Kalabhra Interregnum

The people who controlled South India during this period is referred to as Kalabhas. But nothing of their origin, character, religion or social structure is known. One even wonders whether these were intentionally destroyed. Blotting out names and history was an age-old method practiced in ancient cultures. Historians affirm that this is exactly what happened in the case of South India as a whole until the fifth century. In Kerala this period extended until the eighth century.

Kalabhras were the South Indian dynasty who between the third and the 6th century C.E. ruled over entire Tamil country, displacing the ancient Chola, Pandya and Chera dynasties. Information about their origin and details about their reign is scarce. They did not leave any artifacts or monuments. The only source of information on them is the scattered mentions in Buddhist and Jain literature. They were displaced around the 7th century by the revival of Pallava and Pandya power. .

Most historians think that there was a group of Buddhist or Jain marauders who were anti-Brahminic anti-ritualistic who forcefully occupied the land during this period and whose identity is not known. These people are called Kalabhras. Thus we have the Wikipedia statement:

”Historians speculate that these people followed Buddhist or Jain faiths and were antagonistic towards the Hindu and Brahminical religions adhered by the majority of inhabitants of the Tamil region during the early centuries C.E. As a result Hindu scholars and authors who followed their decline in the 7th and 8th century C.E. may have expunged any mention of them in their texts and generally tended to paint their rule in a negative light. It is perhaps due to this reason, the period of their rule is known as a ‘Dark Age’ – an “interregnum”.

It is referred to as Kalabhra interregnum- the Dark Ages of Kalabhra Period. It is called a dark age, not because it was anything evil or dark, but because of the lack of information about the period. It is as though somebody took a marker and covered these pages with black ink. It is an age that has been blacked out by some body because they did not like the Kalabrahs and their ways. However identification of who this Kalabhra has remained a problem.

There had been a number of attempts to identify the Kalabhras based on the etymology of the word.

Some attempts in Identification Kalabhras

The identification of the Kalabhras is difficult. They have been identified with the line of Muttaraiyar of Kondubalur (eighth to eleventh century C.E.). Others regard them as Karnatas on the strength of a reference in Tamil literature to the rule of a Karnata king over Madurai. A third view is that the Kalabhras were Kalappalar, belonging to Vellala community and referred to in Tamil literature and inscriptions. But the most satisfactory theory identifies the Kalabhras with the Kalavar, and the chieftains of this tribe mentioned in Sangam literature are Tiraiyan of Pavattiri and Pulli of Vengadam or Tirupati. The latter is described as the cattle lifting robber chief of the frontier. The Kalavar must have been dislodged from their habitat near Tirupati by political events of the third century A.D., viz. the fall of the Satavahanas and the rise of Pallavas, resulting in political confusion in Tondaimandalam.

While there is no doubt that Buddhism and Jainism (coexisting with Vedism and local religions) existed in Kerala since second century BC (at the least); why should there be a sudden change in their attitude in the first century AD that they are considered heretical during that period (heretical to what? Were they not heretical before?) cannot be explained . The very basis of Buddhism and Jainism are extreme non-violence and respect for life. (This is the principle of Ahimsa – they are not allowed even to kill an insect) and no where in India they have ever attacked another religion or kingdom. In fact Asoka became a Buddhist on seeing the bloodshed he has caused in war. So Jain or Buddhist groups could not really be the Kalabhras.

So we have to look elsewhere for the real “Kalabhras”. It may be legitimately assumed that it came out of the epithets "Cerobothras' of the Periplus. Pliny the Roman historian of the first century calls them as Caelobothras. These may be the foreigner’s effort to pronouce what Asoka named as "Keralaputra" referring to the Sons of Kerala. All other given explanations are clearly forced.Speculation of the Indian historians always left out the impact of St.Thomas and his ministry. A similar willful neglect on this historical reality is also seen in every modern Hindu History. All Hindu historians agree that for some reason Vedic gods got extinct and new gods of Hinduism came in during the first century AD. But there is no reason given!. A sudden change for no reason? They also agree that St.Thomas came to India and had his ministry from North India to South India. But they refuse to see the connection. There is an intentional blacking out or ignoring of the Christian presence and influence anywhere in India. This is really the basic Kalabhra Interregnum. What I am suggesting is that the period referred here as “Black Age” is the epithet given to the Christendom in South India by the later Gnostic Brahminic historians. It was simply a period which they did not want to remember.

