A short lyric poem of 162 verses, it describes how a nameless hero, abducted from his wife’s side by mysterious women, sends a message to her via a koel.
Uddaṇḍa Śāstrī was a 15th-century Tamil from a village whose learning and scholarship is so great that even the parrots are reciting the Vedas as the koil flies past.
[3] The poet is supposed to have acquired the title Uddaṇḍa, which means 'pre-eminent' (literally 'one who has a stick upraised'[4]), from the Zamorin court of Calicut where he found patronage;[5] his original name was Irugupanātha.
[6] It was this verse, the very first words the poet spoke to the Zamorin, which is said to have earned him his name: उद्दण्डः परदण्डभैरव भवद्यात्रासु जैत्रश्रियो हेतुः केतुरतीत्य सूर्यसरणिं गच्छन् निवार्यस्त्वया । नो चेत् तत्पटसम्पुटोदरलसच्छार्दूलमुद्राद्रवत् सारङ्गं शाशिबिम्बमेष्यति तुलां त्वत्प्रेयसीनां मुखैः ॥ [7] The sandeśa kāvya ('messenger poem') genre is one of the best defined in Indian literature.
Most involve two separated lovers, one of whom sends the other a message, and thus are designed to evoke the śṛṅgāra rasa ('feeling of love').