:^ 
 
 ^ % -3^- . ^ 
 
GIFT OF 
 
 
THE 
 
 TAMIL PLUTARCH, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A SUMMARY ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIVES OF THE TOETS AND POETESSES 
 Of Southern India anh C&yl^n. 
 
 from the earliest to the present times, with' select 
 specimens of their compositions. 
 
 .iut prodcssc volant ant dclcctarc poctiz. — Hurace. 
 
 BY 
 
 SIMON CASIE CHITTY, ESQUIRE 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE CEYLON GAZETTEERS. 
 
 RIPLEY 4: STRONG — PRINTERS. 
 
 1859. 
 

 P R E F A C E , 
 
 Of the languages of the Scythian family the Tamil confessedly 
 occupies the most distinguished rank, and it is peculiar to the people 
 of that part of India, which was formerly under the sway of the CAe- 
 ra^ Cholao.nd Pandiya kings and of those of the eastern and north- 
 ern provinces of Ceylon. The name Tamil, signifying " sweet," is 
 •characteristic of the language. Indeed it is one of the most copious, 
 refined, and polished languages spoken by man, as correctly observ- 
 ed by an accomplished Orientalist*. Villiputtu'rer, in his Intro- 
 ductory stanza to the Baradam which we quote below, metaphorical- 
 ly represents the Tamil language as the daughter of Agastiyer, who 
 being born of the mountain (Pothiya) and cradled in the glory of 
 Pandiyen, sat upon the College bench (at Madura), crawled with 
 her breast on the wrhing (of Sampanter) ascending against the strcam 
 of the Vygai river, stood up amidst the fire unburned (when that 
 writing was cast into it), and afterwards walked on the minds of the 
 students, and now adorns the hip of the goddess of the earth whom 
 ( Vishnu, in his metamorphosis as) a boar supported on the point of 
 his tusks. 
 
 Few nations on earth can perhaps boast of so many poets as the 
 Tamils. Poetry appears to have been the first fixed form of langu age 
 amongst them ; for as has been remarked by Abbe Dubois, " they 
 have not a single ancient book that is written in prose, not even the 
 books on medicine ;" t and hence the poet formed the inalienable 
 part of the philologist, the theologian, the philosopher, the astrono- 
 mer, the physician, etc. The inducements held out to poets and the re- 
 wards bestowed on them by the long line of Pandiya kings, who 
 graced the throne of Madura from the ninth century before to the 
 
 * Taylor's Preface to Dr. RoTr.ER'» Tamil and English Dictionary, part iv. 
 t Abbe Dubois' Dc8criptioii^o)^tli>jJ^e(ftUi of India, p. '2G0. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 fourteenth century after Christ, were most liberal, and might have 
 done honor even to the court of Augustus. These kings had three 
 different Sangams, or Colleges established in their capital at three 
 different periods, for the promotion of literature, more or less corres- 
 ponding in character with the Royal Academy of Sciences founded 
 by Louis xiv. at Paris, and made it a rule that every literary produc- 
 tion should be submitted to tlieir Senatus Academicus, before it was 
 allowed to circulate in the country, for the purpose of preserving the 
 purity and integrity of the language. It maybe well imagined how 
 favorably these Sangams operated on the talent and genius* of the 
 nation. From every part of Southern India poets crowded into the 
 Sanga-tnandapafn, or College hall to recite their compositions and 
 the successful candidate besides winning the smiles of Royally was 
 rewarded with something more enduring and substantial as will ap- 
 pear from Vamshasu'da'mani Pandiyen presenting a purse of gold to 
 the poet Tarumi, and Kule'sa Pandiyen honoring the poetlDDEiKA'DEK 
 by the gift of a young elephant and a horse, besides gold, and fertile 
 lands. Neither were the kings of Chera and Choia backward in 
 patronizing poets ; for they had a certain number of them always at- 
 tached to their courts, and the names of Peruma'ko'thei Che'ka and 
 Kulo'tunga Cho'la are still celebrated, the former for his unbounded 
 munificence towards the poets in general, and the latter towards the 
 poet Ottaku'ter, the author of the war-chant called Kalingattu Pa- 
 rani. There can bo no doubt that an infinite number of works in tlie 
 different departments of sciences and literature was composed during 
 this brilliant age ; but in the early part of the fourteenth century when 
 the Muhammcdan hordes poured into Southern India, and Pra'krama 
 Pandiyen was led away captive to Delhi, the Tamils had to deplore 
 the loss of almost all their literature ; for those ruthless fanatics amongst 
 other outrages ransacked all the libraries in the country, and commit- 
 ted to the flames "all that genius had reared for ages." But auspi- 
 cious days were yet to dawn upon the Tamils. The power by which 
 they were oppressed has passed away and is succeeded by one des- 
 tined by Providence to ameliorate their social condition, and advance 
 their intellectual status. With the occupation of India by the British, 
 that nation has introduced into the country every thing tliat has tend- 
 ed to make its own great. Not only has every facility been afforded 
 tor the improvement of the Tamil youth by the establishment of ver- 
 nacular schools by Government as well as Christian Missionaries, hut 
 that mighty engine, tiic Press, has proved in India as elsewhere the 
 
greatest blessing, on the one hand by rescuing from oblivion the 
 remnants of the ancient Native literature, and on tlie other by enrich- 
 ing it with numerous publications on European arts and sciences. 
 
 It had long been my intention to offer to the public an account of 
 the Lives of our Poets, butthe difficulties -which presented themselves in 
 procuring materials for the work owing to the absence of biographic- 
 al records in Tamil either ancient or modern, was more than I had 
 calculated upon, and I almost resolved to give up the undertaking 
 in despair. Finding however that the traditions current among the 
 people, carefully collected and scrupulously detached from fictitious 
 and ornamental additions such as oriental imagination delights in> 
 would afford the desired information, I was induced to direct my at- 
 tention to that source of knowledge, and the result with all its imper- 
 fections is now before the public. 
 
 This work being the first attempt of the kind, must be notwithstand- 
 ing all my vigilance necessarily subject to many inaccuracies and de- 
 fects, for which I solicit the indulgence of the reader and the critic. 
 Should my life be spared and should my friends be kind enough to 
 communicate to me such additions or corrections as they think the 
 work needs, I may enlarge and improve it for a new edition at some 
 future period, 
 
 S, C. C. 
 
 Cliilaw, August 15, 1859. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTAECII 
 
 AGASTIYER.— e^aSTD^UJnr. 
 
 The history of Agastiyer being blended with the Hindu Mytholo- 
 gy, it is now difficult to separate the real particulars of his life from 
 those that arc fabulous. This much, however, is certain, that he was 
 a native of A'ryuvarta^ otherwise called Pimyah'humi, or the holy 
 land, situated between the Iinaus and Vind'hya mountains, and that 
 he led the first colony of Bruhmans which settled in Southern India 
 from the north under the auspices of Kulase'k'hara, the founder of the 
 Pdndiyen dynasty at Madura. The fable of his levelling the Vind'- 
 hya mountain, which had elevated its summits even to the skies and 
 impeded the progress of the sun and moon, implies, his passing over 
 it into the south with the Brdlimans from the north ; while the other 
 fable that on the occasion when all the gods and sages assembled to- 
 gether on the Iinaus mountain, to celebrate the nuptials of Siva and 
 Pdrvati the northern part of the earth became depressed, and the 
 southern part elevated, and Siva, dismissed Agastiyer sending him 
 to Pothiya mountain to reduce both parts to the same level, implies, 
 his civilizing the people of the south and rendering them equal to the 
 people of the north in point of civilization. Not only is Agastiyer 
 believed to have difTused the worship of Siva amongst the Tamils, 
 but also to have taught them Medicine, Chemistry, Astronomy, and 
 the other sciences. The legend, however, which attributes to him 
 the invention of the Tamil alphabet, is far from probable. Perhaps 
 he merely enlarged it by inserting in it such of the letters as are now 
 used to represent the sounds of Sanscrit derivatives. Although it 
 cannot be denied that the Tamils owe much of their civilization to 
 Agastiyer, it is nevertheless not to be supposed, that before he ar- 
 rived amongst them they were altogether immersed in barbarism, 
 and that they were not acquainted with the art of writing. Such a 
 supposition is disproved by the existence of a word for "a letter'''' (st 
 g)^^), and another for " a hook'^ (sfsyip,), in the pure Tamil as it was 
 spoken in the primitive times. However it be, there is no doubt that 
 Agastiyer was the first, who arranged the Tamil grammar on the prin- 
 ciples of the Sanscrit, and moulded the Tamil language itself into its 
 present elegant form, and, therefore, justly earned for himself the 
 
THE TAMIL tLLTAUCH. 
 
 title of Tanil'Kinni^ ihe Tamil sage. His treatise on Tamil grammar 
 is ?-.iil to iiave contiiilitd no less than 12,000 Sutras or aphorisms ; 
 but with the exception of some fragments which have been preserved 
 in quotations by Tolka'piyaxa'r, in his work on the same subject, it 
 is not now extant. Agasti} er wrote both in Sanskrit, and in Tamil. 
 He is reputed to have written a lakh of verses on theology, an equal 
 number on alchemy, and two lakhs on medicine, but most of the 
 Tamil works commonly ascribed to him are in reality not his pro- 
 ductions. In the medical treatise, entitled Irrunuitanju {QiSisnptrji^ 
 <s), lues veneria, is described under the name of Paravghiviydd'M^ 
 or " the Portuguese disease", and again in the alchemical treatise, 
 entitled Puranasutram {i^asss:^a0(jw), subliitiate of mercury is de- 
 scribed under the name of P arcmghipdshdnam, or " the Portuguese 
 mineral " ; hence these two works bear undoubted marks of having 
 been written after the arrival of the Portuguese in India. 
 
 As a physician, Agastiyer occupies the same eminence amongst 
 the Tamils as Hippocrates docs amongst the Greeks, and it is de- 
 serving of notice, that there arc some tery curious coincidences be- 
 tween the doctrines of the former, and those of the latter, especially 
 as regards the prognosis and diagnosis of diseases, the critical days, 
 and premonitory symptoms of death. His knowledge of medicine 
 was confessedly extensive, nor was he less remarkable for his skill in 
 surgery. The story of his having once opened the cranidhi of a 
 patient, in order to remove a toad, which had lodged Itself in the brain, 
 when disentangled from the twist of fable, at once proves that he was 
 acquainted with trepanning ; and it should be remarked that the ex- 
 istence of seminal animalcules, which was discovered by Ludwig 
 Hamm in Europe only in A. D. 1677* is mentioned by Agastiyer in 
 one of his medical works, entitled Kurunddichutrnm (^g^5mr^^9.#^^ 
 ^ff/i))t. He was also well skilled in chemistry, especially in that part 
 of it which relates to the analysis and synthesis of minerals, and the 
 vehicles by the aid of which the transmutation of metals is effected. 
 
 Agastiyer was a married man. It is said that his wife Lopa'mxtdra 
 was a pattern of conjugal affection, who attracted universal admiration 
 on that account, and that he had a son by her named Sa'garen. At 
 what period Agastiyer established himself in Southern India is not 
 known, and it must always remain so until we shall have been able 
 to ascertain the real date of the existence of the king Kulase'k'hara 
 Pandiyen, by whom he was patronized. All accounts concur in as- 
 signing the foundation of the Pandiya kingdom at Madura to Kula- 
 se'k'hara Pandiyen ; but they are at considerable variance with re- 
 gard to the time when that event happened. Some place it as high up 
 as B. C. 1500J, while others bring it dawn to a later period ; but wc 
 have reasons to believe that it could not have been later than, at 
 
 * Sec English C3'clop»'clia, Biography, Vol. iii. p. 871. 
 
 •t Robert s' Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures, p. 281. 
 
 t Taylor' s ()iifi.tiil Ilistdriral Mom;: n ] ts, vol 1 p. l"r, 
 
TllK TA>UL I'LlTARt.H. rJ 
 
 least, the ninth century B. C; for from the fact of Wijaya, who 
 founded the Singhalese dynasty in Ceylon in B. C. 543, marrying 
 tlic daughter of a Pandii/oi, and the Pandiyeyi sending along with 
 lier to Ceylon a retinue of seven hundred daughters of liis nobility, 
 together with eighteen officers of state, and seventy five menial ser- 
 vants, besides elephants, horses, and chariots, as recorded in the 
 Mahawanso, it would appear that the Pcmdii/a kingdom was not 
 then in its infancy, but fully organized and at the lowest calculation 
 a few centuries old. When Agastiyer left the court of Kulase'kha- 
 RA Pandiyen, he is stated to have assunied the ascetic life, and to 
 have retired to the Pothiya mountain, where the Hindus absurdly be- 
 lieve him to be still alive, although invisible to ordinary eyes. 
 
 Agastiyer was a thcist (ejQag^siaeurr^) in philosophy, and the 
 Rev. Mr.Taylor, who calls him "the prince of Indian doctors," and 
 " one of India's greatest Philosophers," justly observes, that in " so 
 far as a superiority to popular errors is concerned, he may perhaps 
 claim to rank on a level with Socrates, or Plato."* 
 
 The following Sanscrit hymns or prayers written by Agastiyer, 
 and which form a part of the Agastiyer Ksktakam as quoted by Mr. 
 Brown, in his Essay on the Creed, Customs, and Literature of the 
 Jangamast, will afford an idea of the sentiments he held regarding 
 the attributes of God. 
 
 
 1. I salute the great teacher, the hestotcer of divine happiness and 
 supreme bliss ; the image of perfect ivisdom ; who is retnoved from 
 all griefs ; who is represented by the sky ; loho is denoted by the 
 " Truth" and other names. The one., Eternal, stainless, stable^ and 
 Omniscient, the incomprehensible, loho knoweth neither Passion, Par-!- 
 iiality nor Folly. 
 
 2. He toho sits on earth at the foot of the fig-tree : who besfon's lois- 
 dom on all the devout hermits tcho surround him: Lord and teacher 
 of the universe, the God who is embodied Goodness, him do I salute 
 (is the releaser from the bojids of life and death. 
 
 Agastiyer is said to have had twelve disciples to whom he taught 
 the different arts and sciences, and who were afterwards employed 
 
 * Taylors' Oriental Historical Manuscripts, Vol. 1. p. 172. p. 175. 
 'i Bladras Journal of Literature and Seience, Vol. xi. p. 161. 
 
4 THF, TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 by him in instructing the people. The names of these disciples are 
 
 TOLKA'PPIYANA'R, AdANKO'TASI'KI'YANA'R, TuRA LINGANA'R, SeMPU'T- 
 
 che'yana'r, Vaiya'bigana'r, Va'ippiyana'r,Panaimba'ka:^a'r, Kazha'- 
 ra.-^ibana'k, Avinay'ana'k, Ka'keipa'diniy'az^a'r, Nattattana'r and 
 Va'mana'r; but few particulars are known respecting them. 
 
 AkKA'RAKKANI NaCHUMANA'R J)jdsnjTd<££ufl,-Bj'<3?ISi{^IT. 
 
 This poet, was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege, but wo are not in possession of any particulars of his life, and 
 of his poetical compositions nothing remains, save the following 
 impromptu, which he uttered on the Kural when that work was sub- 
 mitted to the judgment of the College bench, 
 
 esfl'tsoSi:U)Ljl§ITeS>LD^Q^6!Ffl^i"QjS'T'2e\)€36d!7 
 
 61' n^^ IT u^^ iij i^ sar d (g em Q t— IT ■sij isir (Sf^eij n (jp u 
 un^jSTCSTiuffQesTuiLKm. 
 
 The moon full ofkalei {the ivhole of her face being iiluminated) 
 pleaselh the external eyes, in like manner as the Kural full of kalei 
 (knoivledge) pleaseth the intellectual eyes ; hut nevertheless she cannot 
 be compared to Valluver's production ; for she is neither spotless, 
 does she retain her form and splendour unchanged like it. 
 
 Amirtakavira'yer — ^iHn^seSnniun. 
 
 Amirtakavirayer was a native o^ Ponndnkdl, in the Carnatic. His 
 early display of poetical talents, which were of no mean order, hav- 
 ing attracted the notice of Reghuna'tha Se'tupati, who reigned at 
 Ramnad between A. D. 1649 and 1685, he obtained a place in the 
 court of that king as his encomiast. He composed an erotic poem, 
 under the title of Orutureikkovei (gpt^^eorpiCan'Sinoy^ in honor of 
 his royal benefactor, which is admired as a matchless production of 
 the kind on account of its splendid diction, harmonious versification, 
 and copious poetical imagery ; but as the words used throughout the 
 work have two or more meanings, it puzzles the interpreters. 
 
 AjURTASA'CARER ^LSllT^fflJSrjif. 
 
 Amirtasiigarcr was a poet of great attainments, but we possess few 
 particulars respecting his life. It appears from the invocation at the 
 beginning of a treatise, which he wrote on Tamil versification, under 
 the title of Karigai (anrPewa), that he was a follower of the Jaina 
 religion ; and Gunasa'garer, his commentator, represents his pro- 
 ficiency in Sanscrit to have been equally as considerable as in Tamil. 
 The above mentioned treatise consists of forty stanzas, which are 
 
TllK TAMIL PLl'TAKCII. •■> 
 
 composed tliruiighoul in the KallUurci metre, with much elegance, 
 and is inscribed to a lady, whose name, however, the author has not 
 mentioned, 
 
 AnANDABHA'RATI AiYANGA'R ^.-B'b^unff^^UJIbJ-irTli. 
 
 This poet was the son of Sri'niva'sa Aiyanga'r, a Mirasidar* 
 who lived at Umciyammdlpuram, near Tanjoro. He was born in 
 A. D. 1786. Having commenced his studies at the early age of 
 live before his thirteenth year he gave promise of his future celebrity, 
 by composing a drama of the class, called Nondi^ in praise of Ydn- 
 eimelazhagar, the tutelary deity of his village. Soon afterwards he 
 went with his father to Trivalore, and remained there three years, 
 spending his time in teaching a school. In his fifteenth year he en- 
 tered the 'public service, and was successively employed as Karnam,\ 
 and SampratiX of different temples in the Tanjore district, until his 
 twenty-fifth year, when he resigned the office and establishing him- 
 self at Tiruvadamarudur, continued to devote the remainder of his 
 life to literary pursuits. Having composed and recited a drama at 
 the shrine at Tiruvadamarudur, Aiya'rappa Tambira'n, the Bliarin- 
 a/:arta§ of the shrine, was so much pleased with its exquisite beauty, 
 that he honored him with the gift of a house and garden, and confer- 
 red on him the title of Kavirdjaswami. Amongst his other productions 
 the Uttara Rdmdyana Kirtana {p.ff.ff,uanirjnaJ€m§>n^&)Sies!)^ Desika- 
 praband'ham (QsiSaLnS'aufh.^ii), B'hdgavata Basamaskanda Ndda- 
 gam {unsQj0.^,fCD€rOaih^iT,nt-a,ih),Marudur Venba {iDir^^jjnGevccbiun) 
 and Muppdtti7-attu {,jfiuunT,^aiLQi) are much admired, and there are 
 also some hymns composed by him in honor of the Saiva shrines at 
 Trichinapoly, Tirukudantei, Tiruvavaduturei, etc. which do him great 
 credit. He died in A. D. 1846, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 Andaka Kavivi'rara'gava Mud ELI a' r — jfji^ssseSiwiranssii 
 
 Andcika Kaviviraragava Mudeliar was an eminent poet, who is 
 said to have been born blind, and by a special gift to have become 
 inspired with poetic spirit. Whether the story of his inspiration bo 
 founded on fact or not he has certainly rendered himself famous by 
 his two poems, one called Kazhukkunda Purdnam {aL£a^6sirr)ULjatr 
 essfib) and the other Kazhukkunda Mdlei {aL§a^6bromn6i£\)), which 
 he composed in praise of the Saiva shrine on the Kazhukkunda moun- 
 tain, in the Carnatic. His Kazhukkunda Mdlei is confessedly a splen- 
 did production; but like other Tamil poems it is replete with hyper, 
 boles. We here extract a stanza from it as a specimen : 
 
 * Hereditary landholder. 
 t Accountant. 
 t Auditor of accounta.' 
 § Manager or Supervisor. 
 
O illi: TAMIL I'LLTAUtU. 
 
 SnQL-^LD&5I63T(i^ & p S n eO'hsSST .S (^ ik S(t£-i(^GSrpQLD. 
 
 He. lolio rides the haU, wearing the moon on his head, and holding 
 the skull of Brdhma in his haiid, has his dwelling in Kazhukkundam^ 
 where the sican jnistaking for her eggs the pearls scattered hy the 
 chunks* on the sheaves of corn, cut by the hushandmen^ gathers them 
 under her wings and broods over them. 
 
 The following is a poetical epistle, which he addressed to a no- 
 bleman soliciting a boon ; 
 
 cj L—nuS!{nijQ-!Bm^Quj(ip^mx)p^U!€w^ Q^(Lp^uui^^^s3rr,ss3r—^ 
 
 ^uesrSffLDoSiS'^^^SixiLj'SEi^Qupp ^,-Hu^(oinsQ6dQ3^sjr^-Q^€sruiT 
 
 ^^i^QFfSuQiOfSiun^^is^isiJDupfSiQsiTeon^QsnesBrih-upSijn^Qans 
 semp ucm^^Qansai—QenthwoSii— uSpQ(ffi^n^(^iB^LD — (^i—n^urr 
 i^eOm Lj^su n^LDnGsiJ!T®Q^nQ^^ Qpisf.iuns^s^Ls.eOil.-Qs^nmesiQs^np 
 Qfrrdoeon^Q&r'bofTQujnenOpia^is^^dseiJiTeSi—doQeiiesorSlQui. 
 
 Anthonikutty ANNA'viyA'a — ^iQ^n€iSi(^ili^iuem(^eSiunn. 
 
 Anthonikutty Annaviyar was born at Manapar, in the Tinnevelly 
 district, and was contemporary with the celebrated Father Beschi. 
 Some say that he was a Parava, and others that he was a Yiluva by 
 caste ; but be this as it may, he was the best of the poets that ever 
 flourished amongst the Tamil Catholics, Having in the early part 
 of his life indulged himself in licentious pleasures without restraint, 
 and despised the admonitions of the clergy, he was excommunicated 
 from the church, but by a miraculous interference as in the case of 
 St. Augustine, he forsook his dissolute career and for the remainder 
 of his life employed all his poetical talents in singing the praises of 
 the Redeemer. All his poems have been recently collected in a 
 single volume, and edited at Jaffna, under the title of " Christian 
 Psalmody" and, as the Editor in his introduction justly observes, 
 they arc " without parellel in piety, in strains, and in melody," and 
 they " form not only one of the most efficient helps to piety and de- 
 votion, but a pleasing instructor in the doctrines, precepts, and duties 
 pf our holy religion." 
 
 Appa'vaiyer — cg^' ju/rsjoafoj/f. 
 
 Appavaiyer, a poet and astronomer of considerable celebrity of 
 ■yvhosc personal history however nothing is known, except that he was 
 
 * A gpecies of Voluta fojnd in cornfields. 
 
THE TA.MII. I'l.lTAUl.li / 
 
 a Jdina Brdhman. The Tcindava Mulci (s;nsmi-6uil>ne)Co), an As- 
 tronomical treatise which lie wrote is in great repute in Southern In- 
 dia, and it comprises in sixty-eight stanzas the substance of the whole 
 of the Hordsdra, Pardsdrya, and other Sanscrit works on astronomy. 
 It was written under the patronage of Tdndardi'di/cii, a wealthy mer- 
 chant of Nellikuppani after whom it has been named. 
 
 Apper, otherwise called Vdkiscr, was born at Tinivdrnur, a town 
 situated on the Pennei river in the Carnatic. His father Pugazha- 
 na'r, and his mother Ma'dini were both of the tribe of Kurukkci 
 Veldlers. Being staunch Saivas, they bi-ought tip Apper and his 
 sister Tilakavati, in their own religion ; but no sooner had they 
 died than he entered a Jaina menastery at Pataliputra, and having 
 studied the Jaina books embraced tlieir crcfsd, and became their 
 high priest, under the title of Dhannasena. Sometime afterwards he 
 was attacked with arthritis in his stomach which continued to baffle 
 all medical efforts. His sister Tilakavati, who zealously adhered 
 to tho worship of Siva, availing herself of the opportunity, endeavor- 
 ed to persuade him into a belief, that his disease was a punishment 
 from Siva for his apostacy. He yielded to her persuasions, and in 
 the dead of night, flying from the Jaina monastery went to Tiruva- 
 thigai, where his sister resided, and throwing off the robe, resumed 
 the Saiva marks, by rubbing his forehead with ashes, and wearing a 
 necklace of Rnddrdksha beads around his neck. His subsequent his- 
 tory is entirely involved in fable. It is said that when his relapse 
 was reported by the Jainas to their king Pallav ara'yen, he sent for 
 him, and after having tried to kill him by successively casting him 
 into a burning lime-kiln, exposing him to an infuriated elephant, and 
 poisoning his food, without any effect, had liim thrown into the sea 
 with a stone tied to his neck, but he was miraculously presex'ved from 
 being drowned, the stone which was tied to his neck serving him 
 as a float to reach the port of Padripuliyar in safety. One thing 
 however is certain, that after his return to Saivaism, he labored as- 
 siduously to supplant the Jaina religion throughout the Southern In- 
 dia, in conjunction with Sajipanter and StrNDARER. He is reputed, 
 to have composed no less than 49,000 Pathigams, (each consisting 
 often stanzas), in praise of the difterent Saiva shrines, which he vis- 
 ited, b\u they have all perished, except 312. His epoch is uncertain,- 
 but as he and his collaborators are eulogized in the Introductory 
 stanzas of the Kandapurdnam, a work written in A. D. 778, as deifi- 
 ed heroeSj we are inclined to place it, at least, two or three centu- 
 ries before that period ; for the author of the Kandapurdnam could 
 not have imposed on the crcduUty of the people, by representing- 
 them as objects of divine worship, at a period close to their existence. 
 In the latter part of his life he fixed his abode at Tiruppugalurf 
 where he continued to minister in the temple until his death, which 
 occurred when he had attained the advanced age of eighty one. 
 
C? Tlin TAMII. rLTTARf II. 
 
 Arasakk'sari — ^j^QsffiB. 
 
 Afasrikt'-sarl was no less a personage than the younger broilier of 
 the king Paraka'ja Se'k'hara Chakravarti, who reigned at Jaffna 
 towards ihe close of the fifteenth century of the Christian era. He 
 was not only skilled in Tamil, but also in Sanscrit, which enabled him 
 to produce a very highly finished imitation of Ka'lidasa's Reghuvam- 
 sa in Tamil under the same title, in 2,444 stanzas, arranged in 26 
 chapters. 
 
 AniSlTKlZlIAR — '^iB^pQifinfr. 
 
 No particulars of the life of this poet have been preserved. All 
 that is known of him is that he was one of the forty- nine professors 
 of the Madura College, and that the following impromptu was uttered 
 by him on the KuraJ. 
 
 Who else but Valluvar is able to separate according to their ordei^ 
 oil ihe things tohich xoere blended together in the Vedas, and to im- 
 part them to the loorld in a condensed form and loith due amplification. 
 
 ArUNANTI ^(T^eSOTlh^. 
 
 Arunanti, styled SakaUgama Panditer* , was a Saiva ascetic of 
 Tureiyur in the Carnatic, equally distinguished as a poet and philo- 
 sopher. The date of his birth and death is not known, but it appears 
 that he was a pupil of Meikanda De'ver, who flourished at Vennei- 
 nellur in the eleventh century of the Christian era. He has trans- 
 mitted his name to posterity by a voluminous treatise on the Saiva 
 system of metaphysics and theology under the title of Sii'agn«ina 
 Sitti (,^5i;65iT65T#fl;^), and which is generally consulted as the best 
 authority on the subject. 
 
 Aruna'ciiala Kavira'yer — ^(T5(€OT)^6oi«a9ir/ruj/f. 
 
 This poet was born at Tilleiyidi, near Tranquebar A. D. 1712. 
 His parents were both of the Velala caste and appear to have occu- 
 pied a respectable position in society. From his fifth to his twelfth 
 year he studied Tamil in a school in his own village, and on the 
 death of his parents which happened about this time, he removed to 
 
 * A title of honor somewliat analogous to that of Doctor of tl)c Law among 
 the Jews. 
 
tilt! Mdlam* at ])lianvirii)uran), wliorc uiidni" tlit; tuition of several 
 lcarne<l Tamhirans^ he was enabled to pass throiigli a distinguished 
 course in the Sanskrit and Telugu langUagrjs, and also became very 
 proficient in thn Sairo system of metapliysics and theology. Ilia 
 great al)ilitics naturally attracting the attention of tlie Tatnbii'f'ns, in- 
 duced tlicni to try to secure his services^ by persuading him to become 
 like one of themselves, with an offer at the same time to make him 
 the superior of their Malam ; but lie excused himself on the ground 
 that matrimony was preferable to celibacy. Ho however did not 
 enter into the married state until his thirtieth yt^ar, remembering the 
 old adage " Vivc'ihom Vidhya lui.sti,'''' marriage iujures learning. 
 When he did marry, he commenced business as a banker, but his 
 love of literature was so great that he never allowed the Caves of his 
 calling to interfere with his studies, and he devoted all his leisui-e 
 hours in reciting and expounding to his friends Kamben's Ruinayan- 
 a7n, which he esteemed as surpassing all other works, not even ex- 
 cepting Tiruvalluver's Kural. In 1754 having had an occasion 
 to go to Pondichcrry, he put up for a night on the way in the Matam 
 at Shiyaliy. It so happened that the Tamhirdnoi this Matam, named 
 SiDAMBARA Pii.LEi, was onc of Iiis ffllow studcuts at Dharmapu- 
 ram, and who therefore quite rejoiced at meeting him after a long 
 vscparation was loth to part with him on the morrow. The Tambirdn 
 had recourse to an artifice, with a view to delay his journey. Shew- 
 ing him an unfinished Pallu^i which he had commenced years ago, 
 and laid aside for want of leisure, requested him to finish it for him 
 before he left Shiyaliy, and the request being acceded to, they both 
 parted for the night. Aranachala Kavirayer finished the poem in 
 tlje course of the same night, and leaving the manuscript with a ser- 
 vant, to bo delivered to the Tamhirdn, when he awoke, resumed his 
 journey before day-break. Though the Tambirdn was at first vex- 
 ed at his friend's abrupt departure, yet when the servant handed 
 over to. liim the poem, which he found quite complete, his admiration 
 for him increased two-fold, and he determined to make him settle al- 
 together in his neighborhood. Ho had a house erected, and by means 
 of a stratagem, which can only be pardoned when we consider the 
 purity of his intention, he sent word to the poet's wife, that her hus- 
 band had on his way to Pondicherry requested him to send for her 
 and her children, and settle them in the house; and the deception 
 proved entirely successful. When Arunachala Kavirayer on his way 
 back from Pondicherry called again at Shiyaliy, and sought a lodging 
 in the Matam, the Tambirdn after feigning to be very angry with 
 him for his unceremonious departure on the former occasion, took 
 him out for a walk, and at once introduced him to his family. When 
 
 * A sort of convent, whore Hindu Devotees dwell together. 
 \ A poem ill iimiitation of the action (jf a Valid, o.xti of the louest orders of 
 agriciihurists among the Tamils. 
 
 2 
 
10 TTIK TAMH. n.iTAnrR. 
 
 tlir> tifst moment of surprise had worn away lie fe!t vcrv jjratifictl at 
 ii'A tliat the kindness of tlie Tamhir.n had prompted him to do, and 
 consonted to make Shiyally his permanent residence for th.e fuuire. 
 Tlio earliest poetical compositions of Arnnachala Kavir;'iyer were 
 the Aso?niik:i Nt'doiiani {^IfiTr^Smi-^ub), S.'iir/:„zhi Fiiraiiam {Sh 
 sin^u:_jj.isu5'ih ', S/iirkiizhi Kocei {Sns^iS'AQ inoisinu) and Aiuimat'' 
 PlUcitainil (^oSi;ts)rirn3crTaDn§:a,i^ih) ; Inn what has secured for hmi a 
 lasting fiune is the R'ima Ntidagain {QjnUjir.ni-inh), a drama found- 
 ed on the exploits of Rama Chandra, and which he composed when 
 he was sixty years old. After he had submitted th<3 Rama N'tdogam 
 to the criticism of the savans at Siran<i;am, he pi:;.rposed to recite it 
 in the presence of Tulaji Maharaja, thekinor of Tanjore, hut as the 
 place was then beseiged by the army of Nawab Mada'k MuLK,he could 
 not gain access to him. He therefore went to Pondicherry to recite ^'t 
 before A'nandarnga Pillei, a noble personage there, who however 
 not wishing to liear it prior to its recitul at the court, referred him to 
 MxyALi MvTTh'Kisusx Mudcliar, one of the celebrities of Madras. 
 On reaching Madras, he addressed the followmg poetical epistle t(> 
 the JMudrUar requesting him to be allowed to recite the drama be- 
 fore him : 
 
 &^^^(r^QpQjsOsS q^^^(T^Qjr)Su&)eSI Q^euiTS3rreusssrij(^<si/e\)s\9 
 
 ^,Q'jUa^rr^aQssrm^ Lj^'Sicm i—eon^uirsdir ^nQmras^j Ji^<^dQi(^ 
 ^S6Vun€L^,irrSi^essr m oizr sS! (tp^i^' 4 S si^ssar <f^i n fi eij n lSI ^ vssr l- n iLi—^ !5^ 
 
 6ffl^STLD.-5rr^U(T^0 S LfldffSsTT /5 /T SZST SOT 'SsaT if (5 n S5T a zS (^ oisT -aU (LQ M^ ^ f ff 
 
 esar-^-3f^^(LpwafnDn:ussaris'2esrd Q fncssr'Sssr^^Qp'iLD^QupiauTnQ 
 
 Hail! OMxiXTVKin-ii?! A, thou skilled in all langi{agr.<i ! Under thr 
 benignant auf^picr.s of Sirakdml^ the goddess of Til/ci {Chillamhram), 
 who imparts hcaecnig bliss and wisdom, and whom the gods adore^ 
 thou art every where commended by the kings of the earthy as one true 
 to his word. I am the Nymphaea flower, which expands at night, and 
 thou art the moon ; I am the corn, and thou art the raining cloud ; 
 I am the lotus-flower {which expands at day), and thou art the sun; 
 J am the child, and thou art t/ie father ; and I am the poet, and thou 
 art the Pdndya king. I am coming to wait on thee jcith the sacred 
 Rlnu'iynnam, to obtain thy fac or. I shall explain its meaning as 
 7nuch as I know, and it is for thee to hear it. 
 
 This epistle having been favorably received by tlie Mudeliar, ho 
 had the satisfaction of reciting his work before him, and the follow- 
 ing impromptu, which he uttered on the occasion, commeniorates 
 the high honors, and munificient presents bestowed on him Ijy this 
 <li^tiii2uished individual. 
 
Hi IMA'TAltCir. 
 
 PI' 
 
 foT os^Tffii LDnuj<5m « <s af (S7;<o)«37i5C7 tJ Qup^jis- n <obr ■ 
 
 He iTdce 7nc goJd, and heaped rivlics upon me ; 
 
 lie i^are me the prodiiets of the different countries : 
 
 He gave me encouragement, he gave me a icreath to he team on the 
 
 head:; 
 He gave me hnnnr, hi/ seating me on the jwetic throne ;■ 
 He gave me his friendship, kc gave the history of Rama to all ; 
 He gaee me a name as the Romayanic poet ; 
 Hi' gare me food, he gare mc a house ; 
 
 He gace me pleasure both even in the present and future life, 
 So gave he Manali Muttukishna, who cherishes the icorld. 
 
 Sometime afterwards Tulaji Mahara'ja having become recon- 
 ciled with the Nawab, Arunachala Kavirayer found admittance into 
 the king's presence, and had the honor of reciting the drama before 
 a full durbar,' and was handsomly rewarded 'by the king. 
 
 It appears that in the- latter years of his life a gloom having ovorr 
 spread his mind, he assumed the garb of a Saiva Panddram, and' 
 lived. in retirement at Shiyally, where he died in A. D, 1779, at the 
 age of sixty-seven. 
 
 A'RUNAGHIRI N,V'TI!ER J>1 Tl^ ■sm 9 (fl 15 fTff IT . 
 
 Arunaghirl Nathcr was an eminent poet, who from his entire no- 
 votedncss to the worship of Siva, renounced the world and assumnig 
 tlie life of an ascetic, lived and died at the Siva fane at Trinomali, 
 in the Carnatic. His compositions aro of a roHgioiis character, and 
 in. pra'se of Skanda, th(j Hindu Mars. They are as follows : Kan- 
 den Alangkaram (cfis^oNetxaanaio), Kanden Anuhhudi (ams^oOTgiy, 
 ^), Kanden Antddi {iih^m&ffjn^'), Tiriivaguppu {^^^eu^uL]), and 
 Tiruppugazh (^(^uqstp). This last work_ containing a series of 
 100 stanzas, being enriched by a splendid and harmonious flow of 
 diction, has gained great popularity amongst the Saivas, who gener- 
 ally have it recitcfl, when any member of their sect is at tlie point 
 of death. Arunaghiri Nather was also ihe author of .n short harmo- 
 nic poem, entitled Udatkutu Vannani (2_'_/r)<gvvT)^6i/oCcr£SSTLb), descrip- 
 tive of the different stages of human life, which together with aji 
 abridged translation of it in English, by the Eev. Mr. Roberts,* as 
 yevised by us we here subjoin : 
 
 * RaBLUTi' Oricii!ed Illustrations ot the S'lcrecl Scriptures, p. 318. 
 
12 THK TAMIL I'l.lXARCH. 
 
 ^ t_ fD 3i»- rb ilU SU SOT 6SCr IX, . 
 
 e^QT^LCL^ ujn^ QLLn06n^i£inS uS^U3?sk^(T^ LLesn-jOunQ^'f^, f>. 
 esar n si^ <s eCiSj S Q lu n qmQ m vS i_^ isigifS^drn^sssfi^ iS^^seok^^ ussPuS 
 Qeonnun^ Q^i^eiflmnsj^ uGasnsf.itSe\3iou!i_g] n(^i^^i!iGm® ^ lj^ilo 
 £L(T^i})Lj ■^LDi—tAlQ^&p^ unnsiDS'j Qldlu Qundj 0<7ei9 &n&iZ!!>asQ£n&sr 
 fD, e-Q^suQprnnS u^uSiTai'etriTLDn^ GiLnmu^QmnGSJ^ iSss^/di^^ildi—if 
 
 (SDflT, &-^ffLDS<S^^ Lj €)S' liS 6\} eS (LP i^ QujnSQfilM &J n ff Qfi ih (Bn.^LDf9i 
 
 ^1 m<se!f)ri<ssh C<fSs37 ^ it s>j dE^csnu it ^:d l— LLemu u.£iji^ iqQSi^is^seS'ifi 
 /?^, LDi—LDaS6\)Qsniijs!ns ujQp^LDQ^i^l-^ Qujnff^^BfB^nQsuefrni^^ 
 cpsrf)i'Ee3)<sujj/r)eiS^^LDi^ajn0 eum^Qp^i^i— eij i^^ su l^ i^ ^ ldl^ 
 uSsSq^ib^ LDL^'2evQLcmS}'^^ <Sij n sS q^I u nQ sl< eiyr mnLOuoaSeinhu^ e. 
 emL-LDsrssfiiuneiSL- uj&njjisvL—LDni-. (s^smusun ^^uevn ^lijs^QmnQ 
 COT®, Q^(Ti^sSeS!(Tfiii^ Lj(u>^^uj'Seaiijp 0^i^ujun6\)(pjnQi—nL^i5i—fb 
 
 S-UJiT^0(^rTesr ^(^eijuQ^ff: Qpi^LSIuffiirs'hoOtLjisjsssiHSom'S, euen 
 
 ^, L£essfi3uiTesfl6\),W(g uessBserrsssBii^, mns^rrQurrs^ir «i_ 41. 61/ eaar 
 I5JS, LD^(S!rQffn^ue!sBs>jQetsr(SSTQLLns lo rsjeasiu a xsmQ LBQ^smQ^ij 
 em®.) (S^ (fl sS L^ Q s n sisT (d ■a^L^ujQsu/S^ijs, LDnLLuSie\>Quneoshn^uiTSj 
 
 ^sesai(dy LD6sr^QunQrj'ii>e<;sijnL9pQsnis^ L£)'Eise\)Q.s:i5Jseoff,i^sar 
 Qsnii/eaSj iL(rT)ehLDiLiia@<iS^LfiQp^osm® Q^is^ujLDnQf.fi&) QspusuL^iii 
 Q, ep^r^Qp^eonQ Qp^QuiT(7^<s(rfTuS(r^i^^esriEJS(ef^u) ev ih l9 oS ^ i^ .^ 
 LD^esr<^sw^ei')'^6sn£lG^ex!r£n SLnGSuQsneOQpiX) \, eu^iSltBi^, suerr 
 es^LciijLDnrSl ijSl<s(rzmtX)(LjL£>nrB su smuiosS (L^k^Q^ ^e €ssr s, nffl q^ ssm 1) , euoj 
 
 ^aSsOsu(T^Q!Brn£l(rr)LC&)Qun(rij'^ G^ncm<o!DL-U^Qii(i^^Qp&)ii,i^siiT 
 
 0^6tfleijijSljTniD^Sl»!7^®LDnrSl &i<ST>^lllG!h(^3i(Lp'ieClh£iJLDQ^siat®, ^u. 
 
 Qpin'^rB^ iSlseijiij'^ifj^ QfiB&sieOR/uQsuQ^iasiGifni&ij^ Lcsapiueu 
 esrQeu^Gesr(Lp^tiJaijn£^ eui^^^ssasi i—QpGLDfir^fjGjgf^Fiw^, ^ei^Gtu 
 ensessTL-. L^^eaflGiuesjG^ni^^ Q ic^ etrf! su rr i^< eij u9 so n ^i' &sff fS ^ /D .^ at_ 
 0n(ip^!)pQu3i-GLne!!rs^3S)jitnicijpiii@zS(Lpi_^'<ats^mQsnem®iJi(T^i^'^ a 
 
 ^f.®U)nrS oj. r^QfE£l(cLD. 
 