Christianity was indeed the religion that supplanted Vedism. But this was soon followed by intense conflict between Christians of Thomas and the Gnostic heresies which came from Syria (Aryan – Persian) by the second century AD. Mani came to India and China taking the Silk route and hence his ministry was concentrated initially in the North India. In the North India this conflict easily resulted in the destruction of Christian churches soon after the fall of Taxila kingdom. Most Christian Churches went underground as a result of persecution and others fled to Syria where the Syrian churches gave them refuge. In the South India the story was different. All the three regions of Dravidia – the Chola, Chera and Pandya were ruled by Christians –in the Indian myth - by an Asura King called Maha Bali. It is this period when Maha Bali ruled that came to be the Dark Ages of South India which will explain all known facts. All information on this period was wilfully destroyed by the new religious leaders of India. We will be able to identify them from history that followed this period.

Considering the history of South India, it appears that Kalabhras can be identified with the Mahabali’s Christian Kingdom, Caelobothras, which covered the three worlds – Chola, Chera and Pandya at the first century. We will take up this story in the next chapter.

The Possible extent of Kalbhra Empire - Mahabali Empire

A good look at the time line of south Indian history will give lots of insight. The Time line goes like this:

In Chola and Pandya regions of South India

Even though history was blanked out, we still have the secular Tamil literature created in Tamil by the association of poets called Sangam. They give some insight of the period as a golden era.

When it came out of the Kalabhra Interregnum period it was the Pallavas who were ruling the Pandya and the Chola Kingdoms. We should be able to assume legitimately that the decimers of Kalabhras were indeed Pallavas.

Who were the Pallavas?

"The Early Pallavas claimed to be Brahmins of Bharadwaja gotra. They styled themselves as Brahma Ksnatriyas. They were Brahmins who took arms."

Pallavas are originaly connected to the Pahlavas of Iran. This Pahlava tribe of Indo-Iranian descent migrated Southward and first settled in Krishna River valley. This region is called Pallavanadu even today. Pallavas later extended their territory and established their capital in Kancheepuram. The Early Pallavas claimed to be Brahmins of Bharadwaja gotra. They styled themselves as Brahma Ksnatriyas ( Brahmins in Pursuit of arms). Later by the fifth century CE, the Pallavas were regarded as Kshatriyas. They were followers of the Brahmanical religion.

Pallava coin 500 – 675 AD
The earliest known coinage in lead issued by the Pallavs

dated between 3rd and 4th century AD.

It is easy to see that the Kalabhras were actually defeated and displaced by the Pallavas of Syrian origin. Though they were Brahmins they became a terrorist group to take over the Kalabhra Empire. It was this dynasty who gave refuge to the Gnostics from Syria and were the architects of modern Vaishnavism. Pallavas are famed for their temples which are spread all over Tamil Nadu.

“Bhakti and temple-building movements went hand in hand after the Kalabhra interregnum ended. There was a definite paradigm shift from Vedic yajnas to archa worship in temples and the Velvikkudi copperplates are eloquent witness to the rejuvenation of the Vedic-Brahmanic religion in South India.” (The Hindu, Sunday, Dec 23, 2001 )

However Kerala survived the assault of gnosticism for another three centuries.

As a result the Kalabhra Interregnum extended till the eighth century in Kerala. It ended with the coming of Brahmins from outside India with Parasurama. At the end of eighth century we see temples and idols appear all of a sudden in Kerala.

Thus soon after the Kalabhra interregnum we see an upsurge of Hinduism specifically of Vaishnavite tradition both in Tamil region and in Kerala. Thus it is certain that the rewriting of history was done by these people to blot out the memory of the vast and powerful history of the Indian Christendom. Apparently they succeeded.

“At the end of the eighth century a.d, South Indian kingdoms such as the Pallavas, the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas and the Pandyas succeeded in overthrowing the Kalabhras.” (http://www.indiasite.com/kerala/history.html)

“The revival of Hinduism from its root during the Kalabhras spurred the construction of numerous temples and these in turn generated Saiva and Viashnava devotional literature.”

The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, built by the Pallava King Rajasimha (c. 700 - 728), is the earliest temple in Southern India. Its three sanctuaries are dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva.