Antiquity of Kanchipuram

One of the most ancient cities of southern India, which retains at the present day partly at least of its past greatness, is Kancheepuram [Kanchipuram] in the Chengalputtu District.^[1] Kancheepuram was the capital of the Pallavas abounds in structural monuments of early ages.^[2] If any city of the southern India has a claim to antiquarian interest, Kancheepuram is pre-eminently one among them.^[3] The city was called as Kachchipedu, Kachchi and Kanchi. Hieun Tsang calls this Kin-chi-pulo and states that it was the capital of Ta-lo-pi-cha (i.e.)–Dravida.⁸ On writing about the city, Hieun Tsang states that the region had a rich and fertile soil, it abounded in fruits and flowers and yielded precious substances. The people were couragious, throughly trustworthy and public spirited and they esteemed great learning; in their written and spoken language they differed from Mid-India. There were more than 100 Buddhist Monastries.The Jaina Temples were above 80 and the majority belonged to the Digambaras. The capital was the birth place of Dharmapala, who was the eldest son of a high official of the city. In Sanskrit, the town of Kancheepuram was known as Kanchipuraka. Patanjali, a Sanskrit Grammarian who lived about 200 BC mentions the word and even gives the etymological origin of the name Kanchipuraka.