lore of the Tamil people were such as to fire the imagination of poets and people in favour of a love of Nature and animals and birds.⁵⁴ There is the story of Paari, one of the seven chieftains renowned in Tamil literature for his liberality. He found one day a jasmine creeper lying across his chariot path. He would not ride his chariot over it, nor would he permit it to grow at random unsupported across the path. He abandoned his chariot on the spot so that the plant might creep on it for support. This unusual munificence towards a plant was the subject of poetic praise as the most characteristic act of his life.⁵⁵ There was Peekan who came in for equal praise because he found a peacock shivering with cold, and with gesture more gracious than that of Sir Walter Raleigh, covered the peacock with the silk mantle with which he was himself covered.⁵⁶ A story is recounted of birds in the person of Aay Eyinan. He was so much a lover of birds and their protector that when he fell in the field of battle, all the birds formed a canopy with their outstretched wings to protect him from the rays of the sun. And, it is added in the poems, that the owl was struck with grief at its own want of vision during the day for it could neither see Aay and his wounds, nor join the other birds in providing shelter.⁵⁷

There is an anecdote concerning Kapilar, a poet who has written many a beautiful line of montane Poetry. His great patron and friend was Paari, the chieftain who lent his chariot to a jasmine creeper. Paari’s liberality was such that he gave away the revenue and ownership of the three hundred villages of his chieftaincy to poets and minstrels who had gone to him for help. The Parambu hill region alone remained for his own income. Such was the fame and prowess of Paari that it excited the rivalry of the three kings of Tamil Naad who besieged his rock fortress. Kapilar was with Paari within the fort fications when the siege took place. The poets narrate how Kapilar trained birds to go out of the fortifications and harvest the paddy in the fields. They brought the sheaves in

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   ⁵⁴ See introductions to texts.

   ⁵⁵Puram; 200, 9-11, 201, 2-3; Cirupaan; 87-91.

   ⁵⁶Puram; 141; 10-12; 145, 1-3; Cirupaan; 85-87.

   ⁵⁷Akam; 142, 181, 208.