Pallavas and the Pahlavas

In an article titled “India’s Parthian Colony” published in The Iranian on May 14, 2003,
Dr. Samar Abbas wrote that the Pallavas of South India had descended from the Pahlavas
of Iran and attributed their persistent conflicts with their neighbours the Chalukyas to
an obscure, far-fetched theory that the Chalukyas were descendants of the Seleucids,
whom the Pahlavas overthrew to capture power in Iran. Though
Abbas’ unscientific paper deserves little more than cursory mention, the theory itself
cannot be brushed aside as a farce simply because it had also been suggested by the
famous South Indian epigraphist and Pallava expert V. Venkayya who had worked with
Hultzsch in deciphering the Mamallapuram inscriptions.

Who were the Pahlavas! According to sources that date from the time of the Achaemenids,
like the Turks and Mongols who came later, the Pahlavas or Parthians were a tribe of
horsemen who inhabited the wild country called Chorasmia (now forming a part of the
former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan and portion of north-eastern Iran) situated on
the north-eastern frontiers of the Persian Empire. They became very powerful in the
middle of the 3rd century BC under their chief Arsaces (Arshaka) who founded an
independent Parthian kingdom just as the Seleucid Empire ruled by the descendants of
Alexander the Great’s general Selucus Nikator started to decline. In 150 BC, the Parthian
king Mithridates I (Mithra-datha) captured Seleucia, the capital of the Persian Empire
putting an end to the Greek dynasty and instituting almost three centuries of Parthian
hegemony over Iran, a period characterized by incessant wars with the Roman Empire.
In 224 AD, the last Parthian ruler Artabanus V (Ardavan) was defeated and slain in battle
by his son-in-law Ardeshir who founded the Sassanian dynasty. With it ended the
Parthian Empire of Iran. The lives of the powerful Parthian aristocratic families at the
court, however, continued unhindered and many of them held onto their fiefs long after
the Islamic invasions. An Indo-Parthian kingdom which ruled over the Indus river valley
and surrounding areas outlived Persia’s Parthian kingdom by a few years.

Eight centuries later when Ferdowsi wrote the famous Persian epic Shah-nameh, the
word Pehliva had acquired the meaning “captain” or “commander” (Just like the
Tamil Thalapathi or Senapathi) – Ferdowsi frequently uses the word as an epithet of
Rustam or Rostam, the hero of the epic, a semi-legendary character based, incidentally,
on the general Surena who led the Parthian forces in the famous victory over the Roman
army in the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). A Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran between 1925 and
1979, its founder Reza Khan adopting the surname “Pahlavi” as a measure to claim
legitimacy through the Pahlava name.

The Pallavas of South India, meanwhile, were a dynasty of kings who claimed to be
Brahma-kshatriyas. Their first records date from the middle of the 3rd century AD and till
the 6th century AD, all that we know about the Pallavas are from copper plate grants which
barring the earliest (which is in Prakrit) , are all in Sanskrit. They used the florid Pallava
or Vengi character, a derivative of Brahmi, which they introduced in the islands of Java
and Borneo. In later years, however, we find a marked increase in rock inscriptions
mostly from the vast number of temples they built. There was also a perceptible shift in
favour of Tamil as the medium of communication. Thus, at the time of Nandivarman II
who ruled at the end of the 8th century AD, the stage was already set for a cultural
renaissance which witnessed its full bloom under the Cholas.
The origins of the South Indian Pallavas have always been a mystery. We know nothing
of them prior to 275 AD when the first copper plates were inscribed. These plates trace
their ancestry back to a legendary hero called Bappa Bhatta. Later regnal lists claimed a
descent from Drona’s son Aswatthama. But legend and mythology aside, the earliest
known antecedents of the Pallavas ruled as petty kings in the territory between the
Godavari and Palar rivers, probably as vassals of the last Satavahanas. Over the centuries,
the Pallavas gradually moved southwards championing Hinduism and hastening the pace
of Aryanization in the Tamil country and in exchange, adopting the Tamil language and
culture. (Their advent in Tamil Nadu could simply be the continuation of a southward
migratory trend. In fact, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, among all historians, attributes a North
Indian origin to the Pallavas) The importance of Pallavas to Tamil history, I feel, has
frequently been understated. Both Saivism and Vaishnavism owe their early rise to
Pallava patronage as much as that of the Pandyas and the Tamil script acquired its present
form during the Later Pallavas.

From the statues and sculptures of Mahabalipuram, we understand that the Pallavas
kings had impressive physiques. Many were acclaimed wrestlers. Narasimhavarman I, for
example, held the title Maha-malla or great wrestler, Mahendravarman I Shatru-
malla “opponent wrestler” and Paramesvaravarman I, Eka-malla or sole wrestler. Here
the similarities with the Pahlavas of Iran are more telling. Wrestling is the national sport
of Iran and zur-khanehs or gymnasiums are found all over the country. Many of their
traditional heroes such as Rostam were fabled wrestlers. In fact, the Persian word for
wrestler Pehelwan derives from Pahlava, hinting at the possibility of the Pahlavas having
introduced wrestling as a traditional sporting routine in the country.

Like the Pallavas of South India, the Pahlavas of Iran were also fine builders. A noted
feature of Pallava monuments is the widespread use of lion motifs. The lion, it must be
mentioned here, was an essential feature of Achaemenid architecture though it wasn’t as
popular in Parthian times. Nevertheless, “the Lion and Sun” remained Iran's national
symbol until quite recently. In India, the lion is conspicuous in Pallava monuments to
an extent found nowhere apart from the lion capitals of Ashoka the Great. However,
another speciality of Parthian architecture the iwan is not found in any of the Pallava
works.

The Parthians were a tribe of nomadic horsemen who adopted a settled life and the finer
aspects of Persian civilization. Similarly, many theories claim that the Pallavas were of
Naga descent. Who these Nagas were no one knows, for the appellation Naga was used at
different periods of time to denote people of diverse ethnicities such as the well-known
Nagas of Nagaland, the Nayars of Malabar, the Veddas of Sri Lanka and even certain hill
tribes that live in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakthunwa. It could also be the Kurumbars of
Tondaimandalam who held Tondai Naidu before the rise of the Pallavas. And then, why
not the Parthians themselves! These are questions that demand answer! Another puzzle
that needs a satisfactory reply is the fate of the Pallavas after the death of Aparajitha.
Though there are many caste groups that claim descent from the Pallavas, none of their
claims are convincing enough.

References

1) Rawlinson, George. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Near-East: Vol VI:
The Parthian Empire (1873) and Vol VII: The Sassanian or The New Persian
Empire (1876). Longmans, Green and Co.
2) Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1955) [1975]. A History of South India: From Prehistoric
Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. Oxford University Press.

3) Zimmern, Helen (1883). The Epic of Kings - Stories Retold From Firdusi. T. Fisher
Unwin.

3) Epigraphia Indica for copper-plate inscriptions of the Early Pallavas.

4) Pillay, K. K. (1963). South India and Ceylon. University of Madras.