7. Ramavarma Kavya of Koccunni Tampuran

Ramavarma Kavya^[1] is a Mahakavya in 9 cantos composed by Koccunni Tampuran in 1912^[2]. The author of the poem, Koccunni Tampuran belonged to the Kotunnallur Royal family. He was born in 1858 as the son of Ikkavu Tampuratti at the age of twenty eight married Janaki Amma, the sister of Kattullil Achyuta Menon. In 1890 he moved to Irinjalakkuda suit to enjoy the friendship of the prince of that principality. After ten years when the prince died he found it difficult to contain his grief. So he shifted his palace of stay to various towns in the erstwhile state of Cochin and finally settled at Kotunnallur where he breathed his last in 1922.

Koccunni Tampuran was taught initially by his family teacher Valappil Asan. He had the good fortune of learning Vyakarana from Kunnunni Tampuran and Krsna Sastri, the celebrated scholars of the time. Svami Managiriji and Ittiri Musu of Taikkatu gave him instruction in Vedanta and Vaidya respectively. It is said that the hero had a special liking for Hastyayurveda, the native method of teaching the diseases of animals. In 1921 Koccunni Tampuran was honored for his literary talents by the prince of wales. Subsequently the king of Cochin awarded him the title of Kavisarvabhauma.

The poem eulogised Ramavarma of Cochin who abdicated his responsibilities as a king. In all probability he can be identified with the hero of the same name depicted in Ramavarma Vijaya of Kunjan Varier. At the end of the first canto of Ramavarma kavya the poet says—

‘iti śrīmāṭamaheśa vaṃśāntargate rāmavarmakāvye prathamaḥ sargaḥ’

Which implies that the original idea of the poet was to compose voluminous poem under the title of Matamahisavamsa and that the present work is only a portion of the same.

The poem begins with the childhood, education and upbringing of prince Ramavarma. His accession to the throne is described in the next canto. The first death anniversary of his predecessor, Virakeralavarma forms the subject matter of the third. The following two cantos are devoted to describe the journey of the king to the neighbour regions of north and south of his kingdom. The prosperity of the country at the time of the reign of the hero is dealt with in the sixth canto. In the seventh, king Ramavarma accepts a title of honour. The journey of the king back home is narrated subsequently. The last canto described the celebration of the sixtieth birthday of the king along with his visit to his favourite temple at Tiruvancikkulam^[3].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Single paper manuscript presented by Sri. Ullur P. Ramanathan, the son of Ullur

[2]:

Koccunni has to his credit a number of literary works both in Sanskrit (9) as well as in Malayalam (28)

[3]:

For more details see Kerala Sahitya Caritram, Ullur IV -P 342; Keraleya Samskrita Sahitya Caritram V -305 -313; KSLB 384 (The original plan of the author seems to be compose a bulky Mahakavya titled Matamahisa vamsa (History of Kochin kings) of which Ramavarma kavya forms a part)