113992242-Dravidian-Settlements-in-Ceylon-and-the-Beginnings-of-the-Kingdom-of-Jaffna-By-Karthigesu-Indrapala-Complete-Phd-Thesis-University-of-London-1965

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on the interpretations of the term AiZfiuvar and deserve
closer exein i-nation. Majumdar's view that the organization consisted
of five hundred members is not tenable. The activities of this
body was never limited to any one area or century. On the
contrary, its records have been found in several districts
of South India and. in Ceylon and. Sumatra. These range over a
period of nearly ten centuries. It is, therefore, improbable
that the organization had a constant number of members
throughout this period and ail over the vast area covered by t
their activities. The meaning of the term Aiuvar has to
be expiLined differently. The opinions of Appadorai, Barnett
and Nahalingam are based on the assumption that the Aifflh1uvar
were a single unified body with their headquarters at Ayivo.e
and that all the members mentioned in their inscriptions
all over South India owed allegiance to a central body. It
seems rather too much to expect the Aiflfluvar to have been
such a unified body with a continuous history of nearly ten
centuries and with branches all over South India and even
overseas. Such an organization is too modern a concept and may
not be applicable to this period of South Indian history.
A careful analysis of the inscriptions reveals that there is
no justification for the view that the AiZffI1ruvar represented
a central body of the corporation or for the theory that they
had their headquarters at Ayyv4e. In the first place, it is