Part 13 - Court literature: Kalingattuparanai and Muvarula

The court literatures of the later Cholas like the Kalingattuparanai and Muvarula various literary motifs have been used to praise the royal persona as physical and divine attributes of the king, his love and romantic heroism and war and procession like aspects. In Kalingattuparanai Chola monarchs were often compared with Lord Indra’s courage and strength. The king’s ability to destroy the evils of this earth found compared with the Sun God. In fact, the Sun rides seven horses to disband the darkness of the sky; while the poet of Kalingattuparanai, Jayankondar sketch the mighty Chola ruler Kulottunga I as who had taken oath to destroy the evil on the earth only with the help of a single horse.

He is thus considered as stronger than the Sun God.

To chase away the darkness of the sky, Surya drives the seven horses.
I will remove the evil of the earth, riding only one horse.
Thus he (Kulottunga I) said, and learned to drive the horse.^[1]

In another song Jayankondar tried to associate divinity into kingship that after protecting his people how king Kulottunga I additionally took the task of creation for the betterment of his country.

With the waters from the four oceans,
The chanting of the four Vedas,
And the blessings of the three worlds,
The king had an auspicious bath.^[2]
Then kings who were adorned with heroic anklets,
Worshipped the king’s feet with ankura;
And Brahmins planted the crown on the king’s head,
To set into motion the laws of Manu.^[3]

The Kalingattuparanai repeatedly depicting the Chola monarch with divine attributes and kingship. In similar manner the Muvarulas^[4] frequently refers their kings as divine incarnations. Ula literature farther highlights king’s personal and daily ritual performances. Simultaneously, the depiction of war and war rites for the hero king is another interesting feature found in Kalingattuparanai. It not only bears description related to the Kalinga war but also speaks of other battles at the time of Kulottunga I. It clearly established that how this genre of court literatures used to create the heroic persona of the king.

The above study shows that the heroic and divine form of early imperial phase transformed into more Brahmana dominated sanskritised form in the late phase. These changes intimately correspond with the development of kingship in Orissa also.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Jayankondar, Kalingattuparani, Canto 10, song 247 (Translated from Puliyur Kesikan, Kalingattuparani: Telivurai), Parinilayam, Chennai, 2008

[2]:

Ibid., song 263

[3]:

Ibid, song 264

[4]:

Ottakuttar, Kulottunga-Cholanula, (translated from Kavichakravarti Ottakuttar Iyartriya Kulottunga-Cholanula: Vilakkavurai), by Ti. Sangupulavar, South Indian Saiva Sidhanta Publishing Works Society, Tirunelveli, 1967