The Silappadikaram J^y the same ntiihor Hmi>u Administrative Institutions " ruE Mauryan Polity Some Asjpects of jt-ih Va\i7 Puraxa T HE Matsya Furana Studies in Xamil Literature ant> His'I'ok\ iSi ' caj 2 d ethtitin \ 'The aho've published hy the I " tiirc f'st ly at BhAradvajasiks*^ (doz^eyntnofif Oriental Series, f^oona, PAXTTNI DEVI cecZ h:y JS>eT"^izsszotz of th& JBt -zitsfi. ct’^nd JO*' -rf . A' Coo'nt€ir€tstf€t>n‘y The Silappadikaram Translateo With ax Introduction and Notes BV R. RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR, m. L^ecfiirer in Indian History and Archaeology Unizfersity of Madras With a Foreword bv JULES BLOCH tNOIAN BRANCK HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1939 o:x:for.x> AMElSr MOUSE,. E.O. 4 U03NFr>OX\r EOLWMUElOM 03 ME'W' YOMIC TOX^OISTTO IVIEIL- MOMMAS' OAEOUarTTA ] MlLJiVII>ME.EY IVIILEO] EuMI-XSME 3 E^ to tme ER.ESS IVXE lL,BOILJM>7E IVXAOR. AS 'p^4,bZ£^h^d[r xg3^ JF*-3rtrx±ed ti'Z- Zr^dicx JKZctd^ci^ 'I'O THE MEMORY OF PROFESSOR M. A. CANDETH AND PRINCIPAL REV. FR, F. BERTRAM, s.j. I'OH THEIR ABIDING INTEREST IN AND LOVE OF SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE FOREWORD 1 BELIEVE there is no need to introduce Mr V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar to the public, which knows him already and favourably. If, however, I have accepted the honour of writing" a foreword to the present book, it is to lay stress on its special character, and to plead for more works of a similar nature. Its significance will clearly appear if we follow the progress of the author’s researches. At the start, as a research scholar in history, Mr Dikshitar devoted his first studies to the old Hindu administrative institutions ; his ambition was to give a synthetic survey of them, including the theories of Kautalya and the traditional law-books, and also the actual practices of the sovereigns. Here, of ('oursc!, Asoka comes into prominence. Mr Dikshitar in this connexion happily considers old Tamil institutions. But he finds this last-mentioned subject in itself worthy of further and deeper investigation ; to quote Mr Dikshitar’ s own words, he ‘felt more and more the need for an intrinsic study of the priceless literary treasures of Tamil’. Hence a set of essays which formed the basis of his useful hook. Studies in Tamil Literature and History now in its .second edition. Here general state- ments and hypotheses are not altogether lacking, and therefore the author does not completely escape from cri- ticism. But, happily, facts and an analysis of contents find a large {^lace, and there is a progressive disappearance of the historian behind the materials of history. In praising this book at the time, T regretted that instead of short notices of the contents, especially of the more archaic works, w'e were not also offered long or even complete translations. Now Mr Dikshitar himself has come to viii Foreword that same necessary conclusion ; the historian has resorted to the more difficult and often ungrateful, but also more beneficent, task of translation. Let the reader have the plainest possible access to the text ; help him with all the needed current explanations, and reserve personal inductions for the introductory survey. This will be a boon not only to the student of history but also to the literary man and to everybody interested in Tamilian culture. And this means many people at a time when so much is being done, not only to assert India’s culture before the world, but also to make India known to herself, and to show in their true light the various original civilizations which all together form Indian civilization. Among them the Tamil country can boast of an antique and original culture. A picture of India, historical or literary, will not be complete if due importance is not attached to it ; no more than a physical description of India will be complete if rocky Deccan and southern deltas or backwaters are omitted. But how many are there who have access and are able to enjoy or usefully con.sult Tamil literary works, especially the older ones? It is a matter of common knowledge that only a few can do so even among those born in the Tamil country. On those few lies the responsibility of helping their compatriots to appreciate those works which are the particular glory and the inspiration of their country, and to give outsiders a faithful rendering of them. Scholars themselves will be benefited by that work. Need I recall what progress in Sanskrit studies has been due to translations from Sanskrit into European languages, and primarily into English? And to those interested in furthering the cultural unity of India, need T recall that those periods of history when translations were most numerous were also periods of unification and progress? This is my plea, and the reason why I have great pleasure in recommending this present new departure of a Foreword IX historian. Let me also take advantage of this opportunity to mention that already in 1900 Prof, Julian Vinson, in his JLSgendes Bouddhistes et D' Jains, re^nder^d into French the analysis given by M ahamahopadhyay a Swaminatha Aiyar of both the Silappadikdram and the Manimehalai and added his own full translation of three cantos^ of the former. I could dilate longer on this and similar topics. Better do 1 invite readers to take advantage of this beautiful poem and treatise in its present garb, and compatriots of Mr Dikshitar to emulate him in translating fully as many old poems as possible, especially those of the :Sangam, where there probably is still much to be discovered. College de France JuuKS BnocH March 1939 ^ Cantos xvi-xvih, nnd also padikam. PREFACE Some time after the publication of my book Studies m Tamil Literature and History, in 1930, Mr F. J. Richards, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, wrote to me suggesting that I should undertake the writing of a handbook on the History of Tamil Literature. He also pointed out the desirability of publishing a series of critical editions of the Tamil classics with English translations and annota- tions. He wrote : ‘I have no hesitation in pressing for English editions, for the reason that Tamil is almost a sealed book to all who are not Tamilians, and it is a pity that the rest of India does not realize the importance of the Tamil contribution to Indian culture. We can only be made to do so by publishing for a wider circle of readers, and English is the most handy medium for this publicity both in India and elsewhere.’ This letter of Mr Richards induced me to undertake the rather stupendous task of attempting" an almost literal translation of the most difficult of Tamil classics, the Silappadikdrani. The translation is based on Mahamahopadhyaya Dr V. Swaminatha Aiyar’s Tamil edition of the Silappadi- kdrani . I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to this scholarly and critical work of the Mahamahopadhyaya. I have also derived immense benefit from Rao Sahib Pundit M. Raghava Aiyangar whom I have had to consult fre- quently in the course of preparing this work. My thanks are also due to several colleagues in the departments of the University and other friends who have been of help to me in one way or another. To Professor Jules Bloch I acknowledge my particular indebtedness for the Foreword he has written. T must also express my gratitude to the Madras School- Xll Preface book and Literature Society for their g-enerous contribution towards the publication of the book. I shall feel my labour amply rewarded if the book helps to spread Tamil culture in India and abroad. Madras 20 April igsg V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar CONTENTS CANTO PAGE INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... 1 Book I : PUHARKKAISTDAM I. MANGALAVAL^TTUPPADAL ... ... ... 87 II. manaiyarampatuttakAdai ... ... ... 92 III. arangerrukAdai ... ... ... 97 IV. antimAlaiSSirappucceykAdai ... ... 106 V. INDIRAVIDAVOREDUTTAKADAI... ... ... 110 VI. KADALADUKADAI ... ... ... 122 VII. KAUALVARI ... ... ... ... 131 VIII. vejjirkadai ... ... ... .. ••• 14:5 IX. kanAttiramuraittakAdai ... ... .•■ 151 X. nADUKANKADAI ... ... ... ... 156 Book II : MADURAIKKAIjTPAM XI. kADUKANKADAI ... — 171 XII. VETTUVAVARI .. •• ••• 180 XIII. PURAfJCERIIRUTTAKADAl ... ... 190 XIV. ORKANKADAI... ... .- ... 199 XV. apaikkalakkAdai ... ... ... ... 209 XVI. koeaikkalakkAdai ... ... ... 219 XVII. acciyarkuravai ... ... ... 228 XVIII. TUNBAMAEAI... ... 239 XIX. ORStJpVARl ... ■■■ 242 XX. vaeakkuraikAdai ... ... ... 246 XXI. VANJINAMAEAI ... ... 251 XXII. AEASPATUKADAI ... .- ■■■ 255 XXIII. KATTURAIKADAI ... ... ••• 262 Book III : VAf^JIKKAljiPAM XXIV. KUI^RAKKURAVAl ... ■•. 275 XXV. kATGIKKADAI ... .- 283 XXVI. KALKOtkAdai ... ... ”• 292 XIV Contents CAJNXO XXVII, XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. N IRPP AT AIKK ADA I NAPUKAI|KADi\i VAT^TTUKKAnAl VARAXTARUKAUAI APPENDIXES INDEX PAGI; 304 316 .. 327 • •• 337 347 -- 375 ABBREVIATIONS A ham. A handnuru Anc. Ind. Ancient India An. Rep. Ep. Annual Report for Epigraphy Ar. Sds. Artlia Sdstra A.S.I. Archaeological Survey of India Bhaga. pur. Bhdgavata pier an a C.A. Ceylon Antiquary C.T.l. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Ep. Ind. Epigraphia Indica Ep. Z. Epigraphia Zeylancia I.H.Q. Indian Historical Quarterly Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary flvaka J Ivaka cinidmani f.I.H. Journal of Indian History f.O.R. Journal of Oriental Research f.R.A.S. Journal of Royal Asiatic Society Kali. Kalitiogai Kalinga. Kalingattuparani Mani. Manimekalai M.A.S.C. Memoirs of Archaeological Survey Ceylon Mhb. Mahdhhdrata Padirru. Padirnippattii Pur am. Purandniiru Pura. Venba. Purapporidven bd m dlai Perumpdna. Perumpdndrrupa dai Raghu . Raghiivamsa Sila . Silappadikdrani ( Tamil Edition) S.I.I. South Indian Inscriptions Talk. T olhdppiy am r.A.s. Travancore Archaeological Series Vis. pur. Vishnu Purdna Z.I.I. Zeitschrift der fndologic imd Iranstick vImkatam SOUTH INDIA DURING THE 2nd CENTURY A.D scale INTRODUCTION I THE NAME The term 3ilappadikdram is made up of two words, silanibu and adikdram. Literally the title means ‘the story that centres around a silambu or anklet’. The hero and the heroine of the story, Kdvalan and Kann.aki, set out for Madura to dispose of a silambu and thereby raise the capital needed to pursue a trade. In the bazaar street of Madura Kovalan meets the state goldsmith. The state goldsmith who has stolen the queen’s anklet (similar to that in Kovalan’s hand) reports to the king that he has found the thief. The king blindly believes the goldsmith and has poor Kdvalan executed. The heroine proves to the king her husband’s innocence by breaking open her other anklet and showing that the contents of her anklets are different from those of the queen. The Pandyan king dies of grief on realizing his blunder in having ordered the execution of Kovalan without proper investigation. Kannaki destroys the city of Madura by lire to avenge the execution of her husband, and is finally proclaimed the goddess of chastity. As the story thus centres round the Hlambu, it can appropriately be named the Epic of the Anklet. One among the five perumkdppiyams {inahdkdvyas of Sanskrit literature), the Silappadikdram may come under the category of iotarnilaicceyyul and in it we find iyal, isai, and ndtakam as its chief characteristics, lyal, isai, and ndtakam mean, respectively. Literary Tamil, Music, and the Drama. There will be no