 The so-called salais were considered prized possessions as they are claimed to have been sacked by many kings of south India.The character of the salais were re-examined in the 1970 paper 'Kantalur Salai-New Light on Aryan Expansion in South India' by M. G. S. Narayanan.Different views were expressed by early scholars regarding the character of "salai" (such as naval base - military training centre - cantonment - ammunition depot).