Malayalam, the mother tongue of nearly thirty million Malayalis, ninety per cent of whom live in Kerala State in the south-west corner of India, belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Like the speakers, the languages also has been receptive to influences from abroad and tolerant of elements added from outside. Malayalam literature too reflects this spirit of accommodation and has over the centuries developed a tradition which, even while rooted in the locality, is truly universal in taste. It is remarkably free from the provincialisms and parochial prejudices that have bedevilled the literature of certain other areas. To its basic Dravidian stock have been added elements borrowed or adopted from non-Dravidian literatures such as Sanskrit , Arabic, French, Portuguese and English . The earliest of these associations was inevitably with Tamil. Sanskrit, however, accounts for the largest of the "foreign" influences, followed closely in recent times by English. This broad based cosmopolitanism has indeed become a distinctive features of Malayalam literature.According to the most dependable evidence now available to us, Malayalam literature is at least a thousand years old. The language must certainly be older, but linguistic research has yet to discover unmistakable evidence to prove its antiquity. Historical accuracy has often been a problem since the records in most cases show no reference to the exact date of their composition. Legends and folklore have often taken the place of historical facts and chronology has been consciously or unconsciously tampered with. Modern research on scientific lines, however, has gone a long way to explain the origin and early development of the language.
A comprehensive literary history of Kerala shoud take into account the works produced in the region not only in Malayalam language, but also in Tamil, beginning with the fourth century B.C. and continuing to the end of the first millennium A.D. It should also trace the evolution of the works in Sanskrit produced by writers in Kerala. The contribution of Kerala to Tamil literature which includes Chilappadikaram produced in the 2nd century B.C., should be perhaps find its proper place in the history of Tamil literature just as Kerala's contribution to Sanskrit, which includes the works of Sankaracharya and Kulasekhara Alwar of the early 9th century A.D., should come within a history of Sanskrit literature. The contribution of Kerala writers to English and Hindi in recent years, in the same way is part of the literatures in those languages. Since this article is primarily devoted to the evolution of literature in Malayalam the political history and the history of the language as well as the literature written in other languages are not discussed here in detail.
The poetry of the Earth
It is difficult to provide documentary evidence for the existence of the earliest literary works written in Malayalam. The folk-songs and ballads of popular origin have been orally transmitted from generation to generation, but the forms in which they survive today must be quite different from their original forms. Any sweeping generalizations based on their present day forms are bound to be wrong. However, it would not be wrong to think that in some of them at least one can find evidence of the earliest springs of poetic inspiration in Malayalam. A large number of these folk-songs are associated with various kinds of religious rituals dating back to primitive Dravidian and Pre-Aryan times. Among these are perhaps the songs recited by Pulluvars at the festivals in serpent groves and by Panars when they used to go from house to house waking the people up in the early hours of the morning. The intrusion of Aryan faith even into these primitive rituals has led to their total transformation in theme, diction and imagery. The secular songs for popular entertainment and for agricultural operations have probably survived without serious damage. These are marked by a simplicity of structure and commitment to the problems of every day life. Some of them relate to the tragedy and pathos of the poorer classes; others are marked by a sparkling sense of humour. One of the most widely popular of these tragic songs is in the form of a complaint voiced by the farm labourer who is detained by the landlord for long hours to do all kinds of chores in the manorial household:
The time is gone, the time gone,
the water fowl
is hopping away
behind the screwpine.When I went there
there was neither this nor that.When I went there
they made me do the fence which was not there.When I went there
they made me dig the pond which was not there.When I went there
they made me thatch the unthatched roof.For half a pint of toddy
they drive me to death,
for half a green coconut
they drive me to death.The time is gone, the time is gone
the water fowl
is hopping away
behind the screwpine.Another of these folk-songs presents a young girl who is able to outwit the young man who slyly approaches her as she is walking across a paddy field. It is in the form of a dialogue. The young man asks her to move closer to him and take cover under his umbrella, but she parries his requests with witty evasions.
Who is going there along the causeway
with bangles on the arms?Oh, it is only the slave girl
of my lord of the farm.Throw away those bangles, girl,
and come under this umbrella.This umbrella is just for a day,
but my bangles are for all my life.Who is going there along the causeway
with palm-leaf rolls in the ears?Oh, it is only the slave girl
of my lord of the farm.Throw away the palm-leaf rolls, girl,
and come under this umbrella.This unbrella is just for a day,
but these palm-leaf rolls are for all my life.Who is there going along the causeway
with silver anklets on the feet?Oh, it is only the slave girl
of my lord of the farm.Throw away the silver anklets, girl,
and come under this umbrella.This umbrella is just for a day,
but these anklets are for all my life.Among the vocational songs are many which render an actual account of agricultural operations, especially the planting of seedlings and harvesting. The following song is sung by Pulayas who earn their living by working all the year round on the soil:
The rains have all come down,
the little fields are now wet,
the ploughing and tilling over,
the little seedlings have been scattered,
Omala, Chenthila, Mala,
little Kannamma, Kali, Karumpi,Chatha, Chadaya and all
the Pulaya women have come.They have come and lined up
and portioned out the seedlings.To move up the line in unison
they get ready and bend down.Kanna, the Pulaya girl then,
she calls out to Omala and says:"You must sing a song
before you finish the planting and go."Then comes a parrot girl
she perches on the tree and chirps.The little Pulaya girl Omala
looks up at it and says:"O, parrot girl, now tell me
why you have come here at all."Interspread with beautiful choric refrains made up of meaningless vocables constituting Vaythari metres, these folk-songs have preserved for centuries the pristine musical traditions of Kerala. The Christians and Muslims, along with Brahmins and other upper classes, have also had their religious and social songs. Examples are the door-opening song of the Christians associated with marriage celebrations, coaxing the bridegroom to open the door of the bridal chamber; the famous Moplah songs and ballads with their lyrical lilt and fervour; the Sanghakali songs of the Brahmin theatre, the songs about Kali, used for Thiyattu and Mudiyyettu, the boatsongs or Vanchippattu sung by choral groups to accompany spirited boat race activities: and songs used for Kalameshuthu, Thira and other kinds of ritualistic religious worship.
Among the ballads of a later period we have the famous Vatakkan Pattukal (ballads of the north) and Thekkan Pattukal (ballads of the south). They cover a wide variety of themes ranging from the historical exploits of the legendary heroes of non-religious folk mythology to songs of lamentation and mourning. The ballads of the north are narratives full of dramatic tension: the main characters belong to the Nayar or Ezhava communities, and are distinguished for their valour, military skill and sense of honour. Family feuds often provide the background or foreground of these stories in verse. Odenan, Aromar, Unniyarcha, Komappan, Chandu, Kelu, Alikkutty and Kannan, are a few of the unforgettable characters who figure in these ballads. Aromar and Odenan are the most colourful of these folk heroes. The Tachcholi ballad which reveals the greatness of Odenan is a saga of heroism, violence, revenge, love and courage. Logan calls Odenan "the Robin Hood of North Malabar". "In the popular ballad he is stated to have been treacherously shot, but whether mortally or not is uncertain, by a Mappilla on returning to search for a dagger he had accidentally dropped in a duel in which he had discomfitted his enemy". The opening of the poem reveals some of the general characteristics of these ballads and conjures up the medieval world of family fueds and superstitions. (Translation by Logan:)
To his squire Odayottidathil Kandasseri (Chappan)
said Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan,
"For the Lokanar Kavil Kavut,
Which day of ceremony has come and dawned
We to that temple must go".
Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan
His apparel he put on,
His sword and shield he took in his right and left.
In front walked Kandasseri,
In the rear the nobleman Kunhi Odenan,
Together proceeded in company.
Said dear Kunhi Odenan
To his wife Kavile Chathoth Kunchichiru:
"Till I go and come
Don't you go down the gate steps;
Do caress child Ambadi,
Give him milk when thirsty'
And rice when hungry",
So Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan
Took leave of Kavile Chathoth.When Odenan reached Lokanar Kavu, he found the place already "fenced with men on all four sides". He took his sat under the Banian tree. Mathilur Kurikkal and his twenty-two disciples arrived there then. Kurikkal was not pleased to see Odenan seated there. After an exchange of rancour and insult, the two men came to challenge each other:
When descending the steps,
The Kurikkal shouted loud and challenged:
"My good fellow, Tachcholi Kunhi Odena!
If the tenth and eleventh of Kumbham shall come,
If God will spare my life,
I pledge my word to be at Ponniyat
There under the Banian tree
In single combat could we test out supremacy.
That day let us meet again!"
Thus the Kurikkal declared the war,
In the midst of the Ten Thousand,
And proceeded back on his way.
The sight-seers trembled
At this throwing down and taking up the gauntlet.
A stillness prevailed like that after a heavy rain.
A panic spread
Over all assembled.Odenan accepted the challenge and in spite of warnings went to the appointed place on the appointed day. The poetic excellence of this ballad consists not only in the narrative vigour but also in the acuteness of observation displayed by the anonymous writer. Odenan's dinner is described with scrupulous attention to detail:
A Kadali plantain leaf was spread
His sister Tachcholi Unichira
Served him the dinner.
Fine lily-white rice,
A large quantity of pure ghee,
And eleven kinds of vegetables curries.
He fed himself sumptuously on all these
And washed his hands and mouth after it.
He then sat in the south verandah.
Kandassery Chappan, his squire,
Served him betel to chew.The description of Odenan's appearance as he set out is even better than this:
He wore God-of-serpent's head ear-ring in ears,
Combed down his hair,
And wore a flower of gold over the crown,
A silk cloth round the lions,
A gold girdle over it,
Gold rings in four fingers,
A bracelet worked in with scenes
From Ramayanam and Bharatam
High up on his right arm,
A gold-handled sword in his right hand,
And a tiger-fighting shield in his left hand.