■Jlli; lAMi:, I'M TAKCll- 
 
 i:} 
 
 (CTJ^, Lcesr^ii uSi Q^cm I— a/ m su '/i? oU » A , LDnLD'<ie\iQunoV ujiii^^ncB<ohQ>jif; 
 ^ eu levQ s n (D <^& eiiuSnQan !>(J'un<s (Snio > ^(rrtxiai. k^i (^esfliffi^QiBn h 
 ^, iiiLSf.iiSls0 3Sl(Lpi^ Lo'dsa' izS '-j €\} m u LDnt^QesrQ'fTuSl'SijiTineOLDjjSli^'i 
 uemipujSijiTsn^rijQLD^LDU J^rriT -^crr u ^*u/d'B,s)i— £!<^p^nu(B^n^ 
 ^(BiOioesTSiji^ uss)ptiSi—(U ihss Q su l9 setsi ih^ <oij .^ ^S'sntfliLiQiDi^^, u 
 
 foVSS^rriLjQLDsS Qp ^ ID Qj it ^ n lSI Q^ h ^ 3^ oiJ lEJ H Q£ Eli i^^. &) Q D <?^ J^' . Ui^S&iJJJ 
 
 <ElG)(Trf'.ijse\) sefTULDSSsfls^ un duaQioQsLu^ isngjuQpi- ldsiou^ m'.'H 
 
 S:®Qldl-.lh^ St l—'ZoVajS3il—lJ>^ LDtTSirfl t—<6>Jni^Q ■ol ear nl.nt^Q<n>'€ST~v> bill's 
 
 ^1, sS'pQsmL-npu^ ujLfieoQan'bi^um-. Gsu '^^sS (lqi'bs^ Qfi£liBJi'i^swj 
 li.A, f^rr^QQiu^iliLj SQ^QiUL-iEjQ Q uj n 11 lSI 1^ S ^ lAI oV n jBsij I— UD SCO Uf 
 CBmi^LDi^Qcu^i uSe^fliun^er^^ciD. 
 
 The beginning of man is as a dtw-drop falUng fnim llic tip oj a 
 hiade of grass : he assu/ncs his corporeal form in ike woinh oJ his vtolh - 
 er, in the course of ten months and is then brought forth ; he lies 
 down, crawls, prattles, wallcs, and hecomes acquainted icith science. 
 At sixteen he is in the hloom of youth ; goes forth richly dressed, and 
 adorned loithje^vels, courts the society of young women, is ravished 
 hy their eyes, lets himself loose to all irregularities and squanders his 
 wealth. He at length gets a wife and hecomes the father of children. 
 He refuses to part with even the husk of his rice and his wish is to 
 enjoy them all. He thinks, hy living cheaply, hy refusing to supjwrt 
 charities, hy not dispensing favors, lie is of all men the most happy. 
 His youth now passes away and old age creeps on ; his hair turns grey, 
 his teeth drop, his eyes groto dim., his organs of hearing are impaired, 
 his hody hecomes dry, his hack bends, and he is troubled ivith incessant 
 cough, which disturbs his sleep. He is no longer able to ivalk, and 
 has recourse to a cane, and is gazed at hy the young with derision. 
 While in this condition, the ministers of Yama {PhUo), ivith their 
 shaggy hair and frightful countenance, approach him, and seize and 
 bear aicay his life amidst the screams of his ivife and children. His 
 kinsfolk cmd jriends then assembled, talk of his good or evil deeds, 
 convey his body to the burning ground ivith the sound of tom-toms, 
 and commit it to thejlame which consumes and reduces it to a handful 
 of ashes. 
 
 Asiita'vada'ni — ^(st^cnw^nssfl. 
 
 The real name of this poet is not known, anrl the one under wliich 
 he is here noticed being merely titular, alludin<r to the extraordinary 
 retentiveness of his memory. He was born of a wealthy Brdliman 
 family of the Vaislu.ava sect long settled at Sirongnm, nearTrichin- 
 opoly, and having finished his course of studies in Sanskrit and Tamil 
 
11 THK TAMIL rLLTAllCH. 
 
 hcfurc lie li;ul attained his sixteenth year, he married and esuthlisl)rfV 
 himself ut Tirupati ; but quarrel ing with liis wife l-e left hiune antP 
 set out on a |)ilgrima;^c to tlie Suiia fanes in the south. \\ hen al 
 iVIadnra, l;e was so unforluiiate as to fall into the snares of a eour- 
 t</,an, who after haviig slript hiwi of every thing hy her swed 
 hiandishmcnts, turned him cut destitute into the stret-ts. Grieved at 
 his losses, and wiser in his misfortune, he wrote a satirical ])ocm, under 
 the title of Viralividudutu (sS'rceSbSCf^^^), exposing the wiles of the 
 eijurtezan and warning the youlli against them, and dedicated il to 
 Na'gama Ku'lapi'A Na'vaken, Poligarof iSeleikkottei in theDindi<:al 
 district, i)y whom he appears to have been patronized in the later 
 j)eriod of his life. This poem consists of 1144 couplets, and is not- 
 undeserving of the high reputation, which it has obtained for the 
 beauty of its versification ; but the author has completely demolish- 
 ed its moral t(Mideiicy l)y the licentious description of tl:e personal 
 charms of the cour.ezan, and her enticing deportment. 
 
 Athigama'n — ^^SLcnm. 
 
 Athigaman was one of the brothers of Tiruvalluveh, and having 
 been exposed by his mother soon after his birth, in a wood at Karu- 
 vur, he was found and brought up by a Chera king. He is repre- 
 sented to have enjoyed great reputation as a poet, and the patron of 
 poets, and to have composed many poems on various subjects, but 
 none of his comi)osilions is now forthcoming. According to some 
 accounts, on the death of his foster-father he succeeded him on the 
 throne, and that he was the same with Che'rama'n Peruma'n.. who 
 patronized the ministrel Panapatirek, but this is manifestly untrue; 
 for CnE'RUiMA'N Pekujia'n was not a foundling, but actually the soa 
 of Sa^karana'tha Ciie'kan, and crowned in the Kali year 3538- 
 (A. 1). 437*) which is four centuries anterior to the epoch assigned 
 
 to TlUUVALLUVER.y 
 
 ATlIlvrilA Ra'MA Pa'NDIYEN ^^<^n!ini£)UnGSS: L^iUSST. 
 
 Athivira Rama Pandiyen was one of the kings of the Pu7idiycn 
 dynasty, who reigned at Madura between the eleventh and Iwelftlr 
 century of the Christian era. Though the history of his life is not 
 now forthcoming, yet his name has been handed down to posterity 
 as that of an eminent j^oet, by the numerous poems which he com- 
 posed. His princifial work is the Afli(/(///(a;« (c75-,(J:£_^ir ),an imitation 
 in Tamil of Skihaksha's Naishad ham, rcc'aiv.g;^ the adventures of 
 Ntilah and Domayaitli. It comprises 1171 stanzas arranged in 29 
 cantos, and Mr. Ellis observes, that " its high and courteous tone, 
 notwithstanding the frequent occurrence of those gaudy images and 
 far-sought allusions which European taste will denominate conceits, 
 
 ' Madriis Journal of Literature otid Science, vol. vii. p. 2d4. 
 f Asiatic UcBcarchus, vol. vii. p. 3-iy. 
 
THi: TAMU. ri.rTAKcir. lo 
 
 is Wdrtl.y of tli(> princely autlior/''* It is so liiiilily valiud hy llic Timiils 
 foillie swootiioss of ils|)oeti-y that tlicy cull it " the iiccla r of li)c poets," 
 hut it should he observed th."\t tlie extn^nie |)i\ssiou of tiie author for 
 hyperhoie has led him to extravagance, as will Ix' srcn hy the fol- 
 lowing stanza in which he celebrates the beauty of DumayuniVs face. 
 
 — apQ^LD^dsleotLjsssflioS^i^i^QuirLpsa^ Q LDirsm^Q a n cm i^ if! u a k ^ a 
 
 SsTfD £DS71)tf LD^/f© el)! 'E/«l1 i_ LOtU 6^ 51/ # OTT LO •all (^ ^ 3- eOT SSI S D ^ ^i f^Qi o\) 
 
 (S^^ Ly otfjLf3<JLpi^(o^noSr^l}) e!SsfLDLS2QiTUJSSlQ(n^3<Sn'iEJsQLD'oW'f6l^ISSr 
 
 He Brnhnn icho dwells in tJir lotus-flower, hJoomius;f)-om the navel 
 of the bright sapphire colored {Vishnu), formed the face of the long- 
 eyed Damayanti hy taking his materials from the great beauty ivkich 
 is concentrated in the full mooji ; and it is the blue sky, lohich is seen 
 iJf'ough the aperture made in the moon for this purpose, that people 
 still call the macula. 
 
 His other works are the imitations of the Kasikiindam (in^^n^r 
 L-ii), Linga Pun nam {^6S>isi3<L\an6mLb), and Kurma Purdnam {ifnrr 
 icunnf^csui), besides four Antadisf, each com|)rising a centum of verses 
 in praise of the SttJCfr shrine at Karuvci and a collection of senten- 
 tious maxims, under the title of Vetfireikai (©ojirfr^GajjCosi*), of which 
 tlicRev. Mr. Taylor has given an English version in the second volume 
 of his Oriental Historical Manuscripts. Atiiivira Rama Pandiven 
 is also said to have been the writer of the poem, entitled Madana Nul 
 (TSbCrg/ToT)) ; but we doubt whether he did really compose it. Its ma- 
 terials appear to have been derived from a work on tlie same subject 
 in Sanskrit, called Kokva Sdsfra, and though its poetry is good yet 
 it is very exceptionable in point of morality and the tenor of it shews 
 tliat the pleasure of the fair sex was the uppermost thought in the 
 mind of the author. It is the same work, which Abbe Dubois, in his 
 ])escription of the People of India, Chap, xiv., notices, and ju.stly con- 
 demns, as abominable; yet we are sorry to state, that some Hindus 
 at Madras have been licentious enough to class it with their A'gamas 
 und<M- the title of Kdmdgamam, and to prostitute the [tress to its pub- 
 lication. 
 
 Auveiya'r — episfrQS)S>j'jjnfT. 
 
 Auveivar was the first of her sex in the Tamil country, who ac- 
 quired a rejnitation as a poetess. The name Auvciyar is merely ti- 
 tular, signifying " the elderly lady :'''' what may have been her real 
 name is not known. She was one of the sisters of Tiruvalluver, and 
 
 * Kllis' Commentary on the Kural, p. 163. 
 
 t A .sort of poem, in wliioli tlit^ last woiil of a stanza is repeated in tiic 
 beginning of tlie next. 
 
I() TUF. TAMIL PI.TTaRCH. 
 
 lior niotlior, who gavo birth to licr in a Choultry near Urcii/i'n', having 
 vxposcil her there, slie was found and brought up by a Punnii or 
 minstrel. How, and in wliat manner, she acquired lier prodigious 
 h'arning cannot be ascertained, but it is very probable she was in some 
 measure indebted for it to lier foster-father himself. Though she 
 taught others that mirriage was preferable to celibacy, yet she con- 
 tinued unmarried all her life. It is stated that by the virtue of a pa- 
 nacea, which she had discovered, she prolonged her existence to the 
 pi-riod of iilO years, and then, according to the custom of her times, 
 maile the Mahaprusthdnagamana, or great jourucy to the Imaiis and 
 died there. 
 
 '• She sang like Sappho ; yet not of love, but of virtue."* Her two 
 books of moral a|)horisms usually called Auishudi {^§.0^,1^) and 
 Kondai Veyndcn {G ^n ^i &S)!p<:5€u!r.3,€si) have been considered by the 
 learned P)i:sciii as being " worthy of Skneca himself"!; for they 
 are as the Rev. Mr. Peucivai. has justly remarked, " of great beau- 
 ty and value, replete with lessons of wisdom," and " they have 
 never been surpassed for sententious brevity ; and generally ihey 
 are equally distinguished by purity of principle." "j; In both the 
 books the aphorisms are written in the order of the Tamil alphabet ; 
 hence tlioy have been most appropriately called -' the Golden Alpha- 
 bet of the Tamils. "(^^ No less than three English versions of Auveiy- 
 ar's aphorisms have been published, the first by the Rev. Dr. John in 
 the Asiatic Researches, the second by the Rev. Mr. Bisset, the 
 author of the History of Ceylon under the name of Pliilalethes and 
 the third by the Rev. Mr. Sudgen, and there is also a version of 
 them in (rcrman, and another in Dutch, but it is hardly neces.sary 
 to remark that they all merely convey the sense of the original, and 
 that too often not very correctly. The other works of Auveiyar are 
 the M'ldnrci (op^os^a), Nalvazhi (ihsosuip, Kulriozlmkam (as'^eS'Oun 
 L^ihu), AaadiLirei ^-3liF-V&(Stn6S)aj), Kannutkovei (/Ji-.ti@n;r)(J<j;fT 
 loffia;), NdiimcDiik'Jvci ^xn^icesi^AQ<incs>bij), AriinfamUninIci (^(5^0 
 trf'tptDfTci/iu), Tdrisanapatlu («ffl<?-«viLiu^.^'), Gndna Kural (55/16313.^59 
 6T1), and Pandcnanlndi {uihis^^s^n^)^ and of these the first eight are 
 on ethics, and religion, the ninth on metaphysics, and the tenth is a 
 panegyric on a wealthy merchant of the name of Panden, who re- 
 sided at Kaveripatnam. There is also e.xtant under her name a 
 Niguiuhi, or dictionary in verse, containing the Tamil synonyma of 
 the m.iteria inedica, but it is not in general use. 
 
 Auveiyar was more keen and clever than even her brother Tirit- 
 VALLtivER. The Hindu system of Moral philosophy involves four 
 (juestions, viz: I. What is rt/7if(', and how is it to be e.vercised .^ 
 2. What is Wealth, and how is it to be acquired ? What is pleasure, 
 
 * Calctittii Quarterly Review, vol. x.xv. p. 190. 
 
 t Babingto.n's Shell Tamil Grammar, Introduction, p. xi. 
 
 t Pr.KriVAi.'s Land of lii.- Veda, p. ItlO. 
 
 § Asiatic Uescaiclii's, vni vii j> S'A) London lldiiion. 
 
IHK TAMIL FLUTARtlf. 1^ 
 
 ami how is it tube enjoyed ? i. What is heavenJij bliss and liow is it to 
 be obtained?* Tintva I hive?', however, in his Kta-al, containing 1333 
 couplets, treated only of tlic three first questions, and when Auvciyar 
 heard of it she compressed all the four questions, and their answers, 
 within the compass of the following single stan;fa, which she uttered 
 .extempore :-^ 
 
 eBiLi—Q^ Quiflsmu^iil. 
 
 To give is Virtue. That, tchichis acquiredmthoutsin, Is Wealth. 
 The constant mutual affection of two, whose tastes agree, is Pleasure. 
 To forsake these three, in the contemplation of the Supreme Being, 
 is Heavenly Bliss. 
 
 When TiRUVALLUVEB went to the Madura College to submit the 
 Kural to its judgment, Auveiyar accompanied hiin thither, and mak- 
 ing some signs to the professors, asked them what she meant by 
 those signs upon vvhich one of them improvised the following stanza, 
 in reply : — 
 
 ^dj<oii(Sir<si^ssmesisfl<^efi<3iJSijefreii&piBeiau-iuir 
 
 &f}(SijSijeireiiQu!rmp<sS!isfrQp'^iJLin — eiB sn sj m en n iIj i 
 
 Not satisfied with the explanation, she interpreted the signs hej- 
 iself, thus : 
 
 ^ujlSKSIlSI s<srpGrBjS<oS)Ujd (5S).iu lSQiSI 
 
 Give alms, holdfast the true virtue, 
 
 Eat rice, after giving to others even as much as a pi/u-h. 
 
 If you are able to know that God is hut one, 
 
 Then the five great sins will be destroyed. 
 
 After the Kural had passed the College bench, and each of the 
 })rofessors had pronounced a stanza on its merits, Auveiyar hearing 
 Id'eikdder praise it in a couplet, likening it to a mustard seed hollow- 
 ed and filled with the waters of the seven seas, in as much as it con- 
 tained much knowledge in a little compass, she observed to him, that 
 it would have been more appropriate to liken it to an atom, which is 
 even minuter than a mustard seed. 
 
 * See Rottlkr's Tamil and English Uictiouary under the wurd >«"•.+«? 
 
18 TlIK TA.MU. I'M'TAKCIl. 
 
 Auveiyar had the nickname of Kuzhukupadi (aiiigfi^uuffi^.), or she 
 who sung her verse for a cup of pap, and the reason assigned for it 
 is, that a dancing girl, named Chilajibi, who lived at Ambel, asked 
 the poet Kamber to compose a verse on her, giving him 500 pons for 
 it, but as he never composed a stanza on any one for less than 1000 
 pons, he scribbled these first two lines of a stanza on the wall of her 
 house with charcoal and went away. 
 
 Immediately afterwards Auveiyar happening to call at the dancing 
 girl's house and being informed of the affair, added the two following 
 lines to the unfinished stanza of Kambeu, accepting as a reward 
 pierely a cup of pap. 
 
 The following is the translation oi" the above stanza ;— 
 
 The best of rivers' is the Kaveri, the best of kings is Chola, 
 
 The best oj lands is Cholamandalam, the best of women, 
 
 Is Chilambi of Ambel, 
 
 And the best of chilambu * is the gold chilambu o?i her lotus feet. 
 
 On one occasion when some men reviled the character of women 
 
 HI Auveiyar's hearing, she is said to have retorted upon them with 
 
 the following impromptu : 
 
 rs&:6\)nnsG&Te\)&}rTQ^ iB6\)evnQrr^meis:u)Ujne\) 
 euG\i6\)rTjfTjr)QsQ ut—nnnuSm- — tEeoeOfS 
 
 *Al icomen would be good by nature, if men did not spoil them ; 
 And most jnen ivould have a tolerable stock of sense, if the leomen did 
 not make fools of them. Ellis. 
 
 The subjoined stanza eulogizing the city of Kdniipuram is attribut 
 ed to Auveiyar : — 
 
 eB)SuuJsGu)&}€\}nrsj si^esBajndj esiQjius^^iC 
 ^nQmiijih!hrTLLLi^pp%K^lTSetrffnpLLu- 
 
 aLLu^CpUJS3'&ULjpQLD6V&)lTlijS U-L^llfLL 
 
 iunQeaTprn?m af^iusih. 
 
 ' A tinkling foot ornaaient, worn by Tninil w onion 
 
rllF. TAMII'- J'LUTAIU H. 19 
 
 The whole earth /nrtj/ he compared to an cxpanxc of wri-Jand : 
 The several countries of the earth, marked by their hovndnries on 
 
 the four sides, are cultivated fields ioithin it ; 
 Tondei-vala-nadn is a lofty sugar-cane in one of these fields ; 
 The chief towns of this country arc the crude juice of this sugar-cane; 
 Cachchipuram {Conjiveram) and its vicinity are like d cake of tin- 
 
 refined sugar obtained by boiling this juice ; 
 And a large concretion oj refined sugar in the midst of this cake 
 Represents the inferior of Cachclii, where the bull-borne Deity resides. 
 
 El,LIS. 
 Avi'NAYANA'R J)j q9 15 UJ i^ n . 
 
 Little is known of the life of Avinayanar, except that he was one of 
 the twelve disciples of Agastiyer and the author of a treatise on ver- 
 sification, which is called after his own name, Avinayain (^eSiihtiih). 
 Father Beschi, in his Introduction to the Shen Tamil Grammar, 
 notices Avinayanar as one of the persons, who wrote on the Tamil 
 Grarn'mar after Agastiyer's time and whose works have perished. 
 
 Avi'ra'mipatter — J)/ sS' rr mS u u iJi L. IT. 
 
 Aviramipatter, corrigo, Abird mi B'hatta, was a. poet equally well 
 versed in Sanskrit and Tamil literature. He belonged to a class of 
 Brahmans at Tirukadavur in the Carnatic, and was a staunch adher- 
 ent of the sect which worship Pdrvati, the female energy of Siva; 
 under the name of Abirdmi. Of his poetical compositions we have only 
 a centuni of hymns, addressed to Abirami, and which are remarka- 
 bly harmonious in their versification. Such is the faith that Saivas 
 have in the efficacy of these hymns, that it is not trnusual for them 
 to commit them to memory, and recite them privately with great ven- 
 eration. The following is one of the hymns referred to : 
 
 LbsssBQinLD€mfluSQ(€S)effl(£UjQujn6ffl(y^memBLi'^S!!Ti^ 
 eiisssfl^ujuj€ssfliL]LDeasfldaifiQ£suj^}isn^'S2JiTd(^u 
 LSsssRQuJLSIessfld(^LD(T^iQ^UJLDffij Qu([^eS(rKmQfi 
 uessPiQ'LiQi^QT)eh(SS)ir rSssrusji^uir^iJa uestsflii-siSl&siQioSJ'. 
 
 Thou art the gem, tJiou art the brightness of that gem ; t/iouarl the 
 necklace formed of that gem, and it is thou that givest it its beauty. 
 Thou art the disease of those loho do not approach thee, and the cure 
 of those ibhb approach thee ; and thou art the great feast of the celes- 
 tials. I shall not adore the feet of any after I have adored thy lotus- 
 feet. 
 
 A'LANKUDI VaNGANA'R — -^GOlEJ(^l^lSiJlEJS(eS)IT. 
 
 Nothing is known of this poet, except that he was a' native of 
 A'lankudi and that his high attainments had obtained foi* him a place 
 in the Madura College as one among the forty-nine professors. His 
 
m 
 
 THK TAMfl, PLriARCH. 
 
 works have all perished, and even his own nani^e would have long 
 ago fullen into oblivion, but for the following impromptu which ho 
 uttered when the Rural passed the College bench. 
 
 eusir^SkiiTurTLLu^esr ojen-Qpsmrr-i^esr ev n lii ID'S <s (^ ik 
 
 Gj 6!ar I— lAI L^ esT Qp u u n ssT mS Lfi i^ . 
 
 Ecen the sivectiicss of ambrosia c<i7inot he covipared to the sweet' 
 ness of the Vau.vvzr's poem. The gods hare known the taste of am- 
 brosia by having partaken of it, but men wilt know it when they im- 
 bibe the milk (instruction) , whith issues from the three lulders (the 
 three parts) of the Kural. 
 
 A'LAtANDA'R — ^&r su i ^ n n . 
 A'lavandar was both a poet and philosopher. He belonged to a 
 class of Brdhmans, styled Bhattas, an4 traced his^ pedigree ta Ma'd- 
 IIAVA Bhatta, an eminent (ruru, who lived at Viy-ei in the Carnatic, 
 in ancient times. His poetical version of the Gndna Vdshistha from 
 Sanskrit into Tamil in 2,055 stanzas is an elaborate performance, and 
 greatly redounds to his credit. Tlie Girdna Vd^hitha treats of the- 
 Vedic philosophy, and is interspersed with legends of various real or 
 fabulous personages. The following stanza which we quote from 
 the work contains a description of the attributes of God : 
 
 (ip^^iLjLDnQQajni5)-(^ Qp^jhunuiQuiTQ^Qetrnss'^'Sm®, 
 
 There is a supreme being; — he is (he sim who sJtincs loith unreflect- 
 ed light, toilhout setting, — he who is infinite, — he tcho is' free from 
 infirmity, — he who is not subject to' birth, — Jfewhois everywhere and 
 at all times, — he who is all and th€ crealor cj' a}1 , (md he u'ho is the 
 final beatitude itself 
 
 A'nDI' PuLAVAR ^SOTTif L/L/SDa/f. 
 
 This poet, who distinguished himself by his eminent attainments in 
 philology, was the son of Pa'va'dei Va'dhva'r of U tankal, a village in 
 the Gingee country. He had a great partiality for writing verses of 
 the kind called A'siriyam, and we have a commentary of his on the 
 first two parts of the AV/nnj//, under the title of Ureiyari Nannul 
 {s.es)aujfS'(hfF>§rrsd), and a Nigandu, or dictionary of tho^Tamil syno- 
 nyms, both written in the same metre. 
 
TIIF. TAMM- PM TAMCfr. 41 
 
 A'SIRIVEII JN'aLLANDUVANA'II ^9i ifloJIT BA'SO .},Ji:QJ ^IT . 
 
 This poet was one of llic forty-tifnc professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege, lie had the title af A'sirhjer or docTur, roiiferred on him as 
 an honorary mark of literary distinction. Neither liis parentage nor 
 personal history is known, and even of his compositions we have 
 nothing more than the following improin[)tn in which he exprcf^sed 
 his a()prohation of the KuraJ, and (Milogizcd its author when that 
 work was subniilted to the CKiticisn> of the College bench. 
 
 ^n^'^aJueJsVe\)LLjfk ^ u u r rsij lo st^jd tLj 'm 
 
 There tg none amongst the learned that can compete with the first 
 f>f poets (meaning Tiruvalluverj who composed the Kitral, n-hich 
 has in itself all that the zoorks of the sages and the iufallihle Vcdas 
 have preserved. 
 
 Nothing Is known of Chattcimuni, except that he was a Saiva as- 
 cetic, who lived at the same time with Agastiyer, and enjoyed some 
 reputation as a poet, philosopher and physician. He wrote a work 
 on theology, called Gndna Nuru (QnGisi^g)i), and another on medi- 
 cine, called Kalpa Nuru (ffisDuu^n"^). He is also believed to have 
 been the author of the Vdda Nigandu (oun-^r^incaiCg), a treatise on 
 alchemy which passes' under his' name. 
 
 Cheraman Peruman, also called Perumdkodeiyar, was both a king 
 and poet. Soit^ say that he was the son of Sankarana'tha Che'ra 
 and others of SENKfyxPOKEl Chera, and in the Cholapurva Patayani, 
 one of the Mackenzie Mss. the date of his accession is placed in the 
 Kali year 3538, (A. D. 437). He ?>ecame an ascetic while yet a 
 youth, and retiring from Cranganore, where his father held his court 
 established himse^lf in the Sr/ii-a temp'lc at Tiruvanjikalam, but on the 
 abdication of the throne by his father, he returned to the capital and 
 assumed the reins of government upon the importunity of the minis- 
 ters. He appears to have endeavoured to advance the interests of lit- 
 erature, by patronizing the poets, who resorted to this court ; but being 
 a superstitious votary of Siva, spent most of his time in making pil- 
 grimages. He was a friend of SunM-rer, and died simultaneously 
 with him as may be inferred from the fable of their repairing to Kai- 
 Idsam together and remaining thc^rc in a state of beatification. He^ 
 
•2i HIE TA.Mn, Pl,ITAHrH. 
 
 coni'pc'sft'il three poems in honor of Sira, namely, the Mummani-kovci 
 i-(fiihii>mSi(23,n6TS)Su), Kaildsavuld (oin«oO,T5^Q/oVa), and Ponvannatan- 
 dddi {Qun^su£tisi€SJSip3)fh^n0) dnd they are still in much repute. 
 
 Deivasiha'mani Pillei — Q^'Lsn^inLC oa^uSim'3^. 
 
 Deivasihamani Pilfei, was head Sheristodar of the Hnssoor 
 Kutcherry at Calicut. He was born of a VeUla faniiiy at Dindigal, 
 in the Carnatic, on the 10th of April, A. D. ISO'l, and his father 
 ANnioTJi.MUTTU Ubade'si, a Christian, took every care to secure him 
 a sound religious education. He had from his early yea'rs a predi- 
 liction for poetry, which he afterwards cultivated with great success. 
 In 1842 he composed two beautiful poems in praise of our Lord, re- 
 spectively Entitled Inhamanimalei (@bisiuLr65cPt/)rr(?x£U), and Stotro- 
 kiimmi {irO(Ss;n00assd:i^), and they were both inserted in the Risiyig 
 Sun, a monthly Tamil periodical then edited at Colombo by ourselves. 
 His poetical career was however not very long, for it was cut short 
 by death on the 30th of November 184G. 
 
 ElLAPPA Na'vALEH SISd&)uu,'EniSU60iT. 
 
 DlTap'pa Navaler was well versed in the Sanskrit and Tamil lan- 
 guages, and well read in the classics of both. His poetry was distin- 
 guished by superior e.xcellehce', as his imitation of Vya'sa'^s A7'und- 
 chdta Mahdtmya {iho legends of the Sflira shrine ait Trinomali in Tamil, 
 under the title' of A7'imdchala Purdnmn (sii3^3= evi-ianem th), manifest- 
 ly proves This work comprises 586 stanzas, arranged in twelve 
 canto's, and it has obtained an u'nu'suiilly wide circulation amongst the 
 Saivds. We quote the following three stanzas from the fifth canto 
 (ufTau;G'u^p,3=(5iaLb), as a specimen, and which accounts for Siva 
 being represented as androgynous, or lialf man and half woman: — 
 
 LSl/Dui36\)rr(ifi;geku:iim/DQuJ6\)nLDStreSI i—tTuQurflQiUfT 
 
 evn)^^,^ tuQiui^u ssstl fB^6s>p (J5 & ear en'^esr ^^ is 
 ^rDi(^LD7metssr^LDoV(ef^i—<5!!fl<ss)Suu3ssi^Q€ns^§^ui. 
 
 wemessfl^nQuj iSu.QpL£lGSl!EJS(ipiiinQi^ 
 Qi£)Ssar^)jSQuj(o!5rrEnQijoeaTisSsr6S!fru^'^LD'n'(ip 
 QpsmessfleoneSlaj eutiSffQpiBsn^^i—^eiDpQshniii. 
 
 uS(ij(^iBif(ipewdQsiT0Ljrr)LC)efBuu(o/BuSujp>es)6B 
 yV) ® era « ttj ff 6V SsjOT i,« (T^ erfl ssr ^; (Tj © O uj /r eJr (5?" (65) /f . 
 
Kit. I'AMII, IMATAKl II. 
 
 23 
 
 iVInn the Kitrna/, who /v hcifond the co/iii)(tss oj the carious \ e- 
 das munijestt,d himself riding on the baU, the virtuous (I'drvati) 
 casting herself (U his feet, adored him : thereupon he addressed her 
 thus; Come, O Pdrcali ! I and thou becoming male and female 
 produced all the licing beings in the world, wc became the Yoni and 
 the Linga, there is no difference between us as I and thou ; let us 
 then be united together as the tree and the core. 
 
 Haring quitted the whole of thy body for my sake thou hast betaken 
 thyself to the mountain Imaus ; hence it is proper that I should yield 
 to thee one half of my body. O Damsel! take thy place ivith me on 
 my left. So saying he embraced her with his hands, and then their 
 bodies melted aiid became united together. 
 
 ErICHALU'R MaLA'DANA'R (iT(l^3'S=^iTLnSVin-(Q)iT. 
 
 Erichaliir Maladanar was a native of Erichulur, and one of the 
 forty-nine professors of the Madura College. His personal history 
 like that of his colleagues has been lost, and the only relic of his po- 
 etical compositions is the following impromptu on the Kural, which 
 uierely enumerates the divisions and subdivisions of that work. 
 
 ^■jj^jD'aijpQLDnasT^Lpns — surruj 
 
 Ganapati AlYKR — ssssru^ S"-"^' 
 
 Ganapati Aiyer was a Brahman of Batticotta in Jaffna, who enjoy- 
 ed the reputation both of a poet and physician. The date of his birth 
 js not known ; but he died in A. D. 1803. He is chiefly known as 
 the author of two dramas, the Alanhirarupa Nddakam {s\G\:)ihsa>na^ 
 ufBfTusir), and the Vdlabima Nddakam {eunemSLDihni—au:)., which 
 have gained much popularity and are often acted. 
 
 Gna'na Ku'tur — (^fTsard^p^^^iT. 
 
 Gnana Kilter was a Saiva ascetic and poet, who lived at Sivenpa- 
 kam, in the Carnatic ; but of whose personal history scarcely any 
 thing is known. He is however remembered as the author of thp 
 Vridd'lidchala Purdnam f a?(55;^/Td=6^UL]fffT63W(i)), a poem consisting of 
 435 stanzas, arranged in eighteen cantos, and recounting the legends 
 of the Saiva shrine on the Vriddhachala Hill, in the Carnatic. 
 
 Gna'napraka'sa De'siker — (s^nesruL9iran^Q^9iin. 
 
 GnanaprakasaDesekerwas a native of Tinnevelly, in Jallha. Hav- 
 ing gone over to Southern India in his early youth, ami perfected 
 himself there in the knowledge of the Tamil (Jrauiniar m\<\ < 'lassies 
 
24 TIIK TA.Mll- PLl TAlltH. 
 
 undei' the luilion ol sevend PunJits, lie re|)aircd to the Gauda coimtiy 
 for the purpose of studying fc>unskrit, in order to read the Saiva Aga- 
 7>i(ts in their original ; but tl'.e Brnhmans of Gnuda objected to it on 
 the ground that he being a Sudrn could not have access to those sa- 
 cred books. One of tlietn however, wlio was more liberal minded 
 than the rest, perceiving the acuteness of liis intellect, received him 
 as his pupil, and in the course of a few years made him an able Sans- 
 crit scholar. He afterwards returned to Southern India, and having 
 been invested with the office of Tambirchi, established himself at Tri- 
 nomali,;and composed several works in Sanskrit for the use of tho 
 members of the il/a/rtw at that place. Whilst he was thus employed 
 at Trinomali, having heard some through envy remark that he was 
 clever only in Sanscrit and not in Tamil, he wrote in Tamil a learn- 
 ed Commentary on the Sivagnd7ia SUt'njar which is now in great 
 repute wherever the Saica religion prevails, 
 
 GrNAVIKA P AND ITER ^msn^ffUemUjL^IT. 
 
 This poet was a native of^ Kalendai, a town near Chingleput,.antl 
 he attracted much notice in his day. He is known as the author of two 
 treatises on the art of poetry, one of which styled Nemhiddam (G/buP 
 fs.7^t£), consists of 96 stanzas, and the other styled Yenbupdttiyel 
 ((rei/^TOLifTuu.Td^LUJSD), consists of 100 stanzas. The last work is 
 stated to have been composed under the patronage of Vachchanan^ 
 Di.MUNi, an eminent ascetic, in the time of the king Trib'huvana 
 Dkva, perhaps the same with Trib'huvana-malla, who reigned at 
 Anumakondu in the eleventh century of the Christian era * 
 
 Gurupa'dada'sen — (^Q^un^^nfftssr, 
 Nothing more is known of 'this poet than that he was the author of 
 a poem, entitled A'imjrtresrt Sataga/n {^tLQoffff^&th), comprising a 
 centum of stanzas on moral and social duties, and which has obtain-' 
 cd great popularity. Each stanza in this work ends with an eulogis- 
 tic address to Kumarcsa, the form of SAa^f/a worshipped at TiruppuU 
 vaiyal, and we subjoin one of them as a specimen. 
 
 '■'^ffk^eisTS(^p'^^nissi Qix.sSik^iQ^\hi^n^Qu>n ^ciru:i6sarrEj(^asT^L~rT 
 * Aladraii Journal of Liiernturc and Science, \i'l. x. n '.JO. 
 
TIIF, TAMIl. PLUTARCH. 25 
 
 As gold though melted in the /Ire, yet will not Jose its lustre ; the 
 sandal-wood though worn out, yet will not lose its fragrance ; the 
 (hank though burnt, yet u-ill not lose its whiteness ; the milk though 
 diminished in quantity by being boiled, yet xoill not lose its favor ; 
 and the gem though ground, yet 7oill not lose its brilliancy ; so great 
 men though impoverished, yet loill not lose their magnaniviity ; O Ku- 
 maresa ! the strong-shouldered king, toho wedded the Kurava female 
 and riding on thejjeacock, sports on the hill at Pulvaiyel. 
 
 Id'eika'deH — ^<ss)L-dsni—n. 
 
 id'eikader, so named after Id'eikazhi-nddu, the land of his nalivilyj 
 was a poet from his earliest youth. Having lieard tliat Kulesa Pa'n- 
 DiYEN, who tlien reigned at Madura, added to the title of a king the 
 still more enduring distinction of a poet, and had a scat on the Col- 
 lege bench, Id eikader sought to secure his patronage by composing 
 n panegyric on him^and reciting it in his presence ; but the king took 
 no notice of it. Stung to the quick at the neglect, he retired to a 
 temple at Vada IMadura, whither Kapiler, and the rest of the pro- 
 fessors of the College, who did not approve of the king's conduct, fol- 
 lowed him. The king on receiving this intelligence went to Vada 
 Madura, and by much entreaty prevailed on him, and the professors 
 to return to the College and having heard his poem again recit- 
 ed, honored him by the gift of an elephant, and a horse, and by 
 the donation of lands and gold. Satisfied with this he took leave of 
 the king, and returned to his country. He again went to Madura to 
 be present when his friend Tikuvalluver submitted the Kural to 
 the judgment of the College bench. After having heard the forty- 
 nine professors each recite a stanza in praise of the Kural, he ex- 
 pressed his own opinion of the merits of that work in the following 
 distich :— ^ 
 
 g s L^"^^ u L^ s lL u}. i 
 
 The Kural contains muchin a little compass. Such is the ingenui- 
 ty of its author, that he has compressed within its narrow limits all 
 the branches of knowledge ; as if he had hollowed a mustard seed, and 
 inclosed all the loaters of the seven seas in it. 
 
 When the professors found thatTiRtJVALLUVER had readily answer- 
 ed the many puzzling questions which they pfoposed to him, they 
 attempted to try Id'eikader. He improvised the following stanza 
 which they could not understand, and hence remained silent : — 
 
 QujiuajdQsfrsSle06\)nL£is6l<9'&3'Q'S'SsrQ2uuj^iTm' 
 €5) q; (u (S G <fE /7 |6ff) ff^ OT m ^ ejr . 
 
THF, TAMIL PU TARCH. 
 
 Of Iileikadei's works we have not met with any ; but we find a 
 grammatical treatise of his, under the title of OosmwH {ssE^(ipS), 
 quoted by Gunasa'gaker, the Commentator of the Kirigai. 
 
 Ila ve'ttanar — S'^rrG'c 
 
 .^n. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. AH that is known of his personal history is, that he was a na- 
 tive of Madura, and belonged to the caste of Aruvei-vaiiigars, or 
 linen-drapers. The following is the impromptu which he uttered in 
 approval of the Kxt-rnl : 
 
 Pleasure and pain are hco different things (one constituting the 
 whole of positive happiness and the other the xohole of misery)^ and 
 Valluver is to he praised for teaching all mankind in his Rural 
 the yneans of securing the one, and avoiding the other. 
 
 Inbakavi — ^:€3ruseS. 
 
 Inbakavi was a native of Manapar, in the Tinnevelly District, and 
 born of parents of the Parava caste. His Christian name was Xavi- 
 ER Hbnric Lea'h. The juvenile productions of his muse, although not 
 of the highest order, were nevertheless sufficient to secure him the pa- 
 tronage of Don Gabriel Vaz Gojiez, the Parava Chieftain of Tuti- 
 korin. Going once on a visit to the Raja of Ettiapore, the ambition 
 of the poet was checked when he found that he had to stand, whilst 
 the Sainpi^ati or minister enjoyed a seat in the Raja's presence ; but 
 an impromptu stanza in which he praised the Raja, and respectfully 
 claimed a seat, soon procured him the desired privilege, and also 
 many presents. We subjoin the above mentioned stanza, and at- 
 tempt to give an English translation of it, which we are sorry to say 
 being stript of the melody and linkcd-swcctncss of the original, ap- 
 pears but too trite in a foreign language. 
 
 
 O Shankara Kuma'ra, the bountiful, icho has sprung up like 
 a resplendent gem from the race of Ganga ! That seat is for the 
 Samprati, and this scat is for thee, but where is the seat for Inbakavi 1 
 
THE TAMIL TLUTARCH. ^27 
 
 Fiiuling so nuich success attend him in his native District, Inba- 
 kavi resolved to visit tiio neighbouring Districts, and obtain rewards 
 by singing the praises of the high personages there. lie was well 
 received wherever he went, and especially in Tanjorc, where Tatto- 
 GEE, the minister of the king Surfogee, treated him with marked dis- 
 tinction by presenting him with a palanquin. He had been long 
 while on his peregrination, when a severe attack of illness which 
 threatened his life, obliged him to return to Tutikorin. On his 
 presenting himself before the Parava chieftain, and being asked 
 where he had been so long absent, he answered in the following im- 
 promptu ; 
 
 LSio03!^Q^rT(T^(ayrr<osrsuioS)ir Qpsuf)^!i'oS)£riLis\)Sl^<sfr(SirQurflQujrjn^u) 
 
 Having^ appeared before Yama (the king of death), tvho summons 
 lefore his presence the mighty celestials as well as the sages 
 and magnates of this world, he asked me loho I teas, and I replied that 
 I teas the j)oet employed at the Gate of the eminent Parava Chieftain, 
 and he thereupon teas perplexed, and bade me go back to thy city, and 
 behold I am here ! 
 
 Towards the latter part of his life, Inbakavi frequently visited Col- 
 ombo, and once Jaffna. He then unfortunately indulged himself in 
 spirituous liquor, and although this had in no measure impaired his 
 intellectual powers, it tended in no small degree to diminish that res- 
 pect, which was otherwise due to so clever a man. When his friends 
 remonstrated with him on his vicious habit, he was wont to excuse 
 himself almost in the same words with Anacreon : — 
 
 When icine I quaff', before my eyes 
 Dreams of poetic glory rise ; 
 And freshened by the goblefs deivs, 
 My soul invokes the heavenly Muse. 
 
 We give a very well authenticated anecdote of Inbakavi, which 
 will prove that he was not to be taken advantage of even in his weak- 
 est moments. A poet at Jaffna happening to meet Inbakavi when in 
 a state of inebriety, in the house of Mr. Philip Rodrigo Muttukish- 
 NA, the Kutcherry Mudeliar, tried to ascertain whether the pow- 
 ers of mind, or the strength of alchohol predominated in him. 
 He asked Imbakavi to improvise a stanza, which should begin with 
 the word mai (black paini), and end with the word maiyir (hair). 
 Inbakavi hesitated not amomcntj but surprised the rival poet with ihe 
 following beautiful line:? :— 
 
'■iS JIIK J AMI I. rLI'IAUt.ll. 
 
 e!y>u:)uSesrQLDn3niiL0(iS3rQs\)nsieam-tj^ esTQiott Qsnsm L-€\}^^n 
 
 ui'ijssiSuSsiJSfrQsn'3m(Ss^L-LciiSiT. 
 
