History begins for India, with the coming of the Aryans into the country. It may be said with almost equal truth that the history of South India, of India south of the Krishna-Tunga-bhadra frontier, begins with the coming of the Aryans into the South. In this particular context the term "Aryan " seems to stand for the Brahman. The coming of the Aryan therefore would be the coming of the Brahman as a settler in this remote and sequestered region of India from the point of view of the northern Aryan. As far as we could trace the term Aryan in early Tamil literature, it is used in a broad and narrower sense. In the broader sense, it means the northerner, with the northern culture; the typical representative of the latter was, so far as the southerners were concerned, the Brahman. But there is a sense in which the t6rm is used synonymously with the Tamil "Vadavar" (northerner). There is specific reference to a class known by this name, whose profession seems to have been elephant-training. They are referred to as men who were expert in capturing wild elephants by trained female ones.1 In the general sense there are references to Aryans, who were defeated in the battle-field of Vallam by the Cholas.2 These Aryas are also said to have been defeated in a northern invasion by a Chera king who is said to have imprinted his bow emblem on the face of the Himalayas and brought some of the Aryan kings captive to his capital Vanji. These are associated with the Himalayas.3 They come in for another reference as laying siege to the hill fortress of Mullur, the citadel of the Malayaman chieftain Tirumudik-Kari.4 A people therefore other than Brahmans were known under the name "Arya" in the south. That this is synonymous with the northern Aryans is in evidence in the title assumed by the Pandyan Nedum-Seliyan "who overthrew the forces of the Aryas."5 Among the synonyms given to the term in the Divakaram, the oldest Tamil Lexicon, occurs the term Mlechcha. This term seems to be used in the sense in which it is explained in the Satapatha Brahmana,6 and not meaning a foreign barbarian as in later times.

1 Paranar in Aham 296, 11. 9 and 10, and Mullaippattu, 11. 35-30.

2 Pavaik-Kottilar in Aham 336, 11. 20-22.

3 Padirruppattu. Poem I, 11. 23-26, and II, Padigam.

4 Narrinai, 170 of an unknown author.

5 Silappadhikaram, canto XXIII. Epilogue, 11. 14 to 18.

6 III. 2. 1. 23 and 24, Manu X. 45. Sacred Books of the East, XXVI, pp. 31 and 32. Cf. Mrchchakatika, p. 255, speech of Chandanaks: (Bo: Nirn: Edn. of 1916).

These Aryas are known to the Tamils by the general name Vadavar, literally northerners. They seem also to carefully distinguish those that were immediately to the north of their frontier as Vadukar. This word seems to be formed on the analogy of perhaps the later Kanarese word Badaga, which, in its origin, had the sense northerner also. But the use of the word seems confined to those immediately to the north of the regular Tamil frontier. This frontier was marked by Pulikat, the northern extremity of the Tamil country proper, on the east coast, and possibly Karwar point on the west coast. These people the Vadukar, are described as robbers by profession habitually engaged in cattle-lifting. The chieftain Erumai of Kudanadu is referred to as a Vaduka.1 The corresponding chieftain on the eastern side with his capital at Tirupati2 was also possibly a Vaduka by name Pulli who is described as the chieftain of robbers, Kalvarkoman. Entering this region from the Tamil country, the language changed.3 They are described by one poet as Vadukas who kept cruel dogs and the words of whose language were "long and unlearned," as much as to say "barbarous," in the original sense of the term.4

1 Narkirar in Aham 253, 11. 16-19.

2 Mamulanar in Aham, 11. 15-17.

3 Mamular in Aham, 31, 127, 211 and 295.

4 Karik-Kannan of Kaveripattanam in Aham 107, 1. 11.

Another poet of this group refers to the sacrifices that these people offered in thanksgiving for the capture of herds of cattle. In this connection the hill Vengadam (Tirupati) is described as belonging to Tondaiyar on the borders of the country of the Vadukas. These are some of the references to the Aryas or the northern people in the earliest extant literature of the Tamils.