was made by this Sangam, the date of its abolition could be easily determined. In the above work we find a poem addressed to the Chola king Kocchengannan by poet Poigaiyar[1]. The exact age of this poet is not known ; but the Chola king has been referred to by the saints Trignanasambanda and Tirumangai Alvar (A. D. 650-750) as the builder of several temples to Siva and Vishnu. For this pious act he has been canonized as a saint and included in the hagiology of the Saivas. Granting that a period of about a century had elapsed between this Chola king and Sambandar, the probable date of Kocchenganan would be about A. D. 580. As there is no reference in Sambandar's work to the Tamil academy at Madura, where the Saiva saint must have stayed for some time before the Jains were impaled, and las a poem addressed to this king is found in Purananuru, there is every reason to believe that the third academy came to an end during the second half of the sixth century.
This was the time when the struggle between Jainism and Brahmanism was very vehement. The kings and scholars of this transition period in the south were completely absorbed in religious controversies, and they hardly had any time to devote to literary pursuits. And it was probably at this period that the Pandya country was conquered and temporarily held by the Kalabhras or Kalambras, till
- ↑ This poet must not be confounded with the Vaishnava saint Poigai Alvar who lived about A. D. 650.
