, 12th century CE. Shrines of Agastya, chairman of the first
Tamil Sangam in
Madurai Pandya kingdom, are worshipped at the Tamraparni river's source and in Sri Lanka, ancient
Tamraparni The Pothigai hills are mentioned as
Potiyil,
Potiyal,
Pothikai and
Potalaka in historical sources largely in relation to the river
Tamraparni and the ancient Sage Agastya (Akattiyan). The Egyptian Greek cartographer
Ptolemy names the mountain "Bettigo", from where three rivers rise, including Solen (Tamraparni River), meaning chank - the river was famous for its pearl fishing. At the mountains, Tamil was created by Agastya, according to
Kamban and Villiputturar, while
Kancipuranam and
Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam assert Lord
Shiva taught Agastya Tamil. According to the
Tambraparni Mahatmyam, an ancient account of the river from its rise to its mouth, a string of red lotus flowers from sage
Agastya at
Agastya Malai, Pothigai hills, transformed itself into a damsel at the sight of Lord
Siva, forming the river at the source and giving it its divine name,
Tamraparni. The shrine to Agastiyar at the Pothigai hill source of the Tamraparni river is mentioned in both
Ilango Adigal's
Silappatikaram and
Chithalai Chathanar's
Manimekhalai epics, in relation to blessings sought by
Sugriva and his army from the
Ramayana. Peraciriyar states that Agastiyar taught this grammar to Tolkappiyar, one of his twelve disciples, at Pothigai hills, who then wrote
Tolkāppiyam, although mentions that some scholars believe Tolkappiyar based the Tamil grammar on other forms no longer extant; Agastiyar is not mentioned in
Tolkāppiyam. In fellow Sangam work
Kuṟuntokai of the
Eṭṭuttokai anthology, a Buddhist vihara under a Banyan tree is described at the top of the mountain. A comment that God had disappeared from the mountain was found in
Ahananuru, from whose inaccessible top the stream of clear waters flows down with noise in torrents, and the fact that old men assembled and played dice in the dilapidated temple is described in
Purananuru. The Japanese scholar Shu Hikosaka on the basis of his study of Buddhist scriptures, ancient
Tamil literature, as well as field survey, proposes the hypothesis that, the ancient mount Potalaka, the residence of
Avalokiteśvara described in the
Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra and
Xuanzang’s Records, is the real mountain Pothigai (or Potiyil) situated at
Ambasamudram in
Tirunelveli district,
Tamil Nadu. Shu also says that mount Potiyil/Potalaka has been a sacred place for the people of South India from time immemorial. With the spread of Buddhism in the region beginning at the time of the great king
Aśoka in the third century B.C.E., it became a holy place also for Buddhists who gradually became dominant as a number of their hermits settled there. The local people, though, mainly remained followers of the Hindu religion. The mixed Hindu-Buddhist cult culminated in the formation of the figure of Avalokiteśvara. ==Protected areas==