Everything about Chola Literature totally explained
Chola literature, mostly written in
Tamil, is the literature created during the period of
Chola reign in
South India between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries CE. The age of the imperial Cholas was the most creative epoch of the history of South India and was the Golden Age of
Tamil culture. The Cholas were remarkable patrons of literature and art. From the age of
Sangam to the end of the Chola Empire in the middle of the thirteenth century, the Chola land was a fertile ground for the cultivation of some of the best literature in the Tamil language. The collection of literature available to us today is doubtless but a fraction of what was created as we learn from the Chola inscriptions about a number of books that are not available to us today.
Sangam age
The Sangam age, which falls during the first few centuries of the
Common Era, is notable for some of the most creative works in Tamil. Sangam literature comprises some of the oldest extant Tamil literature, and deals with love, war, governance, trade and bereavement. Unfortunately much of the Tamil literature belonging to the Sangam period had been lost. The literature currently available from this period is perhaps just a fraction of the wealth of material produced during this golden age of Tamil civilisation.
Most of the information we've on the
Sangam age Cholas are from the Sangam poetry. The earliest Chola kings of whom we've evidence are those mentioned in the Sangam poetry and in the colophons attached to them giving details on the poets who wrote them and the king or the prince on whom the poem was written. We find that a number of princes of the Chola lineage took an active part as patrons of poets and sometimes as authors.
At the end of the Sangam age, the early Cholas went into decline and the patronage of the
Tamil literature passed on the
Pallavas and the
Pandyas.
Age of imperial Cholas
With the revival of Chola power in the middle of the ninth century, the avenues for the literature and art broadened. For the first time in history, an imperial state encompassed the entire South India bringing with it the safety and security to the people and provided the opportunity for the people to experience cultures beyond their own. Tamil became a language of the people.
The literature during this period may be classified into religious, secular and political.
Religious literature
During the imperial Chola period the
Prabhanda became the dominant form of poetry. The religious canons of
Saiva and
Vaishnava sects were beginning to be systematically collected and categorised. The Cholas built numerous temples, mainly for their favourite god
Siva, and these were celebrated in numerous hymns.
Nambi Andar Nambi, who was a contemporary of
Rajaraja Chola I, collected and arranged the books on Saivism into eleven books called
Tirumurais. One of these include a short poem by
Gandaraditya, who was a Chola king during the early tenth century. The hagiology of Saivism was standardised in
Periyapuranam (also known as
Tiruttondar Puranam) by
Sekkilar, who lived during the reign of
Kulothunga Chola II (1133 – 1150 CE). Sekkilar opus became the twelfth book in the Saiva canon.
Religious books on the Vaishnava sect were mostly composed in
Sanskrit during this period. The great Vaishnava leader
Ramanuja lived during this period. Perhaps due to the animosity of the later Cholas towards the Vaishavites, there was no much literary activity in Tamil from this sect.
One of the best know Tamil work of this period is the
Ramavatharam by
Kamban who flourished during the reign of Kulottunga III.
Ramavatharam is the greatest epic in Tamil Literature, and although the author states that he followed Valmiki, his work isn't a mere translation or even an adaptation of the Sanskrit epic. Kamban imports into his narration the colour and landscape of his own time. His description of Kosala is an idealised account of the features of the Chola country.
Of the books on the
Buddhist and the
Jain faiths, the most noteworthy is the
Jivaka-chintamani by the Jain ascetic Thirutakkadevar composed in the tenth century. This is the story of Jivaka, who was equally distinguished in war and peace, and tells the story of his youth during which he indulges in excesses and at his prime realises the hollowness of his existence and renounces everything to become a Jain ascetic.
Secular literature
There were a number of books written on Tamil grammar.
Yapperungalam and
Yapperungalakkarigai were two works on
prosody by the Jain ascetic Amirtasagara. Buddamitra wrote
Virasoliyam, another work on Tamil grammar, during the reign of
Virarajendra Chola.
Virasoliyam attempts to find synthesis between Sanskrit and Tamil grammar. Other grammatical works of this period are
Nannul by Pavanandi,
Vaccanandi Malai by Neminatha, and the annotations on
Purananuru,
Purapporun Venbamalai by Aiyanaridanar.
Political literature
Of the works of a political nature, we find the poetic works on various Chola kings. Jayamkondar wrote
Kalingattupparani, a semi-historical account on the two invasion of
Kalinga by
Kulothunga Chola I. Jayamkondar was a poet-laureate in the Chola court and his work is a fine example of the balance between fact and fiction the poets had to tread. Ottakuttan, a close contemporary of Kambar, wrote three
Ulas on
Vikrama Chola, Kulothunga Chola II and
Rajaraja Chola II
Extinct literature
Chola inscription mention the names of some of the literature which are currently not available to us. They were once considered worthy of public recognition, as the authors of these inscriptions assumed the readers would know them by the mere mention of their names. Of these are two works on Rajaraja Chola I,
Rajararajesvara natakam and
Rajararaja Vijayam. The former of this was a play and was enacted at the great
Brihadisvara Temple in
Thanjavur. From the context in the inscriptions we learn that this wasn't a play on the life of the great king, but on the building of the temple.
There was a book on Kulothunga Chola I called
Kulothunga Chola Charitai by Thirunarayana Bhatta. A certain Kamalalaya Bhatta wrote
Kannivana Puranam and
Pum Puliyur Natakam, works of a popular nature. The poet was awarded some tax free gifts for his works.
It is indeed a tragedy that we're unable to trace these lost works. This is true of most of the extant literature in India, which have been preserved more by chance and accident than by deliberate act of preservation.
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