Pandyas: Polity and Administration

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The Pandya dynasty, also called the Pandyas of Madurai, was one of the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam — alongside the Pallavas, Cholas, and Cheras — and one of the three Muvendar ruling houses of ancient Tamil country. For UPSC History Optional aspirants, the Pandyas are significant both for their long and eventful political history, spanning from at least the 4th–3rd centuries BCE through two periods of imperial dominance to their eventual collapse before the Delhi Sultanate’s advance in the 14th century, and for their well-documented and distinctive system of polity and administration, including village self-government, a structured judicial system, and an elaborate revenue apparatus. This article traces the historical background and sources of the Pandya dynasty before examining in detail its polity and administration — covering the king and his court, provincial and village administration, the judicial system, the military, revenue and expenditure, and the dynasty’s social, political, and religious life.

The Pandya Dynasty

The Pandyan dynasty, also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and one of the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas, and the Cheras.
- The Pandyas were one of the Muvendars that ruled the southern part of India, though intermittently, until the pre-modern period; the term Muvendar is a Tamil word meaning “three chiefs,” used for the heads of the three ruling families — the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas.
Existing since at least the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, the dynasty passed through two periods of imperial dominance: the 6th to 10th centuries CE, and under the “Later Pandyas” (13th to 14th centuries CE).
- Under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I and Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I, the Pandyas ruled extensive territories, including regions of present-day South India and northern Sri Lanka, through vassal states subject to Madurai.
From the 6th to the 9th century CE, the Chalukyas of Badami (or Rashtrakutas) of the Deccan, the Pallavas of Kanchi, and the Pandyas of Madurai dominated the politics of South India.
- The Pandyas often ruled or invaded the fertile estuary of the Kaveri (the Chola country), the ancient Chera country (Kongu and central Kerala) and Venadu (southern Kerala), the Pallava country, and Sri Lanka.
The Pandyas fell into decline with the rise of the Cholas of Thanjavur in the 9th century and remained in constant conflict with them.
- The Pandyas allied themselves with the Sinhalese and the Cheras in resisting the invading Chola Empire, until they found an opportunity to revive their frontiers during the late 13th century.
The Pandyas entered their golden age under Maravarman I and Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I (13th century).
- Some early efforts by Maravarman I to expand into the Chola country were effectively checked by the “Hunic” Hoysala invaders.
- Jatavarman I (c. 1251) successfully expanded the kingdom into the Telugu country (as far north as Nellore), south Kerala, and conquered northern Sri Lanka; the city of Kanchi became a secondary capital of the Pandyas.
- The Hoysalas, in general, were confined to the Mysore Plateau, and even King Somesvara was killed in battle with the Pandyas.
- Maravarman Kulasekhara I (1268) defeated an alliance of the “Hunic” Hoysalas and the invading Cholas (1279), and allied with Sri Lanka; the venerable Tooth Relic of the Buddha was carried away by the Pandyas during this period.
- During this period, rule of the kingdom was shared among several royals, one of whom enjoyed primacy over the rest.
An internal crisis in the Pandya kingdom coincided with the Khalji invasion of south India in 1310–11.
- The ensuing political crisis saw further sultanate raids and plunder, the loss of south Kerala (1312) and north Sri Lanka (1323), and the establishment of the Madurai Sultanate (1334).
- The Pandyas of Ucchangi (9th–13th century), in the Tungabhadra Valley, were related to the Pandyas of Madurai.
According to tradition, the legendary Sangams (“the Academies”) were held in Madurai under the patronage of the Pandyas, and some Pandyan rulers claimed to be poets themselves.
Pandya Nadu was home to a number of renowned temples, including the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.
The revival of Pandya power by Kadungon (7th century CE) coincided with the prominence of the Shaivite Nayanars and the Vaishnavite Alvars.
- It is known that the Pandya rulers followed Vedism; Shravanism is described as part of Vedic principles.
At its greatest extent, in 1290 CE under Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I, the Pandya dynasty spanned much of the southern peninsula.

