory of this victory, Sundar Pandyan conducted a Thulabaram at the Chidambaram temple and donated wealth equal to his weight. But, victory of Sundar Pandyan over Cholas was followed by a march of the Hoyasala army towards Sri Rangapattam. Kingdom of the Cholas was returned after interference of Hoyasala king Veera Ballala III, but now Cholas accepted suzerainty of the Sundar Pandyan. This was the revival of second Pandyan Empire.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan

After Maravarman Sundara Pandyan, we know about his successor Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan (1251-61). He was a mighty conqueror who invaded Ceylon and carried off the great booty. The famous tooth relic of Buddha was also included in this booty. With this victory Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan was called “Second Rama” for plundering the Island of Sri Lanka. He covered the Srirangam temple with Gold. He also conflicted with the Kakatiya Kings of Warangal.

Invasion of Malik Kafur

Early in the 14th century, a dispute arose about the succession of the Pandya throne and one of the claimants appealed to the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji for help. This probably resulted in an invasion by the Sultan’s forces in 1310 under Malik Kafur. Malik Kafur sacked, looted Madura and marched up to Rameshwaram, where he erected a mosque. After that invasion, the Pandya kings ruled sporadically at undefined territories and a sort of confusion was there. Malik Kafur was followed by two other expeditions from the Delhi Sultanate in 1314 AD led by Khusrav Khan and in 1323 AD by Ulugh Khan. What happened to Pandyas after that, very little is known. Later Muhammad Bin Tughlaq created a southern province and placed Sayyid Jalal-ud-Din Ahsan as its governor. In 1333 AD Sayyid declared his independence and created Madurai Sultanate. Madurai Sultanate was replaced by the Nayak governors, who kept on ruling until arrival of British.