Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/68

Rh The Tamil conquerors named the town Champâ-pati, most probaby after Champânagar, an ancient capital of Bengal (the site of which is near the modern town of Bhagalpur) fron which hey had emigrated.

There seems to be no doubt that Muchukunta was the first Chola King who conquered the Nagas. The name of the Thiraiyar in Sanskrit was Sâgarakula. The ancient Kings of Thondainad belonged to the Sâgarakula, but the later Pallavas styled themselves Bhâradvajas. Families of the Thirayar tribe who lived in Thondai-Mandalam (the modern Chingleput and North Arcot Districts) were known by the following names, as late as the sixteenth century A. D. :-


 * Pangala Thirayar—Thirayar of Bengal.
 * China Thirayar—Thirayar of China, this was most probably Cochin China.
 * Kadara Thirayar—Thirayar of Kadaram, that is, Burmah.
 * Singala Thirayar—Thirayar of Ceylon.
 * Pallava Thirayar—Thirayar of Pallavam.

Another tribe of the Tamils was the Vanavar or “Celestials". They were evidently natives of a mountainous region in the North of Bengal, and when they settled in Southern India, they chose for their residence hilly tracts, such as the Kolli-hills (in the Salem District) the Western Ghats, and the Nilgiris. The Chera Kings belonged to this tribe and called themselves Vanavar or Celestials. They claimed affinity with the Vanavar inhabiting the Himalayas, and expressive of their origin they adopted the titles of Vanavarmman or Imaya-Varmman. Besides the Chera Kings, other mountain chiefs such as Nannan, lord of Muthiram and Alumbil-Vel called themselves