When coming out thus dressed, he looked
Like melted gold of ten and a half touch!
Like the rising sun in the east!
Like the setting moon in the west!Among the ballads of the south, one of the most powerful is the Iravikkuttipillai Battle, also called "The Battle of Kaniyamkulam". The dialogue between the distinguished Warrior Iravikuttippillai and his wife, the latter asking her husband not to proceed to battle because she had seen bad dreams about its dire consequences, is particularly touching. Another equally arresting passage is the description of how the women celebrated the occasion of the hero's glorious march to the battle field in full array. The southern songs have a greater admixture of Tamil words. Ramakatha Pattu, which is, perhaps the most elaborate and most magnificent of these southern poems, is not a ballad but a genuine folk epic. Ayyappilli Asan, the author of this massive epic on the theme of Ramayana, is believed to have lived in the 15th century A.D. But the language and literary style point to a folk bias. Born near Kovalam to the south of Thiruvananthapuram, Asan was a master of Tamil too; his language thus remains very close to Tamil. There are numerous passages in Ramakatha Pattu which have a highly lyrical quality and an unmatched delicacy of imagination.
The folk poetry of Kerala is still an unspent force. It has always shown greater vigour and vitality than the poetry of the elite. The metrical richness of Malayalam folk poetry, too, is immense. It reflects the fundamentally musical approach to poetry that manifests itself in Malayalam literature. A predominant and all-pervasive sense of rhythm seems to be so characteristic a feature of Kerala culture. It might even be said that the perenial appeal of the Pattu school of poetry is mainly due to the inexhaustible melodic potentiality of its metrical structure. The vitality of the folk tradition in historical times is demonstrated by the Mappila Pattukal (Moplah songs) which have not only enriched the metrical resources of the language but put special emphasis on vira and sringara (the heroic and the erotic). The Arabi-Malayalam language used in these Moplah songs establishes the quaint beauty of their melodies. In the same way the Idanadan Pattu, a ballad with a Pylaya hero, adds to the variety of folk poetry in Malayalam.
Ramacharitam
The evidence for the beginning of conscious literary creation in Malayalam is to be found in Ramacharitam, written in the 12th century and believed to be the oldest extant classic in Malayalam (some scholars have assigned it to the 14th century). The language represented here is an early form of Malayalam which appears to be almost indistinguishable from Tamil, except perhaps for a linguist. Ramacharitam is the earliest of the many poetic versions of the story of Ramayana that have appeared in Malayalam. The work is thus important from the linguistic as well as the literary point of view. Ulloor Parameswara Iyer who was the first to bring to light long excerpts from this poem, holds the view that it was written by Sri Vira Rama Varma who ruled over Travancore from 1195 to 1208. Scholars differ on whether the language of Ramacharitam represents the literary dialect or the spoken dialect of Malayalam of that period.
Ramacharitam is also taken to the greatest work belonging to the Pattu school. Cheeraman, the author, as his name is given in the poem itself, has adapted to suit a Dravidian sensibility, a story which is unmistakably of Aryan origin. The work retells the story of Ramayana and the author tries to follow Valmiki in all essential details. However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that one could read the work as an original and independent poem in which the story is told with remarkable ease, maturity and perfect craftsmanship. It rises far above the level of ordinary folk poetry in its literary sophistication. Even the stansas of invocation is section one show great skill not only in condensing a whole series of events in one context but also in intoning the emotion or bhava in a concentrated form. Here is a passage, for example:
So
difficult it is for me to narrate
how
the son of Vayu hugged grief for a night
seeking
Maithili, the long-eyed one,
crossing
the billowy sea with perfect skill,
as
the monkeys went about in all directions
at
the orders of their king who had become friends
with Rama,
while he was wandering along the route
on
which, before the rainy months came,
the
Rakshasa chief had disappeared with Sita.
The focus is on Hanuman and the context is clearly specified so that the reference to the night of grief spells out the central bhava. It also marks out the part of the Ramayana story which is going to be narrated in the present work. In the 1814 verses grouped into 164 sections the poet tries to tell in a dramatic style the war between Rama and Ravana. Thus, although the work is called Ramacharitam, it deals with only the Battle Canto (Yudha Kanda) of Ramayana. The earlier episodes in Rama's life are told by means of retrospective narration. The scenes of battle are described with verve and vigour. Physical prowess in fully appreciated by the poet. Some scholars have argued that this poem was composed in order to inspire the soldiers in the discharge of their duty. But there are other emotions also invoked in the poem. Bhakti or piety is dominant in many passages since the author presents Rama as an incarnation of Vishnu. In this, as in many other aspects, it is likely that the author was influenced by writers like Kambar. There is no doubt that in the depiction of both the heroic and the pathetic or tragic the poet shows extreme delicacy of touch and propriety. Here is Mandodari's lament as Ravana, her lord, lies killed in battle:
O King, lying asleep on this battle ground
in royal regalia, kindly rise,
as we of the weaker sex and I, your bondmaid,
who used to make you utter elixir-like words,
weep, while speaking brave words to endure this,
so that our lotus eyes fill with tears blurring the sight.
The Beginning of Prose
There is no literary work of the same period in prose matching in quality with Ramacharitam. The earliest pieces of prose in existence are of a documentary nature, with no touch of imagination. The Attoor copper plate of Vira Udaya Marthanda Varma of Venad dated 1251 is, according to Ulloor, the earliest document, wholly in Malayalam proper. But Bhasha Kautaliyam, a Malayalam translation of Kautalya's Artha Sastra, is contemporaneous with Ramachirtham and illustrates the use of prose for imaginative purposes as well . The writer reveals a remarkable sense of style. The alternation between short and long sentences produces a sense of rhythm without destroying the straight-forwardness of the writing. Here is a passage describing rainfall:
Hereinafter types of clouds that rain in Sushama year are described. There are three types of clouds that rain continuously for seven days. There are eight types of clouds which shower minute drops. Sixty are the types of clouds that appear but do no rain at all. All these kinds of rain will be good for all seeds and plants.
Manipravalam
While the Pattu school flourished among certain sections of the society, the literature of the elite was composed in the curious mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam which is referred to as Manipravalam, mani meaning ruby (Malayalam) and pravalam meaning coral (Sanskrit). Lilathilakam, a work on grammar and rhetoric, written in the last quarter of the 14th century discusses the relationship between Manipravalam and Pattu as poetic forms. It lays special emphais on the types of words that blend harmoniously. It points out that the rules of Sanskrit prosody should be followed in Manipravalam poetry. This particular school of poetry was patronized by the upper classes, especially the Nambudiris. It is also to be remembered that the composition of this dialect also reflects the way Aryan and Dravidian cultures were moving towards a synthesis. Dramatic performances given in Koothampalams, known by the names of Koothu and Koodiyattom, often used Sanskrit and Malayalam. In Koodiyattom, the clown (vidooshaka) is allowed to use Malayalam while the hero recites slokas in Sanskrit. Tholan, a legendary court poet in the period of the Kulasekhara kings, is believed to have started this practice. The language of Kramadeepikas and Attaprakarams, which lay down the rules and regulations for these dramatic performances, is considerably influenced by the composite literary dialect of Manipravalam.
Early Manipravalam Works
The earliest of these works in the Manipravalam school is Vaisika Tantram written in the 13th century. It is fairly typical of the works that appealed to the upper class reading public of those days. It contains about 200 quatrains in Sanskrit metres and is in the form of professional advice given to a prostitute or courtesan by her mother. These instructions are of a practical nature calculated to please the pampered tastes of a leisured class. But each quatrain is composed with care and due weight is given to the rules of rhetoric. For instance the mother tells the daughter, who is to get ready for the family vocation as a courtesan, that "old age is a sea to be crossed by means of the wealth earned during one's youth". Several quatrains of this type are quoted in Lilathilakam by way of illustration for the several rules of grammar and rhetoric. An example may be quoted here:
All breezes are not breezes. The real breeze is the one
That bathes in the nearby river, dances among the growing coconut trees,
Caresses the uniquely beautiful body of mistress Rohini
And comes in kindness to thrill me by blowing over me.Perhaps the most representative of these early Manipravalam works are the tales of courtesans (Achi Charitams) and the Message Poems (Sandesa Kavyas).
Early Champoos
Unniyachi Charitam, Unnichiruthevi Charitam and Unniyadi Charitam are examples of the former type which is known by the name champoo, written in close imitation of the champoos in Sanskrit. The Padya or "verse" portion is in Sanskrit metres and the gadya or "prose" portion is mostly in Dravidian metres. Unniyachi is the heroine of Unniyachi Charitham and the poem is concerned with a Gandharva's love for her. There are plenty of passages of ornate description of either the heroine's charms or the splendour of the town or market place visited by her. The authorship is unknown. In Unnichiruthevi Charitham, it is Indra, the King of the Gods, who is smitten by a passion for the heroine and descends on the earth to visit her. In the course of the elaborate description of things seen by Indra, we get passages which throw light on the manners and morals of the upper class society of its time. Only a portion of the work is now available to us. Unniyadi Charitam, which also exists in a fragmented form, is supposed to be by Damodara Chakkiar. Against the backdrop of a complicated story involving generations of Gandharvas, there merges the story of Unniyadi, the heroine. The moon god happens to hear wonderful music wafted into the sky and sends his attendant Suvakan to find out its source. The poem contains the description of all that Suvakan sees on the earth, especially in places like Thrissur, Mahodayapuram and Kayamkulam.
