And its Impact on Cheranadu
I am not sure who coined the term interregnum in association with the Kalabhras, but it has been used for many decades. For those who do not want to open a dictionary, it means a period when normal government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes. They seem to have ruled over swathes of South India that had been under Pandya, Chola, and Chera rule. It is vaguely defined as a period between the 3rd and 6th centuries. I was not quite aware of a period when the Chera rule was interrupted by the Kalabhras, though some historians have alluded to it here and there. Let's take a look at what it was all about and whether such a period had any impact on Cheranadu, this side of the ghats.
In
general, this period is considered to be the time when roving conquerors from
the Nandi region in Karnataka overthrew the Pandya and Chola regimes in
Tamilakam, perhaps also the Kongu and East Coast Cheras to some extent, and
established control here and there, off and on, for a good number of years.
There has been much debate about the duration of their rule, which ranges from
a few decades to three centuries. This interregnum is described as one
characterized by the dominance of Buddhism and Jainism. At the same time, some
historians view it as a period in which peasants revolted against the Brahmin
hierarchy entrenched in these lands. However, even though new rulers took over
in Puhar and Madurai, no mention of them appears in the epics, for example,
Cilappatikaram and Manimekhalai, which were penned during or after this period.
Due to this lack of specific information, this period was therefore considered
a dark period.
Mysteriously,
these marauders vanished as stealthily as they had come, leaving no traces of
their rule, or so they say. The period they ruled is thus defined as the
interregnum, between the good times. The Bhakti period, as well as the
anti-sramana period, commenced after their departure, and, slowly, the Jain and
Buddhist viharas and stupas were torn down and replaced or reoccupied by Siva
and Vishnu temples. The Pallavas took over from the Kalabhras at the end of the
6th century. Later dynasties often depicted the Kalabhras as external threats
or usurpers, perhaps to legitimize their own return to centralized power and
the orthodox Brahmanical order.
Mysterious
– unclear identity
During
this period, Jain influence grew, and the Jaina Sangam at Madurai was
established around AD 470, with a network of branches and monastic
establishments. Tamil Jains regarded Sravanabelagola as their religious seat.
Gradually, the peaceful penetration of Jaina monks gave way to the incursions
of warlike tribes. Early in the 5th century, the Kalabhras of the Kalikula had
settled in the region from Bangalore to Chittoor. We may, therefore, assign the
Kalabhra conquest of the South to about the middle of the 5th century. The
Kalabhra's presence in the Chalukya records may indicate that they were either directly
involved in military engagements with the Chalukyas or recognized as
significant players in broader regional alliances and conflicts that shaped
early medieval South India.
Dislodged
by the Kadambas from their earlier home around Sravanabelagola, they moved east.
They carved out a kingdom that included Bangalore, Kolar, and parts of the
Chittoor district, which came to be called Kalmad, or Kalavarnad, after them.
From there, they spread out into Tondainad, Cholanad, and Pandyanad. They
occupied Madurai for a while sometime after the reign of Mudukudumi. It is
still assumed that more than one family of Kalabhras ruled over parts of
Tamilakam.
The
Chalukyas' references to the Kalabhras highlight the complexity of Tamilakam's
regional dynamics, in which alliances were often fluid and political
affiliations could shift with circumstances. This fluidity is a hallmark of
South Indian political organization, in which decentralized powers such as the
Kalabhras coexisted with or challenged more centralized dynasties through
adaptive, locally embedded governance structures.
Evidence
Inscriptions
It
begins with an invocation to Lord Siva, then the greatness of the Pandyas, and
explains the grant of land to one Jatilavarman. He and his descendants
possessed and enjoyed the land for a long time. Then a conceited (cruel) ruler
named Kalabhra seized the land, driving away numberless Pandyan princes (which
could mean an extended battle over generations) and taking control of
Velvikudi, the village gifted above. The complaint added that the Kalabhras
subdued the land with an unflinching vast army. The Pandya Raja, named
Kadumkon, appeared like the sun rising from the vast sea; he was the Tennavan
with the brilliant Spear, whose army destroyed the Kalabhra enemies.
