A History of Indian Literature, Volume X: Dravidian Literature, Fasc. 1: Tamil Literature

A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE

KAMIL VEITH ZVELEBIL

TAMIL LITERATURE

OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN

A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE EDITED BY JAN GONDA

VOLUME X Fasc. 1

1974 OTTO HARRASSOWITZ . WIESBADEN

KAMIL VEITH ZVELEBIL

TAMIL LITERATURE

1974 OTTO HARRASSOWITZ . WIESBADEN

A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE Contents of Vol. X

Vol. X: Dravidian Literatures Fase. 1: K. V. Zvelebil G. L. Hart

Tamil Literature Relations between Tamil and Classical Sanskrit Literatures R. E. Asher Malayalam Literature K. Mahadeva Sastri Telugu Literature H. M. Nayak Kannada Literature J. Filliozat/F. Gros/ Scientific Literatures in Dravidian J. R. Marr and others Languages

© Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1974 Alle Rechte vorbehalten Photographfsche und photoraechanische Wiedergabe nur mit ausdrticklicher Genehmigung des Verlages Gesamtherstellung: Allgauer Zeitungsverlag GmbH, Kempten Printed in GermanyISBN 3 447 01582 9

DEDICATION

I am indebted to all my Tamil friends and colleagues who have helped me during the past three decades to understand Tamil culture and literature. "The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it," said Dr. S. Johnson. I dedicate this book to Tamil poets and writers, past and present, who enabled the Tamil people both; and to the Tamil people themselves.

Wassenaar, Nederland, 31. 12. 1973

Kamil V. Zvelebil

CONTENTS

Note on transliteration and pronunciation

1

Introduction

2

1. The solitary stanza 1.1. Classical Tamil poetry of the two superanthologies 1.1.2. The Bardic Corpus 1.1.3. Beginnings of Tamil poetry 1.1.4. The anthology-poems and the songs 1.1.5. The structure of the Tamil bardic poems 1.1.6. Language and prosody 1.1.7. Poetics and rhetorics 1.1.8. The bardic poet 1.1.9. The achievement of classical Tamil poetry 1.1.10. Late classical poetry 1.2. Medieval anthologies and occasional stanzas 1.3. Pre-modern and modern poetry

7 7 9 11 12 26 31 34 42 44 47 51 58

2. The literature of devotion

88

3. Didactic heresy

117

4. The 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7.

epic poetry The Jaina cycle The Buddhist cycle Hindu epics Christian epics Muslim epics Modern Tamil narrative poetry Tamil puranas

128 131 140 142 159 162 162 170

5. Pirapantam 5.1. Older and traditional genres 5.2. Late and non-traditional genres

193 194 220

6. Literature in prose 6.1. The fonts of prose 6.2. Foreigners 6.3. Printing and journalism 6.4. Subrahmanya Bharati; V. V. S. Aiyar 6.5. Short forms 6.6. Novel 6.6.1. Beginnings 6.6.2. Interlude 6.6.3. Historical novel 6.6.4. Didactic novels

231 231 234 236 239 242 267 267 273 274 276

VIII 6.6.5. 6.6.6. 6.6.7. 6.6.8. 6.6.9. 6.6.10.

The contemporary situation Realistic and regional writings. Naturalism Interest in social change Autobiography and documentary writing Male-female relationship Experimental novel

. , 277 278 282 283 286 291

7. Dramatic writing

294

Index

299

Kamil Veith Zvelebil TAMIL LITERATURE

NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND PRONUNCIATION

The transcription used for Tamil words in this book is a strict transliteration as a system adopted by the Madras University Tamil Lexicon. The only exception are names of modern and contemporary Tamil writers (and their literary heroes) where I follow in addition their own anglicized spelling, e.g. Subrahmanya Bharati (Cuppiramaniya Parati), Jeyakanthan's heroine Ganga. The following Roman letters are used for the Tamil characters: Vowels Short

Long

a i u e o

a i

u e 5

ai au Teeth

Lips Stops Nasals Liquids

P

t

m

n

Consonants Ridge behind upper teeth n

r r

Semivowels

V

1

Hard palate t c n fi

Soft palate k

n

1

i

y

The Tamil long vowels are, unlike their English diphthongized counterparts, simply long vowels. Final—ai is pronounced approximately like—ey. Tamil has two series of consonants unfamiliar to English speakers: the dentals t, n and the retroflexes t, n, 1, 1. The dentals are pronounced with the tongue at the teeth, the retroflexes are produced by curling the tongue back towards the roof of the mouth (cf. the American pronunciation of girl, sir). In the middle of words, long consonants occur frequently. In transliteration, they are indicated by double letters (cf. pattu, Nakkirar). English has long consonants between words, e.g. in hot tea, or Mac Kinley.

2

Tamil Literature

The Tamil r is flapped or trilled like in Spanish, Italian or Czech. The peculiar, typical sound 1 is somewhat like the American variety of r—a voiced retroflex vibrant or fricative; r and r are not distinguished by most modern Tamil speakers, but long rr is pronounced like tr in English trap or tt in hot tea; nr is pronounced ndr as in laundry. p, t, t, c, k are pronounced differently according to their position in the word: initially, p, t, and k are voiceless stops, t does not occur, and c is pronounced as s or sh. Between vowels, p, t, t are voiced into b, d and d and pronounced rather like lax voiced stops; k and c are pronounced as gh or h and s or sh. After nasals, all stops are voiced into b, d, d, j , g. Examples: akam is pronounced usually aham, cankam is pronounced sangam, Kuruntokai as kurundohey, Narrinai as natriney or nattiney, Alai Ocai as aleyoosey.

INTRODUCTION

It is not worth while remembering that past which cannot become a present. S0EEN KIERKEGAARD

Probably the first among European scholars who dealt with the history of Tamil literature was Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg who, in 1708, composed the Bibliotheca Malabarica, a description of Tamil books in his possession. In its third part, he gives a relatively complete account of Tamil literature containing remarks on the contents and literary form of 119 Tamil texts. More than two centuries after Ziegenbalg we still have no adequate evaluative treatment of Tamil literature in its entirety, from its beginnings to its present shape. It is very difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, says Agehananda Bharati, to be humble about a work of objective importance. Whether this book will evoke praise or censure from professional audience, it is clear that an evaluative study of Tamil literature in its totality was long overdue. Tamil can claim one of the longest unbroken literary traditions of any of the world's living languages. This book was conceived as based, in the first place, on the critical and evaluative approach (distinct from, but not opposed to, a strictly historical approach)1, and as such, it appeals primarily to the structures which may be designed as major literary types. Tamil literature is here classified principally not by time, but by specifically literary types of organisation or structure. It is viewed as a simultaneous order, and the book is concerned 1 We believe to have performed at least in fundamental outlines some of the preliminary historiographic tasks in our work on Tamil literature in the Handbuch der Orientalistik, Leiden 1975, which was compiled as annals of Tamil literature, abstaining almost completely from value judgments, and arranging comparatively neutral facts in their proper patterns and historical perspective.

