War in Ancient India c15.41

c15.41

4. *Kāvanmaram*: It was a custom with ancient Tamil monarchs to rear a tree at the outskirts of their dominions, and to guard it with great care and zeal. The idea was that if the invading enemy would first attack this Kāvanmaram, and if this were felled down, the owner of the tree felt it a public shame as it amounted to vanquishing him.¹¹ The enemy king removed the tree to his kingdom and put it to different uses, one of which was to make out of the cut trunk a war drum.¹² The Kāvanmaram was a symbol of sovereignty. It is said that Imayavaramban Neḍuñceralātan felled the Kadamba tree in an island which he captured. The idea of this Kāvanmaram may be traced back perhaps to the Pillar cult which may have been a part of the ancient Dravidian worship. As in ancient Crete the Tamils of South India attached value to the cult of the Pillar. It may be that the kings of the Tamil land attached religious significance to this Kāvanmaram, and hedged it with divinity.