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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
of whose intellect was, as far as we can judge of it from his writings, a spirit of matter-of-fact, almost prosaic, realism. The myths must have been current, not only in his own age, but for some generations preceding, to have grown to some extent venerable. We are led to the same conclusion by another well known fact, viz., that three Santâna-Acharyas followed Sekkilar, the author of the Purána, before Umâpati, the fourth in the list, appeared. I say therefore, at the very least a century must have elapsed between the composition of the Periyapuránam and the account of it, written as we have just seen in 1313. In all probability, the interval was longer. The work is unquestionably the oldest of the existing Tamil Puránas. Frequent references to incidents narrated in it will be found in almost every other Purána, including the Skanda itself.55 It was composed, we are told,50 with the express object of superseding the Buddhistic epic Chintamani, which was evidently the only narrative poem of any magnitude then in existence. The Chôla prince at whose instance Sêkkilar wrote his Periyapuranam, is well known in Tamil literature under the name of Anapaya Chola Pallava. He is sometimes called also Tirunirru Chôla,57 probably to indicate the regard he had for that symbol of the Saiva faith. His religious fervour seems to have proved largely beneficial to the temple of Chidambaram, which he is said to have covered with gold58-probably in the way of repair of what was done by his forefather Parântaka I. Though it would appear from the Tiruttonḍar- or Periya-puranam that Anapâya was holding his court at Tiruvarur,50 near Negapatam, when that Purana was composed, a verse cited in the commentary on the Tamil Tandi Alankára leaves no room for doubt that his real capital was the same Gangapuram or Gangaikonḍaśô lapuram, where the successors of Parântaka bore rule. Probably he was attracted to the former city by religious considerations. In an inscription of his, at Tiruvarûr, dated in the seventh year of his reign, offering gifts of "land, gold, brass, silver and other excellent treasures" to the images of Sambandha and the other. two authors of the Dévára Hymns, set up in that shrine, he calls himself Rajakesarivarman alias Tribhuvanachakravartin Sri-Kulôttunga-Chôladêva. Referring to this inscription, Dr. Hultzsch writes: "The characters of the Tiruvârûr inscription of this prince are decidedly more modern than those of the Tañjavûr inscriptions of Rajaraja and RajendraChôla. Accordingly, the Periyapuranam must have been composed after their time. On the other hand, the subjoined inscription proves that the legends which Sêkkilar embodied in his work were not of his own invention, but must have grown up in the time of the predecessors of Rajendra-Chôla."3 Of course, for this last conclusion we stand in no need of any proof. In the very opening chapter, Sêkkilar himself expressly states how the lives of the sixtythree saints he embodies in his work were commemorated in the hymns of Sundara, and how they were subsequently amplified by Nambi Andâr Nambi.63
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But the inscription alluded to by Dr. Hultzsch is certainly a remarkable one. It records the setting up of a copper image with the rather telling legend Tattá namaré kán,' or 'O Tattan! He is one of us! Behold!' The reference is to the dying words of Meypporul Nayanâr,
55 See for instance Avaipugu-Padalam, verse 52.
56 See Umâpati Sivâchârya's Account of the Periyapuranam, verse 10.
[JUNE, 1896.
67 Koyil-Puranam, Payiram, verse 12. Tiruniru means the 'holy ashes.' I am glad to find that in the preface to the Purana, its editor, the late Mr. Arumuga Navatar, the greatest of modern Tamil Pandits, notes the date we have assigned above to Umâpati Sivacharya.
cs Koyil-Puranam, Pâyiram, verse 12, and Periyapuranam, Payiram, verse 8.
89 Periyapuranam, Tiruvárir-sirappu, verse 12.
60"*... Anapayan-koy-polil-sal-Gangapura-máligai.
.;" sutra 95, part 14. According to Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai, Gangapuram was the capital of the Chola empire under Abhaya also (see ante, Vol. XIX. p. 337). But the Kalingattu Parans, canto xiii. verse 92, depended upon for this statement, is, at best, ambiguous. Gangapuri there appears more as a conquered place than as the capital,so favouring Dr. Fleet's statement (ante, Vol. XX. p. 277) that Abhaya succeeded to the Chôla throne not wholly as the lawful heir to it. Probably after capturing this old Chola capital and with it the Chola crown, Abhaya held his imperial court in the more central station Kâñcht,
61 South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II. p. 158 f.
03 Ibid. p. 167.
63 Tirumalai-sigappu, veraes 20 and 39.
