[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955) › c19.s5.5 # A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s5.5 A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s5.5 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5.5) Mention must be made of the Niraṇam poets, so called from their native village Niraṇam in central Travancore, who from the fifteenth century sought to develop an independent Malayāḷam style relatively free from the domination of Tamil and Sanskrit models. Most prominent among them was Rāma Paṇikkar, of the \*Rāmāyaṇam\*, popularly known as \*Kaṇṇaśśa Rāmāyaṇam\*, which narrates the whole of the Rāma story. He was also the author of \*Bhārata Gāthā\*, \*Savitrī Māhātmyam\*, \*Brahmāṇḍapurāṇam\*, and \*Bhāgavatam\*. His poems are marked by great narrative power and he has been called ‘the Chaucer of Malayāḷam’. The translation of the \*Gītā\* by Mādhava Paṇikkar, the maternal grandfather of Rāma Paṇikkar, also deserves more than a passing mention. The Niraṇam poets also popularized a metre which takes its name after them, \*Niraṇavṛttam\*, but even this is seen to have its prototype in Tamil. - [Previous: c19.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5.4) - [Next: c19.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5.6) - [Up: c19.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5) ## Linked texts (3) - [Rāmāyaṇam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.malayalam.pattu.ramayanam) — Koṭṭayattu Tampurān, Malayalam - [Bhagavadgītā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.all.gita) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kaṇṇaśśa Rāmāyaṇam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.bhasa.kannassa) — Rāma Paṇikkar, Malayalam --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s5.5) · Pramāṇa