There Is A Distinct Tradition, Not Only Amongst The People Now
Inhabiting Kayal, But In The District Of Tinnevelly Generally, That Kayal,
During The Period Of Its Greatness, Was Ruled By A King.
This king is
sometimes spoken of as one of 'the Five Kings' who reigned in various
parts of Tinnevelly, but whether he was independent of the King of Madura,
or only a viceroy, the people cannot now say....
The tradition of the
people of Kayal is that ... Sur-Raja was the name of the last king of
the place. They state that this last king was a Mahommedan, ... but though
Sur-Raja does not sound like the name of a Mahommedan prince, they all
agree in asserting that this was his name.... Can this Sur be the person
whom Marco calls Asciar? Probably not, as Asciar seems to have been a
Hindu by religion. I have discovered what appears to be a more probable
identification in the name of a prince mentioned in an inscription on the
walls of a temple at Sri-Vaikuntham, a town on the Tamraparni R., about 20
miles from Kayal. In the inscription in question a donation to the temple
is recorded as having been given in the time of 'Asadia-deva called also
Surya-deva' This name 'Asadia' is neither Sanskrit nor Tamil; and as the
hard d is often changed into r, Marco's Ashar may have been an
attempt to render this Asad. If this Asadia or Surya-deva were really
Sundara-pandi-deva's brother, he must have ruled over a narrow range of
country, probably over Kayal alone, whilst his more eminent brother was
alive; for there is an inscription on the walls of a temple at
Sindamangalam, a place only a few miles from Kayal, which records a
donation made to the place 'in the reign of Sundara-pandi-deva.'"[3]
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