The standard
grammars of the epoch were
the TOLKAPPIYAM, PANNIRUPADALAM and
USIMURI. (
âêèùªæèçªç¨áëª
çäªä¨Õçìùëª
and
Ãò¨Ëõ¨)
Words of
foreign origin were never
used, notwithstanding the commercial
intercourse of the Tamils
with the Greeks, the Romans,
and the Arabs,
all of whom were generally
referred to as the Yavanas.
Sanskrit wordswere very
sparingly used and even
these were adopted in form.It
is
said that in the
PATTUPATTU (
çêÐÊçªçèìªÌ
), there are only about
2% of Sanskrit words.
The literature
of this period is all
poetry - mostly blank verse,
inchaste classic style,
devoid of rhetorical flourishes,
figures of speech, hyberbolic
descriptions, and the intricacies of
later prosody - ASIRIYAPPA, KALIPPA,
VENBA AND VANJIPPA (
Íò¨õ¨áçªçè,
æù¨áçªçè, âôúªçè,
ô¢ªò¨çªçè
) were the metrical
forms in use. The descriptions
of eventsand
scenery are all faithful
and true to nature.
The subject-matter
of most of these works
is panegyric of reigning
kings, their military prowess, their
liberality and their administration.
Some poems depict poverty, chiefly
of bards, in a very
pathetic manner. Some
are on morality, while only
a few relate to religion.
The Mediaeval Tamil
period embraces the Hindu
and the sectarian
periods of Tamil literature. The
early part of it was
one of struggle
for prdominance between Hinduism on
the one hand and
Buddhismand Jainism
on the other, in which
the former came out triumphant,
Buddhism being deprived of
following in this land and
Jainism crippled.The literature
of this epoch consists of
hymns to Siva and Vishnu
andof the accounts
of the life and adventures
of Siva and Subrahmanya,
Rama and Krishna, and Jina.
The standard works on Tamil
grammarduring this
period were VIRASOLIYAM, (
ô¨õâòèù¨áë
ª ), Nambi's
AHAPPORUL (
íæçªâçèÕóª
) and NEMINADAM (
îåë¨åèêë
ª ).
Sanskrit words,
chiefly relating to religion,
were largely introduced,
and some of the Tamil words
and forms current in the
preceding epoch gave way to
new ones.
Poetry was
still the only kind of
literary production, and the
metricalforms of ASIRIYAM
and VENBA (
Íò¨õ¨áëª , âôúªçè
) were not so
much in favour as theVIRUTTAM, (
ô¨ÕêÐêëª
)ª TANDAKAM (
êèúªìæë)ª
and other forms derived
from Sanskrit prosody. These were
introduced with their ALANKARAS
or embellishments. Rhyme and ANTADI
( íåÐêèê¨
) forms were introduced
to render the recital of
sacred songs easier. As for
their style, the pure simplicity
and the natural beauty of
the academic periodwere
gone. Affectation and aartificiality
were highly admired. As it
was a period of
struggle for religious supremacy,
the sects competed in
extolling and exaggerating
their own doctrines, and
by fabricating miracles
to support them.
Thus CHINTAMANI, (
ò¨åÐêèëú¨
), the RAMAYANA,(
õèëèáúëª
), the KANDAPURANA,
(
æåÐêµõèúë
ª ) the PERIYA PURANA
( âçõ¨á
µõèúë ª
), and the MAHABHARATHA
( ëæèçèõêëª
), are fullof
stories of the kind we meet
with in the old puranas.
However, a true spirit of
( æåÐêµõèúë
ª ) , the THIRUVILAYADAL PURANA
( ê¨Õô¨éóáèìù
ª)devotion and
religious fervour pervaded the
writings of this period.
The modern
period begins from the thirteenth
century. The ancient kingdom
of the Cholas and Pandyas
had been subverted. A powerful
Telugu empire had come into
existence on the banks of the Tungabhadra,
which before the close of
the fifteenth century absorbed all
theTamil kingdoms.Then came the
Mahratta and Musalman invasions
from thenorth, and
lastly the Europeans from
beyond the seas.
Till about
the end of the seventeenth
century, the Tamil countries were
ruled by Hindu governors.Brahamnical
influence was in the ascendant.
The learning of Sanskrit, Tamil
and Telugu was encouraged.
Several originalworks
in all these languages were
written, besides innumerable commentaries
in Tamil as well as
in Sanskrit on ancient works,
especially on the NALAYIRA
DIVYA PRABHANDAM, (
åèùèá¨õ ê¨ôªá
çªõçåÐêë
ª), all tending to
aggravate the sectarian animosities,
until a reaction set in,
during the succeeding period
of Musalman despotism. Then
for about half
a century, there was a lull,
which was followed by the
production of anti-Brahmanical, Christian
and Islamic works. It was
only during the first half
of the last century
that pure literature began to
revive.
