Editing Malayalam literature (section)

===Later Champus and Krishnagatha===
The 15th century CE saw two paralleled movements in Malayalam literature: one spearheaded by the ''Manipravalam'' works, especially the ''[[Manipravala champu|Champus]]'', and the other emanating from the ''Pattu'' school and adumbrated in [[Cherusseri Namboothiri|Cherusseri]]'s magnum opus, ''Krishnagatha'' (Song of Krishna). The language of the later ''Champus'' reads more like modern Malayalam than that of the earlier ''Champus'' and ''[[Sandesa Kavya]]s''. ''Champus'' were mostly works of satire and [[hyperbole]] was a regular feature of it. The greatest ''Champus'' of the 15th century is Punam Nambudiri's ''Ramayanam'' which uses Puranic themes and episodes unlike the 14th century ''Champus'' which were tales of the courtesans. Punam was a court poet of the [[Zamorin]] of [[Calicut]]. Punam also wrote a ''[[Mahabharata|Bharatam]] Champoo''. There are also many others, the authorship of which is ascribed to him. The later ''Champus'' came to be used for dramatic oral narration by performing artists in their ''[[Koothu]]'' and ''Patakam''. Mahishamangalam (or Mazhamangalam) Narayanan Nambudiri who lived in the 16th century is the author of some of the best ''Champus'' of all time. The most widely known of these is ''Naishadham'' followed by ''Rajaratnavaliyam'' and ''Kodia Viraham''. ''Chandrotsavam'', whose authorship is unknown, is a long narrative poem written in ''Manipravalam''.

The elitist ''Manipravala'' ''Champu'' school disappeared by the end of the 16th century. The average readers without much grounding in Sanskrit had their favourite poems and poets in the so-called ''Pattu'' school. With the writing of ''Krishnagatha'' by [[Cherusseri Namboothiri|Cherusseri]], the validity of the use of spoken Malayalam for literary purposes received its ultimate justification. Unlike the language of ''Ramacharitam'' and the works of the [[Niranam poets]], the language of ''Krishnagatha'' marks the culmination of a stage of evolution. There is some dispute about the author's name and his identity. Some scholars are of opinion that he was the same as the Punam Nambudiri of the ''Champus''. It is widely believed that Cherusseri lived in the 15th century CE and was the court poet of Udayavarma of [[Kolathunadu]].