 To what shall I liken the colour of the hair of the conde of the dam- 
 sel, who is enamored of the noble Abraham* of the race of Ganga ? 
 Shall I liken it to the black paint, or to the black satid, or to the black 
 beetle, or to the black cloud, or to the black moss } 
 
 Before he quilted Jaffna he wrote a drama, called Kuravanji (^rr) 
 6ij^#), in honor of the Kutcherry Mudeliar, which eUcited general 
 admiration for its musical cadence, and its vivid colouring and ima- 
 gery. This was his only composition of any bulk ; but he has left several 
 very singularly beautiful stray pieces, which he addressed to his differ- 
 ent benefactors. One day when he was drunk, and attending the feast 
 in the Hindu temple at Nellore as a spectator, he hymned the praises 
 of Skanda in an ode with the chorus {LDiiSiii>ourTa€^ibQana;biL.n6mif. 
 ihid^n4aM^6si LriuS<i\'JSijnamiBG3,nsmi~nemi9.), '■' Skanda of Nell oi^e 
 has mounted his vehicle, the peacock, yea he has mounted his vehicle, 
 the j^cacock,'' but in his sober moments feeling compunction for it, 
 lie instantly composed another ode commemorating the crucifixion of 
 our Lord, the chorus of which is as follows : — {u^^ang^esukGanem 
 i—nQa Q'jjsuhniuan fi^o!S)SiJUU00'ang-esiiBGammi—nQa) '■^ Lord Jesus 
 has enthroned himself, yea he has enthroJied himself on the Crosse 
 
 A supplicatory stanza of Inbakavi, addressed to our Lord in imita- 
 tion of the one addressed to Siva by Ta yuma naver,! is too good to 
 be omitted, and we therefore give it below with an English para- 
 phrase. 
 
 ^sS'^Qiun — eS L^iLLissrfiQiB^^niQfiefflajicS'hsoQiun uiasnaSsmsrsiJinu 
 
 Have 7iot four thousand pet^sons satisfied their hunger with seven 
 loaves ? Was not water turned into wine, and the man who had bce.?i 
 dead four days restored to life f Did not the tvoman, who touched 
 the hem of thy garment, become cured of her disease, and the storm, 
 abate at thy word 7 Was not silver found in the mouth of the fsh 
 
 " Tlie eldest son of the Kutcherry Mudeliar. 
 
 t \\A<i ^'ijirtisT «m:X ^(2uu:L.tfi^'ii, \i 7. Madras Edition. 
 
I'm; lAMii. I'l.i TAUCii. '^9 
 
 of the sea, and did not the. dumb spcok, the blind arc, and the lame 
 walk swiftly ? Is it then hard for thee, Oh Jesus, the holy son whom 
 the Virgin of Israel has brought forth! to help thy servant ivho is 
 embroiled in trouble, and beset with many difficulties. 
 Jnbakavi died at Manapar in tlie year 1835. 
 
 Ireiyena'r — @sm^«j(e5)ff. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. He appears to have been a prodigy of learning, and the Hin- 
 dus therefore absurdly believe that he was Siva himself, who in dis- 
 guise mingling with the professors of the College, eontributed to the 
 iniprovement of the Tamil literature. A treatise on the composition 
 of erotic poems with examples, under the title of Ireiyendr Agapporiil 
 (Sg'oinnD'JJ®/! cSiffuC'urTjfjsiT), is ascribed to his pen; and tradition has 
 preserved the following impromptu which he uttered on the merits of 
 the Rural : — 
 
 ei<^^ixjLjeOrin^aJ!Te!!ariTiBfTLl.Q~3=iogi2/£l^ 
 
 Gs= ks. effiijssp u 3^^,0ST Qp lu si-s^(T^ LOGO irQ unissr 
 
 ID ssr ueosu isi suvff (ew su sui su 
 
 nuj,3^Q:fnffO. 
 
 The Rural which has proceeded from the mouth of Valltivek, the 
 king of poets, will never lose its beauty by the lapse of time ; it 
 xoill he always in its bloom, shedding honey ( of instruction) like the 
 flower of the tree in Indras paradise, 
 
 lu'ETTEIYER @ IT il gJD i_ UJ /f . 
 
 Two poets who were twin brothers, and who acquired great re- 
 nown by their fixcility in extempore versification, during the reign of 
 Pra'krama Pa'ndiyen in the fourteenth century of the Christian era. 
 From their birth they suffered under great physical disadvantage, the 
 elder being a cripple, and the younger blind. They depended for 
 their subsistence solely on their powers of improvising verses, and 
 when they went out for this purpose, the younger used to carry on his 
 shoulders the elder, who led him in his way. Linked together by 
 birth and misfortune, there was one tie which even bound them still 
 closer. In whatever they improvised, the younger uttered the first 
 two lines of a stanza and the elder the last two. Many of their ex- 
 temporaneous stanzas are still extant, of which we will select but 
 two as specimens. Going once to the house of a wealthy man, nam- 
 ed Tiruvenkate'sen, who was distinguished for his generous dispo- 
 sition, he was about to give them some presents, but his elder brother 
 dissuaded liim from doing it. Upon which the younger Irettciyer 
 observed. 
 
'30 TIIK TAMll- Pr.lTAUCH. 
 
 Why was this unphasant man horn of the same parents icilh the 
 honcy-moiilhed Tiruvenkatesen ) 
 
 To which the elder Irettciyer unmediately replied thus ; 
 
 tnn^Qffneo&Qa&r- 
 
 Hear jne ! 
 
 Was not Mudevi (the Goddess of misfortune) horn in the same 
 milky sea before Sidevi (the Goddess of fortune). 
 
 On another occasion having lodged for a night in a PiUeiydr''s 
 temple, they had taken the precaution to deposit under the altar the 
 money, which they had earned during the day, wrapt in a cloth, and 
 missing it the next morning, they railed against the god in the fol- 
 lowing stanza: 
 
 (QULDuQi^QfEuLl^Q^QLCnLDniUm ^IMLjeStiSsx) 
 
 Thy younger hr other (Skanda) is a stealer of maidens, and that 
 vile May en (Vishnu), who was horn with thy mother, is a stealer of 
 lutter, and O Pilleiyur (Ganesa) ! thou hast now stolen the money 
 ifhich was icrapt in the cloth. Will the natural disposition of the fam- 
 ily be never changed. 
 
 Neither the place, nor the date of the Ir'etteiycr's death is known, 
 hut a tradition would have it that they hoth died simultaneously. The 
 llev. Mr. Taylor in the 2d volume of his Oriental Historical Manu- 
 Kcripts, Appendix, D., quotes the following stanza in praise of Pra- 
 KRAMA Pandiyen, as the production of the two brothers, and the reader 
 will find that we have adopted his translation, with a few alterations 
 in order to make it approximate to the original : — 
 
 e^uuifluu^^<oSi'2efrujnLL(Si(smp^Q!jnsiu>iLnQissr 
 euf.LJuss)sd(^'S€uu)Qun s(Sli<cS)^Qiun'SmhiLnQ(Ssr 
 
THE TAMIL HLUTARCir. 31 
 
 O Lady! Was it from the mount Kolli ihc dwarfish saf^e (A(;as- 
 tiyer) produced the Tamil language ? [No, from the Fothiija in the 
 Pandiya country.] 
 
 O Lady ! Did the incomparallc sports (of Siva) take place at 
 UreiurJ {No., at Madura, the metropolis of the Fdndiya country.) 
 
 O Lady ! Was Vishnu eeer metamorphosed into a tiger ? (No, into 
 a fish, the device on the banner of the Pandiya kings.) 
 
 O Lady ! Is it the sun which Siva wears over the tuft of hair tipon 
 the crown of his head 7 (No, it is the moon the progenitor of the 
 Pandiya race). 
 
 O Lady ! Was it the hank destroying Kdveri lehicli saw the icrit- 
 ing (of Sampanterj ascend up against its stream ? (No, it toas 
 Vaigai, the river of Madura.) 
 
 O Lady ! What is more heroic, the A'tti or Veppa garland ? (the 
 Veppa, loom hy the Pdndiyakings, voioing thereby to conquer or die.) 
 
 O Lady! Was it at the feet of the Chola the sea submitted ? (No, 
 it teas at the feet o/Ugra Pa'ndiyen.j 
 
 O Lady ! Is it then a light thing to declare thepraise o/Tra'kra- 
 
 MA Pa'NDIYEN } 
 
 N. B. The answers within brackets are our own, placed for the 
 purpose of rendering the sense of the questions intelligible. It would 
 appear that the poets praise Pdndiya, at the expense of Chola, by re- 
 minding that the latter cannot glory in such things as the former can. 
 
 Kachiyapper SS'&UJUun. 
 
 Kachiyapper was a Brdkman of the Adi Saiva sect, who officiat- 
 ed in the temple of Ekdmbeswara at Kanjipuram, in the Carnatic. 
 He was no less conspicuous as a poet than as a Veddntist, as is evi- 
 dent from the poetical talents which he has displayed in his imitation 
 of the Sankara Sanhita of the Skanda Purdna in Tamil, under the 
 title of Kandapuranam {aihSiULjunemtb), comprising 13^305 stanzas 
 in six books. He undertook this work upon the request of certain 
 illustrious personages at Kanjipuram, and finished it, according to the 
 date specified in the following stanza prefixed to Parasira'ma Mu- 
 deliar's-Kandapura'jMA Va'sakam, in the Saka year 700, correspond- 
 ing with A. D. 778. 
 
 Qsj^Q(Sii^nk^i£i!TSLD^^(T^LD^eo^nil) eSl ffl k^Q ® i-i n IT sm IS) 
 
 The Saivas, especially in Jaffna, consider it as one of their most 
 sacred works next to the Vedas, and regularly recite it in their tem- 
 ples once a year wjth great solemnity. 
 
n'<J TVil, TAMIL PI-UTARCH. 
 
 K A DIG \IMUTTU Pl'L AV ER ^ LSf.oS)S(Lp^^ u l^SO Sl ,7. 
 
 Kadigaimuttu Pulaver was a celebrated poet retained at the court 
 of Jagavi'rara'ma Venkate'swara Ettappa Na'yaker, Raja of 
 Eitlapuram, of which place he was a native. Of his compositions the 
 Suviudra Vildsum {ff'j; 0^ oeS eons' (h)., a panegyric in 100 stanzas, is 
 deservedly esteemed fur its elegant style. It is inscribed to the Raja 
 hims.lf, between wliom and the ocean many curious similes are drawn 
 with an ingenuity scarcely surpassed. The Dikrijayam {0a^QS^&{U 
 ib), another panegyric, consisting of 325 stanzas, has also much mer- 
 it, and redounds to his credit. The hero of this poem is Varagunar- 
 A'r.iA Vaxnivanar, Raja of Sivagiri, the pomp and splendour of whose 
 court, and his bravery and successful forays the author describes in 
 the most enthusiastic strains. 
 
 Kalla'der — sioeont— it. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege, and like many of the learned men of his time, he lived and died 
 an ascetic. He appears to have devoted his attention chiefly to 
 Grammar and Rhetoric, of the principles and rules of which two 
 sciences he wrote a treatise, calling it after his own name KaUadam 
 (fi.o\^6^fTt_LD \ This work, however, is not now in general use, but it 
 nevertheless deserves the encomium bestowed on it in the following 
 stanza, which one of its admirers has prefixed to it : 
 
 €h6\)&}niTSf^fas^^leo (au^ifi(i^(siB — Qffnsi'6\)tiuSlL£i 
 
 When Kallader's xcork the Kulladam, eonsisting of a hundred 
 stanzas^ loas recited before the College of the learned, the Lord of 
 Madura having heard it, teas so much i)leascd that he nodded appro- 
 bation a hundred times. 
 
 Kallader was present when Tiruvalluver submitted the Kural 
 to the College bench, and we subjoin here tlie impronii)tu, which ho 
 is said to have uttered on the incomparable merits of that production. 
 
 e^asrQpQunQ^Q&rearsaflm QeuQp(SsruQi3ijQn)i^&^ 
 iRsrmQpasTueun^ijg^iDuu^finn — is esrO/rxssT esr 
 
 QsL'UUn6\)Sij0lAI(omuJuQsu<aiJ<siT(ei^S>J(^IT 
 
 QpuunmQLonL^iis^QLDni£l. 
 
 Of the six sects, one tcill condemn the system of the other, but none 
 of them will condemn the system 2)ropounded by Valluver in his 
 Kural ; as it has the merit of harmonizing the sujfragcs of them all, 
 so lluit eoili sect would admit ii to hr its orcn 
 
THE TAMir, PMITARCH. 
 
 3S 
 
 Kalattu R KizHA R — sefTji^niQifiniT. 
 
 This poet wns n nntivo of KaJaltur, a town nbar IVtadurd, ahd he 
 is nnml)ercal among the forty-nine professors of the Madura College. 
 Tiie only relic of his cohipositions is the following stanza on the 
 
 jSS (J^ ID (IP ^ I'S n SS!(^<^ 3^(7 §il LDQ^LDOnpS 
 
 He who studies the two-lined verses in the three divisions of 
 Valluver's Kural will obtain the four things {virtue^ wealth, pleas- 
 ure and eternal happiness) ; for they contain the substance oj the fvc 
 Vedas (including the Mahdbhdrat), and the six systems of the six 
 sects. 
 
 Kambeu— «ii;u/f. 
 
 Kambei- was the most eminent poet of his age. He was the son 
 of a king of Kanibanddu, a district in the Carnatic. His mother when 
 pregnant of him was forced to flee in disguise in consequence of a 
 rebellion, in wiiich her husband was assassinated, and to take refuge 
 in the house of an O'chchen* at Tiruralundur, where she gave him 
 birth. Under the hospitable roof of the O'clichen he remained until 
 his seventh year, when a wealthy farmer of the name of Sadetyen, 
 who lived at Vennei Nelliir, having been informed of the circumi 
 stances of his case, invited him, and his mother over to his village, 
 and placing them in a house, which he had prepared for them, sup- 
 plied them with all necessaries. He also carefully watched over 
 the studies bf his protege, whose superior genius developed itself even 
 i!i his childhood. The young poet it is said would not compose a 
 stanza for less than the reward of a hundred pons\. His fame reach- 
 ing the ears of Ra'je'ndra Cho'la, that king invited him to Ureiur, 
 and appointed him as one of the poets of his court; conferring oil 
 liim at the same time the title of Kavi Chakravati, or the king of 
 poets The Ramdyana being in Sanscrit, Kamber, Otteiku'tek, and 
 several others of the court poets, separately undertook to imitate it in 
 Tamil. When their inlitatidns Were finished, they Avere recited in 
 the presence of KIjlo'tunga Chola, who had succeeded Ra'je'ndra 
 Chola on the throne. This king preferred Kamber's imitation above 
 the rest, being of opinion that it was not only sublime in style and 
 sense, but that it approached nearest to the original. It was then by 
 the king's order submitted to the judgment of the learned assembly of 
 Brikinans at Sirangajn, who, although they fully approved of the work^ 
 
 * One of the Kudi-vmkkels or village lervnnts whose particular duly it is 
 fr> offer sacrifice to the godrluss Piddri for the villagfri. 
 ) A coin, valued at 3s. Qd. sterling. 
 
34 THE TAMIl. Pr.lT.UtrH. 
 
 nevertlieless strenuously oltjected to the praise bestowed by Kambei; 
 on his patron Sadeiyen in every hundredth stanza of the poem, and 
 which he did upon the request of his mother*. They said that hu- 
 man praise should not be mixed up with the divine ; but on his re- 
 presenting to them the necessity of his paying at least some tribute 
 to" his patron, they allowed him to confine his praises to every thou- 
 sandth stanza. Overjoyed at the concession, he rose up in the midst 
 of the assembly and said, " I considered my patron as one in a hun- 
 dred, but this learned assembly has considered him as one in ft 
 thousand." The Brdhma7is admiring his wit bestowed c'n him the 
 title o( Mahd-Kavi, or the great poet, and he in return complimented 
 thern with a centum of verses, expressive of his veneration for SadU' 
 gopa Azhivdr, one of the Fa?sA«m'rt saints. VAHAGtrNA Pa ndiyen, 
 the king of Madura, having heard of him about this time, invited 
 him to his court. He there composed the Sarasrati Antadi {s^u&O 
 fiL'^tu'i^/T^), a poem in thirty stanzas in praise of Sardsvati^i\\e god- 
 dess of poetry, which obtained for him great honors, and munificent 
 presents from that king. Kamber's Rdninydnam consists of 12,016 
 stanzas, arranged in five books ; and a writer in the Calcutta Rfevifew 
 says that it "may be compared to Pope's Iliad "t. In one of thecoitr- 
 niendatory stanzas which is prefixed to the work tiie year of Saka 
 808 (A. D. 886) is specified as the date of its publication by Kam- 
 ber ; but the Rev. Mr. Caldwell, the authc-'r of the Com*i3arative 
 Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, rejects this date as spurious 
 from the evidence of certain inscriptions found at Cape Comorin, 
 and in the old Chalukya country, according to which the Chola kings 
 who patronized Kambcr lived only in the eleventh century of the 
 Christian era. 
 
 Other works ascribed to Kamber are the Knnji Purafium (an^^ 
 qufrsscnih) , Kdnji Pilleitamil {ans^iFuLS'^nQ£tT$a:i^i^), Chola Kitru- 
 vanji ((Ja=ntp<5,gnr)6r;g#), S'dci Yczhupadu {<^6u^Gi>Lgu^) and £>•- 
 Yezhupadu {qrQaL^us>)- Of these however only the .SZ/ei- i'ez/ij/- 
 padu., containing seventy stanzas in praise of the bo^v, and E'r-Yezltu- 
 padu, containing seventy stanzas in praise of the plough, are with- 
 in our reach, and as far as we can judge, their style and versification 
 are worthy of the noble poet. 
 
 Ltiss is known of Kamber's personal histo'ry thcrn could be desired. 
 All that we gather from traditions is, that the latter part of his life 
 was a struggle between poverty, and ill-fortune. His son Ambika'pa- 
 TT, who was likewise a poet at the court of Kflo'tunga Cho'i.a, hav- 
 ing been carrying ort all amorWis intrigue with the king's daughter, 
 and betraying it in one of his poetical effusions, '^'as, by the king's 
 command, impaled alive |, rmd h6 died afler having lingered on the 
 stake for a couple of days, repeatitig incessantly thfe subjoined verse, 
 in the midst of his sulFerings. — 
 
 * See liutnasabdpati Mdlei, vcrso 26. 
 f Culctitta llevit-w, Vol. xxv. p . 108. 
 { See Jdtjankondan 9iiilagami verSe 20. 
 
lilK lANlb rLLXARCH. 3^ 
 
 ^7 iH iLiQ^if} ii^Qjg&sr ^efrQefr 
 
 Wkat can I do? The f re which the divine damsel toilh venomed 
 eyes has kindled in my heart burns within vie, it hirns, yea it burris 
 fcithont extinguishing. 
 
 Kumber was so overwhelmed with grief rit this sad event, that he 
 discontinued attending on the king, and confined himself entirely to 
 his house. Whilst in this state of mind, the king's son, who was ref 
 turning from school, having taken refuge in his house from a fierce 
 elephant, which was at large in the street, he snatched the stylus 
 which the prince held in his hand, and with it stabbed and killed him 
 on the spot. The king immediately prdered Kamber to be brought 
 up, and shot at him w ilh an arrow ; but the wound not prov- 
 ing mortal, and through some intervention which ivS not stated, he ef- 
 fected his escape into the Pdndiyen country. He has commemorated 
 this event in the following impromptu : — 
 
 eSineouciL^ Q ff" n 6V &) th lj Qm^esf^iiSleSl!Tem(Blssar(B 
 
 3i-iL(SlQfiL^nQs>jmsijnuSibQ3=nG\}. 
 
 There are tivo kinds of arrows on earth, of ivhich one is shot out 
 from the how, and the other from the mouth. O king ! thine arrow 
 from the how has lyit my breast, but mine, the icord of my mouth, has 
 purnt up thy race. 
 
 After his flight frgm the Chola Court, he entirely lost his poetical 
 inspiration, and being reduced to poverty was obliged to support him- 
 self by daily labour*. He died in the sixtieth year of his age, at 
 Ndttarasenkottei, in the Ramnad country, and was buried there in a 
 sitting posture as is custon^ary with the Vaishnava sect, to w-hich he 
 belonged. It is said that his grave now forms an object of pilgrimage 
 amongst the Hindus, and that the earth taken from it is given tq 
 children who are dull-headed, frpiii a supcrstitLous belief that it would 
 sharpen their intellect. 
 
 When the intelligence of his det|.th reaclied the ears of Otteiku'tur, 
 who was always his rival yifh^n alive, he is said to have 
 his sorrow and lamentation in the following impromptu : — - 
 
 e61^ec!)/DdQsnQ'aU€!!rseiSl&s)^Qujp(^''in&T — ^osretDjssQsir 
 
 miTLDi—iieis)^ ^eSipifiiBneir. 
 * See Jaiiavhonddn Sadngnm, verse, 11 
 
86 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH- 
 
 Is it to day that Kamber has died ? 
 
 Is it to-day that he accepts my elegiac lay } 
 
 Is it to-day that Sai^asvati* ^has been widoiced ? 
 
 Whilst Lakshmif is blooming andPdrvatil is sitting in majesty. 
 
 There is a tradition tliat Kamber once visited a certain king of 
 Ceylon, and that the king was so charmed with his poetry that lie 
 was treated with unusual affability, so much so, that the Court poets 
 became jealous of him and formed a plot to keep him at a dis- 
 tance from the Palace, by bribing a barber to claim relationship with 
 him ; but he soon found means to expose their artifices and they had 
 the mortification to see him afterwards even honoured with a seat on 
 the throne by the side of the king. We cannot, however, vouch for 
 the truth of this tradition ; but the following stanza in praise of Suras- 
 vati, which is generally attributed to him is said to refer to it : — 
 
 It is my mother who sits in majesty on the white lotus, robed, in 
 white garments and adorned with ichite ornaments, that gave me ai} 
 equal seat xoith the king on the throne^ borne by the ichite lion. 
 
 Kapileh — siSieOn. 
 
 Kapiler was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. He was the brother of Tiruvalluver, and being exposed by 
 his mother soon after his birth at Trivalur, he was found and adopted 
 by a Brahman of that place. When he arrived at his seventh year, 
 his foster-father invited the other Brahmans at Trivalur in order tq 
 invest him with the sacred cord, but they all peremptprily refused tq 
 accept the invitation on the ground that he not being a Brahman was 
 not entitled to be initiated into the privileges of their order. Upon 
 hearing this, Kapiler repaired to the place where the Brahmans were 
 assembled, and in an Agavel'^, which he composed and recitpd before 
 them, refuted their high pretensions by proving that caste was not 
 innate but accidental, and they not beingable to rebut his arguments, 
 at once admitted him into their rank by investing him with the sacred 
 cord. A metrical version of the Agavel in English by the Rev C. 
 J. Robinson has been published in Rev. P. Percival's Land of the 
 Veda. 
 
 * Sarasvati, the goddesi of poetrv. 
 t Lakshumi, the goddeis fortune.' 
 t Farcati, tho coiiiort of S/nt. 
 § A short poem in tlie .isirhji melrc. 
 
TIIK TAMIL PLUTAKCII. 37 
 
 Kupilcr was present in tlie Madiiru Collcgp wlieii his brutlicr''s 
 Kural was rcciled, ami lie conveyed his opiiiiun ui' the merits of tha^ 
 work in the following impromptu : — 
 
 u'ccsuju&r Si^ i n lL'^ ihu uf./ ^ n SSI — uicesTujetr(^ 
 QaUaii'Ssrrdi^pLLufrsSlifl. 
 
 O king of the fertile country where the birds reared in houses arc 
 lulled by the women's chants! Valluver's Kural is short in words 
 but extensii'C in sense, even as in a drop of water on the blade of the 
 Tinei (millet) might be seen refected the image of the tall Fanei 
 [Palmijra tree)'. 
 
 KaRUNAIPPRAKA'SA 'DE'SlKER — 3^(r^dsssruL9pj.n3'^^9siT 
 
 Karunaijjprakasa Desiker was the j'oungcst son of Kuma'raswa': 
 MI Panda kam of Kanjipuram, and was like him a slaiinch adiicrent 
 qf the Vira Saira sect. Having studied under Velliaimbala Taimbi- 
 ra'n, the head ascetic of the Mutam at Sindupunturei, in Tinnevelly, 
 and who was distinguished for his extensive erudition, he became a 
 poet of the first order; but before he could fully display his poetical 
 talents, he was hurried away to a premature grave in the eighteenth 
 year of his age. He wrote a panegyric, under the title oi Ishtalinga 
 Agavil (ia'ci^t-t^fSfffiu-fsuoi;) on the Phallic emblem, which the 
 Vira Saicas wear, an(j afterwards began to write an epic poem^ 
 called Kulatti P-urdnam {infffiff.^uLjijness'.up), treating of the le- 
 gends of the Saira shrine on the mountain Kdlahasti, in the Carna; 
 tic ; but his death prevented him from finishing it. 
 
 Kavira'ja Pandi'ter — sioSgnffu^iwi^^iT. 
 
 Kaviraja Panditer was a native of Virei, in the Carnatic, but noth 
 ing is known concerning his life, and the time in which he lived. He 
 is chiefly remembered as the auihor of a poem, entitled Saundariya- 
 laghiri (©S"6T7a,^ff'ueUiff'), consisting of 104 stanzas, and which is 
 highly esteemed by the Saktyas on account of its exiolling the great- 
 ness of Pdrvati, whom they worship as the mother of the worlds. 
 So far as regards its versification this poem has considerable merits; 
 but the licentious metaphors with which it abounds, do not at all 
 suit its pretensions as a religious work. 
 
 KaVUNIYANA'R S&jessfluj^lT. 
 
 The name of this poet occurs among the forty-nine professors of 
 the Madura College. E.xcepting the fact that he was the author qf 
 the following impromptu in commendation of the Kural, we know 
 nothing further about him : — 
 
;;rt THi; ta>jil illiaklh. 
 
 u &5I scfi lu eS &sr (^pe^Q Sij ■ossi u n . 
 
 The short Dis'ir.hs which the learned poet. Valluver has cQinpos- 
 ed in order that we may know the ancient right way are sweet to the 
 mind to mediude on, sweet to the ear to hear, and sweet to the mouth 
 to repeat ; and Lhey moreover form a sovereign medicine to promote 
 good and prevent evil actions. 
 
 Ka'DAVER I.y.q'N— <i/7i_Q//f5<S/7 6ar. * 
 
 Tills poet was one of the kings of the Pallava dynasty, whq reign: 
 ed at Kanjipuram in former times, and he. also figures among the 
 sixty-three special votaries of Siva, whose legends constitute the sub- 
 ject of the Tirutonder Purdnam. it is said that after a short reign 
 he abdicated the throne in favor of his son, and passed the remainder 
 of his life in devotional exercises. He wrote a panegyrical stanza 
 on each of the Saiva shrines in Southern India, but they are rarely 
 {net with at present. 
 
 Ka'kaipa'dinivanar — ■sniesisuufit^^ojiea)^. 
 
 This poet was one of the disciples of Agastiver, and he appears to 
 have been as learned as his fellow student Tolka'ppiyana'r. Nq 
 other particulars concerning his life are known, and it is impossible 
 to ascertain th.em £).t this distance of time. He wrote a treatise on 
 grammar, called Kdkeijiddiniyam {&na,3S)a.Liuni^eS\u(b), after his 
 pwn name, and this has been cited by subsequent writers on the sub- 
 ject, as a standard authority. 
 
 K A 'lame 'gam — sn&r^LOSth. 
 
 The time whentliis poet flourished is usually referred toth.e reigo 
 pf Tirumalara'yen In the fifteenth century of the Christian era. His 
 ^eal name is not known. He obtained the sobriquet of Kdlamegam, 
 pr the hail-pouring cloud, for the sharpness of his invectives against 
 those who failed lo reward his poetry. There is no doubt that he 
 was possessed of superior talents, but his character has been tainted 
 by a deplorable egotism, in proof of which we subjoin one of his po- 
 etical epistles to Tirumalara'yen, wherein he trumpets forth his own 
 attainments, and defies all other poets. 
 
 ^ es>^ 1^^ ^ n L^ 'SiJiS tSi so n rii IB n L^ esis^ 6sfi p Qs=np<SFifiLDfT'26\}Q<^iT&) 
 eo^ — ^ae(fi&)n3i.i^iT^Qtu(ipr5nL^esiS^esftp Q(v^<ss>sui^£StFi^^es)rT 
 
 ih n em (y: Q^^Q ui — unn9iieStuQLDeonQwjiP(Tff^fST^^Qeo us^dQatr 
 
IHK TAMU. IM.r-l AJKM. 39 
 
 ld'^g\-' !T rr uj ^ Qp em — ^^utsinQpm^ LS^^^ngniLn^setr Qffnm0(TTiL(^s 
 
 SsSui^iS\)'ah(o!^!Td S fJ^ ISJ 'S ^' /^i d ff <S1^ d Q lL U. UjL/f^' S S^ U iSp Lf (oU) I— 
 
 '■'■It is I the pod Ka'lamh'gam irlio hare hoisted a Jlas, py'oclaim- 
 ing thereby that I shall compose a Diitu, in five Naligais*; a Malei 
 in six Naligais ; an Ahtddi in scrcn Naligais ; a Mti'dal, or Kovai, 
 in ten Naligais ; h . Pbrani in a day ; and all kinds of 'epits in 
 a couple of days. I icill cut off the eai's of the poets, xoho jnirloining 
 the compositions of others, parade them as their own, and Muster and 
 puff in the presence of the ever fenoicned king Tipumalarayen, of the 
 race of the placid moon ; I will whij? them oji their hacks, slap them on 
 their cheeks, and saddle und ridt on them, bridling them tcith a httrd 
 bridle. 
 
 Kalamefram has however left no poems jjf any magnitude, and of 
 his compositions the most admired is a series of stanzas, under the 
 tifle of Yamakandam, which being composed of words two-fold in 
 meaning, each contains a description of two different tilings, as will 
 be seen by the subjoined specimens. 
 
 Qeu (^'^esTd^npupi^ll-L—nso uS'ipna^ — •cS' (^ ^ lj 3 i^ 
 Q^s!5runiLj;iTQffn'bso ^' (f^in'^jev an turnup US' /b 
 unihL.'fT(£yih evneaLpuuL^ih. 
 
 ■s>jniB<ii<sfr^^is^i(^LD eu i^'tyg rsj '^ s a lL <sa: l- uS'px^tL 
 QunQ^i(^u:>niEjQs LjifliqiDnm — QtsQir 
 QfftLd(Dsnii\'(i^Gs'UJLLji ^Q^LD'2evfffjuj.^ u^Qi'tleO 
 ic^sudQan§^LDne\iujn'2t^^ujnLD. 
 
 1. // has poison, it sficds its hkin, it sits on the crown nf Siva's hrad, its bilk 
 iinder irritation cuniiotbe cUrcd. O ! Sitck Is tlie case with the Cobra Capelld 
 in the city of the renoioncd. Tikumalarayen, 7chere the grotts flow tcith honey. 
 
 2. /{ is easily brhise.d, its skin peels off, it hangs from the top of the parent 
 tree, and it icill hbt recobcr its former state if it comes in contact -with the teeth. 
 ! Such is the case tcith tHb plantain ftuit in the city of the renowned Tmu- 
 MALARAYEN, whcf-c thb grovcs flow icith hoH'ey. 
 
 i. tt takes up icith the hand (the branches of trees), and beats (them) against 
 the neck, it enters forts, and delights in battle. O .' Such is the case with thi 
 Elephant in the city o/ Tirumalakayen, adorned icith fields. 
 
 2. It is taken up rcith the hand and beaten oiit in the thrashing floor, it is 
 then stacked and being twisted into cord is used for tying around the heap of 
 corn. Of Such is the cast with the straw in the city of TirCm at.aFwVYEN,' 
 adorned with fields. 
 
 * A JVdligai is equal to 24 minutes of an English hour. 
 
»10 THE TAMIL PI.tTAKCH. 
 
 Of the anecdotes related of Kalamegam, we ihink the following 
 will interest the reader: — 
 
 One day as he was attending the temple at Tiruvalur, his attention 
 having been drawn to a diamond, which was sparkling on the breast 
 plate of the image of Tiyrjgar (Siva), he cracked a joke at the ex- 
 pense of the god, in this impromptu : 
 
 ^ «Sr «jr «!/ UJ 6V @ (Z^ LD /T^ /f^^(iJ /T -? /f Q /5 @ S 
 
 Has Tiy g'lr of Ariir, u-hich is sun-oiaidc'd hy riccTfidds. still 
 Vairam (diamond, meaning also icratii) in his Ircast ) Has he not 
 been appeased, even after d'ccouring the son of Sirutonden, killing 
 the son of Cno'hx, and striking Yama 2cith his foot / 
 
 Another day he went to a temple of SkaYida to witness the feast, 
 hut found it difficult to push his way through the mass of the people 
 that thronged the temple. Vexed at this 'disappointment, he gave 
 Vent to his feelings in an impromptu as follows : — 
 
 jij u u 6eB J i^ esBT essfi u n^^ n errQ u T^S 6\9 
 
 i^: s'fT/bO Lj rfi Lu ton Lcek Q (ir^ t^p /SI (T^l- as: — ^ J i-j eiS vSI 6\) 
 
 (■^ LDff n eiijeS' ■■r^'di 6ST aS 5001 Sk^ ^. 
 
 O Kumara! Why this vain j)ar ad c for thee J All the world kndie 
 that thy father (Siva) is a mendicant, thy mother (Pdnati) is an 
 ogress, thy uncle (Kishna) is a professed thief and thy brother ( Ga- 
 nesa) is a glutton. 
 
 When he once visited Kannapuram, the BrJhmans, who ofliciated 
 in the Vaishnara temple there, having importuned him to chant the 
 praise of their god, he improvised the following stanza: 
 
 Qpasieafle^QiixT^n'eisr^iAQiLnfiaQa^ 
 &.0sn3jruQunu^^ Qsunn^sn^i Q ^ n ws' ^".jS eo teo 
 Qtuasi L9pu^unQsiisssi asar^-o^nieoajn^j. 
 
 the Lord of Kannapurain ! thou art greater than Siva, hut I 
 'am greater than thee ; for hear ?ne, thou hadst ten births, and Siva 
 had none, but my births are too many to be counted. 
 
 Anannonymous admirer of Kalanicgam, has commemorated him 
 in the subjoined verse : 
 
THK TAMU. rLUTARCM. 4l 
 
 Would Kamben, and Amben, (Kdlidas), and Otteiku'ten, nay ciJen 
 KuMBEX (Agastiijer), have acquired poetical fame on carlh^ if the 
 poet Ka'lame'gam, who is the incarnation of Karna* himself, had 
 been horn in their days ? 
 
 KA'NOAtER SITlijQsUJir. 
 
 Kangayer was a Siva ascetic, and poet, who appears to have Wved. 
 prior to Mandalapuruder; but the exact date of his existence cannot 
 be ascertained. He composed a Tamil lexicon in verse, under the 
 title of Urichol Nigandu {^(PffG^^nio i^'sisaQ)., which unlike 
 others of the kind, being written in the Ve7iba metre, and well adapt- 
 ed for beginners, is now generally used in schools. An edition of 
 this work published at Pondicherry in 1840, comprises only 220 
 stanzas : but the one which issued from the Press at Jaffna in 1858, 
 has 330 stanzas, and whether the addition is genuine , or not, it ap- 
 pears to us to be a great improvement. 
 
 Ka'reikal AmmeiYA'r — ■snssijisne)LD<oSiu:ijjnn. 
 
 The real name of this celebrated poetess was Punithavati. She 
 was the only daughter of Tanatattan, a Chetty who resided at Ka- 
 rikal. Her father married her early in life to the son of another 
 Chetty at Negapatam, but her husband sometime afterwards deserted 
 her, and going over to the Pdndi country, took another wife, and es- 
 tablished himself there. After having failed to effect a reconciliation 
 with him she assumed the habit of an ascetic, and repaired to the 
 Imaus, where she died. Of her several poems, the most admired are 
 the Atputhatiruvantddi {si^L]^^0'^suih^n^) Tiruviretteimanimdlei 
 (0(i^eSoL.es)i-ir)SS!fi(DnQ£v) and Muttatiruppafhikam ((^o^^^i^uui'aa)}, 
 which are in high esteem amongst the Saivas, 
 
 Ka'R1KANNA>?AR— «/7//?i«6ZOT6S!7-j^ff. 
 
 This poet was a native of Kdveripatnam, in the Carnatic. He 
 ranks as one among the forty-nine professors of the Madura College, 
 but we are ignorant of the particulars of his life. His compositions 
 have all perished, save the following impromptu on the Rural: 
 
 * An ancient king of Angadega fainoui for hii Itbpraliti 
 
 G 
 
ifi TTHL TAWII. rLUTARCH. 
 
 QiDUJiutTUjCDeu^u QuiT(T^&reSeiriEJSu — Quniuiu/r^ 
 
 It is no other them Ayen (Brdhma) himself, who is seated on the 
 beautiful lotus-Jlower , assuming the fortn of Yallvv En., has given to 
 the world the truths of the Vedas in three hundred and thirty chap- 
 ttrs, that they may shine without being mixed up with falsehood. 
 
 Ka'riya'r — sn(fiuunL 
 
 Nothing is known of this poet but what is contained in the preface 
 to- his Kanakkadikdram (semaa^anath), according to which he was 
 a native of Kurkai, the ancient residence of ths Pdvdiyans, situated 
 on the northern bank of the river Tamhraparni, and that he claimed 
 descent from one of those kings. The Kanakkadikaram is a treatise 
 in verse on Arithmetic, compiled from materials derived from the 
 Ganitasastra, Bhuvanadipa, and other Sanskrit works on the same 
 subject. After the usual invocation to Ganesa it first describes the 
 system of weights and measures, and then the different operations 
 o-f Arithmetic, and concludes with a series of arithmetical problems 
 with their solution. It is on the whole a valuable work. 
 
 Ka'riya'r — mniFliunir. 
 
 Little is known of the personal history of Kariyar beyond the fact 
 that he was a Brahman of Tirukkadavur, in the Carnatic, who dis- 
 tinguished himself by composing amatory poems called Kovei {Garr 
 6S)Su), which being recited before the Chera, Cho'la, and Pandiya 
 kings of his time, obtained for him their patronage. The date of his 
 existence is uncertain ; but it was no doubt anterior to the reign of 
 Anab'ha'ya Cho'la, as he figures as one of the sixty three special 
 votaries of Siva in the Tirutonder Purdnam, which was written by 
 Se'kilar under the auspices of that king. Ho is said to have lavish- 
 ed all his fortune in building, paid endowing temples for the worshif 
 of Siva, and in maintaining tlie Brahmans. 
 
 Ki'kandeiya'r — Snissi^'UfTn. 
 
 Kirandeiyar was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madun 
 College, but there is nothing extant of his compositions besides th» 
 subjoined impromptu, which he uttered in admiration of the Kural 
 
 QpuuneSl(^pu(TasrQLDnL^irB^&jQ[iLJun§)iit}> 
 
TflK TAMIL PLUTARCH. 4* 
 
 II is the divine Valluv^er, who ly his great skill in poetry, hat 
 imparted in a scries of verses of the Jirst class, arranged in three 
 parts, the means jof ohtaining the four thi7igs (meaning viriue, loealth, 
 pleasure, and eternal happiness), that the heart of Pa'ndiyen, who 
 wields the edged javelin may be delighted thereivith. 
 
 KoDIGNA'ZUANMA'NI Pu'BANA'il Osn L^(^nLp ek innssf] Uj^^^fj . 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 kge ; but neither his birth place, nor his personal history can be as- 
 certained at present. His name however has survived the lapse of 
 time by the following impromptu, which he uttered in approbu" 
 tion of the Kural : 
 
 ^pssrrSihQ^iii<sS(Sl Q^Gifl iQ^inpQesrfS i^ 
 QjnefTnnQisQLCifTp su&i (&^Qj(eu)ajSu>sunuj/Tp 
 
 O Pa'ndiya, the mighty king, who wields the sword brandished 
 among the enemy ! Having heard to-day from the mouth of ValltI' 
 VER what we never heard before, and comprehended their mean- 
 ing, we have been enlightened with the knowledge of eternal happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Kongkaner — QarriasssBTiT. 
 
 Kongkaner was a celebrated philosopher, and physician, probably 
 a native of (as his name would seem to imply) Konganddu, the 
 modern Coimbatore country. It is said that he became an ascetic in 
 the prime of his youth, and having associated himself with the sages 
 who then abode on the Pothiya mountain, was instructed by them 
 in all branches of knowledge. Some make him contemporary with 
 Agastiyer, and some with Tiruvalluver, but nothing certain is 
 known of his epoch. He wrote a treatise against polytheism, under 
 the title of Konganar Gndnam {G&niEisessine^nesJih), and two trea- 
 tises on medicine, one of which is entitled Kadeikandam (aeo)L.«4a 
 €K3rL_(i)), and the other Gimavagadam {^emeunau-ih). 
 
 The following is a stanza taken from his Gndnam. 
 
 si-.eijQ(3!TnQ<^0^^^Qi— Qsu^QiondsrQp sn[jestsTS=p(^(r^^LL 
 es)^ ^n^QiLfrearQ'p — ujs»l_(S)//_G'«ot luajemQTji^LDu^eSQuLinissiQp lu 
 ib-^eSuS&ST LO^uiSlpsSujfjesr0^rjei!rQp — iBeayi—suL^iijmuedLD^Qisurr 
 
 There is but one God, there is but one Veda, there is hit one loay 
 cf iiiitiaiiov fnj the good .'ipin'tnal guide, there is hut one kind of 
 
44 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH- 
 
 bliss which he grants, and there is hut one genus amongst mankind 
 upon the earth. They who hold the contrary hy asserting that there 
 are four Vedas, and six sects, and many gods, will surely enter the fieri/ 
 
 Ko'RAKER — QsnaiaH. 
 
 Koraker is reckoned among the nine Siddhas, who had acquired 
 supernatural qualifications and powers by intense austerities. Be 
 this as it may, there is no doubt that he was well versed in poetry 
 93 well as in medicine, and chemistry. He has left a work in 100 
 verses, under the title q( Koraker Vyppu {QsnaAsns^siiuLj), treat- 
 ing of the composition and preparation of medicines, and it is said 
 that it was he who first introduced the use of Ganja (Cannabis in- 
 dica) in the Tamil practice ; hence that weed is now generally called 
 Koraker {QanDdan(ipsS>) midei Koraker's drug. 
 
 Ko'thamaNAB — Qsn^SLD^rr. 
 
