:''Kadunkon or Kadungon was also the name an earlier

Pandya The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

king, mentioned in the

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil language, Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam''), historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil language, Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cā ...

.'' Kadunkon (Tamil: கடுங்கோன்) was a

king who revived the Pandya rule in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

in the 6th century CE. Along with the

Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...

king

Simhavishnu Simhavishnu ( IAST: Siṃhaviṣṇu) also known as Avanisimha son of Simhavarman III and one of the Pallava kings of India, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond ...

, he is credited with ending the

Kalabhra The Kalabhra dynasty (also called Kaḷabrar, Kaḷappirar, Kallupura or Kalvar) were rulers of all or parts of Tamil region sometime between the 3rd century and 6th century CE, after the ancient dynasties of the early Cholas, the early Pandy ...

rule, marking the beginning of a new era in the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

speaking region. Kadunkon's title was "Pandyadhiraja", and his capital was

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

. He was succeeded by his son Maravarman Avanisulamani.

Dates

Most historians, including R. C. Majumdar, state the period of Kadunkon rule as 590–620 CE. * K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (the first assumption) — c. 600–620 CE * K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (revised date) — c. 590–620 CE *

Noboru Karashima was a Japanese historian, writer and Professor Emeritus in University of Tokyo, Japan. He also served as Professor Emeritus at the Taisho University, Japan. He was a prominent scholar of Asia in the studies of south Indian and South Asian histor ...

— c. 560–590 CE (or) c. 590–620 CE

Velvikudi Grant

The

mentions the early Pandya dynasty, which is believed to have gone into obscurity during the

Kalabhra interregnum The Kalabhra dynasty (also called Kaḷabrar, Kaḷappirar, Kallupura or Kalvar) were rulers of all or parts of Tamil region sometime between the 3rd century and 6th century CE, after the ancient dynasties of the early Cholas, the early Pandya ...

. The last known king of this dynasty was Ugrapperuvaludi. Kadunkon is the next known Pandyan king. Not much information is available about him. Most of the knowledge about him comes from the

Velvikudi inscription The Velvikudi inscription is an 8th-century bilingual Indian copper plate inscriptions, copper-plate grant from the Pandya dynasty, Pandya kingdom of southern India. Inscribed in Tamil language, Tamil and Sanskrit languages, it records the ren ...

of the Pandya king Parantaka Nedunchadaiyan (also Nedunjadaiyan or Nedunchezhiyan). According to this inscription, Kadunkon defeated several petty chieftains and destroyed "the bright cities of unbending foes". It describes him as the one who liberated the Pandya country from the Kalabhras and emerged as a "resplendent sun from the dark clouds of the Kalabhras". His defeat of Kalabhras (who were probably Jains or

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

s) was hailed as the triumph of

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

References

Bibliography

* * * *
Available online
{{Authority control Pandyan kings 6th-century Indian monarchs