Ra ̄ma ̄yan.am shows the certain hegemony of Brahmanical models over this lin-
guistic and religious community:
Discarding egotism and such through ascetic meditation, and compassionately
given over to peacefulness, restraint, and joy in their dedication to the Veda,
considering such incomparable Lords on Earth (i.e. Brahmans) to be my very divin-
ity, by the grace of these Vedic Brahmans will all that I contemplate here by accom-
plished. (Man.n.ummu ̄t.u 1993: 18)On the other hand, such lofty praise also implies the establishment of high
standards by which to judge Brahmanical conduct, standards which were con-
spicuously absent in the courtesan literature of Man.iprava ̄l.am. Furthermore,
despite the self-deprecation of this “mixed language” (bha ̄s.a ̄mis ́ram) and its
works as not attaining the elevation of the Sanskrit originals, the Niran.am tra-
dition authorizes itself in terms of its own “faultlessly pre-eminent great guru,
a mighty soul who was a lordly master of both [Sanskrit and vernacular] poet-
ries.”^10 If such gurus and their disciples thus chose (or were forced by social con-
vention) to compose in the lower-status local language, the claims to equal
spiritual status are nevertheless overt. Their god himself declares to the world in
their works, “Be they gods or untouchables, my devotees (bhaktas) are alike in
my esteem – such is the message of the Lord (I ̄s ́varan),”^11 Lastly, it is interesting
that while Vais.n.ava works take a certain precedence among the Niran.am poets
(including one of the earliest vernacular renderings of the Bhagavad-Gı ̄ta ̄in
India), they also composed a S ́ivara ̄trima ̄ha ̄tmyamon the greatness of S ́iva and
vows (vrata) kept to him, and their family gods paired the Vis.n.u/Kr.s.n.a of the
Malayinkı ̄l
̄
temple, and the S ́iva (as Kapa ̄lı ̄s ́varan) at Niran.am itself, to both of
whom their poems are repeatedly dedicated.
The Performative Context of Religious Production
While the Pa ̄t.t.u and Man.iprava ̄l.am streams that later merge to form Malaya ̄l.am
literature bring Sanskrit myths and deities into written prominence, it is impor-
tant to realize that the grounds for this mediation into local language were likely
laid earlier within the performative features of the Sanskrit tradition itself in
Kerala. Traditions of staging Sanskrit dramas were, from the outset, religious
events, performed within temple-precincts over many days, as parts of ritual cal-
endars and sponsored in fulfillment of vows. From perhaps the ninth century or
earlier, temple-servant castes were occupationally specialized as to their various
acting, dancing and musician roles in staging these plays, which were always
adapted from the Sanskrit Epics and Pura ̄n.as.^12
To simplify this picture greatly, what developed within the Sanskrit dramatic
tradition were various mediating roles for performers, retelling, glossing, or
expanding on the events and characters depicted, first in simpler Sanskrit, then
eventually in hybrid language forms that bridged between Sanskrit and the
local language. Slots within the performance format were set aside for direct
170 rich freeman