all met together at Tirukkovalur in the South Arcot district. But for this one incident the Guruparamparai gives no particulars regarding them. It is believed by some scholars that Poigai Alvar was no other than the author of Kalavazhi. If there was any truth in this supposition, the first three Saints must have lived during the reign of the Chola king Kocchengannan that is prior to the sixth century A.D. But the above hypothesis is not countenanced by other internal evidences. Of the two Poigaiyars one was a saint and the other a famous bard. The saint was no respecter of men as he has repeatedly said that,
(1) வாயவனை யல்லது வாழ்த்தாது ; | (2) பாடிலும்நின் புகழே பாடுவன் ;
(3) மாயவனை யல்லால், இறை யேனு மேத்தாதென்நா. On the contrary the other Poigaiyar appears to have been a court poet under the Chera king Kodai Marpan and earned his livelihood by eulogizing the Tamil kings of the southern districts, in proof of which the reader may be referred to stanzas 48 and 49 in the Purananuru. Again the language of these two writers differs; and we have no faith in the vague statements of the old commentators regarding their identity. For these and the following reasons we are inclined to believe that the name Poigaiyar was borne by two different authors, who fourished at different periods.
The saints Poigai and Pey have celebrated the god of a place called Vinnagaram:
