The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c16.23

c16.23

¹ Nos. 25 of 1891 and 465 of 1909 of the years ten and four respectively. Mr. Krishna Sastri (at A.R.E., 1910, part ii, para 36) holds that ‘it is certain that he (Kulaśēkhara of No. 465 of 1909) could not be identical with Māravarman Kulaśēkhara I, “who was pleased to take every country”’. His reasons are: (a) Kulaśēkhara ‘who conquered every country’ is not known to have had any eulogy in the form of a historical introduction; (b) the mention of the chief officer Kalingarāyan in the record makes it probable that this Māravarman Kulaśēkhara was a contemporary or successor of Jatāvarman Śrivallabha; and (c) the historical introduction was characteristic of the records of the first kings of the mediæval Pāndyas. Reasons (a) and (c) simply beg the question. As for (b), Mr. Krishna Sastri himself ascribes another record No. 366 of 1913 to Kulaśēkhara ‘who took all countries’ for the very reason that it mentions Kalingarāyan (A.R.E., 1914, part ii, para 22). That No. 465 of 1909 does not give the title ‘who took all countries’ is no argument against its being ascribed to the king; for when there is a characteristic introduction to a record, the king’s surnames may or may not appear. See Jatāvarman Sundara’s records beginning Pūmalar Valar. Dr. S. K. Aiyangar ascribes No. 465 of 1909 to our king—op. cit., pp. 56 and 221.