Another attempt in later times seems to have been made by Poyyamoli Pulavar the author, of an erotic poem known as the Tanjaivanan Kovai. He lived, it is said, in the reign of one Vanangamudi Pandyan whose date cannot be determined at present. From the brief account of this poet given in the Tamil Plutarch, it might be inferred that the poet's petition to the Pandya kingito establish an academy did not meet with the royal approbation. But at the time of Tiruttakka Deva (about 900 A. D.) there was, it is said, a Sangam at Madura, and one Poyyamoli was an admirer of the reputed author of Chintamani. If this Poyyamoli was the poet alluded to above, we shall have every reason to think that he did partially succeed in founding an academy which was probably the fifth.
The Pandya and Chola kings, some of whom were lovers of Tamil literature, might have assembled societies of learned men at different times ; but no history of them has come down to us, probably because none of them attained the high rank of the first three academies. Yet, most of the Tamil kings from Parantaka Chola (A. D. 906) downwards appear to have encouraged the growth of Tamil learning by patronising eminent poets who adorned their courts and by showering on them munificent presents. A few of them like Gandaraditya (tenth century) and Ati Vira Rama Pandya (seventeenth century) were themselves poets, and gave an impetus in later times to the advancement of learning in the Tamil country.