two opinions about the excellence of the literary Tamil of the epic ; and as regards the other two characteristics, isai and ndtakam, the 5 Introduction work may be described as a model of ancient Tamil musical and dramatic composition. A wealth of material is found scattered throughout the work. One is struck with wonder at the isaippaUu or the lyric songs in which the author not infrequently indulges. The songs of Kovalan and Madavi on the seaside {kdnalvari) are full of lyric charm. Equally charming are the songs sung in honour of the deity at the Aiyyaikottam, the songs of the dycciyar (cowherdesses) in their kuravaikkuttu, and the songs of the hill-women in honour of Murugan (Subrahmanya). Though iyal and isai are prominent in the pages of the work, the epic contains positive elements which go to make up a dramatic composition, with the result that it can also be styled, appropriately, a ndtakakkdppiyaiu. Adopting the modern terminology for the classification of dramatic literature, we may say that this epic is a tragi- comedy. The tragic elements preponderate in the story. The separation of Kannaki from her husband, her ominous dream, the equally fearful dream of Kdvalan, the journey of the couple through wild forests, the unjust execution of Kovalan, and Kannaki’s inconsolable distress, the Pandyan’s great grief at the injustice perpetrated by him, the plucking out by Kannaki of one of her breasts, the burning of the city, the death of the Pandyan king and queen, are all tragic elements in the story. Notwithstand- ing these tragic elements which evoke the reader’s sym- pathy and tears, the ending is happy. Both the wronged persons attain Heaven in a celestial car surrounded and celebrated by gods. THE FORM The form adopted is that of the kdvya or kdppiyani of Tamil literature. There are excellent descriptions of rivers like the Vaigai and the Kaveri, of cities like Puhar and Madura, of forms of dancing like the kuravaikkiliizi, like Vi.snu, of wild forests, of the celebration of Introduction 3 marriages, etc., all affording data for reconstructing the ancient Tamil social life. Ilango-Adigal himself calls the work in his preface (padikam) pdttudaicceyyul or uraiyi- daiyitta pditudaicceyyul. This Tamil phrase is a free rendering- of the Sanskrit term campu. Compositions like this contain at frequent intervals uraippdttu (rhetorical prose). A good example of campu litei'ature in Tamil is the Bdratam of Perumdevanar. II THE STORY In the fifties of the second century a.d. there lived in the city of Puhar, which was the capital city of the great Karikalaccolaii, two merchant princes who had respectively a son and a daughter, d'he son went by the name of Kovalan, and the daughter by that of Kannaki. At their respective ages of sixteen and twelve, their parents had them married according to the fire-rites prescribed in Vedic literature. Soon a separate establishment was set up for them and the young couple spent some time to- gether happily. One day when Kovalan was passing through the busy streets of Puhar, he happened to cast his eyes upon Madavi, a charming courtesan of the city, who had just won her laurels from the king- of the land. Kovalan having fallen in love with her, left his home and lived with the courtesan until he had wasted upon her the whole of his wealth. There then came the festival sacred to Tndra, the God of Heaven. All Puhar celebrated it with pomp and splendour. The lovers spent their even- ings in the park on the seashore entertaining themselves with music. A song of Madavi made Kovalan suspect that she had thoughts of another lover. This caused a change in his feelings towards her. With wounded pride he left her, as he intended, for good. He came home and opened his heart to his sorrow-stricken wife. Introduction 4 He explained the circumstances he was in, and told her of his resolution to leave the city for Madura to earn his livelihood. Kannaki who was a strict observer of the rules laid down for chaste wives, and who practised them to their very letter, welcomed the suggestion, and sought permission to follow him wherever he might go. He spoke to her of the difficulties of traversing on foot forest belts and mountain-tracts full of wild animals and haunted by evil spirits bent on mischief. All this could not per- suade her to stay at home. Her only desire was to share his weal and woe, and he finally assented to her earnest wish. With Kaiinaki, whose only remaining jewels were the pair of anklets, he set out for Madura early before day- break so that no one might come to know of their w'here- abouts. His idea was to dispose of a silambii in the bazaar at Madura, and with the capital raised thereby to set up some business. Kovalan and Kannaki passed along the northern bank of the Kaveri towards the west and reached a grove. Here they met Kavundi, the cele- brated woman ascetic doing penance, and bowed to her. She offered to accompany them and show them the right path to Madura and they gladly accepted her kind offer. All the three crossed over to the southern bank of the Kaveri by boat and reached Uraiyur, the other capital of the Cola kingdom. Having stayed a day there, the three proceeded to- wards Madura. On the way Kovalan met a certain Kau- sikan who was bringing a message of regret from Madavi to Kovalan. Kausikan communicated to Kovalan Ma- davi’s protestations of her love for him. But Kovalan sent the messenger to his own parents and asked him to deliver the same letter to them so that they might be relieved of their poignant distress at his secret departure. Passing on, the couple and Kavundi reached the river Vaigai and crossing it by boat, they reached the outskirts Introduction 5 of the city of Madura. Here they came upon Madari, a cowherdess of the city, to whom Kavundi introduced KSvalan and Kannaki. She was requested to accommo- date them until Kovalan was able to stand on his own legs. To this Madari agreed, and the couple repaired to her cottage. Kavundi chose to stay outside the city discussing questions of religion and philosophy with sages residing there. Madari left Kannaki in the company of her daughter Aiyai. Helped by Aiyai, Kannaki prepared dinner for herself and her husband of which the couple partook. Kovalan then took one of her anklets and went towards the bazaar to sell it. It was an inauspicious hour when he started, but of this he was not aware. In the bazaar he met the state goldsmith to whom he showed the anklet and offered to sell it for a fair price. This goldsmith, who had stolen the queen’s anklet sometime before, thought it a good opportunity to accuse Kovalan of the theft of the queen’s jewel and proclaim himself innocent. He therefore readily consented to Kovalan ’s proposal, and leaving him in his cottage, went post-haste to the palace, informed the king that he had found out the thief who had stolen the queen’s anklet, and handed it over to the king. Without bestowing a moment’s thought on the matter, the king ordered his executioners to behead the thief. Followed by the goldsmith, the executioners came to the cottage where Kovalan was. Moved by his innocent looks they hesitated at first to carry out the king’s order, until the goldsmith treated them to a lecture on the theory and practice of thieving. Thereupon one among the party' of executioners, more cruel than his companions, beheaded Kovalan. In the meantime Madari, who noticed evil omens por- tending danger, arranged for a kuravaikkuttu in honour of Visnu and Pinnai. The hfiUu being over, Madari went to 6 Introduction the river for her bath. There she heard people talking about the slaughter of the innocent Kovalan. She shook with fear, ran home and informed her kith and kin. Noticing the sorrow-stricken faces, and hence feeling uneasy, Kannaki asked them to give her news of her husband. Though none of them had the heart to break the shocking news, her persistence made one of them yield to her repeated entreaties. The rude shock, and the agony which she could hardly endure distracted her. She raved like a mad woman, fell down on the earth, rose up and sobbed aloud in anguish. Though it was late in the night she went to the bazaar to have a look at her hus- band. She found him in a pool of blood gushing out of his wounds. Her grief knew no bounds. She cried till she seemed to see Kovalan rise up to go to Heaven say- ing to her ‘Stay here’. She could no longer endure the wrong done to her innocent husband. All her grief was now turned into anger against the king. She went to the palace ami demanded proper justice at his hands. She narrated her case, proved by her other anklet how the one supposed to have been stolen by Kovalan was hers and not the queen’s, and showed how the goldsmith had deceived him. At this the just and repentant king fell into a swoon which ended in his death. It was no consolation to poor Kannaki whose innocent husband had been irre- trievably wronged. She plucked out her left breast and threw it over the city cursing that the city be consumed by flames. The god of fire brought destruction to all except the Brahman sages, cows, chaste women, children and the aged. The guardian deity of Madura at this time presented herself before Kannaki and narrated to her how in his previous birth Kovalan was Baratan, in the service of Vasu, king of ^ingapura, who had killed an innocent merchant, Sangaman by name, .suspecting him to be a spy, and that was why he now had this fate. Introduction 7 Asked as to Kannaki’s future, the deity replied that on the fourteenth day from that hour she would go to Heaven invited by her husband in a celestial car. Kannaki thereupon left Madura and proceeding west to the Malainadu reached Murugavel-kunram (the hill sacred to Muruga) which she ascended. There she stood under the shade of a vengai tree to the wonder of the people of the place, most of whom were Kuravas. When every one of them was looking at her, Kannaki left the place in the celestial car for Heaven. This they reported to Senguttuvan, their king. The poet Sattanar, who was there, narrated the events that had happened in Madura. The queen desired that a temple should be set up in hon- our of Kannaki. :^enguttuvan who had been thinking for a long time of leading a military expedition to the north to subdue the refractory chieftains there, resolved to secure a block of stone from the Himalayas to carve out an image of the Pattinikkadavul as they called her. So he started on his northern expedition through the Nilgiris. In the meantime there was a famine in the Pan<^yan kingdom due to continuous drought. Ilamjeliyan, the Pandyan at Korkai, offered a sacrifice of i,ooo gold- smiths to the Pattinikkadavul, and the country had plenti- ful showers of rain. Hearing this, the kings of Kongu- mandalam, of Ceylon, and of Uraiyur dedicated temples to Kannaki and instituted daily worship and festivals. At this time, it may be noted, Gajabahu was the king of Ceylon and PerunarkiUi was the Cola king at Uraiyur. After defeating the northern kings Kanaka and Vijaya. Senguttuvan brought a stone from the Himalayas and after bathing it in the Ganges returned home. A temple was consecrated to the Pattinikkadavul and was endowed for daily worship. The consecration ceremony was attended by eminent kings including those of Malva and Ceylon. After this, on the advice of the Brahman Madalan, the king engaged himself in the performance of Yajhas or 8 Introduction Vedic sacrifices and spent the evening of his life in peace and prayer. Ill ITS PLACE IN THE SANGAM WORKS To find a way out of the tangled forest of South Indian chronology is a very intricate task. This is especially true of the ^angam works. The question of the dates of the Sangam works has been discussed.