1837.] 



Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya, 



191 



From Vamsa Churamani,* we have again a considerable interval 

 without the specification of events as well as names, until the reign of 

 Kuna Pandyan. There are, however, one or two legends which are 

 variously appropriated, and which may, therefore, be employed to fill 

 up the chasm. 



The fifteenth prince from Vamsa Churamani is called in the lists 

 Kulasa, who was also a patron of literature, and a man of letters him- 

 self. This latter character induced him to treat a man of great ac- 

 quirements, named Yeddakattan, with disrespect. Yeddakattan com- 

 plained to the deity Sundareswara, and, withdrawing from Madura to 

 the north of the Vaiki river, was followed by the god, and by the pro- 

 fessors of the college. This desertion bringing the king to a sense of 

 his improper conduct, he had recourse to prayer and solicitation, and 

 appeased the offended god, and the more irritable poet ; and the temple 

 and college recovered their inmates. 



Kulasa was succeeded by his son Arimerddana, celebrated for his 

 illustrious minister Manikyavasaka, who was especially instrumental 

 in re-establishing the Saiva worship, and expelling the Bauddhas. 

 The authority of that MS. which cippears to be the abridged Madura 

 Purdna, associates this minister and this king ; but the larger work 

 relates the marvels usually narrated of Manikyavasaka, of Tennaven 

 Paramaraya, minister of Vamsa Sek'hara, identifying these two per- 

 sons. There can be little doubt, however, that Manikyavasaka, whe- 

 ther he were a political character at all, was long subsequent to Vamsa 

 Sek'hara ; and it is only a question, how much more modern he may 

 be regarded. He is anterior, it appears, to the reformers of Kuna 

 Pandyan's reign, by the testimony of both our authorities and others, 

 of which one places him a. d. 490, and another states his work to have 

 been written above a thousand years ago.f In his life, it is particu- 

 larly stated that the sectaries he combated were Bauddhas, not Jains, 

 "who were the heretics of Kuna Pandyan's reign ; and these concur- 

 rent considerations warrant the inference, that he may be placed with 

 safety between the fifth and eighth century of the Christian era. We 

 need not detail the marvels recorded of him, as that has been fully 

 and correctly done by a European writer already. J His works, which 

 are said to be very difficult, are the Tiruvasagam and Tiruchittambala* 



* With whom the Pandya RajaJcal closes, as observed above. So does the translation 

 of the Tiruvaleyadal ; but the original descends to Kuna Pandyan, as does the Halasya, 

 filling up the interval, however, with mere names. MS., No, 8, gives the substance 

 of their contents. 



+ Life of Manikyavasaka, MSS. No, 15 ; List of Tamil Authors, MSS, No, 9 ; 

 Vadur Sthala Mahatmyam ; Mackenzie Collection, Vol, i, p, 201, 



* Sonnerat's Voyages. 



