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12. VAISHNAVISM
It is referred to as Kalabhra interregnum- the Dark Ages of Kalabhra Period. It is called a dark age, not because it was anything evil or dark, but because of the lack of information about the period. It is as though somebody took a marker and covered these pages with black ink. It is an age that has been blacked out by some body because they did not like the Kalabrahs and their ways. However identification of who this Kalabhra has remained a problem.
There had been a number of attempts to identify the Kalabhras based on the etymology of the word.
Some attempts in Identification Kalabhras
The identification of the Kalabhras is difficult. They have been identified with the line of Muttaraiyar of Kondubalur (eighth to eleventh century C.E.). Others regard them as Karnatas on the strength of a reference in Tamil literature to the rule of a Karnata king over Madurai. A third view is that the Kalabhras were kalappalar, belonging to Vellala community and referred to in Tamil literature and inscriptions. But the most satisfactory theory identifies the Kalabhras with the Kalavar, and the chieftains of this tribe mentioned in Sangam literature are Tiraiyan of Pavattiri and Pulli of Vengadam or Tirupati. The latter is described as the cattle lifting robber chief of the frontier. The Kalavar must have been dislodged from their habitat near Tirupati by political events of the third century A.D., viz. the fall of the Satavahanas and the rise of Pallavas, resulting in political confusion in Tondaimandalam.
While there is no doubt that Buddhism and Jainism (coexisting with Vedism and local religions) existed in Kerala since second century BC (at the least); why should there be a sudden change in their attitude in the first century AD that they are considered heretical during that period (heretical to what? Were they not heretical before?) cannot be explained. The very basis of Buddhism and Jainism are extreme non-violence and respect for life. (This is the principle of Ahimsa - they are not allowed even to kill an insect) and no where in India they have ever attacked another religion or kingdom. In fact Asoka became a Buddhist on seeing the bloodshed he has caused in war. So Jain or Buddhist groups could not really be the Kalabhras.
So we have to look elsewhere for the real "Kalabhras". It may be legitimately assumed that it came out of the epithets "Cerobothras' of the Periplus. Pliny the Roman historian of the first century calls them as Caelobothras. These may be the foreigner's effort to pronouce what Asoka named as "Keralaputra" referring to the Sons of Kerala. All other given explanations are clearly forced.
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