 Kothamanar was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura 
 College. His personal history has been lost, and of his compositions 
 there is nothing remaining, e.Ncept the following impromptu on the 
 Kural : 
 
 61/ 6\) g)^ (B (T^ il) eu eo eo n (t^ th suefrief^<sv^iTQpLJun'2ev,f 
 QsFneoeSjf-^LDnppeoQffnnsSlm^. 
 
 The Brdhmans preserve the four Vedas orally, and never commit 
 them to writing for reason that if they were read by all, they would 
 be less valued ; but the Kural o/"Valluver though committed to writ- 
 ing, and read by all, icoiild nevertheless not lose its value. 
 
 Ko'yy'pKi^ULAR — Q sn&^^nAQifniT. 
 
 Little more is known of Kovurkizhlar than that he was one of the 
 forty-nine professors of the Madura College. The subjoined im- 
 promptu on the Kural, is the only relic of his compositions which hat 
 been preserved : 
 
 ^pQfi^i^asT(^u:>3eSlL—^Q^aQns)}eon!S 
 ^pQpp^Q^nk^ Q^erRujs — (^peirQeuesBTunu 
 u<S5reBBuj'SU'!siT(&^<Sij^iT un&srQpsmpQhQaneLJSiinQ^ 
 
 None of the ivorks even of the sages of antiquity will hear compari- 
 son with the Kural, whereby Valluver has enlightened the world 
 with theknou'ledgt of virtue, wftalth, pleasure, and eternal happiness. 
 
TlIK TAMMi PLLTARCH. 
 
 Ki'iiKi Namasiva'yek — (5ero« if L£i<f9l6iin'jun, 
 
 45 
 
 This Saiva iisceti,; was alike distinguished as a Vedantist and a 
 puet, and his memory is still held in high estimation by his co-reli - 
 gionists. He first established himself at Tirunamali, but afterwards 
 went over to Chillambaram, and spent the renuiinder of his life there. 
 His principal poem, the Shonaghirimdlci {(l3=n6Ssif^'(PiDnGi£v), is a soli- 
 loquy addressed to his own soul. In the following stanza, which 
 we have selected from it as a specimen, the reader will find that the 
 author in exhorting his soul to reinember Siva, before the calamities 
 of old age and death shall have overtaken him, expresses himself in 
 the same strain as SoLOMOif in the Ecclesiastes, Ch. .\ii. 1. et seq. 
 
 Q^m^'Sua^synrrfTQp^jehefTQLpQs'nesmSlrfl 
 
 Before the hod y decays, before the eyes grow di7}i, before the teeth 
 drop, and before Yama (the god of death), watching the opportuni- 
 ty, swiftly approaches ; O my soul ! turn thy thoughts to the mountain 
 Shona ( Tirunamali) and icalk on toioards it, saying I adore thee. 
 
 Kulapatiya'b — (^eou^tuna. 
 
 Kulapatiyar, called also Kulachireiydr, was minister of Ku'na 
 Pa'ndiyen, as well as one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura 
 College. When the king embraced the Jaina religion he did not fol- 
 low his example, but continued a Saiva, and carried his zeal for his 
 own religion to such extremes that no sooner had he, in concert with 
 Sampanter, succeeded in persimding the king to recant, than he raised 
 a cruel persecution against the Jainas, and caused eight thousand of 
 them to be impaled alive, and the rest driven from the country. Of 
 his poetical compositions there is nothing now forthcoming except 
 the subjoined impromptu in praise of the Rural. 
 
 sl err isrr <s « ld 60 uiso n^^l ul\ m^^en err 
 jgare(r/bs>rflajeS0i—&r(&^^6\}rT6\) — ojerr^SiJ ^n 
 
 Qsneire(T^^(^fa(^eaBr^ss)jsdQ<sn6mQ. 
 
 As the Rural of Valluver causes the lotus-flower of the heart to 
 expand, and dispels from it the darkness which cannot otherwise be 
 dispelled, it may well be compared to the hot-rayed sw?i, which causes 
 the lotus flower of the tank to expand, and dispels the darkness from 
 the face nf the earth. 
 
46 THF, Tamil plutarcm. 
 
 Kl'lase'k'hara Perumal — ^6\}Q.fanuQu(r^u)n&r. 
 
 Kalasek'hara Perumal being considered as one of the twelve A'zh' 
 rdrs, or special votaries of Vishnu, who have been deified by the 
 Hindus, his history is consequently very much intermixed with fable ; 
 but we may nevertheless glean from it some facts which are worthy 
 of credence. He was the son of the king Drid'harrata, who ruled 
 over Malayalam, holding his court at Tiruvanji. On succeeding his 
 father he reigned but a i'ow years, when abdicating the throne, he 
 became a devotee, and set out on a course of pilgrimages to the dif- 
 ferent Vaishnava fanes in the Carnatic. Whilst staying at Manna- 
 narkovil, after a visit to Sirangam, Kanjipuram and Tirupati, he was 
 suddenly overtaken by death. He appears to have been well skilled 
 both in Sanskrit and Tamil poetry as he wrote the Mukunda Malei 
 ((ifii§ih^iS)n6iso) in the former, and one hundred and five stanzas in the 
 latter, which form a part of the Nalayira prabhanda7n {mednnSaLSa 
 uih^ii) now extant amongst the Vaishnavas. The period of his ex- 
 istence cannot new be determined, but the fable would have that he 
 was born in the twenty-eight year of the Kali age. 
 
 Kumaragurupara De'siker — (^LLir(S(7^uffQ^9aiT. 
 
 Kumaragurupara Desiker was a Saiva ascetic and poet of consid- 
 erable eminence, born of Veldla parents at Strivyguntam, in the Tin- 
 nevelly district, about two hundred years ago. He established his 
 fame as a poet while yet a child ; for it is reported of him that when 
 only five years old, he composed a poem, called Kalivenba (aeS<Gsu 
 eiisiun), in praise of the shrine of Skanda at Tiruchendur, and a few 
 years later another poem, called Pilleitamil (L^STTeitons^uPil)), in 
 praise of the shrine of Mendkshi at Madura, which he recited before 
 the king Tirumalana'yaker. He soon afterwards entered the Ma- 
 tarn at Dharmapuram, and after studying there the Saiva system of 
 philosophy, and improving his knowledge of the Tamil and Sanskrit 
 languages and poetry, assumed the habit of an ascetic ; and the 
 heads of the Matam being convinced of his deep learning, invested 
 him with the title of Tambiran. He then repaired to Benares, and 
 presided over a Matam in that city until his death, which occurred in 
 the prime of his manhood. Besides his two juvenile productions, he 
 was also the author of twelve others, of which the last one entitled 
 Kidineri-vilakkam {^^QfhrS'eSens.sd), consisting of 102 stanzas on 
 moral subjects, is considered the best, and has been translated into 
 English in prose by Mr. Stokes of the Madras Civil service. The 
 following selections from the Nidineri-viUkkam, with Mr. Stoke's 
 translation, may not be found uninteresting : — 
 
 O^ /T L_ fli/ (5 /B « n/f)^' eJr u t£i ff uj] «5r tj ii u uj <s (5 
 uit—iijQsiTeiTp/6lsiJ3jr>^/ijseoeS — QisQii/aiTUi 
 
tMF; TAMn, puTincff. 47 
 
 Learjiing at first painful, u-ill aj'tcrivards afford pleasure. It will 
 destroy ignorance and extend knoicledge. But the pain which suc- 
 ceeds to the short lived pleasure of immoderate lust, is great, thou 
 adorned luith perfect jewels ! 
 
 Q u n &sr Loso n -i npp Qp issi L-^^ . 
 
 Learning., however extensive, jvill be useless, imlcss there he discre- 
 tion to display it in the proper place ; and even then, icithout the 
 power of language, of ichut avail is it 7 With that, it is a flower of 
 gold that possesses fragrance. 
 
 sp(irj-!TS(^ss<s^sS ^■^■s^Q(csrs60ism60&inek 
 
 The learned need no other ornament than the excellence of learn^ 
 ing. Nothing is wanting to adorn an ornament perfectly set with 
 every precious stone. Who would beautify beauty itself! 
 
 Kuma'rasinga Mudeliar — (^Lsnff&mjiQp^eQiunn. 
 
 Kumarasinga Mudeliar was descended from a respectable Velala 
 family at Ndvetkuli, in Mantolte, and enjoyed some reputation both as 
 a clever poet, and an experienced physician. Having unf(jrtunate- 
 ly taken an active pari in the tumult which occurred in the district of 
 Man-aar, in consequence of the imposition of a tax upon ornaments 
 by Governor North in A. D. 1800, he was tried for sedition, and 
 being convicted, was sentenced to be whipped. There is a very pa- 
 thetic address to the Blessed Virgin, in a series of stanzas, which he 
 repeated impromptu while being whipped, craving her intercession 
 that he may be endowed with fortitude to bear the affliction. He was 
 also the author of several hymns now sung in the Catholic churches 
 in Mantotte, at Novenas, and which exhibit his strong devotional feel- 
 ing. 
 
 Ku'langkaiyer — s^ Lg Ej (ss) B uj rr . 
 
 Kulangkaiyer was a highly celebrated poet and philosopher, well 
 skilled both in the Sanskrit and Tamil languages. No less a place of 
 sanctity amongst the Hindus than Kanjipurani claims him as its na- 
 tive, and his parents it would appear traced their lineage to the Vela- 
 lers, who colonized Tondamandalam under the auspices of Adondaj 
 Chakbavarti, before the commencement of the Christian era. HV 
 
48 THE Tamil pi.ltabcm, 
 
 was educated at first in n country school, whore he gave early indi- 
 cations of his superior genius, and afterwards in the Saiva Matam 
 at Tiruvatur, in the Tanjore country, under the tuition of the learn- 
 ed Tamhirans or ascetics, who resided in it, and whose profession it 
 was to assist the youth in the prosecution of the study of the Hindu 
 system of Metaphysics and Theology. Having distinguished him- 
 self while a student by his various attainments, and earned for him- 
 self the title o^Tamhirdn, he was selected in the first instance for the 
 office of Junior teacher in the Matam ; the duties of which he per- 
 formed in an admirable manner, evincing a great solicitude to pro- 
 mote the interests of his pupils. The superior of the Matam soon 
 becoming jealous of the young Tdmbiran.^ who from his zeal and learn- 
 ing seemed to bear away the palm of praise, falsely accused him of 
 some crime, in consequence of which he was required to take up a 
 piece of red-hot iron, to prove his innocence. He submitted to the 
 ordeal ; but in its performance he was unfortunately deprived of the 
 use of his right hand, and henceforth he passed under the sobriquet 
 oi Kidangkaiyer, (one with a crippled hand), and his real name 
 became forgotten by disuse. Subsequently he came to Jaffna, and 
 settled there under the kindness and hospitality of Vytilixga Che'S- 
 TiAR, the principal merchant in the place, and it appears that teaching 
 was the sole occupation in which he engaged himself for the remain- 
 der of his life. He not only taught the children of his benefactor, but 
 likewise of many others who had sought his assistance, in order to 
 secure for them a classical education. The fame of his deep erudi- 
 tion soon spread over to Colombo, from which place he received sev- 
 eral invitations from various individuals to come and help them in 
 their studies. With his characteristic desire to diffuse knowledge, 
 he accepted their invitations, and paid several visits to Colombo, 
 where he always met with a warm reception from all parties. To 
 his guidance was the Reverend Father Gabriel Pacheco chiefly in- 
 debted for that thorough knowledge of Tamil, which afterwards ena- 
 bled him to produce in that language those valuable religious works, 
 especially the History of the People of God {Q^euu\3a6S)3'u^6ls'0^s,s 
 63)^), in two ponderous volumes, whereby his name has been emi- 
 nently distinguished. 
 
 Kijlangkaiyer was the author of an exposition of the Nannul, and 
 he also composed some epic poems, and several minor pieces of poet- 
 
 2', remarkable for their elegant and harmonious versification, 
 mongst his epics may be mentioned Yosep Purdnam {QiunQffuq 
 ffneccrti)), which treats of the history of the patriarch Joseph, in 1023 
 stanzas, arranged in twenty one cantos. He inscribed it to the learn- 
 ed Df. Meliio, who was his friend and literary associate, ds a tribute 
 of respect to his eminent worth and abilities ; but unfortunately only 
 a fragment of it is now e.xtant. As a specimen of its poetry, we sub- 
 join the five following stanzas, extracted from the second canto en- 
 titled A'ttnpadalam : 
 
tllK TAMir. IM.UTAUCH. 49 
 
 UajL0L/a9f rfS(75>jfr uQiuir^jLSIujnei^QLci^SsmiruJnjb 
 uujiSjQarrsirQsu'^uSlp u!ji^sunifl^iiS<ss)i^uuf.i^ 
 u tu la s str n Gsr iss) Sij UQ^Qujuun'S!S>siiiiS(^isiiuf.(Sundju 
 uujiEjsmQdinassys Osncmi^L-uurri^^ihuaQLDeo. 
 
 ^(50/50 ff/B^'fevtJ LSsSluLjQLDQs^rreir^Q^s'^ism^ 
 LDQ^ Sif (^ n asr IB e\)Q so n&flQiu ear LSIerr6^LD/bO(n/'<oksijnuJs= 
 
 <S02ioSWUJirQLD<oBTuQuiTL^ii^^ S It ifl (T^ lL t^ iU Q 6\) . 
 ^mSe\)ns;^(7^:BlTtMQLD fiUU!kl(^£>I(^'3f-S^ 
 
 Q eo n eS s\) n iLsa ifi Quuj^(5!sr&js\}(^Q(Strn0QJLJU. 
 
 Qaj^tx)Lj^ujL£iLjeOGSI(r^iij(^t—nsyuf.QiusonuS'n^^ 
 rE^tliu^GSiirJ^^j-erriws'^dQsfTL^d^c^esri—iE^ 
 
 The clouds which supply the earth loith water, having overspread^ 
 and settled upon the sea abounding with formidable zvaves, imbibed 
 the tcater of the sea, and assuming the form of the sea itself spread 
 over the sky. 
 
 When the darksome clouds rapidly moved along the sky, extending 
 Ihemselves to the eight points of the compass, and covering over the earth 
 ruled by kings, they resemhled d black canopy hanging as it tcere be- 
 neath the pavilion of heaven. 
 
 The clouds darted lightnings, bright as the light of wisdom in the 
 mind of the learned teacher Philip De Melho ; sounded as the words 
 of instruction proceeding from his 7nouth ; and poured doivn rain 
 xvith a benevolence like his to promote the happiness of mankind. 
 
 Gladdening the inhabitants of the earth, the rains ptiurcd down inces- 
 santly ; and it seemed as if they ivere bathing the mount Sion, whereon 
 the holy name of our God, the God of gods is peculiarly distinguished. 
 
 The waters falling on the summit of the mount descended along its 
 sides, and having filed both the holes of ants, and the caves of lions 
 tigers and bears, pursued their course towards the sea, traversing the 
 hilly country, and carrying icith them the gems which they had collect- 
 ed together. 
 
 During the latter part of his life, Kulangkaiyer chiefly resided at 
 Chiviateru, in the parish of Chundikuly ; and he died at the same 
 place advanced far in vears, a short time after the surrender of 
 7 
 
50 
 
 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH: 
 
 Jaflnu to tilt; British. He was buried at Tinnevelly, in the parisli of 
 Nellore, and the Rev. Mr. Roberts in the " Oriental Illustrations of 
 the Sacred Scriptures", p. 205, notices his sepulture, thus : •' Some 
 of those who are reported to be very holy are buried in salt, and in 
 a sitting posture, so that they are considered to be still at their de- 
 votions Thus Koonakaitamharan (Kulangkai Tambiran), of Jaffna 
 was buried." 
 
 Kulangkaiyer was free from prejudice, liberal in his views, friend- 
 ly to all, and identified himself with no party, hence he was univer- 
 sally respected and admired by people of every class and creed. His 
 constant intercourse with De Melho enabled him to acquire a know- 
 ledge of the Bible, and whenever so disposed he was ready to argue 
 very ably and warmly in favor of the divine origin of Christianity, 
 which excited the astonishment of the votaries of Hinduism. It is 
 said that when at the dedication of the Saiva temple at Vannarponne, 
 which was built and endowed by Vytilinga Chettiar ; he went to 
 witness the solemnities, the officiating Brahman presented him with 
 the holy ashes to be rubbed on the forehead ; but he took and rubbed 
 it on his slippers, observing at the same time '■'■ let the like join the 
 like,'''' that is, that as the one was made of cow-dung, and the other of 
 cow's hide, let them" be joined together. We, however, much regret 
 that, convinced as he was of the truths of Christianity and the falsity 
 of Hinduism, and treating the one with respect, and the other with 
 contempt, he should nevertheless have lived and died a Rindii. 
 
 It should be mentioned that Kulangkaiyer, after his arrival and 
 settlement in Jaffna, directed his attention to the study of the Dutch, 
 and Portuguese languages, and made himself so far acquainted witli 
 them as to be able to speak them with tolerable fluency, and obviat- 
 ed the necessity of an interpreter in his intercourse with the Dutch 
 Commandeur, antl other high functionaries in the place, whom he vis- 
 ited, and who always received him with civility and courteousness.* 
 
 " Lorenzo Pulaver — Q&)rrQ!T<i^3^uLj&)suiT. 
 . Lorenzo Pulaver was born of Veldla parents at pisikulam, in 
 Mantotte, and brought up in the Catholic religion which his family 
 professed from the time of its introduction into Manaor by St. Fkan- 
 cis Xavier, the Apostle to India. He lived in the middle of the 
 last century, and though he did not write any large poems, yet his 
 abilities are manifest from the many excellent hymns which he com- 
 posed in honor of our Saviour, and tfie Blessed Virgin. It is said 
 that while he was on a visit to Putlam, Allah PiTciiEr' Annaviya'r, 
 a Moorish poet of some repute, who lived there, endeavoured to be- 
 wilder him in a contest respecting the Kanam (seraU), or foot of an 
 invocation in a poem, by producing a forged rule in support of his 
 false proposition ; but he soon exposed the forgery, and carried away 
 
 * We arc indebted for the particulars of the life of Kulanghaiyer and those 
 o/De Meiho to the liindncss of M. V Jl'BOE.n O.suatji ,Es<mire of the Colo- 
 nial Office, Colombo 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 5i 
 
 .i\\e palm in the conlcst. He was remarkably quick at makwig re- 
 partees. One day a poet from Colombo, meeting him for the first 
 time near the church at Mantotte, apd wishing to be facetious at his 
 expense, asked him, " Is the Mantotte buffalo very big 7 " {u-^nQs^tr 
 (li_^^rr63T <5t_n GLD^^uQutP(S,^ir) and the ready reply was, " Yes 
 it is little bigger tha7i the Colombo ffss" (Qsnt^ihunoist QanQeu^sus 
 6S)^a9i) Oanfr,ffthGuifs>)' Notandain est, in Tamil both the words 
 "buffalo'''' and "ass" are metaphorically applied for a blockhead. 
 
 MaCHAMUUI LDffS:(Tp<5sfl. 
 
 Machamuni, who was both a distinguished poet and pliilosopher, 
 lived at the same time with Agastiyer ; but nothing further is known 
 of him. None of his compositions had escaped the ravages of time, 
 save the Vdda Negandu {svn^t^aessiQ)^ a treatise on the nostrums 
 and mysteries of alchemy, which science now justly holds in contempt, 
 which appears to have been once much cultivated among the Tamils 
 and an anecdote is still current of a merchant in the Carnatic, who 
 after having spent all his wealth in trying to make gold, was reduced 
 to beggary, and used to exclaim as he went about begging (suEiffluP 
 S)}^^sc62£o eS>iBa(tp^g06i)Q£o) ^^ the lead wotdd no.t be hardened and 
 the cinnabar would not n\eU.^'' 
 
 Madura Pa'la'siriyana'b. — m^(^!ruuneorT9ifliLi(ev)iT. 
 This poet must have been a man of great erudition, as may be in- 
 ferred from the fact of his having had the title of A'siriyan or Doctor 
 conferred on him, by his contemporaries. His name occurs among 
 the forty-nine professors of the Madura College but none of his corn- 
 positions has been preserved, save the following impromptu on the 
 Kural. 
 
 (r^'Sfreffi(T^es<}Fd(^QijDnfnf). 
 
 The planets Ve7ius, Jupiter, Sun and Moon .would smffly dispel 
 the darkness fro7n the face oj the earth ; but the Kural of the learned 
 Valluver would more swiftly dispel the darkness from the hearts of 
 men. 
 
 Madura Perumaruthana'r — if^mnuQufTnLDQ^^i^n. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. Nothing further is known of him beyond that he uttered the 
 following impromptu on the Kural, which contains merely an enu- 
 meration of the chapters of that work, with an eulogy on Tiruval- 
 LUVER, for having imparted through them the sublime truths of thp 
 Vedas, and redeemed the world from it? errors : — 
 
^2 
 
 HE TAMIL PLLiARCH. 
 
 ^/DLSl(^us;€^^{h^rrjt(o)perf)aj — (ipe!S)/D6iaLDiuneo 
 
 Madura Tamil-na'yaganar — iD^'<oS3jjs:^iAli^!snujs;ev)ir. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. His real name is not known, and the one under which he is 
 Tioticed is merely titular, referring to his liigh attainments in 
 Tamil literature. When the Kural was submitted to the judgment 
 of the College Bench, he expressed his aj)probation of that work 'n\ 
 the following impromptu : — 
 
 eSI4\)6ViT^QeuuQurT(i^(ef^LSl6\)'?ecujn/b — Qffnso&)np 
 u!Tii^ufTSunQe\}^uuj^Sij6irim&j^6V):T 
 
 What is the use of xoorks of great lengthy when thp short work of 
 Valluver olone is enough to edify the xcorhl I It contains all things 
 and there is nothing ichich it does not contain. 
 
 Manava'lada'ser — LLSsrstj n&r^ns^n. 
 
 IvIanavaUidaser was a Brdhman poet of the Vaishnava sect. His 
 real name is said to have been Pilleiperumdl Aiijankar. He wrote 
 a poem under the title of Tiruvenkata Mdlei {^t§QsuiBa.i-iCinQ£0), 
 consisting of a centum of verses in praise of the shrine of Vishnu at 
 Tirupati. The first fifty verses of this i)oem is plain enough to be 
 understood, but the last fifty have been purposely rendered obscure 
 by the use of words which are susceptible of difierent interpretations. 
 
 MaNDALAPURURER LD6Sliri—&)Lj0U.IT. 
 
 Mandalapuruder was a Jaina ascetic, equally eminent as a poet 
 and lexicographer. He is commonly called Vira Mandalaver, but 
 why so is not known. His poetic lexicon, entitled Suddviani Nigan- 
 du (gt_/TU)6scP^aflkir(J), outshines all similar productions in Tamil, 
 and its execution certainly redounds to his credit. This work, accord- 
 ing to his own averment, was composed by him at the suggestion of 
 GuNAPATTiREN, his spirjtual preceptor ; and it consists of 989 stan- 
 zas, arranged in twelve chapters, and treats of the synonyms of 
 the Flindu Deities, and of the objects of the Animal, Vegetable and 
 Mineral kingdoms as well as of the homonymous and generic terms 
 in nearly the same order with the Amera Kosha. He was also the 
 author of an epic poem in honor o( Arha, the God of the Jaina sect. 
 He appears to have lived in the lime of the king Krishna Ra'yek, 
 who reigned at Vijayanagaram from A. D. 1508 to A. D. 1530, and 
 whom he celebrated' in the 10th stanza of the ninth chapter of 1:;-^ 
 Nigandu. 
 
Tllh' TAMIL riXTAIlCH. OO 
 
 Mauuttuvkn Tamo TiiAUANAU — iii(Ti^^s:ieuiiifinQiDn^i],^ft. 
 
 This poet was one of the tbrtyriiine professors of llie Madura Col- 
 )^-ge ; but notliing further is known o( him than that he was also 
 well skilled in the medical art. His encomiastic impromptu on the 
 Ktintl, wliich we subjoin, is very curious, in as much as it contains 
 111 the same time a recipe for hpad-aphp. 
 
 QLDn!5^LS&7tUJniTd(^l5 ^'?G\) d (^ ^ ^1 &) S H 'k^ 
 
 LD'26vd(^d^u:,a6Vujn'2ssT <si(srr(sa<aij,'rQpuLJfT&)iTji) 
 
 O Ling, lolio resembles the huge elephant ichich thrusts its tusk at 
 ihe mountain (taking it fur an enemy) ! All are relieeed of their 
 head-ache by smelling the Sindil salt*, and sliced dry-ginger mixed 
 with honey; but Sa'tanar was 7'elieved of his oicn head-ache by heart 
 pig the three parts of the Rural rccitedi. 
 
 Ma'3IU I.ANa'R LDfT^Jp6\)(^IT. 
 
 This poet was one of the professors of the Madura College, and 
 liis memory has been preserved only by the following impromptu 
 which lie uttered on the Rural and its author : — 
 
 j^puiQutiQ^efflekuih s^QL—eaT^LniiBa^wear 
 fSlpiQ^rflfB^Q fill iSliuQsFetasu— tup id^iLjU) 
 
 Valluver icho after studying the four topics (of the moral philo-i 
 Sophy, viz : Virtue, Wealthy Pleasure aiid Eternal happiness) has im,', 
 parted their substance (through the medium of the Rural), is in rcz 
 ality a god, and if any shall so far forget his divine character, and 
 say that he is a mere mortal, not only loill the learned reject his sayt- 
 ing but likewise take him for an ignorant man. 
 
 Ma'ngkudi Marudana'r — iLnii(^t^w(§^(^i. 
 
 Nothing more is known of this poet than that he was one of the 
 forty-nine professors of the Madura College. When the Rural pass- 
 ed the College bench he commended it in the following impromptu : 
 
 A kind of sii't produced from the stalk of the Mcnispermum cordifolmrr. 
 See thf Life of ^^M Al.EICIlATA^ ah 
 
54 THE XAMII, rLlTARCIJ. 
 
 s^ifp G s effljg n ±1 sm ir^jh <s iP^ n 8 
 
 eiieir(er^SiJiTaunujQLonL^LDn^Li. 
 
 The beauty of Valluver's Rural is that it not only illustrates the 
 abstruse doctrines of the Vedas ; but is itself a Veda, easy to be 
 studied, and having the effect of melting the hearts of the righteous 
 who study it. 
 
 Ma'nikava'sagar — iDne^ci asuns^air. 
 
 Manikavasagar was a Saiva devotee and poet of considerable em- 
 inence, who flourished during the reign of the king Arima'rta 
 Pa'ndiyen, which some place between the fifth and eighth century 
 after the Cliristian era. He belonged to a Brahman family of the race 
 pf Ama'tiyer at Vddavur,a. town on the banks of the Vaigai ; and 
 when we strip off the marvellous with which the particulars of his 
 life have been blended in the Tiruvddavurer Purdnam, it would ap- 
 pear that early in life his superior learning, and qualifications having 
 attracted the notice of the king he was summoned to the Court, and 
 appointed Minister of state, under the title of Tenncven Piramardyen, 
 but sometime afterwards when sent on a commission to buy horses for 
 tlie king, yielding to a delusion, he expended the money with which he 
 was entrusted in founding and endowing a Saiva temple at Tiruper- 
 unturei, and consequently incurred the royal displeasure and was put 
 in irons and cast into prison. At this juncture the Vaigai river hap- 
 pened to overflow its banks, threatening destruction to the capital, 
 and the king considering it as a retributive punishment sent by Siva 
 for ill-treating Manikavasagar, set him at liberty. He thereupon as - 
 .sumed the ascetic life and after making pilgrimages to other Saiva 
 .shrines, established himself at Chillambaram, where he died in the 
 thirty-second year of his age. While he was residing at Chillamba- 
 j-am, he distinguished himself by defeating the Buddhist priests, who 
 went over there from Ceylon, and challenged the Brdhmans to a dis- 
 putation, as related in the sixth Chapter of the Tiruvddavurer Pura- 
 nam, of which we have published an English translation in the sec- 
 ond number of the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asia- 
 lie Society. He is known as the author of a Tamil Grammar, under 
 X\\G \\\.\c oi Kuvalciydnandam {^eueisovnes^fh^ih), besides two other 
 works respectively called Sitlambala-kovei (#^p9irLi6tf<5G5fT6JSiaj),and 
 Tiruvdsagam{0^eunff3,ib). The Sittambala-kovci, consisting of 400 
 stanzas, is an epithalamium in which the mutual passion and love of 
 &iva and his consort Pdrvati are described with glowing imagery , 
 and the Hindus consider it an allegorical poem capable of a spiritual 
 interpretation. The TiV/zrasar/am contains a series of hymns address- 
 ed to Siva, which the Hindus esteem highly as being most aflecting ; 
 hence the proverb. {^,if)Q:nfrf^^^sp^,i^t,riff ep.ifKt.'nffBfS^^^ihf^nn) 
 
THK TAMII, IM.LfAllUU. 55 
 
 Those wlio will not be moved by the Tiruvusagam (the holy word) 
 will not be moved by any other Vusafjam (word). The hymns are 
 certainly very impressive, as may be judged by the specimen which 
 Mr. Ellis has quoted in his Commentary on the Kural. 
 
 M'A'RGASAHA'y'A De'VER LLnfliss^a (JluQ^'SiJ H. 
 
 Margasahaya Dever is said to have been born a poet, and hence 
 he had the title of Vara Kavi ; but we are ignorant both of the place 
 of his birth, and the lime of his existence. Of his compositions we 
 have met with only a poem of the class called Pillci tamil {i3sr^i£n 
 ^3)i£'i^), describing the gestures and amusements of the childliood of 
 Skanda in the character o( Mitruga, as worshipped at Tiruvirinchei,' 
 and which has acquired some repute amongst the Saicas. 
 
 Meikanda De'VER — QiMihs(5ssn—Q^(oun. 
 
 Meikanda Dever, whose proper name \Vas Svetavanapcrumal, 
 claimed his descent from a Veldla family at Vennei-nellur, a town" 
 situated on the river Pcniiei, irl the Cafnatic. He is reputed to have 
 been a pupil of Paranjoti Tambiban, who flourished during the 
 eleventh century of the Christian era. He was an able poet, w^ell 
 studied in the Hindu metaphysics and theology. Of his various works 
 the most admired is the Sivagnana Pothafii (^euffjiTeorCufr^ti ), a 
 metaphysical and theological treatise, which has recently been trans- 
 lated into English by the Rev. H. R. Hoisikgton, and published in 
 the fourth volume of the Journal of the American Oriental Society, 
 ■'' as worthy of notice and of preservation" covering as it does nearly 
 the whole field of Hindu philosophy. 
 
 MOSIKIRANAR Q LLn9Srf (€S)n . 
 
 This poet was one o? the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege ; but there is nothing remaining of his compositions save the 
 following impromptu on the Kural merely describing the divisions of 
 that work. 
 
 r5nLD/^&srsiJ6ir(sm<aij(^,iiim(^. 
 
 MuTTUSA'Mr PlLLEI — Qf ^^ 3^ s= n lSI S m'^efT . 
 
 Muttusami Pillei was born of Catholic parents who belonged to a' 
 respectable class of VeJuIas at Pondicherry. Having early distin- 
 guished himself as a Tamil poet, and at the same time made himself 
 familiar with the Sanskrit, Telugu, Latin and English languages, he 
 obtained the offices of Manager of the College of Fort St. George 
 
■}(j THL TAMfL PI-UTARCH. 
 
 anil Moonshco to the Tamil Translator tu Govcniiiient at Mailrasi 
 l)oth wliich he hehj until his death. In 1816 at the desire of Mr. 
 Ellis, the Senior member of the College Board, he made a journey 
 to the south for the purpose of procuring Useful Tamil works for the 
 College; and he availed iiimself of the opportunity to visit the differ- 
 ent places in the south which had been the scene of the labours of 
 Father Besciii and collect materials for a brief history of the life of 
 that celebrated Missionary, which he published both in Tamil and in 
 English. Some time afterwards a C//r//jf/rt poet, named Poxnamba- 
 la:m, who lived at Pursewakam, having published a blasphemous 
 lampoon on Christianity, which made a great sensation amongst both 
 Catholics and Protestant;?, Muttusanii Pillei undertook to refute it ; 
 and accordingly cdmpoged a very able work, under the title of Dhik- 
 karam (^ianu/i)), partly in poetry, and ]:farlly in prose ; and when 
 he had it recited before the assembly of learned men at Madras, it 
 was not only received \<^^ith great applause- but also obtainsd for him 
 the present df a breast-plate set with precious stones, and a suit of 
 Sural shawls ; and the Pundits of the College each addressed to hirri 
 a stanza in Sanskrit as well as in Tamil, commending his production 
 for the sublimity of its language and sense. Besides the two works 
 tipticed atjdvG, he wrott a Commentary on Mr. Ellis' stanzas, called 
 Tarai'u KachchdgakaUppa {^asi^Qans^ffS.daGS'L^un) \ this he did in 
 order to refute an idea which was prevalent amongst the Hindus that 
 Mr. Ellis haying ended each of his stanzas with the words Naina- 
 siiuiya, he had therefore become a convert to their religion : by prov- 
 ing that these words were never intended td represent the pentagram- 
 hiaton, but only to convey the meaning " reverence to the only 
 God." He died on the 23d df September 1840. 
 
 Mut'TU T.t'NDAVElt — Qp^^^^^smu.(Sijt. 
 . . Muttd Tandaver was a native of Shiyalhj, near Chillrin-lbaram. 
 tlis parents Were bo'Ji nlusicians of the Saira temple at Shiyally ; 
 but a disease with which he w^as afllictcd in his youth disabled him 
 from following their profession. He however, it is said, became a 
 fioet by inspiration, and was all his life emploj^cd in chanting the 
 praises of Sira in the teniplc at Chillambaram, receiving daily five 
 gold fanams for his services. He used to chant a song every day, 
 beginning it with the wdrd which first caught his cars as he entered 
 the temple. It appears that on a certain day as he was chanting a 
 ^dng in the temple, he died suddenly. The Saivas however would have 
 it that \«'hilst h^ chanted the song beginning with the chorus (ictrsst^s 
 s>eunaran Qi^G.pmi^^^iJeijioeondiunajirS'Q'Vefs') " I know not whether 
 ihoii art able to give me the same bliss which thou didst give to Ma- 
 Nikava'sagar or 7jo," he was absorbed in the glory which appeared 
 in the sanctuary. 
 
 All liis chants have been carefully preserved and they form tlie 
 best recitative poem in the Tamil language, but some of them abound 
 iti licentious imairerv. 
 
illE lAMIL i-LLTAHCH. St 
 
 Nachinakkinivar — •'B^&^ndQesfl.ijniT. 
 
 . Of the life of this poet wc have no account ; but he appears to 
 liave been a man of considerable attainments. His commentaries on 
 the Tolkuppiyain and TirumurugdUupadci are much esteemed, and 
 they are oertaiidy masterly productions of a logical rnind. The ex- 
 act period of his existence is very uncertain ; but we think we shall 
 not be far froni the point in placing it before the tenth century of the 
 Christian era. 
 
 N 
 
 ACHUMANA'R fb^^^LO^n. 
 
 ■ : Nachuman.ar is known as one. of the forty-nine professors of the 
 Madura College ; but no particulars of his history are forthcoming. 
 The subjoined impromptu on the mrrit-; of the Kural is ascribed to 
 him : — 
 
 <mj OP d Q 6\) su 6sr u u essfl <Sh csar soBT — lSI Qp d 8 ^ rSI 
 
 When and by whom loas a poem ei'er composed so. entirely faidtlesi 
 both in versification and sense as the Kural ichich he (Tiruvalluvek) 
 has this day recited 7 
 
 Nalku'r-VE'LVIYa'R — fSe\)s^nQisu(3(T'sSujnn. 
 
 This poet claims notice as one of the forty-nine professors of the 
 Madura College, and it would appear from his surname, which is a 
 contracted form of the epithet Velviydler, usually applied to the 
 Brdhmans, that he must have belonged to their class. His composi- 
 tions are not now forthcoming, with the exception of tha following 
 impromptu in praise of Tiruvalluver. 
 
 ^■^fi[!LDnLDS!<ss)ndsdQ3'sbru — eSuuds 
 LDrT^n^uiEjQLD^'aSeOLjeodQs^iimnu 
 
 They say, that he (Siva), who reclines on the shoulders of Upake- 
 si (Parvati), is the patron of North Madura loliither he loent (loith 
 Iddeika'dar^ ; hut he (Tiruvalluver), the poet tcho pours out instruc- 
 tion in honeyed u'ords with a parental solicitude, is the patron of 
 South Madura ahounding with zcafer. 
 
 Nalla'pillei — iBei^eoiTiSl&j'^&T. 
 
 Nallapillci was born of a Karimiker famWy ai Muthalampedu, in' the 
 Carnatic. Such was the precocity of his talents, that before he had 
 passed his sixteenth vear he mastered the Tamil, Sanskrit and Tel- 
 
Otf THF. TaMII, PLUTARCH. 
 
 ugu langunges find their literature, and obtained a distinguished rtiiik 
 among the poets of his time. He fust composed an epic poem, en- 
 titled Dcivaydnci Purdnam (Q^iLsuiLne:^!SJLinnessrit), in 3000 stanzas, 
 and then set about enlarging Villipi'tturer's imitation of the Ma- 
 hahhdrat by adding to its 3372 stanzas, 14728 more. The latter 
 work occupied him from A. D. 1732 to 1744, and he survived its 
 completion but one year. 
 
 NaLL.\'THANA'R 5a)6V'/7^(CT)/f. 
 
 Naliathanar was a poet, who flourished during the Augustan ago 
 of Tamil literature. Though we have no records of the particulars 
 of his life ; yet a centum of epigrams, which he has left behind him, 
 prove that his poetical talents were far above mediocrity. His epi- 
 grams are collectively called Tril-adngam (0'fiaQ&ii], and are said 
 to have had the unanimous approval of the profes.sors of the Madura 
 College. Each epigram contains a comparison of three things and their 
 result : a.-^, 
 
 Qsn&iinn'hssisQsiTQtEJ (^smiSaQa^Qm'S\}eSp 
 
 He who 7'uns against the killing elephant ; 
 
 He who stands outside his neighbour''s door in the nighttime ;- 
 
 He icho causes the snake to dance ; 
 
 These three do so at their peril. 
 
 N^aMBIYa'nda'r Nambi — SLhiSldJnessri—nniBLLiSI. 
 
 Nambiyandar Nambi was a poet, who flourished amongst the 
 Brdhmans of the Adi Saivasect at Nnreiyur/m the Caniatic, during 
 tlie reign of the king Ra'jara ja-abhaya Chola, under whose 
 patronage he composed a poem, entitled Kaliiturei Anlddi {aeS< 
 ^^6S)n)iui'f,^rj0), treating of the legends of the si.xty-threc special 
 votaries of Siim ; and which on being recited before the king and the 
 learned assembly of Brdhmans was very much applauded as a mas- 
 terly performance. He was an enthusiastic admirer of Sampanter, 
 aiid wrote two pocnis, one entitled Mummanikkovei {dptbwesd^sQan 
 eG)Su), and the other Saiiheiviruttam {s-esc\cS)u6&iiri0^th), in praise of 
 that ascetic. 
 
 NaMAZIIVa'r IBUDUtTI^SuniT. 
 
 Nam A'zhvar deserves notice as a poet as well as oncof the twelve- 
 A'zhvars or special votaries of Vishnu. He was born of a Vetala 
 family at Tirukurugai, on the Tdmhraparui river, and his genius 
 having displayed itself while yet a child to the astonishment of his 
 parents, they not being able to account for it otherwise persuaded 
 
THE TAMIL rH'T.VRCll. '^^ 
 
 tbcmsclvcs into the bcliut'tlmt he wus an iiicarnatiuu of Sena iMuuel- 
 lAK, one of Ibeir saints. He was the author of four ditlerent poems 
 in honor of Vishnu containing in all 1296 stanzas, and they now 
 form a part of the Nalayiraprahhandam ((EfT6OfTuilaLSi0U(B^tJ)), which 
 the Vaishnavas regard next to the Vedas. 
 
 Nappa'lattana'u — iBLjun&)^^(GW)n. 
 
 Nappalaltanar was one of tlie forty-nine professors of the Madura 
 College, and we know nothing more about him. His impromptu on 
 ihe Ku?'al is as follows : — 
 
 Valluver has lighted a lamp for dispelling the darkness from the 
 hearts of those rvho live in the loorld ; having virtue for its boiol, 
 wealth for its ivick, pleasure for its oil^ the f re of expression for its 
 flame, and the short stanza for its stand. 
 
 NaRiveruttaleiya'b — is[flQ^0^^'Zc\Jujnn. 
 
 Though this poet occupied an honorable place among the forty- 
 nine professors of the Madura College; yet we have neither the part- 
 iculars of his life, nor are we aware of the existence of any of his 
 compositions. He is, however, reported to have been the author of 
 an impromptu on the Kural, which we give below. 
 
 ^ SBT u Lo Q (J ff (5 (off- ff) ti) ffl?Q i_ 6org2/ ii? ffi /F /7 ssr @ 
 
 Vi)-tue^ wealth, pleasure, and eternal bliss ; these four loere obscure- 
 ly revealed to mankind in the ancient Veda; but Valluver has now 
 rendered them plain in his Rural, that they may be fully known by 
 ihe world. 
 
 NaRKI'UBR IBdSjIT. 
 
 Narkirer was a poet, who had the enviable distinction of occupy- 
 ing a seal in the Madura College as its head in the ninth century of 
 the Christian era. The incidents of his life as narrated in the Tiru- 
 villeiyndel Puranam, are involved in fiction. He, it is stated, having 
 cavilled at a song, which Siva himself jiad composed for a Brahman, 
 named Tarumi, Siva cast his fiery eye on him in order to reduce 
 him to ashes, and he only escaped from its cfTecls by plunging him- 
 
60 THE TAMIL Pl.LTARCH. 
 
 self ill llie sacred pool o( Pottnmerei and chanting the praises of Si- 
 va, lie appears to have belonged to the caste of chank-cutters ; for 
 when Siva, according to the fable, taunted him with his low birth by 
 observing. " Is he who cuts the chank able to scan my verse ?" he 
 is represented to have retorted upon the god with the following im- 
 promptu. — 
 
 .:f ikj s ^' u uQfl ra 3: or (^GO 1^ g iE]/i!j,^iriQ3^(^eOLh 
 
 Our caste is certainly that of chunk- cutters , but what is the caste 
 of Sankara {Siva) ? It would he a disgrace to mention it : O Hara 
 fSiva.) ! We live indeed hy cutting chunks ; hut not hy begging alms 
 like thee. , • - 
 
 He was the author of an epic, entitled Sriharni-jmranam 
 GGtf'uqansmih)., wliich he composed at the request of Kulaciichirei- 
 na'yana'r, the prime minister of the king Ku'na Pandiyen, and like- 
 wise of a hymn, entitled Tirumurug'attiqrpadei (0t!^(ip^sn^^uuetsii-), 
 in honor of Skanda. 
 
