myVamsam Wiki

Mahendravarman I

Pallava king, patron of rock-cut cave temples, and playwright credited with the satirical Sanskrit drama Mattavilasaprahasana

Introduction

Pallava king, patron of rock-cut cave temples, and playwright credited with the satirical Sanskrit drama Mattavilasaprahasana

Family

Textual Notes

Note: Chronological note: the Pallava dynasty ruled from Kanchipuram between roughly the late 6th and mid-7th century CE, several centuries after the classical Sangam corpus (Kapilar, the Kadai Ezhu Vallalgal, the core Silappatikaram/Manimekalai setting). This family is grouped in the same project as a matter of scope (Tamil dynastic history generally) but is post-Sangam, not part of the same literary/historical period as the other families here.


This article records a figure from Sangam-era and early medieval Tamil literature and dynastic tradition — the Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava royal lines, the legendary Kadai Ezhu Vallalgal patrons, and the Silappatikaram/Manimekalai epic cycle. Chronology and genealogy in this corpus are drawn from praise-poetry and literary narrative rather than administrative record, and are recorded here as attested textual tradition rather than settled history; the Pallava kings in particular postdate the classical Sangam corpus by several centuries, as noted in their individual entries.

Sources

  1. A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar (scholarly)
  2. Pallava dynastic inscriptions (primary text)

This entry is independently written for myVamsam using the sources listed above. Where traditions differ, this entry identifies the relevant tradition rather than presenting one account as universally established fact.