A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.34

c19.s2.34

A considerable part of the religious and philosophical literature of the age took the form of Purāṇas, some of which have been named already. Other prominent works in the same class may now be noticed. The Kōyirpurāṇam of Umāpati-śivācārya is among the earliest of the Sthalapurāṇas and narrates the legends of the celebrated Śaiva shrine in Chidambaram; it follows the Kāvya style and ranks fairly high as literature. There is also a Cidambara-purāṇam (1508) by Purāṇa Tirumalaināthan, who also wrote the Cokkanāthar-ulā in praise of the deity of Madura. More popular in its diction and content is the Ariccandira-purāṇam (1524) of Nallūr Virakavirāyar which sets forth the trials which Hariścandra had to endure on account of his devotion to truth. The work comprises twelve sections and 1,225 easy-flowing verses; the poet is said to have been a goldsmith of Nallūr in Ramnad district. We may next mention three large works on the sixty-four sacred sports of Śiva at Madura. The Sundarapāṇḍiyam of Anadāri was composed at the request of Tiruvirundān, a general of Virappa Nāyaka (1572-95) of Madura; the poem is a translation and bears the name of its Sanskrit original; only a fragment of over 2,000 verses has survived. Two other poems, both called Tiruvilaiyāḍal, also handle the same theme with many variations; the shorter one was by Perumbarrappuliyūr-nambi who has been assigned on rather slender grounds to the thirteenth century, but might have lived much later; the larger version (purporting to give the names of the Pāṇdya kings in whose reigns each of the sports took place) was by Parañjōti of Vēdāraṇyam, perhaps written at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Kandapurāṇam of Kacciyappa Śivācārya (1625) closely follows Kamban's poetry as a model and is based on a section of the Sanskrit Skandapurāṇa. The last section of this book was completed by a pupil of the author, Ñānavarōdaya Paṇḍāram. The work comprises over 13,000 verses including 2,600 at the end by the pupil. Among minor Sthalapurāṇas composed towards the close of our period may be mentioned: Vriddhācalapurāṇam of Ñānak-kūttar, a pupil of Tuṛaiyūr Śivaprakāśa; Tiruvāñjiya-purāṇam of Kaḷandaikkumaran (1616); the Purāṇas on Kumbakonam, Vēdāraṇyam and Tiruk-kānappēr by Aghōra Munivar, who had for his pupil the celebrated grammarian Vaidyanātha Dēśikar; and the Paḷanit-tala-purāṇam (1628) of Bālasubramanya Kavirāyar, a native of Paḷani. There are two versions of the Bhāgavatam in Tamil, by Śevvaiccūḍuvār of Vēmbarrūr in the Madura district and by Varadarāja Aiyangar of Nellinagar (1543); the former is the earlier and better work.