^ Roughly speaking the 5angam epoch may be assigned to a period commencing with the fifth century B.c. and end- ing with the fourth century A.D. The Silappadikdram belongs to this epoch and is an accredited 5angam work, as is also the other work of that class, the Manimckalai. Both these belong to the category of the great Epics (mahdkavyas) of which five are distinguished. The.se twin epics, the ^ilappadikdrani and the Manhuchalai, can be likened in certain respects to the Rdmdyana and the Mahdbhdrata, and are invaluable sources for re-contruct- ing the history of the ancient Tamil land. The date of the classic deserves an independent examination. This epic, which is very ancient in age, is quoted as an authority even by ancient commentators like the commentator of the Iraiyand?- Ahappond and Uraiya- siriyar (Ilampuranar). In the u.se of choice words and in terseness of expression the book is unrivalled. Yet the style is simple though polished. Ornate in expression, it has also grace and simplicity. It has already been mentioned that this epic is a treatise on the threefold classification of the Tamil language — Literary Tamil, Music and the Drama. Beginning with the drama, we have uraippdtUi or rhetorical prose compositions. The varied forms of musical composition such as kanalvari (sea-song), vettuvavari (hill-song), drruvari (river-song), ^ V, R. R. Dikshitar, Studies in Tc^mil Literature and History^ 2nd ed. Introduction 9 usalvari (song to accompany swinging), and kandukavari (song sung by girls while playing with balls) are worthy of note in the pages of the work. The distinguishing traits of the literary Tamil — venhd and ahavarpd or ahaval — are prominently seen. Of all the metres used in the poem, ahavarpd or blank verse is the metrical form most frequently used.^ Thus the Silappadikdram is an excel- lent example of ilakkiyam or Tamil poetry. It may be noted in this connexion that the early works on music and drama have been lost beyond recovery. The :Silappadi- kdram may, however, be said to represent in a way the earlier musical and dramatic pieces. It thus takes a legitimate place among the extant Sangam works and is very valuable to the historian of South India. But the most conclusive argument in respect of the epic’s place in the Sangam category is that the friend and companion of the author of the Silappadikdram, Kula- va'nikan ^Sittalai Sattanar, is a Sangam celebrity. And this Sattanar is ' the reputed author of the Manime- kalai, which is a continuation of the theme contained in the :!^ilappadikdram. A futile attempt has recently been made to prove that these epics were post-5 angam works.* But this militates against the fact that the author of the Manimekalai belonged to the same age as poets like Paranar” and Kapilar. We know that these two are among the most distinguished names mentioned in con- nexion with the traditional third 5angam. This, above all, assigns to the Silappadikdram a rank among the 5an- gam works. One conclusive evidence for the second century a.d. ^ proface p. 9; Talk, ‘Coyyvil*, the gloss of I|ampriranar on siiira 157. ® E.g, P, T. Srinivasa Aiyangar’s History of the Tamils, ch. XXIX ; K. N. Sivaraja Pillai’s 7 'he Chronology of the Early Tamils, p. 42. The latter says that he is mainly guided by the literary test. ^ For Paranar’s reference to Senguttuvan see Padirr., fifth Ten ; Puram., St; 369 ; Ahafrt., st. 212, etc. lO Introduction as the date of the Silappadikaram is the complete silence of the epic with regard to the Pallavas of Kanci. This epic as well as the Manimehalai speaks of Kanci in more than one place, but does not men- tion anywhere the Pallavas themselves or any of their kings. The earliest of the Pallava charters — the re- cords in Prakrit — are three in number : the Mayidavolu plate, the Hirahadagalli plates, and the British Museum plates. These have been published in the volumes of the Epigraphia Indica, and range over a period circa a.d. 200-350. This means that we have inscriptional evi- dence of the early Pallavas and the earliest of them could be dated from a.d. 200.^ The evidence of San- gam literature shows that, up to the occupation of the city by the Pallavas, Kanci was one of the northern outposts of the Cola kingdom, and was the capital of the Cola Viceroy. In the age of the SiJappa- dikdram the Cola Viceroy was Tondaman I}am-Tiraiyaij celebrated in the Perumpdndrruppadai by Uruttiran Kan- nanar. Ilam-Tiraiyan was a chief of the Tiraiyar who preceded the Pallavas at Kanci, and who were subordi- nate to the Colas in the second century a.d. Thus the Silappadikaram which actually refers to Kanci, does not mention the Pallavas even indirectly, while sub- sequent literature represented by the Tevdram and the Divyaprahandham often makes references to the Pallava kings. The inference is therefore conclusive that the Pallava kings came to reign at Kanci after the composi- tion of the Silappadikaram. Otherwise it is difficult to understand the silence of the epic and other ^angam works on the Pallavas or any member of that dynasty. “ ^ Ep. Ind,^ VoL XV^ pp. 246-55, *Two Pallava Copper-plate Grants’, ed. H. Krishna Sastri. ® R, Gopalan, The Pctllavas of Kanci., p. 9 IT., (Madras University, 19^*8). Introduction ii IV THE DATE OF CERAN §ENGU'iTUVAN A stanza in the Purandnuru^ and a few in the Ahand- nuru'^ compared with a reference in the Silappadikdram^ show that the early history of the Ceras can be carried back to an epoch before the Mahabharata war. For we hear of one Udiyanceral, a Cera king who acted as the host to the combatants of that war. An analytical study of the Padirruppathi, so far as the political data contained in it are concerned, furnishes us with ample material to reconstruct the chronology of the three ancient South Indian dynasties, and particularly that of the early Ceras. Of the ten Tens (Padirruppattu), the first and the last have not been traced, and we must congratulate the talented editor, Dr. V. Swaminatha Aiyar, for presenting us with the available eight Tens, all very important as preserving in a nutshell an account of the ancestry of the Cera kings, to whom these poems have been dedicated. The following is the list of kings as they occur in the Padirruppattu . 1 . Imayavaramban (also Kudavar Koman and Kudakkd) Nedumceralatan 2 . Palyanaic-celkelu-kuttuvan 3. Kalangaykkanni Narmudicceralatan 4. Kadalpirakkottiya Senguttuvan 5 . Adukotpattucceralatan 6. Selvakkadungo-Valiyatan 7. Perumceral-Irumporai 8. Ijamceral-Irumporai As regards their relationship the following informa- tion is available from the epilogue attached to each of the respective eight Tens. Imayavaramban Nedumceralatan is the son of Udiyanceral and Veliyan-Venmal Nallini. Palyanaic-celkelu-kuttuvan is said to be the younger brother ^ St. 2. * St. 65, 168, and 233. ^ Canto xxiii, II. S5*60t 12 Introduction of Imayavaramban. Narmudicceralatan is the son of Ceralatan and Velavikkoman Padumandevi. ^enguttuvan is said to be the son of Kudavark5man-Nedumceralatan and Narconai, daughter of Colan Manakkilli. Adukotpattuc- ceralatan is the son of Kudakko-Nedumceralatan and Velavikkomandevi. ^elvakkadungo is said to be the son of Anduvan and Poraiyanperumdevi, that is, the daughter of Orutandai or Oruutandi. Perumceral is the son of Selvakkadungo and Velavikkoman Padumandevi. Ilam- ceral is said to be the son of Kuttuvan (Perumceral) Irum- porai^ and Venmal-Anduvan Cellai, the daughter of Maiyurkilan, perhaps the minister of Ilamceral.^ The genealogy as mentioned in these padihams has made Professor S. S. Bharati draw the conclusion that Marumakkattayam was an ancient practice of the old Cera monarchs, and the present practice is only a relic of the ancient custom.^ As against this inference, Pandit M. Raghava Aiyan- gar has made out a strong case and proved how the inter- pretation does not admit of Marumakkattayam but only of Makkattayam, of son succeeding father, as in the other parts of the country. The 3ilappadikaram^' mentions Venmal as the wife of the Cera king ^enguttuvan, and the full name seems to be Ilango-venmal. According to a note to the padikam of the fifth Ten, Senguttuvan had a son by name Kuttuvanceral who was given to Paranar, the noted Sangam celebrity, as a gift, in addition to other Hamceral is the son and not the brother. The expression is similar to Ijampahcapandavas meaning, sons of the Pandavas. ^ From the j>adiham of the ninth Ten it is seen that a certain Maiyur- kilan was the minister of Ilamceral. The same padiham speaks of a Maiyur- kilan as his grandfather. Either the two Maiyxirkilans are different, or the grandfather of Ilamceral was also his minister. ® ^entamil^ Vol. XXVII, No. 4 ; see also M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Tamil Studies y p. 103 ff, * Ceravendarfayavalakku in Tamil (1930); see also ‘Marumakkattayam and the Sangam Literature’, ZJJ,^ Vol. IX, No. 3, p. 255 ff, 5 Canto XXV, L 5 . Introduction 13 presents. Collating all these available materials we can arrive at a tentative genealogy of the early Ceras, and the following table is drawn up for purposes of ready and easy reference. Paternal line of Senguttuvan Udiyanceral i~ Imayavaramban Nedumceralatan Palyanaic-celkelu-kuttuvan = Narconai (daughter of Cola king Manakki]li) Senguttuvan = Ilangd-veninal Kuttuvanceral Maternal line of ^Senguttuvan Manakkilli (Cola) Narc 5 i:iiai (daughter) =: Imayavaramban Nedumceralatan Senguttuvan Ilango-Adigal I ■ Kuttuvanceral Maternal line of other Ceras Vejavikkoman daughter (No. i) = Imciyavaramban Nedumceralatan N armudicceral Adukot pattuc- ceralatan daughter (No. 2) = Selvakka^lungo-Vaiiyatan Perumceral-Irumpot;ai (or Kutluvan-Iruniporai) == Venmal-Anduvan Cellai ! Ilamceral-Irumpot'ai Proceeding to find a solution for fixing the date of Senguttuvan, we find that Perumceralatan (probably Imaya- varamban Nedumceralatan) was defeated and wounded in the chest at Venni, otherwise Vennil/ by Karikala.® ^ Identified with Kdyilvenni, a village near modern Mannargudi. ® Aham., st. 55 ; Putam.^ st. 65 (colophon) and &t. 66. 14 Introduction The defeat was so crushing that the Cera king abdicated his throne/ The reference in the Ahandnuru is positive evidence for establishing the contemporaneity of Karikala and Imayavaramban, and Karikala could not therefore hav^ been the contemporary of Senguttuvan. In other words, the theory that Karikala and ;Senguttuvan were con- temporaries has little to support it. Imayavaramban must have died in the early half of the second century a.d. We know from the Padirruppattu that Imayavaramban and Senguttuvan reigned for fifty-eight and fifty years re- spectively. It would appear that Imayavaramban had two queens and four sons, and one of them, isenguttuvan, was his successor. His brother Ifango-Adigal became an ascetic. Of the other two, N armudicceralatan seems to have been in charge of the northern part of the Kongu kingdom, the region where was the hill Nanra," while Ac^ukotpattucceralatan was in charge of the Kuttanadu. The last two were princes ruling under the suzerainty of the emperor reigning from Vanjikkaruvur. For purposes of fixing the date of the epic a beginning must be made from the year a . d . 