The Pallavas of Kanchipuram were their contemporaries further to the south.

During their history Pandyas were repeatedly in conflict with the Pallavas, Cholas, Hoysalas and finally the Muslim invaders from the Delhi Sultanate.

During their history, the Pandyas were repeatedly in conflict with the Pallavas, Cholas, Hoysalas and finally the Muslim invaders from the Delhi Sultanate.

Ultimately, the Kadava Pallavas, Hoysalas and also the Telugu Choda Timma who invaded Kanchi were all one by one vanquished by Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan with the Cholas finally becoming extinct after defeat of Hoysala Ramanatha as well as his ally Rajendra iii around 1279 by Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandiyan.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandiyan seized the opportunity with the Hoysalas being in Tiruchy and not having any ally, the rapidly weakening Cholas seeking alliance with the Kadava Pallavas who were themselves being threatened by the Telugu Cholas.

Since Pallavas ruled in the territory extending from Bellary to Bezwada, it led to the probability of a theory that the Pallavas were a northern dynasty who having contracted marriages with princesses of the Andhra Dynasty inherited a portion of Southern Andhra Pradesh.

KA Nilakanta Sastri postulated that Pallavas were descendants of a North Indian dynasty of Indian origin who moved down South, adopted local traditions to their own use, and named themselves after the land called Tondai as Tondaiyar.

KP Jayaswal also proposed a North Indian origin for them, putting forward the theory that the Pallavas were a branch of the Vakatakas.

Historian KR Subramanian states the Pallavas were originally not a Tamil power, they were a Telugu power ; and Telugu Sources know of a Trilochana Pallava.

The earliest inscriptions of the Pallavas were found in the districts of Bellary, Guntur and Nellore.

The Pallavas were in conflict with major kingdoms at various periods of time.

Pallavas kings, persumably exalted ones, were known by their title, Mahamalla or the " great wrestler ".

Skandavarman appears to have been the first great ruler of the early Pallavas, though there are references to other early Pallavas who were probably predecessors of Skandavarman.

Pallavas were followers of Hinduism and made gifts of land to gods and Brahmins.

The Pallavas were instrumental in the transition from rock-cut architecture to stone temples.

The famous Tondeswaram temple of Tenavarai and the ancient Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee were patronized and structurally developed by the Pallavas in the 7th century.

The presence of the Pallavas, much before further naval expeditions to Indo-China by their illustrious succeeding and contemporary empires such as the Pandiyans and the Cholas, is attested by the existence of specimen of art bearing striking resemblance in countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, as well as scores of inscriptions in those lands in the Grantha script ( a script in which both Tamil and Sanskrit can be written ) in which the Pallavas were the first to specialize.

During the reign of the Chalukya dynasty, Xuanzang reported that numerous Buddhist stupas in regions previously ruled by Buddhist-sympathetic Andhras and Pallavas were " ruined " and " deserted ". These regions came under the control of the Vaishnavite Eastern Chalukyas, who were not favorable to Buddhism and did not support the religion.

The Pallavas ( 4th to 9th centuries ) were, alongside the Guptas of the North, patronizers of Sanskrit in the South of the Subcontinent.

From this time, and for several centuries afterwards, southern India, under the rule of the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas, and Pandyas, experienced its own golden age.

Since the early BCE, urbanization and mercantile activity along the western and eastern coast of what is today Kerala and Tamil Nadu led to the development of four large Tamil political states ( Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallavas ) and a number of small petty states warring amongst themselves for dominance.

Inscription of later Pallavas and Pandiyan Nedunchezhiyan are also examples for this variety of Grantha Script.

After being overshadowed by the Pallavas and Cholas for centuries, Pandyan glory was briefly revived by Maravaramban Sundara Pandyan and by ( probably his younger brother or son ) the much celebrated Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I in 1251.

The Cholas of course did not lack valour but had been unable to stop the revival of the Pandyan empire from the times of Maravaramban Sundara Pandyan, the revival of the Kadava Pallavas at Kanchi under Kopperinchunga I and indeed the growing power and status of the Telugu Cholas, the Renanti and the Irungola Cholas of the Telugu country ; for the last three-named had been very trusted allies of the Cholas up to Kulothunga III, having helped him in conquering Kalinga.

After the Ikshvakus, Pallavas and Yadavas fought for supremacy over the region.

A contest for political supremacy existed between the early Pallavas and the Kadambas.

