SECTION I.— THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY 

 AND THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE IN FOEMER 



CENTURIES. 



(A.) — Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India extracted from '* Lists 

 of Antiquities, Madras," by Mr. R, Seivell, M.C.S. 



In the earliest days of which we have any knowledge as to the 

 sovereignties ruling the Continent of India, it appears that the great 

 Maurya dynasty held the north, while the south was divided amongst 

 the Pandiyans of Madura, who governed the extreme south, the Cholas, 

 who held the country to their north and east, and the Cheras (Keralas), 

 who ruled over the tracts to their north and west. This was in the 

 fourth century B.C. I say " it appears " because, although we are 

 certain of the Mauryas (probably B.C. 325 — 188) and the Pandiyans 

 as existent in the time of Megasthenes (B.C. 302), we have only the 

 fact of the Cholas and Keralas (or Cheras) being mentioned in the 

 inscriptions of Asoka (B.C. 250) to verify their existence at that still 

 earlier period. But tradition mentions no earlier kingdoms than those 

 of Pandiya, Chola and Chera in the south of India, and always speaks 

 of them as contemporary. As we are certain of the Pandiyan, there- 

 fore, in B.C. 302, we may safely place the Cholas and Cheras as far 

 back as that date. The Keralas appear to have occupied the whole 

 Western Coast under the ghats, and it is probable that the Eastern 

 Coast was also inhabited almost throughout its entire length ; but there 

 is no evidence of any kingdom having been in existence throughout the 

 Dakhan, and it is quite possible that almost the whole of its entire 

 area was waste (the Dandakaranya) or inhabited only by a few half-wild 

 tribes under their own chiefs, such as those so often mentioned in the 

 Puranas. It is necessary for students of history to remember that 

 very large areas now cultivated and populated were absolutely waste — 

 mere barren tracts of rock, forest, and wild plains — till comparatively 

 modern times, and this seems especially to have been the case with the 

 Dakhan country. It must not be forgotten, however, that the earliest 

 Buddhist legends speak of the Kingdom of Kalinga as then in 

 existence. 



At some period subsequent to that of Asoka, the Pallavas appear to 

 have grown into importance on the Eastern Coast, and they gradually 

 increased in power till they constituted themselves a great kingdom, 

 with extensive foreign trade, and proved a source of danger to the 

 Cholas and their other neighbours. They appear to have held the 

 entire Eastern Coast from Conjeeveram to the borders of Orissa. 'At 

 present there is no evidence as to when they arose from obscurity into 

 the dignity of a kingdom, but they seem to have been one of the 

 principal southern powers when the first Chalukyas immigrated from 

 Northern India about the fifth century A.D, 



