Kanchipuram (Kachchi)

Who holds it

Name

Kulottunga III Chola, through the governor of Tondaimandalam (not named in the pages we reached)

Title

see the lord or tenant line below

Born

not known

Confidence

medium

Lord in 1200

Kulottunga III Chola, through the governor of Tondaimandalam (not named in the pages we reached)

How things stand that morning

The northern headquarters of the empire in a quiet period. The Telugu march to the north (the campaign board's) is quiet; the Kadavas and Sambuvarayars hold the country between Kanchi and the Pennai.

Wealth

Weaving, temple endowments, tolls on the Palar roads.

Military

A Chola governor's garrison; no figure.

Threats

• A Telugu or Kadava move on the road from the north
• Famine from July 1200 (the Palar valley has its own tanks)

Charter

No charter known; the temples' and the weavers' bodies are the town's organisation

Council

The Chola governor of Tondaimandalam and his staff, the temple managers (Ekambaranathar, Varadaraja), the weavers' and merchants' bodies; none named for 1200

Communities

Saiva and Vaishnava Brahmins, weavers (Kaikolar, Devanga and others), merchants, Jain families, Buddhist remains

Fairs and markets

Temple festivals; the Brahmotsavam of Varadaraja and the Panguni festival of Ekambaranathar

Militia

A Chola garrison; no figure

Walls and castle

An old Pallava wall circuit is not described in the pages we read

Trade and crafts

Cotton weaving (the looms of Kanchi are the campaign board's), temple goods, the trade of the Palar valley to the Bay ports

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. From about 7 July 1200The delta famine is the king's concern; whether it reaches Tondaimandalam is not stated.Depends on: A failed monsoon over the Kaveri country. The famine is a regnal-year statement found only in the brief and the campaign board's calendar (no page read confirms it). Stopped by: A good monsoon in the north.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry kanchipuram (12.837,79.703) and the gazetteer agree. The campaign board's ekambaranathar-siva-kanchi and varadaraja-vishnu-kanchi are the two town temples: both are covered in the religious array.
• The campaign board entry the-looms-of-kanchi is a note on weaving: accepted.

Evidence: The temples are well attested; the governor and civil officers of 1200 are not named.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

Primary sources for Chola empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
• History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
• The Leiden grants of Rajaraja I and Kulottunga I concerning the Srivijaya vihara at Nagapattinam, The Chola chancery (Rajaraja I, Rajendra I, Kulottunga I) (the Larger plates about 1005 to 1014 (completed under Rajendra I); the Smaller plates 1090). Background documents for the relations between the Cholas and the Malay world. Read online
• Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Various (Kakatiya chancery and temple scribes), edited by P. Sreenivasachar (inscriptions of the 10th to 15th centuries; edited 1940 to 1942). The Kakatiyas of Orugallu (Warangal) are known for 1200 almost entirely from inscriptions, and this Hyderabad Archaeological Series corpus is the main printed collection. Read online
• Epigraphia Carnatica: inscriptions of the Mysore country, Various (Hoysala chancery and temple scribes), edited by B. Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhachar (inscriptions of the 4th to 19th centuries; the series ran from 1886 to 1905, revised from 1972). The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II (reigning 1173 to 1220) is documented almost wholly by the inscriptions in this series, arranged by district and taluk with full English translations. Read online
• Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
• South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
• Travancore Archaeological Series, Various (Kerala chiefs, temples and merchant guilds), edited by T. A. Gopinatha Rao, K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer and A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar (inscriptions of the 9th to 18th centuries; the series ran from 1910 to 1938). The main corpus for the Kerala coast. Read online

4 more in the sources library for Southern India and Sri Lanka.