The Colas c34.41

c34.41

The *Vīraśōḻiyam* of Buddhamitra, and its commentary by Perundēvanār, a pupil of the author, next claim our attention. The Cōḷa monarch Vīrarājēndra is mentioned by name as a great Tamil scholar;⁵⁶ this fact and the name of the work leave no doubt that it was composed in Vīrarājēndra's reign. The commentary cites the *tiru manni vaḷara* introduction of Rājēndra I⁵⁷ and mentions the battles of Koppam⁵⁸ and Kūḍalśangamam.⁵⁹ Buddhamitra is called 'the ruler of Ponpaṟṟi', in the *pāyiram* or preface to his work; Ponpaṟṟi may be the same as Ponpetti in the Tanjore district,⁶⁰ and the title of Buddhamitra may imply that he got an assignment on the revenues of Ponpetti from the Cōḷa ruler. The *Vīraśōḻiyam* is written in *kalittuṟai* metre and planned on the basis of a synthesis between the Tamil and Sanskrit systems of grammar and rhetoric and comprises the usual five sections: *Sandhi* (*eḻuttu*), *Śol*, *Poruḷ*, *Yāppu* and *Alaṅkāra* (*aṇi*). The author's preference for Sanskrit titles is seen in the names of the first and last sections, while the names and order of the sections show even more clearly his partiality for the Sanskrit system. The work is full of interest for a student of the history of grammatical theory in Tamil.