My mother is from Thirunelveli and my father from Thanjavur.
the II set of Pandyas starting with maravarman sundara but for few exceptions were the worst kings to rule Tamil nadu, every generation either the princes would contest agains the father or amongst themselves and invite trouble from foreign shores - Sri Lanka or the Muslims, they never stood and fought and always saved their skin.
Frankly speaking Jatavaraman Sundara and his brothers are the only saving grace of the II dynasty. Rest all were a fratricidal bunch
Even today the only lasting legacy still talked about for Pandyas is the Tamil sangam. otherwise be it Administration, Martial ability, trade, religion, literature, architecture or arts, chozha either are equal to or out rank Pandyas.
Hey the above sucks, frankly as far as the society is concerned it is a series of factors which bring achievements or disasters, so pinning responsibility on a particular king or dynasty is only for arguments sake
Remnants of the old Pandian King brotherhood can be still found around Madurai today. Lots of crimes, selfishness and commercialism thrives even today.
Sadly this is the most highly polluted city AFAIK. On each side of the road you will see mud several inches deep and almost until the mid of the road. So when a bus passess by, it picks up sand like a desert storm... never follow a bus / lorry in Madurai!
The underwater table has been totally depleted in downtown Madurai. So if a hotel digs 800m, the next one will dig 1000m deep borewell and suck every drop of water!
All the platforms ( if there are any ) are already occupied by idli shops ( as though people do nothing but eating idlis all the time ) or occupied by shops who dont provide parking space. So never bring a car to downtown Madurai. Literally there is no space to park. There are some roads like Dindigul Road / Town Hall Road where walking itself is hazardous!
Then, there is the great Meenatchi Amman temple standing there for thousands of years, watching men urinating on the compound wall.
The Thirumalai Naicker's palace is the only ancient structure, waiting to collapse anytime. Just a bite of a woodpecker passing by would do the job so easily.
I think you guys are being rather harsh here.. you are comparing a rather weak pandya period with the best of the chola period. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about ancient Pandya history can illuminate more for us? I think Dr. Jaybee has done a lot of work on the Pandyas.