Court Poets

Watch out! Watch out! Here come the great poets! The
best of the bards! Those who have swum the great oceans
of Tamil literature! Those who have followed in the
tradition of Agastya! They who have drunk the essence of
Tolkappiyam and other such ancient works of the Sangam
Period! They who have read great epics such as
Silappadikaram, from back to front! They who know the
ins and outs of Thirukural, the cannon of Tamil culture!
They who know the grammar of all literature. They who
know how to compose verse with originality! Think of
this: The rolls and rolls of palm leaves used up by each one
of them would feed millions and millions of hungry
termites for years and years to come!
The whole group of the great poets came into the chamber
of Emperor Sundara Chozla.
"Long life! Long life! Long live Emperor Sundara Chozla
who rules all the seven worlds under one canopy. Long life
to the Lord who `Brought down the fever (passion) of the
Pandiya'. Long live the patron of the bards. The benevolent
Lord of the poets, Long life to him. Long live the honored
grandson of that great Paranthaka who loved poets!" They
cheered as one man in praise of the monarch.
Sundara Chozla did not seem to appreciate the cheering or
the commotion too much. Nevertheless he hid his feelings
and unmindful of his ailment he tried to rise and welcome
them. The Younger Lord of Pazluvoor came forward
immediately, saying, "My Lord! These poets have come to
greet you and honor you, they have not come here to
trouble you. Please do not try to rise and trouble yourself."
"Yes; yes! Oh King of Kings, Oh best among Emperors!
We have not come here to trouble you in the least bit!"
said the chief of poets, Nallavan Sattanar.
"I am happy to see you all after all these days. Please,
won't you all be seated? I shall be glad to hear some of
your verses before you go!" spoke the Emperor who was
fond of Tamil literature.
All of them sat down on a rich, jewelled carpet spread on
the floor. Thinking it to be a good opportunity, our
dauntless Vallavarayan also sat down in their midst. He
did not feel like leaving before he had stated all his thoughts to the Emperor. He sat down hoping for another
opportunity to be private with the monarch.
The Younger Lord of Pazluvoor noticed him. His
moustache twitched. He considered throwing the fellow
out. But then he decided that it was better to let the fellow
remain right under his watchful eyes. Therefore, he
pretended ignorance of the fellow hiding amidst the group
of poets. The Commander decided to drag him out after the
bards had left and find out what the fellow had been saying
to the Emperor. His words "Danger! Danger!" were still
reverberating in his ears.
"Dear Poets! It has been a long time since I heard some
Tamil verse. My ears are hungry for Tamil poems. Have
any of you brought any new poems?" asked Emperor
Sundara Chozla.
One of the bards stood up, "My Lord! I come from the
monastery named in your honor, Sundara Chozla Perumpalli
which is in Ulaga Puram. All the buddhists in this
nation commend your benevolence to a buddhist
monastery though you are of the Saiva sect. The monks
and abbots are concerned about your ill health and we
offer prayers for your welfare and good health. I have
written some verses in this connection. If permitted I
would like to recite these."
"Please! Do repeat them. I am waiting to listen."
The bard then sang some verses beginning with the
following lines:-
Oh ye good soul, who found enlightenment under the Bo tree!
May you bless Sundara Chozla, monarch of growing Nandipuri,*
May he grow in prosperity, benevolence and in good looks and health,
To live with fame on this good earth.
* Nandipuri was another name for Pazlayarai
After hearing the poem all the poets showed appreciation
with words like "Good, good, well done!"
"It is surprising that the buddhists are so thankful about the
help!" said one of the poets who was a fanatic Saiva.
"Yes, it is quite a surprising thing. My service to the
monastery at Ulaga Puram was very meager. Do I deserve
such praise for that?"
"Who among those who have enjoyed the benevolence and
kindness of the Emperor will not praise his name? Even
Indra the King of Gods, Surya the Sun and the Great Lord
Shiva have enjoyed his generosity!" said another poet.
With a smile playing upon his lips Sundara Chozla asked,
"How is that? The King of the Gods and the Sun God?
Even Lord Shiva? Why should they be beholden to me?"
"Permit me to repeat a verse to that effect," said the poet.

When the monarch nodded assent, he opened the leaves of
the book in his hand and started reading the following
poem:-
An elephant he did present for Lord Indra to mount;
Seven horses did he give, for that flame-bodied Lord, creator of the day;
A palanquin for that good Lord Shiva and his gentle spouse;
Such is the benevolence of Sundara Chozla
With whom on this earth can we compare his glory?
After the poet had recited these lines everybody in the
group applauded, by clapping their hands and by saying
words like "Aha! Aha! Good! Good!"
With a pleased expression the Emperor asked, "Can any of
you explain this poem in detail?"
Several of them rose at the same time. Seeing the chief
poet Sattanar the others sat down. Nallavan Sattanar then
explained the poem as follows:-
"Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a war
between the King of the Devas and the Demon Vritta. In
that war the great elephant named Iravatha which belonged
to Lord Indra died. Indra was looking around for another
elephant comparable to that great beast. Finally he came to
Emperor Sundara Chozla of Pazlayarai and begged for `An
elephant comparable to Iravatha.' The monarch replied, `I
do not have any elephants comparable to Iravatha but I
have several better ones.' After saying this he took Indra to
his elephant stable. The Lord of the Gods saw the
thousands of beasts standing there like little hillocks and
was confused, `Which one shall I choose?' Seeing his
bewilderment, Sundara Chozla selected one good elephant
and presented it to Indra. `How am I going to control this
rogue elephant. Even my weapons the thunderbolts, may
not be sufficient!' thought Indra with fright; on seeing that,
the Emperor presented him with a good ankush (elephant
goad) for controlling the new elephant given to him.
