No. 61.— 1908.] 



TAMIL VBLALAS. 



3 



Is it not a sacred duty of the sons of the Tamil land to take a 

 small fraction of the interest, at least, in the Velir, which they 

 evince in the study of the Cheras, the Pandiyas, and the 

 Cholas as the great patrons of their national tongue in the 

 past ? It is, of course, to be admitted that the materials 

 now available are scarcely so abundant as to secure a high 

 degree of success in this investigation. Neither old books, 

 nor writings of any other sort, chronicling the traditional 

 history of the Vels, exist to-day, a few odes, or lines of 

 poetry, composed and sung by some of the old Tamil bards 

 in praise of their patrons, and which appear included in 

 the anthologies 1 compiled by the last Tamil Sangam at 

 Madura, being almost the sole accessible sources of light we 

 have at present on this subject. Hardly possible as it is, 

 then, to compile anything like a history of the Vels from 

 these isolated and scanty materials, we shall, nevertheless, 

 endeavour, with the help of such light as we possess, to 

 explore, as best we can, the gloomy cell of their distant 

 past, and lay before the public whatever discoveries we may 

 chance to light upon. 



In old poetical works in Tamil, then, a community called 

 " Velir " is often mentioned side by side with the three 

 great powers of the south, viz., the Cheras, the Pandiyas, and 

 the Cholas. In " Purrananooru," 2 " Pathittupaththu," 3 &c, 



Chola, and Pandiya, the princely hospitality with which they were 

 entertained by Pari. This excited the jealousy of the three kings, and 

 they sent their forces to besiege Parambu. The defiles of the mountain 

 passes with which Pari's followers were familiar were strictly guarded 

 by them, and Pari, by his personal bravery, maintained, for some days, 

 an unequal contest with the large and well-equipped army that 

 surrounded him. At length, the enemies forced their way up the 

 mountain and attacked Pari, who was killed in the encounter." — Vide 

 "The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago," pp. 104, 105.— V. J. T. 



1 The works referred to are " Akam," " Purr am," " Nattinai," 

 " Kurantokai," " Pathittupaththu," &c, some of which have lately 

 come out in print. — V. J. T. 



2 " Purrananooru," or " Purram," as it is sometimes called, is a 

 collection of 400 odes composed by about 180 poets. — V. J. T. 



3 "Pathittupaththu" consists of ten poems by ten different poets. 

 These works seem to be compilations from the works of the early 

 Tamil poets which have long since become extinct. — V. J. T. 



B 2 



