Tamil texts speak of 3 sets of Noble hearted people (means Aryan in sanskrit)
who were known for their generosity and philanthropy.
Sagara of Ikshvaku dynasty (in which Rama was born)
and many other so-called Aryan kings
have featured in the Chronicled history of the Tamils
that has been classified as 3 groups of 7 Philanthropists! (VallaL)
The Earlier group of 7 Philanthropists known as
“mudal yEzhu vaLLaL”
were
(1) Chembian
(2) Kaari alias SagAri
(3) Viradan
(4) Niruthi
(5) Dhundumaaran
(6) SAGARAN of Solar dynasty
(7) NaLan
The persons of this group seemed to have lived in Thretha yuga.
But these names are found in many Tamil texts.
One of the oldest encyclopedia in Tamil,
called ‘Asiriya Nigandu’,
gives the description of these kings using quotes
from Bhagavatham, Vishnu puranam, Ramayanam etc.
Sagaran was described as having been poisoned
when he was in the womb of his mother
but subsequently saved by sage Bhrigu.
This information is not there in Valmiki Ramayana,
though it is mentioned in Ramayana that it was due to Bhrigu’s blessings
he got progeny
- the wonderful 60,000 sons who would be immortalized by manually creating an ocean!
The important information about the above mentioned 7 persons is that
they were from places far away from the now known Tamil land,
but were considered by Tamils as the best among men!
No differentiation by means of name, language or culture is found in those times
-this is what we have to keep in mind.
The 2nd group of philanthropists also contain no geographic division,
demonstrating that this land was considered to be one and ONE only.
They too emerged in the north of Vindhyas
but were dearer to people of the South too.
They (“idai yezhu vaLlaL) were
(1) Akkuran
(2) Sandhimaan
(3) Andhimaan
(4) Sishupaalan
(5) Vakran
(6) Kannan
(7) Chandan
This group consists of persons who lived in Dwapara yuga,
during or preceding the times of Mahabharatha.
Only the last 7 Philanthropists “kadai yezhu vaLlaL”
were in recent memory of the Tamils and were from Tamil lands only
which included present day Karnataka too!!!.
They were
(1) Paari
(2) Aai
(3) Yezhini
(4) NaLLi
(5) Malayan
(6) BEgan
(7) VOri
Yezhini (3rd) and vOri (7th) ruled the areas around Kudremukh
with their capital at Kudremukh which is in present day Karnataka.
Research into their times reveal that their period was not beyond 2,500 years from today.
This means it was all Tamilian until then
and not Drvidian nor Kannadian which Sanjaya’s verse would have us believe.
(to be continued)