 The subjoined is a stanza whicli Narkirer uttered in praise of the 
 Kural after it was reviewed and sanctioned by the College bench.— 
 
 6ij IT i£l uj&)Q a an /e^/bjiii L£>p£)j • 
 
 What recompense can the world make to the poet (Tiruvalluver), 
 who fully understanding the four subjects (virtue, wealth, pleasure 
 and eternal happiness), has explained them in sweet Tamil distichs, 
 that the ignorant may be enlightened, or to the cloud that shotcers 
 down fertilizing rain ? 
 
 Nattattana K — r5^^^^ies)iT. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lego, and he is known only by the following impromptu which he ut- 
 tered in praise of the Kural. 
 
TAMII, I'LUTAnCtl. 
 
 01 
 
 Alter studi/iiig llie one llioiisaiid three Inindrcd and l/iirl;/ distichs 
 of lite Kiiral, including the introduction, there is no other work ^ to lie 
 studied ; for they are enough to make one a pcrject poet in Tamil 
 from u-lw'm others may seek instruelion. 
 
 NaTT ATTA N a' R !fpp^fl ^ IT. 
 
 NalUUtanar was one of the twelve disciples of Agastiyer ; hut no 
 a<xount of his life has reached the present times. He wrote a trea- 
 tise on I'rosody and Versification, called after his own name Nat- 
 tattam {[hfbroprpii) ; hut it is now scarcely to be met with. 
 
 Nayanappa Mudeliau — ituu6muu(Lp^f^iLinn. 
 Nayanappji Mudeliar was born of a Fc7o/o fixmily at Pondichcrry 
 in A. b. 1779, and he acquired the reputation of a poet at an 
 early period of his life. In his eighteenth year he left Pond- 
 ichcrry, and went to Madras, where he found employment as a 
 Tamif Pundit in the College of Fort St. George. While he w-as 
 thus employed he devoted his leisure hours in revising and editing 
 the poems respectiv:ely called Sittamhalakovei (<^^^truffO ifJ^newei/}, 
 Tanjcivanan korci (^^jgjD^^eurrororisrGiVrfcisu), and Reghundtha 
 Setupati Oruturci-kovei {@o^!hn^Qs=S'U0 q>(i^^3!S>rDi<3s,fTu-si6u), as 
 well as the Ndladiydr {thnet'i^ium), the ninth and tenth parts of the 
 Divi'kara Nigandu {^Qjn&uifi^a^emQ), and the eleventh part of the 
 Sudamani Nigandli (gi_fT.cP!ScPr&«c-i;wO;), with their explanations in 
 prose, which were written by himself, ftnd which exhibit much crit- 
 ical acumen. When a Committee was formed at Madj-as amongst 
 the principal Tamif Gentlemen in the place for the purpose of pub- 
 lishing an edition of Villiputturer's Imitation of the Mahdbharat, 
 the Editorship was entrusted to Kaynappa Mudeliar ; but whilst he 
 was engaged in collating the different manuscripts of the work he 
 died suddenly on the 25th of January 1845. 
 
 Na'gande'vana'k — !5nfEmQf)Sij(^n. 
 
 This poet is now remembered chiefly on account of his connec- 
 tion with the Madura College, in which he was one among the forty- 
 nine professors. Of his poetical compositions, only the following 
 impromptu on the Kural survives : — 
 
 Q'aumnGl^n L^^eceSujuusisrgu — s>j m^n^n 
 LDuunQ<oCn(T^un<ss)@j lu n iLi wsij Q su n ou m (GfK ■oi' ^ it 
 
 It is no uoidtr ij those uho have bathed in the icater of a tank 
 abounding with lotus-fowcrs will not desire to bathe in any other 
 water ; but it is a wonder indeed if they trho have read Vali.uvf.r's 
 irork will desire to read any other work. 
 
62 THK TAMIL PIATARCH. 
 
 Na'uayanauu.v liATl — .■bimnuusssruns^. 
 
 Tiiis pod was a Brnh,nnn who lived at Venmam, the exact loca- 
 lion of which in the Caiualic we have not been able to ascertain. 
 lie is chiefly known as tlic author of a very popular poem, called 
 Tirnvenkal'a Sadagain {^^s>2sii't^(-3=^s>ih), containing a cenluin cf 
 stanzas on n»ora!, and social duties, and whicli he composed under 
 the patronage of one Manavai,a Naka yanen of A'malur, and whom 
 ho celebrates at the end of every stanza as the favorite of Tiruven- 
 knta, the form of Vishnu worshipped at Tirupati. The Rev. W. 
 Taylor has translated ten stanzas of tliis poem into English, and the 
 translation forms one of the Appendices to the second volume of his 
 Oriental llislo»-jcal IManuscripts. 
 
 NATfcAViu\JA Nambj — .rnjhseSan^ nihiSl. 
 
 Of the biography of this poet very few particulars have been 
 preserved. AH that is known of him is, that he was a native of Pu- 
 liankudi, in the Carnatic, born and bred up in a Jaina family ; and 
 having made poetry the exclusive object of his s'tudy, acquired the 
 high distinction of being considered the king of the poets, and as an 
 improvisatore he had scarcely any equal in his day. He has left hc- 
 liind him a treatise containing rules for composing amatory poems, 
 under the title of Ayappond lUakkanum (<5?auGua(5£Tp6\)<5<s6C5rii)), 
 which is now generally cousulted as a standard authority on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 Ottaku'ter — 5?/leoL_<s.3n_/^/f. 
 
 Ottakuter was one of tlie poets who flourished at the court of 
 Ra'je'ndra Cuo'la, and that of his son Kulotunga Cho'la. He ex- 
 celled all iiis colleagues in the composition of war chants, called 
 Parani. His KaJingattu Parani {aeSiiEias^^uuuesufi), in which he 
 celebrated the conquest of the Kalinga countryjjy Kulo'tunka Cho'- 
 la is a matchless production of the kind, and it is related that the he- 
 ro of the poem was so much pleased with it, that he rewarded him 
 by rolling a golden cocoanut at the end of every stanza, as it was re- 
 cited ; but this is manifestly an oriental exaggeration. The Uttara- 
 kdnda which forms the seventh book of the Ramayanam was com- 
 posed by Ottakuter, and was with the approval of Kamber himscK in- 
 corporated with his own work. This though written in the same 
 metre and style as the other six books, yet on a close inspection an 
 inferiority is perceptible, as much as can be discovered between the 
 first parlof Dkyden's Ahsolom and Achitophel, and the second part 
 of it by Tate. A good deal of rivalry appears to have existed be- 
 tween Ottakuter and Kambek. On one occasion the king going out 
 on a visit to one of his mistresses, found on his return that the door of 
 the palace was closed against him by the Queen, and that no entreaty 
 
THE TAMll, PLL'TARCH. 03 
 
 or pcrsualion wouM iu;ik.«> her relent. The king nt !<^ngtfi seat tor 
 Oitakuter, and desired him to soothe her by liis song, and caits'e lier 
 to open the door; and he tliereupon addressed her in the Tolfowing 
 impromptu : 
 
 Q^(o est s u IT L— i ^/Di^^r^&T'SSjnuj ^p'Sun^ts^Qe^n 
 
 (m>Q<osr^/D d^Qp^<5ns uSs^ip nQ^Uj^ n ld sasjQiu. 
 
 O thou ii-hose speech is as sweet as honeij ! No more shall I enlrecH 
 thee. Deign to open the door, if not, the arrival at thy door of the 
 king of the solar race loho commands the seven clouds, will make thy 
 lotiis-like hand open it spontaneously. 
 
 But this instead of soothinc; her had only tlie contrary efTcct. She 
 bc>ltcd the door with an aCkh'lional b61t, saying, (gptlL-sffn^j^oSTun 
 (10)5^5 ©atloC^f-^^iiuu/ToYj), i. e. " Otlakuter''s song is worth two 
 ioitsy The king next sent for Kamber who' knowing full well the 
 weak point in women flattered her self-conc'eit in the fo^llo\vi'ng ini- 
 promptu, and obtained his request : — 
 
 iDSS)i^Qujn^rSljj6^(SQuiLiLnfTi^m)u rr^^saresflsisT SijnuSI&)3ij i^np 
 
 O thou until the slender u-aist, and dark Uueeyes and ears adorn- 
 ed xoith golden jewels ! Calm thind anger ; for when the ilhistrioiis 
 sovereign ichose country is blessed with rain twice a 7no^ifh, rcaits at 
 thy door, it is thy duty tofor'^ice him once, nay even twice. 
 
 PaDIKA'sU UL9-<5<S/T<9?. 
 
 Padikasu was a native of Kalandei, in the Carnatic. He flourish- 
 ed as a poet at the Court of Kilaven Setupati, otherwise called Re- 
 GUNATHA Setupati, who reigned at Raranad from A. D. 1686 to 
 1723. His principal work was a poem, entitled Tondamandala Sa- 
 dagam {Gsnsssn—iDisai-eOffSySih), consisting of a hundred stanzas in 
 praise of the Tonda country. He appears to have been very expert 
 in the composition of poetical epistles, some of which are still extant. 
 It should, however, be remarked that he was excessively conceited of 
 his own accomplishments, and moreover a severe satirist of his time, 
 calling himself in that respect the representative of Ka'lame'gam. 
 
 Padumana'r — u^LDi^n. 
 
 This poet appears to have flourished at an early period ; but no 
 particulars of his life have reached us. He is however well known 
 as the author of a learned commentary on the Ndladydr, a poem con- 
 laining 400 stanzas on moral subjects, and supposed to have been the 
 
C4 
 
 THL TA511L l^LLTAKCH. 
 
 joint c-oiii|)0:silioii of I'uur huiKiic-tl [)octs whu vis. ted the cuurt.uf a 
 OLTtain FAndiya king, cacli of them being the author of a stunza. 
 
 Pa.\amb\'i{ANa R — ussruciun!j^fr(^^^nLD. 
 
 Panambaranar, so called from the town Panamburam, where he 
 lived, was one of the twelve disciples of Agastiyitr. Having de- 
 voted himself with great assiduity to study, he acquired a high repu- 
 tation as a grammarian and poet, and wrote an able treatise on Gram- 
 mar under the title of Prtnrt//ii«/Y/««/* Sutram (ussr iu.ia.^^-^^^j'r). 
 He also wrote the preface to the Tolkrippii/am, a (n-ammar which his 
 fellow student Tolkappiyana'r had composed. 
 
 Parage R — unsmn. 
 
 Parancr w-as one of the forty-nine prc'fcssors of the Madura Col- 
 lege and primus inter pares ; but scarcely any thing is known of his. 
 biograpliy. He was |)resent on the College bench when the Kural 
 was submitted to' its judgement, ohid is stated to have expressed his 
 opinion of that work in the follow-ing impromptu : — 
 
 M/il ( Vishnu) in his Kural or dwarfish incarnation measured the 
 u-hdie earth, with his two expanded feet ; but Valluver has measured 
 the thoughts of all mankind, with his (stanza oj) two short feet. 
 
 Paranjo'ti Tambiran — uiT^Q<fa^ji-^iMiSlj!Jesr. 
 
 Pp.ranj6li Tambiran, who was a Saira ascetic and superior of the 
 Saiva Matam at Madura during the reign of Athivira Pa'ndiyen, sig- 
 nalized himself by his profound skill in the Sanskrit and Tamil lan- 
 guages and pocti'y,as well as in the Hindu metaphysical philosophy. 
 At the request of the kin<r, by whom he was patronized, he wrote for 
 him a poem, under the title of TiruviUiijndd Puranani {^^eS&soiua 
 t-rbqaric-csiLc) comprising 3363 stanzas, in 72 cantos. It treats of the 
 sixty-four sports of S/i-« at Madura, as originally related in the Sans- 
 I'vrit legend called Hdla-sj/a Mahatmija ;' and Professor Wilson, in his 
 Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Fond ii/a, stales that it is reputed 
 to have been written in the Saka year 973, corresponding with A. D. 
 1051.* Paranjoti Tambiran also wrote for himself another poem, en- 
 titled Polikaii vcnha, [Qunn)^3,a-6^Gsusts\uu) on the same subject as 
 the above, but on a contracted scale, and in the form of hymns address- 
 ed to Siva. 
 
 " See Journal (if the Royal .\siatic Sociclv, Vol. ill p' '-'03. 
 
THE TAMIL PLL'TAKCH. 
 
 ^§ 
 
 An analysis of the TiruvWciyddel Pio'dnam 1ms been published 
 by th-e Rev. W, Taylor, in his Oriental Historical iMRnuscripts, 
 Vol. 1. 
 
 Pa'rime'l-azhagar — u iflQ Lneo ip s n . 
 
 Parim'el-azhagar was a Brahman poet who owes his celebrity to a 
 Commentary which he wrote on the Kural ; but nothing is known of 
 his personal history, or the era of his existence. There are nine 
 other Commentaries oh the Kural written by different pofets at differ- 
 ent times, but his work has thrown them all in the shade, and fixed it- 
 self in popular esteem as the most classical production. Mr. Ellis has 
 availed himself of the aid of this work in framing the valuable notes 
 and illustrations which accompany his metrical version of the first 
 twelve chapters of the Kural ; and the Rev. Mr. Drew has publish- 
 ed a great portion of it with his prose translation of the sixty-three' 
 chapters of the Ktiral. 
 
 Patirakiriya'r — u^^nQiBiunn. 
 
 Patirakiriyar is generally believed to have been a king, but of what 
 country is not known. He was' a contemporary with Pattanattu- 
 riLLEiYA'R, and like him abandoning all his worldly possessions be- 
 came a naked Sanniydsi, and begged his bread from door to door, 
 enduring the privation of every thing that could in any way have 
 served to gratify his senses. He left a series of 235 couplets, col- 
 lectively known as his Pulamhel or laments, and of which we sub= 
 join a few as being illustrative of his religious opinions. 
 
 67 6W ^iS3r UJ ff$? OJ /7^ (5 /F^ /r il ® (^ @/^ //? ^ 6BT 
 
 ffn^^!X^(Sts)js^3^Ll.<Si^ ff^iDaDpGsujuQunujtLtni@<^ 
 (^ji^ff^<3s>fiis6sm(Sl a-SLhOu^suQ^dsireoih. 
 
 usffjuS u-i—.Q<^uiLjLh QunQT^en nshQjsssneOi}). 
 
 Oh ! When toill the time come that I shall know the setret mover oj 
 the ?nachinery within me, and obtain the reioard of my penance ? 
 
 Oh ! When xoill the time come that I shall study the mystery of the 
 letter A, which stands thefrst of all letters, and comprehend its mean- 
 ing ? 
 
 Oh ! When loill the time come that I shall hum the Sdstras, and 
 prove the four Vedas to he false and he made whole hy discovering the 
 mystery 1 
 
66- THE TAMIL PLLTARCM- 
 
 Oh ! When mill the time come that the chided stone , the moulded 
 red clay, and the hirnished copper shall he rendered prof table ? 
 
 Oh ! When will the time come that men shall live together tcithoni 
 any distinction of caste, according to the doctrine promulgated inthe 
 beginning by Kapiler. 
 
 Pattanattu-pilleiya'r — uiLi-essr^^uSeiT'2eiTuun!T. 
 
 Pattanattu-pilleiyar was a celebrated philosopher, who lived at Kd- 
 veripat7iam, in the Carnatic, some time about the 10th century of the 
 Christian era. He belonged to the Chetty caste, and his real name 
 is said to have been Vexkata Chetty. He was possessed of great 
 wealth, which he acquired by trading with Ceylon and the neighbour- 
 ing islands. One day hearing that some of his ships which had been 
 missing for a time returned to the port laden with gold dust, he went 
 to see them, and during his absence, a Saiva mendicant called at his 
 house, and asked alms of his wife ; but she refused, saying that she 
 could not give any when her husband was not at home. The Safrd 
 mendicant thereupon went away, leaving with her a slip of o/rt/i wrapt 
 in a rag, and requesting her to deliver it to her husband on his re- 
 turn. When Pattanattu-pilleiyar returned to his house, he looked 
 into the slip of olah and finding the words (an^riip^^mih ejnnn^&iT 
 ^}iiEi a<os^L.QjifsQs) ^' Mind that even a needle with a broken eye 
 will 7wt follow thee in thy last day,''"' he at once imbibed an aversion 
 to the worldly life, gave away all his wealth to the people around, 
 and he, abandoning his house, became a naked ascetic, and passed the 
 remainder of his days, subsisting wholly on ahns, and esteeming a 
 potsherd and pure gold alike. He had a sister, who, ashamed 
 of his conduct, attempted to poison him, but without success. He 
 latterly took up his abode in a- wood at Trivatur, where he caused 
 the cowherds, who resorted to the wood to pasture their cattle, 
 to bury him by day up to the shoulders, leaving only his neck and 
 head above the ground, and take him up at night-fall ; but one day 
 having been inadvertently allowed to remain buried during the night,- 
 he was found dead the next morning. He appears to have been 
 likewise a poet, as we have a collection of poems which he compos- 
 ed in praise of the different Saiva shrines he had visited, besides a 
 number of elegiac verses wliich he ejaculated e.vtempore at the cre- 
 mation of his mother's corpse. 
 
 Pattanattu-pilleiyar was a monotheist ; but he identified the only 
 one God with Siva, and also maintained the doctrine of metempsychc* 
 sis, teaching that emancipation from future birtli, and absorption 
 into the Divine essence was the supreme bliss. He at the same time 
 denied that man was a free-agent, and held that he was incapable of 
 doing either good or evil by himself, as may be seen by the follow-- 
 lYig stanzas which we quote from one of his works : — 
 
TUB TAMIL PLUTARCH. 67 
 
 Qu^nQuuasrQff^djQenssr i 3^91(2 iu a uDutsn^Q ear. 
 
 !E(ki^rFlpL^Ll.t^iu (^^^sjuuiremeij iBOSTi^n/iuiS^p 
 
 gjHesTiS^eSlujfr^i ^iRaii^s\)e\)ti^ uapgu'^EsTuLSrRi^n 
 Qe<im,'GS)eQ!k}sn6u^6mQu.nisSes)peiinsg:&Qujsi'ouQ6sr. 
 my heart ! do not he desponding. If thou wilt meditate on the five 
 letters* devoutly worship Sajikara (Siva), who dwells at Tillei; 
 who fills the earth loith his wisdom ; who destroyed the (reheUious) 
 cities ; who is the lamp which is never extinguished ; and loho dances 
 at the Sacred Court, surely thou shalt obtain liberation from future 
 birth and be absorbed into his divine essence. 
 
 Oh Ekamba, (Siva) of Kachchi! Can I, an ignorant dog, know how 
 many fathers or hoio many mothers, or how many wives, or how many 
 children I have had in the course of my former transmigrations, and 
 hotc many more I shall have in my future 7 
 
 Oh Ekamba, of Kachchi ! Will the puppet which is moved by a strings 
 move by itself after the string shall have been broken 7 Am I not 
 moved by thee in like manner! Therefore can I do any thing by my- 
 self, if I am separated from thee ? 
 
 Pavananti — uQjessTe0. 
 
 The name of Pavananti has been handed down as the author of 
 the Narmul (reecrgi/Tffo), a treatise on Grannmar which as Mr. Stoke- 
 LY has justly remarked, " stands conspicuous among the grammat- 
 ical treatises of all nations, for logical arrangement and comprehen- 
 sive brevity ;" but nothing more is known of him than that he was 
 the son of Sanmathi Muni, a Jaina sage, who lived at Sanakapu- 
 ram, and that he wrote his work under the auspices of a king named 
 Kangkam. He had in the Nannul proposed to treat his subject under 
 five heads, viz: (eii^^^) letters, {(ffftreo) words, (Gun(§en) matter, 
 (lurruL/) versification, and (j^sroP) embellishment; but having^ died 
 before lie completed his design, the work therefore comprises only 
 the first two heads. 
 
 Pa'napattiran — unemu^^nasr. 
 
 Panapattiran was a minstrel, who lived at the court of ^Varaguna 
 Pandiyen at Madura. Another minstrel named Yemana'then, who 
 
 The five letters of the Hindu Cabala, *, 
 
^8 THE TAMIL FLUTARCH. 
 
 /came from tho norlli liaving exhibited his art before the king, and re- 
 ceived rewards, became elated with success and challenged a 
 contest in playing on the lute. Panapattiren accepted the challenge, 
 and by defeating tho rival in the contest pleased the king so much 
 that the king honored him with a triumphant entry of the city on an 
 elephant, and loaded him with presents. Shortly afterwards he in- 
 curred the displeasure of the king by purloining some valuables from 
 the palace, and was consequently deprived of all his emoluments 
 and forbidden the royal presence. Finding himself in great straits, 
 he contrived a device to obtain his livelihood for the future. Having 
 been informed that Peiuj^ia'kkotiiei, who then reigned oyer the Che- 
 ra country, was extremely devoted to Saiva worship, he forged a 
 poetical letter in the name and character of Siva, and took it to the 
 king, saying that it was given to him by Siva to be delivered to the 
 king. The purport of ths letter was, " I Siva, who dwell in the city 
 o( Alavei (I\Iadura), which is surrounded by a wall, and adorned with 
 palaces, say to the king Chera that Panapattiren, a minstrel and one 
 as dearly beloved by me as thou avt, is coming over to wait on thee. 
 As thou hast acquired renown by lavishing thy wealth upon poets, 
 give him what he wants and dismiss him." The king in his blind 
 zeal to Siva believing the lett3r to haye been actually indited by the 
 god himself, received it with great solemnity, and placing the bearer 
 on the throne, presented him with considerable wealth. He then re- 
 turned to Madura, and lived there during the remainder of his life, 
 attending the temple thrice a day, and singing the praises of the god 
 to the lute. It is stated that. his wife also was well accomplished in 
 singing, and that she acquired great fame by having carried away 
 the palm in a contest in singing with a songstress whom the king 
 Ra'jara'ja Pa'ndiyen had sent for from Ceylon. 
 
 Periya A'zhva'r — Qurftdint^'SumT. 
 
 This poet was a native of Villipidtur, and has had the distinction 
 of carrying a prize in a poetical contest in the court of Vallabade- 
 VA Pa'ndiyen, king of Madura. He is considered as one of the Axh- 
 vars or special votaries of Vishnu, and that four-liundred stanzas of 
 the Ndldyiraprahhandam {thireonaSlniSinuih^ih) are said to havebeen con- 
 tributed by him. 
 
 PERUNCIil'TANA'fe — Ou(TJi^<^^<S(eV)iT. 
 
 No particulars of the life of this poet are known, except that he 
 was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura College. His im- 
 promptu on the merits of the Kural, howeyer, has bpen preserved, 
 and we give it below. 
 
THt lAMlL k'LLTAttCH. (6i^ 
 
 Qey^QiM QiDstsaesr. 
 
 O A-//i^TA'NDiYA, tcho wears the garland of fuU-hhncn flowers ! Say, 
 what are more excellent, the Vedas, of the short sweet distichs, through 
 the medium of which the faultless Valluvkr has divtilgtd the tchoh 
 contents of the Vedas. 
 
 PeB-UNDE'VANA'R Ou0/bC?^a><CT)/f. 
 
 Tliere were two poets of this name, contemporaries, and botli pro- 
 fessors of the Madura College. One of them distinguished himself 
 by writing an imitation of the Mahabhdral in Venha metre, and which 
 is now known by the appellation oi Sangattu Bdradam {s-ieis^^u 
 u.Tj^/i)), and the other by writing a treatise on versification, entitled 
 Kavisdgaram (aei^^rraffii). 
 
 The following is the impromptu which the author of the Sangattu 
 Buradam uttered on the merits of the Kural : — 
 
 ejuOun(T^(^i}iajrr(T^LSliiisOL3smrSlisiip3: 
 
 Q ff u lS lu su &!r (^ev ff^ n (^Qj 3= u u €ij Q^ — (ipuunp(^u 
 
 QtBiT'Si loST LDji rjS eo'hffo (S a It . 
 
 As the Kural which Yalltjveu has composed contains in itself 
 every thing, clothed in language easy to be understood by all, so it 
 may bear comjyarison with the Mahdbhdrat, Rdmdyana, and Menu's 
 Institutes, nay eccn with the Vedas of old. 
 
 The author of the Kavisdgaram carried his admiration of the Ku- 
 ral to the highest pitch, as will be seen by the subjoined impromptu 
 which he uttered. 
 
 ^mnesiir'^uj QurTei!r^S(^s=^rTL£iLjesr^ 
 uojcSpsQ^QpGsBujrj'dJn'^i^iF.isLiijQ^ihu 
 Qp^prSI(T^LDfiQ6\}esrs'&pi^Q^anuQ6u 
 u n sS p 1^ sii eir (&^ Sij IT Qsusmuir. 
 
 The best amo7ig Jlowers is the lotus ; the best among metals is gold ^ 
 the best among kine is Kamadhenu (the celestial cow) ; the best among 
 elephants is Irdvata (the white elephant of Indra); the best among 
 gods is Vislmu ; and the best among books is Valluver's Kural. 
 
 Philip De Melho — lSIcSuli Q^ Qifi&^Qeon. 
 
 The name of Philip De Melho, the first native who was admitted 
 to the office of Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Ceylon, 
 and who occupied a prominent place in the literary world, stands 
 foremost among the divines and linguists, whether of European or 
 Ceylonese birth, who flourished in the island during the eighteenth 
 century. As an oriental poet also, he ranks liigh, and his qualific.a? 
 
70 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 tions as a Biblical translator were unsurpassed. Such was in fact his 
 great learning that Governor Falk, a wise politician and an elegant 
 scholar, complimented him with the title of '• Rabbi De Melho." 
 
 I)e Mclho was born at Colombo, on the 23d of April 1723. He be.- 
 longed to a Tamil family distinguished for its respectability and opu- 
 lence, and was the second son of Mr. Sijion De Melho, who occu- 
 pied the important post of Chief Tamil Mudeliar of the Gate,* and as 
 such, was attached to the personal staff of no fewer than ten 
 Dutch Governors, including the tyrant Peter Vuyst and the good 
 Baron Von Imhoff. De Melho studied at an early age at the 
 Colombo Seminary, which the Dutch Government founded in 
 1705, for the purpose of qualifying native youths for ecclesiastic- 
 al as well as secular professions, Here he was taught Hebrew, Greek, 
 Latin, Dutch, Portuguese and Tamil, as well as Theology. His ac- 
 cademical career was a brilliant one and before his seventeenth year 
 he had become the senior student. At the age of 20 he finished the 
 prescribed course of study and was the most qualified student to be 
 sent to the University of Leyden. The Government desired him to 
 proceed to Holland, which he refused to do. He was therefore on 
 the suggestion of the Rev. J. P. Witzelius, Rector of the Seminary, 
 appointed as a Native Proponent at Colombo, on the 16th April 1744, 
 after he had passed with great credit a public examination in Hebrew 
 and Greek as also in Theology by the learned members of the Con- 
 sistory. On the 2d of August 1744, De jMelho married Miss Magda- 
 lene Jurgen Ondaatje, daughter of Mr. Philip Jurgen O.ndaatje, 
 Translator to the " Hoffvan Jif.stitie''' (the highest tribunal in the 
 island) and sister of the Rev. W. Jurgen Ondaatje, Clergyman of 
 Colombo and Rector of the Seminary. By this union he had a large 
 number of daughters and only two sons who both died at an early 
 age whilst successfully pursuing their studies, one at Amsterdam, and 
 the other in the island. 
 
 Though De Melho, as Native Proponent, was to confine his minis- 
 trations to Natives, yet on the recommendation of the Consistory the 
 CJovernment privileged him to preach to the Dutch likewise ; and 
 thus at the very outset of liis ministerial career, he had an auditory 
 for his discourses from the pulpit that might require the full exercise 
 of his eloquence. In 1745, ujjon the urgent solicitation of the Dutch 
 residents at Negombo who wished to secure for themselves the ben- 
 efit of his .spiritual instructions, he was sent thither, but his stay 
 amongst them appears not to have been long; for we see him again 
 employed in Colombo in the following year, not only as Proponent, 
 but also as one of the Committee for revising the Tamil version of the 
 New Testament from the original text, and by himself as the reviser 
 of the translations of all religious works intended for circulation 
 amongst the natives. In 1746, when the Government established a 
 Normal school at Colombo, De Melho from his known abilities and 
 
 " In Tamil Vdsitt, signirying the king's Court. 
 
VUE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 icUculs was scleclcd by the Governor as one of its teaclicrs ; and in 
 1747, when owing to a paucity of ordained ministers, it was found 
 necessary to appoint a fixed Assistant Preacher in the Dutch language, 
 Dc Mellio alone amongst the body of Native Proponents, was found 
 worthy of tilling tliat office. 
 
 De Mclho having served with great efficieney as a Native Propo- 
 nent and Assistant Dutch Preacher for a period of five years, applied' 
 in 17i9 for ordination in Ceylon, with a view to enlarge the sphere 
 of his usefulness. Both Governor Gollenesse and the Consistory 
 marked their sense of the appreciation of his eminent abilities and 
 valuable services by willingly and earnestly reconnnending him to 
 the Supreme Government of Netherland's India, who thereupon per- 
 mitted his ordination in the Island hself, after previous examination 
 by the Consistory. On the 21st January 1750, De Melho, having been 
 examined by the members of the Consistory assembled in the Fort 
 Church at Colombo on various important theological points, and found 
 to be in every respect a fit candidate for the ministerial office, was 
 with the sanction of the GJovernor, ordained according to the rules of 
 the Church of Holland, and appointed Minister to the Western Dis- 
 trict* with the usual pay and emoluments assigned to a clergyman 
 on the establishment of the East India Compa.;y. This is the solita- 
 ry instance of an individual, being ordained in the island, under the 
 Dutch Government without previous University education. As a re- 
 ward for his good services in connexion with the Normal School, he 
 was in March following, promoted to be Rector of that institution. 
 
 in the same year in which De Melho was ordained, he completed 
 the revision of the Tamil version of the New Testament up to the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. This was a work whi^h devolved on him- 
 exclusively from the want of zeal and co-operation on the part of his 
 colleagues. In the preparation of the version, he was guided by the 
 original Greek and aided by various standard versions of the New 
 Testament. He also consulted many approved theological and phi- 
 lological works, with all which he appears to have been familiar at 
 an early age. In consequence, however, of a discussion which took- 
 place respecting the version, the Government deferred its publica- 
 tion and referred the matter for the decision of the Supreme authori- 
 ties at Batavia. They felt it their duty to thank the reviser for the 
 zeal and attention he had hitherlo devoted to this highly important 
 and difficult undertaking, and to direct the examination of the version- 
 by a Committee of Clergymen and Laymen skilled in the languages ? 
 and on the receipt of their report, the Ceylon Government ordered it tC 
 be printed and circulated amongst the natives. But although the re-" 
 vision of the Tamil version of the New Testament was a work of 
 
 * Under the Dutch Government, Ceylon, was for ecclesiastical and educa- 
 tional purposes, divided into tJiree Districts, viz. the Northern, Western and* 
 Southern districts, the principal stations of which were rcBpectively Jaffna, Col- 
 ombo and CJalle. 
 
i-4 ' THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 itself more tlian sufficient,for one indiviJual, how gifted soever he 
 may be, yet it was not the only work in which he was engaged at the 
 time. He also wrote an elaborate work in Dutch under the title of 
 •■' The Triumph of Truth, or a Refutation of the Principal Dogmas of 
 the Clmrch of Rome," with a view of arresting, as he thought it would, 
 the rapid progress which Catholicity was making in Ceylon about the 
 lime through the persevering labours of the Goanese Fathers*. This 
 work being appro^'ed by the Consistory was afterwards rendered by 
 himself into Tanril, under the title of SaUiyattin-jeyam {s=i^aj^0^ 
 Os'tuii), and pul)l-ish6d at the expense of Government in 1753, with a 
 dedication in Latin, Dutch and Tamil to the Governor General Vander 
 PAARand the members of the Council of Netherland's India, couched 
 in the most elegant language. At the conclusion of the preface to this 
 work, De iMelho a'nnovmced that he was preparing for publication in Ta- 
 mil a translation of the Liturgy of the Dutch Reformed Church and 
 that of a selection of the Psalms of Da->rd, the Decalogue, the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Creed and the Songs of the Blessed Virgin, Zacharias and 
 Simeon in metre besides a work to be called a Refutation of Hinduism. 
 The two former were published respectively in 1755 and 1760; the 
 latter appears to have remained in manuscript and is not now forth- 
 coming.' 
 
 In November 1753, De Melho was appointed Minister to the North- 
 ern District in the room of the Rev. G. Potken, who was his exam- 
 iner in the Sacred languages. He did not, however, leave Colombo 
 till the 25th of February 1754, for the scene of his future labours, 
 which with his family he reached on the 12th March following. The 
 duties which devolved on him in this his new appointment were too 
 onerous for any but a man like him of boundless activity ; for he had 
 however to superintend not only the numerous churclies and schools 
 in .latlha and Wanny, but those at Trincomalie and Balticaloa, which 
 he periodically visited, and in 1758, he was relieved of a portion of 
 these duties, by the appointment as his colleague of the Rev. B. 
 Jansza, a Tamil native, who was educated in Holland. 
 
 In October 1756, the death of his father compelled him to visit Col- 
 ombo, where he remained for some time. Here he was unexpectedly 
 Called u[X)n by Governor Sciireuder to undertake the translation of 
 I'he unfinished portion of the Tamil New Testament, viz. from the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians to the end of the Revelation ; and his well 
 linown zeal prompted him to execute it with alacrity. In 1759 the whole 
 6f the New Testament in the Tam.il language was for the first time pub- 
 lished in CeylL)n y and when copies of it were sent to the Supreme Gov- 
 ernment the Company's Directors increased his salary inacknowledg- 
 ihncni of his praiseworthy labours, styling him. " The Great Labour-' 
 ER," as will be seen by their despatch dated 5th of August 1760, and 
 ■\Vhich wc quote below. 
 
 " To hear of the regular performance of Divine Service at Colom- 
 bo by the Rev. Messrs. Bronsveld, Zybrands and Meyer and at 
 
 * See Governor Imiioif's Report, in Lke's Rebeyro, p. 17G 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH "> 
 
 Wolveiulhal, by the Rev. Messrs Ondaatje and Philipsz, as also at 
 Jaffna by the Rev. Messrs. De Melho and Janz at Galle by tho 
 Rev. Messrs. Sciioults and Smith and at Trincomalic by the Rev. 
 Mr. De Zelun, and that the Rev. Peter Cornelius who has re- 
 cently arrived there, is about to bo employed by you to the no small 
 benefit of the Church of God, has not been less agreeable to us than 
 that the translation of the New Testament into the Tamil language 
 has at length by the praiseworthy labours of the Rev. Mr. De Melho 
 fully attained its object, as appears from the copies thereof which 
 reached us ; and tiiis being now completed, we hope and wish 
 that the blind heathen may be more and more enlightened and con- 
 ducted to the true knowledge of our Rational Religion. As the only 
 objoct we have in view in this respect is the promotion of true sancti- 
 fying faith, so is it likewise to manifest to that (Treat Labourer our part- 
 icular satisfaction, that we have at the day of our sitting granted his 
 Reverence our unsolicited extraordinary augmentation from 80 to 
 100 florins a month, as an evident token, how readily on our part we 
 reward faithful services, as we in like manner on the same day and 
 for the same reasons granted 100 florins to the Rector of the Semin- 
 ary Dr. Meyer, in the expectation that they would henceforward re- - 
 double their zeal." 
 
 Whilst De Melho was residing a;t Jaffna, which was and still is the 
 scat of Tamil literature in Ceylon, he met many renowned scholars, 
 poets, and philosophers whose acquaintance he cultivated with a de- 
 sire to improve his knowledge of philology ns well as to gain oppor- 
 tunities which that acquaintance might afford him for bringing under 
 their consideration, with all the force in his power, the arguments in 
 favor of Christianity, and for exposing the absurdities and supersti- 
 tions of their own systeni of faith. Among them, we may mention 
 the name of Ku'langkai Tambira'n, with whom he had frequent re- 
 ligious controversies*. While at Jaffna, De Melho enlarged the 
 Suddmani Nigandu, which is (he standard Lexicon of the Tamil 
 language, by adding 20 stanzas to the 2d part, and about 100 to the 
 12th, besides various words and stanzas to others. These additions 
 not only attest his abilities as a philologist, but also his skill as a poet 
 from their splendid versification. They were all unanimously ap- 
 proved by the literati of his day and incorporated with the original ; 
 as a portion of them appears in the edition of the ten parts of 
 the work published at the Manipy Press in 1856. The rest may be 
 found in the manuscript copies current in Jaffna. It is not to be sup- 
 posed that De Melho confined the display of his poetical talents to 
 the above mentioned work ; he also composed an elegant pane- 
 gyric, called Marudappa Kuravanji(u:'in}^uu3>^§rrisu^^), on Mardap- 
 pa Pillei, Mudeliar of the Gate, under the administration of Gover- 
 nor Schreuder. There are no means of ascertaining the names of 
 the other works of which De Melho was the author. At his death 
 
 Vide, p. 47. 
 
 10 
 
'j4 the Tamil plutarch. 
 
 he left behlmi him besides a highly valuable and exieitsive Irbrctry, 
 a large number of manuscripts, including his learned sermons in 
 Dutch, Portuguese and Tamil ; but they have all been unfortunately 
 lost, with the exception of his Correspondence on the version of the 
 Scriptures and a corrected draft translation of the Books of Joshua, 
 Judges and Ruth. 
 
 Early in 1778, the Rev. Mr. Klein, who was the best Tamil 
 scholar among the Danish Missionaries then residing at Tranquebar, 
 visited Jaffna, Here he heard De Melho's discourse on Tamil philo- 
 logy, in the presence of the Commandeur, as also on several other 
 occasions, and exclaimed with astonishment " quantum est quod nes- 
 cimus." He moreover candidly said, " I thought I understood the 
 Tamil language, but I must now confess that I am yet a common 
 learner, and wish my circumstances permitted me to remain some- 
 time longer to learn from brother De Melho something more of 
 that language." He also requested De Melho to give his brother 
 Missionaries and himself some instructions in the Tamil language by 
 means of correspondence, to correct their writings and to point out 
 the errors committed by them in the translation of the Scriptures, 
 with which request De Melho cheerfully complied. 
 
 We will now close the biographical sketch of this laborious and 
 learned man of whom his native country may justly be proud, with a 
 brief notice of his valuable version of the Pentateuch, which was 
 the last work in which he was engaged. 
 
 The Tranquebar version of the Old Testament completed and pub- 
 lished in 1729, was for good reasons, considered to be imperfect 
 and unadapted to public use ; it wxis therefore in contemplation to 
 prepare a new version in Ceylon for the service of the Tamil Protes- 
 tant Congregations. With this view the Rev. Mr. O.nd.aatje (whose 
 name has already been mentioned) executed in 1774, a translation of 
 the Book of Genesis and presented it to Governor Falk, who directed 
 its revision according to the prescribed rule, previous to publieation. 
 But as it was deemed preferable to revise the Tranquebar ver- 
 sion itself, directions to that effect were conveyed to him. But these 
 were countermanded so soon as it was known in Ceylon that the Tran- 
 quebar Missionaries had already begun that work and that the Penta- 
 teuch and the Books of Joshua and Judges had been published. On the 
 receipt of this order, Mr. Ondaatje represented to the Governor that he 
 had read the revised version with great care and attention and had 
 found it to be faulty, stating at the same time his opinion that it would 
 be preferable to translate the Old Testament anew. He moreover added 
 " I have received some portions of the Old Testament rendered by 
 De Melho, which appear superior to the first as well as the second 
 Tranquebar version." To this communication, His E.xcellency re- 
 plied that both he and De Melho had permission to commence a new 
 version. De Melho accordingly in 1779 and 1780, submitted to the 
 Governor the versions of theBooks of Genesis and Exodus made from- 
 the original Hebrew with the aid of the Septuagint, the Latin ver- 
 
THE T/vMlL PLUTAUCH. "^S 
 
 sions of Tremellius anJ Junius, and the Nethcrland's Slate Bible. 
 It was however signified to Do Melho that the Government would 
 prefer a revision of the recently corrected Tranquebar version ; and 
 they accordingly wished hiin to prepare such a revision, exhibiting in 
 a separate paper the errors found therein with the required correc- 
 tions. Pursuant to this order, Do Melho prepared and transmit- 
 ted to Governor Falk a revised version of the Pentateuch, accompan- 
 ied by a report on the subject and an annotation of the errors in the 
 Tranquebar version. The following passage from that report demon- 
 stratively shews the character of that version : — 
 
 " The language and style have not been arranged in accordance 
 with the solemnity of such a divine revelation as the Holy Scriptures. 
 The spelling of a great many words is very defective. Foreign words 
 have been introduced, which in Tamil style, appear ungraceful and 
 deform the language and disfigure it. Abundant errors have also 
 crept into it, consisting of unnecessary additions of words which are 
 not in the sacred text and inadmissible omissions of those which are 
 in it, bad and incorrect renderings and incompatible interpretations, 
 instead of translations, and that in so many places as the undersigned 
 has noted down the same, as is to be seen in the accompanying state- 
 ment of errors in the live Books of Moses alone." 
 
