From the first years of our era up to the 18th century, in between wars, conquests, defeats and stellar political risings: Breaking the Crown of Indra takes you through a long and engaging quest to answer the apparently simple question "Who were the Pa??yas?" With the help of epigraphic evidence, literary texts, and temple chronicles never translated before, David Pierdominici Leao reconstructs the evolution of the Pa??ya royal perception through the different periods of this Tamil kingdom. His study investigates the so-called phenomenon of the "Pa??yaness", a concept enriched by different dynastic identities, mythical narratives of deeds and divinised sovereigns.