which the first of the above sports rests did actually take place in the reign of Jatila Varman Parantakan, A.D. 770. Nakkirar's commentary contains an illustrative kovai addressed to the Pandya king Arikesari Parankusan who reigned about A. D. 740.
It is admitted by Tamil pandits that the Tirukkovai of Manikka Vachakar was composed in accordance with the rules given in Iraiyanar's Agapporul, and that our saint must have read Nakkirar's commentary. The date of Iraiyanar's Agapporul could not be earlier than A. D. 650. and that of the commentary by Nakkirar about A. D. 740. Manikka Vachakar must have therefore lived after A.D. 740. If, now, we admit that the sports or miracles are narrated chronologically in the stalapurana, the 'Jackal miracle', coming after the metamorphosis of the Elephant, must have happened after A. D. 770. Thus even according to the writers of the Madura Stalapurana, Manikka Vachakar must have lived after A. D. 770.
(8) The religious propagandism of Manikka Vachakar, his visit to Ceylon and his conversion there of many Buddhists and their king which are narrated in the Vadavur Stalapurana, are confirmed by Rajaratnakari of Ceylon. This occurred in A. D. 819 or more correctly about A. D. 869.
(9) The language of Manikka Vachakar and the various metres employed by him do not take us so far back as the sixth or seventh century. Sanskrit words and phrases like இயமானன், உரோமம், சோரன், தோயம், விமலன், அமுததாரைகள், சண்டமாருதம், சிந்தாகுலம், துக்கசாகரம் and மாதாவுதரம் were not used by the poets of the academic period. The resemblance between the works of
