Kingship and the language of ecology in early medieval Tamilakam, 500–800 ce

This essay studies the manner in which the Pallavas of Kān͂cīpuram, the dominant ruling power in the Tamil region from the seventh to ninth centuries ce, engaged with nature, ecology and the surrounding physical world to fashion a meta-language to articulate their political ideology. The eco-poetic contexts (tiṇai) in the Caṅkam poems show rich emotional and semantic associations that the early Tamils had with the natural world and landscapes. However, the physical environment was also a key point of political interest in the early medieval period, especially with the dramatic expansion of agriculture in the river valleys, construction of artificial irrigation apparatuses and the expansion of oceanic and inland trade, which provided a basis for the growing bureaucratic monarchical systems through the revenue generated. Aside from economic and military dominance, legitimation of power was a significant concern for the evolving monarchies, and this took different forms. Appropriation of semantic and cultural connotations associated with nature and ecology and their deployment in their epigraphic, literary and artistic rhetoric was one of the methods adopted by the Pallavas of Kān͂cīpuram to legitimise their rulership over the Tamil region, especially from the time of Mahendravarman I (580–630 ce ) to Nandivarman II, Pallavamalla (731–96 ce ). This essay will examine the beliefs and ideas associated with the natural world and their use in Pallava political rhetoric.