Perunarkilli

Powerful Monarch

Perunarkilli must have been a powerful monarch, as he is the only one among the early Tamil kings of the Sangam age to have performed the rajasuya (royal consecration) sacrifice. It is likely that the Chera king Mari Venko and the Pandya Ugrapperuvaluthi attended this occasion (Purananuru – 367). The Sangam poet Auvaiyar has written this fine benediction.

According to the Thiruvilandur copper-plate charter, the reign of Perunarkilli is described in a panegyric as surpassing that of the heavenly city of Amaravati, which the inscription locates on Mount Sumeru.

Nothing is known of the events in this king’s reign. He must have had his share of fighting as inferred from a poem in Purananuru (poem 16) which gives a graphic but conventional description of the havoc wrought by the invading Chola army on the enemy countries.