South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c9.67

c9.67

² The term Āriya Chakravarti has been taken to imply a Muhammadan general as there happened to be, at the time, a Muhammadan Customs Officer in high favour with the Pāṇḍya monarch. It is hardly necessary to point out that the existence of a Muhammadan in high position in the Pāṇḍya country will not warrant his identification with this Āriya Chakravarti when he is described by the chronicle as chief among the Tamils. He is said to be not an Āriya for the simple reason that he was a Tamil, a distinction that is maintained in the previous sections of the narrative as between the Tamils and the Singhalese. The term Āriya Chakravarti was a title, and many Tamil chieftains bore similar titles during this period.