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Kumari. In this connection, Adiyarkkunallar (914 Bari) the great commentator of Silappadikaram speaks of the land between the Pahruli and Kumari as having been cut up into 49 districts and says that it was this vast area that went under the sea in the first deluge that swallowed portions of Tamilakam. It is stated in the introductory verse to.Tolkappiam that the work was dedicated to the Pandian king called Nilandaru tiruvirpasdian (No O UTONG). The reason for this name of the Pandian king may be gathered from the initial lines of the 104th Stanza of Kalithogai to the effect that the Southern king of immortal fame who on account of the inroad of the sea on his land led a bold expedition to the north and won lands for his people in the territories of the Chera and Chola kings. This circumstance leads us to infer that the first deluge took place in the reign of this sovereign. References to him in Puranapuru etc., show that he lived for an extra ordinarily long time. Hence when Saint Tolkappiar wrote his book it is certain that the land beyond the river Kumari had already been covered by the Indian Ocean, and the southern limit of Tamilakam in his day must therefore be taken to be the river Kumari and not the mountain of that name. While the literature of the Pre-diluvian age was utterly lost to us, we have even now a complete copy of the Srst hexene conto the This immortal work is the connecting link between the vast literary evolution of Tamil in the period syled the age of the First Sangam and the literature of latter times.. The Aryan influence in the southern land was only very slight in the days of Saint Tolkappiar. Valmiki locates the Capital City of the Pandian kings in the age of the Ramayana about the spot where the Tampravarni empties itself into the sea. This is named Kapadapuram 1. "மலிதிரை பர்த்துதன் மண்டேல் வௌவலின் மெலிவின்றி மேற்சென்று மேவார்கா டிடம்படப் புவியொடு வின்னக்கிப் புகழ்பொறித்த இளா செண்டை வலிபீருன் மணக்கிய பாடாத தென்னவன்" (கலி, 104,
