Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s4.t1.7

c23.s4.t1.7

Peruñcēral Irumporai, the hero of the 8th decade, is famous for his victory over Atiyamāṉ Neṭumāṉ Añci of Takaṭūr ³ (whose inscription at Jambai is also included as No. *59* in the present Corpus). Peruñcēral Irumporai held the learned in high esteem. In a famous poem, the poet Mōci Kīraṉār records the incident that once when he climbed unwittingly on the vacant platform of the royal drum and fell asleep, the king, instead of putting him to death for his unpardonable crime, fanned him gently so as not to disturb him in his sleep.⁴ The identification of the Irumporai princes of the Pugalur inscriptions with those celebrated in *Patiṟṟuppattu* yields one of the most important synchronisms found so far to determine the dates of the contemporary princes and poets of the Caṅkam Age from about the middle of the 1st century to the middle of the 3rd century A.D.