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Description of the war-preparations, of the armies the battle occupies a considerable portion of the present The and of campu. poetess has infused her rich imagination in these descriptions. in these descriptions, the emphasis is on Rasa unlike those in puranas and thus they maintain the traditions of the Kavya. To some extent, the influence on the description of battle in this campu, may be traced to the descriptions of battles between Raghu and Indra; of Aja with his enemy kings; of Rama with Ravana in Raghuvamsa. In the elephant warfare, the shadows of description of battle in Sisupalavadha are visible. To a little extent, the reader may be reminded, on reading the battle descriptions in this campu, of the Campu Bharatam. These descriptions are so picturesque that the reader may sometimes feel that Tirumalamba must have been a witness to the battle she has described. Moreover they are consistent with Rasa too. The poetess has vividly described the march of conquest of king Narasimha. His victory over Tundira country, Cola country, the flight of king Maruva, the siege of Srirangapattana in his

85 been western compaign and finally his northern compaign-have all described by the poetess. However, it is only his battle with the Cola king that finds prominence in these descriptions and it has been described in an exhaustive manner. That is why the same is important from the point of view of analysis. In the first place, the poetess describes the Cla his army. There is a bit of satire and humour king and in thses descriptions. She says that the Cola king, who congratulated himself upon victories that he had gained over ordinary kings in the battle fields, was maddened with extreme daring. The poetess describes the war-preparations, banners and war-cies. she At times, administers a full dose of irony as in the following. "The flags, with their cloths being flapped by an opposite wind, went in front of (the warriors), who were speedily running after, (as if) urging(them) with gestures of their hands to 44 run away from the terrible fight". More than once, she refers to the poetic convention (Kavi samaya) samaya) that the heroes of the bat tle, on being killed, become the husbands of celestial damsels. The dipiction of the armys is indeed very elaborate then she describes the boom of war-drums. It was augmented by the sound of the trumpets, of the bells of the herds of elephants etc. She refers also to all (war-like) musical instruments such

86 as Bheri, Patata, Kahala, Mardala, Anaddha, Dhakka, Muraja, Hudukku, Venu, Mrdanga and Srnga. There were being sounded simultaneously in the midst of both the armies. Reference has been made to killing of Namuci, by Indra, of Hiranyakasaby 'visnu in 'Varaha'incornation of Sumba and Nisumba by Goddess Durga. Various other mythological references are also found in this description such as Ravana cutting of his heads in order to please Siva, the splitting of the Kraunca mountain by Guha (Kartikeya) and so on. Hence the description of the column of dust follows. The poetess says that it was draining the rays of the sun to the last drop. It was retarding the movement of the wind. A rising column of smoke suggests the proximity of the Goddess of Victory. The Goddess of Victory is supposed to be in the form of fire and column of dust, therefore is described as intimating presence. her The fight is described by the poetess as being extremely terrific. It indicated the efforts for the construction of a heaven suited to the newly (recruited) Gods. It was horrible with the fire of (their) glory, inviolable on account of sparks, flying about in the battle in which warriors who were moving about recklessly striking one another with swords and arrows.

1 87 The poetess compares those warriors with their bodies studded with innumerable arrows to the beauty of the domestic porcupines. The porcupiness have erectile spines on their body. The poetess also describes the vampires and their desire for drinking human blood and the vulture-comple that were greedy for eating blooddripping flesh. Such horrific details have been given by the poetess, the dining hall of Yama. "Both the armies, making a tumultuous noise, resolutely fought each other, as if they were two mountains, striking against each other (being impelled) by the immense force of wind of dissolution". 45 the The poetess also refers to the belief that when a certain fixed number of worriors killed in the battle is reached their headless trunks are united with their heads. She says that the goblin-boys were tossing the heads up. While these were still in the air, the requisite numbers was reached and the headless trunks rose up and got united with their respctive heads. Thereafter, the Cola king, in the intensity of his wrath entered the battle-field. In a mock-heroic style and atirical humour, the poetess describes this thus: "on account of the intensity of his wrath, the cola king, accompanied by an army of rare elephants and desirous of gaining a victory, violently

88 rushed towards his foe, just as an elephant accompanied by hegoats, rushes towards a lion". 46 Here the description of the destruction caused by he elephants of the Cola King becomes awe inspring. Reference has been made to Bhima's tearing apart of Jarasandha. "Narasimha hostily arrived to rescue his army that had been killed, had fled from the battle, was surrounded (by the hostile army), was struggling in the thick of the flight and was dispirited". The heroic accomplishment of Narasimha are described by the poetess lucidly. King Narasimha sitting on his lordly, elephant routed the entire hostile army with the shower of his arrows, just as the sun, stationed on the eastern mountain, chases the mass of darkness, with flood of its light. And then he approached the Cola king. in The fight between their elephants is described by the poetess "" this manner: Pulling each other's trunk with their trunks and striking each other's tusks with their tusks, so that sparks flew out by their hard impact, the elephants of the two (kings), resonant with the ringing of bells presented a fine spectacle of the progress of the fierce fight". 48 Then Narasimha shot an arrow into the broad frontal globe of the elephant of the cola king. This act is compared to Guha

89 splitting the Kraunca mountain with his weapon called sakti. When his elephant was dead, the Cola king was captured alive by Narasimha. Soon afterwards, the compassionate king Narasimha ordered his army to stop the fight. Here ends the description of this battle.