Origin & Sources

The early Pandya chieftains ruled their country (Pandya Nadu) from the ancient period, which included the inland city of Madurai and the southern port of Korkai.
- The Pandyas are celebrated in the earliest available Tamil poetry (Sangam literature); the epic poem Silappatikaram mentions that the emblem of the Pandyas was that of a fish.
Graeco-Roman accounts (as early as the 4th century BCE), the edicts of the Maurya emperor Ashoka, coins bearing legends in Tamil-Brahmi script, and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions suggest the continuity of the Pandya dynasty from the 3rd century BCE to the early centuries CE.
- The Greek ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya, Megasthenes, mentions the queens of the Pandyas as “Pandaia” and locates them in the south of India, extending into the ocean; her territory consisted of 365 villages, which met the needs of the royal palace each day of the year.
  - He described the queen as the daughter of Heracles (identified by some other authors as Shiva or Krishna).
- Madurai, capital of the Pandyas, is mentioned in Kautilya’s Arthashastra (4th century BCE) as the “Mathura of the south.”
- The Pandyas are also mentioned in the inscriptions of the Maurya emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE); in his 2nd and 13th Major Rock Edicts, Ashoka refers to the peoples of south India — the Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas, and Satiyaputras.
The renowned Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang tells us that the Pandyan princes were Pallava feudatories, and that he travelled to Kanchi in the middle of the 7th century CE.
The early historic Pandyas are celebrated in the earliest available Tamil poetry, which refers to about twelve Pandya rulers.
- According to tradition, the legendary Sangams (“the Academies”) were held in Madurai under the patronage of the Pandyas.
- Several Tamil literary works, such as the Iraiyanar Agapporul, mention the legend of three separate Sangams and ascribe their patronage to the Pandyas.

Pandyas: Polity and Administration

The King

The head of the government was the king, a hereditary monarch who ruled with unaided discretion.
- The ascension to the throne was normally hereditary, sometimes through usurpation, and occasionally based on unusual methods of choosing a king — such as sending out the royal elephant to select a person of its choice by garlanding him.
- The king could be crowned at any age and reigned as long as he chose to, or lived; he was highly revered by his subjects and was even equated to God.
The king, in turn, had onerous duties towards his subjects and was held responsible for any misfortune that befell them.
The dynastic emblem of the Pandyas was the double carp, used for all official purposes of royal authentication.
- Coins issued by the kings, seals on letters, and exported and imported cargo stocked in the warehouses at ports all bore this emblem.

Court

The king’s court consisted of royal officers such as ministers, generals, commanders, and accountants; his power was restricted by the Aimberunguzhu, or the Five Great Assemblies.
- These consisted of representatives of the people, priests, physicians, astrologers, and ministers:
  - the council of representatives (Maasanam) safeguarded the rights and privileges of the people;
  - the priests (Paarpar) directed all religious ceremonies;
  - the physicians (Maruthar) attended to all matters affecting the health of the king and his subjects;
  - the astrologers (Nimithar) fixed auspicious times for public ceremonies and predicted important events;
  - the ministers (Amaichar) attended to the collection of revenue and expenditure, as well as the administration of justice.
There was another assembly of officials that served the king, called the Enberaayam, or the Eight Groups of Attendants.
- While some scholars believe it consisted of attendants on the king’s person, such as perfumers and dressing valets, others believe it consisted of more important persons, such as the people of the capital city and the leaders of the elephant corps and the cavalry.
The principal officers of state were the high priest, the chief astrologer, the ministers, and the commanders of the army.
Kings and local chiefs created Brahmin settlements called Mangalam or Chaturvedimangalam, equipped with irrigation facilities; these settlements were given royal names and the names of deities.
Royal officials were known by different titles:
- the prime minister was called the Uttaramantri;
- the royal secretariat was known as the Eluttu Mandapam;
- the titles of military commanders included Palli Velan, Parantakan Pallivelan, Maran Adittan, and Tennavan Tamizhavel.

Administration

The territory of the Pandyas was called Pandymandalam, Thenmandalam, or Pandynadu, and lay largely in rocky, hilly regions and mountain ranges, except for the areas fed by the rivers Vaigai and Tamiraparni.
The king divided his territory into a number of administrative units, each called a Koorram.
- This was further divided into provinces called Mandalam, which in turn was divided into sub-provinces called Nadus, with each nadu consisting of many villages.
- A locality inside a town or village was called an Ur, and each neighbourhood inside an Ur was called a Cheri.
While the king ruled over his entire territory from the capital, Madurai, he often placed one or more principalities (Koorram) under the near-sovereign government of a senior member of the royal family or a feudatory.
- The Cilappatikaram mentions that while Nedunj Cheliyan I ruled from Madurai, his younger brother was placed in charge of the Korkai principality.
- The villages that came under a principality were each governed almost autonomously by the elders of the respective villages.
- This arrangement can be roughly equated to a central government (the king), under which operated a set of feudal governments (the principalities), which in turn oversaw local governments (the villages).
The village was the most fundamental unit of administration under the Pandyas.
- The affairs of a village were the responsibility of its elders, who were not elected but were recognised and appointed on the basis of their age and status in society.
- There were two institutions for managing the affairs of a village — Ambalam and Manram — the only difference between the two being the locations from which they operated.
  - The Manram (or Podiyil) was a simple structure around the foot of a tree at the centre of the village, while the Ambalam (or Avai) was a small building on a slightly raised platform.
- The functions of these institutions were judicial, administrative, and financial: they attended to police duties, the hearing and settling of disputes, the administration of justice, sanitation, communication of royal orders, land surveys, revenue assessment, and the maintenance of roads and irrigation facilities.
  - Only the transmission of locally collected taxes to the royal coffers was left to the king’s revenue officers.

