vELirs and ixvAkus

Author: GhorAngirasa

The truly interesting part which many seem to have missed is the full relevance of the description of atiyamAn’s (the vELir king) lineage as that which gave the world sugarcane. This is known among students of the tamizh poems but it’s significance is not fully appreciated.

Now, as per paurANika tradition, it is the hoary ikSvAku who introduced sugarcane-planting. But the ikSvAkavas are based in ayodhya, no? So, how would this tie with atiyamAn’s ancestry from tuvArai (dvAraka)? There was a side-branch of the ikSvAkavas or a branch of the sUryavaMsha not descended from ikSvAku but one of his brothers, which settled at what will be later known as dvAraka & named the city kushasthali.

Though the texts have completely forgotten the vaMsha of Anarta & his son revata (very very early figures), kakudmin raivata is introduced as getting his daughter married to balarAma (far later figure). It is possible that revata‘ line continued as an obscure royal lineage and later migrated southwards with the agastya brAhmaNas, ending up at northwest parts of TN, where atiyamAn is known to have ruled.

May be a stretch but the connections are noteworthy.