History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c7.s1.44

c7.s1.44

against the identification of the Tiraiyar chiefs and the Pallava kings is the attitude of these kings towards Tamil literature and poets. While we find, that the chiefs of the Tiraiyar like Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan not only encouraged and fostered Tamil poets but are actually reputed to have been poets themselves. We do not find that any of the early Pallavas were similarly devoted to the encouragement of Tamil. That Toṇḍamān-Iḷam-Tiraiyan was himself a poet is evident from Puraṉāṉūṟu 185, and verses 94, 96 and 106 of Naṟṟiṇai. The explanation is that the Pallavas were essentially a northern rather than a Tamilian race, steeped in Aryan or Brahmanic culture which through their encouragement took the leading place in the Tamil country. They were aliens to the Tamil land in this sense that their culture and outlook were totally different from those of the Tamils, and hence did not give themselves to actively patronizing Tamil literature like the Tamil kings of the south. Throughout their history we find them almost exclusively encouraging Sanskrit culture and literature. With the exception of the Āḻvārs and Aḍiyārs and the author of Nandikkalambakam, no Tamil poet appears to have enjoyed the patronage of the Pallavas. On the other hand, Sanskrit was actively fostered at the Pallava court, and a number of Sanskrit poets found hospitable reception in the Pallava court such as Bhāravi, Daṇḍin, etc., and some of the kings themselves were noteworthy writers in Sanskrit.¹ When all these considerations are taken into account it becomes difficult to sustain the identity of the Tiraiyar chiefs with the Pallava kings.