Kanchipuram is the lone star shining in the dark sky of Tondaimandalam. The kaleidoscopic splendour of Kanchi is unrivalled. It was a great seat of learning with a ghatika to which students from far and wide thronged; a city which defied the onslaught of the marauding hordes of Pulikesin II and from where Narasimhavarma Pallava, better known in history as Mamalla, marched, razed , burnt and devastated Vatapi, the Chalukyan capital in revenge; a city of tolerance where Buddhism, Jainism, Saivism and Vaishnavism flourished . It is a city extolled and honoured by the famous Chinese traveller Hieun Tsang. Verily the old adage ‘Vishnu among men, Jail among flowers, Rambha, the celestial nymph’ among women, Kanchi among cities’ is appropriate indeed. Dr. Srinivasan in this well-documented book meanders through the myriads of bylanes of history presenting before us a vast of the political vicissitudes, the artistic achievements and religious efflorescence of Kanchi, from the earliest times through the great Pallavas, Cholas and others to the end of Vijayanagara period necessitating revision of older views in the light of fresh evidences. Wading through the labyrinth of literature and epigraphs he has made even the petty feudatories like the Sambhuvarayars look like stalwarts ruling over the great city. One has only to glance through the pages of this book to see the tiny foot prints of the once proud monarchs on the sands of Kanchi, who are no more and forgotten even; but the monumental temples in the sprawling city are the echoes reverberating their achievements , a legacy to posterity.