Sandesa Kavyas
It is natural that Manipravalam looked to Sanskrit for models of literary works. The Sandesa Kavyas are an important poetic genre in Sanskrit, and on the model of Kalidasa's Meghadoot and Lakhsmidasa's Sukasandesa, a number of message poems came to be written first in Manipravalam and later in pure Malayalam. The best of these sandesas is perhaps Unnuneelisandesam written in the 14th century. Unnuneeli is the heroine, and she and her lover live in Kaduthuruthi. One night as they as asleep, a fairy (Yakshi) carries him away and goes south. He wakes up by the time they reach Thiruvananthapuram and frees himself from the hold of the fairy. He visits Sri Padmanabha Temple and meeting Aditya Varma, a junior prince of Kollam there, engages him as a messenger to carry his news to his beloved in Kaduthuruthi. In part one, as usual, the poet describes the route to Kaduthuruthi, for the benefit of the messenger as well as the readers. In part two the actual message is described and entrusted to the messenger. The poem is a treasure house of information relating to the conditions of life in Kerala in the fourteenth century. In addition, it contains several quatrains of unexceptionable beauty, both in its thought and in its verbal felicity. In two hundred and forty stanzas, with breath-taking eroticism and exquisite imagery, this message poem reaches the high watermark of early Manipravalam poetry. It combines extreme sophistication and complexity in its poetic craft with remarkable naturalness and authenticity in its theme and thought.
The Niranam Poets
While the Manipravala poetry flourished as a diversion from the mainstream, the tradition set up by Cheeraman of Ramacharitam and the more enlightened among the anonymous folk poets was resumed and replenished by three writers commonly referred to as Niranam poets. The Bhakti school was thus revived, and in the place of the excessive sensuality and eroticism of the Manipravala poets, the seriousness of the poetic vocation was reasserted by them. It is believed that they all belonged to the same Kannassa family and that Madhava Panikkar and Sankara Panikkar were the unless of Rama Panikkar, the youngest of the three. They lived between 1350 and 450 A.D. and made valuable contribution to the Pattu school. Madhava Panikkar wrote a condensed Malayalam translation of Bhagavad Gita, aperhaps the first ever translation of that classic into any modern Indian language. Sankara Panikkars's main work is Bharatamala, a masterly condensation of Mahabharatam, is also the first major work of its kind in Malayalam. The greatest of the three is of course Rama Panikkar, the author of Ramayanam, Bhartam, Bhagavatam and Sivarathri Mahatmyam. Kannassa Ramayanam and Kannassa Bharatam are the most important of these Niranam works. Rama Panikkar's Ramayanam is an important link between Cheeraman's Ramacharitam, Ayyappilli Asan's Ramakathappattu and Ezhuthachan's Adhytma Ramayanam. They bear eloquent testimony to the continuing popularity of the Ramayana story in Kerala. Together they constitute the strong bulwark of the Bhakti movement which enabled the Malayalis to withstand and resist the onslaught of foreign cultures. The Dravidianization of Aryan mythology and philosophy was their joint achievement, coming in the wake of the heroic effort of Sankaracharya, who wrote only in Sanskrit. The central native tradition of Malayalam poetry has its most significant watershed in the works of the Niranam poets. Their success led to the gradual replacement of the Manipravala cult of worldliness and sensual revelry by an indigenous poetics of high seriousness. One step forward from the Niranam poets will take us to Cherusseri and his Krishnagatha; two steps together will land us in the company of Kerala's greatest poet Thunchathu Ezhuthachan. The centrality of Niranam Rama Panikkar is of vital concern to any conscientious literary historian of Malayalam. The subordination of the descriptive and the narrative elements to the controlling theme is a feature of Rama Panikkar's poetic style. The killing of Thataka in the Balakanda of Kannassa Ramayanam is disposed of in one verse which helps to preserve the dramatic tension of the action.
Came she like a gigantic blue cloud,
shouting with frightening fury,
Wearing garlands of blood-dripping intestines
bearing her crescent-white tusks,
But the leader of mankind woke up to anger
and smashing her magic witchcraft
With arrows shot, saluted the rishi
and killer her at his command.Lakshman's furious threat to Tara when Sugriva failed to expedite the quest for Sita is another eloquent example:
Tara, your husband does not consider
what is good and what is bad without delay.
He had said, with the approach of summer
he would search for Devi without fail.
We waited so long upon that word
and then he has forgotten all that
Blind and stupid with drunkenness,
knowing neither day or night.Ulloor has said that Rama Panikkar holds the same position in Malayalam literature that Spenser does in English literature. His command over complex rhythms, his attention to sensuous, concrete details, his power of phrasing and perfect control over mythological material seem to lend support to this view.
The Later Champoos
The 15th century A.D. saw two parallelled movements in Malayalam literature: one spearheaded by the Manipravala works, especially the Champoos, mixing verse and prose, and continuing the trend of the earlier Champoos at least in part; and the other emanating from the pattu school and adumbrated in Cherusseri's magnum opus, the Krishnagatha (Song of Krishna). As the elitist Manipravala Champoo school is to disappear later in the next century, it may be disccussed first. The language of the later Champoos reads more like modern Malayalam than that of the earlier Champoos and Sandesakavyas. Perhaps it can also be said that there is an improvement in poetic quality and craftsmanship too. The greatest Manipravala Champoos of the 15th century is Punam Nambudiri's Ramayanam, a close rival to Mahishamangalam's Naishadha of the 17th century. It is believed that Punam was responsible for using Puranic themes and episodes in Champoos for the first time, unlike the 14th century Champoos which were tales of the courtesans.
The later Champoos came to be used for dramatic oral narration by performing artists in their Koothu and Pathakam. Their diction like their themes, seems to be more refined than that of the earlier Champoos showing a self-conscious effort on the part of their authors. Ramayanam Champoos consists of 20 Prabandhas viz., Ravana's birth, Rama's incarnation, the killing of Thataka, the deliverance of Ahalya, the marriage of Sita, the truimph over parasurama, the foiled coronation, the killing of Khara, the treaty with Sugriva, the killing of Bali, the entry into the garden, the scene of the ring, the entry into Lanka, the killing of Ravana, the ordeal by fire, the entry into Ayodhya, the coronation, the repudiation of Sita, the Aswamedha and the Swargarohana.
A recurring feature of some of these Champoos is that several passags are common to many of them. It would appear as though the performing artists, the Chakyars or the Nambiars, appropriated passages from other Champoos and introduced them into any given Champoos chosen for presentation. A remarkable feature of Ramayanam Champoo is the sense of humour that sparkles in many passages. Punam also wrote a Bharatam Champoos. There are also many others, the authorship of which is ascribed to him.
Mahishamangalam (or Mazhamangalam) Narayanan Nambudiri is the author of some of the best Champoos of all time. The most widely known of these is Naishadham followed by Rajaratnavaliyam and Kodia Viraham. Like Punam, Mahishamangalam also reveals in humour. This aspect of the work must have specially appealed to the performing artists who used the text for public performance. It may be this sense of the comic that eventually percolated into the Thullal poems of Kunchan Nambiar, centuries later.
Chandrotsavam
Chandrolsavam, a long narrative poem written in Manipravala on the model of the Kavyas in Sanskrit, should also be mentioned here. The authorship is unknown. A shy intrusion of romantic sensibility may be detected in parts of this poem. There are also lines which seem to strike an ironic note. Some scholars consider it a work of satire. Hyperbole was a regular feature of Chambu literature, but to our taste today, it might look like conscious exaggeration to provoke ridicule and laughter.
The story of Manipravala poetry will remain incomplete, unless the Muktakas or single quatrains are also touched upon. Some of them are exquisite wordpictures. Some have a lyrical perfection rarely equalled by later lyricists.
Cherusseri's Krishnagatha
If the Chambus represents the aesthetic tastes of the scholarly and sophisticated readership, the average readers without much grounding in Sanskrit had their favourite poems and poets in the so-called Pattu school. The folk poems as well as Ramacharitham and Niranam works helped to preserve the proletarian tastes. The poetics of the Pattu school find a further confirmation in the celebrated and popular Song of Krishna (Krishnagatha) by Cherusseri Nambudiri. With the writing of Krishnagatha, the validity of the use of spoken Malayalam for literary purposes receives its ultimate justification. Unlike the language of Ramacharitam and the works of the Niranam poets the language of Krishnagatha marks the culmination of a stage of evolution. Cherusseri excels by the simplicity and limpidness of his diction and imagery. Krishnagatha is an epic in Malayalam written in a popular Dravidian metre which has evolved from a folk metre. It does not have the tightness and characteristics of either Ramacharitam or Kannassa Ramayanam. There are also local touches in an abundant measure. Sweetness and light, rather than vigour or high seriousness, is Cherusseri's forte. It arises partly from his localizing devices. There is also an entrancing freshness about his description of domestic life. The naturalness and ease of his flowing lines also accounts for Cherusseri's popularity.
Cherusseri belonged to Kolathunad in northern Kerala. The consensus among scholars is that he lived and wrote in the 15th century A.D. There is some dispute about the author's name and his identity. Some scholars are of opinion that he was the same as the Punam Nambudiri of the Chambus. The difference between the style of Krishnagatha and that of any of the Chambus should point to the impossibility of this identification. Even a casual reading of the work will convince one of the uniqueness of its style. Later poets have learned a lot from him, but no one can successfully imitate him. The distinctive Cherusseri stamp is deeply marked on every line of his poem. His use of figures of speech, his pleasant diction and his mastery over the metrical structure (especially the pause and the caesura) are borne out by almost any part of the poem. Here is an example, a description of Poothana's arrival in Ampadi with the intention of causing baby Krishna's death through milk poisoning:
As she saw the place from a distance
She went close and shyly sneaked in
Even as the python stealthily goes
Close to the perch of the king of birds.She stood there for a while
Watching the darling's charming face,
As though she waited in impatience
She went forward and stood touching
Why the lord of death had not come.That flower-soft body, softer than tender leavers,
As if touching real fire
Taking it for a jewel.Then she picked up the darling child
Like taking a serpent for a rope.In this string of smiles the poet shows both insight and wit; the figures anticipate her future course. Here is an eloquent picture of the pitiful position in which she puts herself unknowingly. Bhakti, Vatsalyam (love of children, etc.) Karuna, Sringara: these are the dominent moods in Cherusseri's poetry.
