பக்கம்:தமிழியல் கட்டுரைகள்.pdf/110

{03 ledge of the physical aspects of India to make them realise the inevitable geographical unity of India. This knowledge they should have acquired because of the many expeditions undertaken by the ancient kings of Tamilnad and by the pilgrimages undertaken by the religious-minded people to visit the holy places from one country to the other. Ilango Atikal, the author of Cilapatikāram, while narrating the story of Vidyādarā arriving at Käviripámpattinam (a former sea coast capital which is now in the modern Tanjore District) from the Himalayas, records the route by which he travelled. Following is the prose rendering of the relevant portion in Cilapatikāram: –°° Once a Nidyādarā hero celebrated, along with his lady-love of the long fish-like eyes, a feast in honour of the god of love, in the extensive, fragrant and flowery grove in a shady slope of the silver-peaked Kailāsa. He then realized that it was the day when Indra’s festival would commence in the flourishing city of Puhăr (Campapathi) in South India, and he said to his wife, ‘We shall go and witness the place where the great Bütam eats the sacrifice offered to it in commemoration of its having carried out Indra’s orders to ward off the evil effects of the arrows aimed by hosts of swift-going Asuras against the terror-stricken but best of men, the victorious being Mucukunda, while he was keeping watch, tigerlike over Indra’s city. 本 宰 本 ‘My dear coral-mouthed, slender waisted girl, we shall worship Indra, the Lord of Gods’ So saying ‘he started showing his lady-love the many crested Himalayas, the everflowing Ganges, the city of Ujjain, the Vindhya forests, the Tirupati Hills and the Käviri tracts overburdened with crops, and finally reached Puhăr, enveloped by flowery groves.” t 座 本 ,球 Another example of the knowledge of the various north Indian countries possessed by the ancient Tamil poets may also be cited from Cilapatikāram. This is found in the chapter on ‘Indira Vilavăreduta kåtai’ or the celebration of Indra’s festival, where the author lists the various presents received by the great