Aalawaay (snake biting its tail) in Greece
Post No. 14,585
Date uploaded in London – 2 June 2025
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Alupas were Pandyas who ruled Karnataka about 2000 years ago. The word Alupa is the corrupted form of Tamil word Aalavay, that is Madurai. Madurai in Tamil Nadu is more than 2300 years old. Pandyas ruled from there as a mighty power till Malik Kafur invasion in the 14th century.
Madurai has three names: Madurai, Aalavaay, Naan maadak Koodal. All the three names are in 2000-year-old Sangam literature; a Tamil poet named Madurai Per Aalavayaar composed two verses in Purananuru, the most important anthology of Tamil literature.
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The word Aaalavaay means Uroboros.
Aalawaay (snake biting its tail) in Egypt
Uroboros is a circular symbol depicting a snake, swallowing its tail, as an emblem of wholeness or infinity. The word comes from Greek Uroboros, which again is the corrupted form of Uragapuram. World famous poet Kalidas used this word for Madurai in his Raghuvamsam. Uraga is snake and puram is town. So urgapuram is Aaalvaay.
Alupas or Aalavayas called themselves Pandyas. Their coins not only declared them as Pandyas but also used the Double Fish emblem of the Pandyas.
Madurai Pandyas are also called Meenavan which means Fishking. Fish has been used for over 2000 years as their Royal emblem.
Aalupas throw more light on the unsolved mysteries of Pandya Kingdom.
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Mysteries of Pandya Dynasty
Kalabhras from Karnataka entered Tamil Nadu in the fourth century CE and spread Jainism. Hindu temples were converted as Jain places of worship or completely shutdown. Immediately after the Sangam Age, not much information is in literature about 200 years in Tamil history. That is called the Dark Age of Tamil History.
The second mystery is that during that Dark Age, a business man by name Murthy Nayanar was crowned as king by an elephant. After the sudden death of the Jain king in Madurai, an elephant was sent out in public streets to choose a king, and it garlanded a Saiva devotee by name Murthy . Though Periya Puranam and Thiru Vilaiyadal Puranam ( TVP) of Nambi narrated the incident in graphic detail, there is no historical record for this king.
Two Thiru Vilayadal Puranams (TVP) sing the 64 Leelas (playful anecdotes) of Lord Siva of Madurai; It is full of Sanskrit names of Kings without any historical evidence. Alupas has many of the names so do the later Pandyas of Madurai. So, the mystery is partly solved.
Pandyas has more mysteries; Adi Sankara, the most famous philosopher of India, mentioned one Sundara Pandya in his Brahma Sutra commentary. But again, no historical king with that name before Adi Sankara . But the TVP mentioned one Sundara Pandya before Sambandar period, that is seventh century CE.
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Now let us look at the History of Alupas
The word found in the coins mean a Chettiyar by name Dhanajayan who discovered the present Madurai. The story is in the TVP and his statue is inside the famous Madurai Meenaskhi Sundareswarar temple. Because the name also meant Arjuna of Mahabharata , people mistook the statue for Arjuna. The word Dhana/wealth is always associated with Chettiyar names in Tamil Nadu. Chettiyars are people of business community.
A picture of Coinage of the Alupas in Wikipedia.
Uncertain ruler, Chattopadhyaya Type II. Legend śri pa/ndya dhana/jaya in Devanagari. 14th century CE.
This word found in the above coin is also a link to Pandyas of Madurai.
Alupas ruled from Mangalore in Karnataka. They worshipped Lord Siva and his consort Goddess Sakti. This is seen in Madurai temple and 300 hundred more ancient Tamil temples. All are sung by famous Saivite saints.
Tamil Sangam Period
The Alupa dynasty (ಅಳುಪೆರ್, ಆಳ್ವೆರ್) was an Indian Hindu dynasty that ruled from 200 CE to 1444 CE in Southern India. Later the Vijayanagara Empire captured their kingdom.