With the
change in government, religion
and social customs, many Tamil words
had gone out of use
giving way to new ones. Most
of the revenue and judicial
terms, names relating to office
furniture and stationery, and
most words relating to the
administrative machinery are
Arabic, Persian or
English. The religious terms,
of course, are Sanskrit and
Tamil.
There is
nothing new in the grammar
of this period, except for
aleaning towards a
greater use of Sanskrit and
foreign words by the
learned and the admixture
of English words in the household
speechof the
English-educated Tamilians.
Poetry was
the only medium of literary
expression of thought in Tamil
till about the beginning of
the last century, excepting
of course, the
copious notes and commentaries on
ancient poems. However, the
naturalease and
beauty of the writings of
the academic and the hymnal
periods were gone. The KALAMBAKAM,
( æùëªçæëª
) MALAI, (
ëèéù )
ANTADI,
(
íåÐêèê¨
) PILLAITAMIL,
(ç¨óªéóêÐêë¨È
ª ) PARANI,
( çõú¨
) ULA,
( ãùè
) KOVAI, (
îæèéô
) and THOODU (
Ê )
werethe different
forms adopted for shorter
literarycompositions and
the
KAVYA (
æèçªç¨áë
)for longer
works like the PURANAS
( µõèúëª
)ª.For these
sustained compositions a variety
of metres described in
theworks on prosody
were freely made use of.
Tamil Literature
-- Its Classification
Indian grammarians
have divided Tamil literature
into three classes,
namely -IYAL (belles-lettres),
ISAI (Music), and NATAKAM
(Drama).Tradition says
that Agastya was the only
grammarian who wrote complete
treatises on the grammar
of all the three classses
of Tamil, but none of them
are nowextant.
During the early centuries
of the Christian era attention
seems to have been
paid by the Tamils tom
all the three.
They had their own dances
and music - vocal
and instrumental. They developed
the art of dancing to
a high degree of perfection
andmany treatises
were written on this fine
art; even their gods had
their characteristicfavourite
dances.
Music too
was highly developed and
their PANS(
çúª)
or tunes were
SUI GENERIS to the Tamil
race. The only ancient Tamil
work nowextant
dealingwith the
nature of the drama is
the SILAPPADIKARAM(
ò¨ùçªçê¨æèõëª
)
of the third century.
It gives a vivid description
of
the stage, the
actor, the singer,
the drummer, the flute-player,
theyal-player, and
others of the troupe; and
contains beautiful specimens of
VARI ( ôèõ¨
), KURAVI (
Æ÷ô¨ ), AMMANAI (
íëªëèéä
), USAL(
Ãòùª
), KANDUKAM (
æåÐÊæëª
), VALLAI (
ôùªéù
) and other
types of songs.
The ancient
Tamil works on music, dancing
and drama fell into neglect;
and by the time of
Adiyarkunallar (about 1200 A.D.),most
of them werelost.
It isdifficult
now to say what those
PANS and dances were like.
Their places were
gradually taken up by the
Indo-Aryan RAGAMS and NATYAMS.
During festivals
and processions of gods,
dancing was encouraged and
plays were acted to draw
large crowds of devotees.
Hundreds of dancing girls
or GANDHARVIS were
attached to every important
temple. This was the origin
of the institution of singing
by ODUVANS and ARAIVANS,
and the public
representation of NATAKAS (
åèìæëª
), PALLUS (
çóªÓ),
and KURAVANJIS
(
Æ÷ô¢ªò¨
) in Hindu temples. Of
these the first alone now
survives. The institution was
carried to the West Coast,
and it now survives
in the Chakkiyar Kuttu (
òèæÐæ¨áèõÐ
ÔêÐÊ ).
Duringthe eighteenth
century, drama and music
began to revive; and Arunachala
Kavi(1712 - 1779 A.D.)
the famous author of RAMA NATAKAM (
õèë
åèìæëª
)may justly
be called the fatherof modern
dramaticliterature, and
under the Mahratta Rajas of
Tanjore, a fresh impetus was
given to music.
THE SANGAMS
The real
history of Tamil literature
begins with the Tamil Sangams
(Academies), which lasted from
B.C. 500 to A.D. 500.
The ancient Tamil poems
frequently refer to sangams
or societies of
learned mn. The word `sangam'
used by Buddhists and Jains
for a religious
order or coterie,
came to supersede",
writes the late Mr. Purnalingam
Pillai,"on the
scoreof its
euphony, the expression, `KUTTAM'
which is Tamil,
and thepresence
of poets of the Buddhist
or Jain persuasion in the
thirdacademy in
modern Madurai accounts for
it. Madurai bears the name
of KUDAL
(
Ôìùª ),
for the reason that the poetic
academy met there".
The Sangam
was a body, perhaps at
first informal, of the most
learnedmen of
the time, whose chief function,
like that of the French
Academy,was
the promotion of literature.