Tamil Literature

3

with the interpretation and analysis of the works of literature themselves. There are several reasons for this approach. In India, to some extent, the whole of its literature has a simultaneous existence, and composes a simultaneous order. The dates of composition are in many cases not as important as in Western literature since in many cases literary works are far less historically conditioned. The world is seen as a hierarchically ordered society, in which individuals have their existence: in the dharmic view, these individuals are not regarded as unique, self-identical, irreplaceable human beings, of one time and one place, but as incumbents °* positions which survive them2. The Hindu has a cyclical theory of successive yugas, coming over and over again in the same order, and experiencing the same quality and pace of deterioration. According to the Hindu view, history1S working out a cyclic purpose. This view is contrastive to the modern theory of progress which is the belief in a steady advance towards human perfection, and is largely a product of Darwinism. The 'unhistorical' Hindu mind conceived the yuga concept to explain social change and development. Society passe8 through four stages of diminishing morality until in the final stage, at the end of the Kaliyuga, in which we are supposed to be now, there is a complete destruction of man and this universe, and a new beginning will be made. The Hindus have a concept of time in which the short spans of time (like millennia or centuries) with reference to human events of no cosmic significance are naturally rejected as useless. They have the law of karma which has an allpervading influence on man's duties and responsibilities. And, finally, they have the concept of divine interference in mundane affairs in the shape of avataras, and the concept of maya: empirical experience is unreal, the real truth, eternal and divine, lies beyond this truth, which is unreal, apparent, temporal, historical. In the static nature of the Hindu society with a rigidly determined order, a society theoretically immutable, speculation about the nature of historical and political theories was impossible and the faculty of social criticism was almost undeveloped. The Hindus possessed in abundance the scientific bend of mind, and the metaphysical, speculative mind. The first is concerned with drawing conclusions from observed data: two instances—Panini's grammar, or the Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam. The metaphysical, speculative mind belongs to the realm of abstract thought usually incapable of empirical control: the examples —Sankara, or the authors of the Saiva Siddhanta philosophical texts in l The faculty of criticism is concerned with imaginative interpretation of within the empirical limits. The truly critical function was singularly absent from ancient Indian scheme of speculation, and the Hindu thinking proct-sSi was dominated by the metaphysical and the scientific methodologies. Hence the traditional theory of poetic invention: a poet could express only the o^e and unchanging truth in a traditional form. India had a literary theory whica J. A. B. VAN BTJITENEN, Introduction, Two Plays of Ancient India, 1968, p. '*

4

Tamil Literature

stressed the unchanging truth and the traditional rules, and this literary theory produces and reflects another type of literature than a theory which makes difference, i.e. novelty and modernity, the most important criterion. Traditionally, an Indian poet was not expected to be different from his predecessors, but had to follow as closely as possible the age-old rules of poetic conventions. This high degree of conventionality, of stereotyped language, of rhetoric and poetic properties, traditional themes etc.—all these typical properties of 'objective' poetry are constantly present in every work of Tamil literary art with the exception of modern and contemporary prose and poetry. Hence, the person of the author is sometimes almost entirely obliterated, and, inevitably, we know almost nothing of the "hidden" author, and the work itself, in its particular slot within the development of a particular type or genre, is much more important than its exact historical placement and the personality of its author. It is only at the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century that things change, with such poets and prosateurs as Subrahmanya Bharati (1882-1921), Vedanayagam Pillai (1826-1889), V.V.S. Aiyar (18811925) and a few of their contemporaries and immediate followers; in many respects, however, it is only in the poems, novels and stories of the last one or two decades that things have changed radically. For the Tamil theoretician, the fundamental dichotomy of all works of literature was that between ilakkanam and ilakkiyam. Ilakkanam which may approximately be translated as 'grammar' provided a system of norms which had to be followed by ilakkiyam, roughly translatable as 'literary works'. Thus, ilakkanam was a complex of rules imposed upon ilakkiyam. By extending the notion of 'grammar' systematically to literature as something on which a structure of norms is imposed, and even to other social and cultural phenomena which are structured, like e.g. the love-behaviour of cultured pairs, ancient Tamil theoreticians had 'discovered' that the construction and understanding of poetic structures (and even of human behavioural patterns) is subject to structural rules similar to those of primary linguistic structures. A 'grammar of poetry' describes poetic competence just as the grammar of a language describes linguistic competence. And, more importantly, the structure of such grammar takes account of many extralinguistic phenomena. Analogous principles of patterning (contrast, parallelism, repetition and the like) determine games, etc., but above all erotic (akam) and heroic (puram) behaviour. The grammar of poetry is thus a special case of a general theory of poetic competence, and we must distinguish in it between universals, and specific conventtions. At the same time, the Tamil theoretician stressed the primacy of ilakkiyam: "Literature yields grammar," says an aphorism of the Akattiyam; "there is no grammar without literature, just like there is no oil without the sesamum-seed" .3 In this book, this basic dichotomy is accepted in the sense that this book 3

Ilakkiya minrel ilakkana minre / ejlin rdkil enneyu minre / eljininru enney etuppatu pola / ilakki yattininru etuppatu milakkanam.

Tamil Literature

5

deals only with ilakhiyam, i. e. with literature as the corpus of texts upon which rules are imposed, ignoring ilakkanam, i. e. the theoretical, eruditory, normative texts imposing these rules. Man's pleasure in a literary work is composed of the sense of novelty and the sense of recognition. A totally familiar and repetitive pattern is boring; a totally novel form will be unintelligible, indeed unthinkable. The literary type, form and genre represent a sum of aesthetic devices at hand, available to the writer and intelligible to the reader. A good writer partly conforms to the genre as it exists, partly stretches it4. In Tamil literature, the continuity of forms and genres is safeguarded in a special and prominent manner—until approximately the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and, in some ways, until very recently ago. totality of texts

1

ilakkiyam

ilakkanam 1

. tokainilai the poet's own persona present directly (as in heroic poems and devotional hymns) or indirectly in a cast of conventional characters (as in erotic poems)

1. ianippdtal 'isolated poem' 1.1. classical bardic poems in akam and puram 1.2. medieval / anthologies , 1.3. premodern and modern lyrical poetry

1 /

•i.

-'»

3. anomaly "didactic heresy" (gnomic maxims, - Spriichenliteratur)

2. devotional poetry (bhakti) 2.1. Saiva 2.2. Vaisnava 2.3. Christian 2.4. Muslim

iyal ( = recited or read) bardic stanzas epics, purdnas prabandhas, lyrical/epical poetry short story novel

totarnilai connected narrative and descriptive discourse 7. drama

4. epic and narrative forms 4.1. kdppiyam 4.2. purdnam

5. prabandha The 96 varieties of Tamil pirapantani3

6. prose 6.1. short forms 6.2. novel

icai ( = sung) devotional hymns

ndtakam ( = mime) street plays ritualistic 'dramas', some prabandhas, modern plays and dramas

6

Tamil Literature

On the following pages, Tamil literature is viewed as total structure in terms of types, forms and genres, the development of which is followed up within the coordinates of time. The following diagram will indicate the approach to Tamil literature adopted in this book and the plan of its treatment. Observe that, following the basic dichotomy of ilakkanam : ilakkiyam, the next binary division, according to the Tamil conceptions, runs between tokainilai, i.e. solitary, isolated, individual poem (prone to anthologization, tokai), and the totarnilai, i.e. a connected poetic discourse composed of elements of narration and description. These fundamental divisions, based on indigenous Tamil theoretical thinking, with the didactic maxims, and the drama, as probably 'imported anomalies,' are criss-crossed by another trichotomous division (very obviously imported and ascribed to the Aryan culture hero Agastya) into iyal, literature, prose or poetry, intended to be recited or read, icai, literature intended to be put to music and sung, and ndtakam, literature intended to be enacted by mimetic performance. The bardic stanzas, the epics and the purdnas, and most of the prabandhas belong to the first type (iyal); in modern literature, these developed into lyrical and epical poetry, into short story and novel; devotional hymns, ancient and more recent (e.g. kirttanai), belong to the second type (icai); street-plays, ritualistic and panegyric 'dramas,' a few later prabandhas and modern plays and dramas belong to the third type (ndtakam)5. It is of course extremely difficult to separate oral from written tradition, particularly in India. But the methods of study of the two kinds are essentially different. Oral tradition, folklore, handed down by word of mouth and subject to a very different set of norms, presents different problems from those of literary history, a different theory, a different metholology. In this book, Tamil folklore had to be ignored. In this book all translations, unless indicated otherwise, are by the present author. References to editions of texts are incomplete, the bibliography containing mainly such books and articles as have a bearing on problems, evaluation, critical points etc. For editions and questions of philological or textcritical interest see the author's brief history of Tamil literature (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Leiden 1975).

