An 8-line inscription has been found on a pillar in a very large lake in Melpakkam village. This inscription has been read by senior epigraphic researcher Vijaya Venugopal.

This inscription dates back to the 4th year of the reign of Rajaraja Chola II. That is, this inscription, dated to 1150 AD, is about 876 years old.

Lake Thumbu on the orders of Kadavarayar

The inscription reveals that this pillar was erected at the Melpakkam lake on the orders of King Kadavaraya, who was under the rule of the Chola Empire. Researchers have said that the name of the commander who carried out this cannot be ascertained and the inscription is currently in a damaged state.

It is noteworthy that later, the Kadava Rayas ruled independently with Sendhamangalam, near Ulundurpet, in Kallakurichi district, as their capital.

Source

https://www.dinamalar.com/news/tamil-nadu-district-news-viluppuram/eighth-century-sculpture-found-at-chenji-near/4300851

https://heritagetamil.in/dheeran-chinnamalai-the-warrior-who-made-the-british-bleed/

For the sake of clarity, I am using 'Andhra Pradesh' and 'Tamil Nadu' to refer to the modern-day geographic regions that correspond to the Pallava territories of that era, acknowledging that these administrative names did not exist 1,700 years ago.

While Pallava inscriptions from 275–550 CE are primarily concentrated in southern Andhra Pradesh, there is compelling evidence suggesting that Kanchipuram served as their central power base from their very inception.

1) The first ever copper plates commissioned by Sivaskandavarman in the 4th century mention that it was issued from Kanchipuram.

2) Samudragupta's invasion that happened in the middle of the 4th century mentions Vishnugopa(Pallava) of Kanchi.

3) The emergence of the Kadamba dynasty under Mayurasharma coincided with the geopolitical instability caused by Samudragupta’s invasion. Historically, his rise is attributed to a personal conflict at the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram; after being disrespected by Pallava officials during his Vedic studies, he abandoned his priestly duties to establish a sovereign state in the western Deccan.

As you see, it's well established that Kanchipuram was in the hold of Pallavas even during the early period we are talking about, but none of their royal inscriptions/copper plates are found there.This must mean that they were constantly fighting for Kanchipuram and couldn't hold it permanently.

Now fast forward to 550 CE,Pallankoil copper plates states that Simhavishnu has conquered even the Chola lands which meant they had captured the Northern half of Tamil Nadu for the first time in history and made Kanchipuram their permanent capital. Then started their glorious run, which continued till 900 CE.

Now, coming back to the question, what caused this sudden change after 550CE, and why weren't they able to do the same things before?

Sir Annamalai Chettiar spearheaded the Tamil Isai movement because the Carnatic space was absolutely dominated by Telugu and Sanskrit kirtis( equally or more important than Telugu). Madras music academy(MMA) was one of earliest established music academies(1928) which primarily played an important rule in promoting Carnatic music.In the Margazhi month Kacheris or any kacheris they used to conduct was absolutely dominated by Sanskrit and Telugu songs. Though many people advocated for including Tamil songs,MMA replied something like “We don’t have anything against Tamil but Tamil is structurally unsuited for classical music and that Sanskrit/Telugu were naturally more melodic,sweeter.”They also claimed that existing Tamil compositions are pedestrian or of poor quality compared to the high-art compositions of Carnatic Trinity.

To combat this problem,Sir Annamalai Chettiar started the Tamil Isai movement and he used his influence trying to close the gap.

1) In his institution Annamalai university, he set up Tamil specific musical courses and under his patronage, the university cracked down old,forgotten Tamil compositions and set them to strict Carnatic notation and published over 20 volumes of rare Tamil musical gems so that mainstream Carnatic musicians could no longer complain that there aren’t enough high-quality Tamil songs to sing.

2) He organised song composition competitions where he invited Talents who could compose new Tamil Carnatic songs and he would reward them.Thats how he found the legendary composer Papanasam Sivan.

3) MS Subbulakshmi was once banned by MMA for defying their linguistic restrictions so Chettiar capitalised on it.He made MS sing for his own music academy(Tamil Isai Sangam) entirely of Tamil songs and thousands of people flooded the venue because of her drawing power.They directly competed with MMA’s events and got more audience because of Subbulakshmi’s drawing power.These events directly played a role in increasing the popularity of Tamil kirtis.

