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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



were three* Sangams, known as the first, middle, and last. 

 Amongst the members of the first Sangam were Agastiya, 

 Mudinagarayar of Muranjiyur, and others. And it is said to 

 have lasted 4,440 years, during the reigns of eighty-nine 

 Pandiya kings, beginning with Kaysinavaluti and ending 

 in the reign of Kadunkon, when the city of Madura — not 

 modern Madura, but another in the southernmost part of 

 India — was submerged in the sea. The number of authors 

 whose works received the imprimatur of that Sangam was 

 4,449, including seven Pandiya kings. The second Sangam 

 was established by the Pandiya king Vendoccheliyan t at 

 Kapadapuram, and ceased to exist when that city, the then 

 capital of the Pandiya kings, was also submerged in the 

 sea during the reign of Mudattirumaran, having lasted 3,700 

 years, under fifty-nine different Pandiya kings. Amongst 

 its members were Tolkappiyanar, Karunkoli, Mosi, Kirantai, 

 and others. The works of 3,700 persons, including five 

 Pandiya kings, were accepted by this Sangam. The only 

 work of importance of the time of this Sangam which now 

 oxists is the " Tolkapiyam," the celebrated treatise on Tamil 

 grammar. The third and last Sangam was established by the 

 Pandiya king Mudattirumaran at Madura (modern Madura), 

 which was called Uttara (Northern) Madurai, to distinguish 

 it from Southern Madura, which was destroyed by the sea. 

 Amongst its members were Sirumedavi, Sentambhiitanar, 

 Kilar of Perumkundrur, Marutan Ilana'ganar, Nallanduvanar, 

 Nakkirar, Paranar, Kapilar, Kalladar, Sittalai Sattanar, and 

 others. The works of 449 poets, including three Pandiyas, 

 were accepted by this Sangam, which existed for 1,850 

 years, during the reigns of forty-nine Pandiyas, and ended 

 either in the time of Ugrapperu Valuti or some time there- 

 after, that is to say, about the first century of the Christian era. 



* Cf. preface, " Viracholiyam" ; also Nakkirar, Nachchinarkkiniyar, the 

 Asiriyappa, in p. 3, footnote, in Chilappatikaram, Uraip-payiram, and others. 



t The name is so given in Mr. Tamotarampillai's edition of Iraiyanar's 

 Akapporul ; but in the Asiriyappa above mentioned it is given as 

 Venderchcheliyan. 



