Hi sometime back madan's observation in anandavikadan that a exxagerated history of tamil nadu was written by poets intoxicated on liquor caused a riot in our group and out side. today while re reading ps i found kalki having made the same observation (almost the same words) in chapter 54 of book 1 where aditya laments poetry is the only source of tamil history. and even that is questionable.
how we missed this during those days of heated discussions i wonder.
To add to your observation, in the chapter where Vandhiathevan meets Azhagiya cholar, one of the poets gathered there sings a song which states that the chola chakravarthy has given pari to surya and kari to indra and so on, and the vendhan says that it was a joke that he composed for kundavai when she was a kid, and how it has spread to the world and how the future tamil world would make fun of him for writing such a poem.
the point is, there could have been a fair bit of exageration in the written literature.. however since there was quite a bit of reality undocumented this can be compensating.. it is just my view.. not to add fuel to the fire.
what i was amazed was the words were so much alike and all of us had missed these words- most of us who have read ps umpteen times. I think both may have quoted from sastri. venketesh