Decline and Fall of Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics.............................

3
Chronology of the Ancient Tamil (akam) Poetry.............................3
The Literary Problems....................................................................4
(i) Iraiyanar Akapporul: The Case of Missing Poetics Experts.........5
(ii) The Loss of Cankam Poetry Books.......................................12
(iii) Absence of Early Hymnists in Pandinad..............................13
(iv) Advent of Sambandhar.......................................................15
(v) Absence of Women Poets in the 18 Kilk-kanakku................20
The Cultural Problems..................................................................21
(i) The Dance and Music of Silappadhikaram............................22
(ii) Disappearnce of the Panar...................................................24
(iii) Change in Sociological Concepts........................................29
The Religious Problems................................................................33
(i) Victims of Kalabhras Persecution in Padinad........................35
(ii) Victims from Other Areas.....................................................37
(iii) Persecution of Appar...........................................................39
(iv) The Case of Karikkal Ammaiyar..........................................40
(v) Sambandhar in Madurai......................................................42
(vi) Absence of any Statements of Jain Doctrines.....................46
Historical Problems......................................................................48
(i) Absence of Nayanmars in Pandinad.....................................49
(ii) The Life and Work of KOCCHENGAT CHOLA.........................50
1

(iii) The Ruin of Temples............................................................54

Did Kalabhra Period Produce any work?.......................................56

Decline and Fall of Tamil Love Poetry and

Poetics
This decline of Tamil love poetry coincided with the Kalabhras rule.
By the middle of the third century A.D., a band of adventurers
known to history as the Kalabhras captured Madurai, and only after
the lapse of about 300 years, a Pandiya ruler drove away the
Kalabhras1. The period after the third Cankam at Madurai to the end
of the sixth century A.D., i.e. from about 250 to 600 A. D., is
considered to be a dark period in the history. Although some poetic
literature was written in this period, Tamil love poetry declined.
It appears that the Kalabhras were not a princely dynasty but were
merely a sort of a marauding tribe probably from an area around
Sravana Belgola, and somehow conditions seem to have favoured
them in their onslaughts over the Pandiya, Chola and Pallava
regions at about the same period.
They were total strangers to the language, culture and religion of
the land they conquered and their policy of suppression created
these problems. The language of the Kalabhras could have been
Prakrit (or Pali elsewhere) and some primitive form of Kannada and
their religion was the Digambara sect of the Jains.

1 Based on the Velvikkudi grant and other epigraphical records

We have very little information about the Kalabhras and their times.
We can only piece together the literary references in the poems of
the Cankam age. These are naturally scrappy and disconnected.

The Literary Problems

A. Foremost among the literary problems is the problem of the
writing of Iraiyanar Akapporul. According to the Iraiyanar Akapporul
commentary (8th century A.D.) the Pandiya king deplores the
position that while experts mastering the three parts of grammar
eluttu (orthography), sol (etymology) and yappu (prosody) were
available, scholars in porul (grammar dealing with all themes
relating to life) were not available. Poruladhikaram of Tolkappiyam
was there in his day. How then does he say so?
B. The loss of many books of the Cankam period.
C. The early saints who sang hymns in the Vaidika religions such as
Tirumular in Saivism and the Mudal Alvar in Vaishnavisin had all
evolved from the Cholanad and the Tondainad. Why had no early
saint-singer evolved from the Pandinad, which housed the Cankam
and where the stories connected with Sakti Minakshi and Lord
Sundaresa had been enacted in the capital city?
D. The Saiva Saint Tiru Jnanasambandhar is hailed by Sekkilar as
the champion of Saivism. But Saint Sundara who came immediately
after Sambandhar, probably a generation or two later, says that
Siva gave a pair of cymbals to Sambandhar and made him
propagate Tamil through his sweet music. He does not mention
Saivism. Can this have any significance?

E. The Kilkkanakku consists of 18 minor poems, on ethical, romantic

and heroic themes - 11 on ethical themes, 6 on romantic themes
and one on a puram theme. In the period earlier than the
Kilkkanakku, we have had glorious women authors - more than 32
from the Imperial Queen's rank to the lowest rank of kuratti (gypsy)
and peymahal. Women have sung in the Ettuttohai and in the
Pattuppattu; and they have contributed to the Saiva and the
Vaishnava canons then and later. But among all the 18 Kilkkanakku
poems, we do not find a single woman. Why?
We shall now discuss these problems in detail.

(i) Iraiyanar Akapporul: The Case of Missing

Poetics Experts
Iraiyanar Akapporul and Nakkiranars commentary provide the first
circumstantial evidence for the rule of the Kalabhras in Madurai and
their suppression of Tamil literature.
The commentary by Nakkiranar (one of the several Nakkiranar in
Tamil literary history and certainly not the Nakkiranar of the
Cankam age) gives a detailed account of the three Cankams in
ancient Pandinad. Agattiyam and Tolkappiyam were the basic texts
for the writers of the third Cankam. The third Cankam is now
generally accepted by most scholars to have existed during the
centuries 3 C. B.C. to 2 C. A.D. Of the two books Agattiyam and
Tolkappiyam mentioned here, we know that Agattiyam has been
completely lost, while Tolkappiyam is available in full and no scholar
says that any part of it or any lines has been lost.

The Akapporul commentary says:

During the period there was a famine in Pandinad for twelve
years.2 Hunger could not be pacified. The king called all the good
people and told them, My friends, I am now unable to help you. The
land is undergoing great suffering. You may now go to any place you
know. Think of me and return here when the land again comes to
normal. So those people left the king and went away 3.
2 1. A famine for 12 years seems to be a favourite expression or
anecdote with most people. The commentators here speak of a
drought and famine for 12 years. We may take it that this was round
700 A.D. In a later day, we find the ballad, Alli Arasani Malai. (17th
century) mentions a drought of twelve years. We see that
Bhadrabahu, the great jain acharya of Ujjaini foretold a long drought
and famine of 12 years and left the place to go south and finally
came and settled at Sravana Belgola. Dandi in his Avanti Sundari
Katha mentions a terrible famine (probably of 12 years) in the
period of Paramesvaravarman, the Pallava ruler, 670-685 A.D. This
is very close to the probable date of Iraiyanar Kalaviyal which may
be just after 700 A.D.

3 2. The flight of the scholars from Madurai during a period of

severe drought is recorded in a verse collected into the Tamil
Navalar charitai, a compilation of the late 17th century. The verse
(21 lines of asiriyappa) records the inhuman level to which people
were reduced and says that one Ayindan of Alanjeri in Cholanad
received the famine stricken poets, fed them and kept them for
6

Twelve years passed. Then there was a downpour of rain and life
came to normal. The king said: Now life has returned to normal. Get
back the scholars. Messengers were despatched on all directions.
They met and brought back scholars well versed in orthography,
etymology and prosody, but said that they had not met experts in
poetics. The king was beset with anxiety. What shall I do now? The
three parts are studied for the sake of poetics. If we are unable to
secure poetics experts, it is as good as not securing any said the
king. Thereupon the God Siva thought: What a pity! The king is
beset with grief and that grief is towards knowledge. We shall
remove his grief. So thinking, He inscribed these sixty sutras
(aphorisms) on three copper plates and placed them beneath his
seat.
The story continues. The next day, the copper plates are found and
shown to the king who summons his cademicians and says to them:
Look, here is the poetics given to us by the Lord out of His concern
for us in our predicament. Examine it and discover its significance.
The academicians tried to annotate it each in his own way, and
finally one Rudrasarma examined their different annotations and
found that of Nakkiranar to be the best.
An 11th century poem, Kalladam, repeats this story about the origin
of Iraiyanar Akapporul:
their period of forced exile from Madurai. A poet so entertained
sings of the refuge he was given in a poignant verse.

"The tradition of Porul adhikaram dealing with life had disappeared.

The Pandiya and his poets were feeling confused. At that moment,
the Tamil Lord of the South gave them in clear language, sixty
aphorisms, beginning anbin aintinai, collecting together the
sweetness of the entire range of the Tamil language, out of His own
divine voice from which originated the ancient great Veda, just like
bringing to the shore the nectar collected out of the sea". These
words of the poet Kalladar are the earliest expression of a reference
to the story of the Iraiyanar Akapporul, besides the Akapporul itself.
Ignoring the mythological elements, the point simply is this.
Scholars who had mastered orthography, etymology and prosody
were available at Madurai, but those who had mastered poetics
were not available.
The plain question is: why was it so?
Tolkappiyam was available in the Cankam age. It was again
available in the 11th century to Ilampuranar who wrote a
commentary on it. From the above narration, it looks as though
there was no Poetics section of the grammar (or rather there were
no poetics scholars) and this was the reason why Lord Sundaresa
(Siva), or rather the poet Iraiyanar, had to compose the Akapporul
for the edification of the Pandiya and his court in the 8th century.
Poetics is always said to be the most important part of all grammar;
and of Poetics, ahapporul still more important and of ahapporul the
kalavu part, or Akapporul dealing with pre-marial love, was
considered the most important. This might have been the
justification for Iraiyanar writing only the Akapporul part.
8

What happened to Tolkappiyam Poruladhikaram during the period

3rd century to the 8th century? Porul adhikaram was later available
to Ilampurunar and may other commentators and is available to us
today in full; no part of it is said to have been lost.
The political history offers an answer. The Kalabhras were aliens in
Tamilnad and in the Pandinad. They had a different culture, a
different religion, a different language and they hailed from a different area, around Sravana Belgola in Mysore. Somehow they were
able to drive away the Pandiya ruler by the middle of the 3rd
century A. D. and establish their own rule there, which lasted for
over three centuries till 575 A. D. They were Jains of the Digambara
sect. They were intent upon spreading their own religion and culture
in the land of their conquest. It is well known that the Jain view was
that women and music were hindrances in the way of man's
spiritual progress. They were deeply religious and naturally whenever they found that women or music was given importance in
society, they tried to put them down ruthlessly.
We cannot but draw this inference that the Kalabhras suppressed
any study of Tolkappiyam-Poruladhikaram.
In Jainism, women because of their sex are not eligible for moksha.
This aspect is well enunciated by all Jain writers. Ilampuranar the
first commentator on Tolkappiyam, the epics Cintamani and
Culamani and Merumantra purana emphatically state this. Women,
after leading a righteous life on earth in this birth may be born in
the next as males and then by virtue of their good life there, earn
the right for moksha.
9

The Tamilian society of the Cankam age was one where women
were given a prominent place in the home and in society.

The story of the great poetess Avvai who went from city to city,
giving wise counsel to the rulers or rebuking them fearlessly
where they went wrong is well known. 59 verses from her are

available to us in the Cankam poetry.

There have been more than a score of eminent women poets in
the period whose songs have come down to us -- Nanmullai,
Masatti, Nachellai, Nakkannai, Kuramahal Ilaveyini, Tayamkanni,
Paari Mahalir, Perunkoppendu the queen of Bhutappandiyan,
Peymahal Ilaveyini, Nappasalai, Vennikkuyatti, Kama-kanni,
Adimandi, Vellividhi and a host of others were reputed poets of
the period. The prefix na to the names of some of them gives
them the attribute of goodness. Paari Mahalir and the Queen of
Bhutappandiyan came of royal families. Nachellai wrote a decad
on a Chola ruler and got a present of immense gold from him.

And so on the chronicle goes.

We also see the estrangement between the the patron Pehan
and his wife Kannaki and the efforts of several poets to reunite
them. All these bespeak of a high level of culture, education and
independence of the womenfolk of the period. Even women
considered of a low class were renowned poets - Kuyatti (potter),
Kuramahal (gypsy) and Peymahal were all from the lowest levels
of society.

The Tamilian society of the period was a truly democratic one where
everyone was a responsible member equal to anyone else. This was
something unknown, and opposed to the religious cult of the

10

Kalabhras. Naturally when they gained political control of that

society they could not tolerate such freedom among women and
could not agree to their glorification.
One or two references from literature may be mentioned here.