172 or 173 which is tlie probable year of the foundation of the Pattini temple at the Cera capital ; for Gajabahu, the king of Ceylon, who attended the consecration ceremony of the temple, came to the throne only in a . d . 17 i , and we have to assume that he must have visited India after he became king. The question of the Gajabahu synchronism has not found acceptance with the learned author of the History of the Tamils.'' One argument is that the alternative reading for the word Kayavagu is Kaval, and if the latter reading were adopted, the edifice based on the Gajabahu synchronism would fall to the ground. We must emphasize the word if. The editor, who has consulted no fewer than eleven ^ The term vadakkirundanan in the texts is translated ‘committed suicide’ by P. T, Srinivasa Aiyangar in History of the Tai 7 iils, pp, 335-7. ® Padirr.^ padiham to the seventh Ten, p. 375^ jff. Introduction 15 manuscripts of the text and fourteen manuscript copies of the commentary, and whose scientific precision and punc- tillious care in collating the manuscripts cannot be question- ed, has not only adopted Kayavagu as the correct reading, but has also shown how there are two Gajabahus men- tioned in the Mahdvamsa differing in age by a thousand years, ^ and how Gajabahu I must be the king of Ceylon mentioned in the Varantarumkadai as having been present at the festivities held in honour of Pattinikka<^avul by ^enguttuvan. The Mahdvamsa' says : ‘After Vankanasikatissa’s death, his son Gajabahukagamani reigned twenty-two years.’ He founded a number of vihdras and stupas. Dr. Wilhelm Geiger, the learned translator of the Mahdvamsa^ has furnished in his introduction a list of the ancient kings of Ceylon with the length of their respective reigns both in the Buddhist era and the Christian era. In this list Gajabahukagamaiji figures as the forty-sixth king, ruling from a.d. 171-193.'^ This must have been the Gajabahu who is celebrated in the Silappadikdram. It is asked’ how a devout follower of the Buddha could embrace a new cult like the Pattini cult. The answer is simple. In those days the religion followed by monarchs was cosmopolitan in character. There was not much of sectai'ian rancour. To the people then, God was one and ^ For an inscription of Gajabahu I, 171-193 on the elephants’ stables or Ratanapasada, see M./l.wS.C., Vol. I, No. 2. See -also chronological table in B. G. Singe’s translation of the second part of the Mahdvamsa, p. 20, According to this, Gajabahu II ascended the throne in a.d. 1142. Cf. M.A. 5 .C., Vol. 11 , No. I. Cf. Ep, Z., Vol. Ill, No. I, ‘Ceylonese chronology’, p. 9. Also H. W. Codrington’s Short History of Ceylon, pp. 24, 26-34; C.A., Vol. X, p. 115. This is also the view of investigators on the subject like Seshagiri Sastri, Kanakasabhai, Krishnaswami Aiyangar, and Nilakanta Sastri. It may be noted that Dr. S. K. Aiyangar (Ancient India^ p. 350) has answered the points raised by E. Hultzsch in S.IJ., Vol. II, No. 3, p. 378, with regard to this question. ® Canto XXXV. pp. 254-5. ® Pali Text Society, 1912. * Dtpa,, St. 22, 14 and 28. Mahdvamia^ Intro, p. xxxviii. ® History of the Tamils, p. 380. i6 Introduction might be worshipped in any shape or form. In the epoch when there was no nice distinction between the established religion of the land and the dissenting sects like the Jains and the Buddhists, it is no wonder that Gajabahu built a temple in honour of the Pattiiiikkadavul. Among the popular deities in Ceylon, Pattini Devi fig'ures as the guardian of female chastity. ‘Two wooden images of her and her husband in a cave at the Nikawaewa monastery are supposed to date from the eleventh century.’^ The most notable of the images of the goddess Pattini Devi is an image in bronze, 4 feet p-J- inches in height, discovered in Ceylon and presented to the British Museum in 1830.“ To deny totally a tradition which receives corroboration from an unexpected quarter, like the Pali literature of Ceylon, and thus to shake the corner-stone of early South Indian chronology, would be a breach of the historical and critical method. For various reasons into which we need not enter here, the reference in the SiLappadikdrayyi cannot be to Cajabahu II who figures in the history of Ceylon nearly ten centuries after the time of Cajabahu 1 . Thus the Gajabahu synchronism is explained, and the date of the composition of the Silappadikdram settled once for all. It was in the second half of the second century after Christ. At that time {circa a.d. 172) ^enguttuvan was fifty years of age." Therefore, when he started for the north he was forty-seven, as he had spent three years there. In the light of the statement in the Padirruppatiu that he ruled for fifty years, it may be taken roughly that he ascend- ed the throne when he was twenty years of age and must have died about a.d. 192. Senguttuvan must, therefore, have led the northern expedition about a.d. 168, though these estimates cannot be accepted rigidly. ^ V. A. Smith, A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon^ igii, p. Also H. Parker, Ancient Ceylon^ Fig. 272. ® See frontispiece. ® Canto xxviii, IL 129-30- Introduction 17 That ^enguttuvan took nearly three years for his North Indian expedition is evident from the following. While he was still in the north a certain Brahman, Madalan by name, sought the audience of His Majesty, and after his conversa- tion with him, the royal astrologer informed him that it was thirty-two months since the latter left his capital.^ Again two years before ^enguttuvan left for the north, Mani- mekalai was in Puhar, and when she returned to Vahji after a five years’ tour, it is said that it was three years since : 5 enguttuvan had left for the north. Without going into further details, we may conclude that Imayavaramban ruled from circa a.d. So- 140 and Senguttuvan from circa A.D. 140-192. V ^ENGU'! TUVAN’S ACHIEVEMENTS The fifth Ten of the Padirruppattu is sung in praise of Ceran Senguttuvan by the poet Paranar. Senguttuvan became the greatest of the Cera monarchs. From the padikam can be gathered some knowledge as to his achieve- ments. These can be categorically mentioned here. (1) The success over the northern kings in his campaign to the Himalayas to get a stone thereof to carve out an image of the Patti- nikkadavul. (2) The lifting of cattle from the Idumbil forest tracts. It is said that on his return from the northern expedition the king spent some time on the outskirts of this forest.^ (3) The defeat of Nannan Venman or simply Nannan, the chieftain of the Velir, and the occupation of his capital Viyalur.® ^ Canto xxvii^ I. 149. ® Canto xxviii, 1 . iiS. ® Canto xxvii, 1 . 115; Aham., st. 97, ‘MamCiIanar’. 9 i8 Introduction (4) The overthrow of a confederacy of nine Colas at Nerivayii' which was neax* the southern gateway of the ancient Uraiyur.“ (5) The overthrow of seven kings and the wear- ing of their respective seven garlands in his crown in commemoration of his heroic deed." (6) His success over the Kongar' who can be identified with the Gangas, also called Kongudesaraj^kaj. During this encounter Koduhur was completely devastated as the Padirruppattu has it."' There is a Kodu- hurnadu today in the division of Punnadu of the Mysore state. (7) His successful naval engagements and specially the battle of Mohur’^ where the venibiP or margosa tree of Palaiyan was destroyed. It may be noted in passing that his naval engagements were so striking and decisive that he earned the title of Kadalpirakkottiya Velkelukuttuvan. ■’ This can appropriately be compared with the statement^" made at different places in the Silappadiharam . Most of these are corroborated by the Silappadikdraui which gives a detailed account of his expedition to the Cantos xxviii, 11 , 116-7: xxvii, 11 . 118-23. ® /Inf. Ind.^ P* commentary tjf .'Vrumpadavuraiyasiriyar an canto xxviii, I. 117. ® Canto xxviii, 1 , i6c) ; Pad{p\^ st. 45. In these places he is calleti P 31 umu<^imarpa. **00010 xx\', 11. 152-5. ® Padikam to flu* fifth Tern. ® See M. Raghava Aiyangar, Ceran Sengtifpivarj^ 2S-g ; also Ind. Aiit.j i 8S9» p. 369. Canto xxvii., II. 124-6. Padirr.^ si. 44, 49. ® The reference to the wearing of the garland of margosa goes lo pro\e that Mohur Palaiyan was an ally of the Plindyan king and more prol>ably a general of his. {Madttraikhdnji, 11 , 507-8. Aham^^ st. 346.) ® Padirt., si- 41, 45, 46. e.g. Qpjijirfi ^mruf canto xvii, *UIvarivaIttu\ 3. See canto xxviii, 1. 135 ; canto xxix, * 0 salvari% st. i. Introduction 19 north to secure a block of stone to make the image of the Goddess of Chastity, and if we are to believe the account in the epic, this was the last of his achievements ; for Madalan has drawn attention^ to all the six achievements mentioned above. The poet Paranar refers to five of these seven achieve- ments. The two, which are not mentioned by him, are his northern expedition to get a stone for the Pattini, and his success at the battle of Nerivayil. If we place his achievements in chronological order these, two were his last, and the northern expedition was the last of all. It would be appropriate to say that when Paranar sang of this Cera, he had not undertaken these things. These deeds were done after Paranar sang the Padirruppattu. From the absence of any mention by Paranar of these last two of his achievements, an endeavour has been made to distinguish Velkelukuttuvan from ^Senguttuvan.® And in this the correspondence of the five incidents, which marked the earlier activities of the king, has been ignored, with what valid reasons we cannot see. In the writer’s opinion, Velkelukuttuvan is another name for ^enguttuvan. VI AN ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER Bold and powerful, Senguttuvan was able to bring under his control not only his own neighbours, the Pandya and the Cola, but also to carry his conquest so far north as to earn the title of Imayavaramban (literally ‘one, the territorial limits of whose empire extended to the Himalayas’). We know his father had carried his arms up to the distant Himalayas and hence came to be distinguished as Imayavaramban Nedumceralatan . Al- ready mention has been made of the achievements which ^ Canto xxviii, II. 114-22. ® The Chronology of the Early Tamils^ pp. 124-5. 20 Introduction Senguttuvan had to his credit, and which entitle him to be ranked with die great emperors of Ancient India. We shall here call attention to a few outstanding traits of his character. The rather horrid detail of his having made the women- folk of Palaiyan drag the marg'osa tree with a rope made of their twisted hair' may be dismissed as a poetic exag- geration, though there may be truth in the statement that he made the northern king's carry the stone for the Pattini on their heads. These details and especially the fact of his making prisoners of the vanquished and the retreating foes, which evoked scathing comments from the Panch'a and the Cola sovereigns of his time, go to proi'c that Senguttuvan was too severe an avenger of wrongs. The above incidents smack of the asura form of warfare so eloquently described in the Kaufallya Arlliasasira.' Notwithstanding these incidents we hnd the king to be God-fearing and possessing a religious bent of mind. Pie was superstitious and had faith in astrology and astronomy. This is borne out by the fact that he set out on his north- ern expedition at an auspicious hour. I hat he was I'cli- gious is seen from his prayers in the temples of Siva and Visnu on the eve of his historic march to the north." Besides, he was a patron of arts and letters. Pic spent his time in amusements which consisted of dancing and singing. It is said that a number of these dancers went along with him to the north. That this was an ancient war-practice is seen from the Kauiayana , wherre it is said that actors and dancing-masters followed the arnn of Satruerlina. ' He rewarded learned men wnth ])re.scnts, some of w'hich were invaluable. I’he gifts received by Paranar and Madalan may be quoted us instances in point. .