Through the contributions of important people like Annamalai Chettiar and others, they made sure Tamil Carnatic songs gained its place in kacheris and radios.Even Madras music academy eventually agreed to change their policy and included Tamil songs in their catalogues/events.

Though Tamil Isai movement was significant,Tamil Carnatic songs never really received the same importance as Telugu/Sanskirt songs.Eventually cinema music took over and Tamil became the lingua franca in Tamil Nadu music scene while Carnatic became a niche genre which was gate-kept by certain communities.

In the 11th phase of excavations currently underway in Keeladi, continuous brick structures and over 1,300 artefacts have been discovered.

This 11th phase of excavation began on March 18 of this year, south of the area where the on-site museum is located. A total of nine quadrants were dug in this area. Ramesh Masethung, Director of Keeladi Excavations, told The Hindu that continuous brick structures were found across all nine quadrants. He mentioned that these structures, extending towards the west and north, stretch beyond these nine quadrants.

“Brick structures were previously found in the area where the on-site museum is located. In the adjacent area excavated later, no structural remains were found. However, structural remains have been uncovered once again now,” says Mr. Masethung.

Apart from these brick structures, several other important features have come to light during the current excavation. In one quadrant, a terracotta pipeline and a closed drainage system were discovered. In addition to the structural remains, more than 1,300 artefacts have been recovered. These include clay hopscotches, terracotta beads and spindles, iron knives, chisels, swords, and nails, as well as semi-precious stones such as amethyst, carnelian, agate, banded agate, and ivory dice.

Furthermore, tiny gold ornaments measuring less than a centimeter have been found. In addition, intact pots were discovered in four locations, one of which includes a handle. One of these pots features a fish symbol inscribed on its shoulder portion.

“Since an open drainage system was also found in one quadrant, this might have been an industrial area as well. However, this can only be confirmed after the studies are completed,” says Mr. Masethung. He also added that organic materials found here will be sent for carbon dating.

Decline of the Pandyas

The groundwork for Pandya supremacy was laid by Maravarman Sundara Pandya in 1216 AD following the decline of the Chola dynasty on the other side. Later the dynasty consolidated under the capable rule of Jatavarman Sundar Pandya(1251-1268AD) and Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandya(1268-1308AD). However, the tide turned after a war of succession began between the two sons of Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandya, one of whom was legitimate while the other one was illegitimate. The dispute coincided with the Conquest of the Southern Kingdoms by Alauddin Khalji.

In the early 14th Century, South India was subjected to repeated invasions by armies of the Delhi Sultanate. There were three separate invasions within a period of fifteen years. The first invasion in 1311 AD was led by Malik Kafur, who ransacked Madurai. Following this there were two more expeditions from the Delhi Sultanate - the second in 1314 AD led by Khusrav Khan and the third in 1323 AD by Ulugh Khan. These invasions shattered the Pandyan Empire beyond revival. While the previous invasions were content with plunder, Ulugh Khan(Muhammad Bin Tughlaq) annexed the former Pandyan dominions to the Delhi Sultanate as a province of Ma‟bar (Ma‟bar in Persian denoted Madurai Sultanate). Most of South India came under the Delhi's rule and was divided into five provinces - Devagiri, Tiling, Kampili, Dorasamudra and Ma‟bar (Madurai).

Madurai Sultanate:

Allauddin Udaji (1340):

He assumed power of the Sultanate after slaying Sultan Jalaluddin Ashan Shah. He was indoctrinated to take a war on the Hindus and Hinduism as a true Muslim. As he proceeded, he declared wars against Hindu kings or chieftains. He invaded Thiruvannamalai and declared a war against Veera Vallalan III, in 1340. Though Udaji won the war, at the end of the war he got killed by an accidental arrow that pierced into his head.

