A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.44

c6.44

Some types of the *prabandha* class of literature in Tamil, such as the *kalambakam*, *ulā*, *paraṇi* and *kōvai*, narrate much history by the way, especially if they happen to be compositions of court poets who chose their royal patrons as the heroes of their poems. A Pāṇḍik-kōvai is cited extensively in an ancient commentary on the celebrated Iraiyanār Agapporuḷ; though the verses of the kōvai mention the names of several battles fought by the Pāṇḍya rulers of the line of Kaḍungōn, yet the hero of the poem seems to have been not any single king of the line, but a composite figure to whom the poet attributes the achievements of the entire dynasty; the adoption of such literary conventions was quite common, and without great caution one is apt to be easily misled by them. The Nandik-kalambakam, which has Pallava Nandivarman III for hero, is much more trustworthy and of real value on the history of the time. Somewhat richer in historical content are a few works of a quasi-historical nature that belong to the imperial Chola period; prominent among them are the Kalingattup-paraṇi of Jayangoṇḍār, treating of the invasion of Kalinga by the Chola forces in the reign of Kulottunga I, and the three ulās of Oṭṭakkūttaṉ on three successive monarchs—Vikrama Chola, Kulottunga II and Rājarāja II. In Kannada, the Pampa-bhārata and Ranna’s Gadā-yuddha, though mainly devoted to themes from the Great Epic, shed much welcome light on contemporary Rāshṭrakūṭa and Chālukya history because the authors have chosen to identify their patrons with some of the epic characters and find occasion to introduce into their narrative several historical incidents very well known to them. Bilhaṇa’s Vikramāṅkadeva-carita, a Sanskrit kāvya not devoid of poetic quality, is not nearly so useful to history as some of the Tamil and Kannada works just mentioned.