196 Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya. [July 



The chief and primitive establishment of the order is said to have 

 been founded at Tinnivelly, but it has since been destroyed. It ia 

 asserted, that there have been one hundred and thirteen successions of 

 the chiefs of this religious order ; a series which would reasonably 

 allow a period of ten or eleven centuries since its first establishment, 

 and so far corroborates the view of Kuna Pandyan's date in the eighth 

 or ninth century of the Christian era.* 



The approximation thus made to modern times, is not attended 

 with any great improvement in historical precision. The great outline 

 is clear enough, but the details continue imperfect. In the ninth and 

 tenth centuries, the Chola princes extended their power throughout 

 a great portion of the peninsula, and overshadowed the splendour of 

 the neighbouring kingdom of Pandya. To them succeeded the Belala 

 princes of Mysore, before whose ascendency the ancient honours of 

 Pandya, and the later glories of Chola disappeared. The decline of the 

 Belalas failed to restore the older dynasties to their pristine authority, 

 as, during the period of their depression, the provinces and chieftain- 

 ships, once attached to these states, had taken advantage of their 

 weakness to assume independence. This disorganised condition of the 

 southern states was perpetuated by the confusion and alarm incident 

 upon the Mohammedan aggressions which began in the fourteenth 

 century, and which were followed close by the extended dominion of 

 the Vijayanagar kings, whose officers finally established themselves, 

 in the beginning of the sixteenth century, in the seat of the Pandya 

 monarchs. Their history has been recorded with something like ac- 

 curacy and consistency, and sheds a ray of light upon the close of the 

 Madura chronicles. But, before we particularise the events ascribed 

 to these princes, we must advert to the transactions which fill up, 

 however imperfectly, the interval between the reign of Kuna Pandyan 

 and supremacy of the Nayaks of Madura. 



According to one authority, which brings down the Pandya history 

 from the earliest to the latest periods,! the first series of monarchs, 

 consisting of seventy-two princes, was followed by another of twelve } 

 with the last of whom, Kodocola Pandyan, the succession of Pandya 



* Mons, Langle~ (Monumens de l'Hindoustan, vol, i. p, 98), observes of Kuna 

 Pandyan, that his expulsion of the Samaneans must have happened after the middle of 

 the twelfth century. His authority is the History of the Danish Missions ; and the 

 grounds of the estimate are not stated. The same work says Kuna Pandyan was the three 

 hundred and fifty-ninth king of a dynasty of three hundred and sixty-two ; it seems, 

 therefore, that the compilers of the Danish History, have had no better guides than those 

 we have access to, and that, consequently, no particular weight attaches to their deduc- 

 tions. 



+ Account of the Pandya Rajas who reigned at Madurapuri, No, 28. See List, No, h 



suiies 3. 



