instance of a similar work in any other literature by a Royal author who had given up the wordly pursuits, and taken holy orders, and yet was called upon to compose an epic dealing with many lay and temporal institutions, pleasures, and pastimes, the lives and habits and ideals of various castes and professions, in commemorating the life of an ideally chaste and virtuons woman. Nor can we find a similar instance anywhere of a same Royal author dealing impartially with the life and times of his brother and King Senguttuvan as also those of his rival kings. The moral fervour and the easthetic perfection of that work are unsurpassed ; and the descriptions of natural scenery are vivid and his narration of the story is entrancing. A stimulus to the study of that work and similar works is greatly added to by Mr. M. Raghava Ayengar in writing and publishing this work.
His dedication of the book to the memory of the founder and first President of the Madura Tamil Sangam, while it expresses the author's gratitude for him is also appropriate in illustrating the principle for which the late Mr. Pandithurai Thevar, lived and worked, namely, the popularisation and improvement of the Tamil Language and Literature. Further Mr. Pandithurai's labours in the vindication of the claims of the Tamil Language and Literature somewhat bear an analogy to the acheivement of the hero of this work in vindicating the greatness of the Tamil Kings of those times.
| Madura, 31-8-1915 |
T. C. SREENIVASA AYENGAR,
Secretary, The Madura Tamil Sangam | |||||
