26 



Report 071 (he Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



[July ' 



right of placing the crown on the head of the idol : verbal depositions 

 of persons employed in the service of the fane are introduced into the 

 decree ; the result of which is, on the whole, most favourable to the claims 

 of the ^wfwgarw, whose genealogy, and other matters, are related in 

 the preceding paper. 



I have not given a minute abstract of the tissue of strife, nor speci- 

 fied the abuse which the writer sometimes heaps on individuals of the 

 faction, opposed to his own. My impression is, that the document may- 

 be of use, in fixing some chronological periods; but, to this end, it will 

 require to be compared with other documents which are yet to be ex- 

 amined. 



Section 6k. Account of the Chola, Chera, and Pandiya kings, co- 

 pied from a document in possession of one named Caii-cavi-rayen of 

 Punturi, in the Coimbatore province. 



This paper states the Cholas to be of the Surya-vamsa (or solar-race) 

 and deduces the family from Choliya ; and it makes the incarnation of 

 the illusive Cow, and the tale connected therewith,* to have occurred 

 in his time. Thence a genealogy is given, containing a list of forty- 

 eight names; being those that usually occur, with some others, not 

 commonly mentioned. 



There follow other names of kings in the Cali-yuga, of ''human 

 form;" that is not of eKtraordinary (or fabulous) kind. Eighteen are 

 specified ; but these names appear as much compounded of Sanscrit 

 epithets as the foregoing ; and I hold names so compounded in great 

 dubitation, as not likely to have been proper names of kings, in a Tamil 

 country: a remark which, by the way, applies also to other ge- 

 nealogies. The extinction of the Chola-rhce is ascribed to a 

 dispute between the then king and the poet Camban. The 

 Fenpa or stanza by which the latter commemorated the cir- 

 cumstance is given; the substance of it being, that there are two 

 kinds of arrows, one real, such as the king had shot against Camban^ 

 and another metaphorical, even bitter words, with which Camban tells 

 the king he will extirpate his race. The real case however was, that 

 the king killed the son of Camban, and Camban in revenge killed the 

 king's son. The king then shot at Camban; and the latter, escaping 

 w'ith his life, returned the compliment by his verses. 



Some following kings, not of the race, assumed the cognomen of 

 Chola, and reigned some years. The bounds of the Chola kingdom 

 are added. 



* Vide Second R eport. 



