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SEPTEMBER, 1889.)
TAMIL HISTORICAL TEXTS.
259
. With this view, I have commenced the translation of a few of the poems, which I consider would be most interesting to those who wish to study the ancient history of Southern India. I give below the translation of a small poem, belonging to the class of Paranis, called
Kaļavali or the Battle-field. It is popularly known as the Kaļavali-Nárpatu, or " forty stanzas on the battle-field," But all the extant manuscripts which I have examined, contain forty-one stanzas. A printed edition published some years ago by Subbaraya Chettiyâr, late Tamil Pandit in the Government Normal School, Madras, also contains forty-one stanzas. The metre of the poem is known in Tamil prosody as Vempå. Each line consists of four feet, exoept the last one in each stanza, which contains only three feet. There is no restriction as to the number of lines in a stanza; but usually it is never less than four. The rhyme is always at the beginning of each line, and not at the end as in English poetry. A few lines of prose, prefixed to the poem, state that, when the Chola Chonkannan and the Chéraman Kansikka-Irumporai, engaged in battle, and the latter was defeated and taken prisoner, the poet Poikayar recited this poem before the Chola king and obtained the release of the Chêra from captivity. This fact of the Chola releasing the Chêra king on hearing the Kalavali, is mentioned in many later poems which I shall translate hereafter.
It appears from the poem that the battle which it commemorates was fought at & place called Kalumalam (stanza 36) which was situated somewhere in the Kongu or Chora country. There was then a famous town of the same name in the heart of the Chôla country, which is now known as Shiyali (a Station on the South Indian Railway, in the Tanjore District); but this cannot be the place mentioned in the poem. The battle was evidently a very sanguinary engagement, and was fought on a forenoon (St. 1.) The Chêra army was particularly strong in elephants, while the Chola had a numerous band of archers and horsemen. The elephants were unable to stand the ceaseless fary of the arrows shot by the Chola archers, and were slaughtered in great numbers by the cavalry and swordsmen. The Chola king drove in a chariot drawn by horses with cropped manes (St. 33). He is described as young, valiant, and terrible in war. He wore ornaments made of gold and of precious stones, a sword and scabbard, and garlands of fragrant flowers. His name was Chenkan or "Red-eye" (St. 4, 5, 11, 15, 21, 29, 30, 40). He is also described as the lord of Punal-Nadu (" the land of floods," a name of the Chola country), Chembian (a descendent of 'Sibi) and king of the country watered by the Kaveri. Nothing is said of his rival, the Chera prince, beyond that he was the king of Vanji (St. 39) and that his soldiers were Kongas (St. 14). The modern name of Vañji is Karar, according to the Tamil metrical dictionary Tivakaram. But the identification of this town with Karur in the Coimbatore District, by all the European scholars who have discussed the Ancient Geography of Southern India, is erroneous. They were apparently misled by the similarity of the names. Ancient Tamil works however describe Vanji as situated west of the Western Ghauts. In the Peria-Puránam, a history of Saiva devotees, which was written in the eleventh century A.D., during the reign of the Chôļa king Anabhaya-Kulottunga, Vaõji is mentioned as the capital of the Chöra king, and it is stated that it was known also as Makôtai or Kodunkôlür. The name Makôtaipattanam occurs in the Chêra grants in the possession of the Syrian Christians of Cochin, and it is alluded to therein as the capital of the Chêraman. Ptolemy correctly places it (Carura Regia Cerobothri) near the western coast, on a river flowing into the sea, close to the port of Muziris. In the Kéraļ8lpatti, a legendary history of the Malabar country, Karûr or Tirukkarûr (the prefix tiru means 'sacred') is mentioned as the capital of a Chéraman who embraced the Buddhist faith. The site of the ancient Karur should therefore be found somewhere near the modern towns of Kodunkóļúr or Tirukkarúr in the Cochin Territory.
We also gather from the poem that swords, javeling, lances, bows, and arrows, were used 18 weapons of war. Leathern sandals were worn by the soldiers to protect their feet. Big
