A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.73

c12.73

The upset of the existing order due to the Kalabhras must have affected the Chera country as well, though there is little evidence on this country in this period apart from the late legends of the Keralotpatti and Keralamāhātmyam. According to these, the rulers of the land had to be imported from neighbouring countries, and they assumed the title of Perumāl. Possibly the Vaishnava saint Kulaśekhara Āḻvār was one of these Perumāls; in his poems he claims sovereignty over Chera, Chola and Pāṇḍya, besides the Kongu country and Kolli mountain. His age cannot be determined with any certainty, though a date as early as the sixth century has been suggested for him, on the ground that at no later period could his claim to rule over Pāṇḍya and Chola be plausible. It seems more likely, however, that this claim was merely rhetorical, and that he belonged to a much later time, say the ninth century A.D.