Apart from the well known Kings of Tamil Nadu there were some other Kings in Tamil Nadu of yore.

One such is Irungovel, who ruled over the western part of Tamil Nadu not covered by the Chera Kings.

The area corresponds roughly the area surrounding Coimbatore extending  to Dharmapuiri.

It is also interesting to note that King Pari who ruled around this area belongs to Velir Community.

This community was brought from Dwaraka when or after Dwaraka was sinking or a little before or a little after( with those who remained the deluge) by Sage Agastya.

Some intriguing points.

1.The time frame mentioned and the reference found in Nachinarkkiniyar , a famous Tamil commentator of Sangam Literature.

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Sangam Tamil poets composed over 2000 poems. Purananuru is an encyclopaedia of Tamil culture. It has got less than 400 verses. Purananuru verse 201 was composed by Kapilar two thousand years ago. This is a very important verse in Purananuru. It throws much light on early Indian History. Kapilar talks about 49^th generation of Irungovel. Famous Tamil Commentator Nachinarkiniyar , who lived several hundred years ago, gave a very interesting story about this verse.

Nachinarkiniyar said that Agastya brought 12 tribes from Dwaraka ruled by Lord Krishna. Another city in the name of Dwaraka was founded in Karnataka (Mysore) state in the twelfth century. There is an interesting story about how and who founded this city. Hoychalas were the kings who ruled from this city.Hoychala is translated into Tamil asPulikadimal which is found in verse 201.

Chala was a king belonging to Yadu dynasty. While he was hunting in the Western Ghats, he saw a hare heroically fighting with a tiger. This made him to think that this place must have some special importance. When he followed the fighting tiger and hare, an ascetic who was doing penance ordered king Chala to kill the tiger. The ascetic’s order in Sanskrit was “Hatham Hoy Chala”. So from that day on wards the king and his descendants were called Hoychalas. If the verse 201 refers to this anecdote then it must have happened 2000 years ago.

This is reinforced by the Temples dedicated to Hindu Gods by the Hoysalas in Karnataka.

Kannadigas from Yadava Tribe

This King could have been called as Irungovel in Tamil and Hoysala in Karnataka.

The area in question is around the present border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

2.Tamil Literature speaks of a King who was born of a Yaaga in Dwaraka and the city of Dwaraka was enclosed by Copper walls.

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We know that Dwaraka and Gujarat present a very rich archeological source for IVC. The contention of Dr Parpola and the Dravidian politicians of Tamilnadu is that Tamils have descended form the IVC locations of North India. The verse by poet Kapilar in fact traces the origins of the King IrungoveL to Dwaraka. He says that he belonged to the 49th generation of the king who was born of the Sacrificial Fire conducted by the sage of the North. This king ruled Dwaraka, so says the poet. Reserving the other details of this verse for a future post, I am now concentrating on another description in that song.

( There is another interpretation on the interpretatiion of  the term Sacrificial fire

Kapilar describes Dwaraka as being surrounded by walls made of copper.

நீயே, வடபால் முனிவன் தடவினுள் தோன்றிச்,
செம்பு புனைந்து இயற்றிய சேண்நெடும் புரிசை,
உவரா ஈகைத், துவரை ஆண்டு,
நாற்பத்து ஒன்பது வழிமுறை வந்த
வேளிருள் வேளே!
This means “O king IrungoveL! you were the 49th king in the lineage of the king, who was born of the sacrificial fire conducted by the sage and ruled Dwarka which was surrounded by long / tall walls of copper.”

From the commentary that Dr U.Ve.Sa found out form the palm leaf manuscripts :-
“நீ தான் வட பக்கத்து முனிவனுடைய ஓம குண்டத்தின் கண் தோன்றிச் செம்பால் புனைத்து செய்தாலொத்த சேய்மையை உடைத்தாகிய நெடிய மதிலை உடைய துவராவதி என்னும் படை வீட்டை ஆண்டு, வெறுப்பில்லாத கொடையினை உடையராய் நாற்பத்தொன்பது தலைமுறை தொன்றுபட்டு வந்த வேள்களுள் வைத்து வேளாய்உள்ளாய்!”..