4 6

R. WEIXEK—A. WARREN, Theory of Literature, 3rd. ed. 1963, p. 235. I am indebted for the final version of the diagram to my student Saskia C. Kersenboom.

THE SOLITARY STANZA

1.0. The subject of this chapter is the isolated, independent, solitary poem, Ta. (tanip)pdtal, (tanip)pdttu, in ancient, medieval, and modern Tamil poetry. It is distinct and detached from other poems1, self-sufficient and self-contained, and can be comprehended and enjoyed by itself. It is fit to be anthologized in collections (Ta. tolcai, DED 2861, Jcottu, DED 1741, cf. Skt. kosa), and it roughly corresponds to occasional and lyrical poetry of Western literatures, though the Tamil concept is somewhat different and wider than either. The detached poems will be dealt with in the following historical sequence: first, the classical Tamil poetry of the bards of the two great genres, akam and puram; second, the occasional stanza of the medieval epoch, and the medieval anthologies; third, premodern and modern poetry of this type. 1.1. Classical Tamil poetry of the two superanihologies—Ettuttokai and Pattuppdttu. The akam and puram genres. 1.1.1. Rediscovery of classical Tamil poetry. The classical bardic poetry of the literary Academies (cankam, Sangam) ceased to be a living literature and became part of an "extinct" classical heritage sometime in the 6th-8th cent. A. D. It gave way to the religious hymnody of the Saiva and Vaisnava bhakti movement. In that period, everything changed: in the evolution of language, this was the time of the transition from Old Tamil to Middle Tamil; in prosody, this was the period of the first strong impact of Sanskritic aksara-mdtrd oriented metres on indigenous Tamil structures; secular, anonymous love and war poems gave way to religious, highly individual hymns; the itinerant bard moving from court to court quitted the scene and his place was taken by a Saiva or Vaisnava poet-saint, visiting shrine after shrine and singing the mercy of £iva and Visnu. The classical heritage was preserved almost exclusively by learned poets, commentators and scholiasts. After ca. 1450 A. D. even the scholiast ceased to be interested, and with the exception of a few anthologies which still contained ancient matter, the classical poetry faded into oblivion. Medieval, especially late medieval militant brahminical Hinduism apparently branded as taboo and irreligious all secular texts of the ancient era and the study of Jaina and Buddhist literature was forbidden. Even great scholars were unaware of the existence of the earliest and greatest of Tamil literary texts. The rediscovery of the classical heritage occurred in the transition period of 1 Though it may combine into thematic cycles (like in the Ainkurunuru anthology) or into corpora united by a common set of conventions etc.

8

Tamil Literature

the second half of the 19th century. The two men, who were probably most active in the unearthing and editing of ancient Tamil texts, were Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar (1855-1942)2 and S. V. Damodaram Pillai (1832-1901 )3. One must not forget either the great role played by their immediate predecessor, Mahavidvan Meenakshisundaram Pillai (1815-1876)4, and by their contemporaries and successors, scholars, editors, literary historians like P. Sundaram Pillai (1855-1897)5, V. Kanakasabhai Pillai (1855-1906)6, R. Raghava Iyengar (1870-1946)7, M. Raghava Iyengar (1878-1960)8, J. M. Nallaswami Pillai (18641920)9 and others. In 1901, the Fourth Tamil Academy (Sangam) was founded at Maturai, and it soon developed into a publishing house of various texts and an important journal, the Centamil. By the beginning of the 20th century, the classical bardic poetry was rediscovered though many texts were lost for ever10. With this added time-depth, Tamil literature and Tamil literary history obtained entirely new perspectives, and Tamil emerged as one of the two classical languages of India (the other being of course Sanskrit) and, indeed, as one of the classical languages of the world. 2

$ri Makamakopattiyaya Taksinatya Kalaniti Dr. U. Ve. Caminat' aiyar was born on Febr. 19, 1855 in a &aiva Brahman family at Uttamatanapuram near Tanjore, and died on April 28, 1942 in Madras. While a Tamil pandit at the Government College in Kumbakonam, he met a liberal law-official, S. Ramaswami Mudaliar (on Oct. 2, 1880) who, being a rare lover and connoisseur of ancient poetry, made the young scholar aware of the existence of the great classical heritage, and even gave him an old manuscript to take home and study. From that day on, Swaminatha Aiyar devoted the rest of his life to unearthing and editing ancient Tamil literature. The first important text he edited was the Jaina epic Clvakacintamam (1887), his last important edition was that of Kuruntokai (1937). Cf. his autobiography En. carittiram 'My story,' Madras 1950; FRANCIS MOBAES, Dr. Swaminatha Aiyar, Editor and Writer, TC 4 (1955), 40-52. 3 Ci. Vai. Tamotaram Pillai was born in Sept. 1832 in Ciruppatti near Jaffna, Ceylon, and died in Madras on Jan. 1, 1901. His most important editions are Kalittokai (1887) and some ancient grammars. 4 A learned, prolific scholar-poet who drew a circle of disciples to Tiruvavatuturai matha (monastery) which became the centre of a large gathering of poets, musicians and scholars. U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar was his most outstanding student. 5 Professor at Maharaja's College, Trivandrum; author of a number of historical and literary papers, translator of Tamil classics into English, editor of inscriptions, author of Manonmamyam, Madras 1881, a metaphysical drama. 6 Author of The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, Madras 1904, collector of manuscripts and inscriptions. 7 Research lecturer in Tamil at Annamalai University, first editor of Centamil, author of a commentary on Kuruntokai, editor of Akananuru; cf. his Tamil varalaru, Annamalainagar, 1st ed. 1941, 2nd ed. 1952. 8 Sub-editor of Centamil, from 1912 on the staff of the Tamil Lexicon Committee as the Tamil pandit (cf. JAOS 44,2, 134-7), professor of Tamil, University of Travancore, author of many research articles (cf. Arayccittokuti, 2nd ed. Madras 1964), editor of Peruntokai, Maturai, 1935-6. 9 Translator of many !§ai va Siddhanta texts, editor of Siddhanta Deepika from 1897. 10 For lost Tamil texts cf. Mayilai Cmi. Venkatacami, Maraintupona tamil nulkaj, Madras 1959, and K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Literature (Handbuch).

