well-known Sanskrit poet of the late 17th Century, Venkatadhvarin, living in Arasanipalai near Kanchipuram, composed the Visvagunadarsa Campu, meaning ‘holding a mirror to the universe’. A campu kavya is in prose and poetry form and in this narration two semi-divine characters travel over India in an aerial vehicle observing the land below and offering a commentary on what they observe. Krisnau and Visvavasu are the two Gandharva-s, one a cynic and the other a positive thinker. After crossing North India, they reach Tirupathi and then come to Thiruvallur where the Viraraghava temple engages their attention. Then, after passing over Sriperumpudur, they come to Thiruvallikkeni. In Sanskrit, the tank is called Kairavani, meaning ‘the pond of lilies’. At that point of time in history, the pond was south of where a tank exists today. (The old tank area is now a residential area named Vedavallipuram). Here there is an interesting discussion between the two. Visvavasu, being a positive thinker, speaks well of the temple, place and people while Krisnau faults everything. He says that while the temple and place may be good, the place is vitiated by the foreigners (he refers to them as hunas) who “don’t even wash themselves after calls of nature.” But Visvavasu describes the foreigners as having some virtues. “They do not lie and are just,” says he, probably taking into account the judgement meted out during Right-hand and Left-hand caste disputes. He also notes the difference between Muslim invaders and the English in respect of temples