The Colas c11.32

c11.32

Neḍuṅgiḷḷi, then, had ambition without courage, and brought much suffering on himself and his subjects by his pusillanimity. Like all cowards, he seems to have lived in constant dread of treachery and foul play. When he was besieged at Uṟaiyūr, a minstrel, Iḷandattan by name, who had entered Uṟaiyūr from the camp of Nalaṅgiḷḷi, was taken to be a spy, and was about to be killed when Kōvūr-Kiḻār put in a successful plea for his life being spared. The short poem is a fine picture of bardic life in the Śaṅgam age.⁴⁸