Tamil Literature

1.1.2. The Bardic Corpus. The earliest corpus of Tamil literary texts may be dated roughly between 100 B. C. and 250 A. D. This dating was arrived at on the basis of both internal and external evidence: the main internal evidence is of linguistic and prosodic nature, and comprises also quite a number of historical clues11 based on historical or quasi-historical allusions in the texts and colophons. The external, positively corroborative evidence is based on archeology, on numerous finds of Roman coins, on rich data provided by Graeco-Roman authors, and has been lately clinched by epigraphy12. Nowadays, no serious scholar would doubt the dating which is thus based on a combination of data arising from different and independent sources—a dating which will stand easily any critical scrutiny13. The earliest corpus of Tamil literature (100 B.C.-250 A.D.) comprises the following texts: an Urtext of the Tolkappiyam, i.e. the first two books of the oldest Tamil grammar extant; most of the poems in the anthologies Ainkurunuru, Akananuru, Kuruntokai, Narrinai, Patirruppattu and Purananuru: these collections were later classified and gathered into one superanthology termed Ettuttokai 'The Eight Collections'14; and the so-called lays of the other superanthology, Pattuppattu 'The Ten Songs': Kurincippattu, Cirupanarruppatai, Netunalvatai, Pattinappalai, Perumpanarruppatai, Maturaikkaflci, Malaipatukatam, Mullaippattu, and possibly Tirumurukarruppatai15. According to the best edition of the poems which is available16, the total number of stanzas in the corpus is 2381. They were ascribed to 473 bardic poets who are known by their names or epithets. 102 poems are anonymous. 16 poets out of 473 are responsible for about 50% of the total production (1177 11

The most important historical clue is the so-called Gajabahu synchronism based on Cilappatikaram XXX. 160 which establishes the contemporaneity of the Ceylonese king Gajabahu I (A. D. 173-195) and the Chera king Cenkuttuvan. celebrated in the Vth decade of Patirruppattu and in Puram 369. The date of Cenkuttuvan was thus fixed at ca. 180 A.D. The Gajabahu synchronism is corroborated from other sources, and the general historical trend strongly favours its acceptance. Most scholars do accept it nowadays, cf. K. A. N. SASTRI, A Comprehensive History of India, II, 1957, 614-5, and K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, Leiden, 1973, 174-5; K. V. ZVELEBIL, op.cit. 12

Thanks to the labours performed by K. V. SUBRAHMANYA AYYAR, H. K.

KRISHNA SASTRI, K. K. PILLAY and others, but especially to the recent brilliant work of I. MAHADEVAN, we now know of the existence of 76 rock inscriptions in the

Tamil -Brahmi script from about 21 sites in Tamilnadu; the data contained in them establish obvious correlations with the data contained in early bardic poems. Cf. I. MAHADEVAN, Tamil Brahmi Inscriptions of the Sangam Age, Proceedings of the Second International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, I, Madras 1971, 73-106. 13 For a detailed discussion of the various problems concerning the dating of ancient Tamil literature, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, op.cit. 14 Which comprised, besides the six collections mentioned above, the two most probably later collections Kalittokai and Paripatal. 15 The dating of Tirumurukarruppatai is an open matter. See below, p. 50. 16 Es. VAIYAPTJRI PILLAI (ed.), Canka ilakkiyam (Pattum tokaiyum), Pari Nilaiyam, Cennai, 1st ed. 1940, 2nd ed. 1967.

10

Tamil Literature

out of the 2279 non-anonymous poems). The sixteen most prolific poets (i.e. those who have at least 20 pieces to their credit) are Kapilar (253 poems), Ammuvanar (127), Urampokiyar (HO), Peyanar (105), Otalantaiyar (103), Paranar (85), Marutanilanakanar (79), Palaipatiya Perunkatunko (68), Auvaiyar (59), Nallantuvanar (40), Nakkirar (37), Uloccanar (35), Mamulanar (30), Kayamanar (23), Perunkunrur Kilar (21) and Pericattanar (20)17. In terms of time dimensions their poetry covers about 250-300 years: Paranar, the earliest great and important poet, may probably be dated ca. 150 A.D., and Nallantuvanar, possibly the last great bardic poet, in ca. 400 A.D. The Tamil bardic poetry is the only example of Indian secular, non-religious literature dating from a period that ancient. The most popular theme of the literature of Tamilnadu from about the 6th cent. A.D. onwards has been Liberation (Skt. moksa, Ta. vltu). However, in the early classical poems, which have been termed hedonistic and egalitarian in spirit, whose length varies from three to over eight hundred lines, and which often go under the now 'popular' term Sangam poetry18, the religious inspiration, and the philosophical reflection are almost totally absent19. These were poems of 'sentiments' and of 'exploits,'20 of the 'noumenon' and the 'phenomenon,'21 in Tamil terminology, of akam and puram; in a somewhat simplified manner we may also say, poems of a total human erotic experience, and of heroism and public activity. A continuous epic is conspicuously absent, and this is the great difference in form between the earliest Tamil poetry and the beginnings of other national literatures: in the latter, heroic conventions were developed in conjunction with epics22. What we have in the two superanthologies are discontinuous poems of breath-taking sophistication and of thrilling subject-matter, a literary corpus of great homogeneity of language, diction, prosody and themes. To a great extent, the key to this poetry is provided by a structure of conventions as set up in the Tolkappiyam, the most ancient grammar of the Tamils, and as commented upon by the great medieval scholiasts. This homogeneity, and this constant presence of a set of conventions 17 For detailed discussion of the biographies and dating of these poets, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Literature (Handbuch), Appendix, 18 For a detailed discussion of the legend of the Sangam, cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Earliest Account of the Tamil Academies, I I J 15,2 (1973) 109-35; T. G. ARAVAMTJTHAN, The Oldest Account of Tamil Academies, JORM (1930), pp. 188 and 289, and T. G. ARAVAMUDAN, The Madurai Chronicles and the Tamil Academies, JORM (1932), pp. 89,275 and 322. 19 Though seven of the anthologies begin with the invocation of Siva or Visnu; but these invocations were provided later and have nothing in common with the texts that follow. 20 P. MEILE in L. Renou and J. Filliozat, L'Inde classique II, Paris 1953, p. 98. 21 T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDARAM, Tolkappiyar's Literary Theory, Proceedings of the First International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, II, Kuala Lumpur 1969, 3-9. 22 J. R. MARK'S review of K. KAILASAPATHY, Tamil Heroic Poetry, BSOAS 34,1 (1971), p. 165.

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stimulates, and, at the same time, in a truly dialectical tension, stifles the creativity and 'originality' of the bardic poet. This academism could hardly exist without an institution which resembles an academy—and, indeed, everything points to the conclusion that such an academy (termed cankam, Sangam 'fraternity, community') did exist in Maturai at the beginning of the Christian era23. If not, then the "spurious name Cankam . . . for this poetry is justified not by history but by the poetic practice" since this is truly a group poetry. In the texts as they have reached us we must distinguish among four components which very probably represent four different chronological layers: the introductory stanzas (invocations of Siva, Visnu and Murukan); the texts themselves; the colophons; the commentaries. The poems began to be edited and anthologized with the cessation of a living bardic activity; first they were collected into individual anthologies which are mentioned for the first time in Nakkirar's commentary on Iraiyanar's Akapporul (ca. 8th cent. A.D.) and in Ilampuranar's commentary on Tolkappiyam (ca. 12th cent.). Finally, these anthologies were codified in the two great corpora, Ettuttokai and Pattuppattu; their names occur for the first time in Peraciriyar's commentary on Tolkappiyam Porulatikaram 362 and 392, and in Mayilainatar's commentary on Nannul 387 (both 13th~14th cent.). 1.1.3. Beginnings of Tamil poetry. About 250 B.C. or somewhat later, Asoka's (272-232 B.C.) Southern Brahmi script appears to have been adapted to the pre-literary Tamil phonological system. Slightly earlier, a number of linguistic developments indicate that pre-Tamil evolved into Proto-Tamil and pre-literary Tamil. This stage of the language is reflected in its earliest inscriptions which show some peculiar features in phonology and morphology, and a strong influence of Prakrit on their vocabulary. In a somewhat but not much different language, and in a very different diction and style, the earliest bardic poetry transmitted orally during the pre-literary stage, now refined and transformed into a court-poetry, began to crystalize around certain nuclei which became later, upon the application of a lively criticism by a body of scholars, the core of the anthologies. This literary language was taken as the basis of the description found in the earliest extant grammar Tolkappiyam. Where the standard literary language developed is still a matter of dispute; but it is probable that it had been based on the dialect considered correct (centamil), and it is quite probable that this standard, 'correct' dialect was spoken in and around Maturai, and cultivated and controled by a kind of academy. 23

Cf. F. GROS, Le Paripatal, Pondichery 1968, p. VIII; also, J. R. MARK'S review of F. GROS, Le Paripatal, BSOAS 32,2 (1969) p. 408; V. NARAYANA IYER, Sangham Literature, JORM U928), 149-51.

