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The Kanchipuram district of North Tamil Nadu is considered to be the first region in the Tamil country to be Aryanized. P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar believes that in the pre-Pallava period, this region was the southernmost outpost of Sanskrit culture. He cites the etymological derivation of the word "Kanchipuram" and other evidence in support of his claim. However, despite such claims, Kanchipuram is believed to have been mentioned in the Tamil epic ''Manimekhalai''. In the 4th century AD, Kanchipuram emerged from an obscure past to become the capital of the Pallava Empire. The city was at the height of its power during the 7th century AD when it was visited by the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang. == Etymology == Some scholars believe that Kanchipuram might have been derived from the "Kanjiyur" which is mentioned in early Tamil poems.〔P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, Pg 323〕 Kanjiyur is a place in the Chola country and its name means "place surrounded by ''Kanji'' trees".〔 Kanjiyur is mentioned in several early texts, one among them being the ''Puṟanāṉūṟu''.〔 However, Dravidologist and professor of history, P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, in his book ''History of the Tamils from the Earliest Times to 600AD'', claims that the Kanjiyur mentioned in early Tamil poems was not Kanchipuram at all but a different town altogether.〔P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, Pg 322〕 Srinivasa Iyengar claims that Kanchipuram was a Sanskrit word and that the town had no Tamil name.〔 In support of his claim, he states that Kanchipuram is mentioned in the books of the Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali, who lived in the 3rd–2nd century BC.〔 On the contrary, the first references to Kanchipuram in Tamil literature, was in ''Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai'', a eulogy of Ilandiraiyan, which was written as late as the 2nd century AD. Here, though, Kanchi is not mentioned in its Sanskrit form ''Kanchi'', but in its Prakrit form ''Kacci''.〔 On basis of this evidence, Srinivasa Iyengar concludes that Kanchipuram might have been the southernmost outpost of Sanskrit culture.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kanchipuram in the pre-Pallava period」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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