‘Senguttuvan had a fine artistic mind as is seen from the ^ PacUkani to the fifth Ten. ® For details see Ar, Bk. xii, also V, R. R. Dikshltar, The Maury an Polity^ 1932, p- 129. ® Canto xxvi, 11 . 54-66. ^ Bk. vii, cli. 64, st. 3. Introduction 21 fact that he went all the way to the Himalayas in order to fetch a good stone to carve out an image of Kannakid That he was a follower of the established reli- gion of the land and that he was a Ksatriya by caste are evident from the fact that he engag'ed himself in the per- formance of Vedic sacrifices, after the temple was con- structed and consecrated to Kannaki. From this time until his death it appears that he took to a life of ease and peace, penance and prayer, his mind being centred on the study and practice of dharma." He was a great soldier and a bold warrior. The prowess of his arms was felt throughout the Tamil land, the Cdia and Pandya being his tributary allies. He carried his sword as far as the Ganges, and brought the whole of India under his suzerainty. According to the Harihara Caturanga, a manuscript on War written by the minister of Prataparudra, the Kabanda engages in a dance, usually known as the devil dance, whenever a thousand suras fall dead on the field of battle, or when a sura kills one thousand able heroes in a battle. Viewed in this light, and from the fact that the Kabanda danced his dance in glee, blessing Sengnittuvan for the sumptuous food for him and his companions, it transpires that ;$en- guttuvan was a sura and a vlra. With unlimited power at his disposal and being a vigorous ruler, ^enguttuvan was able to keep peace in his vast and diversified empire for a full half-century. This would in itself be ample proof of his greatness. No doubt he is the most memor- able figure in the history of ancient Tamil India. VII KARIKAL.\ IN TUB §1LA PPADTK ARAM Another king much celebrated by llango-Adigal next only to Senguttuvan, is the Cola king Karikala. If we Canto XXV, IL 1 15-31. 2 Canto XXX, 11 . 170 IT, 22 Introduction are to believe the account in the PoninararruppadaP Karikala was a posthumous child and son of Uruvap- pahrer-Ilanjetcenni. He began to reign when he was a mere child. It is said that in the battle of Venni, Ima- yavaramban was wounded and the victory was won by the boy Karikala.^ His was a benevolent form of admini- stration.''’ His interest in irrigation and consequently in agriculture is seen from his construction of embankments for the Kaveri as testified to by the Leyden grant.' For this work, it is said that thousan^ls of Ceylonese labourers were employed. The text of the Silappadilcdrani contains three refer- ences to Karikala.’’ The first reference is to his military prowess. Here he is called Tirumavalavan, which term, it is worthy of note, occurs in the Paitiuappdlai (i. egp) of Kadiyalur Uruttirankannanar who was the recipient of 1,600,000 gold pieces at the hands of Karikala ( 11 . 19-21). This internal evidence c.stabli.shes beyond doubt the contemporaneity of the poet an, st. 44 and 226, and Kuruntogai, st. ii. * See M. Raghava Aiyangar, Caran Senguttuvan, pp. 112-3. 3 An attempt has already been made by Mr. C. Rasanayagam in this direction in his book Ancient Jaffna^ 1926- 2,6 Introduction X SOME FEATURES OF THE ADMINISTRATION Long and laborious research in ancient Indian polity has tended to remove the misconception generally preva- lent that all ancient Indian monarchies were autocracies. The consensus of opinion among scholars of the modern day is that the ancient Indian monarchs were not auto- cratic, but were subject to the laws of the land both customary and statutory. There were democratic insti- tutions in the country which kept the king under control and prevented him from acting unduly on his own initia- tive. Such institutions were common both in North India and .South India. ^ But confining ourselves to South Indian polity we may make the statement that the king was benevolent and cared for the promotion of the welfare of his subject.s. We know how the Cola king Karikala converted jungles into regions of fertility and wealth and how he under- took large irrigation schemes. There are stories told of his even-handed justice." So was known the Pandyan Nedunjeliyan who gave up his life when he heard that he had meted out unjustifiable punishment to the innocent Kov'-alan. These instances are enough to prove that the king was no autocrat. ASSEMBLIE.S In the conduct of his administration the king was assist- ed by the assembly of five (ainipcrum-kulu) which consist- ed of the minister, the piirohita, the commander-in-chicf, an ambassador and a spy, and by a group of eight officials (enperayam), the superintendent of the accounts, the head of the executive, the officer of the treasury, the chamber- lain, the representatives of the citizens, the commander, ^ For iin elaborate study of these institutions see V. R. R. Dikshitar, Hindu Administer ative InstituHons^ 2929. ® Fajamoli^ st. 6; Mani.^ canto iv, 11 . 107-8. Introduction 37 the chief of the elephant-warriors and of the horse- warriors.^ To illustrate ; King Senguttuvan was served by Villa- vankodai, the commander of the land forces, and Alumbil- vel, the superintendent of income and expenditure. Sahjaya and Nila were the chief messengers. Sanjaya was the head of the Kanjuka-makkal. The spies are described as wandering in different disguises in the capitals of the other kingdoms while the spies of other kings were going about in Vahji. The king consulted his officials before he undertook any business. That the queen attended such a council and had her say in the questions debated upon can be presumed from the fact that ^enguttvan’s queen Ilangovenma} was present in the Council Cham- ber and took part in the discussion when the question of erecting the temple to Pattmi Devi was decided.^ The monotony of state business was often enlivened by dan- cing and music by the class of ^akkaiyar whose head was Kuttulpatuvon.® The kingship was generally hereditary,'^ and the king reigned according to the laws of the land. As has been pointed out already the theory of Maru- makkattayam as prevalent among the Ceras is not sup- ported by the Silappadikaram. On the other hand its evidence nullifies any such theory. The king knew the evil effects of tyrannical rule'’ and hence endeavoured to do justice. FLAGS, ETC. The three kings of the Tamil land had as their respec- tive standards, the bow, the fish, and the tiger. They ^ Cantos in, 1 . 126; v, 1 . 157; xxvi, L 38. Also Main.j canto i, 1 . 17. The enferdyam is also interpreted in a different way as enferumtiinaivar {Tamil Lexicon, Vol. I, p- 520). These were professional people who catered for the needs of the royal household. We hear Madari the cowherdess saying that she had to send ghee to the palace the next day (canto xvii, 1. 7). ® Cantos XXV, 11 . 107-14 ; xxviii, 1 . 50. ® Canto xxvi, 1 . 125. ^ Canto xxvii, 1 . 134. ® Mam., canto vii, 1. 12. Introduction 38 were further distinguished by garlands of palmyra, mar- gosa, and atti leaves and flowers. We search the texts in vain for a national flag, for politically India was then divided into many nations each called after the name of their respective tribes. CONDUCT TOWARDS PRINCES Refractory sons were severely dealt with. The ex- amples of Manunltikanda Cola, and Killivalavan are fur- nished by the epic. When it was feared that some prince would stand in the way of the legitimate heir succeeding to the throne, the former took to a life of renunciation. Ilango- Adigal , the brother of ^enguttuvan, is a case in point. INTERREGNUM Sometimes it so happened that there was an interval between the decease of the reigning king and the appoint- ment of his successor. This was what happened at the death of Nedunjeliyan by the curse of Kannaki. Then the council was in charge of the kingdom till I}amjeliyan, the Imperial Viceroy at Korkai, was elected to the throne.^ ROYAL AMUSEMENTS Among the royal amusements were dancing and music by professionals. The king often retired to what may be called a pleasure resort, ilavandikaippalli. He was generally accompained there by his queen. It is .said that ^enguttuvan spent some time in that park in the company of his queen Ilangovenmal.® RELEASE OF PRISONERS Among the festivities of the state figured the king’s birthday. It is called Permidl (also Pcrumangalam) when there was a general release of prisoners. Such general ^ Canto xxvii, IL I32-8, Cantos X, 1 . 31 ; xxv, 1 . 4. Introduction 39 amnesty was also granted on other similar occasions. For example, on the occasion of the founding of the temple of Pattini Devi, :Senguttuvan ordered the release of prison- ers.’^ TULABARADANAM The Uildbdraddnam was a redeeming feature of the royal festivities. It was a gift of gold to the deserving, generally a srotriya, equal to the donor’s weight. It figures as one of the sixteen mahdddnas as prescribed by the Puranas like the Matsya and the Linga Purdnas.^ It is said that Senguttuvan made this gift to the Brahman M'adalan'"’ on the banks of the Ganges after he had had the stone intended for the image of Kannaki bathed in the sacred river. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE The department of finance was under the control of a body of officials who went by the name Kavidimakkal. Perhaps the Kavidi was the chief finance minister who looked after the collection of revenues in the right season and in the proper way. He was one of the five officials whose advice was sought on questions of state finance by the king. His establishment went by the name dyah- kanakkar,^ which, it is said, announced a remission of taxes when the temple of Kannaki was founded. COMMERCE, A SOURCE OF REVENUE As a source of revenue commerce came only next to agriculture. There was active trade by land and sea. It is said that bales and cartloads were numbered and mark- ed {kanneluttu) . The merchants were the wealthiest community in the land and the king befriended them by honouring them with titles. Etti° was one such title. ^ Canto xxviii, 11 , 204-5. ^ See V. R. Dikshitar, Matsya Ptirdna, 1935, p. 9S. ® Canto xxvii, II, r75“6. "^C^nto xXviii, 11 . 2o.|-6. * Canto xv, I. 163. 40 Introduction TREASURE TROVE We hear of an Etti ^angaman, a flourishing merchant at Madura/ Treasure trove was generally the property of the state, and tended to swell the royal exchequer. But so far as the Pandyan kingdom was concerned we hear that the Pandyan Nedunjeliyan issued a proclamation to the effect that treasure and other legitimately acquired wealth belonged by right to the discoverer.” This proclamation was the result of a representation made to the king by a poor young poet who was punished by the subordinate officials. Thus this was an exception and not the rule. The presents of the hillmen (like those at the Nilgiris) to ^enguttuvan'' and the tributes by sub- jugated monarchs were other sources of revenue, though the income from these items could not have been much. The chief item of expenditure was connected with the civil and the military establishments of the state. An idea of the military expenditure will be apparent from the number of the fourfold army and commissariat which fol- lowed Senguttuvan on his northern expedition.' Chariots ... ... ... lOO Elephants ... ... ... 