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name Akattyar one being the Tamilian and the other Aryan The Akattyar who is said to have been one of the palacqhin-bearers of Indra was not at all the Tamil Saint of that name at whose door Indra danced attendance for help. The few songs in the name of Akatiyar found in the Rig Veda might have been interpolated by Saint Vyasa when he arranged the four Vedas in the age of the Mahabaratha. The story that Akattyar' was miraculously bora of a vessel as the son of St. Narada might be a concoction about the Tamil Saint by the Aryans or might refer to an Aryan saint of that name. It is clear that in many cases, the Aryans have succeeded in giving Sanskrit names to Tamil Saints or in adapting the names of Tamil Saints for Aryin sages. For our purposes we may hold that the term Akatiyar is purely a Tamil one meaning indis. pensable'. Turning to Tolkappiar we find him described by the Aryan or aryanised writers as a son of Samathagasi. If that be the fact, he must have been the brother of Parasurama but he is not described as such in any of the Puranas or thikasas. The Tamil view is that he came of an ancient family whose traditional name was Kappiar fust like the names of குறுக்கையர், சேக்கிழார், ஏயர்கோன் etc. A few adhere to the theory that he belonged to a village called Kappiak di situated not far away from Sirkali in the Tanjore District. The Tamil commentators as a rule hold that he belonged to the Kappian family. Another set of modern scholars are or opinion that the another of Tolkappiam derived his name from his work Tolkappiam which means "thy Old Protective Word." The following remarks of Mr.T. Ponnambalam, Pillai, M.R AS, Retired Excise commissioner of Travancore are worthy of note in the connection. The word "Tolkappiam' is a compound of three simple words, Tol, Keppu and Iyam, the first of which means hoary, the second, protection and the third, science, so that the acceptation of the whole is the venerable science of protection. This beautiful appellation with which Tamil genius hos dignified Grammar, is the indication of the high function of that science, as understood by the Tamils." alle commissiphe word Topu and Iyand the third sciene
