Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎498v] (121/238)

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The Age of Mdnikka Vdfagar.
and it is very possible the name is, as Mr. Kolundu Pillai
suggests, the Sanscrit equivalent of some other Tamil name
actually borne by him. Perhaps it may hereafter be
ascertained to be so, and it is worth while noticing that the
name “ Arimjaya,” “ Conqueror of his enemies,” occurs at
about this period in a list of Ch 61 a Kings*— i.e., between
900 and 950 a.d., showing that such an exclusively Sanscrit
name was current at that period among the Cholas, and
thus lending probability to the tradition that the Pdndyan
King may also have had such a Sanscrit name as his royal
designation.
A serious objection to the great antiquity claimed for the
writings of Mdnikka, Tiruvalluvar, and other great Tamil
writers is that referred to by M. Vinson in his letter to the
editor of the Madras journal, The Light of Truth, of
May 31, 1901, which appears at p. 30 of the June and July
number of the journal for that year—viz., that writing was
only introduced into South India towards the middle of the
third century, a.d., and that there is no known inscription
dating prior to the sixth century.
If we adopt the chronological order given below, which
embodies the conclusions I have arrived at as set out in
this paper, we shall find that all difficulties as to the silence
of other writers in regard to Manikka Va^agar and Tiru
valluvar disappear, which is a further confirmation of the
accuracy of the position given to them. If, on the other
hand, we adopt any other chronological order, such as that
suggested by those who would antedate the third Sangam
to the first or second century a.d., and the period of
Manikka Vd^agar to a still earlier date, nothing but con-
fusion arises and endless impossibilities of accounting for
the silence of later writers as to persons and institutions
supposed to have existed in these earlier times, which in
the very nature of things they would have referred to had
such persons and institutions actually occupied a place in
that earlier period.
* See Duffs “ Indian Chronology,” p. 323 .