 Do Mclho's version and his criticisms on the Tranquebar version 
 were sent to the Missionaries there. To the latter they had nothing 
 to say in vindication. With regard to the version, all with whom 
 they consulted pronounced the language employed in it to be excel- 
 lent and choice ; but raised a doubt whether it could be generally 
 understood by the common people. To settle this important point 
 the version was publicly and solemnly read in the Jaffna Fort Church 
 to a large body of learned Tamils and to other auditors and the ques- 
 tion put to them whether it was intelligible to the common people. 
 They unanimously replied that it was so, and that the language used 
 therein was matchless, elegant, pathetic and heart cheering, worthy of 
 and becoming Holy Writ, while that of the Tranquebar version was a 
 mixture of all words current on the Coast and was extremely uncouth, 
 barbarous and ridiculous, owing to the grammatical errors and the 
 vulgarisms with which it abounded*. Reference was also made on 
 this point to De Melho himself, who stated that the words re- 
 marked on as high by the Tranquebar Missionaries (who certainly 
 were not competent judges) are no other in reality than pure Tamil 
 
 * That unparalleled Tamil scholar of modern times, the learned Beschi, 
 writes in the following strain of the Tranquebar version . — " Can those hooka 
 be fairly called the Word of God, which the Tranquebarians, who do not at 
 all write correctly in Tamil the name of their country, have handed down to 
 U3 pretending that ^ley have translated the Holy Scriptures in Tamil, whilst 
 ignorant of that language, they have to the bitter paining of our ears, written 
 them in barbarous words. By this means, the truth of God's word has been 
 darkened, and by depriving it of its excellence, been tarnished, even ns if n 
 costly bright gem were buried in mire, or poison mixed with ambrosial sweet 
 or a beautiful picture stained witii ink ' I'cder J'ilnk'am, Chap xvi 
 
76 THE TAMIL FLUTARCM. 
 
 words, unintelligible to none but to such as understand no other thciii 
 lame and bastard Tamil. To obviate however all difficulty on thii; 
 score and to render his labours generally useful, he prepared an al- 
 phabetical glossary of the words in question to be appended to the 
 version, which was accordingly published by the Government in 1790, 
 Though De Melho had now reached his 67th year, yet the energies 
 of his powerful and vigorous mind were unceasingly directed to the 
 translation of the other portions of the Old Testament, and if his life 
 had been spared for a few years more, he would have no doubt com- 
 pleted this great work ; but it was ordained otherwise. He died qu 
 the 10th of August 1790. 
 
 Pe'i A'zhva'b — QuiLini^eufriT. 
 Pei A'zhvar, who was one of the twelve A'zhvcirs, or special vota- 
 ries of Vishnu, enjoyed likewise the reputation of a poet. He was 
 born at Mailapiir, in the Carnatic, and having finished his studies, 
 spent all his life in making pilgrimages to the different Vaishnava 
 shrines, and in diffusing the Vaishnava doctrines in the country. The 
 NdUyiraprahhandam {ihn60n\iSin[3nufF>§ib) contains a hundred stanzas 
 which he composed at Tirukovalur, as he was visiting that place in 
 cornpany with Poigai A'zhva'r and Pu'dat A'zhvar. 
 
 PoiGAi A'zhva'r — QundjeasLuiri^s^niT. 
 
 The history of Poigai A'zhvar like that of his compeers has been 
 disguised in myths, and it is difficult to extricate it from them. One 
 thing, however, is certain, that he was a native of Kanjipurain, and 
 ranked high as a poet. He employed his muse solely in hymning 
 the praises of Vishnu, and contributed one hundred % anzas to the 
 NdUyirapralhandam (/sneOJuiloLyffuffi^u)) . 
 
 PoiYA'MOZHI PuLAVER — QuniLiunQmn L^ uL^eOsu n. 
 
 Polyamozhi Pulavcr was a celebrated poet who flourished in the 
 reign of the king Vananga'mudi Pa'ndiyen. Of his compositions, we 
 have met with only an erotic poem in 425 stanzas, under the title of 
 Tanjeivdnan-kovei {^<i^&S)ffSi}n€m^Q&n&s>6ij), which is much valued 
 not only on account of its beautiful versification, but also because it 
 is written in illustration of the rules of Natkavira'ja Nambis' Agap- 
 pond. 
 
 The following annccdotc of Poiyamozhi Pulavcr, which we have 
 extracted from the Dinavariamdni,* though tinged with the marvel- 
 ous may be found interesting. 
 
 Poiyamozhi Pulaver being desirous of having the Madura College 
 re-established, went to the king to speak to him on the subject, but 
 finding the king in the temple lying prostrate at the feet of the image 
 of Siva and worshipping it, he addressed to him the following im- 
 promptu: — 
 
THF, TAMIL PLITARCH. il 
 
 O Piifidii/a, icho never boics thy head to any one ! Dost thou lie 
 prostrate at the feet of Andivannan (Sira), while the progenitor of 
 thy holy race the cool-beamed moon, to whose rays the lotus-fower closes, 
 and the nympheejloiver expands, is sitting on his radiant lock of hair. 
 
 The king upon this rose up and questioned hiin on the object of his 
 visit, to which he replied that he had come to beg permission for the 
 re-establishment of the Madura College. The king wishing to put to 
 the test his ability for such an undertaking, desired him to improvise 
 a verse which would cause the statues of the professors of the Col- 
 lege, which were in the temple to nod. He obeyed and improvised 
 the following verse : — 
 
 Sl. /B <5 6r/7 (? 6V' /F /7 (ST) ,05 51/ O (gO) a; (? ffl/ (? (CT) C) ^ ^ O (c (_/ G" ^ 
 
 ^iijSLL(^&)?w/]Sujs= Q ff u i-j :-ej s eh — ff^a^^ 
 
 declare, that the king of the lunar race may know,ichether I loill 
 he like one of you or not, and whether my lays iv ill equal the three 
 kinds of lays lohich ye sang in the College or not, O ye the forty- 
 nine (professors) adorned leith garlands of full -bloten flowers f 
 
 The statues thereupon nodded by way of affirmation. The king 
 afterwards conducting him to the bank of the Pottdmarei tank in 
 which the board on which the professors sat was lying plunged, bade 
 him make it float by improvising a verse ; and he then improvised 
 ^he following : — 
 
 Floatest thou awhile, the board of the Tamil poets of Madura f 
 that the great Pa'ndiyen inay know, that though there are no kings to 
 patronize poetry as in times past, yet there are p)oets even at the pre^ 
 sent time. 
 
 The board came up to the surface of the water immediately as he 
 had uttered the verse, and then sank down again. The king after hav- 
 ing such ample proofs of his abilities, nevertheless took very little no- 
 tice^of him ; and stung with the neglect he set out to go back to his 
 country. The Queen having heard of it trembled for fear that 
 his malison would ruin the king. She therefore, disguised as a 
 palanquin-bearer, bore his palanquin fur some distance, and when 
 
78 THt TAMIL ri.l'TARCII 
 
 l»e came lo know of it, he at once slopt her and wished to 
 know the cause why she had thus condescended to him. Sl>e told him 
 that her object was to pacify his wrath, and obtain from him 
 a blessing for the king. He thereupon ejaculated the following verse 
 in her praise : — 
 
 GL SH) tC ttJ /r (65 /^ iiy O i£ ff (5 "E/ O <5 ff LJ (o U O OJ /7 U vo U 
 
 Urnd (Parvali) and thou stand in equal rank; but Utna has u 
 stain i for he who shared icith her part of his body, betook himself to 
 begging, while Pa'ndiyen who pressed thee to his bosoin, reigns. 
 
 Ponmudiya'r — QunmQp'^Lunfi. 
 
 Ponmudiyar figured in the Madura College as one of the forty-nine 
 professors ; but nothing further is known concerning him. Of his 
 poetical coinpositions tlie only relic is the subjoined impromptu on 
 the Kural : — 
 
 anssfleur/D^^iTiEJSGOuiu sn&uic^iT^'<i^^Qp(^ 
 s^Smpewk^ (^pQeamu — ^m(ipssipiurr<5m 
 QJ fT esff 63T J2/ LD em essfi sarp eir w^ C?^ su err ^w su (SW) rr 
 jSniS(sirp0(ri^(^P'Sfr. 
 
 O thou adorned loith the garland of fragrant flowers ! It is said 
 that the Rural (meaning Vishnu in his incarnation as a dioarf) pro- 
 duced by Kasypa in times of yore measured the earth*; but the Kural 
 noio produced by Valluver has measured both the earth and the 
 heaven {by its treating of every thing which they contain). 
 
 Fo'cxn-^Qunaa. 
 
 Pogar was one of tlie sages of antiquity wliosc biography has mer- 
 ged into fable. He however appears to have been well versed in the 
 art of poetry, as well as that of medicine. Of his works all written 
 i;i verse. Dr. Ainslie has in his Materia Indica noticed four; viz. 
 1. Pogar Yogamdrgam {Qunan Qdja3>LDnn3,3>ih.), 2. Pogar _Ezhu- 
 nuru ((?u/T«n^ CTtfg/r^), 3. Pogar Tirumandiram (Qunan- 0(§iDih0aih)., 
 and 4. Pogar Nigandu {Qunsfr (^ascsKj), all which treat of the 
 preparations of tlie several kinds of medicines. Some think that he 
 was the same with Fo or Foiii, who introduced Buddhism into China in 
 the latter part of the first century of the Christian era, but this is rather 
 doubtful. 
 
 For the paiticiil:trf. ortliis iiivfli see Moor's MIndii I'antheon. p )86 
 
rm: ta.mil pi.utau(M. 7«J 
 
 Pu KiYA u — (cundSliLinii. 
 
 Pokiyur was one of the forty-nine professors of llie Madura C\A- 
 lege ; but nothing further is known of him, except that he was the 
 auth.M- of a stanza merely enumerating the divisions of the Kurul. 
 
 Pl'(jaxhe'noi — LjsQifii^. 
 
 Pugazhendi was a contemporary poet with Kamber and Otteiku'- 
 TEw, but he was retained at tl>e Court of the king Yaraguna Pa'ndi- 
 YEN at Madura, lie possessed a masterly talent for composing Vcjiha, n 
 kind of versification which is so difficult tliat it has been styled '■'■ the 
 tiger of poets." He wrote a poem, entitled Nalavenla ((hevGeufmun), 
 in which he has in 417 stanzas of the Vcnba metre narrated the adven- 
 tures of Nala and Damayanti, and this work has obtained for him 
 a lasting fame, as it is confessedly the most beautiful composition of 
 the kind in the Tainil kngujige. He also wi'Ote a' treatise in 71 
 stanzas, under the title of Rctna-elnirukam (@n^^mff3i!§i,sti),- con- 
 taining a specification of the metaphors to be used in poetry wheti' 
 describing the perfections of the fair sex. Another poem styled Al- 
 liarasani Mulei (jijeoeS'j^n^'nestfiLLneiso), treating of the history of the 
 Queen Alliarasa'ni, is likewise attributed to him; but it bears inter- 
 nal evidence of its spuriousness and is altogether unworthy of his 
 transcendent genius. Many anecdotes are related of Pugazhendi 
 in proof of his extraordinary wit and skill as an improvisatore, 
 and we subjoin one of them. Once when he was visiting the 
 court of Kulo'tunga Chola at Urelur, he happened to go out for a 
 walk with the king and his poet Ottaku'ter. Auveiyar, who was 
 then shting in the street with her feet stretched, withdrew one of them 
 as the king passed by her, and the other as Pugazhendi passed by her ; 
 but when she saw Ottaku'ter, who followed, she stretched them 
 both again. Ottaku'ter ofiended at the slight offered to him, asked' 
 for an explanation, upon whicli she said, " I withdrew one foot for 
 the king, because he wears the crown, and both feet for Pugazhendi, 
 because he is a great poet ; but as you are nothing but a dunce, I have 
 not withdrawn either of my feet for you, and if you are as able as 
 Pugazhendi, prove it by improvising a verse in which while praising 
 the Chola country and its king, the word " mathi'''' (id^)* shall 
 occur three times. He thereupon uttered the following stanza : — 
 
 s&retriTLriroiSL'iT(^^LbuL-i(^!a •sscmL-rrsesBrL—irQu^uanQeiar' 
 
 As the word " matJii'''' (wit) occurred only but twice in the stanza,- 
 AuvEiY'AR asked Ottaku'ter, pray where is thy other wit } but he 
 was so ashamed that he could not reply. She then addressed herself to 
 Pugazhendi and asked him to try his skill in improvising a verse m 
 
 * The word (coP) m'jan3 " the vtoov," as well as 
 
■SO Tilt TAMH. PLUTARCH. 
 
 praise ot'llic Pandiya country and its king, witii the word - mnthr' 
 should ho introduced into the hody of the verse three times, and 
 ho instantly improvised the suhjoined. 
 
 fffB'S'—Qt-fiSujs (^ffd'SetriiT ^^SBTeS LLQt—/SI iLjifiiS' t^^rrL^rr 
 
 Applauding him for his successful performance, she again address- 
 ed herself to him to improvise another verse, the first line of which 
 should begin with the word " kari''' (aff')* and the last end with the 
 word ♦' r»/a" (2.£/P)t and he thereupon uttered the following:— 
 
 Pudattazhva'R — -L^^i^nj^SuniT. 
 
 This poet was a native of Mnvalipiiram, near Sadras; but being 
 deified by the Vaishnavas to whose sect he belonged, the real parti- 
 culars of his life have been completely enveloped in fable. Of his 
 compositions, however, there is a series of one hundred stanzas which 
 now form a part of the NdlAyiraprahhandam {!?ja€0n\i3ai3uuff.f)ii). 
 
 Pu'denche'ndana'r — y^@G>?-/^^@/f. 
 
 Nothing further is known of the personal history of Pudenchenda- 
 nar than that he was the son of Sengundu'r kizha'r, one of the 
 forty-nine professors of the Madura College. He wrote a didactic 
 poem in forty stanzas, under the title of Inyanalpadii {<^e5fiuun(hnrb 
 u£i), containing an enumeration of eveiy thing which is pleasant. 
 It is ranked amongst the works which had received the approbation 
 of the College, and we subjoin a stanza from it as specimen. 
 
 fSiEjaemiLffLiesii—vunfi ^nu^eiini^^earQpi^esBssPQ^ 
 u iki s l£I &iQ ^ uJGT-iS tu n irQ u u (fl i ^1 lu n irs (^ 
 
 Pleasant it is for men to live happily together with their kindred, 
 and pleasant it is to behold thcfull-moon among the beautiful clouds ; 
 but more pleasant is the love kindly bestoioed on all by those whose aC' 
 lions arefreefrom, guilt. 
 
 * The word {ail) means both " Charcoal" and " nn Elephant." 
 
 ♦ (o.i^) as a noun Bignifies " husk ;" but at a rerb " /o spit." 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCM. 8 1 
 
 Ra'machandra Kavira'yer — ^anmffm^BseSlnntLin. 
 
 The merits of Ramaclmndra Kivviraycr as an able poet and ele- 
 gant writer of Dramas in modern times cannot be denied. He was 
 a native of Rajanelliir, in the Carnatic, but resided chiefly at Mad- 
 ras, where his high attainments had procured for him the friendship 
 and countenance of Mr. Ellis, the accomplished Orientalist. He 
 wrote the following five dramas : 1. SakunLala Vildsam {^^msjoso 
 eS'eOns'ih), 2. Pdrada Vilf'sam (una^eS'eonffit), 3. Tdrukd Vildsam 
 {^n^3>neS'sotT3'ih), 4. Iranhja Vdsagappd i^nsss^ajejnffauun), and 
 5. Rangoon-chandei Nddagam (@!jihiSn€srs-sm6S)i-(TjaL.atl:) besides an 
 ode in honor of Mr. Ellis, eulogizing his wise administration of thG 
 CoUectorate of Madras. The following stanza is reported to have 
 been addressed to the poet by Mr. Ellis. 
 
 3fi^!i^ic^m^'SS)s=siJ6\)Q&)n^Lc tun 61/(7^13 Q^ n^^^ u (^Q s^ ilj 
 
 He who skillfully plays on the lute (meaning Na'rada^, and he whd 
 is enriched with the knowledge of the elegant Tamil {meaning Kg ast\- ' 
 yer), and the thousand headed Sesha, seeing the poet'Rk'uKCiiK^DViA, 
 leho chants the praise of Skanda, the object of the praise of all, were 
 ashamed (by a consciousness of itferiority) , and quitting the earthy 
 one betook himself to the sky, another to the mountain (Pothiya), and 
 the other to the nether world. 
 
 Ra'MA NUJA KaVIRA'YER- 
 
 Of the poets who flourished at Madras in the first half of the pre- 
 sent century Ramanuja Kavirayer claims a prominent place, on ac- 
 count of his superior talents. He was Moonshee to the Rev, W, H. 
 Drew of the London Missionary Society, and proved himslf a valua- 
 ble helper to that gentleman in his Tamil studies and pursuits. When 
 Mr. Drew published the first volume of his English version of the 
 Rural in 1840, Ramanuja Kavirayer was alive, but died before the 
 second volume came out in 1852, and Mr^ Drew in the notice affix- 
 ed to the second volume mourns his death " as a loss not only to 
 himself, but also to the interests of the Tamil literature generally," 
 and adds that " his thorough knowledge of the language 5 the native 
 vigour of his mind ; his power of long continued, patient labour; his 
 delight in work; together with his manliness and integrity of charac- 
 ter so remarkable in a Hindu, made him to me a helper in my Tamil 
 studies and pursuits, whose value I could not over-estimate. But he 
 is gone ; and I shall enjoy his aid no more." He was the author of 
 an " Amplification of Parime'lazhagar's comments on the XwraZ," 
 which Mr. Drew has published with his English version of that work, 
 
 11 
 
S"^ THE TAMfL PLUTARCH. 
 
 Ra SAPPA Kavira'yer — ^arrsuud ssSniriun. 
 
 This poet was a native of Kuttdlam in the Carnatic, and is welf 
 known as the author of a popular Drama, under the title of Kultdla- 
 Kuravajiji (ff^^^e^ia^rpsuer,^), in honor of Siva in his character of 
 Kuttala Neither; as he is Worshipped at Kuttalam. Neither the date 
 of his existence, nor his personal history is forthcoming ; but that he 
 was an able dramatist may be inferred fronrv the style of his Drama, 
 which now generally serves as a model. 
 
 Re'vana'tiya'r — ^QseiK^^^uuL 
 
 Revanatiyar was connected with the learned circle of Saiva as- 
 cetics at Chillambaram, where he lived and died. He claims notice 
 as the author of a metrical lexicon of Tamil synonyms, which 
 though much briefer than Mandalapuruder's is yet better adapted 
 for memory. 
 
 SaM^ANTER <ru)U/5;J/T. 
 
 Sampanter is celebrated as one of the three champions of the 
 Saiva faith against the Jainas in the reign of the king Ku'na Pa'n- 
 DiYEN. The particulars of his life are related at great length in the 
 Tirutondsr Pw'dnam ; but with the exception of what we have here 
 extracted, the rest is too much blended with the marvellous to deserve 
 any notice. It appears that he was born of Brdhman parents of the 
 tribe of Kaxtniyer, at Shiydli, in the Carnatic. Such was the pre- 
 cocity of his genius, that while yet a child he acquired marked dis- 
 tinction as a poet, and visiting the different Saiva shrines chanted a 
 Pathigam (a poem of te» stanzas) in praise of each. About this 
 time Ku'na Pa'ndiyen embraced the Jaina leligion, and exerted his 
 utmost to establish it throughout his kingdom, but Sampanter having 
 succeeded in curing the king of a fever, which according to the le- 
 gend had baffied the drugs and spells of the Jaina priests, he not only 
 reconverted him to the Saiva religion, but at the same time instigat- 
 ed him to impale alive on the banks of the Vygai river at Madura 
 no fewer than eight thousand Jainas who had disputed with him and 
 been vanquished. Though he had always a strong predilection for 
 the ascetic life, yet in his sixteenth year upon the urgent entreaty of 
 his father, he married the daughter of Nambi^yanba'r Nambi, a Brah- 
 man of Tirunclli'ir ; but both he and his wife died on their wedding 
 day, whilst worshipping in the temple at Tirunellur. The number 
 of Pathigams he composed was 16,000, of which only 384 are now 
 extant. Amongst the lost Pathigams are reckoned one iu honor of 
 the Srtiurt shrine of Tirukkonamalci {Trincomalie ) ^ and another in 
 honor of the •Sai^ra shrine at Tiruk-kesuram (Mantotte). 
 
 m, Sanbagavadivi — ffessTus6>}tjfeS. 
 
 Sanbagavadivi, styled by way of eminence Tamil Arival or one 
 Ttersed in the Tamil language and literature, was a poetess of snpB- 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 63 
 
 tlor wit and accomplishments. Her history dive&ted of its fjibulous 
 additions is as follows : she was the daiighler of one of the maid- 
 servants {^eon^^uGuesisS'en) at the court of the king Karika'l Cno'- 
 LA, who reigned at Ureiyur. White yet a child she having recom- 
 mended herself to the notice of the king by her uncommon genius 
 for belles-lettres, was adopted into the royal family and had a splen- 
 did mansion with a retinue of attendants assigned to her. When 
 she reached the age of puberty, her fascinating beauty gained her 
 many admirers ; but she resolved not to marry any one that could 
 not overcome her in poetical contest, which every one who attempt- 
 ed failed, and she retained her solitary dignity until her twenty-fifth 
 year, exulting in her invincibility. At length having excited the in- 
 dignation of the professors of the Madura College by characterizing 
 them as a set of dunces, in one of her verses, Narkiba, the president 
 of that College, encountered her, in the disguise of a wood-seller, 
 and overcame her after a severe and prolonged contest, in which the 
 parties alternately proposed and solved in their verses a series of en- 
 igmas as dark as those of a Sphinix. All the verses in which the en- 
 igmas were proposed and solved have been preserved, and we sub- 
 join one in which the names of the twelve signs of the Zodiac are 
 concealed. 
 
 eiss.ifl&)tTL.eiiih unL^ei^iiOsniLi—etf 
 Qu>iTmjiSQ6\)iT^Q(Trf'(T^ QuetDjSujrrnQif>ew<^ 
 
 G)jgjb(^LDITQp6sB ;565r3sBrU^U3/T<sG'2Q/ 
 
 Three are found in the water (Pisces, Capr'ujorn and Cancer), three 
 in the forest (Aries, Taurus and Leo) and three in the country (Li- 
 bra, Gemini and Scorpio), a;i(i these including the maiden (Virgo), 
 the bow ( Sagittarius^, and the southern sage* (Aquarius), in all (loelve, 
 make up the year, if any one is able to understand them. 
 
 Sankabanamasiva'ier — s^isiainsui3=9(SutTiun. 
 
 Neither the date of the birth, nor the death of this poet is known -, 
 but we are certain he was alive in A. D. 1770. He was a native of 
 Tinnevelly, and prosecuted his studies under the tuition of Sa'mina- 
 DA Tambira'n, the author of the //?rtM-a?irtA:o<^M. Upon the request 
 of Marutiiappa De'ven, the Poligar of Utamalei, by whom he was 
 patronized, he wrote a commentary on Pavananti's Nannul, which 
 is admitted on all hands to be the best work of the kind. 
 
 * AoASTiYER, one of wliose names is Kumhamuni , referring to the fable ol 
 liis having been born of a water-pot, 
 
84 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 Saravanaperuma'l Aiyer — ffBeiiemuQu(miiinai ^tun. 
 
 Saravanapcrumal Aiyer was born of a Jangama family long settled 
 at TiriUanigei^ near Madras. He prosecuted his studies under the 
 eye of his father Kandappa Aiyer, who was a man of extensive 
 learning, and being endowed with great talents, he was soon able to 
 assert his superiority over the poets of his day, and to preside over 
 the Viveha-kah'ichchdlei, a Literary Institution established at Madras 
 by certain Native gentlemen for the promotion of Tamil literature. 
 The first and most prominent of his works was a commentary on the 
 Ku7'al, which he published with the te.\t in 1830 ; and the next, a 
 treatise on grammar, under the Ul\e o( lyattamil-churukkam i@ivprr)u9 
 i^5F3ii{^3,ath) ; and another on Rhetoric, under the title of Aniyiycl-ii' 
 lakkam (^^ssS\i9jjsosSsns,s,ih). He also wrote a treatise on Geogra- 
 phy, entitled Goladipikei (Qanen^iJooa), in which he exploded the 
 Puranic, and adopted the Copernican system, establishing it by quo- 
 tations from the ancient Hindu authors, especially with regard to the 
 rotundity of the earth. The latter part of his life was chiefly employ- 
 ed in revising and editing many of the Tamil classical works, which 
 having hitherto been circulated in manuscript, had been rendered 
 erroneous by the carelessness of copyists. Amongst these may be 
 mentioned the Naidatham (.stS)tT>L.^it), Ndladiydr [meois^iunh)^ Tiru- 
 vasagam {^((^sun&iih) , Tiruvilleiyddcl Purdnam {^^eBosn'jjni—ipi^un 
 6OTii>), and the moral apophthegms of the poetess Auveiyar. 
 
 Saravanamuttu — ffrreuemQp^^. 
 
 Saravanamuttu was the son of Manappuli Mudeliar of Nelloi-e, 
 in Jaffna. Being gifted with natural talents and having had very early 
 in life the advantage of pursuing his studies under the guidance of 
 the celebrated Pundit Senatiiakaya Mudeliar, he was enabled to 
 master the Tamil language and its literature, and to acquire the dis- 
 tinction of being considered as one of the best poets of the day. But 
 unhappily in 1845, when his reputation was at its zenith and much 
 was expected of him, he was hurried away to the grave in the forty- 
 third year of his age. He was a valuable contributor to the Morning 
 Star on several important questions on Grammar, and also took a part 
 in the controversy which was carried through that periodical between 
 Vedaghiri Mudeltar and others, concerning the construction of a 
 verse in the Naidatham. Ho wrote a treatise on Hindu Theology, 
 culled Yeddnlasicayamjoti {Qev^nm^siaje^Qs'n^), and translated into 
 Tamil verse the Sanskrit work on the .same subject, entitled A'tma- 
 hhoda Prakdsikai {^^u>QuiT§ui3aan^66)S). 
 
 Saravanaperuma'l Kavira'yer — ffffsusssr uQu^mirm ssSuirjuii. 
 
 Saravanapcrumal Kavirayer was born of a Ve/ala family at Nal- 
 lur, in the Carnatic. Having commenced his studies at the proper 
 ago, and mastered the art of poetry, ho became a poet at the court 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 55 
 
 or MuTTUHA WALiN-GA Se TUPATi, wlio asceiidcti tlic miisiuitl III Kam- 
 nnd in A. D. 1795. He was distinguished for liis marvellous proficiency 
 in the art of performing at one, and at the same time, eiglit difTerent 
 things ; such as dictating verses, playing at chess, counting sejjarate- 
 ly the grains of paddy and pebbles, as they were thrown on his back, 
 solving Arithmetical problems, etc. Ilis exploits being witnessed by 
 Umrutul Umka, Nabob of Madras, Ra'mavarmaRa'ja, king of Tra- 
 vancorc, Amabasimiia Maiiara'ja, king of Tanjore, and IIaja'diii 
 Ra'jasinha, kingof Kandy, procured for him great honors and rich 
 presents, fie was the author of a poem in honor of Vijaya Regu- 
 na'tha Tondiman of Pudukottei , and another in honor of Muttiru- 
 lappa Pili.ei, Minister of the Sefujmti. He also wrote many poetical 
 missives which are very much admired for their elegant diction. 
 
 Shanmug Ada's AN — ffemQps^nff&st. 
 
 This poet was well skilled in the composition of songs for the 
 Nautches ; but his songs, of which there is collection still extant, 
 though deserving of commendation for their sweetness, are very ex- 
 ceptionable on account of their immoral tendency. 
 
 Sa'mina'da De'siker — ffirL^mir^Q^QaL 
 
 Saminada Desiker was a celebrated poet who lived in Tinnevelly 
 in the early part of the eighteenth century. His parents belonged to 
 the class of Saiva Velalas, and were possessed of some competence ; 
 but he entered the Matum at Tiruvavaduturei while yet a youth, and 
 being initiated into the mysteries of the iSatra religion, passed through 
 the course of studies required for his profession, and assumed the as- 
 cetic life. A learned Tamil poet of the name of Myile'rum Peeu- 
 ma'l, who became acquainted, with him about this time, perceiving 
 that he was endowed with superior talents and feeling a great inter- 
 est in him, not only assisted him in acquiring a knowledge of the 
 Tamil grammar and poetry, but sending for a Brdhman Pandit named 
 Kanakasaba'pati Kurukkal from Sepparai, secured for him his as- 
 sistance in mastering the Sanskrit language. He continued his studies 
 for twelve years, at the end of which he displayed his abilities, by 
 writing a treatise on the Tamil grammar, under the title of lllakkana^ 
 kottu {@sOsa(Zt!&Qan^^), consisting of 130 aphorisms in metre, 
 with an explanation in prose. Upon the request of Myile'rum Peru« 
 ma'l, Ambalava'na Tambiha'n the superior of the Matam at Tiruva- 
 vaduturei, soon afterwards invested him with the office of Tambirdn, 
 under the title of Isd7ia Desiker, and appointed him to preside over 
 the I Sana Matam, belonging to his own community in Tinnevelly. 
 
 Sa'ntaIinga De'siker — ffni^eSiisQ^Qair. 
 
 Santalinga Desiker was an ascetic of the Vira Saiva- sect, who 
 jived at Turciur, in thcCarnatic, and earned for himself much renown 
 
86 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 by his high attainments both in the Vedic and profane literature. He 
 .seems to have devoted his attention chiefly to the exposition of the 
 Mystical Philosophy of tlie Hindus, and he has left no less than six 
 treatises on the subject respectively entitled Neyijuvidututhu {Qihs^Sr 
 6iv3§/T<^), Ozhiiil-odnkkam {ep'^eSGecn($s,sib)^ Vyrdkya-sadagam 
 (6G)QjDnaS±i3=^aiij). Vyrdkya-dipam {es)6uona>S\ij^uu>), KoIei-7narut.' 
 tcl [G3>nQ£otL^^f,so), and Avirodavimdiydr {^sSQnn^e^^m^iurrn), 
 all in verses of different metres. 
 
 Sa'ntalinga Kavira'yer — ^frii^&SisissseSffiJUJiT. 
 
 This poet was a native of Tandahicheri, in the Carnatic, and is 
 chiefly known as the author of an ethical poem in a series of 100 
 stanzas, under the title of Tandaleiydr-sadagam (^6Ssri_&j60iufT/T*^atb), 
 of which we here give the following specimen : — 
 
 — '■Qu(y^sSl0i^d(^ufnri(i^Q^uJ^^uL9iiSlei!r^QLDiaQs QuiBQtun 
 
 The worthy householders^ who dwell in the country blessed by the 
 sacred Tandaleiyar (a title of Siva), consider the day in which they 
 have no guest as no day : after having treated honorably and dismiss- 
 ed the respectable guest, who has visited them as a friend, they enquire 
 anxiously for virtuous men to partake of their hospitality, for the food 
 taken lohen there is no guest present, is poiso7i. Ellis. 
 
 Sa'ttana'r — fftr^^i^n. 
 
 Sattanar was one of tiie forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege. His father's name Seyirkavirivar is always prefixed to his own ; 
 but the incidents of his history cannot be ascertained. The follow- 
 ing is the impromptu which he uttered when the Kural passed the 
 College bench : — 
 
 ^0aij(cirie(^s>jn^nQp(^Qs=uL9ujQiSijQ^ujsuniT 
 QufT(r^eSlQ&)n(Lpdsu>L^6aBn—niT. 
 
 The learned tvill noiv he able to teach out of the book of the divine 
 TiRuvALLuvER, that which ought to be done, and that which ought 
 not, and men of good conduct loill follow it. 
 
 Skngkundu'rkiziia'r — Qs'ia^asr^niQifinn. 
 
 Sengkundurkizhar was one of the forty-nine professors of the Mad- 
 vuH Collrgr, dislinguibhcd hv the honorary title of Tamil-asiriyer, 
 
ti(K TAMir, I'l-urAKf rf. 87 
 
 6r Master of Tamil poetry. Nothing morf i.s kmiwii of his life, (;x- 
 co|)t that he was the author of tlic enconviastic improinptu ou the 
 Kural, which we quote lielow. 
 
 iSpiEjQan(offlLcn'^d.(^ua Qi-'ajirmn'Sisvui-^^iij 
 
 To call any one a poet upon this 6<trfh besides the divine Vallu- 
 VER, would be tike calling both the evening illumined by the moo7i, 
 and the evening shrouded in darkness, a fine evening. 
 
 SEYALu'RKOmrNCHENGKANNANA'R Qs=iU&ff- nsQa n^ (if) Qs'tSJSSssar 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col- 
 lege ; but neither his parentage, nor the history of his life is known, 
 and moreover of his compositions only the following stanza, which' 
 he uttered on the Kural, has been preserved. 
 
 (D6ii^uQu!T(r^'^ icS [fsni30<QSffl^^eoQsrr 
 
 Valluver has in Tamil ingeniougly explained tcithin the narrow 
 compass of his Kural the substance of the Vedas, that the world may 
 learn it ; hence they say that the woi'k contains whatever matter it is 
 possible to think of. 
 
 Se'kizha'r — Q^sQifiifa. 
 
 Sekizhar, called also Artmmozhitever {^i^^Gii>ni^^(Ss;€ijrr), was 
 born of a Veldla family at Kundatur, a village in one of the sub- 
 divisions of the Tonda country, denominated Puliyiir-kottam, an(i 
 was equally eminent as a poet and politician. The king Anabha'ya 
 Cho'la having heard of his abilities, made him his Prime Ministei', 
 conferring on him at the same time the title of Utiama-chola Pallet" 
 ver (&.^pu)(Is=nLQuusi>6i)euiT). While he was employed at Court, he 
 observed that the king though professedly a Saiva, yet admirihg the 
 Jivaka Chintdmani {<3sus^Rs>niLesS), an epic poem belonging fo 
 the Jainas, made it the sole object of his study. This grieved him 
 very much, and one day having found an opportunity of talking to' 
 the king on the subject, he expostulated with him on the impropriety 
 of his conduct in reading an heretical work. The king took his ex- 
 postulation in good part ; but asked him whether he could name any 
 
yd tllE TAMIL PLUtARCH. 
 
 Suica poem which possessed superior merits. He thereupon recited 
 hefore the king Najibi' s Antiidi (a poem in 100 stanzas treating 
 of the lives and action of the sixty-three Tir'utonders, or special vota- 
 ries of Siva). The king was quite pleased with it but thinking it to 
 be too concise, he desired him to enlarge it into an epic poem of as 
 great a length as the Chintdmani., under the title o{ Tirutonder Pura- 
 nam (^,!r)f,Q^nimi—ni4Qn(;asiii). With the king's permission he immedi- 
 ately left the Court and proceeding to Chillambaram took up his abode 
 in the Mandapam or open building opposite to the temple there, and 
 began writing the poem and finished it in the course of some lime. It 
 must have no doubt been a laborious task, for it consists of 3363 
 stanzas, arranged in 72 cantos- When the king heard of the com- 
 pletion of the poem, he proceeded in person to Chillambaram, and 
 having had it submitted to the judgment of a learned assembly, which 
 sanctioned it readily, he placed both the author, and the work on 
 a well caparisoned elephant, went forth in royal procession through 
 the town, and afterwards caused a copy of the poem to be engraved 
 on copper plates and deposited in the sanctuary of the temple. It ap- 
 pears that Sekizhar subsequently resigned his office of Prime Minis- 
 ter, and assuming the ascetic life remained at Chillambaram and died 
 there 
 
 Su'na'thira'yer — Q^(ev)^!inuj^. 
 
 Senathiraycr was the son of Nelleina'ther, the scion of a Veldia 
 family at Tillipally, in Jaffna, and traced back his line of ancestors 
 to the time of the Chakravartis. He commenced his studies early in 
 life, and distinguished himself as a poet of considerable attainments ; 
 but his circumstances in life not permitting him to devote himself 
 exclusively to the Muses, he betook himself to the legal profession, 
 and continued to practice as a Proctor first before tiie Provincial 
 Court, and afterwards before the District Court of Jaffna, and 
 thereby secured for himself a competency, sufficient to maintain his 
 independence. He was an intimate friend of all the Missionaries 
 in Jaffiia, and especially of the late Rev. Joseph Knight of Ncllorc, 
 and was not unacquainted with the doctrines of Christianity ; but 
 such were his prejudices in favour of Hinduism, that he died as 
 lie had lived, a Ilindu in the widest sense of the word. He is known 
 as the author of a poem, entitled Nallei Venha (ffisoeLSuCojCBsrufr), 
 which he composed in praise of the Saiva shrine at Ncllorc, and 
 likewise as one of the compilers of the Tamil Dictionary, which was 
 published by the American Missionaries in Jaffna. His death took 
 place in 1840, and a contemporary poet has commemorated that 
 event in the following quatrain : 
 
 ffi ff (CT)^ Xr ff ul? L_ (JO ^ 6OT 6?f? 6\) « ,5 S3Sr (STO) (IT;^ <? O .^ UJ 
 
fUE TAMtl, PLUtAttCH. 8d 
 
 Se NDANA'R 
 
 Seiuianar ns n^prcsidnted by himself, was a Srdhtidn of Ambel, a 
 hnvn on the banks of the Kaveri, in the Tanjorc country, and he ac- 
 quired tlie titU^ of Ubdijd kavi or the double poet, on account of his 
 skill both in Sanskrit and Tairiil poetry. Of his compositions, 
 liowevcr, there are nonC extant, save the Divakaram, a Tamil Diction- 
 ary comprising 2286 sutras in metre, divided into (en chapters. The 
 period of his existence must be placed before the sixteenth century of 
 the Christian era ; for MANDAnAPURUDER, who wrote tlic Suddmani 
 Niga?i(lu in the early part of thatcentui'y, professes to have followed 
 the Divukaram in composing his work. 
 
 StDAMBARA De'SiKkH ^^thu jjQjg^ SIT. 
 
 Sidambara Dosiker was a Saiva ascetic, who studying Under the 
 tuition of Sa'ntalinga De'siker of Tureiyur, became a proficient in 
 the art of poetry, as well as in the science of metaphysics ; and soon 
 afterwards had the distinction of being installed into the office of 
 Tamliran of the Malam at 'Tirupporur. His comments on the five 
 metaphysical treatises of his master are much esteemed ; and the 
 poem called Titupporur iannidhi^miirei {0'(!f)UQun(§n^3'^!^0(ipes)ip), 
 w'hich he wrote in praise of Skandd., who is worshipped at Tirupporur, 
 is (i.n elegant production. 
 
 Sinnatamby Pl'laver — Q iss! ear. s^ to i3u t:\e06ii a. 
 
 This poet was the son of Villavera'ya Mudeliar, one of the 
 chiefs who revised the Thesaicalamy, or Codex Jaffanensis, compiled 
 by order of (Governor Simons in 1706. His birth took place at Nellore 
 in Jaffna. His poetical talents appear to have developed themselves 
 at a very early agd ; for it is said that while yet a boy, as he was 
 playing a game with arccanuts, w ith his playmates in the street, a poet, 
 who came over from Southern India to wait on Villavara'ya Mu- 
 Deliar and to fecite before him a poem which he had composed in his 
 praise, not knowing the way to his house, enquired of the children 
 for it ; upon which Sinnatamby came forward^ and answered him in 
 the following impromptu :— ^ 
 
 ^3fi-jSLpr5s\}^inTssr eSs\)6\)surrfTajm seats 
 Qjn^s\S<o!DL-dQsn&iTss}/DLDrrih. 
 
 to, there is a Kondei tret* at the golden gate of Villavaha'ya, 
 of Nellore, whose fame is diffused every where as vividly as lighten' 
 
 Cassia Fist til a. 
 
 19 
 
9i} THK Tamil plutaRch. 
 
 tug, shower iiig down its golden flowers full of pungent anthers, and 
 affording good shade to the people with its luxuriant branches. 
 
 He was the author of a poem, entitled Kalvazheiyantddi {seoeu 
 fi!S)i^iDih^n0), consisting of a series of 100 stanzas remarkably beaii- 
 tifui both in their construction, and style. He appears to Iiave been 
 patronized by Gane'siyee, an opulent Brahman who lived at Jaffna 
 in his time, and we have the following stanza in which he has com- 
 memorated his patron : — 
 
 The damsel with protuberant bosoms and tapering neck when wound- 
 ed by the shaft of Ananga( Cupid) resembled the peahen of the mount 
 Kailei (meaning Parvati) ; but thou O Gane'sa, the prince of men ! 
 resemblest (Krishna), dancing on the extended hood of the venom- 
 ous serpent. 
 
 Sirume'da'viya'r — &s)iQu>^iTsStunn. 
 
 The name of this poet occurs as one of the forty-nine professoiis 
 of the Madura College ; but nothing is known of his personal history, 
 and there is no other relic of his poetical effusions than the following 
 impicmptu on the Kural : — 
 
 Of the number of Chapters in the Kural four pertain to the preface., 
 thirty-three treat of virtue, one of fate, seventy of wealth, and twenty- 
 five of pleasure, and such is the arrangement of Valluver's work. 
 
 Sivagna'na De'siker^ — &eij(^rreisr<x^9<siT. 
 
 Slvagnana Desiker, who was the Tambira'n of the Matam at Tir- 
 Uvavaduturei in Tinnevelly, deserves notice both as a metaphysician' 
 and poet. The date of his birth as well as that of His death has not' 
 been ascertained'; but he was contemporary with SAifKAKA Nama- 
 siva'yer, and like him prosecuted his studies under the guidance of 
 Sa'minada De'siker. Of his works the Su/>-ai't?-«<</i {^^^aeS^^^), 
 an exposition of the Tolkappiyum, d,nd \\\e Nannul Urci (f56ST@fTQ} 
 «j)£r), an exposition of the Nannul, are held in high estimation, as the 
 best helps for students in acquiring a correct knowledge of belles let- 
 tres. His Illakanavilakka-churdvali {^eoAaecsteSea a>&ff^,njeue^), a 
 critique on the lUakana-vilakkam oj Vyttiyana'tha Na'valer, is 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. J>t 
 
 very ably written; but we do not admire the spirit which dictated it^ 
 for whilst the faults of the work are exposed with excessive rigour, 
 Us merits are studiedly concealed. 
 
 SiVAPRAKa'sA De'SIKER 9<SiJUlSljjre(T^Q;S&ilT. 
 
