232 



Report on the Maclcenzie Manuscripts. 



[Oct. 



10. Tlieking an avaiaraof Vishnu. 12. The battle, with an account of 



11. Petition of demons to Cali for those killed. 



leave to follow the king's ar- 13. A continuation of the same 



my, in order to feed on the subject. 



dead bodies of the slain. 

 The whole is contained in five-hundred and eighty-three stanzas. The 

 different subjects are above indicated with sufficient distinctness, except 

 the second and seventh. The former section praises the king for giving 

 liberty and safety, to wives of the waiTiors of the ox)posing anny. The 

 other section contains the boasting of a head-demon as to the prowess of 

 the demons attendant on the army. There is much, as it will even here- 

 by appear, of <^m6/er'<e mixed up with the composition; and war chants 

 in the general features, from Homer downwards, seem very similar all 

 over the globe.* 



The name of the writer does not appear in the work ; but I learn other- 

 wise, that it was the composition of Ottya Cuttan, a famous bard, pa- 

 tronized by one of the Chola kings. That a Chola conquest, to the 

 northward of Madras, did take place, extending beyond Nellore, and 

 perhaps as far as Guntoor is certain ; but a little hesitation may be felt 

 before believing that it penetrated farther than to the outskirts of the an- 

 cient Calinga-desam. The subject may be compared with other records. 

 A reference, in a foiTner MS. book, having been made to this poem for 

 an account of the destruction of artizans at Mdndu, I kept that incident 

 in view ; but do not find it mentioned, and the reference must be en-one- 

 ous, 1 



Note. — The MS. is complete, and the material fresh : still one or two 

 leaves are partially injured, to the endangering of the sense ; and these 

 I have had restored, on new palm-leaves, corresponding with the others. 



The work is entered in Des. Catalogue, vol. 1, p. 196, art. v. with 

 sufficient acciu-acy; except that there does not appear to be authority for. 

 stating that '■^ Kulottunga Chola is made to recover Calinga from a. 

 Mahomedan prince." Such a statement is not in the poem, and the era 

 of Ottya Cuttan was higher up than the earliest intervention of Mahome- 

 dans, in the peninsula. 



A. Mayidalapurusha Nigandu, No, 55. — Countermark 214. 



This copy is entirely in verse. Nine leaves are wanting from the sixth 

 section. The remainder is complete, and in tolerably good order, though 



* In the demoniacal portions of this poem there are resemblances to accounts given of 

 Tahilian -vYar-ininstrels. — .See Ellis's Polyuesiau Researches. 



