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TAMIL STUDIES

The Vaishnava commentator Perivavacchan Pillai explains கொங்குங்குடந்தை as Kudandai (Kumbakonam) which belonged to or was in the Kongu country. In a former section we have said that Aditya I conquered and annexed Kongu in or about 890 A. D. We learn further from other sources that Kumbakonam was a temporary capital of that newly conquered country from which the Chola prince or the Yuva Raja ruled the new province. The second quotation informs us that the Pandya king was Nedu Maran, while the third tells us that his purohit or spiritual teacher was a pious Vaishnava Brahman who bore the title of Abhimana Tungan. (It was one of the customs of those days to give the titles of a king to his favourite ministers and purohits. Manikka Vachagar had the title of தென்ன வன் பிரம்மராயன், Sekkilar was called உத்தம சோழப்பல்லவராயன்.) The word Maravarman is no doubt a title borne by all kings of the Pandya dynasty; but this when combined with the name Sri Vallabhadeva and the eponym Abhimana Meru, does certainly refer to a particular Pandya king. From the Chinnamanur plates referred to above we are given to understand that Raja Simha II had the title of Abhimana Mera Mara Varman, that he was a grandson of Maravarman Sri Vallabha Deva, and that he was killed by Parantaka Chola in A. D. 910. Among the wellknown temples of the Pandya country Srivillipuitur is one that was not visited by Tirumangai Alvar ; and when the god of Tiruttangal, a village some eight or nine miles distant from our Alvar's birth-place, has