The three Pracheena Manipravala Champu poems are Unniyachi Charitham, Unniyadi Charitham and Unni Chiruthevi Charitham.
Champu
Champu or Chapu-Kavya (Devanagari: चम्पू-काव्य) is a genre of literary composition in Indian literature. The word 'Champu' means a combination of poetry and prose. A ''champu-kavya'' consists of a mixture of prose (Gadya-Kav ...
(or ''Champukkal'') poems, written in the model of
Sanskrit Champu poetry, defined the development of medieval
Malayalam poetry Malayalam poetry is poetry written, spoken, or composed in Modern, as well as Old Malayalam, Old and Classical Malayalam, Classical, Malayalam.
History
The history of Malayalam poetry dates back to the 12th century; the earliest poetic work in a ...
. The padya or "verse" portion of a Champu poem was written in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
meters
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
while the gadya or "prose" portion was almost in medieval
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
meters.
Champu poems can be classified into two types, being ''Pracheena Manipravala Champukkal'' and ''Madhyakala Champukkal''.
Ramayanam Champu, Bharatham Champu, Naishadham Champu, Rajaratnavaleeyam Champu, Kodiyam Viraham Champu, Kamadahanam Champu, Chellur Nadhodayam Champu, Narayaneeyam Champu and Thenkaila Nadhodayam Champu are the main Madhyakala Champu poems.
{{Malayalam Literature , state=collapsed
Malayalam-language literature