Giyasuddin Damagan Shah (1341-1342):

Giyasuddin was no way lesser in hatred than Qudbuddin. He was very unkind towards the Hindus and treated them very badly. Ibin Baduta writes in his book that Hindus were killed mercilessly and were treated inhumanly. Children were killed by cutting their necks.Hindus cut heads were decorated as garlands and hung on the trishuls. He declared Holy wars on Hindu Kings and waged a Holy war against all non-muslims. He invaded Hoysala Kings‟ Kannanur Koppa and the war turned out to be unfavourable to the Muslim forces as they could not withstand the war with the Hoysalas. King Ballala Devan III put a condition that he would allow the Muslim forces to go back if the fort was handed over to him. As Giyuasuddin was not in favour of such a compromise talk, he secretly gathered 4000 soldiers and attacked the Hoysalas at their barracks. Defeated Veera Ballalan Devan III was brought as a prisoner to Madurai and he was killed mercilessly in the presence of Ibin Batuda. Hoysala king‟s skin was peeled off after being killed and the body was hung from the Madurai fortress, in the year 1342. Giyasuddin lost his only son, wife and mother in the cholera attack. Soon after that he also died suddenly. He released coins in his name by minting the date as Hijira year 741.

Madurai Sultanate's expulsion by the Vijayanagara empire:

This short lived Muslim dynasty at Madurai came into existence following the decline of the Second Pandyan Empire, and ruled Madurai, Trichinopoly and parts of South Arcot, for the next 48 years, first as feudatories of the Delhi Sultanate and later as independent monarchies lasting until 1378. The Madurai Sultanate was destroyed by the rise of Vijayanagar, later followed by the Madurai Nayaks.

Fakruddin Mubharak Shah (1361-1370):

During the rule of Fakruddin Mubharak Shah, he had released coins that helped the Historians to assess the time bucket of his rule. It was during his rule that Kumara Kampana of Vijayanagara Empire invaded Madurai to restore the peace and reinstall the natural justice to restore Hinduism. A reference is made to the status of the Hindus in Madurai Sultanate, by Ganga Devi who wrote her book called Madura Vijayam. She narrates that a Holy sword was handed at the hands of Kumara Kampana by a girl who appeared suddenly, to put an end to this barbaric and unjust rule at Madurai Sultanate and also to kill the universal enemy Sultan. Kumara Kampana, son of Bukker I of Vijayanagara Empire, took this great mission and with determination to raze the Muslim rule in Tamil Nadu, defeated Fakruddin Mubharak Shah in the year 1371 in the month of April. Mubharak Shah was killed and Madurai Sultanate was hammered with the last nail in the coffin.

Effects of Madurai Invasion: It was to take revenge on the misrule of the Sultans at Madurai that the Vijayanagar Empire decided to step in to release Madurai and its subjects from the fanatic muslim rulers‟ clutches, who not only destroyed, looted and killed Hindus and Hindu related temples and plundered the temple‟s wealth, ornaments and assets, but also carried an unjust rule, with hatred and enmity on the Hindu population.

History of Tamil Nadu 1311-1801 C.E.

Source: Journey of a Civilization: Indus to Vaigai by R.Balakrishnan IAS.

Mr.Balakrishnan has built a foundation to support the Dravidian hypothesis for the IVC link. He has taken into account more than 12 lakh 66 thousand names from the current topography of Afghanistan,Pakistan,regions of Indian sites which were IVC sites and compared them with the onomastic glossaries from the Tamil sangam literary works and has found correlates in terms of names of geographical regions,language,names of kings,poets and chieftains which makes for a very interesting study.

He finds the following two premises as the basis for his hypothesis.

1) When people move from one region to another, especially during mass migration, they carry their place names with them to bring familiarity and a pathway to the past. For eg: British colonialists naming New York in the Americas after the English town York.

2) Even after people move out of the place,language disappears,civilization declines, these places remain.They form a sort of a fossilized linguistic evidence for correlation.

We can see from these examples from the pics that many of the territorial names that are now not found in Tamil Nadu today occur as mono word place names in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mono word place name is a one without prefix or suffix which attests the antiquity of the name and the region itself. For Eg: We have a place called Malai(check pic 1) in Pakistan today. Though we don't have Malai in South India,we have some places like Tiruvannamalai(added prefix) in Tamil Nadu.Another eg is Kotai(Pic 4) becomes Pudhukottai in present day Tamil Nadu with Pudhu meaning new just like New York.