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Maturai2* on the river Vaikai25 has since times immemorial been connected with the beginnings of Tamil culture and literature, and with the cultivation of the language. An assembly of scholars is a cultural institution of much antiquity and great popularity in India26. But as far as we know, it has always been a casual body, never assuming the character of a permanent corporation. The literary assemblies we know about were gatherings convened occasionally, ad hoc. In contrast, the three Academies (cankam) at Maturai are said to have been permanent institutions which, under the patronage of the Pandya kings, controled and criticized the literary output of entire Tamilnadu. The tradition of a literary Academy appears in both literary and epigraphic sources, and it is obvious that it cannot be dismissed as pure fiction. Normative and critical activities in the field of early classical Tamil literature are an established fact27. 1.1.4. The anthology-poems (tokai) and the songs (pdttu). The individual collections will be described in detail in the Tamil alphabetic order. The poems as such will be analysed for their language, diction, organization and structure of content and of metre in §§ 1.1.5.-1.1.7. The theory of classical Tamil literature will be dealt with in § 1.1.7. Subsequently, the function and the position of the bard will be discussed; in 1.1.9, the achievement of classical Tamil poetry will be dealt with, and § 1.1.10. will describe late classical poetry (Tirumurukarruppatai, Kalittokai, Paripatal). 1.1.4.1. Ainkurunuru 'The Short Five Hundred' is a collection of 500 stanzas in the akaval metre ranging from 3 to 6 lines. It is divided into five groups of 100 stanzas each according to the five basic situations of love which are in 24 The name of Maturai has obviously some connection with Mathura in the North of India; what this connection is remains to be established. According to indigenous Tamil sources, there are two etymologies of the name: one is connected with the beautiful marutam trees on the banks of the Vaikai (cf. Paripatal VII. 83, XI. 30, XXII. 45, DED 3862 Terminalia tomentosa); but the city venerates rather the katampu which is the sthalavrksa of its temple (cf. Katampavanapuranam); another etymology connects the name of the city with maturam (Skt. madhura) 'sweetness,' cf. TiruviJaiyatarpuraNam XXXVI. 15, with the drops of ambrosia oozing from Siva's serpent. Another name of Maturai is Kutal, lit. 'the junction' (of different items: four large streets, temples, etc.). This is a name charged with legends. 25 Vaikai is a river 52 km long, of uncertain, even capricious climatic conditions; it has enough water only about two weeks in a year. It finished its course in the early days in a sea-delta (cf. Paripatal), but already according to Takkayakapparani (12th cent. A.D.) and its commentary, it did not join the sea (cf. Swaminatha Aiyar's ed. 1960, st. 212, and Tiruvijaiyatarpuranam 58.2). Today it ends its course in the great reservoir of Ramnad. 26 Cf. MACDONELL-KEITH, Vedic Index 1.117 (Rsi) and 1.497 (Parisad); cf. Brhadaranyakopanisad VI.I.l, Jaiminlyopanisad BrahmaNa 11.11.13,14, SatapathabrahmaNa XI. 1-9 etc. 27 For a detailed discussion of the Tamil academies, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, § 5.4. of Tamil Lit. (Handbuch).

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Chart I The corpus of Tamil classical poetry arranged according to subject-matter Poems of the akam genre 1. Narrinai 'The Excellent Love-Settings' 2. Kuruntokai 'The Collection of Short (Poems)' 3. Ainkurunuru 'The Five Hundred Short (Poems)' 4. Kalittokai 'The Anthology in the Kali Metre' 5. Akananuru 'The Four Hundred on Love' 6. Kuriricippattu 'The Mountain Song' Poems of the puram genre 7. Patirruppattu 'The Ten Tens' 8. PurananUru 'The Four Hundred on Heroism' 9. Porunararruppatai 'The Guide for the War-Bards' 10. Cirupanarruppatai 'The Short Guide for the Bards with the Lute' 11. Perumpanarruppatai 'The Long Guide for the Bards with the Lute' 12. Maturaikkafici 'The Advice (Given in) Maturai' 13. Malaipatukatana 'The Mountain-Echoes' Poems of mixed akam and puram genres 14. Pattinappalai 'On the City and Separation' 15. Mullaippattu 'The Jasmine Song' 16. Netunalvatai 'The Good Long Northern Wind' Poems of mixed akam, puram and devotional (bhakti) moods 17. Paripatal '(The Composition in) ParipdtaV Devotional poems 18. Tirumurukarruppatai 'The Guide to Lord Muruku' correlation with the five regions (ain tinai) in this order: marutam 'riverine,' neytal 'littoral,' kurinci 'montane', pdlai 'arid' and mullai 'pastoral.' Stanzas 129 and 130 are lost. Orampoki, Ammuvan, Kapilan, Otalantai and Peyan are said to be the respective authors of the five portions. There is a brief invocatory stanza of 3 lines by Paratampatiya Peruntevanar. The poems, highly formalized, and connected by a network of situational conventions, have each a later colophon appended which explains the appropriate erotic theme dealt with in the stanzas. In spite of the connection mentioned above which is often indicated by formal means, too, each single stanza is a typical tanippdtal which can be to a great extant understood and appreciated on its own. Thus e.g. the tenth stanza of the first decad on the marutam 'riverine' landscape and setting by Orampoki says:

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Long live Atan Long live Avini Let the rains fall Let wealth increase Such was her wish And we desired He of the town in whose cool pools do swim the smelling fish and bloom the mango trees Let him come and go and take her along

An old brief anonymous commentary was supplemented by a detailed commentary of U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar. Some lines from the poems of this anthology reappear in Paripatal, Cilappatikaram, Nalatiyar and other later works. In stanza 202 we hear, probably for the first time, about the pigtails worn by Brahmans. There are only 17 allusions to historical events in the anthology. Ainkurunuru is considered by some scholars to be the earliest of the collections28, by others a late one because of its sophisticated arrangement. 1.1.4.2. Akanarmru 'The Four Hundred in the Akam Genre,' known also as Akappattu 'Songs in the Akam Genre,' as Netuntokai 'The Collection of Long [Poems]' or simply as Akam, contains 400 stanzas in the akaval metre, ranging from 13 to 31 lines, ascribed to 145 poets. There is an invocation of $iva by Peruntevanar. Poems 114, 117 and 165 are anonymous. The poems are arranged according to a peculiar schematism: those bearing odd numbers (1, 3, 5 . . .) belong to the pdlai 'arid' setting; poems bearing numbers 2, 8, 12, 18, 22 . . . relate to the kurinci 'montane' themes; those bearing numbers 4, 14, 24, 34 etc. deal with the mullai 'pastoral' setting; those numbered 6, 16, 26, 36 . . . with the inarutam 'riverine' situations, and those having ten or its multiples (20, 30 . . .) relate to neytal 'littoral' situations. The relatively long poems of Akam allow scope for references to heroic episodes; there are 288 historical or quasihistorical allusions. We have references to the Nandas (251, 256), to the Mauryas (69, 281, 375), to the Yavanas (148), to many kings and chieftains of Tamilnadu; there are echoes of purdnic legends, and a number of Indo-Aryan loanwords. The poems are quite self-sufficient, totally independent of each other, true occasional bardic songs. Some of them manifest admirable gift of observation and minute, deep acquaintance with psychology. Thus e.g. the following stanza (110) ascribed to a poet known only from this one poem (Pontaip Pacalaiyar): One evening we bathed in the sea with our playmates standing in a line like flowers arranged in a garland. We cooked little dishes of food. We built castles of sand in the groves by the seashore. 28

Cf. S. VAIYAPTJRI PIIXAI, HTLL, pp. 25 and

51.

