Digital Rare Book:
Trilochana Pallava And Karikala Chola
By N. Venkata Ramanayya
Published by V.Ramaswamy Sastrulu & Sons, Madras - 1929

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Introduction:

Trilochana, Trinayana, Trinetra, or Mukkanti (for all these are synonymous and are the names of a single individual) is a mysterious figure that stalks the stage of the South Indian History. He is said to be a Paliava king (hence his name Kadnvetti) who played a conspicuous part in stemming the tide of the Chalukya invasion from the north. However, it is the opinion of many scholars who devote their time to the study of South Indian History that Trilochana Paliava was a mythical king, and that his achievements do not deserve consideration in serious historical discusssion. Therefore, they ignore Trilochana altogether in their writings, or mention him only to brand him “ as a mythical king of Paliava origin.” They attempt to justify their position by adducing the evidence of the following facts, which appears at first sight to be very convincing.

Although several inscriptions refer to Trilochana Pallava, their evidence cannot be regarded as trust worthy ; for they belong to a period considerably posterior to the time at which he is supposed to have lived. So far, no inscriptions of Trilochana have been discovered ; and those that are said to be his are not genuine but forgeries of later ages. (2) The Pallava inscriptions, a good collection of which is available for our investigation, do not even make a passing allusion. Moreover, the name of Trildchana is usually associated with the names of two other South Indian kings who should have lived in different ages.

In a large number of Eastern Chalukya grants, he is represented as opposing the advance of the Chalukyan adventurer Vijayaditya who was slain in a battle while attempting to establish a principality for himself in the south. Again, Trilochana is said to have been defeated by the ancient Chola king Karikala, who captured Kanchi, annexed a large part of the Pallava territory to his dominions, and reduced his vanquished enemy to the position of a feudatory prince. Trilbchana, therefore, appears to be a contemporary of Vijayaditya and Karikila. According to the opinion of competent scholars, Vijayaditya lived at the close of the 5th and the commencement of the 6th century A D. But Tamil writers assign Karikala to a much earlier date, some going as far back as the 2nd or the 3rd centuary B.C, According to them Karikala flourished at a time when the Pallava power was not yet established at Kanchi. Trilochana could not have been a contemporary both of Vijayaditya who lived at the beginning of the 6tn century A-D., and of Karikala who probably flourished about the commencement of the Christian era. Therefore, he cannot be regarded as a historical character.

The grounds on which the above conclusions are based do not seem to us to be adequate.Many ancient kings are accepted as historical characters although there is no epigraphical evidence to prove their historicity. Kings mentioned in forged inscriptions need not necessarily be regarded as fictitious beings. The genealogies of dynasties reconstructed inscriptions are not in all cases complete.