The Colas c34.27

c34.27

A much later version of the 'sacred sports' by Parañjōti held the field, and the earlier work of Nambi had almost been lost sight of till it was recovered, like many another classic, by the prince of modern Tamil scholars, Svāminātha Aiyar. Nambi's work differs in many important respects from Parañjōti's, particularly in the names of the Pāṇḍyan kings in whose time particular miracles are believed to have occurred. The fictitious list of successive rulers inheriting the throne for sixty-four generations from father to son, found in the *Hālāsyamāhātmya* and in Parañjōti, is unknown to Nambi, who names in all only less than ten kings. The order in which the sports are narrated also differs; there are besides many other minor differences all of which have been carefully noted by the learned editor of Nambi's *Purāṇam*. Authors who rush to deduce history from legend will do well to note the warning furnished by a study of these two versions.