literature, is intended only for the educated few, copper-plate grants, stone inscriptions and similar public records are meant for all classes. A coinparison of the inscriptions of Rajah Raja Chola (A. D. 985-1013) with the literature of that period would illustrate the above principle. The Kerala inscriptions cannot be an exception to this plain philological truth. Moreover, how are we authorized, in the absence of any work writen in the colloquial Malayalam of that period, to say that the colloquial Malayalam was quite distinct from the language of inscriptions ? Do the Malayalis really possess any literature anterior to the tenth century A. D. written in the so-called Malayalam language ? If at all there be any record written in colloquial Malayalam it must be the inscriptions.
As for the Perumals being foreigners to Kerala, we might say that, till about the ninth century A. D., some at least of the Kerala kings were foreigners, because they inherited the Kerala throne by right of succession in accordance with the Marumakkatayam law, but they were never invited by the Nambudri Brahmans as these would have us believe, in order to enhance their importance and establish their authority in the Kerala country. On the contrary, many Chola and Pandya kings married Kerala princesses and their sons became lawful heirs to the Kerala kingdom :(1) நெடுநுண்கேள்வியந்துவற்கொரு தந்தை
யீன்றமகள் பொறையன் பெருந்தேயீன்றமகன் QFda: sQb6 #ranylur 90.--Pad. 70.
