Classical Tamil poetry dating back at least to the first three centuries of the Christian era is accepted by reputed scholars to be among the finest of world literature. Though it is reasonable to believe that ancient Tamil itself had a long poetic tradition and a large body of literature, only a grammatical treatise in verse called the Tolkappiyam, the eight anthologies (Ettuttokai) and the Ten Songs (Pattuppattu) have survived the ravages of time.
Tolkappiyam, a unique work on grammar and poetics, in its three parts of nine sections each, deals with Eluttu (letter), Col (word) and Porul (subject matter). Almost all levels of the human language from the spoken to the most poetic lie within the purview of Tolkappiyar’s analysis as he treats in exquisitely poetic and epigrammatic statements phonology, morphology, syntax, rhetoric, prosody and poetics.
Ettuttokai consists of Narrinai, Kuruntokai, Ainkurunuru, Patirruppattu, Paripatal, Kalittokai, Akananuru and Puranaruru. Poems by diverse hands are grouped into these anthologies on the basis of metre, content or length of the verse. Love is the exclusive theme of akam anthologies whereas puram refers to subjects such as war, fame, philanthropy and death. Kuruntokai, Narrinai and Akananuru describe the numerous moods of lovers in 400 verses each, the first containing stanzas of four to eight lines, the second of nine to twelve lines and the third of thirteen to thirty one lines. Ainkurunuru, also dealing with love, is divided into five groups of 100 short verses, each concerned with one of the five tinais of the akam convention. Kalittokai has one hundred and fifty kali songs on the theme of love, each kalippa consisting of an introduction, a conclusion and a middle where the central idea is developed. Paripatal is also a kind of musical composition though it is more elaborate than kali and may be used for akam as well as puram themes. Seventy of these were gathered together in an anthology called Paripatal but only twenty two are now extant. Patirruppattu and Purananuru are collections of Puram poems, the former having ten groups of ten poems, each ten sung by a poet in praise of a Cera king and the latter being a spectrum of 400 masterly puram verses. But for Kalittokai and Paripatal, Ettuttokai poems are in akaval or vanci metre.
Pattuppattu is a collection of ten idylls each running to more than a hundred lines. This includes five Arruppatais, ‘guide-poems’ in which an artist, having received handsome gifts from a patron, meets another artist on the way and directs him to the same philanthropist. The way to the patron’s capital, his city, his love for art and artists, the royal feast he gives, the warm welcome accorded to the artist, the presents and the leave-taking at the end receive conventional descriptions in magnificent verse in every Arruppatai. Porunararruppatai has a dramatic actor as the affable guide, Cirupanarruppatai, a musician with a seven-stringed harp, Perumpanarruppatai, a musician with a fourteen-stringed harp and Kuttararruppatai, a dancer. Tirumurukarruppatai guides us to Lord Murukan, a symbol of youth, beauty and heroism. Maturaikkanci, a long poem by Mankuti Marutanar, sings the glory of the Pandya king Netunceliyan while stressing the transitoriness of victory, fame and life itself. Kurincippattu explains to the Aryan king, Pirakattan, the message of love in Tamil poetry by glorifying pre-marital love and its various phases. Mullaippattu, juxtaposing scenes of love and war, highlights the grief of the heroine waiting for the return of the hero from the battlefield. In Netunalvatai, a queen is concerned with the fate of her husband engaged in a war in a far-off place while the king himself is pictured in a scene depicting his love and affection for the suffering animals and men of his army. The greatness of Karikalan, his incredible escape from his enemies, his victory and the pomp and splendour of the city of the king and the daily routine of its life are all described vividly in Pattinappalai. The poems in Pattuppattu range from 103 to 782 lines.
The twin epics, Cilappatikaram and Manimekalai, commonly assigned to the second century A.D., tell the stories of two great women, Kannaki and Manimekalai respectively. The first one, also known as Muttamilkkappiyam (three-fold epic) because of the blending of poetry, music and dance, has its important scenes set in the capitals of the three major kingdoms of Tamilnadu. It celebrates the achievement of a chaste woman who exposes an unjust king and burns his city. The poem is known for its remarkable structure and texture and the poet for his narrative skill and humanism. Manimekalai, narrating the life of a danseuse turned nun, has a clear religious motive, the propagation of Buddhism.
Of the eighteen didactic works brought together in an anthology called Patinenkilkkanakku, Tirukkural has rightly won international recognition for its universal appeal. In its 1330 couplets divided into three parts it delineates the three major concerns of human life, Aram (virtue), Porul (wealth) and Inpam (pleasure) in matchless verse. Of the other seventeen works, which belong to a period earlier than the seventh century, six belong to akam poetry. Karnarpatu, Tinaimoli aimpatu, Aintinai aimpatu, Aintinai elupatu, Tinaimalai nurraimpatu and Aintinai aimpatu render the ideas of the Cankam akam poetry in a new idiom and rhythm suitable to a later age. The other eleven works – Nalatiyar, Palamoli Nanuru, Nanmanikkatikai, Inna narpatu, Iniyavai narpatu, Tirikatukam, Acarakkovai, Cirupancamulam, Elati, Mutumolikkanci and Kainnilai – define aram in verses of varying poetic qualities. These didactic writings, though dealing with more or less the same set of ethical principles, do not make monotonous reading as they resort to different strategies and techniques. Nalatiyar is next only to Tirukkural in its poetic excellence. Tirikatukam, Cirupancamulam and Elati, bearing the names of medicines, imply that the three or five or six moral truths underscored in each verse in these three works respectively resemble those medicines that cure a patient of his illness. In Nanmanikkatikai meaning a necklace of four precious stones, each verse contains four jewel-like lessons. If Inna narpatu lists four items which are not palatable from the moral point of view, Iniyavai narpatu catalogues four which are sweet. Kalavali narpatu describing a battlefield with its soldiers, animals and drums, drives home the evanescence of life and became an inspiring source of the sub-genre of parani literature.
It is unfortunate that Muttollayiram, which as its name indicates, must have consisted of at least nine hundred pieces, if not 2700, fusing the themes of love and heroism in venpas of unparalleled beauty, has not been preserved in its entirey. Only 130 stanzas of unknown authorship have been gathered together and this fragment is enough to reflect the grandeur of the whole. Iraiyanar akapporul attributed to Lord Siva as the word Iraiyanar, perhaps the name of the author, a human being, can be taken to mean God, is an enunciation of the philosophy of premarital love and Nakkirar’s commentary on it is in poetic prose.
As this brief survey, only a bird’s eye-view of the forty one ancient works in Tamil, would have indicated, they have been chosen for special treatment through definitive editions and translations into English and other languages because they are original compositions, not translations or derivative works and belong to the period from the 3rd century B.C., to the sixth century A.D.
