Looking from the other side it is a well known fact that the grammarian Panini has little or nothing to say about South India. We have to come to the time of Katyayana for some knowledge of places in South India. Katyayana had heard of the Pandya and the Chola Kingdoms. Contemporary Buddhist literature does not mention anything beyond Dandaka lying south of As'maka on the Godaveri, so that down to the middle of the 4th century, comparatively little was known of the South, as far, at any rate, as our knowledge of it goes at present. This is in a way confirmed by the dramatist Bhasa whose political vision seems to be bounded by the Vindhyas and the Himalayas for the south and north, and the seas for the west and east.1 Megasthenes had however heard of the Pandya country. It was under the rule of a woman and her territory extended from sea to sea in the south. It was, according to him, composed of 365 villages. He gives a queer story that one village or township brought in its revenue every day. This arrangement, according to him, was intended to give the queen the assistance of the escort carrying the tribute to compel others who may not be so readily inclined to pay. He gives the precise information that the Pandyan army was composed of 500 elephants, 4,000 cavalry and 130,000 infantry. He also refers to the possession of the rich fishery for pearls which the later Greek writer Arrian says were sought for by the Greeks and the Romans. Coming to the Arthasastra of Chanakya, referable almost to the same time as Megasthenes himself, we gain a few details which exhibit a certain amount of definite knowledge. He speaks of two classes of pearls which must be referred to this country. One is called Tamraparnika, apparently pearls fished for near the mouth of the Tamraparni, namely, the Gulf of Mannar; and then Pandya Kavataka that which is obtained in Pandya Kavata, which would mean literally the door of the Pandya. The commentator, however, renders this expression by "Malayakoti." That could only mean the pearls fished for in the Pandya country where the promontory of Malaya, the southern portion of the Western Ghats, dips into the sea; in other words, the sea very near Cape Comorin. Speaking of cotton cloth he refers to the fabrics of Madhura noted then as now, for the fine textures produced in the town or district. When we come down to the age of Patanjali a little more knowledge of South India is exhibited. He knew Mahishmati and Vidarbha1 both of which might be referred to the Dakhan, and Kanchipuram and Kerala in the south. One point of some importance in his references is where he says that the word "Sarasi" is used in the South to denote large lakes, giving us a hint that he knew not only the geography of the country, but had noted even some of the peculiarities of the language of the south. That is so far only from literature.

1 Sarabhanga Jataka (522) and cf. Arthasastra, p. 11, ed. 1911.

1 Imam sagaraparyantam nimavad-Vindhyakunclalam mahira ekatapatrankam Rajasimha prasastu nah.