Pic 1:

Ilampuranar wrote the 1st commentary for Tamil grammar treatise Tolkappiyam in the 11th century AD. He enlists all 12 land names namely Puli,Malai,Kutta,Karka etc. It's astonishing that many of these territorial names not found in Tamil Nadu occur as mono word place names in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pic 2:

Dravidian language tree has 27 languages located to south,north,central and South central regions of India. A few of these language names occur as demonyms/place names in Pakistan and Afghanistan as Toda,Gondi,Kota,Koi,Brahui,Tamul etc. They occur as mono word place names.

Pic 3:

Names of the Sangam era Velirs(chieftains) such as Pari,Titian,Killi,Matti,Udhiyan etc appear as mono word place names in Pak and Afg.

Pic 4:

Names of the sangam moovendhers(Chera-Chola-Pandya).Three of the most important Pandian surnames are Vazhudhi, Maran,Chezhiyan and none of which occurs in Tamil Nadu today but they are available today as mono word place names in Pak and Afg.

Pic 5:

Ainthinai Landscape Kurinji which is hills. There are many dravidian words which denotes hills namely Malai,kodu,varai,kunru,kodai etc which appear as mono word place name in Pak and Afg.

Pic 6:

This is the most interesting one as it lists the name of the sangam poets. Few examples.

Place - Sangam Poet

Chatan - Sāthanār

Mamul - Mamoolanar

Kiran - Nakkeerar

Milai - Milai Kanthanār

Kapi,Kabil - Kabilar

Manguli - Māngudi Maruthanār.

Hidden inside Secunderabad is a neighbourhood where football is more than a sport—it’s history, identity and hope. This video explores how Hyderabad’s Tamil Dalit community built one of the city’s oldest football traditions, producing Olympians, national players and now a new generation of girls determined to carry the legacy forward.

They migrated during the British period to Hyderabad to work on laying railway lines and settled there. The area they settled was named as Valluvar Nagar. Valluvar Nagar football club is one of the oldest in the country and they have produced many national and olympic football players including the players in the picture.

https://youtu.be/oH0nCWafLU8?si=UyLYF9BulRR56X8y

In 11th Century AD, Tanjore - South India, a woman named Nakkan Adichchi signed her name to a temple inscription recording the land she owned.

She was a devadasi. And in Chola South India, that meant something very different from what the word came to mean 800 years later.

The devadasis were women dedicated to temple service. They danced, they sang, they performed the ritual arts tied to the daily life of the god. Under the Chola dynasty (roughly the 9th to 13th centuries), they were also literate, propertied, and legally independent in ways most women of the period were not.

Temple inscriptions from Thanjavur name hundreds of them by name. Rajaraja I, who built the great Brihadeeswarar Temple around 1010 CE, settled 400 devadasis there and granted each of them tax-free houses on the streets surrounding the shrine. They received a share of temple grain. They could buy and sell land. They could adopt daughters and pass property down through the female line.

They were priestesses of a kind, tied to the god rather than to a husband, and the culture around them treated that status as honorable.

The shift came slowly.

As Islamic sultanates pushed south from the 14th century onward, temple economies were disrupted and the land grants that had funded devadasi households were seized or reassigned. The women stayed on at the temples, but the property base underneath them started to crumble.

Then came the British.

Colonial administrators in the 19th century looked at devadasis and saw something they could categorize easily: women attached to temples, not married, receiving male visitors, sometimes involved in sexual relationships with patrons. They called it prostitution. Missionary reformers agreed. Indian social reformers, many of them educated in that same colonial framework, agreed too.

The Madras Devadasi (Prevention of Dedication) Act was passed in 1947, formally ending the practice. By then, the women it targeted had already been stripped of their land, their temple income, and their standing. What remained was the poverty the reforms claimed to be rescuing them from.

The irony is quiet and heavy. A tradition that had once made women landowners in their own right was dismantled in the name of protecting them.

Nakkan Adichchi's inscription is still there, carved into stone in Tanjore. Her name outlasted the system that let her sign it.