The Growth of Prose
The evolution of prose literature in the early centuries was a very slow process. In the wake of Bhashakautaliyam several translations began to appear in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The prose of Attprakarams was meant to aid the Chakiyars in learning the art of Koodiyattam. Doothavakyam (14th century A.D.) is one of the earliest of these free renderings which reveals a kind of style that is suited for elaborate oral narration. The long, rolling sonorous sentences are interspersed with pieces of dialogue which contain spoken forms. Fifteenth century Malayalam prose is represented by Brahmanda Puranam, a summary of the original in Sanskrit. The prose here is more free from Sanskrit influence than in Doothavakyam. The syntax is less cumbersome and the units are presented in the sequential order without resorting to specific co-ordination or sub-ordination. There are however, numerous Tamil and Sanskrit expressions scattered here and there. These give a stylized effect to the prose. A large number of prose works appeared during this period, most of which are either narratives based on puranas and eligious works in Sanskrit or commentaries on similar works. With the starting of the first printing presses in the Sixteenth century by Christian missionaries, prose literature received a great boost.
Thunchathu Ezhuthachan
Malayalam literature passed though a tremendous process of development in the 15th and 16th centuries. Cherusseri's Krishnagatha bore witness to the evolution of modern Malayalam language as a proper medium for serious poetic communication. Alongside there flourished numerous Sanskrit poets who were very active during this period. The greatest of them was Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, the author of Narayaneeyam. The Manipravala poets were no less active, as is shown by a series of Chambus and Kavyas and single quatrains produced in the period, the greatest monument of which is perhaps the Naishadham Chambu. But the most significant development of the time took place in the field of Malayalam poetry.
Thunchattu Ezhuthachan, the greatest Malayalam poet of all time, wrote his two great epics Adhyatma Ramayanam and Srimahabharatam and two shorter pieces, Irupattinalu Vrittam and Harinama Kirtanam and thereby revolutionized Malayalam language and literature at once. He is rightly regarded as the maker of modern Malayalam and the father of Malayalam poetry. The study of Malayalam should properly begin with the acquisition of the skill to read Ezhuthachan's Ramayanam with fluency. It was in his works that the Sanskrit and Dravidian streams in our language as well as literature achieved a proper synthesis.
The evolution of modern Malayalam becomes complete with his judicious fusion of the disparate elements. In his diction there is no violation of euphony. Ezhuthachan's mind and ear went together in the selection and ordering of phonological and morophological units. The Kilippattu form he adopted in Ramayanam and Bharatam may be a pointer to his recognition of importance of the sound effect in poetry. It enable him to combine fluency with elegance, spontaneity with complexity, naturalness with depth of meaning and simplicity with high seriousness. His choice of classcial Dravidian metres in preference to both the classical Aryan metres and the Dravidian-based folk metres reveals his concern for striking a balance in most of his endeavours . Ezhuthachan is the greatest spokesman of the Bhakti movement in Malayalam but he is more than a writer of devotional hymns. It is possible to think of him primarily as a poet imbued with a sense of mission, but not willing to fritter away his energies on negative projects like castigating any section or community.
Ezhuthachan is the greatest synthesizer Kerala has ever seen. A non-Brahmin himself, who studied the Vedas and Upanishads without prior priestly sanction, he was yet devoted to the real Brahmins and always revealed a sublime sense of humility. Critics have sometimes, in their over enthusiasm and admiration for the poet, pointed out that whenever he has to mention Rama or Krishna, he goes into raptures and produces a string of the Lord's names. If this is shown as an inability on the part of the poet to decide what is proper and what is improper in a given situation, it would only mean denigrating Ezuthachan as a poet. Ezhuthachan is a master of auchitya or the quality of propriety in writing. It could easily be seen that the intrusion of his personal bhakti is not at the expense of aesthetic propriety. The very fact that he close Adhyatma Ramayana and not Valmiki Ramayana as his model, shows that devotional effusions are automatically justified in his telling of the story of Rama. Bhakti becomes the Sthayibhava and it would have been improper if he narrated the story merely as an account of events without any transcendental significance.
That Ezhuthachan is not a mere translator is granted by all critics and scholars. In fact he follows the earlier Kerala writers in freely elaborating or condensing the original as he thinks proper. The celebration of this freedom gained in poetic creation is what enlivens and ennobles the hymns interspersed in his works. There seems to be another superstition among some critics that his Bharatam is more poetic than his Ramayanam. This again arises from the misconception that devotion is an anachronism in poetry. In Ezhuthachan's time there was no dissociation of religious sensibility and devotion and spirituality could always go together. His Bharatam is a later work, a more nature work but its artistic greatness does not depend on the exclusion of bhakti in it. As a matter of fact his Bharatam is as much imbued with religious devotion as his Ramayanam. The differences are perfectly consistent with the change of subject matter and the period of composition. The bhaktivadi critics who praise Ramayanam purely as a devotional work are unconsciously belittling Ezhuthachan. His greatness as a poet consists in the appropriateness of the form he chose and the language he used for what he wanted to present to the people of his time as well as of later times.
The transition from Cherusseri to Ezhuthachan marks the triumph of modernism over medievalism. This is very much in evidence in the self restraint with which Ezhuthachan resorts to the use of figures of speech. There is an urbanity and refinement in his portrayal of Ravana and Duryodhana. He was able to achieve the perfect integration of the literacy and the spiritual; one was not scarificed for the sake of the other, for the new, that would spoil both. This liberalism enabled Ezhuthachan to excel his predecessors in the presentation of the different rasas and bhavas. Some passages will illustrate this wonderful versatility. Here is Gandhari's lament on the battlefield of Kurukshetra:
"My child, my son, Duryodhana!
Why have you thrown away
Your golden crown and jewels
And the pomp and pride of the king of the Gods
And all the show of splendour and prowess
Thus deserting me and your dear father'
All so suddenly? My heart breaks at this sight.Are you, who used to lie in a silken bed,
Now lying lifeless in a pool of blood?
Maruti in great anger has smashed
Your leg and killed you thus.
I cannot bear to see this, alas!"
So Gandhari ran and fell and rolled round
Then fainted and woke up and again
Cried in great grief and began to say.....He is most eloquent when he comes to praise Rama or Krishan. The visual power of the following description of Krishna in the thick of the battle is indeed marvellous:
The colourful peacock feathers fixed in a row
And brought together and tied up on the top
With the heavy tresses so like dark clouds,
The jewelled diadem with its glitter and glow,
The dangling little curls on the forehead,
The tiny particles of dust on them,
The tilak too moist with sweat,
The beauty of the brows that keep moving
To create, protect and destroy and world,
The eyes that reflect the changing sentiments
With pity and compassion for the lowly and
Anger towards the cruel and the wily,
Love for the lovely, wonder at the squabble,
Laughter for the stupid, terror for the foes,
The cheeks that reflect the jewelled ear-rings,
The lotus face, the nose with, beads of sweat,
The glowing smile and the lovely lips,
Garlands swaying on the breast
Made of tulsi and lotus and and tender leaves,
Strings of rubies and Kaustubha jewel
Around the neck, the whip in hand
The breast smeared with kumkum,
The bright yellow clothes, the anklets,
The twin lotus feet, as in my heart,
So saw I clearly in the chariot to my joy.The choice of the metres in each of the six cantos of Adhyatma Ramayana is itself an unmistakable indication of Ezhuthachan's native sense of the cultural moorings of his people: Keka for Balakandam, Kakali for Ayodhya, Keka again for Aranya followed by Kakali for Kishkindha, with a sudden change over to Kalakanchi in Sundarakanda and return to Kakali for the Yudhakanda. The changes in the tempo are clearly marked in these variations. The purely narrative portions have an even flow which is never allowed to drag. The slow-motion unfolding of beauty at close quarters is often rendered in appropriate metrical pattern as in the leisurely description of the childhood of Rama and his three brothers. Hanuman's leap to Lanka and his dangerous pranks there, are rendered in passage marked by a quicker tempo. The intimacy one feels in reading Ezhuthachan is accounted for by the efficient handling of the linguistic resources.
With his absolute sincerity, his adept skill in the use of language, his total dedication to poetry and religion, his disarming humility, Ezhuthachan was able to create and establish once and for all a language, a literature, a culture and a people. In later times, whenever there was a deviation or distortion in the cultural trend, the return to the central native tradition was facilitated by a true recognition and fresh realization of what Ezhuthachan had done and had stood for. He is thus a magnificent symbol or a great cultural monument.
Poonthanam Nambudiri
If there ever was another writer who could be Ezhuthachan's equal in bhakti, if not poetic power, it was Poonthanam Nambudiri, a contemporary of Melpathur Bhattatiri and possibly of Ezhuthachan himself. His chief poems in Malayalam are Bhasha Karnamritam, Kumaraharanam or Santanagopalam Pana and Jnanappana. The first of these is a devotional work intended to create Krishna bhakti in the readers. The second is a touching narrative in very simple and straight-forward language and fast moving verse. It tells the story of a Brahmin father who lost all his children and sought the help of the Pandava prince Arjuna. Arjuna proudly offered to help him preserve his next child alive, but he was unable to keep his word. The Brahmin abuses Arjuna to his great anguish and in his wounded pride he decides to commit suicide by leaping into flames. Krishna out of love for Arjuna, intervenes at the last moment and takes him to Vaikuntha from where they recover all the lost children of the Brahmin. Krishna's infinite love for his devotees is thus the central theme, but the poem also makes its appeal because of its down-to-earth realism and unmistakable touch of authenticity.