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As we were sitting for a while resting our tired limbs, a man came and asked us: "Good sweet ones of graceful, broad, and soft shoulders, the day has set and I am tired. Why don't I partake of the food spread out on these leaves and stay for the night in this village with its busy drone ?" Our heads sank in modesty at what we heard and saw; we stood there, hiding ourselves behind each other, and cried in a small voice: "This food is not fit for such as you; it's just a low diet of cooked fish!" "Behold!" cried he, "don't you see the ship with its long proud flags fluttering in the wind ?" And he kicked away our castles of sand and said, singling me out among all those friends and turning away as if to go: " 0 you of beaming forehead, shall I be off?" And as he went, casting long glances at me, he said, "Good-bye," and grasped the top of his high chariot— and there he stands even today before my mind's eye.

1.1.4.3. Kuruntokai 'The Collection of Short (Poems)' contains 401 stanzas in the akaval metre ascribed to 205 bards. The poems range in length from 4 to 8 lines. There is an invocation of Murukan by Peruntevanar. Poems 307 and 391 have 9 lines. According to tradition, Peraciriyar wrote a commentary on all but 20 stanzas, and Naccinarkkiniyar either supplied the gloss or wrote a complete commentary; neither is extant. There is a fine and detailed commentary by U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar (1937). The subject-matter of the poems is love. Almost each of the stanzas is classically perfect, entirely self-contained, a gem of sophisticated and yet fresh love poetry. Thus a royal bard of the Pandya dynasty bursts into a song about the pleasures of reunion: O mighty cloud Please yourself today And flash the lightning to sunder night's darkness in twain

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And send down heaviest rain And rain and rain And sound forth in full blare like the drum shattered by the stick— For we rest sweetly with the silken hair fresh with the fragrance of kuvalai flowers our hearts lordly with the joy of deeds achieved (Kuruntokai 270)

Some phrases occurring in Kuruntokai reappear later in Tirukkural and Cilappatikaram. The collection contains 27 historical allusions. 1.1.4.4. Narrinai 'The Excellent Love Settings,' traditionally mentioned as the first among the Eight, is an anthology of 400 poems in the akaval metre, ranging from 8 to 13 lines, ascribed to 175 poets. There is also an invocatory stanza to Visnu by Peruntevanar. Song 234 is missing, and 385 is fragmentary. No ancient commentary is available, but there is a good modern one by P. A. Narayanaswamy Aiyar (1862-1914). The topic of the poems are the five settings of love-conduct. The collection contains 59 historical allusions. A great number of lines reappear in later texts, notably in Tirukkural, Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai. The allusion to the legend of a woman who tore off her breast (Karmaki) occurs quite obviously in poem 216, and its echo probably in 312.' A woman deserted by her lover sings in Narrinai 153 composed by a poet whom we know only by the pseudonym Tanimakanar 'The poet of the lonely guard': Like clouds which, drinking of the eastern sea spread westwards, darkening the sky, and raining all around flash with lightning-strokes like sparks that fly from copper pots when shaped by smiths, and, rumbling, turn round to the South, so has my heart gone where my lover is. My body, fed, stays on: like a lonely guard who waits and watches great town desolate whence the people fled in dread of the hordes of a vengeful king.

1.1.4.5. Patirruppattu 'The Ten Tens' is an anthology of poems in praise of Chera kings. Originally, the collection consisted often sections; it seems that

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in the present arrangement the first and the tenth decades are lost29. Each decade is accompanied by an epilogue in verse (patikam) and by a prosecolophon and, also, by its own brief commentary which, according to U. V. S. Aiyar, appears to have been written in the 13th cent, or later30. The glosses appended to each poem of this chronicle in verse, giving its theme, title and prosodic properties, were provided either by the authors or by the compiler(s) of the anthology, the patikams (epilogues) are definitely of later origin. Both the poems and the epilogues provide abundant historical and sociological material. As to their diction and style, the poems are identical with the rest of the bardic poetry in the akaval metre, but a few peculiar regional expressions do occur. The second decade by Kumatturk Kannanar is in praise of king Imayavarampan Netuficeral Atan, the son of Utiyaft Ceral and the father of Cerikuttuvan (ca. 150 A. D.). The third decade by Palaik Kautamanar is dedicated to a younger brother of Imayavarampan, king Palyanaic Celkelukuttuvan. The fourth decade by Kappiyarruk Kappiyanar is in praise of Kalankaykkanni Narmuticceral (ca. 180 A.D.), one of the sons of Imayavarampan. The fifth decade by Paranar sings of the mighty Cenkuttuvan, son of Imayavarampan and contemporary of Gajabahu I of Ceylon (ca. 180 A.D.). The sixth decade by the poetess Kakkaipatiniyar Naccellaiyar is dedicated to Atukotpattuc Ceralatan, another son of Imayavarampan (ca. 180 A. D.). The seventh decade by Kapilar is a panegyric on Celvakkatunko Valiyatan Kuttuvan Irumporai (ca. 170 A.D.). The greatest king of this line was perhaps Takaturerinta Perunceral Irumporai, praised by Aricil Kilar in the eighth decade (ca. 190 A.D.). The ninth decade is dedicated to Kutakko Ilaficeral Irumporai (ca. 200 A.D.), the cousin of Peruficeral and the grandson of Celvakkatunko, composed by Perunkunrur Kilar. Decades II-VI deal thus with three generations of the Imayararampan line of the Ceral kings of what is today's Kerala; decades VII-IX deal with three generations of the Irumporai line of the same clan; both lines were interconnected through marriages31. Patirruppattu is obviously of tremendous historical importance; both the poems and the patikams were used by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and other historians as mines of dependable historical data. Apart from that, the collection contains some superb examples of the heroic genre, the best being pro29 Cf. however, J. R. MARK, The Lost Decades of Pattirruppattu, Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, Madras 1971, pp. 19-24. For a detailed description of Patirruppattu, cf. also J. R. MABR, The Eight Tamil Anthologies with Special Reference to Purananuru and Patirruppattu, PhD thesis, Univ. of London, 1958. 30 It seems that this commentary quotes from Neminatam (if cinnul indeed refers to this grammar) and thus could not have been composed before Kamavlra-

paNtiyar. Cf. U. V. S. AIYAR'S ed. 1920, p. 4. 31 For the genealogical data of the Cheras and the historical importance of Patirruppattu, cf. K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI, A Comprehensive History, pp. 50518, and M. A. THIAGARAJAH, Ceranat>u during the Cankam, 1963.

