Beginnings In South Indian History

Contents: Introductory. 1. Research  In Indian History :The Value Of Literature. Chapter 1 South India A Distinct Entity.  Chapter 2 Mauryan Invasion Of South India. Chapter 3 The Dawn Of The Christian Era. Chapter 4. Chronology Of Tamil Litrature. Chapter 5 The Age Of Paranar. Chapter 6.Talaiyalangnat-Tup-Pandyan. Chapter 7 Astronomical Considerations. Appendix To Chapter 7 - Astronomical Considerations. Conclusion. 
The book makes a detailed study of the Beginnings of the South Indian History based on the literary sources in Tamil classics and poets who contributed much to the history of the region beginning with the advent of the Christian era. The research sources for this study has been analysed from the view point of Greek, Chinese, Arabian travelogues, archeological inputs and epigraphical sources. The input from  literary sources in Sanskrit, Tamil, Kanarese and Telugu have been amply exemplified in the introduction. The chronology of the Tamil classics have been made helpful in assessing the historical aspects of the period from advent of Christian era and  the related history of the period. How the rulers and chieftains had been the source for the successful growth of the Tamil Sangam have been applauded in the chronology. The advent of the Astronomical data elicited from the Tamil literary classics are an important addendum to these lectures and the inadvertant errors in eliciting them have been amply discussed. In the last chapter the geneology of the Pandyan Kingdom have been discussed and how the literary, archeological and epigraphical sources have been helpful in reaching at this historical research.
The chronology of literature takes us to the different kind of tamil literary sources like factual presentation of history like description of wars between different chieftains and legendary praise for these chieftains and their valour in these wars. The second set of literature is the imaginary literary sources which paid scant details to the historical details of the personalities and war and they were purely literary pieces rendered by poets of the time. This age gives us, as far as we know, the conditions most favourable, to the institution of the famous Tamil Academy and all the available evidence goes to support this particular inference
The chapters on Age of Paranar and Talainganatu Pandyan are excellent pieces used to trace the history of the Tamils by evaluating the different Tamil classics prevalent and available from the Sangam Age. More controversies in historical studies have been evolved from these observations of the author from the contemporary scholars. The monumental works by Kanaka Sabhai Pillai, Swaminatha Iyer and Venkayya has been amply detailed and how they have been helpful in reaching a reasonable date for the Tamil classics.
The chronology of Tamil literature has been very critically analysed based on the Astronomical Data as presented by Swamikannu Pillai and how his assessment of the dates of Silapaddikaram and Manimekalai and other Tamil classics are in the wrong track are the highlights of this chapter. The appendix lays bare open the fallacies of his assumption.
The various lectures given by the Author at the Madras University forms the basis for this important historical research study.