Jnanappana or the Song of Divine Wisdom is a veritable storehouse of transcendental knowledge which is firmly rooted in the experiences of this world. In a language, absolutely free from regionalism and dialectal influences, unadorned with excessive rhetorical features, through a series of concrete pictures taken from contemporary life, the poet is able to drive home his perception of the short lived nature of the ephemeral aspects of life. His religious meditations flow uncluttered and unencumbered with irrelevant matter.
Is there scarcity of the Lord's name?
Or has fear of hell declined?
Is there life without use of tongues?
Have we escaped from mortality?
Alas, alas, without reflection
We roast and eat out life in vain.
After how many lifetimes of labour
We happened to be born here by luck!
How many lifetimes spent in water,
How many lifetimes lived like trees,
How many lifetimes as beasts, as cattle
Ere we could be born as men?
After so much hard labour
We fell into our mother's womb,
Ten months have been spent in the womb,
Ten or twelve years spent as a child too
And the rest of the time not knowing ourselves
We spend in self-centred vain glory.A large number of hymns and prayer songs which are still popular have been attributed to Poonthanam.
The Performing Art
The sixteenth century also saw the writing of some dramatic works in Manipravalam and pure Malayalam Bharatavakyam, often described as a choral narration, is a work in Manipravalam which was used for stage performance. The authorship is uncertain, but the work seems to have been staged several times. It is a comedy with a large dose of farce in it. It may be regarded as the first roopakam in which Malayalam is combined with Sanskrit to present in a visual form, a story based on Kerala society, centring round a few characters such as a Nambudiri (Apphan), his Nayar wife, his manager (Ilayathu) and the children's tutor (Pisharoti).
Margamkali was the form of ritual and entertainment among the Syrian Christians corresponding to the Sanghakali of the Brahmins. Margamkalippattu is the song for this performance depicting the story of St.Thomas, the Adpostle. This was one of the numerous pieces of Christian literature that must have gained currency in the 16th and 17th centureies.
Attakkatha
The main development in the cultural field in Kerala in the 17th century was the growth of a new form of visual art called Attam or Kathakali, which brought into being a new genre of poetry called Attakkatha consisting of the libertto used for a Kathakali performance. Gitagovinda, a work in Sanskrit by the Oriya poetof the 12th century, Jayadeva, provided inspiration to Manaveda Raja of Kozhikode to set up a troupe to perform a dance-drama depicting the life of Krishna in eight parts. This Krishnattam was the model before the prince of Kottarakkara who invented Ramanattom to put on stage the story of Ramayana also in eight parts. Koodiyattom was classical Sanskrit drama patronized by the elite class; Padayani or Kolamthullal was popular among the loweer classes. In between there flourished various forms of ritualistic drama like Mudiyettu, Thiyyattu, Kalam Ezhuthu Pattu, Teyyam and Thira. The new are developed by Kottarakkara Thampuran appeared to combine the features of both. The evolution of Kathakali must have been a slow process and did not reach a final stage in the time of Kottarakkara Tampuran. The literature of Kathakali also came to develop its special features over the centuries.
The Ramayana plays of Kottarakkara Tampuran are not distinguished by literary excellence. However, his farsightedness is clearly revealed in the structure he set up for this new genre. The narrative framework of an attakatha consists of quatrains in Sanskrit metres where the diction also is heavily Sanskritised; the dialogue part, however, is made up of padas which can be set to raga and tala and have to be rendered by means of gestures and body movements by the actors while being sung by the musicians from behind. The two-part structure is perhaps modeled on the Chambus. To judge an Attakatha solely on the basis of literary criteria would be unjust. It is a composite art and words of the text are only a pretext for the visual representation. Even the selection and arrangement of words and lines will be guided by considerations of stage production. The words must yield to representation through gestures; they must lend themselves to musical rendering and if possible respond in sympathy to the instrumental music that accompanies their recitation. The stories are usually well-known to the audience, being mostly taken from the Puranas. The success of the performance depends on the degree of synchronization achieved by the actors, vocalists, instrumentalists and other helpers. The style of production has a definite bearing on the literature of Kathakali. Kottarakkara's attakkathas are better on the stage than in the library: a silent reading may even irritate the reader. However, there are passages in some of these plays, which could be appreciated as literature, if one could simultaneously visualize the gestural rendering also. The last words of Bali to Rama in Balivadham, after the monkey king is mortally wounded in battle, are quite powerful:
King Raghava, please listen to my words,
Finding it difficult to kill me in a straight fight
You had to hide yourself and cheat me.
That is no good. If you met me straight
I would have killed you, brave one! ere now.
In my heart I think you were born amiss
Although you are the son of good Dasaratha.
Brave people do not resort to cheating
You did this to me because you are a very small man.
Tara had warned me, but rejecting her warning
I came here to fight and got killed by you.
Is a monkey's flesh eatable?
The skin, too, is useless, O jewel among men!
I who live in the forest never did
Anything untoward in your city.This may sound conventional outside the context of a Kathakali, but the conventionality may not be felt when action accompanies the words. Nevertheless it has to be conceded that Kottarakkara Tampuran was more of a dramatist than a poet, more of a connoisseur than an artist.
Kottayam Tampuran
The greatest fillip to the growth of Attakkatha as a literary form and Kathakali as a performing art came from Koattayam Tampuran, a prince in the royal family of Northern Kottayam who is believed to have lived in the late 17th century. His main Attakkathas are Bakavadham, Kalyana Saughadhikam, Kirmiravadham and Kalakeyavadham. Their success led to the phenomenal popularity of this form of literary composition. Kottayam was a more gifted poet and scholar than Kottarakara, and in his hands Attakkatha attained a position of respectability. His quatrains are invariably in Sanskrit, but the padas are in Malayalam. Several of this padas are extremely poular not only with the Kathakali audience but even with the general public. They are also good as poetry. The dialogue between Hanuman and Bhima in Kalyana Saugandhikam or the one between Urvasi and Arjuna in Kalakeyavadham will bear out this point:
Hanuman (pretending to be an old monkey, not revealing his identity as Bhima's elder brother):
Who is it that has come to my side,
Tell me, brave one, who is it?
Too old and tired am I:
How can I receive you properly?
I am too lazy also, O great Kind,
To great you and speak to you properly.Bhima (not knowing that the old monkey is his elder brother Hanuman who is going to test Bhima playfully):
Who is this fool, tell me, wicked fellow,
Get away from my path.
Have you not, old monkey, heard of me
The brave sun of the wind-good.
Why do you, for no reason, block my path?
I will kill you, no doubt, and
Send you to the god of death.Hanuman:
O King, please do not be angry,
Please be kind, O supreme among men:
Kind-hearted one, equal to the lord of the sea!
Bhima: Know you that I am the brother of Maruti
Who smashed with his hand at once
Aksha, son of the Rakshasa Chief (Ravana)Hanuman:
You may remove my tail and clear the path:
And then you may proceed soon, O lotus-eyed one!Bhima:
Then you will see my powers
In the battlefield, no doubt, today,
You will be put to grief quite soon,
If you are brave and fight against me.
The dramatic irony anticipating boastful Bhima's collapse makes the passage really interesting.
Unnayi Warrier
The end of the 17th century and the early quarter of the 18th century saw the enrichment of Kathakali literature by the production of Unnayi Warrier's Nalacharitam in four parts, the gratest attakkatha at all time. Unnayi Warrier was a poet of exceptional skill. His sense of drama, command over language, knowledge of dance and music and insight into human psychology enabled him to present the story of Nala and Damayanti in a compact form, observing auchitya to the maximum extent possible. He also sticks to the concept of a dominant rasa supported by other dependent rasas. The dramatic unravelling of the ups and downs in the career of a noble king and his beloved consort is magnificently achieved by Warrier. Variety in situation and characterization are provided by the introduction of characters like Kali, Pushkara, Rituparna, Karkotaka, Kattala and even the Hamsam (Swan). Even minor characters are presented as fulfledged human beings. Nalacharitham is the highwatermark of Kathakali literature mainly because of its profound human interest. The central plot is concerned with the fall of a noble and good man brought about by his accidental involvement in a game of dice and by the intervention of evil forces like Kali. He is rescued in the end, by his steadfastness and adherence to moral values. The heroine is unconsciously responsible for the jealousy of Kali, but at the end it is her goodness and her intelligence that come to the king's aid. King Nala and his queen, Damayanti, have become immortal characters, illustrating, through their suffereings the vicissitudes of human fortunes.
Among the many special features of Nalacharitam, is the happy blending of poetry, abhinaya (acting) and nritya (dance). One of the most felicitous passages from this point of view is the scene between Damayanti and the Swan-messanger. The cleverness of the Swan in drawing Damayanti away from her maids is superb dramatic material. He follows it up with an equally clever way of revealing his identity to her. Once her curiosity is aroused, it is easy for the Swan to find out how much she is interested in Nala. With his encouragement, unsuspected by her, she tells him about her love for Nala. On getting confirmation of it, the Swan proceeds to Kundinam to take the good news to King Nala. In the third day's play we have a touching soliloquy by Nala, now separated from his wife, sleepless in his grief, in the saddest moment of his life:
In the lonely vast forest, alas,
O moon-faced one, what do you do, waking up in pain?
Who (is there) but the wolf for help? or,
Have you reached home, timid one?
