A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.19

c19.s2.19

Kallāḍanār, the author of Kallāḍam, must be distinguished from his namesake of the Śangam Age. He can perhaps be identified with the author who figures in the eleventh book of the Śaiva canon. Kallāḍam is a place-name and possibly the writer was born there. He is said to have chosen one hundred verses from the Tirukkōvai as the basis of his work which deals with the sixty-four sacred sports of Śiva. The style of the work is very stilted as a result of the author's attempt to revive the poetic forms and diction of the Śangam Age. The whole poem of 100 pieces, each purporting to depict a particular mood of love (ahatturai), is a curious instance of extreme pedantry. The Kalingattup-paraṇi of the poet-laureate of the Chola court, Jayangoṇdār, dates from the end of the reign of Kulottunga I and is the earliest and best of the Paraṇis now accessible. It is a splendid little masterpiece which keeps clear the line between history and fictitious convention; its choice diction and the sustained harmony between the metres employed and the incidents portrayed are unique. The Paraṇi is the war poem par excellence and depicts not only the pomp and circumstance of war, but all the gruesome details of the field. The Kalinga war of Kulottunga, the theme of this poem, was celebrated in several other works, none of which could survive in the face of Jayangoṇdār's poem. Another poet-laureate of the Chola court was Kūttan or Oṭṭakkūttan who graced the reigns of three successors of Kulottunga (viz. Vikrama Chola, Kulottunga II and Rājarāja II) and sang eloquent Ulās of each of them. Born of a poor Śengundar (weaver) family in Malari, a village in the Chola country, Kūttan sought service under Śankaran, the chieftain of Puduvai and father of Śaḍaiyan, the patron of the more celebrated Kamban. Kūttan had other patrons like Gāngēya, whom he praised in a Nālāyirakkōvai, and a certain Soman of Tribhuvani. When his fame rose he was invited to the imperial court and entertained there as Kaviccakravarti (‘Emperor of Poets’) by the three successive monarchs named. Besides the three Ulās, he composed a Paraṇi, no longer extant, on the Kalinga war of Vikrama Chola, and a piḷḷaittamiḷ (a poem describing the hero's childhood) on Kulottunga II. The last is easily the best of the poet's compositions on account of its copious diction, the rich melody and fine imagery of its verse. The same poet's Takkayāgapparaṇi, obviously an imitation of Kalingattup-paraṇi, in its metres and style, handles the legendary theme of Daksha's sacrifice with considerable force and power, but must take a rank well below its model. Other poems attributed to him are *Sarasvatiyan-dādi* in praise of the Goddess of Learning by whose grace he became a poet, reputed to be his first composition, and *Arumbaittoḷḷāyiram*, besides *Iṭṭiyeḻupadu* and *Eḻuppeḻupadu*, poems of no merit about the composition of which popular imagination has trumped up wild legends which reflect no credit on their inventors or the poet. The village of Kūttanūr on the banks of the Ariśil river (Tanjore district) keeps the poet's memory alive, and has a Sarasvati temple with a record of the twelfth century mentioning the installation of the image of the goddess by Kavipperumāḷ alias Ōvāda-Kūttar, the grandson of Oṭṭakkūttan.