current in the spoken language of Malabar and Travancore when they had become obsolete in Tamil.
The later Tamil authors of Kerala were Aiyanaritanar, Cheraman Perumal and Kulasekara Perumal. Aiyanaritanar flourished about the seventh or eighth century A. D. He was a prince of the Chera dynasty and wrote a treatise on grainmar entitled the 'Venba-Malai, The other two were kings of Malabar and fourished during the eighth or ninth century. For their literary remains we must refer the reader to the eleventh 'Tirumurai,' of the Saivas, to Mr, Govinda Pillai's 'History of Malayalam Literature' and to our chapter on the Alvars. It must, however, be pointed out here that the proportion of Sanskrit words in the early Tamil works of the Chera country, namely, Ainkurunuru, Paditruppattu, Silappadikaram and Venbamalai is comparatively very small, while in the later writings of the Kerala saints—Cheraman and Kulasekara—it is perceptibly higher, mainly owing to Brahmanical influence. Kulasekara was also a Sanskrit poet. The latest Tamil poet who, according to a current tradition, visited Kerala and lectured on the Ramayana before large audiances was the famous Kamban (A. D. 1145-1205). Lectures in Tamil on the Ramayana were evidently popular and much appreciated in Kerala during this period, and it is interesting to note that even today Kambaramayanam is recited and commented upon by special minstrels or a class of wandering preachers, The first works
