1. Introduction to Sandesha Kavyas

Though Valmiki paved the way in the initial stage it was Kalidasa who developed it into a perfect form of poetic literature. Megha-sandesha, the unique work of Kalidasa, was received with such enthusiasam that attempts were made to emulate it all over India. As result there arose a significant branch of lyric literature in Sanskrit. Kerala it perhaps the only region which produced numerous works of real merit in this field. The literature of Kerala is full of poems of the Sandesha type.

Literature can be made use of to yield information about the social history of a land and is often one of the main sources for reconstructing the ancient social customs and manners of the respective periods. History as a separate study has not been seriously treated in Sanskrit literature. Apart form literary merits, the Sanskrit literature of Kerala contains several historical accounts of the country with the exception of a few historical Kavyas, it is the Sandesa-kavyas that give us some historical details. Among the Sanskrit works, the Sandesha Kavya branch stands in a better position in this field (matter)Since it contains a good deal of historical materials through the description of the routes to be followed by the messengers in the Sandeshakavyas. The Sandesakavyas play an important role in depicting the social history of their ages. The Keralate Sandesha-kavyas are noteworthy because of the geographical, historical, social and cultural information they supply about the land. Kerala is perhaps the only region which produced numerous works in this field from about the 14th century down to the present day. On the basis of this, in this chapter an attempt is made to deal with some important Sandesakavyas and their bearing on the history of Kerala.

The main Sandesakavyas Bearing on Kerala History

The Meghasandesa of Kalidasa has inspired several Sandesakavyas in Kerala as also in other parts of India. The earliest and the most important Sandesakavya of Kerala is the Sukasandesa of Laksmidasa (14th C. AD) Following Suka-sandesa, a number of Sandesha-kavya were produced in Kerala. Some of them are very important from the historical stand point. They are the Hamsa-sandesa of Purnasarasvati (14thC), the Kokila-sandesa of Uddanda Sastri (15thC), the Mayura-sandesha of Udayaraja (16thC), the Kama-sandesa of Matrdatta(16thC), the Brnga-sandesa also called Bhramara-sandesha by one Vasudeva, a contemporary poet of Melputtur Narayanan Bhatta (17thC) the Subhaga-sandesha of Narayana (17thC), the Catakasandesa by a Brahmin from Tirumandhamkunnu who lived under the patronage of Kartika Tirunal Ramavarma Maharaja of Travancore in the 18thC,the Nilakanthasandesa by Punnasseri Sridharan Nambi(1774 -1830 AD), Vipra-sandesha of Koccunni Tampuran of Kotunnallur, Sarika-sandesa of Ramapanivada, another Cakora-sandesha of anonymous authorship.

From a close study of those Sandesha-kavyas a lot of historical accounts, Kings, poets, other reputed persons, the places, temples, mountains, rivers etc. described in these different poems are briefly dealt with here in one by one.