Agattiyam

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Topics in Sangam literature
Sangam literature
Agattiyam Tolkāppiyam
Eighteen Greater Texts
Eight Anthologies
Aiṅkurunūṟu
Akanāṉūṟu
Puṟanāṉūṟu
 Kalittokai
Kuṟuntokai Natṟiṇai
Paripāṭal Patiṟṟuppattu
Ten Idylls
Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai Kuṟiñcippāṭṭu
Malaipaṭukaṭām Maturaikkāñci
Mullaippāṭṭu Neṭunalvāṭai
Paṭṭiṉappālai Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Related topics
Sangam Sangam landscape
Tamil history from Sangam literature
 Ancient Tamil music
Eighteen Lesser Texts
Nālaṭiyār Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai
Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu Iṉiyavai Nāṟpatu
Kār Nāṟpatu Kaḷavaḻi Nāṟpatu
Aintiṇai Aimpatu Tiṉaimoḻi Aimpatu
Aintinai Eḻupatu Tiṇaimālai Nūṟṟaimpatu
Tirukkuṟaḷ
 Tirikaṭukam
Ācārakkōvai Paḻamoḻi Nāṉūṟu
Ciṟupañcamūlam Mutumoḻikkānci
Elāti Kainnilai
Bhakti Literature
Naalayira Divya Prabandham Ramavataram
Tevaram Tirumuṟai
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Agattiyam (Tamil: அகத்தியம் ⓘ), also spelled as Akattiyam,[1] according to Tamil tradition, was the earliest book on Tamil grammar. It is a non-extant text, traditionally believed to have been compiled and taught in the First Sangam, by Agattiyar (Agastya) to twelve students.[2][3][4] Agastya is one of the seven revered rishi of Vedic literature, mentioned in the Rigveda.[1] A few surviving verses of Akattiyam are said to be quoted in medieval commentaries.[5]

Agastya, in medieval commentaries of Tamil

Tolkappiyam or the bardic poetry of the Sangam literature.[4]

Tolkappiyar (epithet), the author of

Tolkappiyam, which is the oldest extant Tamil grammar, is believed by various traditions to be one of the twelve disciples of Agattiyar. Tolkappiyar is believed to have lived during the Second Sangam and to be the author of the Tolkappiyam that has survived.[4][6]

Legend

The context of the Agattiyam is in Sangam legend. Sangam literally means "gathering, meeting, fraternity, academy". According to

Murugan, Kubera as well as 545 sages including the famed Rigvedic poet Agastya. The first academy, states the legend, extended over 4 millennia and was located far to the south of modern city of Madurai, a location later "swallowed up by the sea", states Shulman.[1][7] The second academy, also chaired by a very long-lived Agastya, was near the eastern seaside Kapāṭapuram and lasted three millennia. This was swallowed by floods. From the second Sangam, states the legend, the Akattiyam and the Tolkāppiyam survived and guided the third Sangam scholars.[7][8][2]
Agastya convened this session and wrote the Agattiyam.

Surviving verses

A few verses from Agattiyam have been quoted in medieval commentaries of the

Nannūl by Mayilainātar.[9] However, the authenticity of these verses is uncertain.[10]

Kamil Zvelebil states: "In Mayilainātar's commentary on Nannūl, and in Cankaranamaccivāyar's gloss on the same grammar, we find sixteen short sūtras of unequal length (all in all 48 lines) which are possibly genuine fragments of an old grammar, perhaps the Akattiyam."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-674-05992-4
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780199715008
    .
  3. ^ K A Nilakanta Sastri (1966). A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. Oxford University Press. pp. 76–77.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9004041907
    .
  5. ^ a b Kamil V. Zvelebil, Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature [New York: E. J. Brill, 1992), p246
  6. ISBN 9788170223740
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 9781594777943
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-674-97465-4
    .
  9. ^ Jean Luc Chevillard, "The Pantheon of Tamil Grammarians: A Short History of the Myth of Agastya's Twelve Disciples", in Écrire et transmettre en Inde classique, ed. Gérard Colas et Gerdi Gerschheimer, Études thématiques, 23 [Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 2009], p264
  10. ^ N. Subrahmanian, ed. (1997). Tamil social history. Institute of Asian Studies.
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