The Colas c34.19

c34.19

Besides the *Rāmāyaṇam*, Kamban is said to have been the author of the *Ēreḻupadu*, and *Śaḍagōparandādi*, as also of a *Mummaṇik-kōvai* (not now extant) which gave rise to an attack on Kamban's verse by Vāṇiyan Tādan. The *Ēreḻupadu* together with the *Tirukkai vaḷakkam* is a eulogium on agriculture and the cultivator class, the Veḷḷāḷas. When the poem was being published in an assembly, Cēdirāyan, the son of Śaḍaiyan, was bitten by a poisonous snake and died; he was restored to life by a couple of *veṇbās* composed by the poet for the purpose. The *andādi* had to be composed by Kamban to please the god of Śrīraṅgam before whom approval was sought by the poet for his *Rāmāyaṇam* and who made it a condition that Kamban should praise his beloved devotee Śaṭhakōpa in a centum of verses. In view of the tendency, common in Indian literature, of fathering minor works of unknown origin upon celebrated authors, and in view of the mediocre and commonplace character of these two works, we have to receive with great suspicion the popular legends on their authorship and the occasions for their composition.