Pallava Dynasty - Other Conquests and Expansions

Other Conquests and Expansions

The Pallavas were in conflict with major kingdoms at various periods of time. A contest for political supremacy existed between the early Pallavas and the Kadambas. Numerous Kadamba inscriptions provide details of Pallava-Kadamba hostlities. The Pallavas also contracted matrimonial relationships with Kadambas. According to the Velurpalaiyam Plates the mother of the Pallava king Nandivarman was a Kadamba princess named Aggalanimmati. The Velurpalaiyam Plates also state that Nandivarman had to fight for his father's throne.

During the reign of Vishnugopavarman II (approx. 500-525 CE), political convulsion engulfed the Pallavas due to the Kalabhra invasion of the Tamil country. Towards the close of the sixth century, the Pallava Simhavishnu stuck a blow against the Kalabhras. The Pandyas followed suit. Thereafter the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas in the north with Kanchipuram as their capital, and Pandyas in the south with Madurai as their capital.

After the Kalabhra upheaval the long struggle between the Pallavas and Chalukyas of Badami for supremacy in peninsular India began. Both tried to establish control over the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. Under Skandavarman I, the Pallavas extended their dominions north to the Krishna River and west to the Arabian Sea. Although the Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II almost reached the Pallava capitalm his second invasion ended in failure. The Pallava ruler Narasimhavarman occupied Vatapi, defeated the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras.

The Gupta King, Samudragupta led an expedition to the south, travelling through the forest tracts of Madhya Pradesh to Orissa, Vishakapatnam, Godavari, Krishna and Nellore district, and intruding into Kanchi the capital of the Pallavas. Retreating into their homeland of Nellore and Guntur for a while the Pallavas returned to Kanchi with renewed vigor. They then ruled with Kanchipuram as their capital uninterrupted until hostilities with Chalukyas surfaced.

The conflict between Pallavas and Chalukyas resumed in the first half of the eight century with multiple Pallava setbacks. The Chalukyas overrun them completely in 740 CE, ending the Pallava supremacy in South India.