According to Tamil
writers, there were three
Sangams in the Pandya
country at different periods.
Of the
three Sangams, the second
was more or less continuous
withthe first,
and both probably existed
some time between the fifth
centuryB.C.
and second century A.D.,
while the third, and the
most important of them, seems,
to have lasted till A.D
500.
THE FIRST SANGAM
Regarding the
First Sangam, we know little.
None of the writings
attributedto this
Sangam have come down to
us in their entirety. We
have only a few doubtful
quotations from AGASTYAM
(
í桪êÐáëª
)and other works.
The onlyauthors
of this period about whom,
any account, however scanty,
can be extracted
from Tamil literature are
Agastya and Murinjiyur Mudinagarayar.
The rest of the
members seem to be half-mythical persons.
Even the life of Agastya
is envelopedin
myth. He is said to
have had 12 students. Chief
of them Tolkappiyar was also
a member of
the second sangam
like his renowned master.
The identification
of TEN MADURAI (
âêäª ëÊéõ
), the seat of
the first Sangam, has been
a controversial point. Regarding
the destructionof
this place, there
are certain allusions both in
the Madurai STALAPURANA(
¡ªêù
µõèúëª
) and in the
SILAPPADIKARAM (
ò¨ùçªçê¨æèõëª
).
The learned commentator
of the latter work writes
as follows: "Between the
riversKUMARI and
PAHRULI there existed an
extensive continent occupying an
area of 700 KAVADAMS (a
KAVADAM being equal to ten
miles). This land
consisting of forty nine
NADS (inclusive of Kollam
and Kumari), innumerable
forests, mountains and rivers
had been submerged in
the Indian Ocean as far
as the peaks of Kumari,
by a terrific convulsion
which resulted in the upheaval
of the Himalayan Range". Geological, ethnological
and linguistic researches
also seem to confirm the
above theory.
CHANGE OF VENUE
To arrive
at the date of the
second Sangam is equally
difficult. It is
said that the
seat of the second Sangam
was Kavatapuram. The transfer
of theheadquarters
from TEN MADURAI to Kavatapuram
and from the latter city
to the modern city of
Madurai (seat of the third
Sangam) is probably a historical
fact. The former two sites
are said to have been
submerged by two
different incursions of the
sea.
The only
work of the second Sangam
which has come down to
usis the Tolkappiyam.
Nothing further is known
about Tolkappiyar than that
he was a student of
Agastya and that he lived
in a village near Madurai
duringthe reign
of the Pandya king Makirti.
All the works of this
Sangam have also
been irretrievably lost, except
the above work and a
few poems which luckily
found their way into the
anthologies of the third Sangam.
Almost all
the best Tamil classics
we now possess are the
productionsof the
third Sangam, which had its
seat in Madurai.
THE THIRD SANGAM
A comparison
of these ancient institutions
of the Tamil people with
the modern Royal Academy
of the French will
be interesting. The
French Academywas
established in 1635 A. D.,
i.e. nearly two thousand
years after the First
Tamil Academy, and its members
were fixed at forty.
Its object was to cleanse
the language of the
impurities which had crept
into it through the common
peoplewho spoke
it and to render it
pure, eloquent and capable
of treating arts and
sciences. It has done much
byits example
for style and has raised
the generalstandard
of writing,though
it has tended to ahmper
and crush originality.
Language has life
and growth and , when
left to itself, sprouts out
into diversedialects
like the branches of a
living tree. "The bit and
bridle of literature", says
Max Mueller, "will arrest
a natural flow of language
in the countless rivulets
ofits dialects,
and give a permanency to
certain formation of
speech which, without
these external influences, could
have enjoyed but
an ephemeral existence". This
linguistic principle was clearly
understoodand fully
recognised by the founders
ofthe Tamil Academies.
To secure, therefore, permanency
to the Tamil language,
the boundaries of the country
where it was current were
roughly described and
the particular locality in
which pure Tamil (Sen Tamil)
was spoken was sharply
defined; then the
form and pronunciation of
letters were settled; rules
were laid down
to distinguish pure Tamil
words from those of foreign
origin, and to
determine the structure and
combination of words in sentences.
These and many
other restrictions on the
free growth of the language
were dealt with in
the firstTamil
grammar. Treatises were written
on prosody, rhetoric and PORUL
(detailsof conduct
in matters of love and
warfare). Poetical dictionaries or
NIKHANDUSwere compiled
in order to check the
indiscriminate and unlicensed introduction
of alien words in the
Tamil vocabulary. The canons
of literary criticism were
severeand were
applied impartially.
In this
way the Tamil language,
which passed through the
crucible ofthe
three academies, was refined
and given to the Tamil
land as a perfect instrument
for the expression of the
best thoughts and sentiments
of its people. The influence
of these academies is markedly
seen in the Tamil writings
which received their
approval; in style and choice
of words these differ much
from the Tamil works
of the post-academic period.
