War in Ancient India c4.s6.t7.11

c4.s6.t7.11

In these adventures which were undergone for their glorification, the Tamil kings did not lag behind their northern brethren. The very epithet *Imayavaramban* shows that the limits of the empire under that Emperor extended to the Himalayas in the north. This title was also earned by Ceran Senguṭṭuvan by his meritorious exploits in the north. Names like the Coḷa Pass in the Himalayan slopes, which in very early times connected Nepal and Bhutan with ancient Tibet, give a certain clue to the fact that once our Tamil kings went so far north as the Himalayas and left their indelible marks in those regions.⁶⁰ If in the epic age a Rāma and an Arjuna could come to the extremity of our peninsula, and in the historical period a Candragupta or a Samudragupta could undertake an expedition to this part of our country, nothing could prevent a king of prowess and vast resources like the Cēra king Senguṭṭuvan from carrying his arms to the north. The route lay through the Dakhan plateau, the Kalinga, Malva, and the Ganges. Perhaps it was the ancient Dakṣiṇapatha route known to history from the epoch of the Ṛg Veda Samhitā. These expeditions were prompted by what the psychologists would call the mastery or self-assertive motive. This is clearly illustrated by a hymn of the Atharva Veda. (Bk. iv, 22. 1).