No. 4. — 1848.] CATALOGUE OF TAMIL BOOKS. 69 



the adventures of Nalan, king of Nishata, and Tamayanti, 

 his consort. This work was composed by no less a perso- 

 nage than the king Ativira Rdma Pdndiyan, who reigned 

 at Madura about the middle of the eleventh century, and 

 Mr. Ellis in noticing it in his commentary on the Kural, 

 p. 163, observes that "its high and courteous tone, notwith- 

 standing the frequent occurrence of those gaudy images and 

 far-sought allusions which European taste will denominate 

 conceits, is worthy of the princely author." 



6. Nala Venpd. 

 A poem in 3 cantos, comprising 418 stanzas of the 

 species called venpd. Treats of the same subject as the last, 

 but with a studied brevity. The author, Pukalentl, was a 

 contemporary of Kampan, and, like him, attached to the 

 court of the king Kulotunka Cholan. 



7. Chintdmani. 

 A poem in 10 cantos, comprising 3,315 stanzas. "The 

 queen Vichaiyai, the mother of Ckivakan, the hero of the 

 poem, was forced to fly, while far gone with child of him, 

 from the field of battle in which the king her husband 

 Chachchantan was slain by his rebellious minister, and was 

 overtaken by the pains of labour in a burning ground. 

 Here she was compelled to abandon her new-born infant, 

 who was found and brought up by a man of the Vaisya 

 caste. The mother took refuge with a society of holy 

 virgins in the wilderness, where she was discovered at length 

 by her son, after he had arrived at a mature age, and had 

 acquired great renown by many glorious achievements." 

 Ellis' Kural, p. 260. The author's name is not mentioned, 

 but he describes himself as a Chaina sage. 



8. Chilappatikdram, 

 This poem treats of the adventures of a Ckeddi, named 

 Kovalan, who was put to death at Madura on a false charge 