500 Horses ... ... ... to, 000 Carts and carriages ... ... 20,000 Kahjukar ... ... ... 1,000 Dancing-girls ... ... 102 Musicians ... ... ... 208 Jesters ... ... ... too WARFARE We have seen that the army of the ancient Tamils consisted of a fourfold classification of chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry. The chief defence was by means ^ Canto XV, 1. 196- ® Canto xxiii, 11. 128-9. ® Canto xxv, iL 35-55- ^ Canto xxvi, IL 12S-40. See also M. Raghava Aiyangar, op. cit., p. 134. Introduction 41 of well furnished fortifications. The battlements and ram- parts were mechanically provided with efficient mecha- nisms containing curious devices in the shape of monkeys, kingfishers, sows, vultures, serpents, horses and swans. ^ Before the king left his capital he entertained his soldiers with a grand feast and sent his sword and umbrella on the state elephant in advance, on an auspicious day. After having prayed to the gods in the temples of his city and in the Yajhasalas the king actually left his town. This was what 5enguttuvan did on the eve of his nor- thern expedition.^ Such of the heroes as showed a bold front to the end and died, were honoured with Virakkal or Nadukal, monuments raised in commemoration of their deeds of valour of which a good number are even now brought out by the spade of the archaeologist. Before the actual operations, an ultimatum was generally sent to the enemy king to the effect that those who did not voluntarily surrender would have to submit to the horrors of war.^ A number of musical instruments were displayed on the field of battle. These were kodumparai, neduvayir, murasam, pdndil, etc. The kings who still opposed him in open war were taken prisoners after their defeat and released on their submission. The wars were so fierce that the soldiers sometimes cast off their arms and escaped in the guise of ascetics, musicians and dancers. Brahmans and other non-combatants.^ This points to the preva- lence of ethical standards in ancient warfare in South India. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Passing on to the department of justice we notice that the chief magistrates who sat in the hall of justice (Arahkalam) when they disposed of cases were Brahmans. The idea ^ Canto XV, 11 . 206-16. ® Canto XXV, 11 . 183-94. ® Canto xxvi, 11 . 52-66. * Canto xxvii, 1 . 179 fF. 42 Introduction was that those dispensing justice must be versed in the law codes/ Though the kings were actuated by the best of motives in meting out justice there was sometimes a miscarriage as we note in the case of Kovalan." There were jails and superintendents of jails. As already noticed there was a periodical release of prisoners. Usually capital punish- ment was awarded in cases of theft. Among others the six chief offenders according to the laws of the state were false witnesses, pseudo-sn«TZ3/a.?i??-T, unchaste women, dis- loyal ministers, adulterers, and tale-bearers.^ V ILL.^GE ADM IN I ST R.\T I ON Already we have seen that the empire was divided into nadus (perhaps answering to modern provinces) and a sub- division of the nadu was the kurram (district). But the village was the unit of administration. Every village had a manram or the village sabhii, where the elders transacted the business of the village. There were certain tribal settlements in the hills and fore.sts. The Eiynar settlement may be cited as an example. E.x- cepting these settlements, the villages in general were not isolated groups far away from the link of humanity. There was active intercour.se, political and commercial, between village and village and between village and city. Learned men and pious Brahmans of one kingdom felt at home in alien kingdoms. To cite an instance, the Brahman of Mankadu, a village in the Cera nddu, visited sacred places as far as Cape Comorin through the Cola and Pandya kingdoms. In spite of the gloomy trail through woods and jungles the roads were safe. There were officials appointed by the .state to look after the welfare of the villages, and these were to a large extent respon.sible ^ Cantos xxiiy L 8 ; xxvj, I. 246 ; xxvin, L 222. ® Canto xvi, L 148 IT. 3 Canto xxiii, 1 . 103. Mat?*., canto I. 133. ♦ Canto II. 128-34. Introduction 43 for the peace and secnrity of the rural parts. They were often aided by the village assembly. XI GEOGRAPHICAL DATA The celebrated commentator Naccinarkkiniyar divides the whole Tamil land into four divisions : Malaimanda- 1am, Colamandalam, Pandyamandalam, and Tondaiman- dalam. In the days of the Silappadikdram there was no Tondaimandalam division as such. There were then only three divisions. Malaimandalam was already referred to as the Cera kingdom. It may be noted in passing that the term mandalam in the sense of a province or kingdom does not occur in the Sangam works. The ancient Ceranadu was constituted by modern Salem, Coimbatore, and the Nilgiri districts besides the whole of Malabar and a part of Travancore (Velnadu). This kingdom occupied five of the twelve divisions which comprised all the Tamilagam. The five of the Ceraman- dalam were Kuttanadu, Kudanadu, Kongunadu, Pulinadu and Maladu (Malainadu). Some of the titles of the Ceras like Kuttuvan and Puliyan are coined from the names of these territorial divisions. The ancient Kongunadu com- prised the modern districts of Salem and Coimbatore. The chief rivers of the Cera kingdom were Anporunai (Amara- vati), Kudavanaru, Kahji (Noyyil), Kariyaru, ^ulliyaru,’^ Periyaru or Ponnani, and Bavani or Vani. To this king- dom ^enguttuvan added by conquest Koduhur in the south of the Mysore state. Vanjikkaruvur^ was the capital of this great kingdom. Tondi and Musiri were the chief ports. We are furnished with a full and detailed description of the capital city, its suburbs, fortifications, streets and roads, public halls, museums, parks, temples and mdtams and the palace.® ^ Sulli falls into the western sea ; at its mouth is the town Musiri. ® Cantos xxvi, 1. 50; xxviii, I. 196. ® Mani., canto xxviii j Sila.^ canto xxviii, 11. 48-50, 44 Introduction The late Kanakasabhai surmised that this Vafiji might be Tiru-karur now a deserted viMage three miles from' Kothaimangalam and this view has been adopted by some of the later scholars without bestowing much thought on this all-important question. This theory did not go un- challenged. Pandit M. Raghava Aiyangar first identified Vanji with Karuvur in Trichinopoly district. Following him Mahavidvan R. Raghava Aiyangar, whose authority on the Sangam classics cannot be disputed, wrote a book in Tamil entitled Vanjimdnagar. The long and short of this erudite thesis was to settle once for all the controversy as to the location of the original Cera capital, and after a critical examination of all the aspects of the question, he came to the only possible conclusion that this Vahjikkaru- vur was the present town Karur in Trichinopoly district. It is not possible nor is it necessary to traverse the ground again. If epigraphy were pressed into service, the follow- ing would be read with ii\terest : 'A damaged record in the Siva temple here (Nerur, a village very near Karur) mentions Karuvur as Vahjimanagaram which must help to settle the identification of the original Vahji at Karur and not at Cranganore on the west coast.” The chief mountains are the Kolli hills, the Ayirai hills (in which the Ayirai river has its source), and the chain of Anamalais. This river Ayirai" must be Ponnani (Purnavahini). The hill Ayirai (Aivar-Malai) was sacred to the goddess Korravai, the deity of the Ceras. The other hills of the Kongunadu are Nanra and Vandamalai, the latter south of Karuvur. THE PAI^DYAN KINGDOM It would appear that the ancient Pandyan kingdom extended far into the south where were the Kumari hill and the river Pahruli both of which had been swallowed up by the sea long before the commencement ^ Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly District^ VoL II, 1931, p. 130. ® Cf^nto xxviii, II, 145-6, Introduction 45 of the Christian era.^ As if to compensate for the loss of this territory, the Paridyan king Nedunjeliyan added by conquest Milalaikkurram^ and the Mutturkkurram^ from the Colas, apparently territories in the modern dis- trict of Tanjore, ^ and Kundurkurram'^ from the Ceras. It is only the gloss that gives this indication, and we have no other testimony to confirm it.° If we are to follow the traditional account of three Sangams, and there is no reason why we should not, the ancient capital of the Pandyan kingdom was also swallowed up by the sea, and this necessitated the moving of the capital to Korkai, probably the Kavatapuram of Sanskrit literature. From this again the capital was transferred to the modern city of Madura, and this had been effected by the time of Pliny as he refers to it.’^ This became the seat of the great and ancient academy well known as the ^angam. Korkai also continued to be a chief city under the charge of the crown prince. The chief hill in the ^ Canto xi, II. 17-22 ; see cumnientary on canto viii, 11 . 1-2. 2 It is rather diflicult to identify this, though South Indian inscriptions often mention this as part t>f Fandinadu. For instance a record in the four- teenth year of the Piinclyan king Jatavarnian Sundara Fandya of the thir- teenth centui'y a.d. refers to it, (See also Tamil record No. 67 of 1910-) Tamil records Nos. 460-1 of 1909 refer to two places, Kilkiirru and Kalakurru as subdivisions of Milalaikkurrain. NaduvTrkurru is another subdivision according to Tamil records, of 1908 and 425 of 1911. ^ This i.s also referred to in a number of inscriptions. Tamil record No. 59 of 1909, dated in the thirteenth year of the Pandyan King Jatavarnian mentions Mutturkkurram in Pandyamandaiam. .See also 441 of 1904, 86 of 1905 and 80 and 266 of 1907. In the thirteenth and lourteenth centuries Kappalur seems to have been an important place in this subdivision (see Nos. 425 and 429 of 1913). * K. A. Nilakantfi .Sa.stri, The Panilyan Kiui>dom, p. 28. ® This can be indentified with Kundui'kurr‘'“an occurring in the Madura inscription of a Pandyan king who.se name is lost. According to thi.s, Kun- cjCir was the capital of Kundurkfirram, and this kiirram formed a part of Aiujanadu (see LM.P., Vol. II, p. 1036, ed. by V. Rangachary). .A.ccording to a record of Trichinopoly district, 460 of 1908, it came to be known later as R a j an ar ay a n a- C a t u r v ed i m angal am . ® p- 303- ^ E. H. Warmington, The Commerce between the Roman Empire and Indta^ 1928, p. 167. 