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Vēlvikudi grant.
148 THE SANGAM AGE. king who is also spoken of as the victor of Nelvēli and Sangamangai. From the Vēlvikudi grants we can know that this Pandyan king was no other than the father of Jatila Varman Parāntakan who flourished in 770 A.D. It follows, therefore, that the compiler of the commentary must have existed before the 8th century A.D. Counting ten generations from him on the average of 30 years for each generation that preceded this king, the date of Nakkīrar falls in the 5th century A.D. (770 A.D. minus 10 x 30) which also may be the date of the Sangam. '
This view is still further confirmed, if we carefully consider the circumstance under which the donee of the Vēlvikudi grant got back his village. We may briefly set them forth thus. One Narkorran complained to Jatila Varman Parāntakan that the village which was given to one of his ancestors by Mutukudumi Peruvaludi was taken possession of by the Kalabhras «during their invasion of Madura and thai, since then, it had remained as Government property. After satisfying that the proofs furnished by Narkorran were authentic, the king granted the village back to him. Now the questio. is, is it possible to conceive that the donee of the Vēlvikudi grant could have furnished proofs of his title to the village if the date of Mutukudumi Peruvaludi, that is, of the original grantor were to fall centuries before the birth of Christ. Evidently the interval between Mutukudumi Peruvaludi and the Kalabhra interregnum could not
