3. Among the various dynasties which* have successively- 

 ruled in Southern India, the times of the 

 ViSard^'ates"' Pandiyaus in the Madura and Tinnevelly 

 districts,* of the Cholas in the Tan j ore 

 district and of the Vijianagar kings in the Southern Deccan, 

 live in tradition as a sort of " golden age." That the Pandi- 

 yans were a powerful dynasty, and that their country under 

 Budhist at first, and subsequently under Brahrainic, influences, 

 attained to a very considerable degree of civilization, and kept 

 up commercial intercourse with the Greeks and Romans, seem 

 certain. They were also great patrons of the Tamil literature, 

 and it was during their time that the famous ''Sangham" or 

 College of Poets was established, and the greatest Tamil poems 

 were composed. The Cholas, who rose to great power in the 

 11th, 12th and 13th centuries and held sway over nearly the 

 whole of Southern India, were the builders of most of the great 

 temples that exist in such numbers in the Tan j ore district, and 

 of the anicut across th^ Cauvery. They excavated several 

 channels for irrio^ation, which are known by their names — 

 Virasholanar, Vikramanar, Kirtimanar, Mudikondanar — and 

 established agricultural colonies and Brahmin agraharams for 

 the spread of Aryan civilization. The powerful Vijianagar 

 dynasty stemmed the tide of Muhammadan conquest for two 

 centuries, z.e., 15th and 16th, until it was overwhelmed by a 

 confederation of the Muhammadan sovereigns of the Deccan, 

 and its magnificent capital was sacked and utterly destroyed. 

 All these dynasties rendered important services to South Indian 

 civilization, and, as. during their times some of the greatest, 

 religious teachers and scholars and dialecticians — Sankara- 

 charya, Ramanujacharya and Vidiaranya — lived and flourished, 

 it is no wonder that the people of Southern India recall the 

 memory of those times with pleasure and pride. 



4.^very dynasty, however, when it attained to supreme 

 Frequency of wars P^^cr, drcw to itsolf all the Wealth of the 

 and backward state of surroundiug provinccs and adorned its 

 e coun rj'. capital with magnificent buildings, but the 



conquered provinces were generally oppressed. One of the 

 Pandiyan kings in an inscription boasts, among his other 

 exploits, of having set Tanjore and Uraiyur (the Chola capitals) 

 on fire ; demolished the houses, high walls, storied houses and 

 palaces ; -made the tears of the wives of refractory kings flow 

 like a river ; caused the sites of the buildings to be ploughed 

 with asses and sown with cowries ; driven the Chola from his 

 dominions into a barren place "and taken away his crown of 

 gold and given it* to a poet, who sang in praise of him,^ &c. 

 One of the Chola kings in the same manner, in his turn, 



