Among the ballads of the south, one of the most powerful is the Iravikkuttipillai Battle, also called "The Battle of Kaniyamkulam". The dialogue between the distinguished Warrior Iravikuttippillai and his wife, the latter asking her husband not to proceed to battle because she had seen bad dreams about its dire consequences, is particularly touching. Another equally arresting passage is the description of how the women celebrated the occasion of the hero's glorious march to the battle field in full array. The southern songs have a greater admixture of Tamil words. Ramakatha Pattu, which is, perhaps the most elaborate and most magnificent of these southern poems, is not a ballad but a genuine folk epic. Ayyappilli Asan, the author of this massive epic on the theme of Ramayana, is believed to have lived in the 15th century A.D. But the language and literary style point to a folk bias. Born near Kovalam to the south of Thiruvananthapuram, Asan was a master of Tamil too; his language thus remains very close to Tamil. There are numerous passages in Ramakatha Pattu which have a highly lyrical quality and an unmatched delicacy of imagination.

          The folk poetry of Kerala is still an unspent force. It has always shown greater vigour and vitality than the poetry of the elite. The metrical richness of Malayalam folk poetry, too, is immense. It reflects the fundamentally musical approach to poetry that manifests itself in Malayalam literature. A predominant and all-pervasive sense of rhythm seems to be so characteristic a feature of Kerala culture. It might even be said that the perenial appeal of the Pattu school of poetry is mainly due to the inexhaustible melodic potentiality of its metrical structure. The vitality of the folk tradition in historical times is demonstrated by the Mappila Pattukal (Moplah songs) which have not only enriched the metrical resources of the language but put special emphasis on vira and sringara (the heroic and the erotic). The Arabi-Malayalam language used in these Moplah songs establishes the quaint beauty of their melodies. In the same way the Idanadan Pattu, a ballad with a Pylaya hero, adds to the variety of folk poetry in Malayalam.

Ramacharitam

          The evidence for the beginning of conscious literary creation in Malayalam is to be found in Ramacharitam, written in the 12th century and believed to be the oldest extant classic in Malayalam (some scholars have assigned it to the 14th century). The language represented here is an early form of Malayalam which appears to be almost indistinguishable from Tamil, except perhaps for a linguist. Ramacharitam is the earliest of the many poetic versions of the story of Ramayana that have appeared in Malayalam. The work is thus important from the linguistic as well as the literary point of view. Ulloor Parameswara Iyer who was the first to bring to light long excerpts from this poem, holds the view that it was written by Sri Vira Rama Varma who ruled over Travancore from 1195 to 1208. Scholars differ on whether the language of Ramacharitam represents the literary dialect or the spoken dialect of Malayalam of that period.

          Ramacharitam is also taken to the greatest work belonging to the Pattu school. Cheeraman, the author, as his name is given in the poem itself, has adapted to suit a Dravidian sensibility, a story which is unmistakably of Aryan origin. The work retells the story of Ramayana and the author tries to follow Valmiki in all essential details. However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that one could read the work as an original and independent poem in which the story is told with remarkable ease, maturity and perfect craftsmanship. It rises far above the level of ordinary folk poetry in its literary sophistication. Even the stansas of invocation is section one show great skill not only in condensing a whole series of events in one context but also in intoning the emotion or bhava in a concentrated form. Here is a passage, for example:

                             So difficult it is for me to narrate
                             how the son of Vayu hugged grief for a night
                             seeking Maithili, the long-eyed one,
                             crossing the billowy sea with perfect skill,
                             as the monkeys went about in all directions
                             at the orders of their king who had become friends
                             with Rama, while he was wandering along the route
                             on which, before the rainy months came,
                             the Rakshasa chief had disappeared with Sita.

          The focus is on Hanuman and the context is clearly specified so that the reference to the night of grief spells out the central bhava. It also marks out the part of the Ramayana story which is going to be narrated in the present work. In the 1814 verses grouped into 164 sections the poet tries to tell in a dramatic style the war between Rama and Ravana. Thus, although the work is called Ramacharitam, it deals with only the Battle Canto (Yudha Kanda) of Ramayana. The earlier episodes in Rama's life are told by means of retrospective narration. The scenes of battle are described with verve and vigour. Physical prowess in fully appreciated by the poet. Some scholars have argued that this poem was composed in order to inspire the soldiers in the discharge of their duty. But there are other emotions also invoked in the poem. Bhakti or piety is dominant in many passages since the author presents Rama as an incarnation of Vishnu. In this, as in many other aspects, it is likely that the author was influenced by writers like Kambar. There is no doubt that in the depiction of both the heroic and the pathetic or tragic the poet shows extreme delicacy of touch and propriety. Here is Mandodari's lament as Ravana, her lord, lies killed in battle:

O King, lying asleep on this battle ground
in royal regalia, kindly rise,
as we of the weaker sex and I, your bondmaid,
who used to make you utter elixir-like words,
weep, while speaking brave words to endure this,
so that our lotus eyes fill with tears blurring the sight.

The Beginning of Prose

          There is no literary work of the same period in prose matching in quality with Ramacharitam. The earliest pieces of prose in existence are of a documentary nature, with no touch of imagination. The Attoor copper plate of Vira Udaya Marthanda Varma of Venad dated 1251 is, according to Ulloor, the earliest document, wholly in Malayalam proper. But Bhasha Kautaliyam, a Malayalam translation of Kautalya's Artha Sastra, is contemporaneous with Ramachirtham and illustrates the use of prose for imaginative purposes as well . The writer reveals a remarkable sense of style. The alternation between short and long sentences produces a sense of rhythm without destroying the straight-forwardness of the writing. Here is a passage describing rainfall:

          Hereinafter types of clouds that rain in Sushama year are described. There are three types of clouds that rain continuously for seven days. There are eight types of clouds which shower minute drops. Sixty are the types of clouds that appear but do no rain at all. All these kinds of rain will be good for all seeds and plants.