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INTRODUCTION
the identity naturally attribute the authorship of the Tullal pāṭṭus, about seventy in number, to Rāma Pāņivada. They are like ballads which are extremely popular in the Kerala country.
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Rāma Pāņivada has not stopped with Sanskrit and Malayalam, but he has tried his hand at Prakrits as well. For this, he had already some background. As a Sanskrit playwright the study of Prakrits was indispensable to him. Ancient conventions require that specific characters should speak particular dialects. It is this need that kept the study of Prakrits quite alive in the Kerala country. It is reported that the Prākṛta-prakāśa of Vararuci and the Setubandha or Ravanavaho of Pravarasena formed a part of the course of study of the Kerala Panditas who have made their own contributions to Prakrit literature. Bilvamangala, also known as Kṛṣṇalīlāśuka, composed a Prakrit kavya Govindabhiṣeka1 or Śrīcihnakävya to illustrate the rules of Vararuci's Prakrit grammar after the model of Bhaṭṭikavya. It contains twelve cantos of which the first eight were composed by Bilvamangala and the rest by Durgāprasādayati, also a Keraliya, who was his disciple and commentator. Both of them flourished in the 13th century A.D.20 Among other Prakrit works written by Kerala authors may be mentioned Sauricarita,21 a Yamaka-kavya, of Srikantha and Candralekha,22 a drama of the Saṭṭaka type, of Rudradāsa, both of whom lived before Rama Pāņivāda.
As to Rāma Panivada's contribution to Prakrit litcrature we find Prakrit passages in his dramas like Madanaketucaritam and Sitārāghavam. It is also reported that his Bhāgavata
Jain Education International
Govindabhişeka: Govt. O. Mss. Library Madras Nos. 4156,
19 5156B.
20. There are different opinions about his age which is put between 11th and 15th century A.D.
21
Sauricarita : Govt. O. Mss. Library Madras No. 4321. Candralekha : Govt. O. Mss. L. Madras No. 3207(a).
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