 Sivaprakasa Desikcr was the eldest of the three sons of Kuma'ra- 
 swa'mi Panda'kam, a Jangama priest, who lived at Kanjipuram iu the 
 early part of the seventeenth century of the Clxristian era. Losing 
 his father at an early age, and whilst still pursuing his studies, he 
 went with his mother and brothers to Trinomali to settle himself 
 there ; but he shortly after set owt to TLnnevelly for the purpose 
 of perfecting himself in grammar and poetry. On his way, how- 
 ever, he was delayed at Tiruwiangalaai for a period of two years, 
 in consequence of Anna'malei Reddi, the Gramdd' hipati* , of Tiru- 
 raangalam, having prevailed on him by his entreaties to reside in a 
 Matam which he had erected there. Afterwards taking leave of An- 
 na'malei Reddi, who presented him with a sum of 300 fkons (equiv- 
 alent to .£52 \Q), lie proceeded to TionevelKy in company with his 
 brothers. When he reached Tinnevelly, hearing that Velliyambala 
 Tambikan, the head ascetic of the Saiva Matam at Sindupundurei 
 on the banks of the Tambraparni, was the best oi Tamil scholars, he 
 with his brothers presented himself before him, and asked his instruc 
 tion in grammar and poetry. The Tambiran in order to know the 
 progress he may have already made in composing verses, desired 
 bim to compose a verse beginning and ending with the letter (§) ku, 
 and having in the middle the name of Urudeiyan (Siva), upon which 
 he uttered the following off hand : — 
 
 The Tambiran was so much satisfied with the performance, that 
 he embraced him, and offering him an honorable seat, told that he 
 did not require any further instruction, but tliat he would gladly teach 
 his brothers. When his brothers had finished their course of studies, 
 he offered the 300 pons which he had to the Tambiran as a rumu- 
 neration for his trouble, but this offer was declined. The Tam- 
 biran only required in return that he should go to Trichendur, 
 and by his poetry defeat and put to shame a poet, who had set 
 himself up there as the Tambiran's rival, and had lampooned 
 him. He gladly undertook the task and repaired to Trichendur 
 as required, and found the poet in the temple there. No sooner had 
 the object of his visit been reported to the poet than he challenged 
 
 The head of the village. 
 
98 THE TAMIL PL.L"fAncn. 
 
 him to a contest, in which each was to improvise thirty Yamakama 
 stanzas (a kind of stanza consisting of four lines beginning with the 
 same word but having a different sense in each lino) within a given 
 time, and that the vanquished was to become the slave of the victor. 
 The clialienge being accepted, they proceeded to the trial of their skill, 
 but the poet failing delivered himself over as a slave to his competitor, 
 who thereupon conducted him to Sindupunturei, and consigned him 
 to the Tamhiran. The Tambiran was so much gratified with the sue- 
 cess of Sivaprakasa Desiker, that unwilling to part with him, he en- 
 deavored to make him his associate in the Matam at Sindupunturei ; but 
 Sivaprakasa Desiker preferring to live by himself in solitary dignity 
 took his farewell of the Tambiran and returned to his own Matam 
 at Tirumangalam. The fame of his superior attainments soon 
 spread over the country, and all persons wishing to avail them« 
 selves of his instruction flocked to him from all parts. His time in 
 the latter part of his life appears to have been wholly engrossed in 
 philosophical and metaphysical researches, and in imparting their re- 
 sult to the public by means of a series of poetical treatises. His use- 
 ful career was howevor cut short by death, which occurred at NaU 
 kattur in the thirty-second year of his age, as he was on a visitation 
 to the Matam there. It is said that he was a staunch defender of 
 celibacy, and that when his friend Anna'malei Reddi proposed to 
 him a marriage, he disdainfully rejected the proposal observing, that 
 he would rather be possessed of a devil than be possessed of a wife. 
 Sivaprakasa Desiker was a prolific writer, and the following works 
 all which are written in well measured poetry, may be mentioned aa 
 his productions : 
 
 1. Prahulinga Lila, iSai^e^&i&deus^. 
 
 2. Tirukuva Puranam, ^i^ssnajuqansssni. 
 
 3. Sittaiidha Sikdmajii, <^0^ni^^a>niiiesBP. 
 
 4. Veda'nta Sudu'maniy Goj^nih^ gt_/TU36?55p. 
 
 5. Sivaprakasa Vikdsam, ^enuiSaans^eS^ans-ib. 
 
 6. Sivana'ma Mahimei, ^eu[inu)U)St>s>U). 
 
 7. Tarkaparipdsheiy ^frsaufPu/reaja^. 
 
 8. Shonasaila Mdlei, CsF/recde^a^eOinnsLSD. 
 
 9. Veiigkai Kalambagmn, CsuBeoaiaeOtiuati, 
 
 10. Vengkai Kovei, G€ijai6s>aaQsn&s>eij. 
 
 11. Vengkai Uld, Gfii/ZBewaajsv/r. 
 
 12. Vengkai Alangkfiram, Geuikie^aujediianaii. 
 
 13. Tiruchendil Antddi, ^^s^Qfffh^eoib^n^. 
 
 14. Satdmani Mdlei, ff^ai€ssf'iDnQ£0. 
 
 15. Na'lver Na'nmani Ma'lciy msoeua {h(]^u:€<sSiL(Jf>\&>. 
 
 16. Niranjana Ma'Iei, i^o^ffemttneiev. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCIJ. 93 
 
 17. Kailala Ma lei, 6S)3^^ffOiDneiJiO. 
 
 18. Abishcsra Ma'lci, ^■SCet^sLdneiso. 
 
 19. Ishlaliiiga Fvrungkaxhincdil, @a^t_6\?/Bau Qu^!k'(ti^ecQib 
 
 If eo. 
 20. hhinJinga Kunniglazhinodil, Qei^L.eS'iBiaa^^iB&f^'^i^QihUf.ei), 
 31. Nanncri, [hd5tG6!yfi$. 
 
 Of tliese the Nos. 1 and 2 are epic poems, one treating of the IiIst 
 tury of Alhvna Prabhu, the founder of the Jangavia sect and the 
 other of the legends of the Saiva fane at Tirukkuvai. The Nos 3, 
 4, 5, 6 and 7 treat of the Hindu system of Meta{)hysical philosoj)hy, 
 and the Nos. 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of 
 the praise of certain Saiva shrines, while the No. 21 contains a series* 
 of moral apothegms, from which we quote below a few as specimen, 
 
 QufBiusuii^ibQiBijdjQunp iSlroirQ/BirdjsessrQsrrefr 
 Qir)if!tiSissB(Lp^nQ>jQ!issis — Q^ifluSlLpnuj 
 insmQiSesdluJijeo en(7^i^L9p(Sij^ue3)u4 
 
 GuffrSli^ijssrrdi^m L3pij^uJni^fl!GjQ(caj 
 
 Qsuiij(^(SS)a^ffdSipunn eSJapLSlQiunii — ^lEJsea 
 S(oS)pii9(rF)'2tsni'iai SQ^^n^eoQ 
 €sBiss)piiSQ'2eris(^Qmesflmg^, 
 
 The worthiffeel the griefs of others as their oion griefs as butter 
 meltcth in the fire; thus., thou who art ornamented with choice jew- 
 els ! the pain caused to a limb by a loQal disorder the eye beholds and 
 weeps. 
 
 The truly wise hasten to sustain the griefs sustained by others and 
 io protect them courageously, O thou who art adorned by polished jew-, 
 els ! thus, the arm receives on itself and sustains the blow of the club 
 ivhicli the body looiild otherwise sustain' 
 
 The worthy think not of supplying their own wants, but endeavoxir 
 io supply the pressing xva7its of others ; thus the moon, heeding not 
 the removal of the darkness of its own spots, chaseth away the dark- 
 ness which flleth the world. Elljs. 
 
 Sivapraka'sa Desiker was also the author of three different pancgyv 
 rics on Ba'laya'nandaSwa'mi, who was his Guru or spiritual instruc- 
 tor, besides a hymn on each of the Saiva shrines in southern India, 
 which were commemorated in the chants of Apper, Sundarer and 
 Sampax^ter in ancient times. He undertook to perfect the Kdlatti 
 
Oi THE Tamil rLiTAncH. 
 
 Purdnam {a>nen a^0u\an€mih), which his brother Karunaipraka sa 
 DEziKERhad left unfinished ; but he died before lie could execute liis 
 task. 
 
 This eminent philosopher is known as the author of a monotheisti- 
 cal treatise bearing his own name, and in which he has attacked and 
 exposed tlic Hindu religion, and its concomitant superstitions. TJie 
 era of his existence is variously stated ; but it cannot be fi.xed ants'- 
 rior to the incursion of the Muhamnicdans into the Dekkan, as he al- 
 ludes to their creed in his treatise. 
 
 As a specimen of the style and tenets of Sivavakiyar, we subjoin 
 the five following stanzas, and th.cir English translation by the late 
 JMr. Ellis. 
 
 L^saei](iT,& autreotuiassir (^Lpsui^O^^js'^esr 
 ^6a!iri—iT(2sfrssf^0UL3i—LD^ih^6saTiTii^(^rTopffs&r 
 aeasri—QsnuSjbOjDUJeijQLDsir^ ensQlaj®uu^&)'2e^QiU, 
 
 wnea!rLLjmsaPiOir&)&)inLeu^^(oe\)uSles)psQ/^iT 
 
 ^esiiTiuesTesroijeo&SjjiTiLi &ei:u^iki3&rQ<s^n&inih. 
 
 ^rflaJLDS\)60suir^Loeoe\)suuj^u}6060isiJuLjpisi 
 !9S(T^etaLDQsuem6aLDQ,^i}>eiaLDiLiiii sL^i^rSskpsfrrresard) 
 
 ^ifliuQpiasi—ii^rSekp ^ir^ir^srQLPr 
 
 arT^sunLSafretDpsLhiS i^L^sihOufTekO(6V)B!rp&}(o&)iT 
 ffn^Qu^Quon^Qmp ^GSTenwQujasrioar^meaLDQiu. 
 
 apih^unioQp'^LjSiT setsi—i^QeLemQesBTiLiCcmnnLi'Sn 
 
 Ga ijf.i^Qsunff<a!ii—uS6!rfliLi^ni^Lj^LDjriMi^stT 
 eSpii^QuneaiLcfTGsB '—.[flesftuLSpuu^lev'^Qujf 
 
 Formerly hoio many /lowers have I gathered and scattered. 
 Jloio many prayers have I repeated in a vain ivorship 7 
 While yet in the prime of my life, how much water hacc 1 poured 
 out ? 
 
a»HE T;tMIJ PhlTAfrCH. 95f 
 
 And, Jiwreover, how often have I encompassed the holy places of 
 Sivcn, 
 
 This I have left off, for the wise who know the true God, the Lord 
 of heavenly beings. 
 
 Believe not the Idol of the temples aj)parent to the eyes to he God, 
 7wr lift up to it their hands. 
 
 While taking tip the water and throicing it again into the tcater 
 (in performing the sandhya and other rites) what is the ohjcct on 
 which you think J 
 
 On tvhatsoever you think you have throivn all the toater vainly : 
 
 Think on the root, think on the seed, and on the hejK^t arising from 
 that seed ; 
 
 Whe7i you arr thus ahle to think, yoximay approach the feet of God. 
 
 It is not Ari, it is not Aren, it is ?iot Aycn ; 
 
 Far beyond the black (the colour of Vishnu) the ichite (the colour 
 of Siven) or the red (the colour of Brahm-a) soars the everlasting 
 cause ; 
 
 It is not great, it is not small, neither is it male nor female : 
 
 Beyond every state of corpo-real being it is farther, farther, and 
 farther still. 
 
 What, O wretch, is caste 1 is not water an accumuJafidn of fluid par- 
 ticles ? 
 
 Are not the five elements mid the five senses one 7 
 
 Are not the several ornaments for the neck, the breast, and the feet 
 equally gold ? 
 
 What then is the peculiar quality supposed to result from difference 
 in caste ? 
 
 As milk once drctivn cannot again enter the udder, nor butter churn- 
 ed be recombined with milk ; 
 
 As sound cannot be produced from a broken conch, nor the life be 
 restored to its body; 
 
 As a decayed leaf and a fallen flower cannot he reuriited to the 
 parent tree ; 
 
 So' a mem once dead is subject to no future birth. 
 
 Sinivasakar was a Brahman poet, who flourished in the Ramnarr 
 country. He is celebrated as the composer of a collection of Nautck 
 songs, much admired for their melody. Neither the time of his birtlv 
 nor death is known; but he appears to have been alive in the begin- 
 ning of the present century, enjoying the patronage of Vellei Mirdh- 
 PoLiGAR of Sherewele, who was hanged for rebellion against the" 
 English Government in A. D. 1801. 
 
 Si'TTALEICHA'TTANA'R ^^^'2sO<^.?-/7/-^(OT)/f. 
 
 This poet was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura Col-- 
 lege. It is related that having been in the habit of striking his head' 
 
96 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 with his stylus, whenever he found any fault in the woi-ks submitted 
 by their authors to the judgment of the College bench, he brought on 
 ft headache which tormented him nil his life : hence his fellow pro- 
 fessor Marutuven Ta'motharana'r while applauding the Kiiral, 
 jocosely observed, that other people got rid off their headache by smell- 
 ing the salt produced from the stalk of the Sindil* and the sliced dry 
 ginger mixed with honey ; but Sitaleichattanar got rid of his head- 
 ache, by hearing the Kural recited, because it contained no faults. 
 The following is the impromptu which he uttered in praise of tliG 
 Kural : — 
 
 Of. \h (ip S 3r OP ^ ^ l8 Qg (^sOsni^LLj QpUJiDITiSj 5 
 
 unQp<s^pQ^n<su(3!r(^Sij{rQfiuuneo. 
 The three parts (of the Kural) tomposed by VALHtvF.R, dre edch a 
 garland on the crowns of the three kings (Chera, Chola and Pandiya', 
 who are respectively possessed of the thi'ec mountains Kolli, Neri and 
 Pothiya),/Ae three countries (Chei'a, Chola and Pandiya), the three 
 rivers, (Porunai, Caveri and Vygai), the three cities (Karur, Ureiyur 
 and Madura), the three kinds of drxims (Mangala-murasu, Vettimura- 
 su and Kodei-murasu) the three dialects of Tamil (colloquial, poetical 
 and dramatid), the three hannei's (Vitkodi, Pulikodi and iMinakodi), and 
 the three horses (Kanavattam, Padalam and Koram). 
 
 SUBRAHMANYA Ve'DIYER 3fU iSlj-msssBiuQeu^lUI^. 
 
 This poet was a member of a Bi'ahman family at ^Zrttr Tiunevelhj-, 
 In the Carnatic. The time of his bifth, as well as that of his death 
 is not known ; but he was contemporary with Samina'da Tambiran, 
 who makes honorable mention of him in his Introduction to the lllak- 
 kanakottu. He wrote the Prayogd-Vivegam (.i3iQiins6S>(S<i)jSih)i a 
 treatise highly esteemed on account of its being a great help in tho 
 composition of poems* 
 
 SuNO AKElt — -^ k^nn. 
 Sundarer was a contemporary of Apper and SajipAnter and like 
 Ihem a poet, as well as a zealous champion for the Saiva faith against 
 Ihe Jainas. His real name was Namhiya'rurer, which he afterwards 
 changed for that of Sundarer. He was born of a Brahman family 
 of the Adi Saica sect at Tirunavahir j in the Carnatic. Whilst yet 
 t\ child, the king NarasinghAmuneiyer with the consent of his parents, 
 took him into his family and adopted him, giving him a good educa- 
 tion in all branches of learning. When he came of age, his fathei* 
 by the kings command negotiated a marriage for him with the 
 daughter of a Bralunan at Puttur ; but just on the day fixed for its 
 celebration he broke off tlie match, and assuming the ascetic life vis- 
 ited the different Siva fanes in Southern India, and hymned their praises 
 
 Mcniapermum cnrdifolium. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 97 
 
 m a series of 37,000 Pathigatns, cacli consisting of ten stanzas. It is 
 liowevcr certain that he did not preserve continence which is mani- 
 fest from his amorous intrigues with the two courtezans Paravei and 
 Sangkili as related in the Tirutonder Purdnam. He died at Tiruvanji, 
 in tlie Chera country, in the eighteenth year of his age, whilst he was 
 visiting a temple there in company with the king Che'raman Peru- 
 man, whose friendship he enjoyed. In our opinion as the date given 
 in the Cholapurva Patayarn for the accession of Che'rama N Peru- 
 man seems to admit of no douht, we may therefore place the pe- 
 riod of the existence of Sundarcr and his two fellow Champions in 
 the fifth century of the Christian era for a certainty and thereby clear 
 it from the monstrous chronology of the Puranas. 
 
 Su'DIKODUTTA Na'CHIYA'R @if <lisO«/T®/^/5;7uJi©aJ/7/f. 
 
 Sudikodutta Nachiyar, otherwise called A'nddl, was the poetess who 
 composed the poems called TirujJdvei (^(^uuTgooj), and Tirumozhi 
 (^t5(?(X)iTL^) , consisting of 173 stanzas in praise of Vishiiu, and which 
 now form apart of the NAldyiraprabhandam {!hnedn\i9a{3nu^s5\h). Her 
 parentage is not known ; but if we may accept as facts that which ap- 
 pears not improbable in her legend, she was a foundling brought up 
 by a Vaishnava devotee at Villiputtur, and having even from her 
 childhood become an enthusiast in the faith of her foster-father, after 
 she had passed her teens she proceeded to Tirupati, and consecrat- 
 ed herself to Vishnu, who is worshipped there. 
 
 Tandi A'siriyek — ^essn^(Lin9tflajiT. 
 
 Tandi A'siriyer was one of the poets who flourished at the Court 
 of Bho'ja, king o^ Dhdrapvram^ in the twelfth century of the Christiau 
 era. As he was skilled both in the Sanskrit and Tamil poetry, he 
 obtained the title of XJbaya Kavi or a poet in two languages ; and it is 
 said that he ranked foremost of all the poets of his day, except Kali- 
 da'sa. Of his works, we have two treatises, one in Sanskrit, entitled 
 Kdvyadersana {sneSiiuajiBsFesrib), and the other in Tamil, under the 
 name of ^/ang-itaram {j^eOiasnaih)^ both which treat of poetical 
 tropes and figures. 
 
 Tatvara'YER — ^^euunuja. 
 
 Tatvarayer was an eminent poet and metaphysician, born of a 
 Brahman family of the Ma'dhavachdrya sect at Vira, in the Carna- 
 tic, sometime in the sixteenth century of the Christian era. Hav- 
 ing very early completed his coui'se of studies in Sanskrit and 
 Tamil in his own village, he assumed the ascetic life at the same 
 time with Sva'rupa'nander, who was his kinsman as well as fellow- 
 student. The young men then desirous of having themselves initiat- 
 ed into the mysteries of Saivaism proposed to go in search of a Guru 
 or teacher ; but they agreed before starting, that he who succeeded 
 in his undertaking, should become the Guru of the one who failed. 
 Tatvarayer went towards the north, and Sva'rupa'nander towards the 
 13 
 
98 THt XAMtl, PLUTAhCH. 
 
 south. Tatvarayer lulled m fi-mling a Guru; but Sva'rupa NANDEKwas 
 fortunate enough to find one in the person of Sivapraka'ser, a Saiva 
 recluse who lived in a thicket at Kovattam, and according to the agree- 
 rnent Tatvarayer became the disciple of Sva'kupa'nander. As a poet 
 Tatvarayer excelled his master, and hence the la^er employed him 
 in versifying the substance of the Vedanta ixnd Saiuff Sastras. The 
 following is a list of the works which he composed, viz. 
 
 1. SivapraMsa Venhd^6iiu\3a&n^Qeu^Uir. 
 
 2. Tatvimirtam, Si^evavSln^lh. 
 
 3. Tiruttdldttu, ^(fJ^^n-eU/Ttl®. 
 
 4. Pilltittirundmam, lSenQen0^,iriihninh, ^ 
 0. Vtnhdvantdii, Geue&ru/Teu/fe^fT^. 
 
 6. KalitUireiyantddi, 3>eS'^^es)ipiuni^(1^. 
 
 7. Sin7iapu Venbd, <#6Sl637iJyGaj€CTU/T. 
 
 8. Tasdngam, ^ffnibsih . 
 
 9. IrrctUimani Malei, @ailes)L.iDe!!sPu)nei£0. 
 1*0. Mummani , Konai, (ipihLDC!^a>Qanes)6xj. 
 
 11. jydnviani Mdlti^ /B(T65xli)635f £fln'6LSW. 
 
 12. Tiruvadi Mdtei, ^(§siJif.LC>n6i£):>. 
 
 13. Gndnarinodan Kulamhagam, 0/T6Cl6iP(J^^65r<S6\)tbu6Bii). 
 
 14. Uld^ s.6\)n. 
 
 15. Siledei Uld, ^Qe06S)l-iL\60n. 
 
 16. Jyenjuvidvdulu, Glh§^Sr6^Q§jj§l. 
 
 17. Kalimadel, seS>ijDt—60. 
 
 18. 'Ignaivadcipparani, ^i^&Si^-QjeSi^uuaesi^. 
 
 19. Mogavadcipparani., Ql£in&eu&Si§uunosS. 
 
 20. Amirtasdra Venbd, ^uSln^ffnaOen^Ssiutr. 
 
 21. Tiruvarudkazhen Mdlei, 0'(§6Vi§tLs>lfi&s\LC)n6ie9. 
 
 22. Poti Mdlei, Qun^rS'iDireiso. 
 
 23. Pugadcki Mdlei, L|<5ip##U)r76i50. 
 
 24. Sasitarnapothamy ^^QjneSlSlQurr^lby 
 
 25. Peruntirattu, Qud^i^aCiS. 
 
 26. Kuruntirattu, ^^JJ/B^ffll®. 
 
 Ta'ndavamu'rti — jSacsarL-ei.'^ff^0. 
 
 Tandavamurti was a Saiva ascetic who obtained considerable ropu^ 
 tation by his skill in the Sanskrit and Tamil languages, and their 
 respective literature. In the latter part of his life he devoted his at- 
 tention entirely to metaphysical researches and wrote a work on the 
 subject, entitlod Kaivali/a-navanitam ^estseuffOiuihoji^itb), consisting 
 of 293 stanzas. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 99 
 
 Ta'yuma'nater — jsfriLjLDtr (1ST SUIT. 
 
 Tayuma'naver was born at Trichin<ipoly, in the €arnalic about 
 150 years ago. His father Kediliyappa Ph-lei belonged to the 
 Veldla caste, and was Samprati or accountant to the king Vijaya 
 Regiiunatha Chokalinga Naya'ker. Having through the endeav- 
 ours of his father skilled himself in the Sanskrit and Tamil lan- 
 guages, he devoted his attention to the Hindu Philosophy, and under 
 the guidance of a famous Chiru of the name of Maunade'siker, soon 
 -obtained a knowlodge of its esoteric doctrines. From his earliest 
 years he had a predilection for a religious life ; but on the death of 
 his father he was prevailed upoii by the king's importunity to accept 
 the Sampratiship, and employ himself at the Court. He however did 
 not continue lonw in his office ; for when on the death of the king, the 
 queen conceiving a .criminal passion for him endeavoured to entice 
 him, he fled from her territory, and took up his residence in the Ram- 
 nad country. Some time afterwards he entered into marriage with a 
 female of his own class, but she dying after giving birth to her first 
 child, he assumed the habit of a half-naked Sanniyasi, and led a 
 strolling life until his death ; visiting successively the Saiva shrines 
 throughout Southern India, and hymning their praises. 
 
 As a philosopher Tayumanaver is held in great esteem by the fol- 
 lowers of the pantheistical school, and the doctrines which he held 
 respecting God and the universe may be summed up in the following 
 lines of Pope : — 
 
 ^' All are but. parts (^f one stupendous whole. 
 Whose body Nature is, and God the soul ; 
 Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze. 
 Glomes in the stars, and blossoms' in the trees. 
 Lives through all life, extends through all extent. 
 Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 
 
 As a poet, he certainly claims an undisputed pre-eminence over all 
 his contemporaries. His spiritual songs, of which a collection con- 
 sisting of 1453 stanzas of various metres was published at Madras itj 
 1836, afford ample proof of his superior talents ; for there are scarce- 
 ly any of the kind in Tamil to equal them in sublimity of style. 
 
 TIRUMANGAI A'.zhva'r — ^(T^wmxssiSiunifiSiJ nfr- 
 
 This poet was a native of Trivalur., and the Vaishnavas venerate 
 him as one of the twelve A'zhvdrs, who was the foremost in promoting 
 the interests of their sect, in opposition to the Saivas and Jainaa. 
 His father Nila held the post of Senopati or genoralismo of the Cho.- 
 Ja army, and he himself was viceroy of a district ; but failing to pay 
 the tribute, and resisting the force which the king had sent to compel 
 payment, he was deprived of his vice-regal authority, and left desti- 
 tute, upon which he turned out a freebooter, but robbing only those 
 who hud not the Vaishnava marks on their foreheads. He obtained 
 f\\v U[\*: <A' N'ltlinriprriiwoJ \\o\n ih(: f^klU which he di^j^luycd in the 
 
100 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 composition of the four kinds of poems*, and it is said that when 
 SAMPANTERjthe famous champion of the Saivasecl, disputed his right 
 to the title he proved himself worthy of it to his satisfaction. His 
 contribution to the Ndldyiraprabhandam (ihnedniiS'niSauk^ih), con- 
 sists of 1253 stanzas, in which he has not only eulogized Vishnu, but 
 has likewise explained the esoteric doctrines of his sect. 
 
 TiRUMAZHlSHAl A'ZHVA'R — ^Q^wi^esifftun^eunn. 
 
 The history of Tirumazhishai A'zhva'r, who is reckoned as one of 
 the twelve A'zhvars like the preceeding, has been altogether render- 
 ed a myth. This much however may be certain, that he was a found- 
 ling who was brought up in a Veda family at Tirumazhishax. Hav- 
 mg enthusiastically wedded himself to the Vaislmava faith in his 
 youth, he continued a rancorous opponent to the Saivas throughout 
 his life, and by his skill in polemics made many proselytes amongst 
 them. He appears to have been a poet of superior talents, in proof 
 of which may be mentioned his contribution of 206 stanzas to the 
 Ndldyiraprabhandam imeoa\i$n\3auihf,tii) in praise of Vishnu. 
 
 TiRUJVIU'LER ^(r^Qp6\)(T. 
 
 Little more is known of Tirumuler than that he was a Saiva ascet- 
 ic and philosopher, contemporary with Agastiyer, and like him ex- 
 erted himself in diffusing the worship of Siva amongst the Tamils. 
 All that is related of him in the Tirutonder Puranam, in the charac- 
 ter of one of the sixty-three special votaries of Sica, is manifestly 
 fabulous, except that he was a cow-herd at Sdtanur, in the Carnatic, 
 previous to his assuming the ascetic life, and establishing himself in 
 the Saiva fane at Tiruvavaduturai. Dr. Ainslee notices a medical 
 treatise of Tirumuler under the title of Tirumuler Vytia Vdgadam 
 {^^(PoOiTcSiSij^0>aj6uns,uib) ; but he is chiefly celebrated for his Tir- 
 umulamandiram {^tf^^soiD/k^nih), a voluminous work containing an 
 exposition of the tenets of the Saiva religion, especially with refer- 
 ence to the four different forms of worship, as enjoined in the A'ga- 
 mas. In the following two stanzas which we quote from it, the read- 
 er will seethe striking coincidence between the doctrine which they 
 inculcate, and that of the Bible: — 
 
 * Sue Rotler's Tamil and English Dictionary' under the word «rf. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTAHCH 101 
 
 The ignorant think that God and love arc different; none knows that God and 
 lore are the saine ; did all men know that God and love were the same, they 
 would dwell together in jieuce, considering love as God. Compare, J . John, i v. Itj. 
 
 To those of soft hearts, tchosc minds are incited htj divine love, although their 
 fltsh be cut off their bones used as fuel, and their vtoisturc dried up by wast- 
 ing in the golden fame, and to those alone it is not forbidden to approach the 
 God, who is the golden jcicel of inij suul. (Jonnjare 1. Cor. xiii. 1 — 3. 
 
 TlKUNI'LAKANDA Ya'ZHPA'NER- 
 
 luniMuut 
 
 Tirunilakanda Yazhpanar was a minstrel who flourished at Eruk- 
 kaltamjpuliyur, in the Carnatic, during the reign of Kuna Pa>'diy£n. 
 The traditions respecting him are tinged with table ; but there is no 
 doubt that he was well skilled in his profession and being a zealous 
 votary of Sica, continued all his life in composing verses in praise 
 of his favorite god, and singing them to the lute. It is said that as he 
 went to Madura to exhibit his performance in the temple there, the 
 Brdhmans at first would not take any notice of him ; but that when 
 he strung his lute and drew forth a few strains, they were so en- 
 raptured that they presented him a seat on a golden board, and re- 
 warded him most munificiently. He afterwards repaired to Shiyal- 
 ly and joining Sampanter spent the remainder of his days with him. 
 
 TiRUPA'N A'zhva'r — ^(T^uunt^t^sunn. 
 
 Tirupa'n A'zhva'r is celebrated equally as a poet, and as one of 
 the twelve Azhvdrs or special votaries of Vishnu. When we strip 
 his legend of its disguise, it would appear that his mother having ex- 
 posed him in a corn-field at Ureiyur soon after his birth, he was 
 found and adopted by a Pa'nen or minstrel, whose profession he after- 
 wards followed. His poetical compositions are not forthcoming at 
 present, except the stanzas which he contributed to the Ndldyiraprah- 
 handam {m6\)nti3a[3nufh3,\h)., pourtraying the beauties of Vishnu 
 from foot to head. 
 
 TlRUVALLUVER — ^(7^suerr(ef^e]j IT. 
 
 Tiruvalluver deservedly ranks foremost among the poets and 
 moralists of India ; for he has had no superior or equal in either char- 
 acter. Some place the date of his existence in the third or fourth 
 and others in the eighth or ninth century of the Christian era, but 
 the last is generally considered as most probable. All accounts con- 
 cur in representing him as the offspring of a Brahman by a Pariah 
 woman, brought up by a VaUuven* at Mailapur, near Madras, who 
 had found him exposed in an lllippe grove in his neighbourhood. It 
 is not known who directed his studies ; but we are told that while yet 
 a youth, he had acquired so great a reputation for learning that Ma e- 
 
 A priest of the Pariah tribe. 
 
iMi rut; TAMIL rLUTARCU. 
 
 OASAGAYEN, a weullliv farmer who lived at Kaveripakam, did not dis- 
 dain to bestow on him the hand ofliis only daughter named Va'suki, 
 and besides the highest personages in the place felt a pride in the en- 
 ioyment of his friendship, fie, however, appears to have pursued a 
 quiet and unobstrusive course of life, working at the loom for subsis- 
 tence as the other Puriahs did until he was prevailed upon by his 
 friends to take up the gauntlet against tlie professors of the Madura 
 College, who had arrogantly defied all other men of learning in the 
 country and claimed all literciry honors to themselves. In order to hum- 
 ble the pride of the professors, he wrote an ethical poem, under the 
 title oC Kural .((^nosir), and repairing to the College asked them to 
 review it as judges of poetical composition, that he may have a 
 seat on their College bench in case it was approved. The pro- 
 fessors at first scorned at the idea of a Pariah-born poet ofiering him- 
 self as a competitor for a seat with them, but afterwards when he 
 drew them into a contest and comj)leteIy vanquished them, they not 
 only approved his work and gave hijn the desired seat, but also con- 
 ferred on him several honorary titles, such as, De'ivapulaver (G^iueju 
 L/S0Q7/T), the divine poet, Mudelpdcaler ((Lp^n)un6ii6))n), the first of poets, 
 rerunnvelc7' [Guij^mneueop.), the great poet, etc. A legend would 
 liave it that the professors were so sensible of their discomfiture, that 
 unable to survive it, they all drowned themselves in the pond in the 
 neighbourhood of the College ; but this is not confirmed by other ac- 
 counts. Nothing further is known of Tiruvalluver which can be re- 
 lied upon, excepting that some time after his return to Mailapur, he 
 was visited with a severe domestic calamity by the death of his wife 
 to whom he was tenderly attached and It so deeply atfected his mind 
 that secluding himself from society, he devoted the remainder of his 
 life to religious contemplation. It is said that while lying sleepless 
 and agitated, on the night following his wife's death, he ejaculated 
 extempore the following verse : 
 
 Qtsusir^t^arQuiissTasaieaBfl'^Esar. 
 
 When I have lost a woman 7vho excelled in the knowledge of house- 
 2vijert/, who performed rightly all domestic duties, who never trans- 
 gressed my word or my door, who chafed my limbs and never slumber- 
 ing until I slept, arose before 1 awoke ; Alas! Alas ! How can my 
 eyes again know sleep ! *. 
 
 The time of his death is uncertain ; but a tradition would have it 
 that when he died his body was according to his express desire ex- 
 posed in the open air outside the town to be devoured by crows. 
 
 It is dillicult to judge from the tenor of his Rural to what sect he 
 belonged; for he has entirely avoided in the work every thing that 
 
 ' ??oe Ellis' Kuriil, p. 168. 
 
THK TAMII, I'LUTARCH. Hf.i 
 
 savours of sectariauisnv in order to liarmoni/.e the sivflVages of all thu 
 sects. The Jainas, howovtn*, claim liim to belong to tht'ir sect from 
 his having used in one of his disticlis in praise of God the epithet 
 Andanan (^/B^sjstsToisf), which is appUcablc to Arha' r^^s,^), the ob- 
 ject of their worsliip. 
 
 Independent of the Ki/rdI, we have no other compositions of Tiru- 
 valluver. The physiological work, entitled Gnanavettiijan {Qn^s^Gei) 
 iltjuufTosi), which is commonly ascribed to him, appears to havs bucu 
 written by some person long after his time ; for the author, though Ik; 
 assumes the title of Tirinalkiver ;fnd speaks in liis character in the 
 body of the work, yet betrays the disguise in one of the introductory 
 stanzas, thus : 
 
 Invoking the spotless one wJiom the holy Valluva has revealed in 
 his incomparable Veda as clear as the light of the sun and mooii, and 
 by the grace of the damsel Ambigai (Parvati), toho delights the 
 heart, I shall compose the Gndna Vettiyan. 
 
 The Rural was first brought to the notice of the European literati 
 by Father Beschi in the Shen Tamil Grammar, which he published in 
 1730, and some portions of it have since been translated into Latin, 
 German and English languages. We subjoin the various opinions 
 of the Tamil scholars amongst Europeans on its merits. 
 
 The Rural " stands confessed; even to the present day, to be the 
 best and chief of all compositions in the polished dialect." Taylor's 
 Oriental Historical Manuscripts, Vol. 1. p. 177. 
 
 " Though more than fifteen hundred years oldj this rare collection 
 of precepts, conveyed in the style of unequalled poetry, has lost none 
 of Its original favour among the people. In one hundred and thirty- 
 three chapters it treats of almost every variety of subjects pertain- 
 ing to the relations and duties of life, forming a text-book of indisputa- 
 ble authority." Ward's India and the Hindus, p. 135. 
 
 " The Rural of Tiruvalluver is a poetic work on morals, of great 
 merit as a literary performance, and highly esteemed among the 
 Tamil natives, for the beauty of its language, and the truth of its 
 sentiments." Hoole^s Personal Narative of a Mission to the South of 
 India." Part ii. p. 311. 
 
 " It is called the first of works, from which, whether for thought or 
 language, there is no appeal.'' Drew's Preface to the -K'uraZ, Vol. 1. 
 p. 2. 
 
 " Nothing certainly in the whole compass of human language can 
 equal the force and terseness of the sententious distlchs in which 
 the author conveys the lessons of wisdom he utters." Peecival's 
 Land of the Veda, p. 110. 
 
 " The Rural of Tiruvalluver, a work consisting of 1333 distichs, or 
 
104 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 poetical aphorisms, on almost every subject connected with morals 
 and political economy, and which is regarded by all Tamilians (and 
 perhaps justly) as the finest composition of which the Tamil can boast 
 appears to be not only the best but the oldest Tamil work of any ex- 
 tent which is now in existence. Caldwell's Dravldian Grammar, 
 Introduction, p. 85. 
 
 TiRUVE'RKA'DU MuTTIA'H MuDKLIA'R ^(V^QsupsnQ Qp^^fiiun 
 
 Qf^sSliunir. 
 
 Tiruverka'du Muttiah .Mudeliar was born at Tiruverkadu, in the 
 Carnatic, in A. D. 1761. It appears from an amusing account of 
 liis own studies, written by himself, and published in Dalrymple's 
 Oriental Repertory, that ho had begun to apply himself to his books 
 at the very early age of five, and before he had completed his twen- 
 ty-first year, he had acquired a knowledge of the Sanskrit, Tamil, 
 Telugu, Maharatta, Persian, English and Latin languages, and be- 
 came an adept in the mystical philosophy of the Hindus. The fame of 
 his acquirements soon procured for him the patronage of Lord Ho- 
 BART, the then Governor of Madras, and through his kindness was 
 admitted into the public service. After the capture of Ceylon by 
 the British, he was sent to Colombo as one of the Dubashcs, but he 
 remained in the office only for a short time, and then returned to his 
 country. 
 
 Professor Wilson, in his Historical Sketch of the kingdom of Pan- 
 diya, calls Muttiah '* an ingenious native" and quotes him asthc author 
 of a " History of the Modern Kings of Madura." 
 
 Although the few occasional effusions of his muse show that he 
 was possessed of abilities to make him distinguished as a poet, yet 
 he seems never to have set his mind towards the composition of a 
 poem of any magnitude. There are extant five acrostic stanzas ad- 
 dressed by him to Lord Hobart, of which the initial letters of the 
 first line of each when taken together form his own name, and the 
 final letters that of his patron. 
 
 TiRUVE'nKATAIYKR — ^i^QwiEJSSOt—LUIT. 
 
 This poet was a Brahman who lived at ViUiputui\ in the Carnatic. 
 llis memory has been preserved by his TJvamiina Sangraham (©.ea; 
 u5fT«n<?fai'ffati), a short but elegantly written treatise on the meta- 
 phors employed in describing the charms of the fair sex, and which 
 greatly facilitates the composition of erotic poems. 
 
 Tiruve'nkataswa'mi — ^0Q<syissL-Sfs^iTu9. 
 
 Tiruvenkataswami, who was a Brdhman o^ Madei, in the Carnatic, 
 distinguished himself both as a poet and metaphysician. The date 
 of his existence, as well as the particulars of his personal history is 
 unknown. Of his works the imitation of tiie Frahoda Chandrodayam 
 {iS>oJun^^iT:0QofT^ajih) of Kisiina Misra in Tamil, redounds greatly 
 to his credit. It consists of 2012 stanzas, divided into forty-eight 
 cantos, but unlike the Sanskrit original which is in the form of a 
 drama, it is of an epic character. In this work the Rdmdyana is 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTAJRCH. 105 
 
 explained as an allegory ; tlic triumph of Ra'ma over Ra'vana being 
 represented as the trium[)h of the good principle over the evil. 
 
 Te'nikudi Kirana'r — (o^€aRd^i^dQrriCff)L 
 
 Of the history of Tenikudi Kiranar nothing further is known tlian 
 Xhia he was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura College. 
 His name would have long ago been forgotten, but for his encomias- 
 tic stanza on the Kural, which we quote below. 
 
 OuniuuuiTGoQunujQujiunuju(cuiruSiourQurrujiu6\)e\}fTjS 
 QiniLuuire^QLOLUtunib sSetnaQiosrQsu — (ipuurreS/b 
 
 By the Kural, the production of the divine Tirtjvalluver, the 
 world has been enabled to distinguish truth from falsehood which 
 were hitherto confounded together. 
 
 Te'reiyer — Q^QSifftun. 
 Tereiyer, called also Terer^ was one of the twelve disciples of 
 Agastiyer. He is described in the Sadur Agaradi as " a poet thorough- 
 ly versed in the A'yur Veda, or science of medicine." Tiiere is a 
 tradition that he displayed so much skill in the healing art, that he 
 excited the jealousy of his master by frequently foiling him and was 
 \n consequence dismissed with a malediction which rendered his 
 practice unsuccessful for the future ; but this, as well as some other 
 incidents reported concei'ning him, have much the air of fable. He 
 was, however, a prolific writer on subjects connected with his pro- 
 fession ; but all his works have perished, except a treatise on medi- 
 cine, entitled Sikdmani Venba {^ a, n m escP Qeij em un), a treatise on pul- 
 sation, entitled iY«diA:o«M (fEir^LsCs/T^^), and the fragments of ;i 
 treatise on hygiene, entitled Noiyanugdvidhi {Qihaiu^nsnsS^). 
 
 The following stanzas we quote from Tereiyer's treatise on hy- 
 giene, as a specimen of his theories : — 
 
 QusssrssSmunQeonmo^pu QuQ^asirixi — ^^^j^jiEJiBiT 
 Qucr}i(oS)jdSl'bQufTQLDL9sssf). 
 
 (ipp!SJ^<aiJ^a!TQsiJfTLSluJU US ^pis (^QffUuQlJUrrLD 
 G)U6!!BrSL—etaLD^^(EIS(GfTd(SsiTITSIT60^rSlu:i(r^Q<aUITih 
 
 Qu(7Kih^iTaQLDQ^^i^^th Quiun^^i^iKT^iiQ^iTth 
 
 l£l6SBrUIT£}jQl^lij(^S<Slf)p SST^SSuTlUeirpSuLI&QujrTLD 
 
 14 
 
106 THE TAMIL PLXJTAKCB. 
 
 'sS^s^fitBiTil.QsnQ^.iairQssrdjQfiQ^sosia^^^QfjiTilt 
 eSlL^S(^da(^^esFQ/}d!r^ ismlQsnQfiss[TsSI(SiQ^nth 
 
 nsir^aii^thLfLLuLSJeaetj w®S&u3s!rQpaQsrrua 
 muxeff^ndSijQs^aeiasu (EinSl(t^d(^ijSu.fiQ^* 
 
 He who does not suppress the ahine discharges f he who does tiot 
 indulge in venery ; he who at meals drinks water that has been hoiUd ; 
 he toho dilutes loell with water his curdled milk; he tcho uses ghee 
 melted, will enjoy health ; for at the very mention of his name disease 
 will depart. 
 