The Third Book of Kural, called the Kamattuppal or the

Inbattuppal, devoted to the pleasures of conjugal love is virtually

a testment on the glorification of woman and the married life.

Karaikkal Ammai has sung three lyrical hymns on Lord Siva as
the Cosmic Dancer at Tiru Alankadu. She lived in the period of

the Kalabhras but outside the Pandinad.

Queen Mangaiyarkkarasi was the flower of womanhood in the
Tamil nation a few decades after the Kalabhras. In a land where
Jainism reigned she was a lone sentinel for Saivism along with
the Minister Kulachirai and we know by her modesty, love,
courage and steadfastness of purpose she had caused her
husband the King to be re-converted to Saivism. It is to her
eternal glory that Jnanasambandhar, who never sang on anyone

except Siva, sang one complete song of eleven verses on her.

No less great is Andal of the next century who dedicated herself
to Lord Vishnu as Ranganatha and sang the glorious Tiruppavai
of thirty verses and 14 more decads on the Lord and was finally
united with Lord Ranganatha. Her songs form an important
section of the Vaishnava Canon and part of their daily prayer
book.

Such was the exalted position of women in the period before the
onslaught of the Kalabhras on Madurai and after their overthrowal
there by Pandiyankadumkon.

11

Besides, this freedom was glorified in the Tamil culture. As remarked

earlier, Tamil literary convention elaborated on the theme of love
where particularly pre-marital and romantic love was given an
honoured place. This was naturally anathema to the conquering
Kalabhras. They suppressed the institution of women as laid down
in the conventional grammar, ruthlessly. So the grammatical texts
were suppressed. Akapporul and Poruladhikaram of which it forms
the first four important chapters was suppressed.
The messengers of the Pandiya, we found, informed him that they
were able to find scholars expert in Eluttu, Sol and even Tappu but
not experts in Porul. This very definitely tells us that Poruladhikaram
had been suppressed by the alien rulers. Any culture can be
subverted and metamorphosed in the course of a rule of three
hundred years. No wonder Poruladhikaram was forgotten. It had not
become extinct -- because we know it had been later discovered by
Ilampuranar in the 11th century and written upon. The strange
thing is that Ilampuranar himself was a Jain. He also believed that
woman by virtue of her sex was not eligible for moksha and that she
should be born in the next birth as man and qualify herself for
moksha. By his time, Jainism thrust by the Kalabhras in the Tamilnad
had faded out as a potent social influence and the tolerant and
progressive Chola rule was on the ascendant.
And again, parts of Tolkappiyam were studied in other corners of
Tamilnad no doubt. But at the period, thanks to the establishment of
several academies in Madurai earlier, that city had been the nerve
centre for all Tamil and, naturally, suppression of Tolkappiyam

12

Poruladhikaram meant that it was hardly studied anywhere. Now we

can understand the Pandiya's anxiety for Porul and Iraiyanar's help
in writing a Poruladhikaram - Akapporul text afresh. There are minor
differences in the treatment of the akam theme between Iraiyanar
Akapporul and Tolkappiyam Akapporul and Karpiyal. This also
explains the disappearance of the tradition of Tolkappiyam.
Iraiyanar tried to recapture the ancient Tolkappiyam tradition as
best as he could from oral traditions and to write a new manual on
the subject. The written form had disappeared and we have to
presume it was not available to him.
The point emphasized in this discussion is that Tolkappiyam went
out of currency on the advent of the Kalabhras in Pandinad, necessitating the writing of a manual on akam by Iraiyanar to satisfy the
longing of the Pandiya ruler. This new treatise was written by the
early 8th century, after Jnanasambandhar had re-established the
Tamil culture, language and religion in the land. Kadumkon no doubt
overthrew the Kalabhras. But their influence in all society and
administration could not be removed or wiped out in a day, not by
one decree of a new ruler, however powerful or popular he might
be. It takes a powerful cultural and spiritual force to teach the people their past but forgotten heritage, and that force descended on
the land in the form of the work of Jnanasambandhar later.
(ii) The Loss of Cankam Poetry Books
We are now left only with the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Tens
as the books of Cankam Poetry, and Tolkappiyam as a Tamil
grammatical manual. The commentary on Iraiyanar Akapporul gives
an account of the three Cankams and the numerous books written
13

and published there. Besides the books mentioned above, the IA

commentator speaks of many other books. Not one of these books
is available today. Besides, even among the books which have
reached us, the first and the tenth decads of the Ten Tens have been
lost. And more important, of the seventy Paripatal verses, we have
only twenty two -- the others have been lost.
Many scholars believe that the Kalabhra interregnum was
responsible for the loss of this vast volume of literature, both poetic
and musical. We find from Velvikkudi plates that during the Kalabhra
interregnum much confusion prevailed in the country, and the
Cankam and its good work were somewhat unsettled.
(iii) Absence of Early Hymnists in Pandinad
Another corroborative evidence is available to us from the
distribution of the early Nayanmar and Alvar in the various regions
of Tamilnad. At the outset we may say that all the early religious
leaders in both Saivism and Vaishnavism hailed from outside the
Pandinad.
If we consider the Saiva canon, Sambandhar, Appar, Sundarar, Tiru
Mular, Karaikkal Ammai, Aiyadihal Kadavar Kon and Seraman
Perumal hailed from outside the Pandinad.
When we turn to the first Alvar in the Vaishnava canon, namely the
three Mudal Alvar, we find that all of them were born (or appeared)
in the Tondainad. Poihai alvar was born in Kanchipuram (at
Tiruvehha), Bhutattalvar was born at Kadalmallai (modern Mahabalipuram) and Peyalvar was born at Mayilai (which is in the modern
city of Madras). Not one of them was born in Pandinad.
14

Not only the first Nayanmar and Alvar, but even later saints were
not born in any part of Pandinad for some time. Sambandhar was
born in Cholanad; Appar and Sundarar in Nadu nadu; Tirup-Panalvar
in Sri Rangam, Cholanad; Tiru Malisai alvar in the place of that
name in Tondainad; (even Kulasekhara alvar of the early 8th century
is born in the Seranad;) not one is born in Pandinad.
Only after Jnanasambandha had been to Pandinad to put down
Jainism and reclaim the land back into the Vaidika fold, does any
saint appear there. Periyalvar and Andal in Vaishnavism and St.
Manikkavacaker in Saivism hail respectively from Sri Villiputhur and
Tiru Vadavur in the Pandiya country, in the 8th and the 9th
centuries.
Till Jnanasambandhar's crusade in to that country, the climate does
not appear to have been favourable for the evolution of any saint in
any of the Vaidika religions, Saivism or Vaishnavism. The resurgence
brought about by Sambandhar in Saivism caused a great revival in
both the religions in Pandinad.
Madurai we should remember had been the arterial centre at the
beginning of the Christian era for all Tamil - the language and
literature as well as culture as evidenced by the establishment of
the third Cankam there and the patronage extended to it by generations of the Pandiyas, and for religion as evidenced by the stories of
the sports of Siva as Lord Somasundara and Sakti Minakshi, and of
His legendary presence in the Cankam itself in the form of a poet, a
fact which is also vouchsafed by Appar in his song on Tirupputtur
[St-Appar, Sixth Book, Tirup-Puthur Tirut-Tandakam 76, verse 3].
15

Andal in the next century makes a reference to Sanghat-Tamil in the

last verse of her famous Tiruppavai. [St. Andal, Tirup-Pavai, last
verse; sanghat-Tamil medal muppadum].
In the face of so much popular as well as literary lore and legend,
how are we to account for the fact that no saint in any vaidika
religion was evolved in the area in the period immediately following
the Cankam, while we find they have all come from the
neighbouring Cholanad and even the distant Pallava nad?
The only explanation for such a state can be that there was political
suppression of the vaidika religions and all that they stood for - the
language and literature, its music, culture, the temple worship and
rituals and all the ideals of which they were the manifestations.
(iv) Advent of Sambandhar
We said that the Kalabhras as digambara jains had suppressed
music in the Pandiya kingdom. Music was considered by the jains as
a snare which hampered man's spiritual evolution. Tasas tilaka
champu in Sanskrit (written by Somadeva Suri, 11th century) and
Yasodhara Kavya in Tamil (by an unknown author, 13th century)
depict the cruel murders of her own husband the king and his
mother committed by the queen Yasodhara because of her infatuation for the music of the leprotic elephant keeper.
Ancient Tamil was said to be of three divisions, as Muttamil, dealing
with Iyal, literary Tamil prose and poetry, Isai, music, and Natakam,
dance and drama. Silappadhikaram, hailed quite deservedly as a
great work dealing with the three was composed in the early years
of the 3rd century, a little before the advent of the Kalabhras into
16

the Pandiya history. It gives a very extensive account of the dance

and music of the period in several of its chapters. The
commentators say that there were a number of treatises on dance
and music available to the author of Silappadhikaram but were
subsequently lost. Although the dance and music of this book
represent them as they were practised in the Chola court, the
manuals thereon were all preserved in Madurai, which was the seat
of all Tamil and its divisions. But with the measures of suppression
adopted by the Kalabhras, these books on dance and drama seem
to have also perished. A large number of such works are mentioned
by name by Adiyarkkunallar. But they are not extant.
We have to remember the advent of the Saiva saint Tiru
Jnanasambandhar in this context. He was no doubt a Saiva samaya
Acharya, a hymnist, a saint who toured the whole of Tamilnad
visiting the Saiva shrines and directing all the people to the form of
the Divinity enshrined in the temples. This is the Periya puranam
approach to the life of Saint Jnanasambandhar familiar in popular
lore. There is another approach, even more important than this
mission of Sambandhar and that is his service to the cause of music
in the country, the Second Division of Tamil, Tsai. The hymnists in
Saivism and Vaishnavism had all sung musical songs on their
respective deities no doubt. St. Appar, an elder contemporary of
Sambandhar had sung 312 padikams of which 22 are in pann,
namely specially musical pieces while the others are in nerisai,
viruttam, kuruntohai and tandakam, not specially musical. Sundarar
has sung 100 padikams all set to music. But Sambandhar has sung
384 decads (padikams) all set to music. He has sung on the largest
17

number of tunes. The alvar (excepting the three Mudalavar) had

sung their songs to a musical pattern but their music was set for
them later in the days of Nathamunihal in the 9th century.
There are a few features regarding the music of Sambandhar which
are special to him and are not shared by any of the others in
Saivism or in Vaishnavism. The first is that he sang his songs in the
temples, marking time with his hands even as a little child. Sekkilar
specifically mentions this and does not mention this with reference
to the other two Saiva saints. Sambandhar went and worshipped at
Tiruk-Kolakka, the second shrine to be sung by him. As a child he
marked time for the song with his little hands. Siva enshrined there,
fearing that the child's palms might get sore by the marking, caused
a pair of cymbals to appear on his hands for marking time.
[Periyapuranam, Tiru Jnanasambandhar, verses 101-105].
From that time he sang in the other temples sounding the cymbals
in his hand. No other saint in all Tamilnad has been given the
cymbals. [Karaikkal ammaiyar is portrayed in panels in a ghost form
with the cymbals; but they are not mentioned by Sekkilar in her
puranam]. This incident has been copied in iconography, and in all
the temples in Tamilnad we find the image of Sambandhar in stone
or bronze, is always featured with a pair of cymbals in his hands. As
a matter of fact the cymbals are the distinguishing feature of the
Sambandhar image.
Another feature: Jnanasambandhar is here the only Saint in all the
canons who has been given an accompanist. Tiru Nilakantha
Yalppanar, himself a saint among the 63, is made to accompany
18

Sambandhar on his yal and go with him on his tours.

