A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s5.3

c19.s5.3

Prior to the date of the first *sandeśa* poem, there had come into existence popular ballads of various kinds, now known as Paḻaiya-pāṭṭus, old songs. Though in their present form they appear in a very modernized garb, competent critics hold that some of them at least must be of really early origin. There were many varieties of these folk songs such as *Brāhmaṇip-pāṭṭu* sung in marriages, *Bhadrakālip-pāṭṭu* and *Śāstāp-pāṭṭu* in praise of the respective deities, *Yātrakkaḷip-pāṭṭu* and *Tiruvādiraip-pāṭṭu* which take their names from the festive occasions when they were sung; they appear to have been generally accompanied by dance. Similar in character, but longer on account of the continuous themes they handled, were compositions like the *Payyanūr Paṭṭōla*, of which only the memory has survived. This early literature shows the least admixture of Sanskrit in its vocabulary. More systematic and much nearer true literature among these early poetic compositions were *Rāmacaritam*, a long metrical work on the story of the Yuddhakāṇḍa of *Rāmāyaṇa*, believed to have been written by an ancient ruler of Travancore some time between the tenth and thirteenth centuries A.D.; and the somewhat later *Rāmakathāp-pāṭṭu* of a certain Ayyipiḷḷai Āśān. Both these works show signs of a strong Tamil influence in respect of words and metres. To this early period must also be assigned the anonymous *Bhāṣākauṭilīya*, a Malayāḷam commentary on the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya; it follows the Sanskrit commentary *Jayamangalā*, and only six out of the fifteen *adhikaraṇas* are known.