Did not the sea swallow up the city of Poompuhar, that famed port of the Kaveri delta? After its destruction, the honor of being the principal harbor of the fertile Chola land gradually passed to Nagapattinam. The Chola country, blessed by the bounty of the Ponni river, was a land rich in natural wealth, and many foreign merchants longed to establish trade with it. Great wooden ships, laden with goods, would arrive and anchor at its docks. Pearls, rubies, diamonds, and fragrant spices were unloaded from the vessels, and along with these treasures, Arabian horses were brought ashore for sale.

In the days of Sri Sundara Moorthi Nayanar, Nagapattinam was a splendid city of many-towered mansions. The poet Nambi Aaroorar, who beheld that city, sang:

“O you who dwell in the sea-girt Nagai Karonam, Where long streets are adorned with delightful, gem-studded towers!”

At the temple of Kayarogana Peruman, who resided in the sea-washed Nagai Karonam, Sri Sundara Moorthi Nayanar asked for many boons. Do you know what he requested? In other towns, he had asked for gold, gems, garments, and ornaments; but in Nagapattinam, he asked for and received a noble steed of the highest breed.

“The Lord himself went to Nagai Karonam that day, And received gold, gem-studded ornaments, nine kinds of jewels, Garments, sandalwood, and a noble horse—”

So says the Periyapuranam, which tells us that, having received these gifts, he returned to Thiruvarur. It seems that, upon seeing the Arabian horses unloaded at the Nagapattinam harbor, the saint too was seized by the desire to mount and ride a horse!

While the Puranas sing the praises of Nagapattinam, the city is also described in ancient inscriptions and copper plates. The Aanaimangalam copper plates describe Nagapattinam as:

“A city filled with many temples, choultries, water tanks, groves, and mansions with lofty towers, its streets teeming with life.”

Those very Anaimangalam copper plates speak also of the famed Chudamani Vihara, the Buddhist monastery that shone with renown in Nagapattinam in those days, and recount its history.

The peninsula that we now refer to as Malaya was, in those times, widely known as the land of Sri Vijaya. In that country, a principal city was Kadaram. Making that great city their capital, the mighty Sri Vijaya empire, which spread in all four directions, was ruled for a long time by the Sailendra dynasty. Among that line, a king named Maharathuvajan Chudamanivarman became especially illustrious. Of this monarch, the Anaimangalam copper plates extol: “He was an expert in royal stratagems; in wisdom, he rivaled Brihaspati, the preceptor of the gods; to learned lotuses, he was as the sun; to supplicants, he was a wish-fulfilling tree.”

The copper plates further declare that the son of such a great emperor, Mara Vijayothunga Varman, in order that his father’s sacred name might endure forever, “built the Chudamani Vihara in Nagapattinam, a monastery that rivaled Mount Meru itself.”

Readers may wonder why Mara Vijayothungan, king of Kadaram, would come to Nagapattinam to build a