Q. Consider the following statements regarding the fourteenth century text, “Lilatilakam”:

1. This is the first literary book in Malayalam which deals with grammar and poetics.
2. The book was composed in Malayalam language.

Which of the above is / are correct?
Answer: Only 1
Notes: Cheras also drew upon Sanskritic traditions. The temple theatre of Kerala, which is traced to this period, borrowed stories from the Sanskrit epics. The first literary works in Malayalam, dated to about the twelfth century, are directly indebted to Sanskrit. Interestingly enough, a fourteenth-century text, the Lilatilakam, dealing with grammar and poetics, was composed in Manipravalam- literally, “diamonds and corals” referring to the two languages, Sanskrit and the regional language.