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bably poems by Paranar in the fifth decade. Thus, for instance, Cenkuttuvan's horses are more numerous than the many cooling waves with heads of white foam spraying coloured drops from surging, heaving, dark and many-billowed seas. (Patirruppattu V. 42.21-3)

1.1.4.6. Purananuru 'The Four Hundred in the Puram Genre,' traditionally the last of the anthologies, may indeed have been compiled as the last but contains undoubtedly some of the earliest bardic poems and covers thus about 2-3 centuries. It also goes under the names Purappattu 'Heroic Songs' or simply Puram 'Heroism,' and contains 400 stanzas in the akaval and vanci metres of different length, besides an invocation of $iva by Peruntevanar. Stanzas 266 and 268 are lost, some poems are fragmentary. Fourteen poems are anonymous, the rest is ascribed to 157 poets. An old anonymous commentary is available up to stanza 266. Auvai S. Turaicami Pillai wrote a modern commentary. One hundred and thirty eight stanzas praise 43 kings belonging to the three great dynasties (27 poems on 18 Chera rulers, 74 poems laud 13 Chola kings, 37 poems praise 12 Pandya rulers); 141 poems are in praise of 48 chieftains, 9 of them regarded prominent enough to have more than 4 poems each. The redactor(s) of the anthology tried perhaps to group the poems on the basis of kings or chieftains praised in them, but also on the basis of many different situations (turai) of the heroic genre. 121 poems have defective colophons; hence their heroes are unknown. Poems 248-357 were classified into 30 turais; their heroes are anonymous. This section of Puram may contain a very early, indeed pre-Christian strata of Tamil bardic poetry. There are among these songs poems about widowhood (248-56), elegies (Puram contains 43 elegies, e.g. 260-1,270) etc., but from 358 to the end, the poems again refer to kings and chieftains. 141 poems belong to straight panegyric type termed pdtdn 'praise.' There are also a few—probably later—stanzas containing elements of reflection, the central idea being mostly the impermanence of this life, and ths stoic acceptance of death. Life's way is like the raft's when the restless descending waters lash on the rocks as lightening skies pour down the rains— we know this very well . . . So we do not marvel at those big with excellence, nor scorn the little ones. (Puram 192 by Kaniyan Punkunran, transl. A. K. Ramanujan)

Most poems, however, glorify what is termed pukal 'fame' of the ideal hero who while alive lived in the battle-ground to attain victory, and after a heroic death passed into the verses of the bards. Longing for battle, thirst for fame, and praise of the ruler—the heroic poems of the puram genre are replete with these motifs:

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Not food is the soul of life Nor water is the life's soul It is the king who is the life of this wide expanse of the earth Therefore this is the duty of the kings with armies stocked with mighty spears: To know: I am the soul! (Puram 186 by Mocikiranar)

1.1.4.7. Kurincippattu 'The Song of the Mountains' alias Perunkurinci, ascribed to Kapilar, contains 261 lines in the akaval metre, and became part of the other superanthology of early Tamil classical poetry, the Pattuppattu or 'Ten Songs.' The only difference between the tokai or anthology-stanzas of the Ettuttokai and the songs of this other collection is quantitative; the songs of the Pattuppattu range from 103 to 782 lines. In other features, the two are identical: the same metre (akaval or vanci or a mixture of both), the same language of symbols and the same structure of conventions, the same limited set of dramatis personae, the same themes and situations, the same imagery, the same diction, the same ideology, and, in some cases, the same poets. Thus, the songs of Pattuppattu (sometimes called rather incorrectly 'idylls') are just a quantitative extension of the shorter bardic stanzas. The increased number of lines results sometimes in an unfolding and expansion of the dramatic or narrative element; however, there is no development of a plot, no real fiction in verse at all. Relatively short or relatively long, the poems of the akam genre imply or evoke or enact dramas in monologue, and the reader overhears as it were what the characters say to each other, to themselves, or, occasionally, to the moon. No poet speaks in his own voice overtly in the akam genre; and no poem is addressed to the listener. In the puram genre, on the other hand, the poet speaks frequently for himself, and poems are often addressed to the listener (king, chieftain, any patron). Thus the poems of the Pattuppattu anthology deal, too, with akam 'love' and puram 'heroism' and are part of the early classical heritage of the tanippdttu or 'detached songs.' Kurincippattu was composed—according to the colophon accompanying the commentary32—by Kapilar in order to instruct the Aryan king Pirakattan (Prahasta ?) in Tamil poetry. This tradition and the fact that the poem contains a catalogue of 99 flowers typical for montane poetry appear to substantiate the suggestion that the poem had been composed as a model33. In the poem, a 32 Ariyavaracan Pirakattanait tamilarivittarkuk Kapilar patiya Kurincippattu: "This is the Kurincippa^tu sung by Kapilar to instruct the Aryan king Pirakattan in Tamil." 33 Cf. P. L. SAMY, The Plant Names in KuriNcippattu, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 78-103. It is not true that "once in the course of the narrative Kabilar yields to a rather inartistic freak, the enumeration of wild flowers that makes a tedious list" (C. and H. JESUDASAN, HTL, 1961, p. 23). Catalogues do occur elsewhere in Tamil bardic.

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chieftain of the hills falls in love at first sight with a fair maiden. His love is reciprocated. The girl's foster-sister helps the lovers to meet and enjoy their passion. The parents find the change in their daughter suspicious and invite exorcists to treat her illness; but the cleverness of the foster-sister overcomes all obstacles and when the parents are told that the young man saved their daughter twice (once from the danger of drowning and once from a rogueelephant), they give their consent. These events are not unfolded in an epic, narrative manner, but are put in the mouth of the foster-sister and companion of the heroine who speaks out, revealing the true nature of the maiden's 'illness' to her mother, the heroine's nurse. The poem which may be dated ca. 150-200 A. D., is a love poem par excellence, conforming to the principle laid down for the akam genre in the kurinci 'montane' region: punartal, i.e. love at first sight followed by immediate sexual union. It is one of the finest of the ten songs, with its magnificent description of the sunset, with its elaborate similes34, and the ever-present god Murukan of the hills. 1.1.4.8. Cirupanarruppatai 'The Short Guide for the Minstrel with the Lute' is one of the earliest and probably the best of the 'guidance' poems. This type of poem, originally one of the panegyric kinds of the pur am or heroic genre, developed rather early into a specific and productive genre, the drruppatai or guide poem35, in which one who has been rewarded with gifts directs another person to the chief (or god) from whom he may receive similar award. 'The Short Guide' was composed in 296 lines in the akaval metre by Itaikkalinattu Nallur Nattattanar, and honours Nalliyakkotan of the Oy tribe (cf. Puram 176, 376, 379). The poet declares himself to be among the last of the classical poets when he mentions Kuttuvan of the Imayam (Himalaya) fame, the seven vallals (chieftains noted for their liberality), and the story of Auvai poetry. We fully agree with X. S. THANI NAYAGAM and K. KAILASAPATHY (Tamil Heroic Poetry, 1968, of the latter, and Nature in Ancient Tamil Poetry, 1961, of the former author) that the presence of the catalogvie should cause no surprise since bardic training included information pertinent to flora and fauna. Also, the catalogue has high phonaesthetic qualities; the plant names have been arranged according to the principles of euphony and alliteration. 34 E.g. the maiden is taken aback when her lover embraces her without warning and trembles with passion and confusion like the staggering peacock drunk with toddy (first-level simile); the peacock staggers like a dancing girl tired after a tightrope dance (second-level simile). There are also less elaborate similes: the girls stand trembling like the plantain tree on the edge of a foaming river; the swelling clouds over the mountains shine like Murukan's leaf-shaped spear; or, consider the following lovely verses: We rinsed the water from our braided locks / and let them dry, shining on our backs / like sapphire that is set on gold, / our eyes all red . . . 35 For the etymology of the name of the genre cf. Paripatal V.10 malaiyarruppatutta 'pour pratiquer un chemin dans cette montagne' (transl. F. Gros), but especially Paripatal IV.2 onrdrruppatutta 'guides sur une unique voie'; drruppatutta 'guided'; drruppatai 'guide.' For further details on the genre, cf. Chapter V.

