Li 



The Legend of Payanur. 



[No. 31 



poem is certainly the oldest specimen of Malayalim composition 

 which I have seen ; the language is rich and bold, evidently of a 

 time when the infusions from Sanskrit had not reduced the energy of 

 the tongue, by cramping it with hosts of unmeaning participles. 

 But the copy which I have, is so full of antiquated terms and so dis- 

 figured by errors of transcription, that I could not now undertake to 

 give a correct version of the whole, valuable as such a picture of 

 bygd.ie times would doubtless be. Perhaps, I may on another ex- 

 cursion to Payanur and the site of the forgotten CacMlpatnam, fall 

 in with another copy. That the Jews should have forgotten the 

 name of their original settlement is the less surprising, because since 

 the destruction of their fort near Codungalur, they avoid the place 

 so carefully that they will not even eat on the western bank of the 

 river. A Crancjanore Brahmin told me that when he gives rice to 

 a Jewish cooly, he invariably paddles himself to the eastern shore, 

 there to cook and cat it : but whenever a Jew is buried, earth 

 fetched from Codungalur is thrown on the corpse — all on account 

 of an old oath. Does not this circumstance tend to prove that they 

 consider that ground, in the terms of the grant, as their everlasting- 

 inheritance?" 



The Legend of Payanur — N. L. 12° 5' near Cavay. 



Nilakcsi, a woman of good family, an inhabitant of a place 

 called Simper 'ur ( Trichoor ?J& town famous for female beau- 

 ty, could not obtain a son though married to several men. 

 She resolves therefore to do penance by wandering about as 

 a beggar, and comes to the famous emporium Cachilpatnam 

 (near Mount Dilli), where the chief of the place, a mer- 

 chant named Nambu Chetti, or Chombu Chetti, enters into 

 conversation with her, advises her to perform certain vows, 

 and then takes her to his palace as his lawful wife. A son 

 is born, and receives the name of Nambusari Aren, and a 

 feast of rejoicing is celebrated on the 41st day on the plain of 

 Payanur. At that time Nilahesi's brothers happened to go 

 up the coast in a ship. They hear the music, and disem- 

 bark to see the play. But as they climb up a wall of the 

 temple, some spectators expostulate with them. They call 

 themselves Culavdnier (merchants) who cannot be expected 