After the Kalabhra upheaval the long struggle between the Pallavas and Chalukyas of Badami for supremacy in peninsular India began.

Retreating into their homeland of Nellore and Guntur for a while the Pallavas returned to Kanchi with renewed vigor.

Assuming the correctness of the identification of the Pallavas with the pauranic Pahlavas, and of the Pahlavas with the Parthians, there are good historical grounds for supposing that Parthian colonies established themselves in the Deccan at a very early period.

An outline of this kind, pending the discovery of more definite materials to fill in the details, quite consistently prepares us for the next succeeding historical appearance of the Pallavas in Sir Walter Elliot's Vengi copper plates of Vijaya Nandi-varman and the subsequent inscriptions of the Chalukyas, at whose arrival in the Dakhan they found the Pallavas in possession of its western districts, as far at the least as the vicinity of Badami in the middle basin of the Krishna, and of its eastern districts as far north at least as Rajahmahendri in the lower basin of the Godavari, and with their capital still at Kanchipura, where Sivaskanda-varman of our present grant reigned several centuries before ..... I believe it to be, and his reign fell at any time about the end of the first century CE, or the beginning of the second.

It is known for its temples, built over 1200 years ago by the Pallavas and Cholas.

The great struggle between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas, which would last for more than two centuries, began during the reign of Simhavishnu.

Takua Pa is said to have been the finest harbor on the west coast of the peninsula for trade between the Malay kingdom of Sri Vijaya and the early South Indian Tamil kingdoms of the Cholas and Pallavas during different times in history.

The prince, sculptor and the dancer along with Gundodharan a student of Aayannar ( who is actually a spy working for the Pallavas ) take refuge in the village, Mandapapattu.

Clashes between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas continued for a century, until the Chalukya king Vikramaditya II won a decisive victory against the Pallavas in 740.

From these inscriptions it is known that nothing short of complete annihilation of the Pallavas ( prakrity-amitra ) could redeem the lost dignity of the Chalukyas.

The Nolamba Pallavas pompously held the birudas ' Lord of Kanchi ', which may lead one to believe that the feudatories of the Chalukyas were ruling from Kanchi or occupying Kanchipuram, both of which presumptions are false.

Pallavas later extended their sway up to Northern Tamil region and established a flourishing empire.

He first vanquished the Kadava Pallavas under Kopperinchungan-II, who had challenged the Hoysala army stationed in and around Kanchi and killed a few of their commanders.

The Pallavas had on their seal, the Ganga and Yamuna, known to be Vakataka insignia.

Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchi till the 9th century CE, till the reign of their last king, Vijaya-Nripatungavarman.

Thereafter the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas in the north with Kanchipuram as their capital, and Pandyas in the south with Madurai as their capital.

Under Skandavarman I, the Pallavas extended their dominions north to the Krishna River and west to the Arabian Sea.

The Pallavas in their Tamil country also adopted the same method.

The Kadambas had their aggressions and attacked even the headquarters of the Pallavas with the Pallavas taking retaliatory measures by expelling and invading Kadamba territories in Karnataka.

Then follows a dynasty which issued their charters in Sanskrit ; following this came the family of the great Pallavas beginning with Simha Vishnu ; this was followed by a dynasty of the usurper Nandi Varman, another great Pallava.

This information comes from the Lakshmeshwar inscriptions in Kannada dated January 13, 735 A. D. From inscriptions it has come to be known that even before his coronation, Vikramaditya II, as a crown prince ( Yuvaraja ), had conduced successful military campaigns against their arch enemy, the Pallavas of Kanchipuram.

From the inscriptions of Vikramaditya II, historians feel that he nursed a grudge against the Pallavas, who a century ago, under the leadership of Narasimhavarman I, had defeated the Chalukyas and occupied their regal capital Badami, thus bringing to an end the glorious reign of Pulakesi II and causing humiliation to the Chalukya royal family.

To commemorate his celebrated military conquests over the Chalukyas, their subordinates and feudatories like the Hoysalas, Nolamba Pallavas, Uchhangi Pandyas etc., the Paramaras or Maharashtra / Gujarat area, Palas of Bengal, Ilam, Madurai and the Cheras as well as his famed northern campaign to the Ganges, Rajendra assumed the title of Gangaikonda Cholan and other famous titles like Mudigondasozhan, Irattapadikonda Sozhan among scores of other titles of his and had the Siva Temple Gangaikondacholapuram built and consecrated.