230 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
According to the above-mentioned Tiruverkattu Purana 
this country is known also as Pdlimdu, because the Palar 
river flows through it. 
The original meaning of the term Tondamandalam is 
variously explained. According to the first and most popular 
derivation it was so called after the illegitimate Cola prince 
Adonda, who had been exposed on the bank of the Kaveri 
in a basket filled with Adonda or Tonda flowers, which 
in their turn supplied him with his name. A second 
interpretation asserts that the newly-acquired province was 
covered to such an extent with the Donda oil-creeper, that 
the country was called after it. The third etymology is 
founded on the meaning of Tondan, a slave, a devotee. If 
so, it alludes either to the low birth of Adonda, its illegiti- 
mate first ruler, or to the uncivilised and slavish condition 
of the inhabitants of Tondamandalam. Another possibility 
arises by connecting Tundtra, the fabulous ancient king, 
with Tonda. 
The legendary story of the birth of the illegitimate Cola 
prince Adonda is very perplexing. All circumstances con- 
sidered, even after his victory he could only have been a 
dependent Viceroy of the Cola king. According to tradition, 
his offspring soon lost even this position ; though some inscrip- 
tions appear to make him ihe ancestor of reigning princes. 
The defeat of the Kurumbas appears to be a historical fact, 
but is sometimes narrated without mentioning Adonda."'^ 
As the latter is said to have introduced YeiQalas and Xanaka 
people of ShOzha-niandalam, is measm-ed by 18,302 square miles : of this 
extent the division of the country between the range of the Ghat moimtains 
and the sea, lower Tondei, contains l-t,02S square miles, and the division to 
the west of the Ghats, upper Tondei, 4,27-t : the latter is colored yellow in 
the map." 
Kead also Mackenzie MS., No. 15, CM. 769, Section I ; in the new 
copy, vol. I, p. 125. This declares Kalahasti as the northern, the river 
Peupai as the southern, the mountain PaSumulai as the western, and the sea 
as the eastern boundary. 
SJee p. 227. 
