Eight Anthologies
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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The Eight Anthologies, known as Eṭṭuttokai (
Contents of the anthologies
The Eight Anthologies consist of 2,371 poems varying from small stanzas of three lines in
- Ainkurunuru (ஐங்குறுநூறு)
- Akananuru(அகநானூறு)
- Purananuru (புறநானூறு)
- Kalittokai (கலித்தொகை)
- Kuruntokai (குறுந்தொகை)
- Natrinai (நற்றிணை)
- Paripatal(பரிபாடல்)
- Pathitrupathu (பதிற்றுப்பத்து)
This compilation of eight anthologies into the Ettuttokai super-anthology is historic. It is attested to in a mnemonic Tamil venpa stanza, likely composed sometime at a much later date after the 5th-century. The stanza is found in the colophons of many of the surviving palm-leaf manuscripts, and confirms the cherished status of this Sangam collection in the Tamil history. This stanza aid reads:[4]
Original Tamil:
நற்றிணை நல்ல குறுந்தொகை ஐங்குறுநூறு
ஒத்த பதிற்றுப்பத்து ஓங்கு பரிபாடல்
கற்றறிந்தார் ஏத்தும் கலியோடு அகம்புறம் என்று
இத்திறத்த எட்டுத் தொகை— Palm-leaf manuscript UVSL 885 (GOML R-5780) colophon
Translation:
Naṟṟiṇai, good Kuṟuntokai, Aiṅkuṟunūṟu,
even Patiṟṟuppattu, high Paripāṭal,
along with Kali, Akam, [and] Puṟam praised by learned
knowledgeable people, these parts [form] the Eṭṭuttokai— Translator: Eva Wilden[5]
Date
Tamil tradition mentions academies of poets that composed classical literature over thousands of years before the common era, a belief that scholars consider a myth. Some scholars date the Sangam literature between c. 300 BCE and 300 CE,[6] while others variously place this early classical Tamil literature period a bit later and more narrowly but mostly before 300 CE.[7][8][9] According to Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature and history scholar, the most acceptable range for the majority of Sangam literature is 100 BCE to 250 CE, based on the linguistic, prosodic and quasi-historic allusions within the texts and the colophons.[10] Some of the later strata of the Sangam literature, including the Eight Anthologies, is approximately from the 3rd to 5th century CE.[11][note 1]
Rediscovery
The Ettuttokai along with other Sangam literature had fallen into oblivion for much of the 2nd millennium of the common era, but were preserved by and rediscovered in the
Authors
There are 470 poets known either by their proper names or by causal names deduced from their works. The authors are unidentified in the case of a hundred stanzas. The poets belonged to different parts of Tamil Nadu and to different professions.
Some of them were very popular like
Examples
The Sangam literature is categorized into two: love or inner (Akam) or public life or outer (Puram).
குறிஞ்சி – தலைவன் கூற்று |
A girl of dark complexion is she |
—சிறைக்குடியாந்தையார். (குறுந்தொகை – 132) | —Siraikkudiyaanndhayaar. (Kurunthogai – 132) |
A verse from the 69th poem of Akanaṉūṟu :
"விண்பொரு நெடுவரை இயல் தேர் மோரியர்
பொன் புனை திகிரி திரிதர குறைத்த
அறை இறந்து அகன்றனர் ஆயினும், எனையதூஉம்
நீடலர் வாழி தோழி!"
The verse speaks about the elegant chariots on which the Mauryans rode through mountains and valleys and are referred to as "moriyar". These anthologies are significant source of cultural and historic information about ancient Tamil Nadu and South India.
Akaval metre
Of the eight anthologies five are on Agam, two on Puram, and one on both. Six of them are in '
Kali metres
The other two anthologies that are not written in agaval metre are
Paripaadal metre
Paripaadal is a metre full of rhythm and music and the anthology known by this name consists of songs composed in this metre. There are religious poems as well as those on love-themes. The love-theme is worked against the background of bathing festivities. These songs were sung in different tunes as is evident from the notes on the music at the end of these. The names of the musicians who set tunes to these songs are also mentioned therein.
Religion in the Eight Anthologies
In general, the texts are non-religious, mostly about love, longing, bardic praise of the king, chieftain or patron and such topics. They occasionally mention reverence or include lines alluding to Hindu gods (particularly Murugan), goddesses, Vedas, Puranic legends and temples. The
See also
Notes
- ^ Herman Tieken has challenged this chronology based on internal evidence within the poems, and external evidence such as inscriptions on coins and stones. According to Tieken, the Sangam literature should be dated after 3rd-century CE, more in the second half of the 1st-millennium of the common era, and close to when they were compiled into anthologies.[12][13] Some scholarly reviewers such as Whitney Cox find Tieken's arguments persuasive.[14] David Shulman in his 2016 published Tamil: A Biography states that Tieken's analysis is sound and the chronology proposals for the Sangam period literature in the past were based on generous interpretation of the Sangam poems, but the critical study of Tieken only confirms that Sangam literature cannot be "dated definitively with the information we have available". Shulman disagrees with some conclusions of the Tieken's analysis.[15]
References
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 29.
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 23–32.
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 41–43 with Chart 4.
- ^ Eva Maria Wilden 2014, pp. 133–135.
- ^ Eva Maria Wilden 2014, p. 135.
- ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.
- ISBN 978-3-447-01706-0.
- ISBN 90-04-09365-6.
- ^ Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (1958). A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. Oxford University Press. pp. 110–112.
- ISBN 978-3-447-01582-0.
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 41–43.
- ISBN 978-90-6980-134-6.
- S2CID 145407434.
- S2CID 162478443.
- ISBN 978-0-674-97465-4.
- ISBN 978-3-447-01582-0.
- ISBN 90-04-10042-3.
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 50–64.
- Bibliography
- Eva Maria Wilden (2014). Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Cankam in Tamilnadu. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-035276-4.
- Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-03591-5.