175-225); and the composition of Silappadikaram by his brother llango may, therefore, be placed between 200 and 225 A. D. In this work the exploits of the Chera kings Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in Table I, and of C in Table II are narratad (Book, xxviii, 11. 135-148). Consequently all the kings referred to in the two genealogies must have been the predecessors of Senguttuvan. The poet Paranar has sung Senguttuvan (No. 4) and his maternal uncle Nedum Cheral Adan (No. 1) besides Uruva Paher, Ilamchet Senni of Pukar, father of Karikala Chola of Kaveripatain and Vel-Pahradakkai Perunar-Killi of Uraiyur. Summing up the duration of the various reigns from No. 1 to No. 4, as given in Table I, the period comes to more than a century, and this could not surely be the age of Paranar. It is therefore clear that the length of the reign of each king includes the period of their viceroyalty in some part of the Chera country before their accession to the Chera throne, and that almost all kings given in the two tables must have reigned between A. D. 125 and 225.
This, I believe, is the period of Kapilar, Paranar and other poets mentioned above. It was the custom in these provinces as in the north, to appoint the sons of the reigning kings, especially the heirs apparent, as Viceroys of different provinces or Nadus under their sovereignty. As each of them styled himself a Chera, a Chola or a Pandya king, we have a number of such kings ruling at the saine period ; and there
