their typical names had existed for a very long time before the Maha Bharata war, in which all the three Tamil kings took part in some way or other. The Pandiyan and Ch†lƒ kings fought in the side of the Pandavas as their allies, while the Chera king, Peru½j† Š Šu Udiyan Ch„ralƒdan took up a neutral position, and fed both the belligerent armies sumptuously throughout the period of the war. In recognition of this unparalleled hospitality, the Chera king was honoured with the epithet Peru½j† Š Šu, of the gargantuan feed, and highly praised in a poem (PuŠam 2) by Mura½jiy‡r Mudinƒgarƒyar. That part of the eulogium relating to the feed is translated by K.G. Sesha Aiyar as follows:

      The Ch„ra king's free supply of food to the rival hosts at Kuruk™tra is celebrated in Silappadikƒram (29:24) also, in unequivocal terms.

      The name Pƒ-diyan is derived from pƒ-di ‘a bull’. As the wild or uncastrated male bovine animal was taken by the ancient Tamilians as an ideal of valour and obstinacy, a hero was metonymically called kƒ˜ai, the most common word for bull. This usage is now restricted to the literary dialect. Tauromachy which is still practised in Tamil Nadu, Spain, and Mexico attests to the ancient popular opinion. St. Valluvar has compared an industrious and indefatigable ruler to a bullock. He says in the 624th Kura˜, that troubles will vanish before the man, who struggles against difficulties as a bullock drawing a cart succesfully through deep mire.
      So, it is easy and reasonable to derive the word Pƒ-diyan from Pƒ-di, by the simple addition of the masculine singular suffix ‘an’.