Pandya Dynasty

The Pandya Dynasty or the Pandya Kingdom or the Pandyas of Madurai was one of the important dynasties of the Sangam Age and the other two dynasties were Cheras and the Cholas Dynasty. It had a monarchy government with religion Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The Pandya Dynasty was preceded by the Chola Empire and succeeded by the Madurai Nayak Dynasty, Tenkasi Pandaya, Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire and Jaffana Kingdom. Today the Pandya Dynasty is part of Sri Lanka, India. The capital of the Pandyas Dynasty was Madurai with Carp as the national anthem. The Madurai Kanchi literary work and Tamil literary works like Cilapatikaram were some of the Sangam literary works of 3rd century BCE which described the Pandyan Dynasties Kings. 

The most plausible warrior of this early dynasty was Nedunjellyan II who won the Talaialanganam battle against Cholas and Cheras along with 5 other Kingdom’s coalition forces. West Travancore, north Vellaru river and south and east oceans were the areas where Pandya Dynasty extended. The 3 Tamil dynasties rulers were regarded as “Tamil country’s 3 crowned rulers (muventar)”.

Origin and Sources of the Pandya Dynasty

The sources of the Pandya Dynasty are as follows;

• The Literature of Sangam Period: the number of Sangam literature poems describing the kings of this dynasty like ‘Talaiyalanganam victor’ Nedunjeliyan and ‘of sacrifices’ Mudukudimi Peruvaludi. Their commercial and social activities were also mentioned in short poems like the Purananuru and the Akananuru.
• Epigraphy: Nedunjeliyan figure was the earliest Pandya’s epigraphy in the record of Meenakshipuram. Ashoka Pillar also described the Pandyas and also in his inscriptions mentioned the South India people as Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas as proselytism of Buddhism recipient.
• Foreign Resources: Pandian Kingdom’s riches was described by the Erythraean Sea Periplus. The Panyue Kingdom was mentioned by Yu Huan, a Chinese historian. An embassy was received by Julian, the Roman Emperor from Pandya.

List of Pandya Dynasty Kings

The list of Pandyas of the Pandya Dynasty are as follows;

1. Early Pandyas

• Nedunj Cheliyan I
• Nedunj Cheliyan II
• Nedunj Cheliyan III
• Pudappandiyan
• Nan Maran
• Ukkira Peruvaludi
• Musiri Mutriya Cheliyan
• Maran Valudi

2. First Empire

• Rajasimha III
• Varaguna I
• Varaguna II
• Kadungon
• Avani Culamani
• Maravarman Rajasinga
• Chezhiyan Cendan
• Kochadaiyan Ranadhiran
• Nindraseer Nedumaaran
• Parantaka Nedunjadaiyan
• Sirmara Srivallabha
• Rasasingan II
• Rajasimha III

3. Under Cholas

• Vira Pandya I
• Sundara Pandya I
• Vira Pandya II
• Vira Pandyan III
• Jatavarnam Sundara Chola Pandya
• Amarabhujanga Tivrakopa
• Maravarman Parakrama Chola Pandya
• Srivallabha Manakulachala
• Parakrama Pandiyan
• Maravarman Vikrama Chola Pandya
• Kulasekara Pandyan III
• Jatavarnam Kulasekara Devan
• Jatavarnam Srivallaban

4. Pandya Revival

• Maaravaramban Sundara Pandiyan II
• Maravarman Sundara Pandya
• Jatavarnam Sundara Pandyan
• Vira Pandyan IV
• Sundara Pandyan IV
• Maaravaramban Kulasekara Pandyan I
• Sundaravaramban Sundara Pandiyan II

Pandyas End

The princes of Cholas replaced the Kingdom of Pandya and were regarded as the Cholas Pandyas. The glory of Pandyan was revived briefly in 1251 by Jatavarnam Sundara Pandyan and it’s power was extended on River Godavari from the countries of Telugu to Sri Lanka’s northern half. This led to the relapse of Great Imperial Cholas as well as the revival efforts made by Kopperunjinga I as well as Kopperunjinga II (later chiefs of Pallava).

Architectures of the Pandya Dynasty

The architectures included in the Pandya Dynasty are as follows;

• Tamil Nadu Madurai.
• Meenakshi Temple of Madurai.
• Nataraja Temple of Chidambaram.
• Jambukeswarar Temple of Tiruchirapalli.

Conclusion

The Pandya Dynasty or the Pandya Kingdom was an ancient state of Tamil in South India. They ruled the country till the end of 15th century and initially ruled from a seaport, Korkai (Indian Peninsula Southernmost tip) which later migrated to Madurai. They were unable to oppose the Delhi Sultanate’s imperial desires. They had enjoyed their trade in pearl fishing and in the architecture field.