The Mushaka kingdom is narrated from legendary
beginnings in a Sanskrit poem called MUSHAKAVAMSAM gives the history of
the land till about the 12th century A.D. Later the kingdom came to be known as
Kolattunadu and the kings as Kolattiris.
There was a Mushaka king by name Srikanta alias
Rajadharman in 12 A.D., in the North region of Kerala. The court poet Atula was patronized by
him. The poet Atula composed a
historical Mahakavya by name MUSHAKAVAMSAM of which only 15 cantos are available
now. It starts with the story that once the
warriors were slaughtered by Parasurama, a queen, whose husband was killed,
escaped from her kingdom to the mountain Eli, being escorted by a priest, and
hid herself in a cave there. One day a
rat as big as an elephant entered the cave and threatened to devour the queen,
but was burned to ashes by the queen’s anger.
Then the rat appeared before her as Parvataraja, the king of mountain,
and said that he was now saved from the curse of sage Kusika which had brought
him to his previous plight. Then the
queen continued to live in the cave and brought forth a male child, who was the
properly educated by the priest. Being born
in a cave of the Mushaka-mountain, and being consecrated with a potful of water
by Parasurama, the prince came to be known as Mushaka Ramaghata.
In the
14th century A.D., King Raghava came to power. A court poet by name Divakara being
patronized by him, composed a Mahakavyam titled AnargaRaghavaCampu on his patron.
In
the beginning of 15th century A.D., a royal prince of
the Kola country named RamaVarman the elder brother of KeralaVarman. After the death of RamaVarman, KeralaVarman,
has ascended the throne. RamaVarman
has authored BharataSamgraham a MahaKavyam
dealing with the story of the Mahabharatam in 25 cantos, and a play,
CandrikaKalapidam in 5 acts describing the story of the love between
Candrika, the daughter of the king of Kalinga, and KandarpaSekhara, king of
Kasi, culminating in their marriage.
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