[Periyapuranam, Tiru Jnanasambandhar, verses 131-141]. Such a
privilege has not been extended to anyone else anywhere. The
incident where Sambandhar proves to Yalppanar that the vocal
instrument is always superior to the man-made instrument is well
known; [ibid 444-452] he sang a song which has since come to be
known as the yal murip-padikam, [Tina Jnanasambandhar Devaram
First Book, Padikam 136 beginning 'madar madappidiyum'] the song
which caused the breaking of the yal. All these indicate that music
is inextricably woven with the life and work of Jnanasambandhar.
We shall turn to the words of St. Sundarar in reference to
Jnanasambandhar. Sundarar lived in the days of Rajasimha Pallava's
father, Paramesvara Varman I (670-685) and so he could have been
just one generation or two after Sambandhar. He mentions
Sambandhar in a few places in his songs. In Tirut-Tondattohai, he
refers to him as 'My lord Sambandhan who does not worship any
but the Lord Siva who wears the cassia flowers'. [Sundarar devaram
Padikam 39 verse 5]. In the other five places he mentions
Sambandhar always associating him with Tamil:
1. Navukkarasu (St. Appar) and Tamil-Jnanasambandhar.
2. Jnanasambandhar who is master of sweet Tamil.
3. The garland of Tamil poems sung by Jnanasambandhar of
sweet music and Navukkarasu.
4. You gave coins (to Sambandhar and Appar) out of a desire to
listen to their Tamil with music.
5. He whose nature is to bestow a pair of cymbals in the
presence of the whole world on Jnanasambandhar who is

19

daily propagating Tamil with sweet music, and who showers

His mercy on him.
Examining these references, we find that St. Sundarar considers
Jnanasambandhar as master of Tamil (1,2); he is also a singer of
sweet music (3,4). But the last reference is important. Here
Sambandhar is mentioned as 'the propagator of Tamil with sweet
music and one who received a pair of cymbals for marking time'.
Nowhere does Sundarar say that Sambandhar propagated Saivism.
We may also point out here that Jnanasambandhar calls himself in a
score of places as the Tamil virahan (master of Tamil), Tamil
Jnanasambandhan, and Sambandhan who has praised the Lord in
Music. All this naturally sets us thinking. Sambandhar had a mission
in this life (for his avatar as Sekkilar would say') and that mission is
Tamil through music. In other words we may say that in the Pandiya
country music had been snuffed out by the rulers and Sambandhar
invited by the Queen Mangaiyarkkarasi and the Minister Kulacchirai
to spread Saivism and reclaim the people back into the Saiva fold,
really propagated there music and Tamil. The date of Sambandhar is
the early part of the 7th century and we know from the copper
plates that the Kalabhra rule lasted there till about 575 A.D. Besides
restoring Saivism in the land, Sambandhar had the self-imposed
mission of resuscitating and reinstating music in the land in all its
glory. Along with the Saiva religion, music, the second division of
classical Tamil, had been a victim of the Kalabhra suppression.
History tells us that the restoration brought about by the young
saint had a very lasting effect. The hymns of the Devaram were

20

being recited with music in all the temples from his day, a practice
and a ritual which continue to this day. Even from the days of
Nandivarma III of Kanchi (825-50 A.D.) we have epigraphical
evidence to show that monarchs vied with one another in lavishly
endowing temples for the recitation of the Devaram padikams in the
Divine Presence. [Vide South Indian Inscriptions Vol. 3, page 93,
Tiruvallam inscription recording a grant of Nandi varma pallavan for
the Devaram singing besides other services.] The Chola monarchs
were very liberal in their outlook, though they were all only Saivas,
and had made endowments for singing Devaram in the Siva
temples and Tiruvaymoli, Tiruppavai etc. in the Vishnu temples.
Besides we find Rajaraja constructing over 400 houses for the
Dancers, the talippenduhal, who were to sing and dance in the
presence of the Lord at the Tanjavur Big Temple.
Temple orchestras began to sing the Devaram pann tunes. Later
poets like Arunagiri fed this music with their inimitable and
wonderful songs, culminating in the kirttana form in Tamil music
from the 17th century, through the trio, Muttut-Tandavar,
Marimuttap-pillai and Arunachala Kavirayar in the 18th century and
Gopalakrishna Bharati and a host of others in the 19th century,
down to the present day. But for the restoration brought about by
St. Jnanasambandhar, the music division of Tamil would have died a
pre-mature death and what is now celebrated as the Karnatic music
would never have been born and even modern Bharatanatya could
not have survived.
(v) Absence of Women Poets in the 18 Kilk-kanakku

21

The Kilk-kanakku is a term introduced by later commentators to

refer to the 18 minor poems beginning with Tirukkural and ending
with Acharak-kovai. All these poems are in the venba metre as
against the general trend of Cankam poetry, which was always in
the asiriyam metre. The only exceptions there are Kalittohai and
Paripadal, which are in the kali and the paripadal metres
respectively, as their very names indicate. Of the 18, it has been
pointed out that one, Kural, belonged to a period earlier than the
Kalabhra period, viz., the second century A. D. and two others,
Mudumolikkanji and Acharak-kovai belonged to a later period, the
7th century. The other 15 definitely belonged to the period of the
Kalabhras. Of the 15, eight are on ethical themes, one is on a puram
theme and six are on romantic themes. We have to remember in
this context that when gifted poets wrote poetry, they could not
resist the attraction of the romantic poems during this period. We
should say the aham poems were written now in imitation of the
Cankam poetry, in spite of the Kalabhra influence.
Fourteen poets have written these fifteen poems but there is not
one woman among them. Women had written poetry in the Cankam
age, in the age following the Kalabhra period, and also in the Chola
territory, outside Pandinad, during this period. A great epic had
been written in the name of Silappadhikaram, earlier, glorifying
woman. Kannaki is the great heroine of that epic which has no great
hero. Towards the end of the Kalabhra period, we have
Manimekhalai as a great epic heroine in a great poem which has no
hero. We have to consider the authorship of all the 18 Kilk-kanakku
poems against the Kalabhra background.
22

It is the antagonism of the Kalabhra Jains to the freedom of women

that is responsible for the fact that there is no woman poet among
the 18 Kilk-kanakku authors. Non-jains could have written
something in Pandinad but they did not dare. In the later years,
many Jain women had been good poets and learned women ; they
were of the ascetic order and were known as Ganthiyar, nuns. We
meet a venerable Gavunthi adihal, a nun who guides Kannaki and
Kovalan to reach Madurai. Similar nuns had lived later and
interpolated verses in Paripadal and in Jivaka Chintamani ; one had
written Udayana Kumara kavyam. Dr. Swaminatha Aiyar mentions a
Jain housewife of his day at Kumbhakonam who had far more
religious and literary knowledge of Jain scriptures than her own
husband, in the 19th century. But as Jnanasambandhar points out,
the Jains did not respect their nuns or the wives of their preceptors.
Hence we are to conclude that the attitude of the ruling Kalabhras
snuffed out all incentive or desire among the women of the day in
Pandinad, Jain or otherwise, for literary composition.

The Cultural Problems

We have then a few significant problems relating to the cultural life
of the Tamil people of the period. Many changes had taken place on
the cultural plane, which can not be explained in the ordinary way.
Foremost among the problems relating to the cultural tradition, we
have that of the ancient music and dance of Tamilnad.
Silappadhikaram, the first available epic, gives us an elaborate
picture of dance and music in the Tamil language of its period (early
third century). All this seems to have been lost as stated by

23

Adiyarkkunallar in his commentary (12th century). What happened

to the arts and the books on the arts, and when and how?
The Panar were a tribe of care-free wandering minstrels whose
whole life was one of dance and music. They were an important
feature in all Cankam poetry. But they seem to have totally
disappeared from the country even before the 7th century as we
can see from the story of Tiru Nilakantha Yalppanar, and the story of
Nambiyandar Nambi's search for a musician in the opening years of
the 11th century. What happened in Tamilnad in the intervening
period to wipe off as it were the entire tribe and its music and
dance?
We find some interesting developments in the thoughts as penned
down in Tirukkural of about 200 A.D. and in some of the later Kilkkanakku poems by 550-600 A.D. I shall give here one example of
the thoughts which are worth a special consideration.
Tirukkural suggests that the brahmin knows his scriptures well But
another book of the 18 Kilk-kanakku written by 550 A.D. implies that
the brahmin does not know his scriptures. Why do the books, said to
belong to the same group, say so differently?
These are typical of the cultural problems which arise during the
period and a little after. They are discussed below and their solution
is linked with the Kalabhra problem.
(i) The Dance and Music of Silappadhikaram
Silappadhikaram is the first epic of the Tamil language composed by
about the early third century A.D. The story is well known. It is the
only classical book treating of dance and music very elaborately.
24

The Tamil language is said to be in three major division, iyal, isai

and natakam (poetry, music and dance) and to this day Silappadhikaram is the only great book treating of these three divisions.
These divisions have given the name Muttamil to the Tamil
language. It is true that the term Muttamil is not found either in
Tolkappiyam or in the Cankam poetry, but appears only in the songs
of Sambandar, seventh century, and eighth century Muttollayiram.
[vide Tiru Jnanasambandhar Devaram 3. 2. 11 and Muttollayiram
verse 39 in the Madurai Tamil Cankam edition and Purattirattu verse
1469]. But we may be sure that Silappadhikaram accentuated the
concept of the three-fold division so much that there has been a
systematic glorification of them in almost all later writing.
Now taking up the references in Silappadhikaram, we find eight
chapters deal with these two divisions-chapter 3-Arangetruk-kathai,
6-Kadal adu kathai, 7-Tanal vari, 8-Venir kathai, 12-Vettuva vari, 17Aychiyar kuravai, 24-Kunrak-kuravai and 29-Valttuk-kathai. In all we
have here 8 chapters out of the 30 chapters of the epic dealing
either with dance or with music. There seems to be no subject
under these two heads which had not been dealt with by the author
here. For example, the third chapter, Arangetruk-kathai deals with
the qualifications of the dancer (woman), the dance master, the
music teacher, the composer, the drummer, the flutist, and the yaal
teacher; then the description of the stage, the talaik-kol or special
insignia given to the dancer; then the nature of the dance proper
and so on. The commentator Adiyarkkunallar (12th century) gives
hundreds of quotations to illustrate the various details under each
of these heads. In the preamble to his commentary he states that
25

all the source books on dance and music had been irretrievably lost.
He has given here the names of twelve books on dance and music.
Since all of them had been lost, he says he is interpreting the text
with the help of five later treatises on the subject. (Of these five
again only one has been available and it was published, only recently.) The volume of subjects and literature with quotations handed
down to us by the commentator for this one chapter is as wide as
the ocean. His writing on the seventh chapter, which deals with
pure music, is not available now. The details and the literature
supplied by him make us wonder what happened to the books and
when. We are left with the facts that they had all been lost through
the suppression of music and all that is associated with it by the
Kalabhras in the Pandiya country in the period 250-575 A.D. The
particulars of dance and music given in the text relate of course to
Puhar (Kaverippattinam) in the Chola country. The Kalabhras who
ruled over Kaverippattinam were not religious fanatics as we have
pointed out elsewhere, but the Kalabhras of Pandinad were a race of
bigoted Jains who ruthlessly put down women and music as snares
and hindrances to man's spiritual progress. In the early centuries,
the Pandinad and the Madurai city, as the seat of the ancient Tamil
Cankam, were looked upon as the custodians of all Tamil - its
grammar and literary conventions including music and dance. So
when there was the Kalabhra rule there, all these simply faded out
of existence as the Porul adhikaram of Tolkappiyam had got
forgotten as pointed out earlier, through repression.
(ii) Disappearnce of the Panar

