[20] Jatavarman I (c. 1251) successfully expanded the kingdom into the Telugu country (as far north as Nellore), south Kerala, and conquered northern Sri Lanka.

[8][9] The city of Kanchi became a secondary capital of the Pandyas.The Hoysalas, in general, were confined to the Mysore Plateau and even king Somesvara was killed in a battle with Pandyas.

The revival of the Pandya power by Kadungon (late 6th century CE) coincided with the prominence of the Shaivite nayanars and the Vaishnavite alvars.

[38] The Greek ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya, Megasthenes mentions Queens of Pandyas as 'Pandaia' and locates them in the south of India extending into the ocean.

In his inscriptions (2nd and 13th Major Rock Edict[40]), Asoka refers to the peoples of south India – the Cholas, the Cheras, Pandyas and Satiyaputras.

[41][42] These polities, possibly not part of the Maurya empire, were on friendly terms with Asoka: The conquest by dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni river.

(Major Rock Edict No.2), James Prinsep translation[44]The earliest Pandya to be found in epigraph is Nedunjeliyan, figuring in the Tamil-Brahmi Mangulam inscription (near Madurai) assigned to 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

It is assumed that the people found in the Mangulam inscription, Nedunjeliyan, Kadalan, and Izhanchadikan predate rulers such as Talaiyanganam Nedunjelyan and Palyaga-salai Mudukudimi Peruvaludi.

[46][40] Kharavela, the Kalinga king who ruled during c. 1st century BCE, in his Hathigumpha inscription, claims to have destroyed an old confederacy of Tamil countries ("the tamira–desa–sanghata") which had lasted 132 years, and to have acquired a large number of pearls from the Pandyas.

Several Tamil literary works, such as Iraiyanar Agapporul, mention the legend of three separate Sangams and ascribe their patronage to the Pandyas.

[46][51] Besides several short poems found in the Akananuru and the Purananuru collections, there are two major works – Mathuraikkanci and Netunalvatai – which give a glimpse into the society and commercial activities in the Pandya country during the early historic period.

[51] In the work Mathuraikkanci, the author Mankudi Maruthanar, refers to his patron, Talaihalanganum Nedunjeliyan, as the Lord of Korkai and the Warlord of the Southern Parathavar People.

[54] The Buddhist text Mahavamsa (composed in the 5th century CE) mentions a Pandya king in the context of Prince Vijaya's (543–505 BCE) arrival in Sri Lanka with his 700 followers.

This place [Nelcynda] also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the [Arabian] sea.... [60]...the kingdom of Panyue is also called Hanyuewang.

It is several thousand li to the southeast of Tianzhu (northern India) ...The inhabitants are small; they are the same height as the Chinese ...The darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and [considered] better than the others who are not so dark.

[73]The famous inscription of king Kharavela at Hathigumpha (mid-first century BCE[14]) mentions the defeat of a confederacy of the "Tramira" countries which had been a threat to Kalinga.

[77] Sendan (r. 654–70 CE), the third king of the Pandyas of Madurai, is known for expanding his kingdom to the Chera country (western Tamil Nadu and central Kerala).

[79] Kirtivarman II (r. 744/5–55 CE), the last Chalukya king, managed to lose to his southern countries as a result of his battles with the Pandyas.

[83] During the rule of Dantivarman (r. 796–847 CE), the Pallava territory was reduced by the encroachment from the Pandyas from the south (and Rashtrakutas and the Telugu-Cholas from nand orth).

[85] The Pandya control north of the Kaveri river was severely weakened by this move (and straightened the position of the Pallava ruler Nripatunga).

The very beginning of Chola emperor Kulottunga's rule (r. from 1070 CE) was marked by the loss of Sri Lanka and a rebellion in the Pandya country.

The neighbouring kingdoms of Sri Lanka, under Parakramabahu I, Venadu Chera/Kerala, under the Kulasekharas,[87] and the Cholas, under Rajadhiraja II and Kulottunga III, joined in and took sides with any of the two princes or their kins.

[92] The Hoysala king, pressed by enemies from north and south, "assigned" the southern half of his kingdom to his younger son Ramanatha (r. 1254–1292[8]).

[90] Maravarman Kulasekara I, now virtually unchallenged, ruled over the Chola country and southern Tamil speaking portions of Hoysala kingdom.

He also invaded Sri Lanka, ruled by Bhuvanaikabahu I, who "carried away to the Pandya country the venerable Tooth Relic", and the wealth of the island.

[111] With the invasion of the Sultanates, Vijayanagaras, and Nayakars from the fourteenth century onwards, the Pandyas lost their traditional capital of Madurai and shifted to cities like Tenkasi and Tirunelveli.

[9] The Pandya country, located at the extreme southwestern tip of South Asia, served as an important meeting point throughout the history of India.

[13] The trade with South Asia by the Greco-Roman world flourished since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty[119] a few decades before the start of the Common Era and remained long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

[120][121] The contacts between south India and the Middle East continued even after the Byzantium's loss of the ports of Egypt and the Red Sea[122] in the 7th century CE.

[126] Literary references of the pearl fishing mention how the fishermen, who dive into the sea, avoid attacks from sharks, bring up the right-whorled chank and blow on the sounding shell.