No. 61.— 1908.] 



TAMIL VELALAS. 



29 



of the latter by stating that one sprung from an individual of 

 the tribes of the Pandus should he called a " Pandya." 1 The 

 following facts have also been adduced (by learned men) as 

 furnishing further material proofs of the descent of the 

 Pandiyas from the Pandus, namely : they were said to have 

 belonged, like the Pandus, to the Lunar race ; their capital, 

 Mathurai, 2 was named after one of the ancient capitals of the 

 Lunar race in the north ; and the Pandiyas called themselves 

 " Panchavar," 3 i.e., the " descendants of the five, 55 to indicate 

 their common origin with the five sons of Pandu. The Tamil 



1 The name "Pandiyan" has also been explained as meaning "old," 

 from " Pandu," from which it is held by many to have been derived. 

 In the '* Mahavansa," the first reference to the Pandiyan king is in the 

 form of {C king Pandava of Southern Mathura," and occurs in con- 

 nection with the marriage of king Vijaya with the daughter of the 

 Pandiya. The forms " Pandu " and " Pandi " are also to be found in 

 the " Mahavansa " later on. There is, however, no reference in Tamil 

 literature to " Pandu " of the Maha Bharata as a remote ancestor of 

 the Pandavas. According to Dr. Oppert ( vide his ' ' Original Inhabitants 

 of Bharata Varsha") Pandiyan is a contracted form of "Pallandiyan," 

 i.e., the lord of the Pallas, whom he identifies with the Pallavas, Ballas, 

 Ballalas, and Velalas. Taking all the above views into considera- 

 tion, the correct view would appear to be that the Pandiyas were a 

 very ancient race of agriculturists related to the Pandse or the Pandus 

 of ancient India. It seems important to note that the agricultural 

 class among the Telugus is still known as the " Panta," i.e., the old 

 race.— V. J. T. 



2 According to the " Ramayana," Uttarakandam, Northern or Uttara 

 Mathura, was the capital of Madhu, a relative of Ravana, king of the 

 Yakshas and Rakslmsas of Lanka. His son Lavana was king of Mathura 

 at the time of the Rama-Ravana war. It is worthy of notice that 

 "Madhu" and "Yadu" are strictly synonymous terms — while "Yadu," 

 the ancestor of the Yadavas, was, according to the Puranic legend, also 

 the progenitor of the Rakshasas. The " Ayar," i.e., the shepherd races 

 of the Pandiyan kingdom, who claimed to have come down to the south 

 with the ancestors of the Pandiyas, worshipped not only Krishna and 

 Balarama of the Yadava race, but also the Yakshas who were the 

 enemies of Rama. There seems to be no difficulty, therefore, in 

 attributing the foundation of the Northern Mathura of the classics 

 to a Yaksha dynasty with which the Pandiyas were connected. — 

 V. J. T. 



3 Marco Polo says that the Pandiyan kingdom was, at the time of 

 his visit, ruled over by five brother-princes of the Pandiyan race, and 

 the same state of things is said to have prevailed when the sceptre of the 

 Pandiyas finally passed into the hands of the Telugu conqueror. The 



