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AUGUST, 1908.]
CELEBRITIES IN TAMIL LITERATURE.
purdnas and tradition could not have been any other than the ill-starred Pandyan Nedum Cheliyan of the Epic of the Anklet.' Avvaiyâr's reference to Paranar referred to above would agree quite well with this identification, as in accordance with that reference, Parapar should have been the earlier of the two.
The successor of the Pandyan, apparently his son, Pandyan Ham Cheliyan, otherwise Verriver-Cheliyan, was in Korkai when his father died and succeeded to his father's estate in the course of the story. We are vouchsafed no other informatian, except that he propitiated the manes of the injured lady, Kannahi, by the sacrifice of 100 goldsmiths [perhaps a massacre of that class of artisans]. Probably his reign was short and uneventful. He must have been succeeded by Pandyan Nedum Cheliyan, victor at Talayâlangâname over the two other king and seven chiefs. Kapilar is connected with prince Mantharam Seralirum porai of the "elephant-look " by Porundhil Ilam Kiranar in poem 53 of Purandnaru. This Chera was ruling over Tondi [Quilandy, and not the Solan Tondi, on the east coast now in the Râmanâd zamindari], and was the master of Kolli Malai27 [a hill in the Salem District quite on the border of Trichinopoly]. His position in this region would have been possible only in the light of Sengottuvan's victories over the Kongus at Sengalam red-field ], at Viyalûr, about the same region, and over the nine Cholas at Nêrivâyil [near Trichinopoly ]. This personage was taken prisoner by the Pandyan Neḍum Cheliyan 28 of Talayalanginam fame. At this latter place, the young Pandyan overthrew the "Tamil army" under the two king and seven chiefs.' This Pandyan was a great celebrity in literature and in his reign flourished a number of poets of the Sangam fame. He is the hero of Mânguḍi Maradanâr's Maduraikkanji and Narkirar's Nedunalvadai among the "Ten Tamil Idylls." He was himself, like several other rulers of those days, including his grandfather, a poet. There are a number of poems relating to him in the Purandnúṛu collection. Thus we see that during the course of the story, the rulers of Puhar were Karikâla and his grandson, Kokkili20 of Madura, Nedum Cheliyan identified with Ugra-Pandyan and Ilam Cheliyan followed later by Nedum Cheliyan, victor over the Tamil army at Talayâlangânam; the Chera ruler all the time at Karur [Vaiji] was Senguṭṭuvan Sêra, the brother of the author of the epic and the patron of the author of the Jewel-Belt,' the father and the uncle of this personage having been the heroes of 2nd and 3rd section of the "Ten Tens." Chêy, (prince) of the " elephant-look" must have been his son and viceroy of the newly-conquered territories.
These were the sovereigns of the three kingdoms who flourished in the generation of the literary celebrities headed by the names chosen at the commencement, viz., Avvaiyar, Paranar and Kapilar. These were the three stars of the first magnitade in the literary firmament, as those in the political, of South India. Other poets there were and patrons likewise. Of the latter, mention has already been made of Pâri of Parambânadu and Parambu Hill; Kâri of Tirukkôvilûr in Malainâḍu and Mullûr Hill; Irangôvêl of Arayam in the Western hill-country of the "Tuvarai30 family with the special distinction of having killed a tiger to save a saint absorbed in contemplation"; Pêhan of Nallur in Malainâdu [hill-country]; and Adiyamân Anji of Tagadûr and the Horse-hill, overthrown according to the 8th section of the "Ten Tens" by
28 He must have been particularly young when he came to the throne, Puram, 7.
The last lines of canto xiv, the 'Epic of the Anklet,' refer to the reigning Chera as the ruler over the country between the Himalayas with the bow-emblem and Kolli Malai.
28. A., canto xxviii, lines 115-125. Seliyan is again a generic name like Pandyan, and the father or the son have the adjunct "big" "young," much as 'Smith, senior or junior.'
Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai places a Nalamkilli between these two. [Madras Review, Vol. II, No. 7.]
30 Tuvarai might have been either Dvaraka in Guzerat or Dvaravati or Halibad in Mysore; but the latter does not appear till much later, and the name fuvarai in classical works is always taken to mean Dvaraka.