"Later at one time, there was a terrible battle between the
God Surya of the radiant red rays who spreads light over
all the world and the Demon Raagu, who causes eclipses.
Raagu tried to swallow the creator of day and night; but he
could not do so: the brilliant light of the Sun God
consumed his body. However the seven colorful horses
yoked to the Sun God's chariot were killed by the poisons
spilt by the demon. While the Sun stood still, wondering
how he could resume his daily passage across the skies,
Sundara Chozla considered his helplessness and presented
him with seven new horses. `Please yoke these horses to
your chariot and spread the grace of your brilliance to all
living beings' prayed the monarch. The Sun God acclaimed
the earthly King who was a descendant of his clan i.e.
Surya Vamsa (Sun Kings).
"Several years ago the wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvathi
Devi was celebrated with pomp in the mountains of
Kailasa. The friends and relatives of the bride had come
with several costly presents. But they had forgotten to
bring a palanquin for the wedding procession. They
whispered amongst themselves `There is nothing but this
bull available to carry the bride and groom in procession.
What can we do now?' Sundara Chozla heard this and
ordered his servants to bring his ivory palanquin inlaid
with pearls, from the carriage house. He then offered it
with much devotion, as a present at the wedding of the
great God Shiva.
"Who else is there in this wide world surrounded by the
seas, to compare with such a benevolent, gracious
monarch?"
Sundara Chozla who was listening to all this, burst out
laughing. The Emperor who had been suffering with
illness had not laughed like that for a long time. On
hearing his laughter and seeing his mirth even the Empress
Vanama Devi smiled; the maids in the palace and even the
doctors in the chamber smiled.
The Commander of Tanjore, Younger Lord Pazluvoor, had
been standing apart all this time. Now he came forward
saying, "My Lord! I have committed a grave crime, please
forgive my mistake and pardon me!"
"Is it the Commander? What crime did you commit? Why
should you be forgiven? Perhaps you seized the elephant
and horses that I gave to the Gods and brought them back?
Did you confiscate the palanquin given to Shiva? --
Because these things were not properly accounted for? Ah
yes! You are quite capable of doing that!" said Sundara
Chozla with a voice chocking with laughter. The poets
laughed with the Emperor. Vandiya Devan laughed louder
than everyone else. The Younger Lord Pazluvoor noticed
his laughter and looked at him with blazing eyes.
The Commander then turned to the Emperor and said,
"King of Kings! My mistake was just this: I had been
preventing persons like these poets from coming to your
presence all these days. I followed the orders of the palace
doctors. But now I realize my mistake. These poets have
made you cheerful. You have laughed loudly after
listening to their poems! Smiles blossomed on the faces of
the Udaya Pirati, (Queen Consort) and even the maids
upon seeing your mirth. Wasn't it my mistake to not let
such people who could cause such happiness into your
presence?"
"You said the right thing Commander! Do you realize it at
least now? I keep telling you don't bother about the
doctors."
The palace doctor tried to mumble some reply in a reverent
manner, Sundara Chozla made a sign to stop him and then
looked at the bards. "Does anyone here know who
composed this exquisite verse? If anyone knows, please let
me know!" said the Emperor.
Nallavan Sattanar replied, "King of Kings that is what we
do not know. All of us have been trying to find out that! If
we knew, we would crown that poet with the title `Emperor of Poets' and carry him in procession around the
city. We have not been able to find that poet's identity."
"There is nothing surprising about that. I am sure that the
great poet who can stuff that many untruths in four lines
will hesitate to come forward!"
When the Emperor said these words, all the bards felt
totally dejected; their faces fell as if swallowed by an
eclipse! None of them knew a reply for this comment! At
this point, our hero Vandiya Devan stood up boldly and
said, "My Lord! We should not dismiss this verse
completely as absolute untruth. When common folks utter
words that are not factual, we call them lies; when people
involved in the conduct of nations say such things, it is
known as political shrewdness; when poets say such
things, it is imagination, creativity, alliteration, prosody,
meter, rhyme, lyric."
All the poets now turned to him, saying, "Well said, Good!
Good!"
The Emperor also looked at him, scrutinizing his face:
"Oh! Aren't you the messenger who brought letters from
Kanchi? Clever! Well parried argument! Good rebuttal!"
praised the Emperor.
He then looked at the group of poets and said, "Though it
was a good poem, there is no need to find its author and
crown him with titles. I know the poet who wrote this
verse. He is already burdened with the weight of the
jeweled crown of the Chozla Empire. Titles such as
`Emperor of the Three Worlds', `Emperor of the Good
Earth and the Seven Worlds' are already being borne by
that King of Poets."
And if this author says that the poets who heard his words
drowned in the ocean of surprise and struggled -- readers
should not disregard it as lies. It is the author's
imagination, lyric, comparison, raphsody. You must accept
it as some such grammatic convention of literature!