Athula

Athula (IAST: Atula), fl. 11th century AD, was a medieval Sanskrit-language poet from the Mushika or Ezhimala kingdom, located in present-day northern Kerala (the Malabar Coast), south India.^[1][2] He is best known for composing the Mushika-vamsa-kavya, a mahakavya (epic poem) about the ruling dynasty of the kingdom.^[3][1]

The dynastic chronicle was composed in the court of Mushika ruler Srikantha ("Kantan Karivarman", in Malayalam).^[4][5] Athula is sometimes alternatively dated to the first half of the 12th century AD (Unni, 1980).^[6] It has also been suggested that he might be identical to the Chera court poet Tholan.^[6]