Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/19

Rh the earnestness and diligence with which he must have collected his information.

That Ugra Pândya and the last College or Sangha of poets, belonged to a very early period may be inferred from numerous allusions in later Tamil works, of which I shall mention only one here. In the commentary to Iraiyanar Akapporul, the author Nilakandan of Muchiri gives a brief account of the history of Tamil literature and alludes therein to the last Sangha of poets at Madura, presided over by Ugra Pandya. Every one of the stanzas with which the author illustrates his commentary contains the praises of the Pandyan king Nedumâran alias Arikêsari, victor of the battle of Nelvêli, and the king is described therein as alive at the time and ruling the Pandya, Chera and Chola kingdoms, having defeated and driven off the invaders who had come from the north. From the Udayêndram grant of Nandivarman Pallavamalla I find that the famous battle of Nelvêli was fought between the Pandyan king and Udayachandra of Kollâpuram(Kolhâpar) who was the general of the Pallava king, Pallava malla Nandivarman. This Pallava king was contemporary with the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya II. who reigned from A.D. 733 to 747 according to inscriptions in the Chalukya country. Nilakandan the commentator, who praises Neduncheliyan the victor of Nelvêli, should have flourished therefore in the, earlier half of the eighth century. It appears from his commentary that the works of the Sangha poets were current during his time in the form of collections or anthologies, such as Akam, Narrinai Kurunthokai and Pathirruppathu. He quotes also from the Chilappathikaram. The Akam is a collection of 401 different pieces composed on various occasions by more than 200 poets. The Kurunthokai is a similar collection from the works of 205 authors. The Narrinai contains 401 verses composed by not less than 200 poets. The Pathirruppathu consists of ten poems