When can I see your moon-bright face?
When embrace you body coveted by the gods?
Beloved, what did you get there when you were hungry,
As I lay in stupor born of illusion?
O god! my blessed one, I cannot bear to think of you
O parrot-tongued one, and the wild forest full of howling jackals.Unnayi Warrier seems to have been influenced by the pattern of classical drama in Sanskrit. This has helped him to tighten the structure, stead of leaving it loosely held together as in most attakkathas. The introduction of Narada as a kind of celestial Sutradhara to control and direct the course of the play provides a meaningful framework to the whole structure. His poetic gift has encouraged him to take freedom in the use of language. With the same boldness he has kept out as far as possible the merely conventional passages, often found in attakkathas but irrelevant to plot and character. Nalacharitam has an organic unity rarely found in attakkathas. Of all the writers of attakkathas Unnayi Warrier alone seems to have had the totality of his work in perspective; most of the others concentrated on the details and forgot about the whole. He was also more serious-minded than the others since there is a basically moral outlook controlling and underscoring the destinies of the characters presented by him. He must have meditated deeply on the presence of evil in the world and has tried to account for it in the course of his work.
Princes and Poets
The Golden Age of Kathakali saw two poets in the royal family Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma Maharaja (1724-1798) was a scholar in many languages and a great patron of learning and the fine arts. His Sanskrit work, Balaramabharatam is unique in that it tries to codify his own ideas of dance, music and drama. His main contributions to literature are seven attakkathas: Rajasooyam, Subhadraharanam, Bakavadham, Gandharva Vijayam, Panchali Swayamvaram, Kalyana Saugandhikam and Narakasuravadham Part I. An expert in Natya Shastra and a patron of Kathakali, Kartika Tirunal is perhaps the greatest of our ruler-authors.
Kartika Tirunal's nephew Aswati Tirunal Ilaya Tampuran (1756-1794) is chiefly remembered for his five attakkathas: Narakasuravadham art II, Rugmini Swayamvaram, Poothana Moksham, Ambarisha Charitam and Poundraka Vadham. Aswathi Tirunal was gifted with genuine poetic talent. Some of the padas in Poothana Moksham like "not even the king of serpents can described the glory of Ampady" have a delicate workmanship about them. It is a pity that this poet died at the early age of thirty-eight.
Ramapurathu Warrier (1703-1753)
In the court of Maharaja Martanda Varma, the maker of the former State of Travancore and his successor Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma, there flourished a number of poets distinguished in several ways. Ramapurathu Warrier, the author of Kuchela Vrittam Vanchippattu, was one of them. The Vanchipattu or Boatsong is a poetic form of folk origin. Kuchela Vrittam is the most famous boatsong in the language. Composed entirely in the Dravidian metre natonnata, it is a popular classic that retells the story of Kuchela, the indigent devotee and one-time classmate of Sri Krishna, going to Dwaraka to pay homage to him. The poverty of the old Brahmin and his family is described with extreme authenticity. The realistic touch shown by the poet in presenting this Puranic story with a personal edge to it has gained for the work, immense popularity. In the poem, the poet specifically referes to King Martanda Varma and describes the circumstances under which he came to write the poem. Warrier makes Kuchela's wife declare: "there is no greater affliction than that of poverty". The meeting of Kuchela with Krishna is described in memorable language:
Because of either the joy of seeing the Brahmin
Or the grief at the thought of his misery
Shouri's eyes filled with tears, whatever be the cause:
Has the brave lotus-eyed one ever wept at all?Warrier has also translated Gitagovinda into Malayalam.
Kunchan Nambiar (1705-1770)
Before he came to the court at Thiruvananthapuram, Kunchan Nambiar had spent his early childhood at Killikurissimangalam, his boyhood at Kudamaloor and his youth at Ambalapuzha. In 1748 he moved to Thiruvananthapuram, first to the court of Martanda Varma and later to the court of Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma. He had already written several of his works before leaving Ambalapuzha. The chief contribution of Nambiar is the invention and popularization of a new performing art known as Thullal. The world literally means "dance", but under this name Nambiar devised a new style of verse narration with a little background music and dance-like swinging movement to wean the people away from the Chakkiyar Koothu, which was the form popular till then. He was to use pure Malayalam as opposed to the stylized and Sanskritized language of Koothu. He also adopted many elements from Padayani or Kolam Thullal and certain other folk arts. It is reasonable to assume that he was himself a performer. The first hand knowledge of the various thalas and ragas and even the practices of drummers is a pre-requisite for the writing of a Thullal. Kunchan Nambiar possessed this in abundance. Each Thullal composition consists of a Puranic tale retoled in simple rhythmic verse, fit for loud recitation before an audience. There are three kinds of Thullal distinguished on the basis of the performer's costume and the style of rendering, viz., Ottan, Seethankan and Parayan. Dravidian metres are used throughout although there is nothing to prevent the insertion of a quatrain in a Sanskrit metre. Nambiar also developed new metres (e.g. Vaythari metres) based on the vocal notation for various talas. The language also is predominantly Malayalam with a large admixture of colloquial and dialectal forms. Humour is invariable the dominant mood: other bhavas are brought in for variety and to suit the situation.
Kunchan Nambiar is believed to have written over forty Thullal composition. Some scholars allot a larger number to his credit. They belong to all the three types: 21 Otttan, 11 Seethankan and 9 Parayan. The most important of Nambiar's Thullals are: Syamantakam, Ghoshayatra, Kiratam, Santanagopalam, Patracharitam, Kartaviryarijunavijam, Bakavadham, Kalyana Saugandhikam, Hariniswayamvaram, Tripuradakanam and Sabha Pravesam. Nambiar was an extrovert and observed the life around very closely. He was also very critical of the social evils he saw around him. Thus even when the main story is from the Puranas, he would introduce digressions in plenty and use such occasions to comment on life in his own time. He did not worry about the charge of anachronism. He knew his audience very well: not scholars and poets, but laymen, especially soldiers, barely literate. In one of his works he says:
It is impossible to entertain without laughter
Those soldiers who think they should stay
If it is a comic tale, or else should leave the place.He certainly succeeded in his aim. He is comparable to Chaucer and Rabelais for his boisterous humour and knowledge of contemporary life. Like them, he too borders on the obsence at times, as a matter of concession to the audience or readers. All classes of people and all professions come in for sharp criticism in his compositions: Nambudiris, Tamil Brahmins, Nayars, courtiers, courtesans. Nambiar is undoubtedly the greatest satirist in Malayalam. An example of how he introduce a satire on contemporary life into a text based on a puranic episode may be found in the following passage from Kartavirarjuna Vijayam. Ravana is speaking to Narada about his own prowess that has reduced other kings to utter misery:
The kingdom of the Gandharaka ruler
Has turned into a mere desert.
The land of the Simhala King
Is now filled with lions and leopards.
The lord of the Chera people
Feeds himself on cheap vegetables.
The Chola King has nothing to ear
Except the maize of low quality
The kings of the Kuru house
Have nothing but jackfruit seeds.
The lord of the land of Kashmir
Is busy eating cucumbers.
The ruler of the Champeya land
Eats only tubers and broken rice.
The Konkan prince is about to die
Thinking of his wives' breasts.After Ravana reaches Hehaya, his messengers announce that everybody should owe allegiance to him:
Tributes must be paid from time to time;
Half the yield should be given to me.
The whole of pepper yield should be handed over
Coconut, arecanut, mango, jackfruit:
All the trees should be confiscated.
There will be no place in my country
For the pomp of local barons.
Double the seed crop should be given
To me by every houseowner.
The Tamil Brahmins (Pattars) staying here
Should also give one fourth to me.
The Nayars who stay at home
Should take their bows and spears
And stay at the residence of Ravana
And do whatever chores are assigned.
Nayars who drink toddy
Would be beaten up, beware!Nambiar's poetry lacks the high seriousness such as we find in Ezhuthachan. The difference here is significant. The two are complementary. Just as Kilipattu seems to express the total personality of a writer like Ezhuthachan, the Thullal brings out the characteristic features of the personality of Nambiar. Between them they cover the entire spectrum of humanity, the entire gamut of human emotions. No other Kilipattu has come anywhere near Ezhuthachan's Ramayanam and Mahabharatam, no other Thullal composition is ever likely to equal the best of Nambiar's compositions.
After Nambiar
There has been a great lull in the field of literary creation in Malayalam for nearly a century after the death of Kunchan Nambiar. No great work of literature was produced during this long and uneasy interregnum. There was a consistent and steady development of prose at this time. Several regional versions of Keralolpathi, tracing the beginnings of Kerala history, began to appear. Father Clement's Sankshepa Vedartham came out in 1772. Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar (1737-1799) wrote the first travelogue in Malayalam, Varthamanapustakam, (Book of News). It is perhaps the most sustained piece of prose writing written till that date. The works of Christian missionaries like Arnos Patiri (John Ernestus Hanksalden, 1699-17332) and Paulinose Patire (John Philip Wesdin, 1748-1806) also led to a widening of the range of topics and themes in Malayalam literature.
