Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/227

Rh modern language betrays that they are the works of a much later poet.

Idaik-kâddandâr (A.D. 100-130) was the author of the Oosimuri, a poem which is not now extant, but which is quoted in Gunasagara’s commentary to the Yapp-arunk-kalatn. He visited the camp of the Chola king Killi-valavan, when he was besieging Karûr, the Chera capital.

Cheettalaich-châttanar (A.D. 1l0-140) was the son of a corn dealer of Madura. He professed Buddhism, and was eminent as a logician, theologian and poet. A stanza composed by him in praise of the Pandyan king Nan-maran is as follows :—

“Thou angust Valuti, whose arms are long and powerful and whose breast is resplendent with strings of precious gems! a perfect master art thou of courteous and gracious acts. Never wouldst thou tolerate what is false. To thy enemies, thou art like the burning sun, which rises above the ocean: but to thy subjects like myself, thou art like the pleasant moon.”

His fame rests on his great work the Mani-mekalai, which is the earliest of the five epic poems in Tamil. It is a most finished piece of writing and contains many passages of great beauty. The style is simple and elegant; and the phrases used are well turned and full of deep meaning. He excels most in his exquisite descriptions of natural scenery. He portrays beautifully the character of the heroine Mani-mêkalai, who, though young a11! beautiful and the daughter of an actress, devotes herself to a religious life and becomes a Buddhist nun. She is courted by a handsome prince, the son of the reigning king, but remains faithful to her vow, and far from acting the prude, she feels for her lover like a true woman, and tries to wean his heart from the lusts of the flesh and to lead him to a holy and spiritual life. In the last four chapters of the epic, where the author describes the six schools of philosophy that were then popular, he shows himself to be a master of the logical subtleties, and metaphysical cobwebs which formed the constant theme of argument among the learned men of his time. After completing the Mani-mêkalai, he visited Karur, the capital of the Chera kingdom, and remained there for