The kingdom they ruled was known as Alvakheda Arusasira. Ptolemy, the 2nd century geographer identifies the Alvakheda as Olokhoira which is widely believed to be a corruption of the term Alva Kheda, ‘the land of the Alvas’. Same Ptolemy reported the Change of capital in Pandya Kingdom around 75CE. So he knew the Pandya history of his time. Alva Kheda, ‘the land of the Alvas’ is the corrupted Sanskrit words Aalway Kshetra, meaning the land od Always Kings.
Like Zoroaster who parted way with the Vedic Hindus around Seventh century BCE, these Aalwayas must have parted way from Sangam Age Pandyas.
The Aalway (Uroboros) symbol is found in ancient Egypt from 14th century BCE. We don’t know the origin of it. Later Greeks also use it in the name of Uro boros.
And this snake story is confirmed in TVP also.
In short, the emblem is known for a very long period and when something like that happened in Madurai , the city also got its name.
If we date Alupa to second or third century CE , it will help dating the TVP snake anecdote also .
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Following information from Wikipedia also confirms their connection with Tamil Aalwaay=Uro Boros= Uragapura of Kalidas.
According to B. A. Saletore, the name Alupa may be derived from its variant Aluka which is an epithet of the divine serpent Shesha of Hindu epics.[5] Fleet has suggested that the name Aluka may possibly denote the Nāgas, who in early times were included in Chalukya dominions.[5] Saletore further adds that the Naga origin of the Alupas is proved by two facts. The figure of a hooded serpent which is found in an effaced Alupa stone inscription in the Gollara Ganapati temple in Mangalore and their ultra Saivite tendencies.[5] Saletore dismisses the idea regarding the Dravidian origin of the name from the Tulu word Alunu meaning ‘to rule’ or ‘govern’.[5].
Their influence over coastal Karnataka lasted for about 1200 years.
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Another Interesting Pandya Link
Two Alupa names Kulasekhara and Bhutala Pandya are in Tamil history. Kulasekhaara Pandya is in TVP and Kulasekhara Alvar was a Chera king.
The name Bhutala Pandya is in Tamil translation as Nilam tharu Pandya, who is one of the oldest rulers of Tolkappiam period. There is another Pandya called Pannadu thantha meaning one who grabbed/occupied/ captured many lands. In Sanskrit kings are called Bhubuk meaning one who eats lands!
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They say We are Pandyas!!
The first clear mention of Alupas comes from the Halmidi inscription of 450 CE where their possible early ruler Pashupathi of Alapa (Alupa) gana is mentioned. Pashupathi was the contemporary of the Kadambas. Hence for historical record, we can safely assume that the dynastic formation of Alupas took place around 5th century CE. Their royal emblem was the double fish and they claimed to belong to the Pandya vamsha and Soma Kula (lunar dynasty).
The double fish emblem was used by Tamil Pandyas for 2000 years. They also claimed that they belong to Chandra Vamsa/Lunar Race.
With this background we can boldly say Alupa is the corruption of Tamil word Aaalawaay. Pasupathi is Siva’s name and Pandyas built famous Siva Temples.
Virapandya, Chitravahanan are some of the kings in Alupa Kingdom. These are in Tamil Pandya names as well.
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Conclusion
Alupa’s declaration that they were Pandyas belonging to Chandra Vamsa/lunar dynasty and their worship of Siva, and their emblem Double Fish show very clearly they migrated from Madurai at one time. Their name Alupa is nothing but Aalawaay (name of Madurai).
Linguistically V becomes P which is seen in Bengali today and also in ancient Avestan, Sanskrit and Tamil. Alupa’s connection with Jainism must be researched more. Till this day Tamils could not say for sure who the Kalabhras were. We may assume that they were Jain Alupa Kings. But unless we get some information about Jain Kings invasion of Tamil Nadu in fourth century CE we should not jump to any conclusion.
–subham—
Tags – Alupas, Pandyas, Chandra vamsa, Fish emblem, Aalawaay. Madurai, Uro boros, Uragapuram, Kalidas
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