NO. 45. — 1894.] ANCIENT TAMIL POETS. 



191 



Porunardttuppadai, the second of the poems which I 

 have translated, consists of 248 lines, and is sung in praise 

 of the great Chola king known to history as Karikdla. 

 It purports to describe the experiences of a musician who 

 was the recipient of that king's liberality. Many matters 

 of interest with regard to the food, mode of life, manners 

 and customs, poets and musicians of the Tamils of ancient 

 times appear in this poem. KarikdlcCs age, for the follow- 

 ing reasons, was not later than the first century of the 

 Christian era. 



(1) The celebrated Tamil poem Ka ling attuppar ant was 

 written by its author in praise of his patron, king Ko-raja- 

 Kesari-varman* alias Kulottunga Chola Deva I, of the 

 CUdlukya dynasty, who reigned from 1063* to 1112 after 

 Christ, The date of this poem has been correctly fixed as 

 not long after 1081,* which date is also accepted by other 

 Tamil scholars. In this poem Karikdla is mentioned as an 

 ancestor of Kulottunga Chola Deva as having gone to 

 Northern India on a tour of conquest, and as having accepted 

 the poem Pattinappalai (which also forms part of the col- 

 lection Pattupdttu, already referred to), and paid the author 

 of that poem one million six hundred thousand pieces of the 

 gold coin called pon. Many of these and other particulars 

 regarding Karikala are mentioned in other Tamil works, 

 such as the Periyapurdnam,\ Chilappadikdram, &c. So 

 that according to the Kaling attuppar ani, Karikdla's age 

 was much anterior to 1063, when his so-called descendant 

 Kulottunga Chola Deva I. began his reign. 



(2) In volume II., part II., page 153, of the South Indian 

 Inscriptions, Dr. Hultzsch says : " In the two only copper- 

 plate grants which contain a genealogical account of the 

 Chola dynasty the same three kings" — viz., Karikdla, 



* Cf. Indian Antiquary, vol. XIX., pp. 329 et seq.; vol. XX., pp. 278 

 et seq. South Indian Inscriptions, vol. II., part I., p. 230; Mr. P. Sundaram- 

 pillai's valuable Paper, " The Age of Tirujnana Sambandha." 



f Written circa twelfth century. Cf Mr. Sundarampillai's Paper on 

 " The Age of Tirujnana Sambandha." 



