Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/79

Rh have excited much interest, not only because of their antiquity, but because of the curious fact that by them the ancient Chera Kings conferred on the Jewish Colonies, certain privileges which those Colonies still possess to some extent. They have been more than once translated, and there has been much diversity of opinion regarding the dates assigned to them. The earliest of the deeds is dated in the 36th year opposite to the 2nd year, during the reign of Sri-Bhaskara Ravi-Varman. The expression “36 year opposite to the 2nd year” has been variously interpreted. One scholar understood the 2nd year, to refer to the Cycle of Parasu Rama, another took the 36th year to refer to the 60 years Cycle of Brihaspati.” Neither of these Cycles are however applicable to all the deeds whose dates are given in double years. From the researches made by the Portuguese Missionary Beschi, who resided in Madura for forty years, it appears that the Cycle then used in Southern India was the Grahapparivirthi Cycle of