Studies in Cola History and Administration c7.174

c7.174

achievement in the phrase ‘ *varaippaham* ’ of ll. 240-41 of the *Porunarārruppaḍai*. He also argues that the great fertility of the Kāvēri valley that is attested by contemporary poets ‘ could have been obtained only if Karikāla had scientifically regulated the flow of water in the Kāvēri.’ Even if it be conceded that ‘ *varaippaham* ’ does not mean ‘ tanks and ponds’ as Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar interprets it, but the inside of the embankment (of the river), still it is difficult to see how this can be taken as “ an allusion ” to the embankments said to have been raised by Karikāla. Following the suggestion made by Mr. Kanakasabhai on the evidence of Upham’s *Rājāvaḷi*, Dr. S. K. Aiyangar adopted the notion * that Karikāla’s sway extended to Ceylon, that he invaded the island and brought thousands of its people captives and compelled them to work on the banks of the Kāvēri. The early chronicle *Mahāvamsa*, much more trustworthy as history, knows nothing of this invasion, and yet it has become current by being incorporated in four successive editions of Smith’s *Early History of India*.