K
Veluthat remains unconvinced and adds: "I believe that this official
record has invented such a Kalabhra interregnum, so vividly described, to
legitimize a donation to Brahmins of a probably disputed piece of land."
There
are some vague references in certain Tamil works. The Madras Gazetteer states:
"The evidence of epigraphy to the effect that they definitely occupied the
Pandya country and drove out its native rulers receives corroboration in a
curious form from the Tamil Periya Puranam." Madura, it is stated, was
invaded and occupied by the king of Karnata during the time of the Saiva devotee,
Murti Nayanar, whose date is about the seventh century AD; the Karnata king became
a Jaina and persecuted the Saivas at Madura. He died without issue, and the
choice of succession was left to an elephant, which was let loose for the
purpose. The elephant picked up Murti Nayanar, and he accordingly became king
of Madura. The story is referred to in the Kalladam, an old Tamil work, and may
be taken to relate to the Kalabhras' temporary occupation of Madura.
Coins
Aside
from sporadic inscriptions, Galapra coins are said to be linked to these
rulers. One such coin was recovered from the bed of the Amaravathi River near
Karur in 1986. Krishnamurthy, who found it, states: "It looks similar to
the Roman bronze coin of the third century AD." On going through a Roman
Coin catalogue, I found a coin similar in diameter and weight. The Galapra coin
die might have been designed and made by Roman coin die-makers. He further said
that the Galapra coin had four symbols on the top-right of the obverse, near
the border, which are usually seen on Sangam Age Tamil coins. "So, the
coin may have been minted at the tail end of the Sangam Age.
Impact
Arunachalam
explains: They were not a remnant of the Satavahana power, which had spread
throughout Tamilakam. They had nothing to do with the Gangas or with any
Kalikula. They were not descended from Pulli, nor were they Vaduhar. Their
place of origin was not Venkatam or Erumainadu in particular, but only the area
around Sravanabelagola, the center of origin of Southern Jainism after
Bhadrabahu and the legendary Chandragupta. They were not a royal dynasty but
only a predatory tribe that used Prakrit-Kannada and launched a three-pronged
attack on the entire Tamilakam - on Madurai, on Puhar, and on Kanchi - and
succeeded. They were not, of course, Tamils. The Kalabhras did not bring about
the extinction of the Pandyas, but drove them away from Madurai. The Kalabhras
did not occupy the entire territory formerly ruled by the Cheras, Cholas, and
Pandyas. The Pandyas were dislodged from their rulership at Madurai, and the
Cholas were dislodged from their overlordship at Kaverippattinam (Puhar).
The
Pandyas were finally able to assert themselves and vanquish the Kalabhras at
Madurai by the end of the 6th century, while in other places the Cholas came to
power only later, in the middle of the 9th century; here again the Kalabhras
had disappeared, and a new clan known to history as the Muttaraiyar was having
sway over some parts of the Cholanad.
Language,
Religion
Kalabhra
appears in both the Pandya and Pallava inscriptions written in the Grantha
script (Sanskrit), but the name is unknown in Sanskrit. The language of the
Kalabhras is known to have been Prakrit and Pali, possibly also early Kannada.
They were followers of Jainism in some places and of Buddhism in others. Hence,
they are considered aliens on Tamil soil. The language of the Kalabhras would
have been Prakrit (or Pali) and a primitive form of Kannada, and their religion
was the Digambara sect of Jainism.
Literature
The
Chilappatikaram, an early Tamil epic written by Ilanko Atikaḷ, a prince who
became a Jain monk, was probably composed in the 5th century CE at Kodungallur,
near Muziris. A legend that he was the brother of a Chera king named
Cenkuttuvan, tentatively dated to 100–250 CE, is used to date the text to that
period. Daniélou, its translator, states that the epic – along with the other
four Tamil epics – was composed sometime between the latter part of the Sangam
and the subsequent centuries, that is, "3rd to 7th-century."
Iravatham Mahadevan states that the mention of a weekday (Friday) in the text
and the negative portrayal of a Pandya king narrows the probable date of
composition to between 450 and 550 CE. Taken together, these factors place the
epic's composition during the Kalabhra interregnum.
Other
works, such as the Tirukkural and Tolkappiyam, were also written by Jains much
earlier in the Sangam period. In contrast, the Manimekhalai, a text dated after
the Silappadhikaram, was written by Satanar, a Buddhist, between the 4th and
6th centuries or even later. Though there is some debate about Tiruvalluvar's
religion, there is also doubt about whether a Jain Kunda Kunda Acharya authored
it.
Nilakanta
Sastri noted that the evil rulers, the Kalabhras, disrupted the established
order. It was a dark period marked by the ascendancy of Buddhism, probably also
of Jainism, and characterized by great literary activity in Tamil, as many of
the authors were votaries of the 'heretical' sects. Emmerich highlights the
paradox: in this highly dramatic and ambivalent narrative, the Jains find
themselves in the awkward position of being responsible for "great
literary activity" that was, however, enabled by an "enemy of
civilization."
Criticism,
doubts
Valerie
Gillet refutes the link between Roman trade and the Kalabhra interregnum: It
has long been believed that trade with Mediterranean countries ended after the
third century AD, coinciding with the start of the 'Dark Period'. The period up
to the third century AD appears to have been a flourishing era for trade and
contact with Western nations. If the decline in trade with this part of the
world is real, it does not necessarily imply that a 'Dark Period' has begun in
South India; it may instead reflect a decline or crisis in the Roman Empire.
In
his book, BGL Swamy rejects all the arguments advanced by earlier historians
and concludes that it was a temporary occupation of Pandya land by the Gangas
and had nothing to do with pulling the shutters down on the Sangam age, if such
an age existed at all.
Veluthat
adds: "Actually, the Kalabhra episode is based on weak evidence, but that
is enough for the construct of an invasion." The Kalabhra episode, as
such, hardly explains anything, for a predatory march would not be enough to
usher in major socio-invasion and political changes. Elsewhere, he states - Nothing,
however, in the scanty evidence of Kalabhra presence in the sources of doubtful
authenticity supports this picture of a "long period" of armed
struggle between the peasants and non-peasants in which the latter, represented
by the Kalabhras, ultimately emerged successful. Historians have not quite
given up the chase for this Loch Ness Monster.
Manu
Devadevan agrees that the extant evidence, which is hardly substantial, does
not tell us what the Kalabhra marches accomplished that the recurrent and often
destructive raids of the Tamil chieftains couldn't. He emphasizes that the
Kalabhra thesis is at best a myth, and the historian's quest for the Kalabhra
interregnum is rightly likened to chasing the Loch Ness Monster.
Charles
Allen, though not convinced, also clarifies that there now appears to be a
growing body of opinion arguing that there was no Kalabhra dark age. However,
there may have been a period of turmoil, kalavaram, meaning turmoil in Tamil.
Chera
links
According
to Nagaswamy, the ancient Chera kingdom stretched from Muziris in the West to
Karur in the East. Karur (or Karuvur), near Trichy, served as the early capital
and inland power center for the Chera dynasty during the Sangam age. As the
eastern portions of the ancient Chera country gradually came under the Pandya
sphere of influence, the western portion evolved into an independent kingdom
with its headquarters at Mahodayapuram-Kodungallur (around the 9th century AD).
The
Kalabhras' influence extended to Kongunadu, a fertile region historically ruled
by the Chera kings of the Irumporai lineage during the Sangam period. Following
the decline of Chera power, Kongunadu underwent a series of political
transitions, with the Atiya rulers regaining prominence before the Kalabhras'
incursions. The Kongunadu inscriptions record the origins and transformations
of the Kongu rulers and their connections with the Kalabhras. Soon after, the
region was occupied, and administrative reforms were implemented, including
village-level governance led by chiefs known as Nattu-Kamindan. These reforms
laid the groundwork for subsequent political structures in the region. The
coordinated efforts of the Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cheras played a crucial role
in the Kalabhras' downfall. Pallava rulers such as Simhavishnu and Pandya kings
such as Kadungon are credited with overthrowing the Kalabhras and restoring
traditional Tamil dynasties. The Kongu Cheras near Coimbatore were later
absorbed into the Pandya political system.
