Pallava Dynasty

The Pallava dynasty ruled a significant portion of the Deccan region known as Tondaimandalam in South India from 275 to 897 AD, governing from its capital at Kanchipuram and dominating the Telugu region and northern Tamil areas for roughly six hundred years. The dynasty reached its height under Mahendravarman I, who reigned from 600 to 630, and Narasimhavarman I, who reigned from 630 to 668, before its power ended when the Chola ruler Aditya I defeated the Pallavas in the ninth century. The Pallavas are especially remembered for patronizing Hindu Vaishnava temple architecture, most notably the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for developing the Pallava script, which influenced the later development of the Tamil script, the Grantha script, and several Southeast Asian scripts including Khmer.