26

The Panar were a tribe of folk artistes who were popular in the
Cankam age. They had no fixed abode but led a wandering life.
They always went about in pairs, as husband and wife, as panan
and padini. Padini was the name of the female and she was also
called virali. The panar belonged to a low class in society then. This
is clear from all the references in the Cankam poetry and also by a
specific mention in a Purananuru verse which mentions Tudiyan,
Panan, Paraiyan and Kudumban as the original inhabitants of the
land. The panar always went about carrying their instrument, the
yaal, which was also of two categories, the smaller and the bigger.
The two atruppadai poems in Pattuppattu, Sirupanatruppadai and
Perumbanatruppadai will substantiate this statement. They had also
other musical instruments like the kinai (a kind of small drum or
udukkai).
These Panar visited the courts of all the chiefs and patrons and the
three ruling monarchs, entertained them with their songs and
dance, and moved on to the next court. The patrons gave them
lavish gifts of cloth, gold, flowers, and jewels, wine and food, and
the like. Curiously, caste did not detract from the esteem in which
they were held in the courts. They also visited battle-fields for
entertaining the soldiers. Often they even acted as love-messengers
between lovers. Rulers valued them as a necessity in court life. It
was a matter of pride to have them in the courts. A court without
the panar was a degraded one. The panar symbolized an artistic
enjoyment of life, without any care. The entire picture should be
clearly borne in mind before we pass on to the next point in our
argument. Some of the best pieces of Cankam poems are those
27

which concern the panar. In the poems which deal with the love
themes in the Cankam poetry the pana is an indispensable
character. Even later poetry, which had forgotten the Cankam
poetic traditions and conventions, holds fast to the institution of the
panar in love poetry.
Such was the picture that we get of the Panar in the Cankam age.
But what happened to them in the next period - the period of the
Kalabhra sway over Madurai? The Kalabhras we had seen, were
sworn enemies of music and dance and so what could the panar
whose very soul was music and dance, do? Artistes flower only
under patronage. Here, not only was there no patronage but there
was positive suppression. How could the panar survive in such an
environment? They simply died out; the tribes did not die out, but
their art died out. They had to give up their arts, music and dance
and had to live like other labourers and artisans. In order to eke out
their livelihood, they had naturally to take to other avocations in
life, such as farming, weaving and the like. During the Kalabhra rule
of 300 years at Madurai, their art had faded from the majority of the
panar in a few generations in the Pandinad, and survived only with a
handful outside the Pandinad. We know of no panar in the country
at any time thereafter.
When we proceed to the century next to the overthrowal of the
Kalabhras, we see Saint Tiru Jnanasambandhar flooding the country
with his sweet songs set to music. Apparently there were no
hereditary musicians or panar in the century anywhere. There was
only one rare pana family, and this pana lived at Tiru

28

Erukkattampuliyur in the modern South Arcot district. Somehow, he

had received the music from his ancestors who had carefully
preserved it in an unbroken line and he was an expert with the
instrument yal. But that was a period when patronage for art had
completely disappeared and so he sang only in the temples of Siva
with his yal. Yet this pana would have been longing for someone
who could listen to his music and appreciate it, but he was only
longing in vain. After sometime, he heard of the divine child
Jnanasambandha who had drunk deep at the fountain of the Grace
of Lord Siva at Sikali, and so went with his wife and kin to him and
was immediately admitted into the retinue of the Saint. For the
pana, a lifelong longing to pour forth his gift of music with the yal to
God was now fulfilled, when he joined Sambandhar and began to
tour the Siva shrines accompanying Sambandhar's vocal songs on
his yal. This was a great event in the history of South Indian music.
A note may be added about the status of Tiru Nilakantha. He is an
untouchable in the troupe of the high caste brahmin Jnanasambandha. We find that special privileges are extended to him, which
we may take, as being given to the art of music which had become
rare in the period. This pana and his wife are the only couple in
Sambandha's troupe. They are treated not as low caste but as
equals as evidenced by Sambandhar's concern for them at
Sattamangai and by St. Nilanakka's reaction by providing for the
couple a retiring place close to the altar in the house.
An equally moving story of the period in Vaishnavism is the story of
Tirup-Panalvar. He was also a member of the pana tribe hailing from

29

the Tiruchirappalli area. The pana we have seen was considered of a

low caste, an untouchable. This Pana was consumed with devotion
to Lord Ranganatha at Sri Rangam and so he wanted to lay his
music at the feet of the Lord. But his caste deprived him of the
privilege of setting foot on the island of the Lord at that period. So
he stayed on the opposite bank of the river Kaveri encircling the
Lord's temple and the Sri Rangam island, and poured forth his yal
music on the Lord from a great distance. The Lord was much
pleased with his music and his devotion. He made this known to the
Bhattacharya (temple priest) Loka Sarangamuni in a dream and
directed him to carry the Pana into the temple on his shoulders.
Muni did so, and the Pana sang a decad on Lord Ranganatha saying
that the eyes which saw Lord Ranganatha would not see anything
else [Vide the song Amalanadhipiran in the Nalayiram], and reached
final beatitude there itself. The humble pana became TirupPanalvar, one of the Twelve Alvar of Vaishnavism, and his song is a
part of the daily prayer book of the Sri Vaishnavas.
These two stories of the early 7th century - one in Saivism and one
in Vaishnavism - are sufficient to indicate to us that the pana tribe
had become rare and that it had generally ceased to be a tribe of
musicians.
We shall now proceed from the 7th to the 11th century.
When Rajaraja recovered the Devaram song manuscripts from
oblivion with the aid of St. Nambiyandar nambi, they wanted to fix
the tunes for the Devaram songs. No one was available anywhere in
the country who knew the pann or music of the songs. The race of
30

panar had taken to other avocations and no one knew singing and
those that were did not know the tunes. On a prayer from the king,
so goes the legend, a young girl who came of the tribe of Tiru
Nilakantha Yalppanar at Tiru Erukkattainpuliyur was gifted with the
power of setting the tunes; she was brought to the Nataraja temple.
She sang all the songs in their proper tunes and they came to be
known as the appropriate tunes for the songs thereafter.
These instances would definitely indicate the disappearance of
music from the Pana tribe as a whole during the period of the
Kalabhra rule at Madurai which cut at the root of all that was Tamil its language and literature, culture and religion and its cherished
institutions of music and dance. The women among the panar were
equals to the men in music and dance as we see in all the Cankam
poetry and certainly this could not be tolerated under the
Kalabhras.
An incident in the life of Nilakantha Yalppanar is worthy of attention
here. He went to the great city of Madurai to offer his yal music to
Siva in the great temple. As he was an untouchable, he stood
outside the main entrance and played his yal. Siva directed His
devotees in a dream and then they took him inside the temple and
there he continued his music in the Presence. Again there was a
voice from the heavens directing the devotees to place a wooden
seat for the Pana and his instrument, as the instrument would lose
its sound if it came into contact with the dampness of the ground
and got soaked in moisture. Accordingly they placed for him a
golden seat. Seated on it, he played his music. Probably there is a

31

subtle point in this incident. Temple administration was with the

king and naturally it was his duty and privilege to make the
necessary arrangements for the visiting bhakta musician. The fact
that Siva Himself had to arrange for this here now indicates that the
king was an alien and would not do it.
Some would say that the panar had not their legitimate place of
honour in the Chola courts. This view is not correct. The panar had
ceased to exist as the peddlers of dance and music as explained
above and hence their absence. They had given up their dance and
music in the Kalabhra period, but after the revival of the arts thanks
to the crusade of Tiru Jnanasambandhar, the Cholas began to
extend their patronage afresh to these artists. These had now
become known as the pipers (melakkarar and nattuvar) and their
womenfolk were known as talippenduhal. No longer were they a
carefree race going about in pairs but they seem to have settled
down in fixed places under the patronage extended to them by the
temples. They formed naturally the temple orchestra and the
temple dance groups.
(iii) Change in Sociological Concepts
We find that certain fundamental concepts which had governed
society in the earlier periods had undergone an irrational or spectacular change. I shall be content with pointing out a few of them,
which are relevant to the occupation of Madurai by the Kalabhras.
The first relates to the Vedas. The Vedas were generally considered
to be the special preserve of the brahmins in the past, into which of
course the others had no entry. The first qualification of the brahmin

32

then was his mastery of the Vedas. This was indeed a matter of
pride at any period in the cultural history of the land. Tirukkural, in
the fifth verse of its chapter on righteous behaviour, says: Even if a
brahmin forgets his scriptures he can learn them again; but all will
spurn him if he does not adhere to the great virtues inherent on his
brahmin birth. [verse 134]. The words 'if he forgets his scriptures'
actually imply that he never forgets his scriptures. Tirukkural is
considered the earliest of the 18 Kilkkanakku poems and its date
may be fixed as the latter half of the 2nd century A. D. This concept
is very important, that is, by the period of Kurd, it was generally
accepted that the brahmin was definitely well versed in the Vedas
and never forgot them.
Iniya narpadu (The Sweet Forty) is also one of the 18 Kilkkanakku,
composed probably by 525 A. D. One of the verses in the poem
says: `Andanar othudaimai atra miha inide'; 'It will be very sweet
indeed if the brahmins know their scriptures'. This really implies
that during the period of this writing the brahmins did not know
their scriptures. The line in the text employs two adverbs to modify
the verb, will be sweet: atra and miha : these mean greatly and
very. These adverbs clearly indicate that it is definite that the
brahmins did not know the scriptures at that time.
Now we have to consider two statements, both pronounced at
Madurai with a gap in time of about three or four hundered years.
One - the brahmins knew their scriptures; two - the brahmins did
not know their scriptures. How are we to reconcile the two? Without
knowledge of history, the two statements cannot be understood or
33

reconciled. Something has happened in the intervening period of

400 years which caused or forced the brahmins to give up or forget
their scriptures.
Shall we be wrong in surmising that the rule of the Kaliarasan, the
cruel ruler, the Kalabhran, had been responsible for suppressing the
religion of the land so much that the brahmin could not learn his
scriptures and in the period of 400 years, forgot them?
A second concept that would deserve our attention is the question
of music, pann. From several references in Nanmanikkadikai, one of
the 18 Kilk-kanakku poems, we may say that music was at low ebb
in the Kalabhra period. In several verses, the author Vilambi
Naganar, who probably had a sensitive ear for music and was
himself a musician, expressses his concern over music. `If the yal
does not give forth the right tunes, better to have the drum!' In
another place he says, 'if music falters, the very poetry will falter '.
(This of course has reference also to the fact that in the Tamil
language poetry is wedded so much to music). `Music will be sweet
when we have persons who understand it' is another statement.
This emphasizes the well known truth that where there are
sympathetic and accomplished listeners, the artiste can give full
scope for the play of his or her imagination. The author's
statements here would imply that such sympathizers did not exist in
the period. (This poem was written about 500 A. D.) He goes further
and says that 'music will die amidst people who do not know it. This
gives an edge to the earlier statements.

34

The author of Inna-narpadu, one Kapila devar, also has a word to

say about music. It is painful to sing to the accompaniment of the
yal which is not properly tuned. Probably when the panar had
abandoned their hereditary avocation of singing and dancing,
musical instruments had been abandoned and right tuning of the
instruments naturally would have been a problem.
These instances lend weight to the remarks made earlier that the
Kalabhras had suppressed music in Pandinad.
Then we shall pass on to one or two statements regarding the
royalty of the day. Elephantry was a division of the army in India and
all royal monarchs possessed divisions of the elephantry. All the
three crowned monarchs of Tamilnad had the elephantry in the early
centuries, as we can find in the Cankam poetry. But in the post cankam period, we find such statements like 'it is very painful to see
rulers without elephants; 'it is pleasant to look at an army
consisting of the elephant division also. These statements arose in
a period (475 and 500 A. D.) when the rulers did not possess the
elephant. These can apply only to the Kalabhras, who not being
crowned kings, were not a royal house and so did not possess the
elephant division.
Again the following statements : 'It will be sweet indeed if one can
afford not to live under a ruler to whom he owes no loyalty' ; 'it is
sweet indeed to fight and keep at bay the forces of a ruler of might
in a battle of swords'. Here are two statements which are derogatory to the general concepts of patriotism and loyalty. The first line
praises disloyalty while the second one asks the people to fight the
35

ruler. These two are possible only under an alien ruler. Disloyalty
and fighting the ruler of the land will be valid and will be considered
patriotic only if an alien ruler is ruling the land. Such a situation
actually existed when the Kalabhras ruled the land; the citizen could
have no loyalty towards the ruling house and he could certainly be
temped to fight the army of the ruler. These and many similar lines
in the poems of the Kilkkanakku would have any meaning only if we
consider them in the context of the Kalabhra rule; it is evident that
it was a rule of oppression and the people did not take kindly to it.
Lastly, there is one verse which is particularly significant in the
backround of the Velvikkudi grant. One verse says: The mean fellow
who thrives by his arrogance, the prostitute who lives by selling her
body, and the one who snatches away the charitable property given
for the good people - the learned will not take a morsel of food from
these. Of the three mentioned here, the last is significant. The
Kalabhras we had seen, had confiscated the property endowed for
the good brahmins of an earlier day. The poet here remembers this
and so preaches here a kind of social boycott of such unjust people
whom he classes along with prostitutes.

