Siege of Nandipura

01A disputed succession

When the main Pallava line died out, the nobles chose Nandivarman, a twelve-year-old descendant of Simhavishnu’s brother. The choice is shown in sculpted panels at the Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kanchi, which he built. Not everyone accepted it. Chitramaya, a prince of the old line, rose with the support of Tamil princes, among them, it seems, the Pandyas, and they besieged the young king in the town of Nandipura, near Kumbakonam.

02Udayachandra’s battles

The Udayendiram plates, issued later in Nandivarman’s reign, praise his general Udayachandra of the Pallava family of Pushpaka. He relieved Nandipura, slew Chitramaya and then fought a string of battles, at Nimbavana, Chutavana, Shankaragrama, Nelveli and elsewhere, against the king’s enemies. The Pandyas’ own records claim victories over Pallavamalla in the same years, so the war went on. But Nandivarman held his throne for more than six decades.

Dynasty · c. 4th century BCE – late 16th century CEPandya dynastyThe Pandyas ruled from Madurai for close to two thousand years, longer than almost any house in the world. Megasthenes and Ashoka knew them; they broke the Kalabhras in the 6th century, lost Madurai to the Cholas in the 10th, and under Jatavarman Sundara Pandya in the 13th century became the strongest power in the south.Read →