MASUDI'S VISIT 1N 912 A.D,

Masudi states that the King was placed on a low chariot and while it was being drawn, a woman swept the ground and threw dust on the hair of the dead king, exclaiming the futility of life and extolling the worship of God. Before the body was put on the funeral pyre, it was smeared with sandalwood and cut into four pieces with a sword. The Purananuru states that the body of a king who did not die in battle was placed on a tharappu and cut by a sword before being cremated. This was a custom among the Tamils during that period.
S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, in his work entitled Tamilar Panpatu states that it is a Tamil custom to place the body of a king or a warrior who did not die in battle, on a tharappu and cut into pieces before being cremated. Masudi had definitely witnessed the funeral of a Tamil king. The reference by the woman who threw dust at the dead king to the " Eternal who is alive" was the reference to the Supreme Creator. This period was followed by the religious revival brought about by the Tamil saints. Therefore the ceremony referred to is definitely that of a Tamil king, since Buddhists do not believe in a supreme deity.