Page:Tamil studies.djvu/422

Rh academy. The seventh was Vikrama Pandya. In his reign the elephant that came to destroy Madura at the machination of the sains was metamorphosed into a hill by Siva with the help of Narasimha. In commemoration of this event the Pandya king built a temple for the Vishnu God Narasimha in the Yanamalai hill. 'மேவரு நரசிங்கத்தை யிருத்தினான் வேழக்குன்றில்'. The tenth in succession was Anantaguna Pandya. In this reign Sri Rama visited Madura while searching for his wife Sita. The nineteenth was Varaguna. He went to Tiruvidaimarudur in the Tanjore district to expiate his sin of brahma-hatti. The forty-sixth was Vamsasekhara in whose reign the third academy was established, Nakkirar, Paranar, Kapilar &c. being its members. Nakkirar composed the கைலைபாதி காளத்திபாதியந்தாதி. Rudrasarma listened to Nakkirar's commentary on Iraiyanar's Agapporul. The sixty-first was Arimardhana. The saint Manikkavachakar flourished in this reign. The last but one and the seventy-second king in the list was Kubja or Kun Pandya. In his reign 8000 Jains were impaled by Trignana Sambandha.

Stripping the above miraculous events of their mythological garb and considering them together it will be seen that they are most of them stern historical facts ; only the crder of time has not been observed. The 'sacred sports' of Siva at Madura are narrated in three or four Sanskrit puranas namely, Uttara Maha Purana, Kadamba Vana Purana, Sundara Pandyam and Halasya Mahatmyam—all which were composed some time after the tenth century A. D. out of the current traditions and legends. And their Tamil translations must have been made long after that period. These accounts differ as