The Religious Problems

There are quite a few problems connected with religion which are
equally baffling. People were certainly worshipping Vishnu during
the period but the predominant religion of the land was Saivism, as
we could gather from several sources. Many had been victims of the
Jaina persecution during the period and later. We find that it was
Saivism which had suffered at the hands of the Jainas of the period

36

and nowhere do we have the story or legend of persecution of any

follower of Vaishnavism during the period. This is quite
understandable because Saivism was the basic religion from which
all later converts separated. Vaishnavism itself sprang up from the
Saiva base at a particular period of time and developed into an
independent self-reliant religion to which a complete system of
metaphysics and philosophy was later given by Ramanuja.
The lives of the Alvar and their supreme lyrical hymns of love and
devotion as well as total surrender to the One Supreme Being in the
name and form of Vishnu was instrumental in directing a section of
the people in a different path and in evolving the Vaishnava school
of worship and philosophy. As the system was just newly emerging,
as Jainism itself had emerged, probably simultaneously or earlier,
from the basic school, Saivism, the new Jainism did not make it the
target of its attack but was content with directing its attack on
Saivism. Besides, we may note that the ruling monarchs, the Pandiyas were Saivas, and so when the Kalabhras overthrew the
Pandiyas, their acts of suppresion and persecution were directed
towards the the religion of the Pandiyas. Hence it came about that
Saivism was the worst sufferer in the Kalabhra period. As will be
explained later under the head Kocchengat Chola, Vaishnavism also
suffered no doubt, but the chief sufferer was Saivism.
Buddhism also was prevalent in the land, but it was a passive sect,
not aggressive and fighting. Hence it was tolerated in the Cholanad
and allowed to develop. But ultimately it came under the
persecution of the Jainas in the later centuries, though not politically

37

but in the field of philosophical disputation as can be seen in the

writing, Nilakesi, in the eleventh century. The credit for total
supplanting of Buddhism goes, not to Saivism, but to the Jains.
But this is all a digression. Let us now confine our attention to a few
stories of the Saiva devotees who suffered at the hands of the
Kalabhra Jams and point out to the solution to the problems that
arise.
A. We have direct evidence of some Nayanmar who were
victims of the Jain persecution at Madurai in the Kalabhra
period.
B. Evidence of the Jain persecution of other nayanmar in
areas outside the Pandinad.
C. The persecution of Saint Appar in the post-Kalabhra
period, outside the Pandinad.
D. The story of Karaikkal ammai and her visit to Madurai.
E. Tiru Jnanasambandhar and his exploits at Madurai.
F. Absence of any statement of the Jain doctrines.
These are all no doubt legends preserved for us in the pages of
Periya puranam relating to the Kalabhra period and immediately
after. A brief discussion of each will help us to get a clear picture of
the state of the religion of the period and the political oppression
which is attributable only to the political overlords at Madurai.
(i) Victims of Kalabhras Persecution in Padinad
Now let us have a look at the nayanmar who were victims of
persecution during the period in the Pandinad. Nowhere is it said
that it was the Kalabhras who were the persecutors but in the
context of history we do see that the persecutors were really the

38

Kalabhras. From the list given by Sundarar, of nayanmar who had

preceded him, we can pick out a few such.
Murti nayanar came of the city of Madurai in the merchant
community. He was a devout worshipper of the Lord Siva in the
Madurai temple and he had taken upon himself the duty of
supplying the sandal paste required by the temple for applying to
the form of Siva there. One day, a prince of the Karunataka region
belonging to the Vaduka tribe marched upon Madurai with his
fourfold army. Out of greed to capture the country by force he
defeated the Pandiya ruler and began to rule from Madurai. He was
a follower of Jainism. He started persecution of the devotees of Siva,
particularly Murti. But Murti ignored him and carried on his service
of supplying sandal paste to the temple. Then the ruler caused the
supply of sandal wood to Murti to be stopped. Murti was terribly
upset. Not finding any solution to his problem of securing sandal
wood, he began to grind his own elbow on the sandal grinding
stone. Blood flowed, bones were ground to powder and the nerves
also were completely ground.
His single minded devotion moved Siva so much that He could
stand it no more. He asked him from the heavens to stop and
informed him that he might become the ruler of the land. The hand
which had been ground down now grew to normal, the Jain
Karunataka ruler died, and the royal elephant sent out to bring a
ruler, chose Murti. Then he ruled the land for sometime with Siva's
sacred ash as his anointing material, the rudraksha beads as his
royal jewels, and the matted locks, the emblems of Siva, as his

39

crown. Because of these three insignia, St. Sundarar calls him 'Murti
who ruled the land with the Three Emblems of Siva.'
[Periyapuranam, Murtti nayanar 1 - 49; vide verses 7, 11 - 13, 24
and 41. Vide Kalladam verse 57 line 12 25].
Forgetting the legend, we have here a reference in the Periya
puranam to the Vaduka king of Karnataka who captured Madurai.
This is clearly a reference to the Kalabhras. The Kalabhras we are
told here were Jains and they were wantonly being cruel to the
established religion. Murti nayanar probably lived by the end of the
3rd century A. D. History well illustrates the religious intolerance of
the invader, the Karunataka rulers, the Kalabhras. The reference to
Vaduha may not mean much, as the knowledge of the writers of the
period of geography outside the Tamil borders was only vague, and
the confusion in the terms Vaduha and Karnataka has to be
overlooked.
Sekkilar wrote his Periya puranam in the days of Kulottunga Chola II,
by the year 1140 A.D. Even a century earlier than his day (1050
A.D.), the poet Kalladar refers to the fact of a `Karunata vendan'
who had invaded Madurai and caused all temple services to be
stopped because he was of the Jain persuasion: "A king of
Karunataka marched on Madurai with his four-winged army, drove
out the Pandiya and stopped all services to God, because he was a
Jain. The Lord caused him to fall into the long sleep. Then since
there was no one at the time in the royal family to succeed to the
throne, He caused the devotee (Murti nayanar) who was the very
personification of love of God, who ground his own elbow on the

40

stone in the place of sandal, to become king and rule over land,
giving him His three emblems as the crown, the ornaments and the
fragrant sandal".
Nambi Tiruvilayadal, a large purana in 1753 verses on the sports of
Siva at Madurai, was written by the end of the 13th century, 150
years after Sekkilar, by Perumparrappuliyur Nambi. Here, this poet
also gives the story of the Karunata king's invasion of Madurai and
the crowning of Murti nayanar. All the purana writers are naturally
concerned about glorifying the Siva bhakta concerned; other
information contained in the stories is merely incidental. We should
be thankful to the writers for giving us some information on some
historical facts, which are relevant to our research. The story of
Murti is narrated here in chapter 51 in 15 verses; Nambi closely
follows Sekkilar and even uses the expression `mummaiyal
ulahanda Murti' (Murti who ruled the land with the three symbols of
Siva), an expression taken from Sundarar and Sekkilar.
All these would indicate to us that the invasion of Madurai by the
alien Kalabhras (Karnataka in the legends) was an event which was
long remembered by the people. It is no doubt a historical fact
recorded in the inscriptions. The epigraphy version is that the
Kalabhras had seized and held Madurai for a period of more than
300 years. This length of time had been forgotten in popular
memory and the legend says that death came upon the invader
soon and a Sivabhakta was chosen to rule over the land. These two
books Kalladam and Periyapuranam and even this Tiruvilayadal are
books of devotion and they give a devotional twist to the story in

41

point of time, without altering it in its essentials. A quick end for the
invader and a miracle are puranic necessities.
(ii) Victims from Other Areas
We may in passing notice one or two similar legends of persecution
of devotees in the areas outside the present Pandinad. We do not
know if the Pandinad Kalabhras held sway over these areas. Other
nayanmar stories in Periya puranam give us an account of the
infiltration of the Kalabhra tribe into the other areas of Tamilnad.
Two stories relate to Tiru Arur, a great city in Cholanad. Dandi adihal
was a Siva bhakta of Tiru Arur who had no eyesight. The temple
tank of the place was known as Kamalalayam. The jains had built
their monasteries on its banks and encroached on the tank itself.
Dandi, devout that he was, took upon himself the task of deepening
the tank so that the encroachments might also be removed. So he
got into the tank when it was dry, with a spade and a basket,
scooped out the earth from the tank bed into the basket, carried it
to the bank and deposited it at a convenient place. As he was
engaged in this meritorious work, the Jains came to him and told
him that many insects might die while he dug out the earth, railed
at him that he had lost not only his eyes but his ears also, and
challenged him to secure his eyesight from his god. Dandi blind as
he was, had a rope to guide him from the bottom of the tank to the
top of the bank. The Jains snatched away his basket and spade and
also the rope and the poles to which the rope was fixed. The story
goes on that by the grace of god, Dandi regained his eyesight and
the ruler of the land, hearing of the harassment done to Dandi,

42

drove away the Jains from Tiru Arur. [Periya puranam, Dandi adihal
puranam verses 1 26].
Another story relates to Naminandi. One evening, after worshipping
Siva in the temple as usual, he desired to light some lamps. As it
might take some time for him to go to his house a few miles away
for getting oil for the lamps, he went to a house next to the temple
and asked for some oil. It was a jain house. He met with a rebuff.
The Jains there said, "Why do you want oil? Your Lord carries fire in
His hand. You may burn water for the lamps". Prompted by God, he
did so and the lamp burned with the water. [Periyapuranam,
Naminandi adihal puranam verses 1 32]
These two stories of Cholanad deal with Siva bhaktas who were
harassed by the Jains of the place and to whom Siva extended his
succour and grace. There might also have been relics of contemporary Kalabhra persecution outside Pandinad.
The story of Meypporul nayanar of Tirukkovalur is a wonderful story
where the chief who had been living a life dedicated to the revering
of the Saiva emblem, the sacred ash, allows himself to be stabbed
to death by an enemy called Muttanatha, just because he wore the
Siva garb and the ash. Occurring in the period of the Kalabhra rule,
Muttanatha is thought to be a Kalabhra also, although Sekkilar does
not say so. [Ibid Meypporul nayanar puranam verses 1 24].
The above gives an account of the persons who suffered by the
Kalabhra suppression outside the Pandinad area.
(iii) Persecution of Appar

43

The same kind of suppression continued in the next century also as

an after effect of the Jain administration in the Pallavanad. We find
several instances of it in the life of Appar. We shall just glance at
them before proceeding further. Appar lived in the Nadu-nadu,
modern South Arcot district. Sekkilar gives a long account of his
travails under the Pallava ruler Mahendra Varma I when he was
following the Jain faith. Appar had earlier embraced Jainism and he
was then holding a high rank among the Jains with the name of
Dharmasena. After his disillusionment and return to Saivism, he was
subjected to many hardships. Periya puranam relates the hardships
in great detail. Appar was placed in a lime kiln but remained
unharmed by the heat. He was given poisoned food, still nothing
happened. A murderous elephant was marched on him but it bowed
at his feet and went away. Lastly, he was bound to a stone and
dropped into the sea, but using the very stone as a float he came
ashore. On all these occasions, he uttered the praise of the Lord in
song and remained unharmed. [Periyapuranam, Tirunamikkarasu
nayanar puranam verses 95 132].
Finally he broke off from his post and going a round of the Siva
temples of Tamilnad, he found at Palaiyarai the temple closed and
the Jains claiming it as theirs. He stayed there without food for some
time and vowed not to move out without seeing the temple restored
to Saiva worship. This was an act of satyagraha (if we may use a
modern term). By divine direction the king heard of it, opened the
temple and drove out the Jains [Ibid verses 294 300]. Appar went
into the temple, worshipped there and sang a song. In the ninth
verse he says that the thousand Jains there do not read the Tamil
44

songs or become the servants of God. [Appar Devaram Book 5. 58.

