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260 சக்கிரவர்த்தி (emperor of poets), etc., were also conferred on them. Poets were honoured and respected to such a degree that even kings did not think it dishonourable to act as their palanquin bearers. To appease the wrath of a poet, a Pandya queen is said to have borne his palanquin one whole night in the disguise of a male carrier. Instances of the Tamil kings honouring poets, and of their indirectly encouraging learning are only too many. One point, however, might be noticed in this connection. The Tamil kings of Chera, Chola and Pandya were liberal patrons of Tamil literature. In the Tamil work entitled Padirruppattu, the poet Kannanar of Kunnattur is said to have received, for having composed ten poems, a grant of five hundred villages and the revenues of the southern districts for thirty-eight years; the poet Kappiyanar obtained from the Chera. king a gift of forty lakhs of pon (a gold coin valued at Rs. 2-8-0 each) for his ten poems ; and the poetess Nacchellai was given by another Chera monarch nine tulams (Tulam=600 Rs. weight) of gold for making jewels and one lakh of gold coins, besides the honour of a seat by his side. Such was the munificient patronage of poets by the Tamil kings.

A comparison of these ancient institutions of the Tamil people with the modern Royal Academy of the French will be interesting, since both of them were alike in their constitution, work and influence. The French Academy was established in A. D. 1635, that