46 Introduction kingdom was Podiyil, the residence of the sage Agastya if we are to believe the traditional account, and the im- portant river was the Vaigai which was crossed when in flood by boats and canoes. The limits of the ancient Panciyan kingdom may roughly be stated to have comprised the modern dis- tricts of Madura, Ramnad and "I'innevclly. The \’^ellar flowing through the Pudukkottai State formed its northern boundary. The Cola kingdom consisted of a part of the modern Trichinopoly district, as well as Tanjore, Chingle- put and South Arcot districts. I'he Toncjaimandalam which rose to prominence under the Pallavas was an appendage to the old Cdlamandalam. It was in its turn divided into a number of nadus and kurranis. Like the Pandyan kingdom the Colamandalam had two capital cities IJraiyur (Sans., Uragapuram) in the Trichino{>oly district and Kaverippattinam in the Tanjore district. The latter achieved prominence under Karikalaccolan, the son of Ilamcetcenni, but a part of it was destroyed by the sea in the course of two generations. It con- sequently lost its ancient glory as the principal scat of government.^ According to the Pcriplus the capital city Uraiyur was the chief mart for pearls and the well-known Argynitic muslins ; Argynitic being an adjective derived from the name Uragapuram. Sixty years later Ptolemy states that Uraiyur was the capital. The Kaveri was the only important river of the Cola country. To conclude, ‘the traditional meeting-place of the three Tamil kingdoms was the temple of Sellandi xA-mman f>n the banks of the Kaveri, twelve miles west of Kulittalai and three miles below the junction of the Amaravati and the Kaveri. The temple was the common place of wor.ship of the kings of the three Tamil dynasties ; a bund which runs ^ For a detailed description the city, its fortifications, streets and roads, sec cantos v and vi. Introduction 47 to the south of the river marks the boundary between the Cola and the Pandya territories, and the Karaipottanar on the opposite bank of the river 'W'as the boundary between the Cola and the Cera kingdoms.’^ XII RELIGIOUS DATA Man is a religious animal and invokes the assistance of superhuman beings in his weal and woe. This invocation comprises rituals of fasting and feasting, singing and dancing. These are believed to please the deity who in his turn is expected to shower blessings on his worshippers. The chief gods invoked by the ancient Tamils were. 5ey6n (also Murugan and Velan) and Mayon (Krsna or the Black God). Other gods worshipped were i5iva, Korravai or the Goddess of Victory, Balarama, V^una, Indra, etc. There is a view th^lt some of these were peculiar to the different regions (of w'hich five are distinguished) in the Tamil, land.® But these are also Vedic and Puranic gods, and their mention in early Tamil poetry shows that the assimi- lation and the blend of the two cultures, Sanskrit and Tamil, was a thing of the ancient past. The earliest extant work in Tamil, the Tolkdppiyani bears evidence of this. Similar ideas arc found scattered in the Silappadi- kdrani, and the twin epics betray clear influence of the Buddha and the Jaina cults which had come to stay in the Tamil land. Side by side with these dissenting sects of which three are mentioned — the Btuldha, the Jaina and the Ajivaka, the established religion of the land was in a flourishing condition. At the outset, it must be remarked that there was no nice distinction between the orthodox religion and the so-called religion of the dissenting sects. The funda- mental principles of all these sects were the same, and the ^ Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly District, VoL II, P* ^ 7 * “ See History of the Tamils, p. 75 fT. Introduction 48 differences, if any, were minor and trivial. It was in philosophical outlook and speculation that there was any difference, and hence the masses of the people to whom the higher philosophy was a sealed book did not trouble them- selves about it. The religious discussions were only among the cultured few, and differences in opinions and views among them were treated with mutual respect. By the orthodox religion we mean .‘saivism and Vaisnavism. Even here the bitter hatred of the Saiva and \'"aisnava cults as separate sects, which was only a later growth on the tree of Indian religion, is totally absent in the Silappadi- kdram. It is not possible to say whether in the tiays of the epic a certain person was a Saiva or \’^aisna\'a in his creed, and hence he cannot be marked exclusively a Saiva or exclusively a Vai.snava. In fine, the sectarian spirit was totally absent, and every person M'as both a iSaiva and a Vaisnava. Madari, a devotee of Krsna and hence a Vaisnava paid respects to Kavundi-Adiga], a Jain sintnyd- sini. A classic example is Ceran .'ncnguttuvan himself. Besides his prayers at the Agnihotrasala of his palace on the eve of his expedition to the north, the king went to the Siva temple and bore the feet of the Lord on his head as a mark of respect to Him. At this time the priests of the temple of Atakamapam, the local \hiisnava temple, gave him the prasddain (garland of flowers) which he wore on his shoulders. The commentator has identi- fied Atakamatam with the Trivandrum Padmanabhasvami temple. But as Pandit R. Raghava Aiyangar has ably argued that once the thesis that Karur was the capital of the Ceras is established, it could not be that priests came all the way from Trivandrum to Karur, and that therefore we must look for thei temple in or near Karur. ^ Therefore this must be the Ranganatha temple in Karur, while the ^ Vanjtmdnagar; cf. canto xxvi, commentary on L 62 ; VoL V. p. 1 16* Introduction 49 Siva temple must have been the Pasupatikoil of that place/ The epic also mentions the great shrines dedicated to Subrahmanya like Tiruccendur, Tiruccengode, Erakam and Venkuni;u." 'I'he dances Ludikkiittu and kudaikkuiiu are attributed to Subrahmanya as the kodukotti and the pdndarangavi are to Siva. The worship of the Devi as the Korravai or the Goddess of Victory and of Manimekalai as the chief guardian deity of the sea is seen throughout. The idea diat Lak-sml, Sarasvati and Parvati represent different aspects of the same Power is evident from the venhd in Canto xxii. I'his reminds us of the Lalitopakhyana portion of the Brahmanda Pitrdna where it is stated that the original goddess at Kahci was Mahalaksmi who came to be known in latter times as Kamaksl. The ritual dance vettuva- vari in honour of Korravai was often performed by hill tribes like the Mar.avar. I'hc opening lines of Canto xii, in fact the whole canto, describe this dance, and in this connexion we find that among the hali (offerings) men- tioned, human and bloody sacrifices were not uncommon.^ The Devi is often praised as the destroyer of Mahisasura. The ritual dance connected with Visnu goes by the name of the kuravaikkuttu (probably Sans., Rasakrida). This kind of dance was largely performed by the female members of the community in honour of the god Krsna who, tradition affirms, married the cowherdess Pinnai in the same way that Murugan married VaUi, a hill girl. When Kbvalan was executed under the orders of the Pandyan king, the city was visited with a number of ill omens which indicated some disaster to the city and its residents. According to the belief of the times such things could be averted by invoking deities dear to them. Hence ^ Dikshitar also visited this ancient town and is inclined to confirm the learned pandit’s opinion. ® Canto xxiv, p. 516. 3 See in this connexion E. A. Payne, The Sdhtas, introductory chapter. 4 Introduction 50 a kiiravaikkfdttc was arranged by Madari and her daughter Aiyai in the presence of Kannaki. Another kunwaikkrittii was performed by the women of the hill tribes on the Neduvelkunram, the hill which Kannaki reached after the conflagration at Madura, and where, as she stood under the vengai tree, a celestial car came down and took her to Heaven. In honour of Kannaki, these ladies arranged a dance and performed it wnth success. Connected with the worship of Krsna was the worship of Balarama, his elder brother. That there was a cult of Balarama is obvious from the mention of a separate temple to him.’ Prof. R. G. Bhandarkar is of opinion that the cult of Balarama was known in Patahjali’s time. It is not clear when the cult became extinct." It is remark- able that the worship of Balarama was in vogue in Tamil South India in the time of the Silappadikarani Again, we find evidence in the .'5ilappadikdra}]i of the existence of separate temples to the Sun God, the Moon God, the Kalpa 'Free, the Airavada, the V’ajra, Cattail, and other Pasancla gods.' In the cities were found local shrines for the guardian deities. Such definite statements as to the existence of temples bear testimony to the fact that the institution of the temple had a much more ancient origin than that wc would at present imagine. Evidence is not altogether lacking that temples existed in India in the fourth millenium B.c. as the recent finds of the Indus Valley indicate. Again, the four Butams named after the four castes and the Buta at the ^ Canto ix, 1 . 10. ® See his .*^atini,}ny Vai.snavii^ni, tifui niinor reUgious systems^ p. ij. ® Dewan Bahadur K- S. Raniaswami Sastri drew my altenttoa to a tcniplf* of Balarama at Udal^hanesvarain on th(‘ .scaslua'e at a sh<»rt distance* from I'cjupT, tledicatetl by .^ri Madhavacarya, wor.ship being conducted there down to the present time. An image of Balarama said to be a typical example of the Kushana period, Ls one of the acquisitions noted in the da. Rep. of the U. P. Provin- cial Museum, Lucknow, for the year ending X930. * Canto ix, II. 9-15. Introduction 51 Butacatukkam were also offered prayers. Among the Vedic deities Indra, V^aruna and Agni are invoked. In more than one place, there are references to Vedic Brah- mans, their fire-rites, and their chanting of the Vedic hymns. The Brahman received much respect from the king and was often given gifts of wealth and cattle. The purdhita (dsdn) held a high status among the chief officials of the state, and he was a member of the cabinet which the king consulted on matters affecting the state. This is not unnatural as the Tamil kings claimed to be Ksatriyas and the literary tradition connected them with the Solar and Lunar races. Among the deities of the heretical sects, viz. the Pasan- das, of whom the Divdkaram distinguishes as many as ninety-six sects, the Rattan is prominently mentioned. Even now remains of these old ;Sasta temples are found in the boundary limits of villages, and people in distress invoke their aid to tide over their difficulties. As now, in olden days the temples of these deities were frequently visited by distressed people and their wishes were granted. These Sasta temples appear to be indigenous to South India, where they are largely found, especially in the Tamil districts. But in the age of the Silappadikdram owing to the impact of Sanskrit culture the ^asta cult was apparently treated as heretical in character.’^ We do not propose to deal fully with the three dis- senting sects of Hinduism to which reference has already been made. There are references to the Buddha, the Indravihara of Puhar, and the Mab5di,^ but the references to Buddhism which can be gleaned from the epic are very few. This is probably because the other epic Manime- kalai gives a full treatment of the subject. In the same ^ It is interesting to note in this connexion that Sfista or Mahaj^asta is the son born of Siva when He embraced Mohini (Visnu in disguise), and hence he is called Hariharaputra. According to Adiyarkkunallar and the Divdka- ram another name for Sattan is Satavahanan, ® Canto X, 11 . 1 1-14. 