Pallava dynasty

The Pallava dynasty ruled from 275 to 897 in southern India, over a large part of the Deccan and Tondaimandalam, rising to prominence after the fall of the Satavahana empire, whom they had once served as feudatories. For about six centuries they dominated the southern Telugu country and the northern Tamil country, and they became a great southern power under Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I in the seventh century. Through their whole rule they fought the Chalukyas of Badami in the north and the Tamil kingdoms of Chola and Pandya in the south, until the Chola king Aditya I beat them in the ninth century. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited Kanchipuram in their time and praised their benign rule. The Pallavas are remembered above all for Vaishnava Hindu temple building: the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, a world heritage site, is the finest example, and they are credited with laying the foundations of medieval South Indian architecture. Kanchipuram was their capital, and from their court issued the Pallava script, from which the Tamil and Grantha scripts grew, and through them a family of Southeast Asian scripts including Khmer.