The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c7.5.1

c7.5.1

The king referred to as Neḍiyōn or Vaḍimbalamba Niṇravan is an almost mythical figure whose achievements find a place in the ‘Sacred Sports’ of Madura,¹ and also among the traditional achievements of the Pāndyan kings mentioned in general terms in the Vēḷvikkuḍi and Śinnamanūr plates. Mudukuḍumi Peruvaḷudi is a more tangible figure who is praised by three poets in five short poems.² One of them (*Puram* 12) refers to his foreign conquests as the basis of his liberality, and another by the same poet (*Puram* 15) contains a shocking description of the way he treated conquered territory ploughing it with white-mouthed asses and refers to the many big sacrifices he performed in his day. Another poem (*Puram* 6) contains a blessing coupled with extravagant hero-worship which claims all India as the territory ruled by this king. The king who ruled in Madura at the time of the story of the *Śilappadikāram* was a Neḍuñjeḷiyan distinguished by the epithet Ariyappaḍaikaḍanda¹ for reasons that cannot now be traced. He is said to have died of a broken heart when the innocence of Kōvalan was proved to him by Kaṇṇaki beyond all possibility of doubt. There is a short poem (*Puṟam* 183) ascribed to him which puts learning above birth and caste.