In
Kongunadu, the Kalabhras' rule left a lasting imprint on administrative and
social structures. The Kalabhras are credited with introducing village
governance systems that later evolved into Palayams under the Nayaks of
Madurai. These systems divided the region into smaller administrative units,
each governed by a local chief. The Kalabhras' patronage of Jainism also
contributed to the proliferation of Jain centers in Kongunadu, many of which
remained significant religious sites for centuries. Despite their contributions
to administration and religion, the Kalabhras' suppression of Tamil traditions
created a cultural void that was filled by the resurgence of Saivism and
Vaishnavism under subsequent rulers.
The
migration from the East to the new seat of the Cheras at Vanchi near
Kodungallur on the West Coast was due to the ascendance of the Pallavas in the
7th–8th centuries, according to R Nagaswamy. However, other historians connect
the move or flight to the Kalabhara conquests on the East Coast, placing it a
little earlier.
A. Aiyappan,
the eminent anthropologist discussing the Chera capital of Vanchi, argues that
the Cheras were dislodged from Karuvur by the Kalabhras and shifted their
capital to the west coast, preserving the old names Vanchi and Karuvur, circa
the 4th century AD. He maintains that this is why locals in Malayalam always
considered these Cheras foreigners, because of their personal and domestic
laws, patrilineal systems, being the first among the Kshatriyas, and being the
first to be crowned kings. They were the suzerains of several local chieftains,
including the Eralanadu utayavan, from the beginning. In the same book,
discussing the antiquity of Malayalam, he, after consulting M Arunachalam,
explains that Royal Chera inscriptions in Kerala were mostly in Sen Tamil, as
spoken by the elites. In contrast, the spoken language of the ancient Kerala
folk was Kodum Tamil. This proves that these Chera rulers were foreigners from
the East Coast, that the use of Sen Tamil quickly declined, and that a mixture
of Kodum Tamil and Prakrit went on to form early Malayalam circa the 10th
century.
KK
Pillay concludes his paper on Nayars & Marumakkatayam by connecting it to
the Kalabhra. It is difficult to determine when Marumakkatayam first appeared
in North Kerala. It likely emerged there soon after the advent of the
Nambudiris. The prevalence of Marumakkatayam among the Nambudiris of Payyanur,
along with the significant fact that the Aliyasantanam institution of Kanara is
akin to Marumakkatayam, suggests that the Nambudiris arrived in Malabar via
Kanara, probably after a stay there. Even today, the customs and manners of the
Porri (Potti) residing in South Kanara are in many respects similar to those of
the Nambudiris.
Perhaps
the Nambudiris were displaced by external forces. If a suggestion may be
ventured, this movement might have been prompted by the Kalabhra invasions and
the resulting insecurity. If this were true, which is highly probable, the
advent of Nambudiris to North Kerala may be dated to roughly the 5th to the 7th
century AD, and Marumakkattayam might have been introduced among the Nayars in
North Kerala shortly after their arrival and settlement there.
However,
I am not too sure about this. I will get back to the Marumakkatayam topic some
other day.
I am
sure the Kalabhras will continue to hold people's attention for some time, and
new theories and discoveries will keep the search for answers going… just as
the Loch Ness monster myth has, as Veluthat likened it.
References
The Ins and Outs of the Jains in Tamil Literary Histories Christoph Emmrich
Kalabhra Interregnum – A retrospect and a prospect – B G L Swamy
A Note on the Kalabhras - K. R. Venketa Raman, JOIH 1956, vol 34
The Dark Period: Myth or reality? Valérie Gillet
From the Cult of Chivalry to the Cult of Personality: The Seventh-century Transformation in Pallava Statecraft - Manu V. Devadevan
Karur Vanchi – The capital of Sangam Cheras – R Nagaswamy
The origin and development of the matriarchal system in Kerala, Dr. K. K. Pillay - Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 1954
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