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 Sz/appathikkarram 
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 
 gHasam Gloutlameh Oeorus p81 
UBebuL ore1rG) eT vusliQF—EF wes & Coor 
Er Oren M&Ga GIC@) Qactrecdonu 
WT Ty Apor OT d Severs ,”” 
which may be translated literally as follows :— 
“Ts 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. 
