but later the Pallavas issued gold and silver coins. Merchants had their own organizations such as Manigramam. In foreign trade, spices, cotton textiles, precious stones and medicinal plants were exported to Java, Sumatra, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, China and Burma (Myanmar). Mamallapuram was an important seaport.
Traders founded guilds and called themselves as sudesi, nanadesi, ainurruvar and others. Their main guild functioned at Aihole. Foreign merchants were known as Nanadesi. It had a separate flag with the figure of bull at the centre, and they enjoyed the right of issuing vira- sasanas .
The jurisdiction of this guild stretched over entire south-east Asia. The chief of this guild is registered in the inscriptions as pattanswamy, pattnakilar, and dandanayaka . Its members were known as ayyavole-parameswariyar . XI History - Lesson - - Cultural Development in South India was fighting a losing battle.
Royal patronage, which the Buddhists lacked, gave an edge to the protagonists of Vedic religions. Apart from the university at Kanchi, which acquired a fame equal to that the Nalanda, there were a number of other Sanskrit colleges. Sanskrit was the recognized medium, and was also the official language at the court, which led to its adoption in literary circles. In the eighth century the mathas (mutts) became popular.
This was a combination of a rest house, a feeding-centre, and an education centre, which indirectly brought publicity to the particular sect with which it was associated. Growing Popularity of Sanskrit Mahendravarman I composed Mathavilasa Prahasanam in Sanskrit. Two extraordinary works in Sanskrit set the standard for Sanskrit literature in the south: Bharavi’s Kiratarjuniya and Dandin’s Dashakumaracharita . Dandin of Kanchipuram, author of the great treatise on rhetoric Kavyadarsa , seems to have stayed in Pallava court for some time.
Rock-cut Temples Mahendravarman I is credited with the introduction of rock-cut temples in the Pallava territory. Mahendravarman claims in his Mandagappattu inscription that his shrine to Brahma, Isvara and Vishnu was made without using traditional materials such as brick, timber, metal and mortar. Mahendravarman’s rock-cut temples are usually the mandapa type with a pillared hall or the