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AUGUST, 1902.]
NOTES ON MALABAR AND ITS PLACE-NAMES.
341
fix his date with any approach to accnracy. His encounter with his namesake of the Rámdyana and his slaughter of the Kshatriya race have been pronounced by Mr. Talboys Wheeler to be pare myths.11
But Mr. Romeah Chandar Datt thinks that the story of Parabo-Rama probably conceals a great historical truth." He is said to have fought against the Kshatriyas and exterminated the carte 21 times and then he was conquered by the Kshatriya Råma, the hero of the Epic. It would seem that this story indicates the real rivalry and hostilities between the priestly and the warrior castes - indications of which we have found in a literary form in the Upanishads."13 Paragu-Râma is, however, posl-Vedic character and cannot therefore be accorded too bigh an antiquity. In the Anuidsana-Parna of the Mahabharata, Section 52, Yudhishthira enquires how Parabu-Rûma, the son of the Brahmaq Jamaagni, was possessed of the qualities of a Kshatriya. It is, indeed, remarkable that Jau adagni's name cucurs in the Rig-Veda, but not that of his renowned son ParaguRama. That character, therefore, is a later invention, and the story of his wars with the Kshatriyas is probably based on actual hostilities, which may have taken place early in the epic age (B. C. 1400 to 1000) between stalwart priests and proud kings just when the caste system was taking shape."13
According to the Rev. William Taylor the nearest conjecture we can form regarding the date of Paraku-RÂms is that he lived sometime within the thousandth year after the flood according to the orthodox Christian chronology. He thinks that assuming the astronomical principles detailed by him elsewhere to be correct, there must have been great retiring of the mass of the waters from the Northern Hemispbere during the period within 500 years to a 1,000 yuars after the flood; and, unless the level of the Malabar Coast be greatly beneath that of the Coast of Coromandel, from this alpo a similar retiring of waters must have taken place at the same time, 15
According to the Kéral8tpatti, Malayalam treatise on the early history of Kerala, the country is also known by the name of Karmabhaimi, or the country where salvation depended entirely and exclusively on good actions. The ground in Malabar is in itself not consecrated ground. There salvation has to be worked out by the performance of good actions. It is even said that the souls of those dying in Malabar would be transmigrated into the bodies of asses and only good actions can save them from this dire calamity. So the Brahmans to whom the land was given as gift by ParasuRåms were ordered strictly to observe the various ceremonies prescribed by him for the salvation of the souls of those who inbabit the country. These take vicariously the benefit of the good work enjoined on the Brâhmaņa. Thus the salvation of the souls of the other classes depends wholly on the strict performance of their spiritual functions by the Brahmans of Malabar. The Kraftpatti expressly says that the whole of Keralam was given to the Brahmaps by Parasu-Rama to be kept mainly for the support of temples and religious ceremonies. The trust was a sacred one; and, apless they conform strictly to the terms of the original endowment, the beneficiaries have a legal right to enforce the trust. The pretensions of the Malabar Brihmap janma (landlords) to absolgte ownership in land cannot therefore be maintained for a moment.
The name by which the Malay&Jis love to designate their country is Kbrala, Sanskrit word, thoiagh they themacives Art Dravidians and their language, Malayalam, but a dialect of Tamil. The land was certainly known to the Aryans at a very early period. Kerala was known to Katyayana (16t half of the 4th century B. C.) And Patañjali (150.B. C.), though Påņini (beginning of the 7th century B. O., if not earlier still) does not mention it. The Mahabharata, the Ramayana,
11 History of Irdia, Vol. II. p. 87. 31 Ancient India, Vol. I. p. 813. (80 slo Hunter's Indian Empiro, p. 104.) 11 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 158.
Translation of Historical Manucripts, Vol. I p. 158. u Op. dt. Vol. IL. p. 65.
# IV, 41, 18685. III-1991. Sabad Purua, Chap. 31. 11 I. 41. As to the date of these Ep on the Ramayana is later than the Mahabadrata. While Pinipi refox to the latter, he is altogether silent about the former.
