烹调 an all-pervading god. There are only a few references to Purāņic anecdotes, but they would seem to be the first exotic influences on the simple Tamil religion and their numbers Ynot So many as to bewilder the readers. But in the post-Cañkam or in the Pallavan age after the Sanskritic influences became sopronounced as to dilute the true elements of Tamil culture, Tamil literature began to reflect those influences as he esult of wic Tamil life itself was greatly affected. Thus literature d life became interrelated. Therefore, it is easy to separate the literature o the post-Cañkam age and that of the Cañkam age. The Muttoliayiram is far from mystical. Religious doctrines do not overwhelm or dominate the work. Therefore, it can be asserted that the Muitoilayiram is a work of the period immediately following the third Cañkam if not of the last Cañkam period itself. Excepting Najafikilii no other historical king is mentioned. Käkkötti is another name found in the work and there is no doubt that it is a Céra name, but it is not possible to identify the Cora king with this alias. A Kökkötai is in the list furnished by Sri N. Sivaraja Pillai and assigned to the second century A.D.” Without trying to be final on the identification of the three patrons of the author of the poem, we have discussed this question elsewhere, From another angle related to internal evidence Scholars may be inclined to assign the work to the fifth or the sixth century A.D. Some grammarians see in the use of the ‘yêl terminal in a compound word like 'aliyānal' . tanél’ etc., that it was definitely a later grammatical development, because in the truly classical anthologies this yel' subjunctive suffix is mot found. Again the mention of the special names of a horse belonging to the later Pantiyās, namely, ‘Kanavattam” and that of the later Cola ‘Patalam' would lead one to accept a later date to this work. But the grammatical convention referred to might have been initiated much earlier or by the author of the MMitollayiram himself. The influence of the Muñollayiram can be distinctly 8. Sivaraja Pillai, K. N. : The Østronology வ the Early Tamils, 3.
