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THE TWO SANGAMS.
37
At the same time, it must be mentioned that no progress can be inade in the reconstruction of Early South Indian History, unless the vexed question of the Sangam Age is finally solved. To Nakkīrar, one of the forty-nipe poets of the Fact and
Tradition, last Sangam, we owe much of the legendary about the
two Sangams. information regarding the history of the three Academies. According to him, Tolkāppiyar, the grammarian, was a member of the first and second Academies. The date of this ancient author might, therefore, give us a starting point for an account of the Jains in the south. It would appear, that during the time of the second Sangam, a great tidal wave passed over the extremity of the peninsula, as a result of which portions of the Pandyan country were submerged. Dim traditions of this occurrence are known to the third Sangam. Mention is made of it in Silappadikāram also. From these two sources, we learn that that portion of the Pandyan country which was submerged was the land between the two rivers
* Iraiyanā: Kalaviyal.
"மகதிரை யூர்ந்து தன் மண்கடல் வௌவலின் மெலிவின்றி மேற்சென்று மேவார் நா டிடம்படப் புலியொடு வின்னீக்கிப் புகழ்பொறித்த கிளர்கெண்டை வலியினான் வணக்கிய வாடாச்சீர்த் தென்னவன்."
Kalit-lokai....(104).
''வடிவே லெறிந்த வான்பகை பொருது பஃறுளி யாற்றுடன் பன்மலை யடுக்கத்துக். குமரிக் கோடுங் கொடுங்கடல் கொள்ள.''
Silappadikāram ....XI-18-20.
