A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.58

c12.58

Easily the most cultured amusements open to the upper classes in those days were poetry, music (particularly singing) and dancing, which often went together. The poets were men and women drawn from all classes of society; they composed verses to suit the immediate occasion, and were often rewarded generously for their exertions, as when Karikāla is said to have given the author of *Paṭṭinappālai* 1,600,000 gold pieces. Their poems, especially the shorter ones, are full of colour and true to life. They abound in fine phrases giving compact and eloquent expression to the physical and spiritual experiences of the poet. Nor do they lack width of range: besides short lyrics, odes and religious hymns were known. The metres employed were simple and flexible, the more elaborate Sanskrit forms not having come into vogue.