A thorough change in the political map of South India and the deﬁnite close of an epoch seem to be clearly implied in the Sirupan-arruppadai by Nattat- tanar, one of the Pattupattu (‘Ten Idylls’). The poem has Nalliyakkodan for its hero and he may be taken to stand right a territory, which included Gidangil, a village near Tindivanam. We may assign to him a date about A.D. 275, and in his day the poet says that charity had dried up in the capitals of the three Tamil kingdoms, and all ancient patrons of learn- ing and the arts were no more! There may well be some exaggeration here, but clearly Vanji, Uraiyur and Madura must have passed the meridian of their prosperity and entered on a period of decline.