________________
AUQuer, 1911.)
THE DATE OF MADURAIKKANCHI AND ITS HERO
225
The ancient Tamil literature of goathern India, contained in such valuable works as Paranánara, Pattappattu, Iraiyang Agapporuļ, the commentary on the last, etc., which mention a number of kings and their military achievements, clearly points out that the three great kingdoms of tho Dekkan, vis., the Chêra, the Chôļa and the Pandya appear to have been at feud with one another and the extent of their dominions varied from time to time. When one of these powers was in the ascendant, the other two seem to bave held insignificant positions. At the time when the Pandya king Neduğjeliyan was holding the reins of govorument, bis territory extended over a considerable portion of southern India. Tirappati on the north, the two seas on the east and the west and Cape Comorin (Kumars) in the south formed the boundaries of his kingdom. If this boundary is correctly given, the territories of the Chêra and the Chola ought to have been very limited. There are reasons to suppose that the Cholas oonfined themselves to the Cuddapah and a few of the Telugu districts. It is not unlikely that the Chôļas of this period are represented by those kings whose names are traced in the Telugu ccuntry. They might even have been the allies of the Pallavas.10
The poet Maradanár does not mention the names of the Chêra and the Chola kings with whom the Pandya Noduñjeliyan fought at Talaiyalanganam. But it is not diffi:alt to trace them. Some of the versell of Purananúry, an equally trastworthy work, are sung in praise of the Chêra king Yâņaikkațchêy-Man darañchêral-Iramborai, who was the lord of the Kolli Mountains, who rescued the village of Vilangil, and ruled the Tondi port. He is said to have been captured by the Pâņiya king Talaiyalanganattu-Séruvenra-Neduñjeliyan, and was subsequently set at liberty. His (yînaikkan) Chola contemporary was Rajasûyamvê ta Perunarkilli with whom he is said to have fought a battle. The Chêra king of the time was Sèraman Maveņk0.13 Thus the two kings defeated by Nedunjeliyan at Talaiyalanganam appear to be the Cbêra Mavezkô and Yanaikkatchey and the Chola Rajasuyamrêtta Perunatki]ļi. Another Pandya king of the same period was Kanapper-Eyil-kadanda Ugra-Peruvaladi, who is considered as one of the Pandya kings of the last sangam.13 If this Ugra-Pandya is different from Neduñjeliyan of Talaiyalanganam fame, he must have been bis immediate successor,
There is not much doubt as to Neduñjeliyan being a historical personage. The Sinnamanûr copper-plate charter, before it begins to give the genealogy of the Pån lyas and the events connected with some of them, mentions the achievements of their ancestors. Some of them are fictitious, but there is no doubt that a few others are credible facts. These are the defeat of the two kings at Talaiyêlanganam, the establishment of the academy of Tamil poets, and the translation of the Bharata. The Velvikadi grant,15 which is much earlier than the Sinnamanür plates, preserves the name of Palyagaśālai Mudukuļami-Peruvaladi. From the way in which he is here spoken of, it appears that he was the last of a line of the Pandyas. The Kalabhras are said to have occupied Madura for a time, and the honour of getting back the kingdom rested with Kalungôn. This name again is not unfamiliar to students of Tamil literature. We know that the first sangam ended in his reign. The Veļvikudi grant furnishes the names of seven kings from Ka langon, the last of them being Jațilavarman. The identity of this king with Parantaka Sadaiyan, in whose reign the rock-cut temple of Narasimha-Perumaļ in the Anaimalai hill was excavatod, is apparent from the fact that both the records mention Madhurakavi as the minister of the Påndya sovereign. The date
The northern boundary is given the big mountain which the commentator takes for Mount Meru, certainly > wrong identification. In all likelihood, Tiruppati is intended by the poot. Othor writers have fixed Vengalam so the northern limit of the Tamil apeaking distriots.
For the names of a few of them 800 Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1907-8. The Chinese traveller, Hinen Teing, who visited India in the middle of the 7th century A. D., 400m, to loonto his Chu-li-ye s...owhere about the Cuddapah district. The Pallure, were at this time, strong in the Chinglepat, the North Arcot and the South Arcot distriots. As further south was under the away of the Pandyas, the Cholas must have confined themselves to the Cuddapah district, where their insoriptions are actually found. That they had completely lost possession of the Tanjore and Triobinopoly districts oan, to some extent, be inferred from the fact that Vijayalaya, who founded the sevived Chola dynasty in the 9th century A. D., had to capture Tanjore (from some enemy).
10 This is nagconted by the fact that the father of Topdalmán Ilandiraiyan was a Chola king, and that the Cholas did not play any signifiant part in history during the time of Pallava supremacy. 11 Posam 17, 20, 21, 59, 185, and 229.
11 Ibid. 367.
13 Ibid. 21 and 357. 14 Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1907, Part II, p. 61.Par. 14. 16 The same for 1908, Part II, pp. 64 and 35.