The transmission from the 18thcentury to the 19th century did not immediately lead to any great spurt of literary activity. The intrusion of European influence was beginning to be felt in the national life at large. The starting of schools on the British model and the introduction of English as a subject of study were to have a tremendous impact in the years to come. Maharaja Swati Thirunal (1813-1847) is a symbol of the process of modernisation that was beginning to be set in motion at the time. Like Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma who was not only a patron of literature and the arts but also a distinguished writer of attakkathas, Swathi Tirunal was both a patron and a poet-musician. He is perhaps the most distinguished music composer of Kerala. The foundations of modern education were laid in the former State of Travancore during his reign. Among the great writers at his court, the most talented was without doubt Irayimman (Ravi Varma) Tampi (1783-1856). He is chiefly remembered today for two things: one, a delicate and exquisite lullaby poem ("Is it the darling baby moon") and three well-designed and superbly composed attakkathas (Keejakavadham, Utharaswayamvaram and Dakshayagom). Like his patron, Tampi also wrote a number of songs to be set to music. As a writer of attakkathas Tampi has only one formidable rival, Unnayi Warrier. His Padas are themselves exquisite musical compositions. Tampi has an unerring ear, and for sheer verbal felicity, his attakkathas have few rivals. He was a master of words and melody. The famous dandaka (long stanza) in Keechakavadham reveals Tampi's exquisite artistry with words; it describes in graphic and dramatic terms, the response of Draupadi to the queen who had asked her to go to Keechaka's palace with his food:
Hearing the words of the queen
The deer-eyed one shuddered,
Her eyes turned red-she was overcome with fatigue.
She offered many excauses to her
But harsh words made her quiet.
Servitude, she thought an object of derision for all;
She lowered her eyes,
She, superior to heavenly damsels-but now
Benefit of joy
Her clothes became soiled and wet
With tears and sweat;
Her body trembling, she stood there
With the vessel in her hand
Then started walking-then stopped on the way,
She felt exhausted like a deer
That goes to the den of the enemy of all deers.Kilimanoor Vidwan Rajaraja Varm Koyitampuran (1812-1846 also known as Kareendran) was also at the court of Swati Tirunal. He is chiefly remembered for his attakkatha, Ravana Vijayam, one of the most popular of attakkathas. The roles of Ravana and Rambha are particularly suited to the Kathakali style of presentation, and although part of the play represents a rape, its crudity is considerably toned down by the highly stylized gestures and movements and the lyrical quality of the verse. In the hands of inept actors it can lead to excessive vulgarity. Critics of attakkatha literature will take these as signs of decadence, as a true representation of the erotic exuberance characteristic of elitist feudal class of the time.
The Venmani School
The third quarter of the nineteenth century bore witness to the rise of a new school of poets devoted to (1) the observation of life around them and (2) the use of pure Malayalam. they aimed at a certain simplicity and directness, preferring words of Dravidian origin and Sanskrit words that would not sound strange or harsh. They thus achieved a balanced middle style with a slight bias towards the Dravidian elements (although "mahan" pseudo-Sanskrit for Malayalam "makan" does not bear this out.) Euphony was their watchword. An easy flowing diction that creates no problem for loud and relaxed recitation, a smooth and even rhythmic cadence, maximum clarity of meaning and a pervasive sense of humour and light-heartedness: these qualities were inherited from the chambus via the writers of the Muktakas (single independent quatrains making up complete poetic crystals) like Chelapparampu Nambudiri of a generation earlier.
The major poets of the Venmani school were Venmani Acchan Nambudiri (1817-1891), Venmani Mahan Nambudiri (1844-1893), Poonthottam Acchan Nambudiri (1821-1865), Poonthottam Mahan Nambudiri (1857-1896) and the members of the Kodungalloor Kovilakam. The style of these poets became quite popular for a while and influenced even others who were not members of the group like Velutheri Kesavan Vaidyar (1839-1897) and Perunnelli Krishnan Vaidyan (1863-1894). The fact that they represented a kind of a moral decadence is not fully recognized by scholars and critics. The slight realism they resorted to was meant only to highlight the down to earth appeal of their erotic exuberance. They were incapable of moral earnestness or intellectual high seriousness. There is nothing in their writings that remind us of the central tradition of Malayalam poetry, beginning in folk poetry and later Ramacharitam and gradually evolving through the Niranam poets, Cherusseri, Poonthanam, Ezhuthachan and Kunchan Nambiar. It is necessary to point out that Nambiar's humour has a basis in social criticism. The humour of the Venmani poets is an end in itself; it is an indulgence in the ludicrous and ridiculous for its own sake. This explains why they could write Ambopadesams over and over again, in which a grandmother gives instructions to the granddaughter on the art of courtsanship. Venmani Mahan, Cochunni Tampuran ,Naduvath Acchan, Oravankara Neelakantan Nambudiri: each wrote an Ambopadesam on the moder of the old Manipravala classic Vaisika Tantram. They all invariably resorted to Sanskrit metres in these works. Another favourite form of poetic exercise for these poets was to bring together the names of contemporary poets comparing them to various flowers (as in Kavipushpamala, by Venmani Mahan), to different characters in Mahabharata (as in Kavibharatam by Kunjukuttan Tampuran), to characters in Ramayana (as in the later Kaviramayanam by Mooloor S. Padmanabha Panikkar), to animals (as in Kavimrigavali by Oduvil Kunjukrishna Menon) and to birds (as in Kavipakshimala by Koyippalli Paramseswara Kurup).
The most representative poem of the Venmani school is perhaps Pooraprabandam which reveals both the strong and the weak points of the movement. Except for the modernity of the diction and the finish in versification, it is difficult to see any great difference between the descriptive passages in Pooraprabandam and those in the earlier chambus (where also we get realistic descriptions of local people and market places with a touch of pointless humour).
The Kodungalloor school was an offshoot of the Venmani School, but some of the poets like Kunjukuttan Tampuran had a greater seriousness in their vocation. The best evidence for his commitment to his vocation in his magnificent translation of the whole of Vyasa's Mahabharata completed in the course of a few months. But most of the Kodungalloor poets took poetry for a pastime and indulged in versification for want of any other form of entertainment. The neoclassical games of instant poetic composition, verse-making competition, recitation competition, joint composition of poems, samasya or riddle completion, writing to prescriptions and various other kinds of formulaic exercises were their main concern. They have, no doubt, produced a number of quatrains in Sanskrit metres which are pleasant to recite aloud but they give no deep or complex experience to the reader. In their hands poetry became a skill, a game, a performance without any spiritual dimension. The various controversies of the time had nothing to do with the fundamentals of poetic experience or poetic communication. The squabble over the second syllable rhyme is a good example to show how superficial they were in their speculations on poetry. One hand only to look into Kalidasa's Meghadoot (Cloud Messenger) to realize how the music of poetry was different from the concatenation of similar consonants in the different lines of a stanza. But that was perhaps the last breath of the neoclassical trend which ushered in the Romantic Renaissance at the end of the century.
The Modern Age
Nineteenth century was not a very creative period for Malayalam literature (except towards the end) from the point of view of imaginative writing. But the foundations for the great renaissance that began at the end of the century were laid during this period. The establishment of colleges for imparting English education, the translation of the Bible and other religious works, the compilation of dictionaries and grammars, the formation of the text book committee, the growth of printing presses, the starting of newspapers and periodicals, the introduction of science and technology, the beginning of industrialization and the awakening of social and political consciousness: these constitute the giant strides towards modernization. It would appear as if the people's, energies were totally consumed by these activities.
Like his predecessors Swati Tirunal and Uttram Tirunal, Ayilyam Tirunal Rama Varma Maharaja of Travancore (1832-1880) was a great patron of letters. There were many great scholars at his court. He was personally interested in promoting prose literature. He himself wrote, while still young, two prose works Meenaketancharitam and Bhasha Sakuntalam which were published by Kerala Varma Valiya Koyitampuran after his death. In Meenaketanacharitam one of the Arabian tales is retold: Bhasha Sakuntalam is a free translation of Kalidasa's Abinjana Sakuntalam. These two words are pioneers indicating the way Malayalam literature was destined to develop in the coming decades. The spate of translations from Indian languages including Sanskrit and from European languages including English, which began in Ayilyam Tirunal's time, has not yet abated.
Vishakam Tirunal Rama Varma Maharaja (1837-1885) who succeeded Ayilyam Tirunal, was also an indefatigable promoter of education and the arts. Himself a talented writer of discursive prose in English and translator of English works into Malayalam, he was the cause that others also took up writing original works and doing translations. Chidambara Vadhyar who had translated Sahakespeare's As you Like It and The Winter's Tale into Malayalam received encouragement from him. Visakham Tirunal was one of the earliest essayists in Malayalam. Benjamin Bailey (1805-1871) Joseph Peet, Richar Collins and George Mathen (1819-1970) were responsible for many works on Malayalam language based on western models. Archdeacon Koshy (1826-1900) is remembered for his numerous works in prose, especially for his work Pulleli Kunchu (1882).
Perhaps the most important of these missionaries was Herman Gundert (1814-1893). Born in Stuttgart in Germany and educated at Tubingen and Switzerland, Gundert came to India in 1836. He wrote over twenty books in Malayalam, the most important which are (1) A Malayalam English Dictionary, (2) A Grammer of Malayalam (3) Keralappazhama (Kerala antiquity) and (4) Pazhamcholmala (A garland of proverb). He also edited an anthology of prose and verse for the use of students under the name, Pathamala. The first authoritative grammer of Malayalam was also Gundert's contribution (1851). This led to the production of a number of grammatical works in Malayalam. Vaikam Patchu Moothathu (1814-1883) published his Grammer of Malayalam in 1876. Kerala Kaumudi by Kovunni Nedungadi (1831-1889) came out in 1878. This was soon followed by the first history of the language by P.Govinda Pillai (1849-1897) published in 1881. The first work on rhetoric in Malayalam on the European model was brought out by Father Gerad under the title Alankara Sastram in the same year. These works are clear indication of the increasing western influence which became established by the end of the 19th century. There were of course distinguished scholars of the traditionalist school like Kaikulangara Rama Warrier (1883-1897) who specialized in writing commentaries on the classic of Sanskrit literature. But the influence of Kerala Varma Valiya Koyitampuran and the general socio-political developments seemed to favour a reorientation towards western models. This trend continued to be powerful until the middle of the 20th century.
