Simhavishnu

Simhavishnu
Simhavishnu with his queens: sculpture found in Adivaraha mandapam in Mahabalipuram. This is dated to the reign of his grandson, Narasimhavarman Mahamalla (630–668).
Pallava King
Reign	6th century AD
Predecessor	Simhavarman III
Successor	Mahendravarman I
Issue	Mahendravarman I
Dynasty	Pallava
Father	Simhavarman III

Simhavishnu (Tamil: சிம்மவிஷ்ணு), also known as Avanisimha (Tamil: அவனிசிம்மன்), 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 Kanchipuram (Kanchi) in the South. He was portrayed as a great conqueror in Mattavilasa Prahasana (drunken revelry), a drama written by his son Mahendravarman I.

Hero stones of the reigns of Simhavishnu and his father Simhavarman show his highest regnal year to be the thirty-third, and on this basis he ruled for over 33 years. Sen states he ruled from 575-600 AD, and conquered Chola. However, there is no exact consensus as to Simhavishnu's period on the throne. Recent epigraphical evidence supports the period of 537–570 CE, whereas older generation historians like T.V. Mahalingam claimed it to be 575–615 CE. KAN Sastri tentatively places Simhavishnu's reign between 555–590 CE.

When Simhavishnu ascended the throne, the Pallava dynasty was beginning to reassert its supremacy. His father Simhavarman was an accomplished militarist who according to a grant by Rajasimha Pallava (Narasimhavarman II) in the 8th century AD, had destroyed the town and army of Ranarasika, a Chalukyan king of the Deccan.

The southern peninsula of India was then ruled by five dynasties. The Pallavas, the Cholas and the Pandyas shared the power in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, parts of southern and eastern Karnataka border and Ceylon; the Cheras controlled Kerala and the Chalukyas controlled Karnataka. Simhavishnu, who was known for his gallant martial courage and judicial wisdom from a young age, overthrew the Kalabhras and conquered the region up to Kaveri, where he came into conflict with the Pandyas and Ceylon. He dispatched a naval expedition and occupied Malaya and Sri Lanka and established Kanchipuram as his capital. The presence of the Pallavas, much before further naval expeditions to Indo-China by their illustrious succeeding and contemporary empires such as the Pandiyans and the Cholas, is attested by the existence of specimen of art bearing striking resemblance in countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, as well as scores of inscriptions in those lands in the Grantha script (a script in which both Tamil and Sanskrit can be written) in which the Pallavas were the first to specialize.