Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/221

Rh Kovur-Kilar (A.D. 100-130) was a war hard who was very influential in the court of the Chola kings. Several stanzas composed by him in praise of Ched-chenni-Nalank-killi$alavan are found in the Pura-nanuru. In the civil wars that raged during the reign of Nalank-killi, between him and his younger brothers, Kovur-kilar was in the camp of Nedunk-killi. When Nalank-killi besieged Uraiyur and afterwards Avur, where his brother Nedunk-killi had taken refuge, the bard tried to reconcile the brothers. He saved the life of flan-thathan, a poor minstrel, whom Nedunk-killi was about to kill on the suspicion that he was a spy. During the reign of Killi-valavan, when that king seized the Sons of Malayaman and condemned them to be trampled by elephants, the bard saved the youths, by reminding the Chola-king of the deeds of mercy which had rendered the names of his ancestors celebrated in ancient song. When that king invaded the Chera kingdom and besieged the capital Karur, Kovur-killar and two other bards, Alathur-killar and Marokattu-Nappasalaiyar, were in the Chola camp. The following is a translation of one of the stanzas addressed by him to his patron Nalan-killi.

“We are the devoted bards of Nalan-killi, the fierce and brave warrior king of Chola-Na& who riding on a steed with flowing mane and jewelled trappings leads ai army as vast as a sea and lays waste the lands of his foes. We seek not rewards from the hands of others by singing their praises. Him alone we will sing and bless for ever! Thou lord of fleet steeds! Myself and my minstrel, youths, who know not the pangs of. hunger, but