Pandya Dynasty

The Pandya dynasty, also called the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India and one of four great kingdoms of Tamilakam alongside the Pallavas, Cholas and Cheras, existing from at least the fourth or third century BC and counted among the world's longest-ruling dynasties, with continuous power lasting from around 400 BC to 1618 AD even as its territorial reach varied considerably. The dynasty experienced two periods of imperial dominance, from the sixth to tenth centuries AD and again as the Later Pandyas from the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, when rulers such as Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I and Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I governed extensive territory across South India and northern Sri Lanka through vassal states centered on Madurai. Early Pandya chieftains ruled from Madurai in the interior and Korkai on the coast, and the dynasty is celebrated in the earliest Tamil poetry known as Sangam literature.