Conclusion (Introduction)

The main objective of this thesis, entitled “Social and Cultural History of the Pallava period as gleaned through the Sculptural Art (from Selective temples)”, is to understand the social life, religious beliefs and material culture of the period between 6^th century A.D. to 9^th century A.D., as revealed through the sculptural art of those times, when the Tondaimandalam region was under the rule of the Pallavas.

The Pallavas ruled for nearly six centuries from the middle of 3^rd century A.D. to the first decade of the 10^th century A.D. The early Pallavas (circa 295 A.D.–610 A.D.) are known mostly from their Prakrit^[1] and Sanskrit^[2] charters and a solitary stone inscription from Manchikallu in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh^[3]. From the provenance of the inscriptions it is known that they rose to power in the Krishna–Guntur region after the fall of the Ikshvakus of Vijayapuri (circa 3^rd century A.D. to mid 4^th century A.D.) and initially, their power was centred in the southern parts of modern Andhra Pradesh and some parts of eastern Karnataka. Later on by the middle of the 6^th century A.D. i.e., from the time of Simhavarman III (circa 540 A.D.–550 A.D.), their territory expanded towards the south and extended as far as the river Kaveri in Tamil Nadu. The Pallavas continued their rule till about 913 A.D., when their last king Aparajitavarman was defeated by the Chola king Aditya I and annexed the Pallava territories into the Chola domain^[4]. For the first time during the reign of the later or imperial Pallavas who ruled from the last quarter of the 6^th century A.D. to about 913 A.D., the Tondaimandalam region witnessed the emergence of stone as a medium for scooping out various rock–cuts, rathas and for building structural temples, with various sculptures. Even though there existed other types of artistic mediums belonging to the pre–Pallava period in the form of terracotta objects and references to the socio-cultural life are found in literature and inscriptions, yet the sculptures of this period for the first time give reliable permanent visual and material evidence to understand the then framework of the society, especially the various occupational classes, religious beliefs, social customs and material culture. The study is made with the presumption that the artists had executed in stone only those objects, which they came across in their day to day life, even though there could be an iota of exaggeration. Even those sculptures, which are purely religious in theme like the images of gods, goddesses, door-guardians, fly-whisk bearers, etc., are studied with an assumption that the objects depicted along with them are in actual usage in those times.

It is found after meticulous study that even though about 172 temples of the study period are found (see appendix), not all of them retained their original features. Some have undergone renovations or alterations or complete reconstruction in the subsequent periods. There are also cases, where the sculptures were plastered or got worn-out and hence became inadequate for the study purpose. Therefore, only selective temples having potential sculptural remains useful to understand the socio-religious life and material culture of the Pallava period are studied.

The primary source material used for the present research work is the various sculptures in the rock-cuts, monolithic rathas and structural temples found distributed in the following districts (For detailed list see table in Chapter I):

District	Number of Temples
Cuddalore	01
Kanchipuram	46
Tiruchirappalli	02
Tiruvannamalai	04
Tiruvallur	01
Vellore	06
Villupuram	05
Total	65

Apart from the primary sources, i.e. sculptures, data from the inscriptions and literature of the Pallava period are also utilized as secondary source for corroborative study.

From the study of sculptures of this period, it is known that they do not directly reveal about the various social classes or professional groups. On the other hand, existence of such social groups can only be known by observing the type of activity the sculptures thus, portrayed are involved, their costume, various objects associated with them and their environmental context. It can be said certainly that the artifacts depicted in the sculptural art also existed in those times and they were the products of specialized craftsmen. On the basis of this hypothesis, attempt was made to identify the various occupational groups as revealed through sculptures along with corroborative evidence from inscriptions, archaeological findings and literature.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Mayidavolu, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI, pp. 84–88; Hirahadagalli, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I, no. 1 and Gunapadeya plates, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII, no. 12.

[2]:

The Omgodu (I), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XV, pp. 249–252; Uruvappalli, Indian Antiquary, Vol. V, no. 12; Nedungaraya, Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, no. A 2 of 1941–42; Vesanta, Transactions of the Archaeological Society of South India, 1962, pp. 85–96; Sakrepatna, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 98–105; Udayendiram, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. III, pp. 142–147; Chendalur, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII, pp. 233–236; Omgodu (II), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XV, pp. 252–255; Pikira, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VIII, pp. 159–163; Mangalur, Indian Antiquary, Vol. V, no. 15; Vilavetti, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV, pp. 296–303 and Chura plates, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV, pp. 137–143.

[3]:

Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXII, p. 87–90.

[4]:

Tiruvalangadu plates, South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. III, Part III, no. 205, v. 49.