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#02 coloured Imayam, which is presided over by Devas.” It is indeed the flood of the Gasgai that has evoked all the awe and wonder of the poets and the people. The flood of the Gaigai is believed to bring gold” and it is described as one that tends to break its bounds” or any other barrier.” Hence it is said that it is difficult to cross it” and the people wait to do so by boats in turn.” Though the Gangai is described to have heavy floods, yet it is also said that its water is clear,” rich’” and good.” In a very signifi cant passage in Puranāmāru Perunchitiranār the poet speaks about how the Gangai is beneficial in supplying drinking water at times of drought with a personal note.” Last but not the least is the beauty of the scene that impressed the poetic mind, the merging of the Gañgai in the Bay of Bengal. This merging into the sea is described as a thousand face piercing the white waves of the: Bay.” There also appears to have been a tradition to treat the water of the Käviri as that of the Gañgai and the sons of the Käviri (the agriculturists) as the sons of the Gañgai.” Two important reasons for the mention of the Gañgai in Early Tamil Literature is that it was a proud thing to bathe in the Gangai to attain Punyam” and to get rid of the evils of sins committed in life.” The Imayam and the Gañgai are freely mentioned in the similes of Cafigam poetry.** It is-an accepted truth that similes and metaphors bespeak many truths about the life and thought of the times of the poet. The way in which the ancient Tamil poets have used the snow-white peaks of the Imayam and the surging waters of the sacred Gangai proves the familiarity of that mountain and that river among the masses of Tamilnad and at the same time the reverence they demanded from the poets who were the products of the times. In Puranânăru itself we find the Imayam used in about four similes* and the Gafigai in ome simile.84 - Like the Imayam and the Gañgai, Pātali, the great city on the bed of the river Sönai, also finds its place in the world of similitudes of the ancient Tamii poets.85 v In ancient Tamil poetry we have sufficient material to believe that the Tamil poets and the people had enough personal know