2. Mahodayapuresacaritam

A historical poem entitled Mahodayapuresa-charitha [Mahodayapuresacaritam]^[1] is traditionally attributed to Tolan^[2] who was a court poet of the Kerala king Kulasekharavarman (900 AD), who distinguished himself as a dramatist. According to some scholars he was a protege of Bhaskara Ravivarman or Ceraman Perumal. Though the name Tolan seems to be a tadbhava of Atula^[3], he is not to be identified with the author of the Musikavamsa, which must have been written in the beginning of the 12th C AD. According to another view his name was Nilakantha and that he was a native of Cochin and he belonged to the Airanikkulam^[4] Village. This Tolan is credited with the authorship of the poem called Mahodayapuracaritam.

Kulasekhara is the hero of the Kavya. The work begins with a description of Mahodayapuresa, or Tiruvancikkulam, the modern cranganore. The poem is said to be a Mahakavya in simple style. The work is non-extent, only two verses have been handed down to us through tradition^[5]. Nothing else is known about this interesting work on the lord of the city of Mahodaya, the ancient capital of Kerala. The name suggests that it was a historical poem giving an account of ancient Kerala. It is believed that Tolan had no admiration for the Yamaka poets. He was also a great art critic.