43 



chank shells and knew charms to keep sharks away from 

 that part of the sea where diving was being carried on. 

 Another passage depicts the city of Korkai, then a sea- 

 port at the mouth of the Tambraparni, as the chief town 

 in the country of the Parawas and the seat of the pearl 

 fishery, with a population consisting chiefly of pearl-divers 

 and chank-cutters. The great epic, the Silappathikkarram 

 or *' Lay of the Anklet," written about the same period 

 by a Jain poet gives further information about Korkai 

 from which we gather that on account of the great value 

 of the revenue derived from the pearl fishery, this city 

 was a sub-capital of the Pandyan realm and the usual 

 residence of the heir-apparent, boasting great magni- 

 ficence and adorned with temples and palaces befitting 

 its wealth and importance. 



Another valuable reference to the chank trade is 

 contained in two Tamil stanzas which chronicle a passage 

 at arms between a Brahman and Nakkirar, the cele- 

 brated poet-president of the Madura Sangam in the 

 reign of the Pandyan king Nedunj Cheliyan II, who 

 flourished probably about the beginning of the 2nd 

 century A.D. 



The Brahman, named Dharmi, presented to the 

 Sangam a poem purporting to be composed with the 

 aid of Siva. Nakkirar, the President, in spite of its 

 alleged divine origin criticised the poem mercilessly, and 

 rejected it as unworthy of literary recognition. The 

 Brahman took revenge by presenting another poem also 

 purporting to be inspired by Siva ; in it he held the 

 President up to ridicule on account of his caste trade in 

 the following pungent lines 



uiEiSihui— (oQsrsm'Q a'r&)uirLJi3id' — ff^iEiss^Sssr 



ikjiriTfraj Qpe(T<bTT^^eu6sr ^^ 



which may be translated literally as follows : — 



" Is Kiran fit to criticize my poem ? Spreading his knees wide, 

 "his joints loosened (by the labour), does he not saw chanks into 

 •• sections, his ghee-smeared saw murmuring the while kir — kir ?" 



Besides the insult intended to be given, the verse 

 contains a play on the President's name and the sound 

 given out during the sawing of chank shells. 



