Pallava Dynasty

(6th–9th c.) Southern Indian dynasty
whose capital was at the city of
Kanchipuram, and which ruled over
much of the southern Indian peninsula
between the sixth and ninth centuries.
The greatest Pallava rulers were king
Mahendravarman and his successors
Narasimhavarman I and II. The reign
of the Pallava dynasty was marked by
the explosion of southern Indian culture: the development of Tamil literature, the devotional (bhakti) religious
fervor of the groups known as the Alvars
and the Nayanars, and the magnificent
religious monuments at Mahabalipuram.
Throughout much of its existence the
Pallava empire carried on a running battle with the Chalukya and Pandya
Dynasties, neither of which could prevail against it, but it was eventually
absorbed by the next great southern
Indian empire, the Chola dynasty. See
also Tamil language and Tamil epics.