9].
Appar is the only saint who had suffered at the hands of the Jains of
his day and has left a record of it in his songs. Sambandhar had a
duel of wits with the Jains at Madurai, but apart from the fact that
they set fire to his lodging, he did not suffer at their hands. In
Vaishnavism, although some have spoken of the Jains, no one had
struggled with them as Sambandhar and Appar had done. Even
Saint Sundara who condemns them, had no direct struggle with the
Jains.
(iv) The Case of Karikkal Ammaiyar
Karaikkal Ammaiyar is one of the most respected saints in all Periya
puranam. She is the only woman saint singer in the Saiva canon
and the puranam says that she had the unique honour of going to
Kailas and of being addressed as 'Mother' by Siva Himself. When
Umadevi expressed great amazement at the love of the bone-form
that was mounting the Kailas Mount, Siva told Her: "This is the
Mother that worships us; She prayed to us and got this form".
[Sekkilar's Periyapuranam, Karaikkal ammaiyar puranam verses 59,
57].
Because of this unique honour, her natural name Punitavati has
been dropped by the Saiva world, and she is simply known as the
Ammai (Mother) of Karaikkal, her birth place. Of the three poems
composed by her in the Eleventh Book of the Saiva canon, the first
consists of two songs expressing her ecstatic pleasure experienced
on witnessing the Dance of Nataraja at Tiru Alamkadu. These two

45

songs are called the Mutta padikam or the Elder Decads and are
always prefixed in the manuscripts of the Devaram to the songs of
Saint Tiru Jnanasambandhar which commence the First Book of the
Saiva canon. Sekkilar calls her songs on Tiru Alamkadu dance as
Mutta padikam. These not only point out to the veneration in which
she was held by Sekkilar and the Saiva world but also indicate That
she was earlier and elder to the Hymn singers in Saivism.
The story of Ammaiyar is well known and need not be repeated
here. She was an ardent Siva bhaktai and when her husband found
that she was able to produce mango fruits by praying to Siva, he
concluded that she was an angel on earth and decided that he
should not live with her. He deserted her and set up business at
Madurai as a prosperous merchant, married again and had a
daughter there, whom he named Punitavati after his first wife.
When his first wife was taken to him from Karaikkal, he came and
prostrated before her saying 'This is an angel which every one
should salute'. The dutiful young lady, naturally shocked at her
husband's behaviour, wanted no more to live in the physical frame
which was united to him in wedlock. She discarded it, prayed to Siva
and got a ghost form and then started to Kailas to have a vision of
the universal Father there. All her songs were sung after she
discarded the mortal frame.
The interesting point for our purposes is that when she came to
Madurai she could no longer live there her natural life. The puranic
story contains considerable human detail which help to pass it on as
a sacred legend. A sociological approach is also possible. We are

46

here concerned with only one feature, namely, that the

circumstances in Madurai were such that she could not live there
her normal life. She had been a very pious young lady at Karaikkal,
feeding Siva bhaktas and leading a life devoted to the Saiva
religion. When she went to Madurai she found that this could not be.
Saivism was not there. She therefore decided that she should flee
from Madurai rather than live the kind of non-religious life that
Madurai could offer to her.
This is not of course the interpretation that the author Sekkilar
gives. He has fed the story with much of detail and plot. Divested of
all these, the simple story is as given above. Ammaiyar went to
Madurai at a period when the Pandinad was under the Kalabhra heel
and unwilling to lead a life without devotion to Siva and Siva
bhaktas, she prayed for a ghost form and receiving it, went north.
A picture of Madurai and the conditions there can be seen if we
recall that when Jnanasambandhar went there just seventy five
years later, the Queen and the Minister were the only followers of
Saivism. The moment he went and entered his lodging, it was set
fire to. If this were the condition later, what might have been the
condition when Karaikkal ammai went there by the end of the fifth
century, a period when the Vajranandi Jain cankam was flourishing?
(v) Sambandhar in Madurai
St. Tiru Jnanasambandhar is specially invited by the Pandiya Queen
Mangaiyarkkarasi and the Minister Kulacchiraiyar to go to Madurai.
He goes to Madurai and reclaims the country back to Saivism. The
Jainism in Madurai can be considered as a spill-over from the post-

47

Kalabhra period a few decades earlier. His overcoming the Jains

there not only by argument but also by virtue of working many
miracles is a long story told in minute detail by Sekkilar. Unlike St.
Appar, Sambandhar did not suffer at the hands of the Jains except in
the one instance, that as soon as he came to the city the Jains set
fire to his residence. From this moment he is pitted against the Jains
there. But the fight of Sambandhar against the Jains is not merely a
relegious one; it concerned all aspects of language, literature,
culture and so on, as has been dwelt at length in several places
here.
We may briefly state here that single-handed, he fought the
Kalabhra Jainism so successfully at Madurai that it never thereafter
could raise its head as any great social influence. He restored Tamil
music, temple worship and religion, and all the aspects of the
earlier Tamil culture and the Tamil way of life.
The Tamils of the day were a race of people who accepted the
authority of the Vedas. Religion (whether Saiva or Vaishnava) then
meant following the Vedas, vaidika. This did not mean making of
sacrifices and so on. We may note in passing that although Sambandhar obtained gold from Siva for his father's sacrifice, he asked him
to perform it for removing evil and never gave it a second thought.
Vaidika simply meant a particular code of life, a form of personal
discipline, a pattern of social behaviour and the observing of a
certain religious faith in theory and in practice. The Jains were
totally opposed to all this. So, Sambandhar, who was a vaidika,
fought those who reviled at the vaidika religion and supplanted

48

them. Sambandhar, as a really godly person, always sought God's

guidance in his fight with the ungodly, and through that guidance,
always came out successful.
The Kalabhras had no doubt been overthrown by 575 A. D. by
Pandiyan Kadumkon. But the effects of the religious persecution and
suppression started by them in Pandinad would have survived till a
much later period. The condition of the Saiva religion in the Pandinad by about 640 A. D. at the period when Sambandhar was invited
by the Queen to go there is described by Sekkilar in many verses.
"All the temples in the Tamilnad of the Pandiyas had been converted
into Jain monasteries and Jain temples. There were only Jains
everywhere, like groups of darkness carrying their peacock feather
fans; wherever one turned there were only the hair-plucked heads,
mat dress and peacock feather fans and the triple parasoles of the
Jains. People had been lured into following their books and no one
would turn their minds to the Saiva path." Wherever the young
Saint turned he saw only this condition and so out of a concern for
preserving the ancient faith of the people's ancestors, he could not
but ask them to give up the false doctrines of the Jains and pursue
their true faith. When he uses derisive words, we should note that
they are always addressed to the Jain monks.
In almost every one of his 384 decads sung on the various Siva
shrines during his tours, Sambandhar makes a reference in the
tenth verse to the Jains and the Tera Buddhists. From the remarks
made by him, we may be certain that the picture painted by
Sekkilar is true. Sambandhar here always makes an exhortation to

49

the Saiva people not to listen to the pompous words of the Jains,
their false doctrines based only on logical disputation, and not
based on love or bhakti. He points out that those words would also
lead to delusion and sorrow and so asks his people not to waste
time in listening to their unwise advice. All these indicate that the
Jains had really converted the masses to their faith and that
Sambandhar had a hard time leading them back to the right path
and in weaning them away from the Jain path.
It is true that Sambandhar heaps scorn on the Jains for their
opposition to the Vedas and the Vaidika faith. "They abuse the
Vedas and the sastras. They say that the brahmin worship of the fire
is worthless. They oppose the Vedangas." [Vide Sambandhar
Devaram ; the whole of the padikam sung at Madurai Book 3 song
108]. But this is only one aspect of his opposition to the Jains. His
only anxiety is to wean away the Saiva people from the false faith to
the True Faith, which was a reflection of the ancient Tamil culture
and which the Jain practices had undermined.
An insight into the mind of Saint Jnanasambandhar will reveal to us
that although he uses very strong language in condemning the Jains
whom we might call the Kalabhra Jains, he was not prompted by any
malice or narrow bigotry in carrying on such a tirade. He was deeply
grieved at the negation of all the subtle elements in the culture of
the Tamils and their language and certainly in their religion, and so
went about pointing out in strong and detailed terms the anticulture that had set in through the political power and influence of
the Kalabhras. At the same time having faith in the one god and His

50

Omnipotence and Omnipresence, he also felt that the whole thing

was a sport of Siva and it was He who had allowed the non-vedic
religions Jainism and Buddhism to be born and to thrive for some
time. Some instances of his statement to this effect are given below.
"It is the Lord Siva enshrined in the temple at Tiru-Irumpulai who
created the Samann and the Sakkiyam (Jainism and Buddhism)."
"My Lord enshrined at Tiruk-kalar, You revealed through Your lips the
four Vedas; but yet it was You again who created the untruth that is
the words of the Samana and the Tera (Jaina and Buddhist)." "He is
the Pure who can take strange forms and have it as a sport to cause
the bark-clad stout persons, who take their food from their hands
and from whose body dirt falls out, never to utter the Truth." [Tiru
Jnanasambandhar Devaram, Book 2. 36. 10, 2. 51. 10 and 2. 84. 10,
Book 3. 2. 10]. In trying to level the charges of bigotry and extreme:
intolerance at Jnanasambandhar, critics should not forget his
concept of the Supreme Being, the One Universal God who controls
arid guides all religions, including the Jain.
An important aspect in the contribution of St. Sambandhar to the
culture of Tamilnad vis-a-vis the Kalabhra Jains is his exaltation of
women. It is no exaggeration to say that one of the main missions
of his avatar [Periyapuranam, Tiru Jnanasambandhar, verse 26. 14]
(as Sekkilar would call his birth) is to exalt women. This has been
dealt with briefly earlier also. Many of the miracles performed by
Siva on his prayers have been for helping women. He sang a song
at Tirup-Pachilachiramam praying for relief to the young daughter of
the Malaya chief there from the dire disease of epilepsy
(muyalakan) she was suffering from. At Tiru Maruhal he sang a song
51

praying for the revival of the Chetti youth who had died of snake
bite, in order to unite his lady love with him. The famous Poompavaip-padikam sung by him at Tiru Mayilai (modern Mylapore in
Madras) brought back the young damsel Poompavai in all her radiant beauty, from her ashes preserved in a pot by her father, long
after she had died of snake bite as a young girl. Because he gave
life to her, he equates himself with the father of the girl. All his
exploits at Madurai done for overthrowing Jainism and for restoring
Saivism, winning back the people and the Pandiya king to the Saiva
fold, were performed at the request of Queen Mangaiyarkkarasi.
These instances will prove his concern for women. We should view
all these in the context of the Jain doctrine denigrating women.
(vi) Absence of any Statements of Jain Doctrines
Sattanar who wrote the second Tamil epic Manimekhalai was a
Buddhist. He has set out to champion the cause of Buddhism in this
book. The heroine Manimekhalai listens to an exposition of the
doctrines of many schools of metaphysicists and philosophers.1
Then she goes to Kanchi and there learns the Buddhist doctrines at
the feet of the guru, Aravana adihal, embraces Buddhism and performs penance for getting over the cycle of births and deaths. When
the guru teaches her the Buddhist doctrines2, the Buddhist system
of metaphysics and philosophy is fully explained in the book. In fact
this is the only exposition of Buddhism in the Tamil language, contained in a Buddhist work. The period may be the sixth century A.
D.3 It is strange that we do not have any such exposition of the
Jaina philosophy in the Tamil language until a late period.4 It is
worthwhile to note why the Jain doctrines were not drawn up as a
52

treatise or were not explained in the Tamil language in the early

centuries.
Here we have a glaring contrast of the two tribes of Kalabhras ruling
from the Cholanad and the Pandinad respectively. Accuta Vikkanta
(whom we have mentioned earlier) and probably his predecessors
and successors at Kaverippattinam in Cholanad were of a tolerant
nature and so we find the monarch praised in the Tamil poems by
contemporary Tamil poets. He was a Buddhist and not being a bigot,
he probably helped his men to propagate his religion Buddhism in
the land, in the regional language, here of course Tamil. For aught
we know, this Vikkanta or his successor might have extended his
patronage to this author for writing the Tamil Buddhist epic. But the
position is vastly different in Pandinad. The Kalabhras who seized
Madurai were bigoted Jains and naturally they did not set much
value by the regional language. Intoxicated
1. Vide Chapter 27 of Manimekhalai. Here the following ten
schools are mentioned : The Logician, Saiva,
Brahmavadin, Vaishnava, Veda, Ajivaka Nigantha
(Nirgrantha), Samkhya, Vaiseshika and Bhuta-vadi
schools.
2. Ibid. Chapter 29, Tavattiram pundu dharmam ketta kathai.
3. Though the epic Manimekhalai is said and also considered
to be a sequel to Silappadhikaram, giving it the date third
century A. D., critical opinion now is of the view that the
epic could have been written only by the sixth century. It
may also be noted that generally the Kalabhra period was
one which was not conducive to the glorification of women

