Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 51

FEBRUARY, 1924]
his son Simhavishnu we find the Pallavas in full control of the Chola country. Professor Aiyangar also deals with the history of the territory of the Naga cousins of the Satavahanas, lying to the west of the recognized Pallava territory, which, seized in the reign of Skandavarman by an enterprising Brahman named Mayura Sarman, was gradually absorbed by the Pallavas in later generations, until the rise of the Western Chalukyas placed a limit upon their advance.
BOOK-NOTICES
Thus, according to this brief sketch of their early history, the Pallavas proper first appear in the person of "Bappa Deva," the local chieftain, appointed viceroy of Tondamandalam for the Andhras in the reign of Yajña Sri Satakarni. The question then arises as to the origin of Bappa Deva, who founded the historical Pallava dynasty of tho Prakrit charters. In a recent issue of this Journal, Mr. M. C. Rasanayagam has put forward the view, based on definite statements in ancient Tamil literature, that the Choja King Killi Valavan or Nedumudi Kili, who moved his capital to Uraiyûr after the destruction of Kaveripattanam, had a son by a Naga princess, who was the daughter of Valaivanan, the Naga king of Manipallavain, which he identifies with the Jaffna peninsula in Ceylon. This son, named Tondaimân Ilam. tirayan, was created by his Chola father king of Tondaimandalam about A.D. 150 or a little lator, with his capital at Kanchi, and was in fact tho earliest founder of the dynasty which derived its dynastic name of Pallava from the second half of the name of the region (Mani-pallavam), whence Ilam-tirayan's Naga mother originally hailed. Professor Aiyangar apparently accepts the tradition of Ilam-tirayan's rule or viceroyalty, as embodied in Tamil literature, but points out that thero is no direct evidence to connect Ilam-tirayan with the clearly historical Bappa-deva, who appears in a later generation. He states that Ilam-tirayan was succeeded by the Chola Ilam-Killi, younger brother of Ilam-tirayan's father Nedumudi-Killi, and that Chola sovereignty ceased with his rule The Pallavas of the early charters or viceroyalty. succeeded to the possession of the territory, the first of them being the local chief Bappa-deva. Surely it is not impossible that Bappa-deva may have I connected by descent with the "Pallava " this strange and Ilam-tirayan, in which case powerful dynasty would have been primarily descended, partly from the Chola royal line and partly from a tribe or dynasty of Sinhalese Nagas. When we leave the realm of tradition and come to recorded fact, Professor Aiyangar provides us with an excellent and well-reasoned résumé of early Pallava history, which illuminates many dark places and proves the close connexion existing historically between the rulers of Kânchi and the important Andhra dynasty. This article alone
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should suffice to assure a warm welcome to this number of the Journal.
8. M. EDWARDES. ALLAHABAD UNIVERSITY, STUDIES IN HISTORY. Volume I, HISTORY OF JAHANGIR, by BENI PRASAD, M.A., Assistant Professor of Indian History, with a foreword by SHAFAAT AHMAD KHAN, Litt.D. Humphrey Milford-Oxford University Press,
1922.
Students of the Mughal period of Indian History have hitherto been obliged to rely for their knowledge of the reign of Jahangir upon Elphinstone's History of India and the work of Khafi Khan. Professor Beni Prasad introduces us for the first time to various contemporary, and therefore important, Persian chronicles of that Emperor's reign, and by carefully sifting these and comparing them with contemporary European evidence, Rajput chronicles, and later records, has produced a very complete and withal succinct review of Jahangir's life and reign. The author states in his preface that he has aimed throughout at a simple style; and he has certainly achievedl his object: for his narrative runs forward smoothly and without effort, thus conveying the facts and circumstances of Jahangir's career more clearly than would have been possible, perhaps, in a more ornate or florid style of composition.
In the opening chapter the author gives us a careful estimate of Jahangir's character, showing how his nobler qualities, his love of physical exerciso, his undeniable intellectual capacity, were marred by a lamentable weakness of will, which was aggravated by intemperance, the besetting sin of the Mughal imperial line. It seems almost impossible that he could have consumed so large a daily allowance of liquor as "twenty cups of doubly distilled spirits, fourteen during the daytime and the remainder at night." Yet we have his own confession to this effect, and also his description of the disastrous result of these potations upon his health. Professor Beni Prasad combats the hitherto popular view that the quarrel between Akbar and Jahangir (then Prince Salim) was founded on religious incompatibility, and that the latter played the role of champion of Islamic orthodoxy against the heretical views of Akbar and Abu'l-Fazl. He proves his contention from original records, and shows that the dispute between Jahangir and his father was in origin purely secular and was fought on secular ground. At the same time, on a later page, he disposes finally of the groundless story that Akbar died of poison administered by Jahangir. On more than one occasion, as Professor B. Prasad admits, Jahangir was driven by gusts of passion to acts of barbarous cruelty: but the guilt of the parricide cannot be laid to his charge. A general survey of his life shows him to have been on