For the
advancement of literature and
academies the Tamil kings
didmuch.
Liberal presents in the
shape of money, elephants,
palanquins, chariots with horses,
lands and flowers of gold
were bestowed upon deserving
poets. Titles of distinction
were also conferred on them.
Tolkappiyam, the
grammar during the period
of the second and third
Academies, is in three parts
and 1,612 Sutras. It is
the oldest extant
Tamilgrammar, the
name signifying `ancient book'
or `the preserver of
ancientinstitutions'.
It was preceded by centuries
of literary culture, for
it lays down
rules for different kinds
of poetical compositions, deduced
from examples furnished
by the best authors whose
works had been in existence.
It treats
clearly and systematically of
only one of the three
time-honoured divisions of
Tamil, viz., IYAL or natural
Tamil. The three
parts of it are ELUTHU
(Orthography), SOL (Etymology), and PORUL (Matter), each
with nine sections.
(a) ELUTHU: (
öÇêÐÊ
) The first part deals
with Letters, i.e. Orthography.
(b) SOL: (
âòèùª
) The second part
on Words is masterly in
treatment. In this
the author attempts to find
the root meanings of words.
It is a peculiarity
that gender is natural and
not grammatical; it is based
on the significance, not
the form, of the words.
(c) PORUL (
ªâçèÕóª
) : The third part
PORULADIKARAM is most
valuableas it
gives us a glimpse of
the political, social and
religious lifeof
the peopleduring
the period when Tolkappiyar
lived.
THIRS SANGAM WORKS
While no
works of the first Sangam
have come down to us,
and the Second
Sangam is represented by
TOLKAPPIYAM(
âêèùªæèçªç¨áëª
) alone, we are
more lucky with the Third
Sangam. In addition
to the tradition transmitted
in the comnmentary on the
IRAIYANAR AHAPPORUL
(
¬é÷áäèõÐ íæçªâçèÕóª
), we have
other traditions all of
which mark the following
as the accredited works of
this Sangam : the ETTUTOGAI,
( öìªÌêÐâêèéæ
), the PATTUPPATTU (
çêÐÊçªçèìªÌ
), and the PADINENKILKANAKKU
(
çê¨âäúªæ©ÈªæÐæúæÐÆ
), all of which have
comedown to us.
KUTTU (
ÔêÐÊ), VARI
( ôõ¨
), SIRRISAI (
ò¨÷ª÷¨éò
),
PERISAI (
îçõ¨éò
),etc. are now only names
to us, the works having
themselvesbeen lost
long since.
The Ettutogai
comprises: NARRINAI, (
å÷ª÷¨éú
)
KURUNTOGAI,(
Æ×åÐâêèéæ
), AINGURUNURU (
ɧªÆ׿×
), PADIRRUPPATTU (
çê¨÷ª×çªçìªÌ
), PARIPADAL
( çõ¨çèìùª
), KALITTOGAI(
æù¨êÐâêèéæ
), NEDUNTOGAI (
âåÌåÐâêèéæ
), AND PURANANURU
(
µ÷åèÛ×
).
The Narrinai
contains 401 stanzas, each
ranging from nine to twelve
lines.In it
we find the handiwork of
175 poets. The verses deal
withthe five
THINAIS(
ê¨éú),
28 on MULLAI (
Ëùªéù
), 32 on
MARUDAM (
ëÕêëª ),
107 on PALAI
(
çèéù
), 103 on NEITHAL
(
âåáªêùª
), and
120 on KURINJI
(
Æ÷¨¢ªò¨
). Its general theme
is love and its compilation
was at theinstance
of the Pandyan king, Pannadu
atnda Pandyan Maran Valudi.
The Kuruntogai
literally means a collection
of short poems. This collection
containing verses attributed to
as many as 205 poets
has 402 stanzas in the
AHAVAL(
íæôùª
) metre, each stanza ranging
from four to eight lines.
As in the NARRINAI
(
å÷ª÷¨éú
), the
theme of the work is
love and the stanzas can
be brought under the
category of the five THINAIS.
Itwould appear that th ecompilaation
of the extant
work by the well-known commentator
Per-Asiriyar has since become
lost.Nacchinarkiniyar has
written a gloss on twenty
verses only, because, in all
probability, the other
gloss existed in his time.
The Aingurunuru
means literally the short
five hundred. It contains
500AHAVAL verses
and the whole book can
be conveniently divided into
fiveparts, each
part consisting of 100 stanzas.
Each verse contains three
to six lines.
Every part again deals with
five THINAIS.Orambagiyar,
Ammuvanar, Kapilar, Odalandaiyar,and Peyanar,
are said to be
the respective authors of
hundred verses each on MARUDAM,
NEITHAL,KURINJI, PALAI
and MULLAI THINAIS respectively.
