vii on three different thrones in three different capitals. There were certain common purposes which all the three strove to achieve : and certain traditions had been developed by which politics was subordinated to higher goals. For instance, each of the three rulers vied with the others in promoting Tamil learning, All the three worked to preserve the cultural individuality expressed by the term ‘Tamilakam' which, though patently a geographical concept, signified the cultural uniqueness of the region presided over by them. The Muttollayiram does not mention names of kings directly, The Pânțiya, the Côa and the Céra are to be recognised by the references to the special characteristics of the country and by their honorific titles. However, there is one name which while normally to be understood as a general title applicable to all the early Cölas was also the name of a Cóła king. Verse No. 87 refers to Nalańkili. It is well known that there was a Cola king by name Nalańkilli and instead of taking Nalańkilii as a title of every Cöla king it will be better to consider it as the name of a king. Prof. P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar places Nalańkilli after Karikālan. He would guess that Nalańkilli was the immediate successor of Karikālan. Here is a verse of Kövår kilär in praise of Nalańkilli. “As amongst the objects of human life wealth and pleasure come after dharma. So the two umbrellas, those of the Céran and the Pantiyan, come after your single umbrella. Desiring that your fame should rise high like the white moon you are spending all your time in military camps, Your elephants, the tips of whose tusks have been blunted by battering the fort walls of your enemies, are having no rest. Your soldiers who wear the bracelets of heroes are always eager for war do not hesitate to march to the enemies' distant territories situated in the middle forests. Your horses first stay in the battle fields where the war festival is celebrated and so from the eastern Ocean right round till the white waves of the western ocean wash their hoofs. The kings of the northern region are watching with sleepless eyes and are trembling with fear.””
3. Puram--31,
