Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/47

Rh {|
 * Chenthirukai ||...||  Polyur, Valakulam, Alathur, Arunkulam.
 * Kunrapattiram ||...||  Mangalam, Venkalur, Ninnayam.
 * Venkadam ||...||  Kudakarai, Pottappi, Thondaiman.
 * Velur || ...|| Olukarai, Nenmili, Mathur.
 * }
 * Velur || ...|| Olukarai, Nenmili, Mathur.
 * }
 * }

Many of the inland towns of the Aru-Varni mentioned by Ptolemy may be identified with the capitals, of the Koddams above mentioned as shown below:

Milanga the royal city of Basarnagos appears to have been no other than Kânchipuram the capital of Mâvilankai. Phrourion, another city of the Arnvarnoi, was most probably the same as Sopatma mentioned in the Periplus. Phrourion in Greek, signifies “a garrisoned fort.” Sopatma is evidently Sopaddinam, which in Tamil means a fortified town. This was a sea-port and was commonly known to the Tamils as Eyilpaddinam, which conveys the same meaning as Sopaddinam, i.e., a fortified town. In these ports were high light-houses built of brick and mortar, which exhibited blazing lights, at night, to guide ships to the ports. The northern limit of Tamilakam on the east coast was at Vêrkâdu now known as Palavêrkâdu (or Pulicat). Beyond this was the country of the Vadukas who spoke a language called Vaduku. The king of Erumai-Nadu, or the modern Mysore, was also called the “chief of the Vadukas.” It is evident therefore that in this early period, the people north of Tirupaty and those who resided in Mysore spoke one and the same language Vaduku, and that Telugu and Canarese had not become separate dialects. In