Studies in Cola History and Administration c6.28

c6.28

"It is evident," says Mr. Srinivasa Aiyangar,* "that some of the colophons appended to the poems by the editor do not embody tradition but contain guesses, sometimes wild." Our examination of the value of the Puram Four Hundred as a source of history would not be complete without a consideration of the cases adduced by Mr. Srinivasa Aiyangar in support of his statement just quoted. His first instance emerges from a comparison of songs numbered 76 and 77, both said to be compositions of a single poet, Iḍaikkuṉṟūr Kiḻār, on the same hero, the Pāṇḍya Neḍuñjeḷiya who was victor at Talaiyālaṅkāṉam. He says: "It is imposssible to believe that the hero victor of Talaiyālaṅkāṉam, known to the poet (76) and the boy-hero, unknown to the poet (77) were one and the same person." But was the boy-hero unknown to the poet? The operative part of the text of *Puram* 77 is: