17. Prostrate with fear at Thy feet she cries 'Lord with matted hair, my Refuge, Rider of the bull! Lord of Maruhal where fresh water-lilies bloom, is it right to leave her in this anguish of heart?

Our present writer's poems contain such frequent denunciations of Buddhism or Jainism that it is clear that they were written at a time when the struggle between Hinduism and these other religions was at its height. Buddhism and Jainism are scarcely known in South India to-day, though at one time they were supreme. It is probable that these songs helped not a little to drive them out of the country.

18. Those Buddhists and mad Jains may slander speak.
Such speech befits the wand'rers from the way.
But He who came to earth and begged for alms,
He is the thief who stole my heart away.
The raging elephant charged down at Him;
O marvel! He but took and wore its hide;
Madman men think Him, but He is the Lord
Who in great Bramapuram doth abide.

The "Little Servant of God" mentioned in the next verse is one of the 63 canonized saints of Saivism. According to the collection of legends known as the Periya Puranam, which is a Tamil Saivite classic, he fought at the battle of Vadapi, the modern Badami, which took place in 642 A.D. There are other indications which strengthen the view that these hymns date from the seventh century A.D.

In the first three lines of the verse Siva is conceived as a lover, and the devotee as the woman whom He loves. In India the pain of absence from a lover is supposed to cause spots to appear on the skin of the woman who loves.

19. Birds in the flowering green-branched punnai tree,
Love writeth clear its marks on me, for He
Who cured my grief, yet left unending pain.
Senkattankudi is His holy fane,
And there His "Little Servant" dwells, who now
And ever doth before Lord Siva bow.
There in the burning-ground, with fire in hand,
Sporteth unceasingly our Master grand.

Another possible indication of date occurs in the next two verses, given in English prose because the Tamil names will not fit into English metres. The Mangaiyarkkarasi here mentioned was the wife of a king of Madura, Kun Pandiyan, known to history. According to the above-mentioned collection of stories, this king became a Jain. Then the queen and the prime minister named in our poem sent for Sambandar, our author, through whose efforts the king was reconverted, and all Jain teachers were executed by impaling. Unfortunately the date of Kun Pandiyan cannot at present be accurately determined. An able discussion of it can be seen in "The Tamilian Antiquary, No. 3."