The Colas c11.73

c11.73

The *Kaḷavaḻi*⁹⁹ is a poem of moderate length, giving a somewhat conventional, though occasionally gruesome, description of the battle of Kaḻumalam, near Karuvūr in the Kongu country,¹⁰⁰ in which Śengaṇān defeated and made captive the Cēra king Kaṇaikkāl Irumporai. The poet Poygai, a friend of the Cēra, placated the Cōḷa conqueror by singing of his valour in the battle-field and thereby secured the release of the Cēra from captivity. The verse in the *Puṟanānūṟu* to which reference has already been made purports to have been composed by the Cēra, while still in captivity in the Cōḷa prison at Kuḍavāyiṟkōṭṭam (West Gate Prison), and forms a sad confession of his cowardice in surviving the disgrace that had befallen him: