OF BHARATAVAESA OR INDIA. 
95 
celebrated man, but only his title. This poet, who was born 
and died at Mailapur, a suburb of Madras, showed in his 
writings a knowledge of, and a tendency towards Jainism ; 
and though some deny the fact of his having been a Jain, 
ether Valluvar admit it : at all events the title Nayanar 
may be taken in favor of such an assumption, as it is used by 
the Jains as an honorific appellation. The word means lord 
and devotee, and is probably a contracted form of the Tamil 
honorific term Ndyakandr, from which the syllable ka has been 
dropped. Ndydka, a leader, especially a leader of troops, 
«,(?., a general, is derived from the Sanskrit n'l, to lead. This 
word becomes in Tamil Ndyakan (Naik), in Telugu Ndyadu 
(Naidaj, and in Malayalam Ndyar (Nair), and is used as a 
title by many Hindus in Southern India ; it is adopted in the 
The accouats given about Tiruvallnva Ndyandr are very obscure. 
One fact alone is clear that he belonged to one of the lowest classes of the 
population, but that the highest classes could not ignore his talents, and to 
save their superiority connected his birth with the Brahman caste. Another 
important item of information is that other celebrated Tamil poets as Kapila/r 
and Avvai are also brought into intimate contact with the same lower 
classes. The legend given below makes Kapilar, Avvai and Tiruvalluva 
Na3'anar, brothers and sister, though it is manifest that they did not all live 
and compose their works at the same time ; still the connection of all with 
one another and with the Pariahs and Pulayar is very peculiar indeed. 
Brahma pei'formed, according to the legend, a sacrifice for the explana- 
tion of the Sanskrit and Tamil languages and Agastya arose from it out of a 
pot. The sage married the daughter of the Ocean, and had from her a son 
Peruncdrakan. His son married at Tiruvalur a Pulaiyan woman or Pulaicei, 
and their ofEspring was -BAa^«»a« (ufflsusar). About this time there lived 
Tavamuni, a scion of the Brahmavamsa, who had mariied a Brahman woman 
Arulmankau They had a daughter, but left her behind to perform a sacrifice 
at the Virali mountain. A Pariah of Uraiyur found the girl, and brought her 
up, until there fell a downpour of earth which killed all the inhabitants in the 
neighbourhood except the girl, who took refuge in the house of one Nitiyap- 
pan at Melurakaram. On his way to Benares the young Bhagavan stopped 
at the choultry near Melurakaram, when the girl passed. He asked her 
whether she was a Pulaicei or Valaicci, and beat her with a wooden ladle 
on her head, so that it bled, and the wound left eventually a scar. On his 
return from Benares the pilgTim stopped at the same inn and again saw the 
j'oung girl, who had since become very beautiful, at the house of Nitiyappan, 
but he did not recognise her and asked her foster-father to give him his 
