The Colas c34.3

c34.3

With the rise of the Cōḷa power, there ensues a broadening of the channels of literature and a more copious flow of literary effort, the expression of a fresh energy released by the realisation, for the first time, of an imperial state in South India. The direct connection between the growth of the Cōḷa empire, a new political fact, and the birth of the new literature, becomes clear if we compare the highly ornate and poetic *praśastis* of the Cōḷa inscriptions with the meagre and arid prose of the inscriptions of an earlier time. The difference is more noticeable in Tamil, the language of the people, than in Sanskrit, the language of learning. All the *praśastis* of the Cōḷa kings from the time of Rājarāja I, with few exceptions, may be classed among the best specimens of the literature of the age; the stately diction, the easy flow of the verse, and the animated narration of historical incidents mark them out as a class by themselves in the literature of Tamil. Besides the imperial *praśastis*, there are other instances of literature in inscriptions. The examples that suggest themselves most readily are the Cidambaram and Tiruvadi inscriptions which recount the career and achievements of Naralōkavīra, an official who served Kulōttunga I and Vikramacōḷa with great distinction; and the *praśastis* of the Kāḍavas in the inscriptions found at Atti, Vāyalūr (Vailūr) and Vṛddhāchalam. In these compositions the various metres are handled with great skill; the somewhat complex laws of Tamil prosody are observed with an easy grace which saves the author from the use of obscure words or the adoption of forced constructions; and as narrative poetry, these inscriptions share some of the best qualities of the imperial *praśastis*. There is not the slightest doubt therefore that these poems were the compositions of court-poets of a high order, and that the steady demand for their services furnished a great impetus to the cultivation of secular literature in this period.