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



country. This can be seen from the following extract of the 

 ode sung by the bard Kapilar to which attention has already 

 been drawn, namely : — 



" Thou, thou art the Vel of the Vels who, appearing in the 

 sacred Thadavu 1 of an ascetic in the north, count forty-nine 

 generations of Vels, since ruling over Dwaraka, glittering 

 like gold, and surmounted by its copper fortress." 



idea of a " jar-born " race for the Chalukkyas, it seems reasonable to 

 infer that a word signifying "a jar " or "a pot " must have been 

 present in the ancient form of the name. We have in Tamil the words 



Chal," "Chalikai," and "Chadi," all of which mean "a jar" or 

 46 a pot," but it may be objected that the Chalukkyas being an Aryan 

 race, any explanation based on the Tamil language cannot be held to 

 meet the case. However this may be, the Tamil words above noticed 

 cannot but strike any impartial judge as affording a key to the solution 

 of the origin of the legend in question. There is also another account 

 of the origin of the name Chalukkya, which is that " Chalooka," the 

 progenitor of the Chalukkyas, was formed in the palm (chaloo, Tamil 

 #/r.&w) of the presiding priest at the Fire Fountain, and his descend- 

 ants were, on that account, designated " Chalukyas." " Caluka " or 

 {C Culaka" signifies, says also Dr. Oppert, 4£ a hollowed hand to receive 

 water."— Vide Tod's " Raj as than," vol. II., p. 440.— V. J. T. 



The Chalukkyas were known also as " Chaluvar " to the Tamils, 

 from "Chaluvam" (i.e., Salva, the northern part of Guzerat), the 

 name of the country from which they came down to the south, vide 

 Dr. Rottler's Tamil-English Dictionary. The sage Agastiyar who 

 is said to have accompanied the Pandiyan to Dravida was, no doubt, a 

 distinguished scion of this race, as the story of his " springing from a 

 pot " unmistakably indicates.— V. J. T. 



1 The commentator of ' 'Purrananooru" interprets the word "Thadavu" 

 not as meaning a pot, but a sacrificial hole, and so connects the Vels 

 with the modern " fire races " of the north, namely, Cauhan, Caluk or 

 Calukya (Solanki), Pramara, and Parihara. The caste of the Fire Races 

 (called also Vanniyas or Agnikulas) in South India includes the 

 Anuppar, Bailagar, Devadigar, Kallar, Maravar, Masadigar, Bantar, 

 Mupar, Nattampadis, Padaiachchis, Parivarams, Uppiliyar, Udaiyar, 

 and Vanniyar. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Tod, the Agnikulas 

 of Hindostan are identical with the Scythic race which invaded India 

 two centuries before Christ. — Vide his " Annals of Rajasthan," vol. I., 

 p. 90. The Scythic race here referred to is, evidently, the " Sakas," 

 called also the Yuei-chi by the Chinese, who were the masters of 

 Northern India in the first century a.d. 



Drs. Gustav Oppert and Fr. Buchanan agree with Colonel Tod that 

 the Agnikulas of India are of non- Aryan origin. — Vide " The Original 

 Inhabitants of Bharatavarsha," chap. VI., on the Agnikulas. — V. J. T. 



