Ay (short from of Ayar) was one of the Tamil dynasties which controlled the south-western tip of the peninsula, from the early historic period up to the medieval period.The clan traditionally held sway over the harbour of Vizhinjam, the fertile region of Nanjinad, and southern parts of the spice-producing Western Ghat mountains. The dynasty was also known as Kupaka in medieval period. The Ay formed one of the major chieftains of early historic (pre-Pallava) Kerala, along with the Cheras of central Kerala and the Musakas of Elimalai in the north. Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) described the "Aioi" territory as extending from the Baris (Pamba) to Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari). The elephant was the emblem of the Ay. The medieval Ay lineage has its origins in the hill-chiefs of early historic (pre-Pallava) south India. The Ay kingdom functioned as a buffer state between the powerful Pandyas/Cholas and the Cheras (Kerala) in the medieval period. A number of kings such as Chadayan Karunanthan (788 AD), Karunanthadakkkan "Srivallabha" (r. c. 856/57–884), and Vikramaditya "Varaguna" (r. c. 884–911/920 AD) figure as the Ay chiefs of the harbour of Vizhinjam. The famous Brahmin salai at Kantalur, somewhere near present-day Trivandrum, was located in the Ay kingdom. The salai was sacked by Chola emperor Rajaraja I (985–1014 AD) in c. 988 AD. Historians assume that the Ay were a leading power in the region till c. 10th century AD. Origin It is speculated that the name Ay is derived from the early Tamil word "Ay" meaning cowherd. The cowherds were known as Ayars in Tamil even as they were known as Abhiras in the North India. Tradition says that the Yadavas in the Pandya country came to Tamilakam along with the ancestors of the Pandya. Potiya mountain region and its capital was known as Ay-kudi. Nacchinarkiniyar, in his commentary on the prefatory sutra to the Tolkappiyam, describes a tradition relating to the migration of the Yadava race with a sage Agastya, who repaired to Dwaraka and took with him the 18 kings of the line of Krsna and moved to the South. There, he had the forests cleared and built up kingdoms settling therein all the people he had brought with him. In his introduction to Lilathilakam, Attur Krishna Pisharodi in giving an account of Chiravayi says that the Ayar family who were ruling the regions near Ayakkudi (in Shencotta) and other places, were