In the case of this
work,however, the
name of the compiler is
known as Kudalur Kilar.
The Padirruppattu
(the Ten Tens) is an
anthology of great importance.
Here we are introduced
to a number of kings
of the Chera dynasty,
with a splendid
record of their deeds and
achievements thus enabling us
to get at a
true picture of the political
conditions of Tamil land
abouttwo thousand
years ago.Of
the ten books into which
th ewhole work is divided,
the first and the last
are notavailable
to us.
The Paripadal
(literally stanzas of strophic metre) is according
to traditiona
composition of the first
Academy as well as the
third Academy. If
the two aredifferent
works, the first Sangam
work is lost. The
PARIPADAL (
çõ¨çèìùª
) of the third
Academy is said to consist
of seventy stanzas attributed
to severalpoets.
It is unfortunate that as
many as forty-six
verses of this important
work are lost. There is
an ancient commentary of
Parimelagar which has been
printed with the available
texts by Mahamahopadhyaya
U.V. Swaminatha Iyer.
The Kalittogai,
otherwise known as KURUNKALITTOGAI
( Æקªæù¨êÐ
âêèéæ
) or simply KALI (
æù¨
), contains one hundred and
fiftystanzas in
the KALI metre dealing with
the five THINAIS. Its theme
is love but it
also contains a number of
moral maxims. Incidentally it describes
somepeculiar marriage
customs current in those
ancient days. Kadungon, Kapilar,
Marudan Ilanganar, Cola Nalluttiran
and Nallanduvanar are the
poets whocomposed
the various songs in the
work. It is generally believed
that one ofthe
five poets, Nallundavanar, was
the compiler. The celebrated
commentatorNacchinarkkiniyar
has written a gloss on
it.
The Neduntogai,
otherwise known as AHAPPATTU (
íæçªçêÐÊ
),
and popularly known as AHANANURU
( íæåèÛ×
) or
simply AHAM (
íæëª
), is an
important anthology. It contains
401 stanzas in the AHAVAL
metre and is divided into
three sections --KALLIRRIYANI-NIRAI
of 121stanzas,
MANIMIDAIPAVALAM (
ëú¨ë¨éìçªçèôùëª
)
of 180 stanzas and
NITTILAKKOVAI of 100 stanzas.
Its general theme is love.
The lengthof the
stanzas varies from thirteen
to thirty-seven lines. As
many as 145 poets
are represented in this collection
whose compiler was Uruttirasarman,
the sonof Uppurikudi
Killar of Madurai. It was
accomplished under the auspices
ofthe Pandyan
king Ukkirappeuvaludi.
The Purananuru,
otherwise known as PURAPPATTU
(
µ÷çªçèìªÌ
),or simply
PURAM, is another valuable
anthology of 400 stanzas
in AHAVAL form.
It is the counterpart of
the preceding work, the
AHANANURU (
íæåèÛ×
)and deals
with war and matters of
state . There is a
view that the work is
a latercompilation
inasmuch as the nameof
Poygaiyar, a poet of post-sangam
days, ismentioned
among the poets referred
to in the Puram. It
also contains the poems
of Murinjiyur Mudinagarayar, Vanmikiyar,
and others who, according
to thelegend,
belong to the
First Academy. Thus the
anthology contains odes ranging
from the epoch of the
First Sangam to that of
Post-Sangam. Whatevermay
be thedate of
its compilation, the events
it treats of are ancient
and hence it is invaluable
to an antiquarian.
The Pattuppattu
is a collection of ten
idylls. An idyll is a
short poemdescriptive
of some picturesque scene
or incident, chiefly in
pastoral life.It
is notknown by
whom and when these poems
written by different
authors at different
times were brought together.
Five of the idylls belong
to a class called
ARRU PADAI. An ARRUPADAI
is a poem in which
a bard or minstrel is
recommended to go to a
patron to solicit
help from him. It is
addressed to another seeker
for favours by one who
has alreadybenefitted
munificently at the hands
of the patron. One of
these poems,Tirumuruharrupadai,
directs devotees to a God,
not bards to a patron. It
containsvivid descriptions
of the War God Muruga,
and of his six hill-shrines.
It is highly venerated
and its 317 lines are
memorised and chanted by
Saivites.
The next
collection of the Sangam
works comes under the general
heading....the PADINENKIL-KANAKKU (
çê¨âåúªæ©ÈªæÐæúæÐÆ
),
the eighteen poems dealing
primarily with morals (Tamil:
Aram, Sans: Dharma).
They are::
1.
Nalaiyar
2.
Nanmani-Kadikai
3.
KAr-narppathu
4.
Kalavali-narppathu
5.
Inaithu-narppathu
6.
Inna-narppathu
7.
Ain-thinai-aimbathu
8.
