Dantivarman ruled the Pallava kingdom for 51 years. During his reign, the decline of the pallavas had set in. Pandyan intrusions in the south reduced the Pallava territory to areas in and around Kanchipuram. In 803 CE, the Rashtrakuta emperor Govinda III defeated him and entered Kanchi.
The Telugu Chola monarch Srikantha conquered and occupied Tondaimandalam and appointed as its ruler a member of a junior branch of the Pallavas named Abhimanasiddhi, who appears to have some relation to the Cholas as well. Dantivarman fled and took shelter in Kadamba kingdom, with whom he was related matrimonially. No inscription of Dantivarman was found between his 21st and 49th regnal years (i.e. from circa 818 C.E. - 845 C.E.). This interregnum caused by the Telugu Chodas was, put to an end in the 49th regnal year of Dantivarman, who was assisted by his crown prince Nandivarman III, born through the Kadamba princess Aggalanimmadi, regained his lost territory. However the southern regions of the Pallava kingdom continued to be under Pandya control.
Notes
^Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 41–42. ISBN978-9-38060-734-4.