53

as the heroine of an epic poem and so the two epic poems

Silappadhikaram and Manimekhalai could have been
written by the first half of the third century and the end of
the sixth century A. D. respectively.
4. In Nilakesi, a poem of the 11th century.
with power, they tried to suppress all that was Tamil in religion,
culture, language etc. How will such a clan induce or patronize any
writing in the Tamil language on the philosophical doctrines of their
own religion ? This certainly explains why there was no writing on
Jain philosophy not only in the Kalabhra period but even long after.

Historical Problems
Lastly we come to some problems in history raised by the literature
both contemporary and later. I shall mention them here and try to
find a solution for them.
A. Sekkilar has sung in his epic purana the lives of 63
nayanmar. In his long book of 4286 verses, 1256 are
devoted to the life and work of Tiru Jnanasambandhar.
Leaving alone the three saints who were raised to
sainthood by association with Sambandhar - the King,
Queen and Minister of Pandinad - there is only one saint
from Pandinad - Murti nayanar. How shall we explain this
absence of Saiva saints in Pandinad ?
B. Is there any significance in Kocchengat Chola the great
Saiva saint building temples not only for Siva but also for
Vishnu, in that early period as mentioned very approvingly
by the Vaishnava Saint Tiro Mangai Alvar?

54

C. Tiru Mular mentions the ruining of temples and the

stopping of temple worship. Did these really happen?
These problems will now be discussed in detail.
(i) Absence of Nayanmars in Pandinad
This is indeed quite a vexing question but easy of solution. Periya
puranam speaks of nine groups of saints and 63 individual saints.
All of these had been named by St. Sundarar in his TirutTondattohai. He lived before 700 A. D. and so all the Saints had
lived before him, some in his day, some in the days of Sambandhar
and Appar by 650 A. D., and many sometime earlier. This takes us
to the period of the Kalabhras in Pandinad, although a few like
Kannappar and Chandesar would have lived very much earlier in
point of time - probably by the centuries B. C. A break up of the
Saints region-wise may be given as follows : Cholanad 38 ;
Nadunadu 8 ; Tondainadu 8 ; Pandinad 4 ; Malainad 2 ; Konadu 1 ;
Mazhanad 1 ; and outside Tamilnad 1.
In this set up, we find that the number of nayanmar in Pandinad is
only four. Of the four, three - King Pandiyan Nedumaran, Queen
Mangaiyarkkarasi and Minister Kulachirai, are those who had come
under the influence of Jnanasambandhar. Excluding these, there is
only one other - Murti nayanar. It is certainly very strange that in
the Pandiya country, with its headquarters at Madurai, the Siva
rajadani where the legends say that Siva as Lord Sundaresa and
Sakti as Minakshi ruled in the ages past, only one saint had been
evolved, while areas without that much of religious backround such
as Nadunadu and Tondainadu had evolved eight saints each. This

55

will sound extremely puzzling, had we not known the Kalabhra

interlude in the history of Madurai. The Kalabhra rule of 300 years
over Madurai did not permit of any religious practices and so the
atmosphere was one of such darkness that no saint could be
evolved in the country. The aftermath of the Kalabhra rule produced
a Mangaiyarkkarasi and a Kulaccirai and through them a
Nedumaran. That was all. It is well to remember that Mangaiyarkkarasi was a daughter of the Chola royal family which
descended from Kocchengat Chola the builder of Siva temples. Murti
nayanar was an exception. His story is given earlier in Section A
under Religious problems.
So, this is the explanation. The Kalabhra administration and its
suppression of religion and culture could not admit of the evolution
of any saint in the Pandinad even for a considerable period later.
(ii) The Life and Work of KOCCHENGAT CHOLA
An elaborate and grateful reference on a Saiva prince and saint by
an important Vaishnava saint acquires great importance in our
investigation. Directing the Vishnu bhaktas to the presence of Lord
Vishnu in the Tiru Naraiyur madakkoil, St. Tiru Mangai alvar sings:
"May you all go and pray at the jewelled temple at Tiru Naraiyurbuilt
by the Chola of the great lineage ruling over the world, who had
built seventy beautiful madakkoil (temple on a raised base, a particular type of temple architecture) to the eight-shouldered Siva
whose lips the Rg Veda adorns. This is the eighth verse of the
Alvar's decad on this shrine. In the other verses of the decad, he
heaps lavish praise on this Chola, Kocchengat Chola, who is Lord of
the Kaveri land, Tamilian of the south, master of the north, who
56

mounted on his elephant, defeated the opposing princes in the

battle at Venni. In the last verse of the decad the Alvar speaks
about the merit according to those who sing these verses and says
that he is always truthful, never uttering an untrue word. Coming
from such a great authority and a Vaishnava saint at that, the words
have great weight. Kocchengat Chola and his great devotion to Siva
is a great legend. A legend of Tiru Anaikka says that in a previous
birth he was a spider which was always weaving a web over the
head of a Sivalinga to prevent dry leaves and the like falling on it,
that it bit the elephant which destroyed the web and then died, was
born there, after as this Chola ruler and had built many temples to
Siva, on a raised base (madakkoil) making the entrance to the
temple unpassable by an elephant, in remembrance of the
occurrence in the previous birth. The Chola is considered to have
defeated the Sera ruler Kanaikkal Irumporai in a battle at Venni. A
puram poem was sung by a poet by name Poihaiyar celebrating this
battle and the victory of the Chola. The poem Kalavali- narpadu
considered one of the 18 Kilkkanakku, celebrates in forty venba
verses, the battle in which the Chola ruler defeated the Vanjikko.
Although the poem lavishly praises the powers of the prince,
contemporary history does not warrant the supposition that he was
a mighty ruler. He ruled from Uraiyur over a small part of the once
glorious Chola country. The major part of the northern area was
taken away by the ruler at Kanchi, the Pallavan, and the southern
part by the rulers of Madurai, the Kalabhras in this context. Besides,
the eastern part of the Kaveri, delta was then under the rule of the
alien chief, Accuta Vikkanta, and we find Chenganan had been

57

squeezed amidst all these. The praises showered by the poet are
understandable if we remember that he was interested in securing
the release of the Sera ruler who was his own patron. There had
been two skirmishes, one in the Cankam period and another in the
fifth century, in each of which a Chola by the name of
Kocchenganan comes out successful against the Sera. Tiru Mangai
Alvar speaks only about the later Chenganan and we are concerned
only with this Chenganan here.
We find that Ko-Chenganan had built more than seventy temples to
Siva and had also built the Tiru Naraiyur temple to Lord Vishnu. We
have been trained by our own historians, who had been tutored by
Western historians, that the Saivas and the Vaishnavas had always
been fighting with each other and that we had always had an
atmosphere of intolerance and suppression. Against this general
assumption, we find here a Saiva Chola monarch, praised as great
and victorious by a Vaishnava saint and poet, extending his patronage to Saivism and Vaishnavism alike. How does this happen?
It is no doubt the duty of every good ruler to foster all the religions
of the land and it may be that the Chola was only discharging his
rightful duty in supporting both the religions. But contemporary
history lends greater weight to the action of the King. He was a very
ardent Saiva; his story is referred to in more than a hundred places
by the three Devaram singers who always sing, 'this is the temple
that the great Kocchengat Chola built'. Though an ardent Siva
bhakta who had built by himself and through his subjects more than
seventy Siva temples, he was unable to lift his little finger in

58

defence of Saivism in the Pandiya country across his border where

the Jain rulers were ruthlessly suppressing the orthodox religions.
He saw before his eyes Siva temples being closed, worship being
stopped, and all temple endowments confiscated. He was not able
to interfere, because he was then not a very powerful ruler, ruling
over a small territory. He was crippled and his territories in the
north, the east and the south had been snatched away by the
Pallava emperors and the Kalabhra intruders as pointed out above.
He could not but helplessly watch the suppression of his own
religion in the neighbouring powerful state. He was not capable of
any armed ipterference there to restore Saivism. Naturally the
condition of the vaidika religions in the south caused him great
concern. This was the motive force which made him build and
patronize the building of many temples in the Cholanad. He saw the
suppression of both Saivism and Vaishnavism, that is the vaidika
religions, in Madurai.
He felt that one section of the Vaidika religion could not prosper
independent of the other and, like the liberal ruler that he was, tried
to do all he could for the welfare of both the sects of the vaidika religion. This liberal view and tolerance was dictated by the political
conditions in the neighbouring state of Pandinad and this explains
his patronage both to Saivism and to Vaishnavism.
It is to this liberal attitude that Tirumangai alvar pays such a
glorious tribute, not in one verse but in all the eleven verses of the
Tiru Naraiyur decad.

59

We should also remember in this context that Tirumangai alvar

belongs to the alvar tradition, where the alvar are all devotees of
Vishnu, who not only would not speak of any other deity but would
not also speak of a human being in their songs. The story of Tiru
Malisai alvar, who left the city of Kanchi declining to sing the praise
of the Pallava king in the anecdote of Kanikannan is well known.
Nammalvar coming later also says that he has not come on earth to
sing on man. In this tradition, we find Tiru Mangai alvar praising
Kocchenganan, a Siva bhakta, not once but ten times in all the
verses of the decad and also mentioning the Eight-shouldered Isa
whose lips the Rg Veda adorns'. So we have to realise how much the
Alvar was impressed with the rare act of the Chola in -the period, of
the Kalabhra suppression, to come forward boldly to build temples,
for Isa, not one or two or a score, but seventy. These word must be
given the weight that is due to them.
This does not mean that the temples built by Kocchengat Chola
were large granite edifices as we see them today. Granite in temple
building came many centuries later. He built large temples in brick
and mud or mortar on a large base in the place of small temples,
which were probably in mud and thatch, before him.
It may also be noted that Kocchengot Chola is credited with having
built a temple for Vishnu inside the Siva temple at Tiru Vakkarai in
the South Arcot district built by Queen Sembiam ma devi.
We may add here a note on the Cholas who were actually driven out
of their territory. Kocchenganan was only one scion of the race of
the Cholas who were displaced by the Kalabhras, of whom Accuta
60

Vikkanta happened to be a remarkably noble example in Cholanad.