52 Introduction way there are but few references to the ^amana sect, the Ajivaka, and to know what it is, one has to turn again to the pages of the Manimekalai. It may be remarked in passing that all these sects were patronized by Asoka, the Mauryan Emperor. Some details about the Jaina practices and customs are also furnished by the Silappadikdraw . P'rom a study of Canto XV one is tempted to conclude that Kovalan and Kannaki followed the Jain practice of bathing and cloth- ing and eating. In fact they did so at Madari’s house. But the evidence of the Manimekalai shows that they were Buddhists. As has already been said the distinctions between the orthodox religion and the other sects were not sharp. While Senguttuvan was of the orthodox faith, his brother Ijango-Acligal is at least contended to have been a Jaina, and the poet Kulavanikan .‘satlanar, their common friend, was a Buddhist. This is not peculiar to South India. We know, for example, that members of Har.sa’s family ‘acted on their individual preferences in the matter of religion’. While Prabhakaravardhana, Harsa’s father, followed the worship of the Sun, his elder son Rajyavardhana was a Buddhist. Harsa worshipped the Sun, Buddha and 5iva. And yet there was no con- flict of interests among them.' Again while the parents of Kov’alan were Buddhists, those of Kannaki embraced the Ajivaka faith." Thus different members of the same household followed differ- ent faiths and there was no sectarian spirit among them. Only two explanations can be offered for this. Either the people did not look upon religious distinctions .seriously, or there were no fundamental differences between one sect and another. To every one of them, karma was a factor to be reckoned with. Man’s actions bad or gooed art of music.'* There were musicians of both sexes. 'I'he male singers were known as pd-nars and female sing-ers as viralis and pd.dinis. They went from place to place displaying their musical talents and thus earning their livelihood. In addition to these professionals the ancient Tamils were lovers of music. Four varieties of tunes — />««, panniyar- riram, tirani, iirattiram — were developeil, ajipropriate per- haps to each of the four regions into which the whole Tamil land was divided. 7 "he ‘y\rangerrukadai’ (canto iii) is a treatise by itself on the various aspects of musical science. Besides the text, the commentary throws wel- come light without which it is not po.ssible to make out anything of the ancient modes of Tamil music. The qualifications of the songster, the drummer, the flutist, and the vind player are described in elaborate ^ The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. VI, ‘IntiiJi’, p. iii. ® See introduction to M. S. Ramaswnmi Aiynr\s S7Htya7nvlakah'imdhi. 3 For a collection of important extracts from the epic see M. Abraham Pandithar’s Karundmrtasdgarani^ 1917, pp. 526 ff. * For a short history of music, see W. J. Turner’s Music in *The How ^nd Why Series’, Introduction 6i detail. The songster must possess the instinct to group and develop the notes by distinguishing the foreign from the indigenous.^ He and his assistants like the drummer must be versed in ndtaka literature which is divided into two parts, one relating to the king and the court, and the other relating to the common people. The drummer had to adjust his performance to that of the songster so that the latter might not feel the strain, nor the audience the monotony of the pure song. He supplied the deficiencies of the vocalist and the instrumentalist by appropriately swelling or reducing the sound of the drum. His skill much depended on the practice of his hand.^ The flutist was a practised hand in what was known as cittirappunarppu which was nasalizing the hard consonants in singing a musical piece. He must be an expert in the use of his fingers.® The vlnd player^ must be versed in fourteen palais, four pertaining to the lower key, seven to the medium and three to the higher. In this w^ay he adjusted the sound. From a study of Canto iii in the Silappadikdram three kinds of musical performance can be distinguished — the vmd, the flute and the vocal. The musician exhibited his skill either by playing on the vind or flute, or by sing- ing, but in all cases he was accompanied by the low- voiced mrdangam and similar instruments. Four kinds of vlnd are referred to by the commentator — periydl, makaraydl, sakddayal, sengoUiydl. The ydl was distin- guished by the number of its strings. The flute was classi- fied into five types according to the material of which it was made : bamboo, sandalwood, bronze, red catechu and ebony. Of these bamboo was the best, bronze middling while sandalwood and the others were inferior. The flute had seven holes for the seven svaras — sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da, ni. Seven fingers were pressed into service when ^ Canto iii, 11 . 30-S. ® ibid., II. 56-69. 2 ibid., 11. 45”55- * ibid., 11. 7o*-94- 62 Introduction playing- on the flute. ^ I'he seven fingers are three of the left hand leaving out the thumb and the small finger, and four of the right hand leaving out the thumb. Of percussion instruments, which were generally hit with a stick and were accompaniments for any perform- ance, thirty-one kinds were distinguished. All of them were made of stretched skins.” A qualified actress went through seven years’ training from her fifth year to her twelfth, cind exhibited her skill on the public steige to win the appreciation and approval of the king.’’ XIV SUPERSTITIONS The remark has been made already that the ancient Tamils were, like all ancient peoples, god-fearing, simple, superstitious, and almost ready to take things for granted. That they had a number of deities and that they sent their prayers to the gods in their daily life has been indicated in the foregoing pages. It was an age of crude astro- logy, and its aid was sought whenever any one fell ill and sickness persisted. This wiis especially so when girls were stricken with lo\'e-sickness. Little knowing that their unmarried daughters were under the frenzy of love, their parents treateil them for one sickness or another. The final relief came, of course, only with the marriage of the girl. Side by side with this, the ancient 'Famils attached much importance t Kunavayirkotlam. Atliyarkkunallar describes kot^am as a Jaina temple. But this does not seem to be correct. The teim kotiam (Sans., koitha) means any building sacred to any divinity and not particularly to Aruhan, the Jaina deity, Kunavayil (literally, east gate), was the name of the suburb to the east of Vanji. ^ The Sangam poet and author of the Mantmekalai. ■* Atti — bauhiuta racemosa. The Tamil kings were distinguished by the garlands they wore. The Cola king had the dtti, the Panclya and the Cera kings used the margosa and the palmyra respectively * Sans., Gopala. 78 The Silappadikaram wore the gar, land of margosa blossoms did not inquire into the matter fully, but ordered his tried watchmen to kill the thief and fetch the anklet. The wife of the murdered Kovalan having no refuge, shed tears copiously ; and because she was so very virtuous, the Pandya suffered great distress when she plucked out one of her breasts, on which lay a string of pearls, and thereby burnt the great city of Madura. That lady of chastity of high repute is this one (referred to by the Kuravas).’ 37-62 Hearing this, Ilango asked : ‘You said that destiny was fulfilled.^ How was that?’ In reply, isattan said, ‘Holy man, listen ! I lay down at midnight in the Veljiyambalam^ of the Manrappodiyil, sacred to Lord Siva who wears the konrai flower on His tuft, in the hoary city of Madura of untainted fame. I saw the tutelary deity of Madura appearing before the heroic Pattini who was in deep distress and saying: “O lady, who raised furious flames from your breast ! Now it is that the action of your previous birth has become completed. In your previous birth, the wife of the mer- chant Sangaman of Singapuram^ of undying fame laid a curse upon your husband and yourself. O lady of the beautiful tresses of hair ! You will see your husband (again) fourteen days from now, not in his human form, but in the divine.” This guileless account did I hear. So we shall write a poem, with songs, illustrating the three truths that dharma will become the God of Death to kings who swerve from the path of righteousness, that it ^ This is the central theme underlying the whole epic. The story seems to elucidate the fundamental belief of Hinduism and its dissenting sects, like Buddhism and Jainism, that a man’s fortune or misfortune in this birth is the I'esult of his actions, good or bad, in past birth or births, ^ VeHiyambalam (literally, silver hall) is an open space for the use of the public. Note there are Ponnambalain, Maniyambalam, etc., referring to parti- cular shrines. The term Manrappodiyil shows that the village assembly usually met in the temple compound, where it is natural to suppose that large and shady trees were planted and allowed to grow. ® Singapuram is one of the capitals of ancient Kalinga. Padikam 79 is natural for great men to adore a chaste lady of great fame, and that destiny will manifest itself and be fulfilled ; and as these truths centre round an anklet of artistic beauty, the poem (patticdaicceyyid) can be named Silap- padikdram. As this story relates to all the three crowned monarchs, it is only proper, O venerable saint, that you should write it.’ In response to this request of Rattan, the saint of 63-85 extraordinary repute (Ilango) composed a poem, consist- ing of thirty parts, which were the following : The song of benediction ; the story about the parents establishing the hero as a householder ; the story of the dancing-girl Madavi receiving royal recognition for her skill on the stage ; the chapter in praise of the twilight ; the canto nar- rating the celebration of Indra’s festival in the city ; the canto describing the sports on the seashore ; the section des- cribing the kdmlvari and Madavi’s sorrow at the heat caus- ed by the blazing sun ; the canto dealing with the sight of the city (Madura) and that of the forest ; the canto dealing with the song of the hunters and the sojourn of Kovalan with his spouse outside the city ; the section dealing with the visit to the city ; the section describing the shelter found for the fair lady Kannaki ; the account of the murder of Kovalan ; the canto in which the dance of the cowherdesses is described ; that dealing with the distress of the people who heard the news of the burning of the city ; the song (kadai) dealing with the entry into the city which was in utter tur- moil ; the canto describing the manner in which Kannaki presented her case before the king ; the vow, the story of the great conflagration, the facts revealed by the tutelary deity of Madura to Kannaki ; the dance of the hill-damsels wearing fragrant flowers ; the story of the seeing, taking and bathing of the slab of stone in the holy Ganges, and the planting of the image ; the story of the praise offered to, and the boon obtained from, the Goddess of Chastity. So The Silappadikaram 86-90 These stones which are narrated in poetic form {uraiyidaiyitta pdttudaicceyyul) by Ilangd'Adigal were heard by KCilavanikaii^ Sattan of Madura. This is the account of the origin of the poem which elaborates the trivarga (pdlvahai)." ^ This indicates that Saltan belonged to the community ol corn-chandlers. The term vdntya as from the Sanskrit vanik, a merchant. Though a common name etymologically for all merchants, it is used in practice only in connexion with oil-pres&ers. Amongst the other vantyas there were ilaivantyai, or betel- sellers and numerous other br.uiche.s. Kidaixiniyas aie sai