Paṭṭiṉappālai

[13] The title Pattinappalai is combination of two words, pattinam (city) and palai (desert, metonymically "separation, love division").

[14][15] The poem has a lengthy initial section on the harbor capital city of the ancient Cholas, Kaveripattinam, also referred to as Kavirippattinam, Kaveripumpattinam, Pugar, Puhar, or Kakanthi.

[16] This section contains a vivid description of a busy maritime coastal city, the big ships, the fishermen, the markets, its festivals and feasts, and the people.

The merchants thus Condemn the taking of these lives, They tolerate not thieving vile, They do their duties by the gods, Oblations offer, tend with care Fine bulls and cows, exalt the priests That teach the Vedas four, they give Their guests food cooked and uncooked too Unstintingly they dispense alms And live a life of gracious love For the merchants plying their trade, some of the lines in this poem state: They speak the truth and deem it shame To lie.

The yields of river Kāviri, food items from Eelam, products made in Burma (Kedah), and many rare and big things are piled up together on the wide streets, bending the land under.

[2] The Pattinappalai is notable for its mention of the early Chola kingdom as a cosmopolitan region, where Hindu and Jain monasteries and communities co-existed.

According to scholars such as Miksic, Yian, Meenakshisundararajan and others, the Pattinappalai is an early textual evidence of the significance of overseas trade that economically and culturally linked Tamil regions with southeast Asian communities in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

[23][24] The poem is also an early record attesting to the cultural practice of dedicating memorial Hero stones in South India (lines 88–89).