However the main race of the Cholas had run away in a north-westerly direction and established themselves in the area then known as
Renad now forming the Cuddappah and Kurnul districts of Andhra
Pradesh. They called themselves descendents of Karikal Chola.
(Chola becomes Choda in the Telugu Language, because the sound
la (zha) does not exist in that language.) Their emblem was the
Chola emblem, the Tiger.
(iii) The Ruin of Temples
A natural feature of any poetic writing may be recalled here.
Whenever something unethical takes place, the great poets, who
are deeply concerned with the well being of the social structure and
who are anxious that society should stand on a firm ethical footing,
write didactic and ethical works re-stating and re-emphasizing the
dangers to society through an unethical behaviour or conduct. The
dictum of Tolkappiyar may be remembered here. Speaking about
the institution of marriage rituals, he says that 'after falsehood and
lapses entered human conduct, the wise elders laid down rules'
[Tolkappiyam Poruladhikaram, sutra 143]. This dictum applies to all
walks of life. Even eminent spiritual seers could not escape this
involvement in the public good.
Tiru Mular, in a section on the spoliation of the (Siva) temples,
makes the following remarks in two verses : "When the temples of
Siva (He who kicked Yama) fail to receive the pujas in the prescribed
manner, unbearable epidemics will affect the land; rains will fail;
and the armed might of the rulers will also be impaired. The Lord
Siva has said that when the temple pujas are not performed, the
61

ruler will come to grief, rains will fail, and thefts will be rampant in
the country ". In an earlier verse he has also said that if a temple
stone is removed (i.e., if the temple comes to ruin), the king and the
priests etc. will experience great harm.'
These words of Tirumular are not uttered having in view only
hypothetical conditions. We may be sure that he had seen before
his eyes (or heard from eye witnesses) the wanton ruining of
temples and the stopping of pujas in the temples in adjoining
Pandinad. He lived on the banks of the Kaveri in the Cholanad and,
pained at the closure of all temples in the Pandinad under the
Kalabhras, he had written these verses to enjoin the people at large
to do their duty of protecting the temples and the temple worship.
This much is a fact. We may stretch his ideas further and say by
inference that his influence was also resnonsible for inducing
Kocchengat Chola to construct a number of temples in his domains
and to repair and renovate existing ones. All these remarks and
ideas help us to a number of important conclusions: that Tirumular
and kochengat Chola had been contemporary with the Kalabhra rule
at Madurai at a later point of time, which may be about 500 A.D.,
after the period of Vajranandi's Jain Cankam at Madurai.
A line in the commentary of Iraiyanar Akapporul sets us thinking.
Sutra 35 of the text deals with the separation of the lover from the
lady love in the aham (romantic) poetic themes. Tolkappiyam lays
down the causes for separation as the three -- study, fight with the
enemy (pahai), and carrying a message to another ruler.

62

Iraiyanar Akapporul elaborates the three into six and the commentary gives an explanation of each. The explanation under kaval
defence of the country, requires some consideration here. One of
the items under defence is given as an inspection of temples, public
charities and public halls. Il ampuranar commenting on the
Tolkappiyam sutram mentions under the pahai or defending and
fighting mission, separation from the lady love on account of temple
worship and temple festival; this explanation is much later in time,
11th century. Even taking this as admissible, the Akapporul urai's
explanation is significant. The lover here is permitted to go away for
temple etc., inspection and for protecting families in difficulties.
Tolkappiyar does not seem to have thought of these subjects, but
they have become necessary by the time of the Akapporul urai.
Why? The answer is obvious. Under the Kalabhra rule temples had
been closed down and there was no worship. The advent of
Jnanasambandhar had given a new hope and fervour of devotion to
the people. Temples were being re-opened for worship. Hence an
inspection of them became necessary in the early 8th century. The
inspection of temples (devakutam) mentioned here reflects the
condition of the temples under the alien Kalabhra rule.

Did Kalabhra Period Produce any work?

Even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. Although the Kalabhra
period in the history of Madurai was a period of the suppression of
all Tamil language and literature and the Tamil culture and the
Vaidika religion, it cannot be said that the period was wholly nonproductive in the history of literature. Several divisions of Tamil
literature had indeed been enriched during the period, by writers
63

not only in the other parts of Tamilnad but also in the Pandinad
area.
The production of the 18 Kilk-kanakku excepting probably three,
Tirukkuural in the 2nd century and Acharakkovai and
Mudumolikkanji in the 7th century, may be said to belong to the
Kalabhra period. There is no evidence to say that they patronized
the writing but it is certain that the 15 poems were written during
the period. The one poem on a puram theme in the group, Kalavali
narpadu, we have already pointed out, was written to please
Kocchengat Chola, of course in the Chola region, outside Pandinad.
Taking the 18 as a group, we find that the Jainas and the Saivas
have written five poems each; the Vaishnavas have written four and
four have been written by poets, who were of course poets of the
Vaidika tradition but we are unable to say at the moment how many
of them were Saiva and how many Vaishnava. In other words, we
may say that against five books written under Jaina inspiration,
thirteen had been written by the Vaidika schools of poets.
Of the six poems on the aham themes, one was written by a Jain
writer (which is in itself curious), while the other five were by the
writers of the Vaidika schools.
Vajranandi Cankam was established by the year 470 A.D. by
Vajranandi, who was a disciple of Pujyapada. It was a jain cankam
intended, to propagate this religion and its observance. It had
nothing in common with the Tamil Cankam of an earlier period and
which came to a natural end soon after the Kalabhras captured
Madurai. The Vajranandi cankam consisted of Jain ascetics. This
64

does not mean that they were from a foreign land. The Kalabhra
occupation was by 250 A.D. and they would all have become
domiciled by the above period. Besides these ascetics were indeed
Tamilians who had embraced the Jain faith and naturally the gifted
among them could have been masters of the language. It is quite
likely that of the Kilk-kanakku, Naladi and Palamoli nanuru would
have been written earlier than the days of this Cankam, one after
the other.
We may even go a step further and say that probably the Vajranandi
cankam was established with a view to eclipse and erase the
memory of the earlier Tamil Cankams of Madurai. Those had all
been literary academies, while the Vajranandi cankam was a Jain
religious Cankam. The only work attributed to the Vajranandi
cankam is a Jain religious work. Probably Naladi was composed
earlier than 400 A.D., and the book probably was the inspiration to
Vajranandi for the founding of the Jain cankam. The traditional
account that Naladi was not the work of a single author but the
composition of many Jain poets, may be true.
Tirikadukam and Nanmanik-kadikai give three and four ethical
observations in each verse and were written by poets of the
Vaishnava persuasion in the period. These might have inspired two
writers to write on five and six observations in each verse under the
names of Sirupanchamulam and Eladi. The other books also can be
explained in this manner and it is extremely satisfactory to note
that a careful study of the Kalabhra period, of what is known as the

65

dark period in the History of Tamilnadu, throws considerable light on

the history of Tamil literature.
The evolution of the ethical poems of the Kilk-kanakku group reveals
the need for such a piece of writing. Probably the thinkers of the
day found that the Kalabhra rule had unleashed a reign of anarchy
and godlessness where the values of life were thrown away. They
had come to such a low ebb that all people, not only Vaidikas,
Saivas and Vaishnavas, but perhaps even the Jains, had come to
feel that some emphasis on right conduct was necessary. Earlier,
excepting Silappaddikaram which was an epic and Tirukkural which
was of course the only work on ethics till that day, all writing was
only on romantic and heroic themes. There seems to have arisen at
this period a desire to re-state values and make people follow a life
of righteous conduct. The suppression made by the Kalabhras had
dug its own grave and so, right minds began to think and write with
this purpose of lifting up people from the mundane life to a higher
life. This is not to say that the Jain people of the day were all a bad
people; far from that. They were, like all people at all times and
climes, generally righteous in conduct, and interested in the welfare
of society. But the alien Jain rulers were different. Having drunk
deep at the fountain of power, they were oppressors which fact had
an unhealthy impact on society. Hence the anxiety of the thinkers
and writers of the period. This in a sense explains the rich and
varied core of ethics in the poetry of this period. The books we
should remember were not books on Jainism or the Vaidika religions,
but were generally on an ethical or virtuous life. The writers did not
say anything as a mandate or as a peremptory command. They
66

tried to be a little persuasive. They did not say, do this; but said this
will be good and pleasant ; this will prove bad and disturbing and so
on. Very many lines, not only in Palamoli nanuru but in almost all
the other books, take on the tone of homely proverbs. The reason is
only this that the authors wanted their writing to be acceptable and
also wanted to produce a change in the people's lives. We may say
they had been remarkably successful. No other period in Tamil
literary history was devoted to ethical writing as much as this
period.
We find also an interesting and very important development in the
Tamil literary history of the post-Kalabhra period. Immediately after
the period, we have the great religious revival when a very large
volume of the Saiva and Vaishnava hymns were sung by Godintoxicated devotees. This was the 7th century A. D. Inspired by the
great fillip to the evolution of literature, language, culture and
religion given by these saints and their songs, the next century
gives a great spurt of intensive consolidation and writing in the
Tamil language, not only in the field of devotional literature but in
other fields like epic literature as for example Perumkathai, the
large epic on the story of Udayana and Vasavadattai. The more
spectacular field of literary production is the field of grammar where
numerous manuals have been written on all branches of grammar
such as aham and puram, poetics and prosody, rhetoric and many
other new divisions of poetry. There was a Perumdevanar in this
period, who completed the great task of translating the
Mahabharatam and so he had come to be known as Bharatam
Padiya Perumdevanar, one who sang the Bharatam in Tamil. His
67

work was so much appreciated by the discerning Tamils of that day

that when all the Cankam poetry of the earlier pre-Kalabhra period
was collected together and arranged in the Nine Books, the
Ettuttohai and Pattup-pattu this poet Perumdevanar was probably
asked to write an invocatory verse for each of the Eight Anthologies,
which he did. This is quite a significant event. The Cankam poetry
was all sung in stray verse form (except two books Ainkurunuru and
Kalittokai) and so there was then no question of an invocatory
verse. After the Cankam age we have the Kalabhra period of three
centuries. Then intervened the period of the Saiva Nayanmar,
Sambandhar, Appar and Sundarar and the Alvar, who sang only
musical songs on God. Naturally when the Cankam poetry was all
compiled in the form of a few anthologies, an invocatory verse for
each was thought to be quite fitting. All this was certainly an
outcome of the reaction to the earlier Kalabhra suppression. There
was no innvocator verse for the Arhat.
What many writers had been labelling as a dark age has really been
productive of quite a handsome volume of good literature as
pointed out above. There has now -been a transition from the
asiriyam metre to the venba metre as can be seen from the fact
that 16 of the Kilk-kanakku poems had been written in the venba
metre, while Mural was earlier written in the kural venba metre, and
Mudumolikkanji in the kural ven sendurai metre, both variants of
the venba metre. This fact of the transition is important from the
history of the literature, because it paved the way for another
transition from the venba to the new field of viruttam and allied
metres later.
68

This transition apart, other great poetry has also been written
during this period, though not in the Pandiya country. Tirumular
wrote all his Tirumantiram in over 3000 verses in the kali viruttam
metre, from the Chola country. Karaikkal Ammai wrote two
padikams, the fore runners of all the hymnal literature in Saivism
and Vaishnavism, represented by the Devaram writers and the
Alvar. She wrote her Arbutha Tiruvantadi, to be followed in the next
century (6th) by the First Three Antadi poems of the Mudal alvar.
Her Irattai Manimalai in twenty verses with venba and kattalaikalitturai r alternating, paved the way for scores of new prabandha
poems through the succeeding centuries.
It is also likely that Manimekhalai, the only Buddhist work available,
was composed towards the end or just after the Kalabhra rule. But
we do not know where it was written and under whose patronage. It
could have been written when the Kalabhra rule had ended at
Madurai ; probably it had inspiration and patronage at
Kaverippattinam, under the successors of the Kalabbha kula
Buddhist King Accuta Vikkanta.

69