Cherusseri's Krishnagatha

If the Chambus represents the aesthetic tastes of the scholarly and sophisticated readership, the average readers without much grounding in Sanskrit had their favourite poems and poets in the so-called Pattu school. The folk poems as well as Ramacharitham and Niranam works helped to preserve the proletarian tastes.

The poetics of the Pattu school find a further confirmation in the celebrated and popular Song of Krishna (Krishnagatha) by Cherusseri Nambudiri. With the writing of Krishnagatha, the validity of the use of spoken Malayalam for literary purposes receives its ultimate justification. Unlike the language of Ramacharitam and the works of the Niranam poets the language of Krishnagatha marks the culmination of a stage of evolution. Cherusseri excels by the simplicity and limpidness of his diction and imagery. Krishnagatha is an epic in Malayalam written in a popular Dravidian metre which has evolved from a folk metre. It does not have the tightness and characteristics of either Ramacharitam or Kannassa Ramayanam. There are also local touches in an abundant measure. Sweetness and light, rather than vigour or high seriousness, is Cherusseri's forte. It arises partly from his localizing devices. There is also an entrancing freshness about his description of domestic life. The naturalness and ease of his flowing lines also accounts for Cherusseri's popularity.
Cherusseri belonged to Kolathunad in northern Kerala. The consensus among scholars is that he lived and wrote in the 15th century A.D. There is some dispute about the author's name and his identity. Some scholars are of opinion that he was the same as the Punam Nambudiri of the Chambus. The difference between the style of Krishnagatha and that of any of the Chambus should point to the impossibility of this identification. Even a casual reading of the work will convince one of the uniqueness of its style. Later poets have learned a lot from him, but no one can successfully imitate him. The distinctive Cherusseri stamp is deeply marked on every line of his poem. His use of figures of speech, his pleasant diction and his mastery over the metrical structure (especially the pause and the caesura) are borne out by almost any part of the poem. Here is an example, a description of Poothana's arrival in Ampadi with the intention of causing baby Krishna's death through milk poisoning:
As she saw the place from a distance
                                                                                               She went close and shyly sneaked in
                                                                                               Even as the python stealthily goes
                                                                                                Close to the perch of the king of birds.

She stood there for a while
Watching the darling's charming face,
As though she waited in impatience
She went forward and stood touching
Why the lord of death had not come.

That flower-soft body, softer than tender leavers,
As if touching real fire
Taking it for a jewel.

Then she picked up the darling child
Like taking a serpent for a rope.

In this string of smiles the poet shows both insight and wit; the figures anticipate her future course. Here is an eloquent picture of the pitiful position in which she puts herself unknowingly. Bhakti, Vatsalyam (love of children, etc.) Karuna, Sringara: these are the dominent moods in Cherusseri's poetry.