Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.2212

c8.2212

Nilakeśī, a woman born in a very noble family in Triśśivaperūr did not have any sons though she accepted many husbands for the sake of progeny. At last she decided to perform penance. She left her place alone on a pilgrimage and reached Kāccil, a famous trading centre near Ezhimala. There lived a merchant named Nambucetty alias Combucetty who was the chief man of the place. He talked with Nilakeśī and accepted her as his wife. She got a son of him named Nambu'āri Aran. Pleased at the birth of a son the parents gave a grand feast at the big Payyannūr plains. At that time the brothers of Nilakeśī reached the place in a ship. They climbed the fort-walls and tried to enter the grounds. Some people objected to it and at that time Nambucetty came there and beat them to death. On hearing about this Nilakeśi left everything behind including her son and went again on a pilgrimage. When the son grew up the father taught him some everything about trade and ships. The father gave him a new ship for trading and the son taking along with him Pāṇḍyas, Jonakas, Coliyas, Pāppavas and a Yavana and a huge stock of goods put the ship into the sea and fearlessly went for trading. After passing through many ports and crossing another ocean he reached Ponmala (the mountain of gold) and bartered his goods for a heap of gold. He came back to his own land and was one day playing chess with his father when a Sannyāsinī (female ascetic) came there. When she was given alms she requested to be allowed to talk to the young merchant. The Sannyāsinī was none other than Nilakeśi the mother of Nambuśāri Aran, the young merchant. She requested him to come to Payyannūr for a feast conducted by a woman there and he agreed to that. But the father objected to it. But when the son persisted in going, the father sent him with the sons of a cetty, a few people from Maṇigrāma and a huge stock of goods for trade. The poem ends there thus with 104 verses. There are different opinions about the story among literary critics and historians. Gundert writes about it thus:—“This is a piece of Malayālam work most ancient of all that I have seen. This is a creation in Malayālam before that language became diluted with meaningless indeclinable Sanskrit words.” According to Gundert this poem was written before the poem Rāmacarita was written and thus in the 3rd century M.E.