kalabhras களப்பிரர் - 1

i had almost no knowledge of kalabhras despite their having ruled tamil land.

my knowledge about them was just..... sometime in history, kalabhras also ruled tamilnadu; and that period is known as dark age!

habit of non-stop reading introduces a lottttttt of surprises! esp when we dont limit ourselves to only one interest/subject/task/career/family; esp when our interest switches from one thing to another ...to...another..... to one more!

read a book on kalabhras, 

* titled, " களப்பிரர் ஆட்சியில் தமிழகம்" ; 

* in english, it translates to, " tamilnadu under kalabhra's rule ";

* written in Tamil language by thiru. mayilai seeni vEnkadasaamy; 

* published by vidiyal publishers, Coimbatore-641015.

* the book i read was the third print.

* first print was released by makkal publishers in 1975.

* sadly i noted thiru.seeni vEnkadasaamy has passed away on 1980 (born on 1900).

i consider myself very lucky to have stumbled upon this book in last year's (2015) bookexpo in chennai.

when mr.seeni presents reasons to support his claims, i could only think of a brave heart; this book took on the popular misunderstanding that IS prevailing among tamil people; in order to do that, against the already long established, majority convinced, (wrong) conception, it would have taken a lottttttttt of courage. 

a renowned historian(KAN Sashtri) of past had thrown a very bad light on kalabhras in the 1930s; later, all historians just parroted it; and everyone has bought that; this idea has been shouted from the roofs of classrooms, podiums of universities, temple halls; now to say something against this established idea.....is risky, some may dislike it, some may spit venom for exposing facts.

yet mr. seeni did it.

* at the end of last sangham period, there were these contemporary kings. 

         cheran- KO kOdhaimaarban; 

         chozhan- KO chenganaan;

         pandiyan- thalaiyaalangaanaththuch cheru vendra pandiyan nedunj chezhiyan ( not that nedunj                             chezhiyan of silappathikaaram); 

         poraiyan - kaNaikkaal irumporai.

* the period was around 250AD. these kings and kingdoms did not have any strong leadership after them.

* we dont get much info on the RULERS the parts of the then known tamil country. but as prof. A. MARX observes, we think, history is only limited to the list of kings and their battles!

* until almost 600AD there were not many inscriptions, coins, palm leaves, potteries and the like archaeological evidences to tell us about the rulers.

*in 1923 vElvikkudi copper plates were found; and it was revealed that during this intermediate period, there were kalabhra kings who ruled tamil country.

* in 1935 KANS publishes his chozhas book. simply terms kalabhras period THE DARK AGE. less so because, no names of kings were found convincingly. more so, because, during this period, some hindu-priest class fellows were stripped of their special privileges, gifts of lands and gold given to them by previous &/or parallel hindu kings.

* that was enough. immediately, KANS condemns kalabhras, calling them- interlopers, and their ruling period- interregnum. paints them in pitch black.

* though the political leadership/head neared stupor, there were social, cultural and economic activities that thrived during that period.

* there were tooo many good books that were written in this period. yet KAN says, it was interregnum.