INTRODUCTION xiil Ezhuttacchan is said to have been a student of Nllakaitfha. Nllakantha is also said to have composed, at the request of a friend, a panegyric in Malayalam on the Goddess Parvati, the presiding deity of the temple of Urakam in Cochin, in order to ward off the predicted premature death of that friend's daughter. 1 The authenticity of the above work and the source of the information are, however, not quite certain, and corroborative evidences have to be found before accepting the above statements. Birth-place and Family Nllakantha hailed from Tr-k-kantiy-ur (Sanskritised into Sri- Kunda-pura or Sri-Kunda-grama), near Tirur, S. Rly., Ponnani taluk, South Malabar, a famous seat of learning in Kerala during the middle ages. The name of his Warn, as the house of a NampTitiri brahman is called, was Kelallur (sometimes spelt also as Kerallur and Kelannur), Sanskritised into Kerala-sad-grama corresponding to the Malayalam word Kerala-nall-nr.* Nilakant.ha's house is identified as the present Etamana Illam, situated a little to the south of the local temple. 3 It is stated that Nllakant.ha's family became extinct and the family property was inherited by the nearest dayadi relations, viz., the Etamana family. 4 Nilakantha's favourite deity was Lord Siva installed at the famous temple at Trpparannod (Sanskrit Svetaranya) near his village ; cf, ^T^rnq-qT^^^W^frfefl!"T, in the colophon to the ABh.Bhasya quoted above (p. xi). Sankara, the brother, and Netranarayana, the patron Nilakantha refers to his younger brother Sankara in several places in the ABh.Bhasya. Sankara too seems to have been well versed 1. Ibid.. This stotra is published in a collection of stotras in Malayalam script, Stavaratnamala, Pt. I. 2. It may be noted that in the expression Gar gy a- Kerala prefixed to the author's name, the word Kerala refers to the name of his house and not to his state, as is sometimes taken. 3. Cf, Vatakkumkur Rajaraja Varma, History of Skt, Lit. in Kerala, vol. I, p. 384. 4. I am thankful for this information to the late Sri Rama Varma Maru Thampuran, Chalakkudi (Cochin),
