A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s5.4

c19.s5.4

From about the thirteenth century a strong impetus to literature came from the development of *Chākkiyār-kūttu*, a dance-recital of literary works which grew out of a simple and earlier form of the same art known as *Kūḍiy-āṭṭam* devoted to the exposition of dramas like *Nāgānandam* and *Āścarya-cūḍāmaṇi*. For enriching the repertoire of the Chākkiyār, many *Campūs*, works in mixed prose and verse, and *Prabandhas* came to be written under the inspiration of Sanskrit influences. Poetry follows Sanskrit metres and the prose passages are also really poetical in content and conception. Purāṇic stories and episodes form the themes of these compositions; but extraneous matter is often introduced and the *Campūs* abound in satirical references to contemporary usages and personalities. They were mostly written by Nambūdiri Brahmins, a class well known for their mordant wit and sarcasm, employed to good purpose in these works. Perhaps the most famous of them was Punam Nambūdiri of the fifteenth century to whom many *Campūs* are ascribed; the *Rāmāyaṇa-campū* is unquestionably his masterpiece. Second only to Punam was Maḷamaṅgalam Nambūdiri, an inspired poet of the sixteenth century, who was gifted with a vivid imagination and an easy flow of language. His great work is the *Naiṣadha-campū* in which piquant situations like Nala leaving his kingdom and Damayanti lamenting over her separation from him are portrayed with great effect. These front-rank writers were followed by imitators of lesser calibre among whom Nārāyaṇan, the author of the *Bhārata-campū*, is the most notable.