Ain-thinai-elupathu
9.
Thinai-moli-aimbathu
10. Thinai-malai-nuth-aimbathu
11. Kainnilai,
Innilai
12. Thirukkural
13. Thri-kadukam
14. Acarak-kovai
15. Palamoli
16. Siru-pancha-mulam
17. Muthu-moli-kanchi
18. Elathi
The term
Kil-Kanakku implies that there
was a classification like
Mel-kanakku.The works
that contain less than fifty
stanzas, composed in different
metres, generallycome
under the Kil-kanakku. But
if the VENBA metre is
pressed into service,
the poem can beof any
length and can still find
a place in Kil-kanakku. The
Mel-kanakku ranges from 50
to 500 stanzas and is
in the ahaval, kalippa and
paripadal metres. The Ettutogai
and the Pattuppattu came
under the category
of Mel-kanakku.
Two works
like Naladiyar and the Thirukkural
which come under the
category of Kil-kanakku
deal with the three PURUSHARTHAS
or endsof life,
DHARMA (aram) or righteous
living, ARTHA (porul) or wealth
or secular life
and KAMA or love (inbum).The
remaining sixteen deal
both with Aham
andPuram, the
aim being practice of Dharma
or morals.
The THIRUKKURAL
(
ê¨ÕæÐÆ÷óª
) also known as MUPPAL
is the work of the
celebrated Tiruvalluvar who lived
in the early centuries before
the Christian era.
The poem is in the
form of couplets and deals
with the three ends in
human life -- Aram,
Porul and Inbam. It consists
of 133 chapters, each containing
ten kuralvenbas.
Each couplet is a
gem by itself and conveys
lofty thoughts couched
in terse language. Though
the scholarly commentary of
the ilustrious Parimelagar -
a happy consummation of Tamil
and Sanskrit culture is largely
in use, there were nine
equally well-known commentaries of
which Manakkuduvar's gloss is
one. Till recently,
this was the only one
available of the nine. Two
others (parts) are said to
have beentraced
since.
A brief
analysis of this universal
code of morals is given
below:
No. of Chapters.
Subject
Book I
(34 chapters)
20
The ideal householder....Domestic virtue
based on affection
14
The ideal Ascetic.....Ascetic or
Higher Virtuebased
on grace
Book II
(70 chapters)
25
The Ideal Sovereign ... Royalty
10
The Ideal Statesman ....Ministers of
State
22
The Ideal State .....The Essentials
of State
13
The Ideal Citizen ....Morality, Affirmative
andNegative
Book III
(25 chapters)
25
The Ideal Lover .... Secret love
ending inwedded love
These are
the seven ideals presented
by this Prince of Moralists.
Ithas been translated
into English, French, German
and Latin. Using only
a few Sanskrit words, the
Kural shows the
richness and power of the
Tamil tongue.
The Nasladiyar
resembles the Kural in point
of choice and division
of thesubjects.
It also deals with the
three ends of human life.
Itcontains forty
chapters,each
consisting of ten stanzas.
This anthology,the
composition of which can
beattributed to
different hands, owes its
compilation to one Padumanar.
It is
interesting to note the
swing in the themes of
he works of the Third
Sangam. The earlier books
deal, like the ancient literature
of other countries,
with love and war, kings
and chieftains, and Nature
and her beauties. Slowly
there is a change, a
growing obsession with ethical
matters to the exclusion
of everything else. Life
had turned inwards; external
activity and achievement
is yielding place to contemplative
contentment.
The Epic
or Post-Sangam Literature
The AIN-PERUN-KAPPIYAM --- the five major
epics are : SILAPPADIKARAM (
ò¨ùçªçê¨æèõëª
), MANIMEKALAI (
ëú¨îëæéù
), JIVAKACHINTAMANI
(
ò©ôæ ò¨åÐêèëú¨
), VALAYAPATI (
ôéóáèçê¨
)
and KUNDALAKESI (
Æúçìùîæò¨
). A pleasing fancy based
on their names conceives
these works as ornaments
worn by TAMIL-ANANGU--the Tamil
Muse -- the tinkling
anklet, the gem-studded waist
girdle, the gem
on the chaplet, the bangles,
and ear-pendants.
The last two works are
entirely lost to us.
`A brief sketch of the
other three works is given
below:-
Silappadikaram
Ilango-Adigal
is the celebrated author
of the Silappadikaram.
He was the second son
of king Cheralatan reigning
in the city of Vanji
the capital of
thethen Cheran
Senguttuvan. Onthis
account, he was called Ilango-adigal
after he became
an ascetic.
This epic,
according to its PAYIRAM
( prefatory verses), shows Dharma
wreaking vengence on those
who failed in their kingly
duties; sings the priases
of thevirtuous
wife; and illustrates the
recoil of one's actions.
The story is
simple and is as follows:--
In Kavirippumpattinam the
capital of the Cholas, there
lived a wealthy merchant
whose son Kovalan was married
to a virtuous and devoted
lady Kannaki by name. Being
a wealthy young man, Kovalan
took active interest in the
fashionable amusements of the
day. He fell in love
with a beautiful young dancing
girl Madhavi by name, wasted
all hiswealth
on her and neglected his
devoted wife.When at last
he had become poor and
he
thought that Madhavi's
love towards him had cooled,
he became disgusted. Returning
home, he realised his mistakes
and resolved to follow the
career of a merchant. The
same night he
left for Madurai with his
wife Kannaki.
He had nothing
to fall back upon except
her jewels. She placed one
of her costly anklets willingly
at his disposal. He took
it to thejeweller's
market to effect a sale.
As misfortune would have
it, the queen had lost
ananklet
and Kovalan was arrested
as the thief of hte
royal jewel. The
king, without inquiring into
the facts of the case,
summarily ordered his execution.This
was done. Poor Kannaki, when
she came to know of
this, became distraught. She
went before the king and
proved herhusband's
innocence beyond the shadow
of a doubt.The Pandyan king,
Nedunjeliyan,realised his
guilt. He fell down from his
seat broken-hearted and died.
Still Kannaki could
not control herself and in
a fit of rage, cursed
that the whole
city be consumed by flames.
And so it happened. Kannaki
then proceeded westwards to
the Malainadu (Hill country)
and continued to
do penance at the foot
of a Vengai tree in
the Neduvelkunram, a
hillnear Kodungolur
(Cranganore) according to Adiyarkunallar.
Manimekalai
This is a
sequel to SILAPPADIKARAM. But while
thestory of
SILAPPADIKARAM is of such
varied interest and is presented
with dramatic vividness,
MANIMEKALAI is an aimless
narrative of the adventures
of a Buddhist Bhikshuni (nun).
Madhavi, on
hearing the death of Kovalan,
renounced the world, and
becamea
Buddhist nun. She had a
daughter named Manimekalai by
Kovalan. She too
becamea nun.
Once Udayakumaran,the son of
the
reigning king, saw
her, fell in love with
herand pursued
her, but in
vain. She was
then taken by a goddess
to Manipallavadvipawhere
were enshrined the feet
of the Buddha. Here
she was told that the
prince
washer
husband in a previous birth.
Through the grace of the
deity
she got possession
of a bowl
which would be ever full
and never empty.
She then returned
to Kavirippumpattinam and became
fully engrossed in
doingselfless
service assuming the disguise
of one Kayasandikai. But
Udayakumaran came to
know that Manimekalai had
assumed this disguise. One
day the real Kayasandikai
herselfappeared in
the garden and the prince
ran after her. This was
noticed by her husband, who
in a fit of jealous
fury, killed the prince.
The king had Manimekalai arrested
and imprisoned but
at teh request of the
queen, she was soon released.
She
then wandered through
the landvisiting
several holy places. At
last she settled at Kanchi
performing penance and listening
to discourses in a
Buddhist nunnery.
The author of this epic,
Sittalai Sattanar, is known
also as Kulavanikan
Sattanar.
Jivaka-Chintamani
The author
of this work is Thirutthakka
Thevar. He was born at
Mailapur, and was
a Jain. His fame rests
on JIVAKA-CHINTAMANI,which
contains an exposition of
Jain doctrines and beliefs
Its other title, MUDI-PORUL-THODAR-NILAI-SEYYUL
( Ëï
âçèÕóª âêèìõÐ
å¨éù âò᪱ó
ª ),
suggests that it treats of
the fourfold ends of life
viz,virtue,
wealth, pleasure, and freedom.It
is the story of Jivaka
from hisbirth
to the attainment of
beatitude, and has a commentary
by Nacchinarkiniar. It is
in 13 books or ILAMBAKAMS
(
¬ùëªçæëª
)
and contains 3145
stanzas. It is noted for
its chaste diction and sublime
poetry, rich in religious
sentiment, full of reflections
on the grounds of human
action, and replete
with information about the
arts and social
customs of the period. It
will, therefore,interest
the scholar, the poet,
and the antiquary:
and there is a tradition
that Kamban's RAMAYANAM
owes many of its beauties
to his study of this
Epic.
The Period
of Religious Revival
The next
period in Tamil literature,
i.e. from the 6 to
the 10 centurey A.D. is
whatmay be called
the period of Religious Revival
when great singer-saints uttered
their love of
God in soul-stirring song
offerings.The outstanding
works of literature of this
period are the TIRUVASAGAM
(
ê¨Õôèòæë
ª), the TEVARAM
(
îêôèõë
ª),and NALAYIRAM
( åèùèá¨õë
ª).
The Saiva and
Vaishnava singer-saints belong to
this period. Karaikal Ammaiyar
seems to be the earliest
of teh Saiva hymnists. More
than 16000 stanzas
in praise ofGod
were composed in these five
centuries.
The Saiva
saints called the Nalvar - the four - are Manikkavasagar, Tirujnana
-Sambandar, Appar
and Sundarar (Tirunavukkarasu).
Manikkavasagar :-- The
life of this saint is
to be traced from myths and
legendswhich have
grown around his name. The
dispute about his date is
still unsettled, some
assigning him to the third
century A.D. and others to
the ninth. His chief works
are TIRUVASAGAM (
ê¨Õôèòæë
ª ) and
TIRUKKOVAI (
ê¨ÕæÐîæèéô
).
Tiruvasagam :-- This may
be taken as an autobiographical
account of the stages
of his spiritual life and
experience which culminated in the attainment
of bliss ineffable.
This torrential outflow of
ardour and rapture in the
sweetest of melodies can
be regarded as
a perfecth andbook on mystical
theology. It is the spontaneous
outpouring of ecstatic
feelings and takes the foremost
place among the accredited
devotional works in Tamil.
Dr. G.U. Pope and several
others have translated this
work into English. For a
parallel to this work in
a European language one has
to turn to the IMITATION OF
CHRIST by Thomas A. Kempis.
One is struck again and
again by the similarity of
thought and even expression --
why, even whole sentences -- between
the two works.
What the
four Saiva saints did to
the Saiva religion the twelve
Alwars did for
the Vaishnava faith.
Of the 4,000 making up
the Vaishnava collection, the First
thousand (really 947),
known as TIRU-MOLI (
ê¨ÕâëèȨ
), comprises the hymns of
Perialwar, Andal, Kulasekhara,
Tirumalisai, Thondaradippodi,Tiruppan, and
Madurakavi: the Second thousand (really
1351), known as
PERIA-TIRUMOLI (
âçõ¨á ê¨ÕâëèȨ
), was the work
of Tirumangai; the Third
thousand (really 817), called
IYAL-PA (
¬áùª çè
), was the contribution of
Poygai, Bhudam, Pey,
the first three Alwars, Tirumalisai,
Nammalwar, and Tirumangai; and
the Fourth thousand
(really 1102), called
TIRUVAYMOLI, was entirely the
work of Nammalwar.
The first
Alwars witnessed no jarring
alien faiths in their time;
Tirumalisai, Tirumangaiand
Thondaradippodi had to oppose
Saivism, Jainism and Buddhism
alike. Nammalwarlived
at a time when the
land was almost freee from
alien religious influences and
whenthe Vaishnavas
and Saivas were at peace.
These songs
in praise of Vishnu, which
make up the NALAYIRA-DIVYA-
PRABHANDAM
(
åèùèá¨õ ê¨ôªá
çªõçåÐêë
ª ), are
esteemed by the Vaishnavas
as the second
Veda. They stand on the
same footing of sanctity as the
Tevaram of the Saiva
saints. Every one of the
Alwars had personal, intuitive
experience of the Divine
Presence.
The hymns
sung by the Alwars were
collected and arranged in
order by St. Nathamuni
into one volume entitled
the Nalayira Divya Prabhandam
or the `Book of Four
Thousand Hymns'.Nathamuni
was a contemporary of Nambi-andar-nambi
,-- the compiler of the
Tirumurais -- andwas inspired
by the latter to do
a like service to the
Vaishnava hymns.
Period of Literary
Revival
The next
period in the history of
Tamil Literature was one
of literary fervour. The
great trio of this period
were Kamban, Otta-kuttan and Pugalendi.
Kamban, the author of the
Ramayana in Tamil, lived in
the 9 century A.D.
He was
a devotee of Nammalwar. The
Ramayana composed by him
was,according to
the procedure of those days
, recited for approval to
an audience of the literary
elite- a sort of academy
of letters - assembled in
Srirangam in the month of
Panguni ( March - April) of
the year 807 of the Salivahana
Sakabda (885 A.D.) on the
full moon day when the
star Uttaram was in the
ascendent. Kamban was then
acclaimed by the assembly as
KaviChakravarthy -
the Emperor of the Realms
of Poesy.
Ottakuttan was
a contemporary of Kamban
and his Uttarakandam winds
up theRamayanam of
Kamban. He wrote the EETTI-ELUPATHU
(¼ìªï
öÇçÊ)
and the THAKKA-YAGA-PARANI
and the three ULAS on
Rajaraja, Vikrama , andKulottunga
Cholas. Ottakuttan was a
severe critic of others'
poetry and an expert
in ANTADI , KOVAI AND
ULA ( various types of
metrical compositions).
Puhalendi was
a contemporary of Ottakuttan
and was famous for his
mastery of the
Venba. His best work is
the charming NALAVENBA - the
story of Nala and Damayanti.