There is no literary evidence to prove that the Kalabhras set up their rule in Tamil landscape by defeating the Pandiya dynasty, said Thulasi.Ramasamy, former head, Department of Art and Culture, International Institute of Tamil Studies.
Prof. Ramasamy, whose research works on Tamil classics ‘Tirukkural’ and ‘Tholkappiyam’ triggered new debates, is now undertaking a research on the rule of the Kalabhras, dubbed as dark period of Tamil political history.
Addressing a national level symposium on ‘Sangam literature in current perspective’ organised by the Post Graduate Department of Tamil, Government Arts College, Tiruvannamalai, here, Prof. Ramasamy said there were no direct mention of the Pandiya kings in any of the ancient Tamil poems. The paper presented by Prof. Ramasamy says that many of the ancient poems (Sangam works) were attributed to purported Pandiya kings only through post scribes written by later compilers. There was no inherent reference or evidence to show that they were sung in praise of the Pandiya kings. Especially there is no inherent reference in those poems to claim ‘Palyaga Muthu Kudumi Peruvazhuthi’ was a Pandiya king. In fact, the Pandiyas were chieftains of ethnic clans and they have not evolved into kings. That’s why no poet sang in their praise.
Ashoka’s inscriptions do mention about the region of ‘Pandiyas’ as one of his borders. Since the word ‘Pandiyas’ was in plural and they were not referred to as kings, historian D.D. Kosambi too assumed them to be chieftains. The word Moovendhar (meaning King Trio) seems to refer to ‘Pari’, ‘Began’ and ‘Adhiyan’ who were referred to as chieftains in conventional narratives.
Hence, when the Kalabhras arrived here and set up a dynasty there was no Pandiya kingdom to defeat though there were Pandiya clans. He also disputes the veracity of Velvikkudi Copper Charter that claims that Kalabhras defeated Pandiyas and revoked endowments (Brahmathayam) given to Brahmins, as there was no corresponding literary evidence. R. Poongundran, former director of Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, in his address said that only archaeological evidences could help in compiling ancient literature in chronological order. Principal M. Subramanian, Head of Department M. Srinivasan, Professor V. Nedunchezhiyan, were among those present. University Grants Commission funded this symposium.