Judicial System

Justice was administered free of charge by special officers appointed as judges and magistrates, though the king remained supreme and the final arbiter in all civil and criminal cases; the monarchs prided themselves on the justness of their government.
- The Cilappatikaram mentions a Pandyan king who died of remorse on realising his guilt of injustice.
- Officers appointed as judges were expected to be learned, straightforward, experienced, and aged.
Mortgage, lease, trust property, loans, and breach of contract were some common sources of civil litigation, which had no time bar; theft, adultery, forgery, and treason were some types of criminal offences.
In the capital city, the dispensation of justice was organised by the king in his own court, while in the villages it was the elders who meted out justice.
- The committees of justice in the village assemblies were called the Nyayattars, who met under ceremonial trees to conduct trials and pronounce judgements.
- Trials were mostly characterised by elaborate judicial procedure, the setting down of evidence, and judgement, though there were instances where the trial-by-ordeal system was practised, in which the defendant was subjected to some form of torture — if he escaped unscathed, he was deemed innocent.
Punishments were very severe, and crimes were consequently rare: one caught in the act of burglary, adultery, or spying was given the death penalty, and one giving false testimony would have his tongue cut off.
- Prisons were used to hold not only the guilty but also captives taken in war; prisoners were chained and watched over by warders.
- It was common practice to release prisoners on festive occasions, and in some cases they were asked to go to sea for pearl-fishing.

Military and Warfare

The king was the chief commander of the army and usually led his army in the battlefield.
- The military was said to be fourfold: the infantry, the cavalry, the elephantry, and the chariotry.
- A wide variety of war weapons filled the military arsenal, including shields, swords, spears, tridents, maces, and bows and arrows.
A successful war could lead to the annexation of territories or the submission of the enemy, who would then recognise the hegemony of the victor and start paying tributes.

Revenue and Expenditure

The main sources of royal revenue were taxes, tributes, customs duties, and tolls.
- Taxes were called Karai or Irai, tributes were called Tirai, and customs tolls and duties were called Sungam.
- Levy of taxes, as well as expenditure, was at the discretion of the king, who decided the rate and incidence of taxes as well as any remissions.
- Land tax, paid in money or in kind, and income tax, equal to one-sixth of an individual’s income, were the major types of taxes collected.
Other sources of revenue included tributes paid by feudal subordinates, war booty, presents by loyal and visiting subjects, treasure troves, cess, and forced gifts, besides land revenue.
- Tolls were collected on the trunk roads used by caravans and at the frontier of each kingdom; customs were levied at seaports where imported goods landed.
- The export of locally manufactured goods such as textiles and pearls earned considerable foreign exchange for the royal treasury; the king took one-tenth of the total earnings from pearl-diving and the sale of pearls as his royalty.
Expenditure for the king included the military, gifts to poets and temples, the maintenance of educational and health services, building infrastructure such as roads and irrigation, and palace household expenses.
- Tax remission also deprived the king of some revenue, and expenses incurred in the recruitment and maintenance of the army and the waging of war were a considerable drain on the treasury.
- The palace housed not only members of the royal family but also a vast retinue of merchants, officials, and entertainers, all of whom had to be compensated for their services — this too was a major item of expenditure.

Social and Political Aspects

Royal palaces were called Tirumaligai and Manaparanan Tirumaligai during the Pandya reign, and the royal couches they used were named after local chiefs, attesting to the legitimacy of the kings’ overlordship.
The political division of land was as follows:
- the land assigned to Brahmins was called Salabogam;
- the land assigned to ironsmiths was called Tattarkani;
- the land assigned to carpenters was known as Taccu-maniyam;
- the land donated to the Brahmin group for imparting education was called Bhattavriutti.
A scholar named Wassaf claims that the trade of horses was very common during this period; other goods traded included spices, pearls, precious stones, elephants, and birds.
- The busiest port town under the Pandyas was Kayalpattinam (now in Thoothukudi district).
Literacy was also promoted during this period, and administrators used various methods to do so — singers were appointed to recite bhakti hymns in temples to promote literacy, and theatre plays were performed on similar themes.

Religious Beliefs

It is believed that the Pandyas initially followed Jainism but had later adopted Saivism.
- Medieval and later Pandyas repaired many temples and endowed them with gold and land; patronage was also extended to Vedic practices.
- The impartiality of rulers towards both Saivism and Vaishnavism is also evident in the invocatory portions of the Pandya inscriptions.
The early Pandyas had built many temples; however, no new temples were built by the medieval and later Pandyas, though they ensured the existing ones were well maintained.