Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎498r] (120/238)

The Age of Mdnikka Vdfagar. 333
by Mdnikka Va^agar in some instances. But, apart from
the fact that men of devotional minds are apt to hit upon
a similar mode of expression, it is quite as probable that
Manikka Va^agar took his expressions from Appar, as that
Appar took his from Manikka Va9agar. The tradition
also referred to that Appdr was never without a copy of
Manikka Va^agar’s hymns in his hands, and was always
engaged in the study of them, has no historical basis. I
come to the conclusion, therefore, that Manikka Va^agar
must stand at some date between 640 and 984 a.d., this
latter date being the period of the compilation of the Saiva
Bible, in which his works found a place.
It has never been suggested that he was a contemporary
of Kumarila Bhatta An extra allowance of pay granted to soldiers involved in special field service or to public servants on special duty. (725 a.d.), or of Sankarachariar, now
considered to have been born about 788 a.d.,* or as having
lived in the same century with them, nor is he mentioned
or referred to by them. Now, Sankaracharidr was a
native of Kerala (Malabar), and no doubt familiar with
Tamil, of which Malaydlam, his own vernacular, is an
offshoot. If Mdnikka had lived at or before Sanka-
rdchdridr’s time, would not his doctrines and career have
found a notice in the great reformer’s works ?
If, then, we accept the general opinion that Sanka-
rdchdridr’s period is of the eighth century and part of the
ninth, we may safely conclude that Mdnikka Vd9agar’s
period was not earlier than the middle of the ninth century
— i.e.) 850 a.d. And as for the reasons above given he
could not be later than 985, and from the place given him
in the Saiva sacred books was prior to Gandardditya, we
may place his lifetime between 850 and 940 a.d.
The Sanscrit name “ Arimardhana,” that of the Pdndyan
King to whom he is said to have been Prime Minister, is
not found, there being no lists of Pdndyan Kings of that
time forthcoming. The name, if from Arim and Mardhana,
would mean “ Pounder of his enemies,” or, if from Arim
and Ardhana, might mean “Tormentor of his enemies,”
* Some opinions place him as early as 590 a.d.