History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c6.s2.1

c6.s2.1

Next to inscriptions we might consider the testimony of literature and literary tradition. For the earliest period of the history of the Tamil land we are almost entirely dependent on a class of Tamil works known as the Śangam classics and attributable to the first and second centuries of the Christian era. The age of the Śangam has been the subject of keen discussion among scholars, and attempts have been made to bring it to the seventh and the eighth centuries. The late Mr. Swamikannu Pillai working from the astronomical details in the eleventh *Paripāḍal* arrived at the conclusion, in his *Indian Ephemeris*,¹ that the author of the piece must have lived in the seventh century. But the generally accepted date, namely, first and the second centuries A.D., seems established on satisfactory grounds, and the new dates have so far not been proved to be beyond doubt correct. The orthodox estimate of the Śangam age expounded by the late Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai and more fully by Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar has been followed here.