Käñcipora may have Existed before the Pallavas

• There are no materials available for the study of the Pre-Pallava history of Kāñcīpura and Tondaimandalam.

• Kāñcīpura, one of the seven holy cities of India, is believed to have a history predating the Christian era.

• Yuvan Chwang, a Chinese Pilgrim, mentions Kāñcīpura’s antiquity and its importance, along with the visit of the Buddha in the fifth century B.C., and the construction of stupas by Maurya Emperor Asoka.

• However, these accounts are of doubtful authenticity and do not provide definitive evidence about the existence of Kāñcīpura before the Pallavas.

• The city may have existed even before the Pallavas made it their capital.

• Kāñcīpura is said to have been in existence during the time of Karikāla Cola, whom the Tamil Sangam assigns to the beginning of the Christian era.

• Scholars who argue for Cōla rule in the South before the Pallavas fail to provide numismatic or epigraphic evidence to support their claims.

• Their assumption is based on the ancient Tamil Sangam literature, whose antiquity remains doubtful.

• If Karikāla’s conflict with the Pallava monarch Trilocana is a historical fact, it likely occurred in the last quarter of the fifth century A.D. and not earlier.

• Colas do not seem to have ruled the South before the Pallavas.

• There are no inscriptions suggesting the contemporaneity of the Colas and Karikāla Cola with the early Pallava kings of the Prakrit charters.

• The earliest Cōla inscriptions date from the seventh century and are found in Cuddapah and Kurnool in Southern Andhra.

• The theory of Cōla rule in the South before the Pallavas established themselves in Tondaimandalam and the lower Cauveri region cannot be accepted due to lack of reliable evidence.

• The Pre-Pallava history of Tondaimandalam is considered to be lost in obscurity.

• It appears that Vīrakūrçavarman founded Kāñcīpura and made it his capital.

• The name Kāñcīpura, meaning “the city, which is the girdle of the South,” suggests a Prakrit or Sanskrit origin, supporting the view that it was established by Vīrakūrçavarman.

• The region called Tondaimandalam did not have a name during the Pre-Pallava period; its ancient name is not found in the earliest inscriptions from the area.

• The name Tondaimandalam is of Pallava origin and was adopted after the Pallava dynasty established its dominion in the South.

• The region was likely covered by impenetrable and extensive forests in the early centuries.

• It was annexed or occupied during the reigns of Andhra emperors Gautamiputra and his son Vāsişthīputra Śrī Pulumāvi II, as it lay near Mulakarāstra (or Hiranyarāştra) in the south.

• The Andhra Empire under Vāsisthīputra Śrī Pulumāvi II likely extended to the regions of the South Pennar and the Cauveri in the extreme south.

• The presence of Andhra coins from the reign of Śrī Pulumāvi II near Cuddalore, at the mouth of the South Pennar in South Arcot district, supports this inference.

• Local traditions in the Andhra country state that the region covering the river systems of the North Pennar, Suvarnamukhi, and South Pennar was covered with wild forests for several centuries before and after the Christian era.

• Yuan Chwang’s visit mentions that the northern part of the region, called Culiya (i.e., Coļa), was still covered with impenetrable jungle during his time.

• It is possible that this wild region was first annexed by the Śātavāhana generals.

• Vīrakārca may have been appointed as ruler of this unsettled province during the reign of the Andhrabhrtya king Hārītiputra Visņuskanda Cuțukulānanda Śātakarni, around 220 A.D..

• During this period of viceroyalty, Vīrakārca might have founded or occupied the city of Kāñci in the east.