The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c13.43

v1.c13.43

The victory of Visvanatha over the Pandyas was decisive¹. The four kings gave their countries to the Madura Sovereign, according to the agreement, “and departed as emigrants, or solitary wanderers into other lands”² As a matter of fact, we hear no more about the institution of the Five Pandyas as in former times; so we may suppose that the victory of Visvanatha marked the end of it. Nevertheless, the appointment of a member of the Pandya family as subordinate king in Tinnevelly, was politically the best means to establish union between Tamilians and Telugus; and accordingly we find several Pandyas ruling at Tenkasi after this event. It was probably then that Tirunelveli Kulasekhara Perumal, the younger brother of Perumal Parakrama Pandyadeva, was crowned in 1553 "in the presence of the lord of the Universe at Tenkasi" ¹. He took on this occasion the title of Vira-vel, a title suggestive of a subordinate rank ², probably to the king of Madura. His son Ativirarama Pandya Alagan, who is mentioned together with Visvanatha in an inscription of 1558 ³, also took on his coronation day, in about 1564, the name of Sivala-vel, ⁴ which has the same connotation. In their incriptions there are no boasts like those of Perumal Parakrama Pandyadeva, whose defeat had been a good lesson for the Pandyas. Neither Vira-vel nor Sivala-vel thought any more of rebellion and war, but devoted themselves to poetry and literature. The former, according to the inscription of his coronation, "feeling that flower garlands would all fade away, put on a garland of verses in the venba metre sung in praise of him by the poets" ⁵. Was this not a fruit of the experience of his brother Perumal Parakrama, whose glory and pride faded suddenly before the sword of Visvanatha Nayaka?