Kerala Varma Valiya Koyitampuran
Kerala Varma represnts the confluence of two major traditions in literature, the Oriental as represented by the Sanskrit classics and the Western represented by English/European classics. His translation of Kalidasa's Abhinjana Sakuntalam (completed in 1882), and of Von Limburg Brower's Akbar (started in 1882) clearly illustrates the historic role of a synthesizer which he was destined to play on the Kerala cultural front. His connections with the royal family, his education and upbringing, his position as president of the Text Book Committee, his progressive and independent outlook, his intellectual prowess and other personality factors made him tower head and shoulders above all his contemporaries. He wrote a number of works in both Sanskrit and Malayalam, both in prose and verse but his personal influence was greater than what was achieve through these works. It may be said that the man was greater than all his writings. Well versed in all aspects of classical Sanskrit poetics and quite at home in the native tradition, master of a sonorous Sanskrit diction and proficient in simple colloquial Malayalam, Kerala Varma's reputation, still depends not on any single book he wrote.
The development of Malayalam and literature was his life's mission: and in collaboration with C.P.Achutha Menon (editor of Vidyavinodini magazine) and Kandathil Varghese Mappila (editor of Malayala Manorama), he did his utmost to encourage all kinds of writers and writings. Even underserving quill-pushes received his support, encouragement and blessing in this process of all-out promotion of letters. His most widely known literary work is Mayursandesam (Peacock Message) written in 1884. Its intrinsic merits were perhaps exaggerated at the time of its first appearance, but itss historical importance is yet to be properly assessed. It is a work that looks in many directions. It harks back to Kalidasa, the most romantic and subjective work of that poet, whose influence among other things was chiefly responsible for the revival of romanticism in 19th century Europe. It combines the mixed style of Manipravala poems with the pure Malayalam of Venmani poets but used for a "personal" communication. It allows the free play of fancy (as seen in the pun on Neelakanta), but also reveals the operation of a complex imagination at times (as in the identification quatrain). It would be too much to say that Mayurasandesam anticipates the romantic movement, but there is no doubt that there is a softening of the rhetoric of classicism in several of its quatrains. Already in the heart of classicism one hears the soft notes of romantic lyricism.Once while alone hunting birds in the park,
O blue-eyed one, I happened to kill a bird.
Out of pity for his bereaved companion close by
Did you not, O timid one, ask me to kill her too!The lyrical note is heard at some depth; the subjective element is openly acknowledged; these are important gains.Mrigayasmaranakal Some of his prose essays are of an informal, subjective type like (Memories of Hunting).
The Growth of Literary Criticism
The establishment of periodicals was directly responsible for the development of literary criticism. The year 1890 saw the starting of two important periodicals, Kandathil Varghese Mappila's Malayala Manorama and C.P.Achutha Menon's Vidyavinodini. Apan Tampuran started his Rasikaranjini in 1903. Varghese Mappila had the active co-operation of Kottarathil Sankunni, the author of Aitihyamala. Bhashaposhini Sabha acted as a catalyst. C.P.Achutha Menon wrote a number of perceptive reviews which are still marvels of honesty, frankness, fearlessness and commitment to definite values. Here is an example to show his sense f commitment:
Since defects exceed virtues in new it books,is inevitable that, when one tries to express unbiased and impartial opinions on them, the demonstration of faults may be more conspicuous. We are sincerely sorry that as we do point out these defects, some people are deeply hurt. But then we cannot but do so, since our interest in our literature is far greater than their hurt feelings.
Reviewing another book called Rathisundari Achutha Menon says: "Man's life on earth is limited and sorrow filled; hence whether wasting part of it on the painful experience of reading books like this is a sin, let the conscience of good people decide; whether it is a legal crime, let the advocates decide".
The Plethora of Plays
In the wake of Kerala Varma's transalation of Kalidasa's Abhijnana Sakuntalam (whih got him the title of Kerala Kalidasa) several attempts were made to translate numerous plays from Sanskrit and English into Malayalam. Chathukutty Mannadiar translated Uttararamacharitham and Janakiparinayam. New plays came to be written in this fanciful style. These plays were seldom acted. The stage conditions of those days were crude and unfit to project a performance. Most writers did not care for or know enough of the technique of stage presentation. This delayed the growth of an indigenous dramatic form and structure in the language. Numerous plays on the model of Sanskrit drama- using both prose and verse-came to be written about this time. As if irritated by this and with a view to discouraging the plethora of plays of low quality, P.Rama Kurup wrote Chakki Chankaram (1893). There was another Chakki Chankaram (1894) by K.C.Narayanan Nambiar (1873-1922). The effect of this burlesque of the couple Chakki and Chankaran was to put an end, temporarily at least, to the mad rush for producing plays fashionable at the time.
A.R.Rajaraja Varma (1863-1918)
Kerala Varma's nephewA.R.Rajaraja Varma went a step further than his uncle in the promotion of a synthesis between the different trends current in the literature of his time. A professor in the University College, Thiruvananthapruam, he had to modernize the process of teaching Malayalam language and literature; this made him write books on grammer and rhetoric (which earned him the title of Kerala panini) and eventually prepare the ground for an enlightened renaissance in Malayalam poetry and literary criticism. His differences of opinion with Kerala Varma were not confined to the continued use of the second syllable rhyme: behind the controversy lay the basis of a new poetics: the rejection of neoclassicism and the acceptance of a romantic theory of literature. The influence of the study of British Romantic poets of the 19th century, coupled with a renewed interest in the real classics of Sanskrit literature can be seen in Rajaraja Varma's poetic efforts. The critic and scholar in him might have stifled the poet, but in works like Malayavilasam he may be seen as looking forward to an expected romantic revival. His translations of Kalidasa and Bhasa and the preface he wrote for Kumaran Asan's Nalini point to this trend in unmistakable terms. Like Kerala Varma, Rajaraja Varma also contributed significantly to the growth of prose through his essays.
K.C.Kesava Pillai (1868-1914)
A close associate of both Kerala Varma and Rajaraja Varma, K.C.Kesa Pillai was a man of remarkable talent. His major works are Kesaviyam (a mahakavya), Sadarama (a musical play on the Tamil mode, extremely popular at the time), Asanna marana chinta satakam (Reflections of a Dying Man, in a century of quatrains)and a number of attakkathas. His Kesaviyam is a mahakavya modeled on the Sanskrit pattern and strictly adhering to the rules of structure and style laid down by the classical rhetorician, Dandi.
The first fifteen years of the 20th century saw a mushrooming of mahakavyas: Kesava Pillais contemporaries like Azhakathu Padmanabha Kurup (1869-1932: author of Ramachandravilasam), Pandalam Kerala Varma (1879-1919: author of Rukmangatha charitam), Kattakkayam Cherian Mappila (1859-1937: author of Sri Yesu Vijayam), Ulloor Parameswara Iyer (1877-1949: author of Umakeralam) and Vallathol Narayana Menon (1878-1958: author of Chitrayogam). All these paid their obeisance to this neoclassicist trend.P.Sankaran Nambiar refers to the appearance of a mockmahakavya Kothakelam by one Vidushaka, which did to the flood of these exercises what Ramakurup's Chakki Chankaram did to the imitation plays, Datyuha Sandesam (1897) by Seevolli Narayanan Nambudiri (1869-1906) did to spurious message poems and Parangodi Parinayam (1892) by Kizhakkeppatt Kunhiraman Nayanar, tried to do to the spurt of uninspired novels in imitation of Indulekha.K.C. Kesava Pillai was also a distinguished composer of songs of rare merit and his position as a composer is next only to those of Swathi Tirunal and Irayimman Tampi among Kerala musicians. But his best work as a poet is Asanna marana chita satakam which, although written for a competition, is a touching lyrical monologue with a predominant elegiac tone and anticipates the Khandakavyas or shorter poems of the poets of the renaissance. It has an underground connection with C.S.Subramanian Potti's Oruvilapam (A Lament: 1903), V.C.Balakrishna Panikkar's Oruvilapam (A Lament:1908) and even Kumaran Asan's Oru Veena Poovu (A Fallen Flower:1907) which may be thought of an elegy in disguise.
The Essay
The developments in prose at this time were very significant. Vengayil Kunhiraman Nayanar (1861-1895), more famous under his pseudonym Kesari, was one of the first to explore the essay form in Malayalam. He was closely associated with periodicals like Kerala Chandrika (started in 1879 at Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala Patrika [started in 1884 by C.Kunhiraman Menon (1854-1936) and Appu Nedungadi (1866-1934) at Kozhikode], Kerala Sanchari (after 1898 under the editorship of Murkoth Kumaran) and the English Journal Malabar spectator. Kesari has often been compared to Mark Twain. As he was not overburdened with scholarship, he could write in a simpler, popular, informal style. He was a life-long devotee of the goddess of comedy. Here is a passage from his essay, "The Pleasures of Death".
When you do not have to breathe any longer, you will not be troubled by the innumerable germs of disease in the air not by the insufferable smoke from other people's cigars, etc. Nothing to be anxious about even if motor cars and bicycles send up dust while driving along or if you fall or die or your nose is hurt. You don't have to endure any such grief. You don't have to put up any longer with the ringing of bells or the call of the siren or frog-tongued voice-refiners exerting their throats or reciting songs from plays even on the road.
Kesari belongs to the comic tradition in our literature, and like Tholan, Nambiar, Chandu Menon, E.V.Krishna Pillai and Sanjayan, he was a sharp critic of social reality.
The Rise of the Novel
An inevitable consequence of the development of prose was a creative use of this medium for imaginative literary communication. The last quarter of the 19th century saw the birth of