 We will eat only twice, and not thrice a day ; toe will sleep only at 
 night, and not in the day ; we will hold sexual intercourse but once a 
 month ; tve will drink icater only at meals, although we feel ever sa 
 thirsty ; weicill not eat the bxdbous root of any plant, except that of the 
 Dracontium; we will not eat any fruit, except the tender plantain ;. 
 and toe loill take a short loalk after our meals and then what has Yama 
 (Pluto) to do with us 1 
 
 We toill take an emetic once in six months ,- a purgative once in four 
 months ; a Nasya* once in a month and a half, get shaved f meaning 
 the head) twice in a fortnight ; anoint ourselves, and bathe every fourth 
 day ; apply collyrium to the eyes every third day ; and never smeR per- 
 fumes, or flowers in the middle of the night ; and then what has Yama 
 to do ioith us 7 
 
 In ihc Padhdrtaguna Chintamani (u^nfr^s^^ecst^ihs^niDesi^), aworh 
 on Materia Medica, consisting of 1504 stanzas, and which has been re- 
 cently recovei-ed froni obscurity through the medium of the Press at 
 ^Madras, by the laudable industry of Scbramanyam Panditer, w& 
 find a great number of the stanzas quoted as Tereiyer's productions. 
 It may be mentioned that this work not only treats of medicinal agents 
 but also of nutrients. It begins with the elements, and climates,. 
 and then proceeds to describe the projierties of the milk of differ- 
 ent kinds of animals and vegetables, the dung and urine of differ- 
 ent kinds of animals, the barks, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, nuts, 
 gums, and roots of different kinds of trees and plants, the flesh of 
 different kinds of beasts, birds and fish, and the preparations made 
 from different kinds of metals and minerals, and concludes with rules^ 
 on the mode of living for the preservation of health ; and we consid- 
 
 * A medicine prepared from the juice of certain lierbs and injected into the 
 nostrils to promote the discharge of mucus. 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 10? 
 
 er that an English translation of this work will no doubt prove a 
 -valuable auxiliary to medical men in England in their researches 
 into the Materia Medica of India. 
 ToDiTTALEi Vizhuttandina'r — Q^nisf.^fi'bsoeB Q^^^eisris^^n' 
 
 Todittalei Vizhuttandinar was one of the forty-nine professors of 
 the Madura College. What has contributed to preserve his name 
 from oblivion is his encomiastic stanza on the Kural, which we sub- 
 join. 
 
 ^pQpesrQpeBnJu^^QjFLU^ — QupeoiBuj 
 
 Q U n^Q Lon L^ i^Q u n c^efT' 
 
 The greed poet has in his Kural divided tlte topic Virtue^ into four 
 sections ; the topic wealth into seven sections ; and the topic pleasure 
 into three sections ; including in them the fourth topic, eternal happi' 
 ness, xohich is difficult to he obtained: hence the work comprises every 
 thing, and if there be any thing which it does not comprise, he alone 
 knows it, 
 
 TOLKA'PPIYANA'R Q^IT&)airu iSluJi^iT^ 
 
 Tolkappiyanar, otherwise called Trvnadhwm&gni (^aemsK^f^^^ 
 «jfl), was one of the twelve disciples of Agastiyer, and pre-eminent 
 to them all in learning. He belonged to a Brahman family of the 
 tribe of Jamadagni, and Tolkdppiyakkttdi, a. town s'liusited to the south 
 of Madura, is reported to have been the place of his residence. It is 
 reported of him that having quarrelled with Agastiyer, he set up a 
 rival school, and composed for the use of his scholars a grammar of 
 his own, under the title of Tolkdppiyam, which though based on the 
 grammatical institutes of Agastiyer, yet on the whole deviated from 
 them. Athankota'siriyer, who was also a disciple of Agastiyer, 
 taking the part of his master endeavoured to bring the Tolkappiyani 
 into disrepute by severely criticising it, when it was submitted to the 
 judgment of the assembly of the learned in the court of the Pandiya 
 king ; but the author defended his work so successfully that it met 
 with due approbation. This work, which is the oldest of the kind in 
 existence, consists of 1276 Sutras or rules in verse, and it has had 
 three commentaries written upon it, one by Nachchinarkiniyana'r, 
 another by Ilampu'raner, and the other by Se'navareiyer and which 
 are respectively called after the names of the commentators Nachchi- 
 na'rkiniyam) {ihS^^^nsSosBiuii))^ lla7npuranain{@6tTiiiy,n€Ssnb),a.nd 
 Sena'vareiyam (Ctf@)Qj65)ffwu)). 
 
 ToNDARAmppo'Bi A'ZHVAR — Q^irGSBn-!ru^uQum^ujnys<SiJirir- 
 
 This poet, whose real name was Vipra Nara'yaner, ranks high in the 
 ■estimation of the Vaishnavas as one of the twelve special votarie* 
 
]08 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 « f Vishnu. He was born of a Brahman family at Tirumandang- 
 kudi, and after having completed his course of studies in the Ve- 
 dic and profane literature, became an ascetic, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his days in ministering in the Vaishnam shrine at Siran- 
 ^^am. Of his poetical compositions the Tiruma'lei, {^^irinQjeo), and 
 firuppaUiezhtichi {^^uueneiBGuji£ff^), which form a part of the 
 Na'la' yiraprabhmidam {(hnson\i33\SnumB,\h), consist of fifty stanzas in 
 praise of Vishnu, and they are deserving of notice. 
 
 Ulagana'then — tt-eo« wn^thr. 
 
 This poet though born of parents who belonged to the Amhatta, 
 or barber caste, nevertheless raised himself to eminence by his su- 
 perior genius. Neither the place of his birth nor the date of his ex- 
 istence is known. He is remembered as the author of two metrical 
 rompositions, of which the one entitled Vlaga Niti (a.ffO«f^^), con- 
 tains a series of moral precepts, and the other, entitled Jatibeda 
 Nul (ffn^QUi^^eo), treats of the origin of the divisions, and differ- 
 ences of caste. 
 
 Ukraperuvazhuthiya'r — e.dQiruQu(i^Qj(ip^ujniT. 
 
 Ukraperuvazhuthiyar was one of the forty-nine professors of the 
 Madura College. Some invest him likewise with regal dignity ; but 
 no king of such a name appears to have reigned at Madura later than 
 ihe seventh or sixth century B. C, and we cannot therefore admit 
 It without involving ourselves into a serious anachronism. Tradition 
 lias handed down the following impromptu, in which he eulogized 
 both Tiruvalluver and his Kural. 
 
 iBiT^L£i€S)puSmQLDiuLjQuiT(T^'B£ir QfiuQu iT0istrn CB!T^ Qps^Q^ nm 
 
 The fotir -faced (Brahma) disguising himself as Yallvve'R has im- 
 parled the truths of the four Vedas in the three parts of the Kural., 
 which is therefore to be adored by the head, praised by the mouth, 
 pondered by the mind, and heard by the ears. 
 
 Uma'pati Siva'chariya'r — e-mtru^ ^sunffnifluun. 
 
 This celebrated poet and philosopher flourished in the sevcntccntli 
 century of the Christian era. He belonged to the Vaishnava Brah- 
 mans resident at Chillambaram, in the Carnatic ; but being dissatis- 
 fied with the philosophy of the Vaishnava school, he embraced that 
 of the Saiva which he studied thoroughly under the guidance of the 
 Saiva Guru Marreigna'na Sampanter at Maruthur. His principal 
 work is the Sivaprakasam {^6uuL9aan3=ib), consisting of a centum 
 of stanzas, illustrative of the doctrines as taught in the i4'^« /has re- 
 specting the existence of God, his essence and attributes, and of the 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 109 
 
 nature of the human soul, and the organization of the human body. 
 Wc are glad to notice an abstract of its contents translated into 
 English by the Rev. He::<ry R. IIoisington, and published in the 
 fourth volume of the Journal of the American Oriental Society. He 
 was also the author of the Tirutonder Puranasa'ram {^^i^^Q^nsmt-fr 
 LfDrrems^naii), in which he has, in the narrow compass of seventy-five 
 stanzas, given the substance of the legends of the sixty-four votaries of 
 Siva as related by Sekihir in 2255 stanzas. He wrote as well of the 
 Sekilar Puranam (Ga=ii'iprrfTqafT6i33ia)), which treats of the life and 
 character of Sekilar himself in 100 stanzas, and the Koijif Puranam 
 {(Sanu^riqanismib), which treats of the legends of the shrine of Siva 
 at Chillambaram in 410 stanzas. The time of his existence is not 
 known ; but we find his name mentioned in the introduction to tlie 
 Sidamhara Puranam {^s,iiuni^nnemih), which dates A. D. 1513. 
 
 UpPEI S-USSlU. 
 
 This poetess was one of the sistei-s of Tiruvalluver, and having 
 been exposed by her mother, as soon as born, in a choultry at Utu- 
 kadii in the Arcot district, she was found and brought up by a wash- 
 erman. She distinguished herself not only by her proficiency in the 
 art of poetry but likewise in the science of moral philosophy, of which 
 she wrote a treatise. The Hindus having deified her after her death, 
 under the title of Aldri Ammei^ the further particulars of her life 
 have become blended with fable. 
 
 UrEIU'R MuTHUKU'TANAR ■Q-QSip^nQfi^Sf^ppi^n. 
 
 The name of this poet has been handed down by tradition as one 
 of the forty-nine professors of the Madura College ; but we have no 
 particulars of his life, or any of his compositions, save the subjoined 
 impromptu on the Kiirah 
 
 G^eSp&pi^ ^(T^<QiJ<cir(efK6un(^p&TQsijea!ir 
 uireSpQpiB^®Qpuun&) usnnn — leneSf) 
 
 They wlio have not studied the Rural of the divine Valluver are 
 incapable of good actions; neither their tongues have expressed what is 
 sweet in language, nor their minds understood what is suhlime in sense. 
 
 Uruttirasanmer — a-( 
 
 This poet was the son of an opulent merchant a Madura. He Ls 
 said to have been dumb from his birth until he passed his childhood, 
 and then became supernaturally possessed of poetic spirit. Such was 
 his fame as a critic, that when a dispute arose amongst the profess- 
 ors of the Madura College as to superiority, in consequence of each 
 of them having composed a poem, and each vaunted the merits of his 
 own composition, they chose him as arbitrator to settle that dispute. 
 Having heard the professors each recite his poem, he adjudged some 
 
110 THK TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 to be good in style, but bad in sense ; and some to be good in sense 
 but bad in style ; and nodded approbation only to those composed by 
 Kapiler, Paraner, and Narkirer, as perfect both in style, and in 
 sense ; and the professors were so much satisfied with his judgment 
 that they at once admitted him as their associate. Moreover when 
 the professors were in doubt, as to who amongst them was worthy of 
 sitting on the College bench, and of hearing Tiruvallitveb recite his 
 Kural^ it is stated that an aerial voice declared Uruthirasanmer to be 
 the person. 
 
 The following is his impromptu on the merits of the Rural : 
 
 Water %oUl spring forth when the earth is dtig, milk will spring 
 forth when the child sucks the mother's hreast ; but knowledge will 
 spring forth when the poets study Yalluvee's Kural. 
 Uruvei — s-jyaDQ/. 
 
 This poetess was a sister of Tiruvalluver, and was found when 
 «he was exposed by her mother soon after her birth, and brought up 
 by a man of the Sanar caste at Kfiveripatnam. She is said to have 
 been well versed in poetry, and to have composed several poems on 
 different subjects, which, however, have not reached the present time. 
 The Hindus have deified her, as they have done her sister Uppei, 
 and she is now an object of worship at Tiruvalangkadu. 
 
 Vannakkancha'ttana'r — (3uesBremda(i^ffiTjbjD(eff)iT. 
 
 Vannakkanchattanar was one of the forty-nine professors of tlie 
 Madura College. 
 
 The foUowinw is his stanza on the merits of the Kural. 
 
 It is difficult to say whether the Sa7iskrit or the Tamil is the 
 vest, they are perhaps on a par, since the Sanskrit possesses the Ve- 
 da, and the Tamil the Kural, composed by the divine Valluver, 
 
 Varantaruva'n — suiriB^Q^ejtrar. 
 This poet was the son of Villiputturer ; but of his life no memo- 
 rials have been preserved. It would appear, however, that he was 
 the author of the prefatory stanzas which are affi.xcd to his father's 
 imitation of the Mahdbhdrat, 
 
THE Tamil plutarch. Ill 
 
 VARATHAKAVIRA'yER SaiT^aeS !f ntun. 
 
 Varathakavireyer was a poet, who lived at Chwindgam, in Jaffna, 
 in the seventeenth century of the Cliristian era. He belonged to a 
 Bruhman family and was well skilled both in the Vedie and profane 
 literature. His principal works were the Sivaratri Pttranam {fisiian 
 ^^(flLjatressnb)^and the Ekddesi Purancnn^ (^anQ^.^uq!jnemii), both 
 which are epic poems, recounting the legends connected with the vigil 
 observed by the Saivas on the night preceeding the new moon to- 
 wards the end of February or beginning of March, and the fast on the 
 eleventh day after the full or new moon in every month. 
 
 Varatunga Ra'ma Pa'nditen — surr^/sissriTLcufTsmt^ajdr. 
 
 Varatunga Rama Pandiyen was the younger brother of Athivira 
 Ra'ma Pa'ndiyrn, and was like him a poet of great attainments. His 
 imitation of the Bramothara Kmidam (iSaCSiiin^aaiTemt—tL) of the 
 Ska7ida Pwana is a work of sterling merit, in so far as its poetry is 
 concerned, and it appeai-s to have been approved of as such by the 
 learned professors of the Madura College to whose criticism it wa» 
 subjected. It consFists of 1323 stanzas, arranged in twenty-two can- 
 tos, and has for its subject the legends of certain votaries of Siva who 
 had obtained beatitude by bearing his emblems, or uttering his name 
 by accident. 
 
 Veluvithiya'b — Oa 
 
 Vellivithiyar was one of the forty-nine professors of the Madura 
 College. He was present when the Kurctl was exhibited and sub- 
 jected to the criticisn> of the College bench, and the subjoined is the 
 stanza which he uttered on the merits of that work. 
 
 QuiTiLnunQuinL^si^ii) Qunq^Q&rnissiQp — Q^iuluit 
 
 Tlie tmcreated word (meaning the Veda) and the unfailing word 
 ofTiRirvALLUvER hoth have the same meaning; hut the former is the 
 exclusive property of the Brahmans (for they alone are allowed to 
 study it), while the latter is the common property of all. 
 
 Venba'pxjli — QsuemuiTuLfeSI. 
 
 Venbapuli was born of the Kollery tribe at Karanad, in the begin^ 
 ning of the eighteenth century of the Christian era. His real name 
 is not known, the one under which he is here noticed being merely 
 titular, denoting his adroitness in the composition of verses of the 
 Venba metre. He appears to have been a very eccentric character j 
 for we are told that shortly after he had finished his studies and 
 
112 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 obtained a reputation as a poet, he became an ascetic and lived upon 
 alms until he was persuaded by the Raja of Sivaganga to take up 
 his residence in his palace. Whether he composed any larger poems 
 or not is unknown, and we have met with only a few of his stray 
 pieces. It is related of him, that one day as he was carrying a bun- 
 dle of betel leaves, Tamba Mudeli, the betel renter, met him on the 
 road, and not knowing who he was, asked him where he had stolen 
 the betel leaves ; upon which he uttered the following verse extem- 
 pore : — 
 
 QsueacrunuLfeSQiLKSsrQri'ioQsupr^QmtT 
 (^^^<5S)suSi&)Qsu^fS'^ioSiius QsnesarQ'Siji^nQeO^Tssruujw 
 
 Tamba Mudeli immediately knowing to whom he was speaking 
 apologized for his conduct and they both parted friends. 
 
 Ve'DAGHIRI MuDELIAR Qsu^QlfiQp^eSlujrTiT- 
 
 Vedaghiri Mudeliar was born of a Tuluva Velala family at Kulat- 
 tur, in the Carnatic, A. D. 1795. Having made some progress in 
 the study of grammar and poetry in his own native place, he repair- 
 ed to Madras, where he had the advantage of jMjrfecting them under 
 the able tuition of Ramanuja Kavira'yer, and where, he soon after- 
 wards became the head of a Tamil Literary Institution which his 
 master had originated. Sometime afterwards he was invited over to 
 Madura, by the principal native gentlemen of that town, to whom his 
 rising fame had reached, and there continued to preside over a Tamil 
 Literary Institution for a period of seven years, when owing to a 
 failure in his health he was obliged to relinguish his post and repair 
 to Pondicherry, where for sometime he was employed as a Tamil 
 Pundit in the Catholic College. He afterwards went a second time 
 to Madras, and having established a Press of his own, commenced 
 publishing through its medium several valuable classical works, such 
 as the Kural, Naidalham, Illakkanakoltu, etc. with a learned com- 
 mentary of his own in prose on each ; and while thus usefully engag- 
 ed, his career was closed by death in the year 1852, at the age of 
 fifty-seven. 
 
 Vedaghiri Mudeliar was a frequent contributor to the Jaffna Mor7i- 
 ing Star, from 1841 to 1843, and his contributions, which were chiefly 
 on Grammar, and Classics, tended very much to enhance the value of 
 that periodical, and drew forth to him from the Editors their high trib- 
 ute of thanks through the following stanza : — 
 
 ^esTQ^&rQeu^LDSSip QtjuiT^(ip(si:!)pQun^(T^isSQ!e^^S<s^p(Qnec!rffiBfi^ 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 113 
 
 C/5(T5<«^ LDlT^q^SBT^rr^UJIT (?LD(75@ SOOT ^V<?JZ? /TOT Q^ nLj6\)<Bj IT'V fT 
 
 uJJF(!K lEnGssrsys&mmfluS^/srrffesr/^ujnQ^'ff^ni-K^Lh — snij^s'^efrQinir^ 
 
 di ^&)(i^ssiinffng0ihaS^ su n iL <oSi imQ lu a l— na a tuisifi-j'fliu n — LDiJLD^esiUj 
 IB n f&^ ih au ca n ^niTSiasaS^^eOs <siinQ:f\(iT)'2c{rQ(vsisf-Q3=uj^n<ck — Cou) 
 <s;fls(B<cki^nGir^uQ<G^^in^mnSe\)LSimi^^i3asiT,fLD^!a>iniJu — QlduSI 
 
 ^(^gst^lBu^ LDir^esTLo&zrQLDei^Ljaj Qsu^Qfflmrs^g^^sS — Q ld^ esf! uS 'do 
 ajff^iBsQjn^LSlsff}iJyj^G\iQp ijS'^sOQpQLD^ixiflQ^. 
 
 See Morning Star, vol. 1. p. 280. 
 
 Ho dill not, however, compose any epic poems. All that he has 
 left as specimens of his poetical talents are four didactic poems, 
 respectively entitled Manuniti Sadagam (tD^i^^^sih) ; Manvik- 
 iyiina Sadagam (tOgysiSi.l'ujiTSOT.f^^LD), Niti Chintdmani (i^^^fs^rr 
 lOGsS) and Sanmdrgasdram (s=mmnffS3,3=naii), of which the first 
 three contain a hundred stanzas each, and the last a hundred and ten 
 stanzas. These poems were inscribed by him to a friend of his in 
 Ceylon, whoso name he has introduced at the end of every stanza. 
 The Addendum to the Tamil Dictionary published at the American 
 Mission Press at Manipy in 1842, was his production as well as the 
 stanzas marked with asterisks in the 1 1th part of Mandalapukudek 
 Nigandu published at the same Press in 1843. 
 
 Ve'laya De'siker — Q6u'hs\)LuG^QsiT- 
 
 Velaya Desiker was born at Kanjipuram. After the death of his 
 father Ivumaraswa'mi PANDA'wAW.he repaired with his brothers Siv- 
 apraka'sa and Karunaipraka'ser to Tinnevelly, where under the 
 tuition of Velliambala Tabibira'n the head ascetic of the Matam of 
 Sindiipoontuvei, he studied the Tamil CTrammar and Classics, and be- 
 came a renowned poet. He composed the following poems, viz : the 
 Nalliir Purdnam {[heoe^nuqatTimih), Virasingddana Pvranam (eSir 
 #i5;afT^67jrqa/T65WL0)^ IshtaUngakaittala Mdlei {^ex^u.eS'iBaiticia^.^ 
 edLDnciso) Namasivdya Lild {tr^iD^Qiam^eiso), Krishnacharitrupdri- 
 suda Lihi {Sit^ei^emBif^^^auniBs'n^c^eisc), and Mailatlirattei Md- 
 lei {ir>d9sO0^nLLm)L-ir)neieo), besides completing the KdlaiiJ^urdiuuii 
 {s fr en ^ ^Lj a neissiih) which his brothers had left unfinished. He died 
 at Perumatur in the seventy second year of his age. 
 
 The following is an elegiac verse which he recited extempore on 
 the death of his two brothers : — 
 
 j)jffO sS ui60 n u u ssBT csa SL ^ LotT rf rr 'Ij 15 ^. tS s sS ioSi^s 
 15 
 
114 
 
 THE TAIIH. PLUTARCH. 
 
 O Damsel, whose teeth t'le inth the Jessamine fiower in heauty ! Born 
 as I was second of three brothers, whose poetry, even the God enthron- 
 ed on the lotus-Jlower could not easily understand, alas ! I have now 
 iecome like a Joint in the stalk of a sugar-cane (cut out and thrown 
 aside as refuse). 
 
 Villipa'kam Ta'ndavara'ya Mudeliar — ^nssan—euffninQfi^eS 
 lunfr. 
 This poet was first a student and afterwards a Teacher in the Col- 
 lege of Fort St. George, and having been well versed both in the 
 Tamil and Maliaratta languages enjoyed much reputation on that ac- 
 count. In 1825, by order of the Board of College he wrote a Tamil 
 Grammar in a catechetical form under the title of Ulakkana Vina'- 
 videi (@6^ia6ror6i9@)6i96oL.) and in the following year translatecf the 
 Panchatantra stories (u^ff^m^/jasejn^) from Maharatta into Tamil, 
 besides himself producing a series of instructive fables called Kata'- 
 vianjari (a^nms^g^if). He also revised and edited the three first 
 parts of Beschis Sadur Agara'di, the ten first parts of the Sudamani 
 Nigandu, and the first eight parts of the Biva'karam, which had hith- 
 erto been circulated in manuscript replete with errors of the copyists, 
 
 ViDVA'N Sa'mina'da Pillel — sS^^QjtrissT ffni£lisn^i3en'bcn. 
 
 Vidvan Saminada Tillei, who distinguished himself by his literary 
 . attainments, and enjoyed a prominent position among the poets of 
 his day, was born of a Velula family at Pondicherry in the latter 
 j)art of the last century . His parents not only secured for him u 
 classical education, but likewise brought him up in the Catholic reli- 
 gion which they professed. Having removed his residence to xMad- 
 ras, he was introduced to the notice of Mr. Ellis, and was employ- 
 ed by that celebrated orientalist as his preceptor in the Tamil lan- 
 guage. His juvenile productions the Nazarai Kalambagam {ih^esia 
 ^aeOihusth),n.nd Samindden PiUeiiamil {antS!hn3i6cn3sn&£n^^i£!ifi), 
 though possessed of poetic beauties did not however attract much 
 notice, being merely panegyrics. But the epic which he wrote in 
 liis maturcr years, under the title of Gndnddiku Rayer Kappiyam 
 (g5fT@^affia/Tiu/T5fTuL9iuLD), commanded general admiration, and 
 spread his fume throughout Southern India, in the Gndnddiku Rdyer 
 Kdppiyam, he has introduced many historical passages from the 
 Bible, by way of episodes in the life of the hero of the poem, 
 in a style and language highly creditable to him. As usual 
 with the writers of epics in Tamil, he opens his poem after the invo- 
 cation with an eulogy on rain, and the following two stanzas as quot- 
 ed by Mr. Ei.lis, in his comments on the Kural. form the first part 
 of it : 
 
THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 115 
 
 (g&}rLDrrdQs6sreii^^uS!&)LDL9i^Qun L^i^ 
 ^rT6ST(Sms<omrrsijirdQesrfifl(Siiin(cjSiTp/DiM' 
 
 Qff-&)&Sioa)UJ^eo!J^Q^(H.9=6srLD<oS)/r)dasLjLD3rid^<i 
 seoeSiu&sTQfi'^uunso .a^jji^etfl^QjSesrdanemQii. 
 
 The earth, impatient of the scorching heat oj the sun of heaven, to 
 annoy him assumed the form of a slujjendous vioxmtain ; the bright 
 burning sun, calling Jorth the armies of the clouds, ordered them to 
 reduce the rebellious earth ; tlien the thunder bolts darted forth like 
 arrows and ike water Jlowing down seemed to dissolve the entire 
 mountain. 
 
 When the sun, the father of various Jiving beings, destroys in his 
 bunmig wrath his offspring, their mother earth, imoardly jntying 
 them, hides her children from his vieio by a propitious vail of clouds 
 and seems to cherish them with milk springing from her breasts, the 
 rocky mountains. 
 
 Villiputtu'rer — eSleoeSi^^s^nn. 
 
 Villiputturer was born of a Brdhman family of the Vaislmav a sect 
 at Saniyur, in the Coinibatorc country, in the fifth century of the 
 Christian era. lie was no less distinguished as one of the A'zhva'rs 
 or special votaries of Vishnu than as a poet. Having refused to give 
 his brother his share of inheritance from the paternal estate, the 
 brother applied to the king for just ice against him ; but the king with- 
 out pronouncing any judgment on the matter directly sent for him, 
 and requested him to imitate in Tamil, the Mahabharat. On the 
 day the work was finished and recited in the royal presence his 
 brother by desire of the king repeated hiscomplaint. The king there- 
 upon feigning to be angry Looked fiercely at the poet, and asked him 
 " Oh ! is this the perception of the great man who wrote the Mahabha- 
 rat V The king's question struck his mind with shame, for the sub- 
 ject of the Mahabharat is the feud which originated in the elder 
 brother refusing to give the younger his paternal iihare of inheritance 
 and he thereupon delivered up the wliole of the jiatrimony to his 
 brother and retiring to Sirangam spent the remainder of his life in 
 devotional exercise. His imitation of the Mahabharat includes only 
 the first ten Parvas, or books of that work, and consists of 3373 stan- 
 zas. It is decidedly a masterpiece, for scarcely any Tamil epics, 
 except perhaps Kamber's Ramayanam, can vie with it either in " vivi- 
 da vis auLini" or churniij of language and vcrcificatioii. 
 
116 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 Vl RAPA iNDlYA PuLAVER a?JU/T6OT if (iJUL/6\)a ff. 
 
 This poet who lived in the latter part of the eighteenth century of 
 the Christian era, was the son of a tailor at Tutocoryn. Imbibing 
 a dislike to his father's profession, he applied himself to the study o£ 
 poetry, and obtained some reputation in the literary circle of his day. 
 lie was first patronized by Katabomma Nayaker, tlie Poligarof Pan- 
 jalamkurichi, and afterwards by Don Gabriel Vaz Faldano, the Para- 
 va Chieftain of Tutocoryn. He was a great wit, in proof of which 
 many anecdotes are related of him. It is said that on a certain day as he 
 went to witness a Nautch, a poet of the shepherd tribe, pointing at 
 the dancing girl, observed to him, " Taiyel nulla taiijeV (a phrase 
 which may mean either, " the girl is a fine girl," or " the sewing is 
 good sewing)," and he immediately understanding that to be a hint 
 at his caste, made this repartee '•' AtlukJcu tirrama taiyel" (a phrase 
 which may mean either " Is the girl belter than the dance r" or "is 
 the sewing better than the sheep ?'') and completely outwitted him.. 
 Of his compositions there are only a few stray pieces, chiefly devot- 
 ed to the praises of his benefactors. 
 
 Vi'rakavira'ver — s^jrseSjjnujrf. 
 
 Virakavirayer was a distinguished poet who lived at Nellu'r, in the 
 Carnatic. In A.. D. 1524 he wrote an epic poem, called Arichandra 
 PurAnam {,g)jifff3'rh^aq'jne66iih), which drew forth much applause 
 from the savans at Madura, when it was submitted to their inspection. 
 This poem consists of 1212 stanzas, arranged into twelve cantos, and 
 recounts the adventures of the king Harischandra. Though it can- 
 not stand on a par with the Naidatham in the charms of language and 
 versification ; yet it is far superior' to the ordinary strain of current 
 poetry and bears the stamp of no common talent. The following 
 -stanzas, which we have extracted from the canto, entitled Maycina 
 Kdndam, containing the lamentations of the Queen ChandramaLi on 
 finding her son lying dead in a wood by the bite of a sevj)ent, arc 
 very pathetic and affecting : — 
 
 eueufliuniuQsiJiEJ'^smsrsufTeSnoi^cij^u/TeuQiD^QjsneorSIQuj^ 
 
 LX>ss>pQuun6afl!iSi£tSij<o(r(5rrL-2esT^^L0 (au(Lp6iin^^^^<suL^Q<^ 
 eSlsapQujnssreffl^^LDsQesriLjesrd^^LSl^QsufTsSl^^^eS^Quj. 
 
 eijnsSS5rfSL^i^Q3'iT(flslssip^n(SSi!JUizsiLf:QunioO^LpeSiL^M 
 
THt TAMIL I'LLTAUtH. IH 
 
 QaiT^ (off' 
 
 Qsijd.'(osnuiun'2esr^^ei!TLDebioin6sri})sawsSQs:Sd'iOaiJsmGS3flaij(r^fBn 
 
 I do not know what heinous &in I have commit fed that thou shouhlst 
 meet with thy death from the cruel serpent with protuberant eyes and 
 which suffers neither from l)eing drenched xc'ith deu\ nor searched with 
 the sun, nor from ivant of food. Oh ! my son, who, xohen affected hy the 
 venom didst lay thyself i:i! ainne and ivrithe in agony on the grotind ! 
 To ichom shall my lord and myself look for help hereafter ? 
 
 Wert thoufa'ed to die in a leood, where instead of the sound of 
 musiecd instruments, only the sound of the fappings of the icings of 
 eagles is heard J O h my son ! why was this fate ordained for thee, 
 the son of the king, icho weilds the bright javelin, and who made over 
 his fertile kingdom to the suppliant Brahman. 
 
 Whilst icith tears streaming froJii mine eyes, like rain from the 
 clouds, 1 stand by thy side as a green twig burning in the fierce five, 
 and lament thy fate. Oh my son ! is it proper that thou shouldsl not 
 respond to viy call } 
 
 Oh ! my son, jchoseface resembles the lotus-fioiver ! When thy fath- 
 er, icho sways the scejytre unth justice and equals the fierce elephant in 
 strength, shall return to redeem iis and ask me " where is my darling 
 S0«?" ichat shall I say to hivil 
 
 ViSVANa'tHA Sa'STRIYA'R-— a? ^6^/5/7^ <r/T5ru^//?UJ /7/f- 
 
 Visvanatha Sastriyar was both a poet and astronomer who flourish- 
 ed among the Brahmans at Araly, a village of Batticotta, in Jaffna. 
 Sir Emerson Tennent, in his " Christianity in Ceylon," states, that 
 Visvanatha Sastriyar, or as he calls him Visuvenathen, was " the most 
 celebrated of the astronomers of Ceylon, inasmuch as he concentrated 
 in his own person the accumulated science of his ancestors, who for 
 nine generations had been cultivators of the same study."* His Al- 
 manac, which he published every year until his death, was preferred 
 to all others as being more accurate ; and Sir Alexander Johnston 
 w^hile Chief Justice of Ceylon, procured for him from George the 
 IVth, the honorary distinction of Almanac Maker to his l\kijcsty''t. 
 But it should be mentioned, that in his controversy with the Americ- 
 an Missionaries at Batticotta, resjiecting the bcgiiming and extent of 
 the obscuration and the ultimate duration of the eclipse of the moon 
 
 * Clirislianity in Ceylon, p. li{!>. 
 
 ' I'riluiam's Ceylon and ilB Dcj'tndoiicit;-, \v\ ii [i, Cilb 
 
113 THE TAMIL PLUTARCH. 
 
 on the 2Isii of March 1828, he did not come off triumphant ; for that 
 eclipse began fifteen minutes sooner and continued for twenty-four 
 minutes longer than his calculation and it obscured only three-eighths 
 and not five-eighths of the disc as he had predicted. As a poet he 
 lias distinguished himself by the j)roduction of two poems, the Mdrei- 
 kuruvanji (LDneooji^ipsue^^), a drama founded on the legend of the 
 horse-faced Chola princess who is fabled to have been cured of her 
 deformity by i)athing in the soa, near Kirimalei, and the Kitrinuither 
 Killcicidudutu {^.^ihnsjfr S^siensS^j;^^'), a panegyric on Skatida. 
 
 Vytiana'tha Na'valer — <5S)ay^^lajisn^isna&)iT. 
 
 This poet was a native of Tiruv"rur^ a town in the Tanjore coun- 
 try, near Kumbakonam, and lived at the same time with Sa'mina'da 
 Tambirax, whose friendship he enjoyed. He is celebrated for his 
 high attainments in philology, and we have a work of his on Gram- 
 mar, entitled i/flMuHrt Vilakkam (©soaaOTsisiSorraaii)), written chiefly 
 as a critique on the Nannul. 
 
 Ya'lpa'na Na'yana'k — uun^uunsssriBaiJu^n. 
 
 Yalpana Nayanar, otherwise called Viraragaven^ was a minstrel 
 who lived in the Chola country. Being blind, he depended for his 
 subsistence entirely on the earnings of his wife. One day his wife 
 having delayed to serve out to him his meals at the proper hour, he 
 quarrelled with her on that account, and quitted his house saying, 
 that he was going to Ceylon, upon which she sneeringly observed. "Ah! 
 you are going to Ceylon to obtain a tusked elephant and a fertile 
 land." VV'hen he arrived in Ceylon, he was refused admittance into 
 the king's presence, as it was considered ominous for a king to see a 
 blind man ; but it was afterwards arranged that the king should stand 
 behind a curtain, and hear the blind minstrel's song. The king di- 
 vesting himself of his royal garments, put on a pair of short drawers 
 like those worn by an archer, and stood behind the curtain with a 
 bow in his hand, and bade him sing. Ho, some how or other, being 
 informed of the king's disguise improvised the following stanza char- 
 acterizing the king as Ra'ma' of old; — 
 
 O Aditya! f meaning Ra'ma) whose jwtcul ai-ms stemmed the 
 waves of the sea, p>'ui/ lehi/ have I hi/ hands assurned I he bow ^ Jor the 
 prosperous Luiika has neither her king (meaning Ka'vana), nor the 
 xlag (meaning IMa'kiciii,) who in the disguise of a stag decoyed away 
 Ra'ma from Sita), nor the seven Mara trees* (meaning those 
 which Ra'ma shot through with a single arrow) to shoot at. 
 
 ' Uivfpijioi Lbtnastci 
 
THE TAMIL PI.UTARril, 119 
 
 The king iinmodintoly laid aside the garb of the arclier, and suc- 
 ressively [Hitting on the rolics of llic Queen, and his own, desired 
 liini to sing. He thereupon conii)osed extempore a lyric in ten stan- 
 zas to suit the respective guises of tlie king, and sang it to the lute 
 which he himself played. The king being greatly pleased with his 
 performance, honored him by the gift of a tusk(>d elephant, and by 
 the donation of a land on the northern extremity of the Island in per- 
 petuity ; and thus was realized what his wife had said in bitter irony. 
 
 The land which he obtained from the king was no other than the 
 present peninsula of .lalVna. It was then uninhabit(!d, and covered 
 with jungle, but he had it cleared, and having induced a colony of 
 Tamils from Southern India to settle in it, soon rendered it a rich coun- 
 try which he called after his own professional name Ydlpdna nadu 
 i. e. the minstrel's country. He did not, however, assume any sov- 
 ereignty over the countiy but Inviting over from the Continent a 
 youth, who was the natural son of a Chola king by a Brahman wo- 
 man, installed him as its king, under the title of Singariya Chakra- 
 vnrti. The installation of Sivgdruja Chakravarti is stated in the 
 Kuilasa Malci to have occurred in the Kali year 3000 (A. D. 101); 
 and if this date be correct, the Singhalese monarch, who patronized 
 the blind minstrel, must have been Wasahha, who reigned at Anur- 
 adhapura from A. D. 62 to 106. In the lyric, which has been notic- 
 ed above, the minstrel does not celebrate his patron under his pro- 
 per name, he styles him merely Pararujasingan, an appellation sig- 
 nifying one who is as a lion to other kings. 
 
E U R A T A 
 
 PAnr. 
 
 LINE, 
 
 1 
 
 1(5 
 
 4 
 
 IN 
 
 7 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 i:j 
 
 ?l-'Jl 
 
 14 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 11 
 14 
 
 
 irf- 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 21 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 23 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 27 
 
 12 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 — 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 
 23 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 32 
 
 25 
 
 33 
 
 31 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 heforo Potliiya add the. 
 after spotless add nor. 
 lor Padripuliyar read Padripul!y6r 
 he/ore Sontlicni India oinit the. 
 for Anandaunga read Anandaranga, 
 (imit the jjassage contained in these lines as it is not 
 found in the original stanza and has been inadvertent- 
 ly retained when revising Mr. Robekt's translation. 
 for ministrel read minstrel. 
 for and crowned 7'ead and was crowned. 
 for " the nectar of the Poets'' I'ead "the nectar 
 
 of poets." 
 the word Brahma to be enclosed in a parentliesis. 
 for sifTipsOTP read Sineaas^. 
 ) the passage contained in these lines to be corrected 
 as follows: The best of lands m Cholaniandalani, Mb 
 hcsl o/Chilambus. Are the gold Chilambus on the lo- 
 tus feet. Of the damsel Chilambi of Amhel. 
 before Valluver's omit the. 
 for seouu^^ read s^u^rpi. 
 for thi.s court read his court. 
 for Sheristodar read Sirashtadar. 
 for prediliction read predilection, 
 for Stotrokummi read Stotrahimmi. 
 for with his hands read ^oith his arms. 
 for cj(§3=ff§i!Trr read s7/f!#5^g^/T. 
 for iSsd^^ read Ouei)^^. 
 for spirituous liquor read spirituous liquors, 
 for Qffesifr read Qg^e^siir. 
 for SQjQSViun^igi^ read seueieuiufTgS/ipgi. 
 for Filleiyur read PiUeiydr. 
 for never changed read ever changed. 
 for KuUadam read Kallddam. 
 for Otteiku'ter read Ottaku'ter. 
 for CTfftqG^ffliqO^e&rgjjeriGerr read CK^a^Gsit^ii^Q^ 
 
 for ©ajfPtL|^U)(5^a)6L6D read Giud^iLj^eSin^e^jsv. 
 after G'jjebGs'iiQQjbST add GufirS'ajaeii. 
 before throne add lohite : and before lion omit 
 
 the while. 
 omit all the world know that, 
 after a glutton add us all the u-orlJ hiows. 
 for annonymous read anonymous, 
 for a>neSGiuniL&i)Ua3ii^^dst read anstfiOiumli- 
 
 — 5 (or (kalidas), and OTTUiKv''rBi:i rcsid kalidas and 
 
 Ottaku'ten. 
 43 17 for their meaning read its meaning. 
 
 36 
 
 21 
 
 40 
 
 23 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 — 
 
 37 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
u 
 
 
 PACi:. 
 
 LINE, 
 
 43 
 
 '28 
 
 44 
 
 13 
 
 46 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 60 
 
 35 
 
 51 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 ■._ 
 
 14 
 
 52 
 
 39 
 
 62 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 66 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 67 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 71 
 
 33 
 
 72 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 73 
 
 38 
 
 76 
 
 33 
 
 79 
 
 4 
 
 __ 
 
 24 
 
 80 
 
 2 
 
 82 
 
 38 
 
 83 
 
 18 
 
 85 
 
 15 
 
 89 
 
 20 
 
 92 
 
 26 
 
 95 
 
 39 
 
 96 
 
 5 
 
 97 
 
 30 
 
 101 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 102 
 
 4 
 
 106 
 
 32 
 
 109 
 
 8 
 
 110 
 
 8 
 
 111 
 
 1 
 
 -M 
 
 12 
 
 112 
 
 26 
 
 113 
 
 24 
 
 111 
 
 17 
 
 117 
 
 4 
 
 118 
 
 29 
 
 EHRATA- 
 
 lor Konganar read Kongkoner. 
 
 for Koraker {Qsnuasir^eSi), mulei read Kora- 
 ker-muU {Qanua&npipG^), or koraker's drug. 
 
 for twenty-eight year read twenty-eighth year. 
 
 for Mr. Stoke's read Mr. Stokes' (iufr;D. 
 
 for ajfreyGLD/Tb^ewzruj/Trr) read \unvij\i.Gei3da i^6!s>a 
 
 for CJ6Tr(TGt-L.(?L.fT(| read (?6TTfTGatl(?t_rT(2. 
 
 for formidabJe leaves read silvery tvaves. 
 for the Apostle to India read the Apostle of India. 
 
 for Notandam read Notandnm. 
 yb?' justly holds re^id justly held. 
 
 before appears 077iit which. 
 for whom he celebrated read whom he celebrates 
 
 for cpil6S)j_<SBV.^^fT read GpiLt—asi-.^^n. 
 for Kulo'tunka read Kulo'tunga. 
 
 for chisled read chiseled. 
 
 before abandoning omit he 
 
 for ^ns^saeissT road e^n^sneisar, 
 
 before devoutly add and 
 for Kangkam read Kangkan. 
 for with all which read with all of which. 
 
 before to superintend omit however. 
 for Jansza read Jansze. 
 
 for as a portion read and a portion. 
 
 for annecdote read anecdote. 
 
 for OTTEiEtj'TEU read Ottaku'tee. (her. 
 
 after her feet stretched add out straight before 
 
 before introduced omit should be. 
 for Tirukkesuram read Tirukethichuram. 
 for Sphinix read Sphinx. 
 
 for there is collection read there is a collection. 
 for Villavera'ya read Villavara'ya. 
 for all which read all of which 
 for Vellei Mirdh read Vellei Marudu. 
 for got rid oi^ read, got rid of. 
 for both which read both of which. 
 for Yazhpanar read Yazhpaner. 
 for muniliciently read munificently. 
 for enioyment read enjoyment. 
 
 for SuBRAMANYAM read Subramanya. 
 for as well of the read as well the 
 for Uruthirasanmer read Urithirasanmcr. 
 for Varathakavireyer read Varathakaviraycr. 
 
 for \3nQit)n^ua>a^L.\h rco.di$aQir)n0^aan6SSiuib. 
 for relinguish read relinquish. 
 for Mandalapuruder rea^Z Mandalapuruder's, 
 for Beschis read Beschi's. 
 
 for «j^,g)6iT read oj^^. 
 for some how read somehow. 
 
RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 TO"-^ 202 Main Library 642-3403 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 
 2 : 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 ( 
 
 b 
 
 IMflHHHHHH^pi 
 
 This book is due before closing time on the last dote stamped below 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 
 
 
 3 n n79 
 
 
 
 'JAH2 91984 
 
 
 
 BECCIR. JA«27W 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 FORM NO. DD6A, 7m, 3/78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
C0^7DDfi3QS 
 
 4G3046 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY