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 words
were 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,
in chaste 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 events and
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 Buddhism
and 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 and of
the accounts of the life
and adventures of Siva
and Subrahmanya, Rama
and Krishna, and Jina. The
standard works on Tamil
grammar during this
period were VIRASOLIYAM, ( ô¨õâòèù¨áëª
), Nambi's AHAPPORUL
( íæçªâçèÕóª
) and NEMINADAM ( îåë¨åèêëª
).
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
metrical forms of ASIRIYAM
and VENBA ( Íò¨õ¨áëª
, âôúªçè
) were
not so much in favour as
theVIRUTTAM, ( ô¨ÕêÐêëª
)ª TANDAKAM ( êèúª
ìæë)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
period were 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,
( æåÐêµõèúëª
) the PERIYA PURANA (
âçõ¨á
µõèúëª
), and the MAHABHARATHA
( ëæèçèõêëª),
are full of
stories of the kind we
meet with in the old
puranas. However, a true
spirit of ( æåÐêµõèúëª
) , the THIRUVILAYADAL PURANA ( ê¨Õô¨éóáèìùª)
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 the north,
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
original works 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 çªõçåÐêëª
), 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 a leaning
towards a greater use of
Sanskrit and foreign words
by the learned
and the admixture of English
words in the household
speech of 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 natural ease
and beauty of the writings
of the academic and the
hymnal periods were gone.
The KALAMBAKAM, ( æùëªçæëª
) MALAI, ( ëèéù
)
ANTADI, ( íåÐêèê¨
) PILLAITAMIL,
( ç¨óªéóêÐêë¨Èª
) PARANI,
( çõú¨
) ULA,
( ãùè
) KOVAI, (
îæèéô
) and THOODU (
Ê
)
were the different
forms adopted for shorter
literary compositions and
the
KAVYA ( æèçªç¨áë
) for
longer works like the PURANAS
( µõèúëª)ª.
For these sustained
compositions a variety of
metres described in the
works 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 now
extant. 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
and many treatises
were written on this fine
art; even their gods had
their characteristic favourite
dances.
Music too
was highly developed and
their PANS( çúª
) or tunes were SUI
GENERIS to the Tamil race.
The only ancient Tamil
work now extant
dealing with 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, the
yal-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 were lost. It
is difficult 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 ).
During the 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 dramatic literature,
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
score of its
euphony, the expression, `KUTTAM'
which is Tamil, and
the presence of
poets of the Buddhist or
Jain persuasion in the third
academy 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 learned men
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
with the first,
and both probably existed
some time between the fifth
century B.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 attributed
to 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 only authors
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
enveloped in 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 destruction of
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
rivers KUMARI 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
the headquarters 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
us is 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 during the
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
productions of 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 Academy was
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 people
who spoke it
and to render it pure,
eloquent and capable of
treating arts and sciences.
It has done much by
its example for
style and has raised the
general standard of
writing, though it
has tended to ahmper and
crush originality. Language
has life and
growth and , when left
to itself, sprouts out
into diverse dialects
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 of its
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 understood
and fully recognised
by the founders of the
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
first Tamil grammar.
Treatises were written on
prosody, rhetoric and PORUL (details
of conduct in
matters of love and warfare).
Poetical dictionaries or NIKHANDUS
were compiled in
order to check the indiscriminate
and unlicensed introduction of
alien words in the Tamil
vocabulary. The canons of
literary criticism were severe
and were applied
impartially.
In this
way the Tamil language,
which passed through the
crucible of the
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
did much. 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 Tamil grammar,
the name signifying `ancient
book' or `the preserver
of ancient institutions'.
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 valuable
as it gives
us a glimpse of the
political, social and religious
life of the
people during 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 come
down to us. KUTTU
( ÔêÐÊ
), VARI ( ôõ¨
), SIRRISAI (
ò¨÷ª÷¨éò
),
PERISAI (
îçõ¨éò
),etc. are now only
names to us, the works
having themselves been
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 with the
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 the instance
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
500 AHAVAL verses
and the whole book can
be conveniently divided into
five parts, 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
about two thousand
years ago. Of
the ten books into which
th ewhole work is divided,
the first and the last
are not available
to us.
The Paripadal
(literally stanzas of strophic metre) is according
to tradition a
composition of the first
Academy as well as the
third Academy. If the
two are different
works, the first Sangam
work is lost. The PARIPADAL
( çõ¨çèìùª
) of
the third Academy is said
to consist of seventy stanzas
attributed to several poets.
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 fifty stanzas
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
some peculiar marriage
customs current in those
ancient days. Kadungon, Kapilar,
Marudan Ilanganar, Cola
Nalluttiran and Nallanduvanar are
the poets who
composed the various
songs in the work. It
is generally believed that
one of the
five poets, Nallundavanar, was
the compiler. The celebrated
commentator Nacchinarkkiniyar
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 121 stanzas,
MANIMIDAIPAVALAM ( ëú¨ë¨éìçªçèôùëª)
of 180 stanzas and
NITTILAKKOVAI of
100 stanzas. Its general
theme is love. The length
of the stanzas
varies from thirteen to
thirty-seven lines. As many
as 145 poets are
represented in this collection
whose compiler was Uruttirasarman,
the son of
Uppurikudi Killar of Madurai.
It was accomplished under
the auspices of the
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 later compilation
inasmuch as the name of
Poygaiyar, a poet of post-sangam
days, is mentioned
among the poets referred
to in the Puram. It
also contains the poems
of Murinjiyur Mudinagarayar,
Vanmikiyar, and others who,
according to the legend,
belong to the
First Academy. Thus the
anthology contains odes ranging
from the epoch
of the First Sangam to
that of Post-Sangam. Whatever
may be the
date 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 poem descriptive
of some picturesque scene
or incident, chiefly in
pastoral life. It
is not known
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 already
benefitted munificently
at the hands of the
patron. One of these poems,
Tirumuruharrupadai, directs
devotees to a God, not
bards to a patron. It contains
vivid 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, generally come
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
ends of 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
and Puram, 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 been
traced 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 Virtue based
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
and Negative
Book III
(25 chapters)
25
The Ideal Lover .... Secret love
ending in wedded love
These are
the seven ideals presented
by this Prince of Moralists.
It has 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 the subjects.
It also deals with the
three ends of human life.
It contains forty
chapters, each
consisting of ten stanzas.
This anthology, the
composition of which can
be attributed 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
), JIVAKA CHINTAMANI
( 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 the
then Cheran Senguttuvan.
On this 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 the virtuous
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 his wealth
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
the jeweller's market
to effect a sale. As
misfortune would have it,
the queen had lost an
anklet 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 her husband'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 hill
near Kodungolur (Cranganore)
according to Adiyarkunallar.
Manimekalai
This is a
sequel to SILAPPADIKARAM. But while
the story 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
became a
Buddhist nun. She had a
daughter named Manimekalai by
Kovalan. She too
became a nun.
Once Udayakumaran,the son of
the
reigning king, saw
her, fell in love with
her and pursued
her, but in
vain. She was
then taken by a goddess
to Manipallavadvipa where
were enshrined the feet
of the Buddha. Here
she was told that the
prince
was her
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
doing selfless
service assuming the disguise
of one Kayasandikai. But
Udayakumaran came to know
that Manimekalai had assumed
this disguise. One day
the real Kayasandikai herself
appeared 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 land visiting
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
âò᪱óª
), suggests that it
treats of the fourfold
ends of life viz, virtue,
wealth, pleasure, and
freedom.It is the story
of Jivaka from his birth
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
what may 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¨Õôèòæëª),
the TEVARAM ( îêôèõëª
),and NALAYIRAM (
åèùèá¨õëª).
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 of God
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
legends which 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¨Õôèòæëª
) 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, Tirumangai and
Thondaradippodi had to oppose
Saivism, Jainism and Buddhism
alike. Nammalwar lived
at a time when the
land was almost freee from
alien religious influences and
when the Vaishnavas
and Saivas were at peace.
These songs
in praise of Vishnu, which
make up the NALAYIRA-DIVYA-
PRABHANDAM
( åèùèá¨õ
ê¨ôªá çªõçåÐêëª
), 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 -- and was 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 Kavi
Chakravarthy - the
Emperor of the Realms of
Poesy.
Ottakuttan
was a contemporary of Kamban
and his Uttarakandam winds
up the Ramayanam of
Kamban. He wrote the EETTI-ELUPATHU
( ¼ìªï
öÇçÊ
) and the THAKKA-YAGA-PARANI
and the three ULAS on
Rajaraja, Vikrama , and Kulottunga
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.