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getting a myrobalam fruit from Atikaman Afici, as events of the past. The most acceptable date would be 250-275 AD. Thus it may be the last poem in the anthology besides Tirumurukarruppatai which is almost certainly even later. There is a very powerful description of the poet's poverty: the starved bitch laying in the ruined kitchen near a cold hearth with her blind and helpless pups refusing to suckle them; the pdnar woman—the wife of the poet—who cooks without salt (which she cannot afford) some herbs gathered from refuge heaps. Lines 14 to 40 contain one of the most detailed and most charming descriptions of a woman's body found in classical Tamil literature: there is a string of similes (known technically as mdlaiyuvamai 'garland of similes'): the locks are compared to rain-clouds; the small feet are similar to the tongues of panting dogs (cf. Porunararruppatai 16-17); the close-set thighs are like the trunks of elephants; the matted hair is like the unopened flower of plantain bunches; the beauty-spots on the skin like venkai blossoms; the teeth shine like the pulp (nunlcu) of the breast-shaped young palmyra fruits. There is one additional feature found here which does not occur in any of the pdttu poems: orraitnanimdlai 'a single-necklace simile' whereby a word in one phrase is taken up and carried on to the next with a different meaning; the off-set of one simile is repeated as the onset of the next36. 1.1.4.9. Netunalvatai 'The Good Long North Wind,' implying by metonymy the cold season, is a poem in the alcaval metre of 188 lines ascribed to Nakkirar. It is a subtle and complex work of literary art, regarded as the best of the pdttu poems. According to the commentator, the hero is a Pandya king, Netuficeliyan (ca. 215 A.D.). But the hero is in fact anonymous, and the theme is the pain of separation: the wife of a warrior has put away her splendid dress and ornaments and bewails the absence of her lord who is away in the battlefield. Her attendants try to console her, and pray to the War-goddess, Korravai, that her husband may return soon after conquering his enemies. The poem contains exquisite description of the cold season in the country and in the city (probably Maturai), and a marvellous scene of the king's winter-camp at night, as he walks through the camp and consoles wounded soldiers by kind words: he leans on the shoulder of a youth, his other hand holding up his costly robes; a captain armed with lance points out the wounded men; behind, a saddled war-horse shakes off the raindrops. Though the poem does not contain any elaborate or long drawn-out similes, some of the simple metaphors and comparisons are indeed striking: the lonely queen looks like a colourless picture (punaiyd oviyam, v. 147); the tent-poles are like milkless breasts (urdvarumulai, v. 158)37, while the rounded knobs of the leg of the queen's bed are like the 86 37

E.g. kurankena / malvarai olukiya valai vdlai / puvenap polintu oti oti / . . . The Tamil phrase signifies figuratively the pots which are shaped like female breasts; the tent-poles are curved so as to have the appearance of the pots.

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breasts of pregnant women38. Observe that these similes are suggestive of the queen's loneliness, separation and longing. 1.1.4.10. Pattinappalai 'The City (and) Separation' is a poem by Katiyalur Uruttirankannanar about the expected separation of a lady from her lover who is about to go to Kavirippattinam, to the Chola king Karikala, a great patron of poets, to receive a reward from him. The poem contains 301 lines, 153 in vanci and 138 in akaval; only a few lines contain the akam or subjective element of the poem (on pdlai, separation); the rest is devoted to the puram or objective element of two themes: the Chola capital, and the Chola king. The poem is also known as Vaficinetumpattu 'The Long Song in the Vanci Metre' and may be dated ca. 190-200 A.D. It gives a vivid portrait of the life in the harbour mentioning big ships, warehouses, piles of merchandise, describing the life of fishermen, popular feasts, dancing, wine-drinking, cock and ram fights, but also Buddhist and Jaina monasteries and the worship of Murukan. The next section deals with the reign and exploits of Karikala, his victories, his patronage of the arts, and as a song glorifying a celebrated Chola king this poem was still rather popular at the court of imperial Cholas (850-1200 A.D.) since it is mentioned in their inscriptions and the literature of the time. An interesting passage (lines 185-90) gives us an idea of the trade of the great port: (Here are brought) swift, prancing steeds by sea in ships, bales of black pepper in carts, gems and gold born in the Himalayas, sandal and akil wood born in the Western hills, the pearls of the southern seas and coral from the eastern ocean, the yield of Ganga, and the crops from Kaviri, foodstuffs from Ceylon, Burmese ware and other rare and rich imports . . . The poem attains high literary excellence in its imagery and similes; striking is the poet's partiality for astronomical similes: a pond on whose banks grow flowers looks like the moon girdled with stars in a cloudless sky; fishermen wrestle like stars that move in the blue expanse and mix with planets; and the waters of Kaviri mingle with the waters of the ocean like when the red sky meets the mountain dark, like the child clinging to its mother's breast— so are the ocean's waters clear 38 Tunkiyal makalir vihkumulai in v. 120, lit. swelled breasts of pregnant women. The bed is interesting: it is forty years old (and the numeral forty is expressed here most oddly by a Sanskrit-Tamil mongrel word tacandnku, i.e. taca < Skt. dasa 'ten' + Ta. ndnku 'four,' in fact a loan-blend, since the syntax of this compound is adapted to the Tamil patindnku), constructed with smooth-chiselled elephant tusks, decked with leaves (carved with sharp chisels); around the bed hang pearlstrings like lattice-work, above are boards portraying hunting scenes, and the mattress is made of pure white down of mated swan.

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that mingle with the streams and roar with mighty waves.

1.1.4.11. Perumpanarruppatai 'The Long Guide for the Minstrel with the Lute' is attributed like the previous poem to Uruttirankannanar. It contains 500 lines in the akaval metre praising the chieftain Tontaiman Ilantiraiyan, ruler of Kaflci (ca. 190-200 A.D.). A special feature of this poem is a detailed description of the five physiographic regions (tinai) which one can see in Ilantiraiyan's territory: the Jcurinci or montainous region whose robbers live in fortified villages; the pdlai region inhabited by hunters; the mullai land where herdsmen tend their sheep and cattle; the marutam where farmers cultivate their fields; and the neytal region where fishermen thrive. There is also a splendid description of the capital city of Kanci, of its sea-port and suburbs; and a mythical account of the origin of the Tontaiman clan. The poem provides much detailed information about the life of ancient Tamils (the king and his duties, trades, taxes, a good account of various kinds of food, life of women, games, religious customs etc.). 1.1.4.12. Porunararruppatai 'The Guide for War-bards' is probably the earliest of the songs collected in Pattuppattu, and thus also the earliest of the extant guides (drruppatai), apart from the 18 pieces of this genre found in Puram and Patirruppattu. The author, Mutattamakkanniyar39, may be dated ca. 180-190 A. D. The poem consists of 248 lines in the akaval and vanci metres. The poet meets a war-bard (porunar) and his wife, and sends them to the Chola king Karikala, giving biographical data about the king, describing his prowess, conquests, benign rule, the wealth and fertility of his land, the valuable gifts he had received from him. There are two rich strings of similes in the poem, one about the lute, the other relating to the wife of the bard. Each part of the lute, and each part of the female body have an appropriate comparison: thus the head of the lute is like the smooth hoof of the deer, the leather cover is as red as a lamp's bright flame, and its surface is "like the fair belly of a pregnant woman with its ordered hair"; its handle looks like the spread hood of the cobra; in general, the lute looks like a bedecked bride. The virali, the danceuse, has "small feet of great beauty similar to the tongue of a panting hound40," and "young fair breasts set so close that a nib could not part them41"; her "navel is like a water ripple," and "her mound-of-venus seems to be the seat of bees42." There is also a very realistic description of the poor minstrel whose clothes swarm with lice and mites, are soaked with sweat and much patched-up (lines 79-80). 39

The name, probably a nickname, means literally The Lame Weaver of Garlands. Some critics think that the poet was a woman. 40 Varuntundy ndvin peruntaku clrati. 41 Irlcku itai pokd er ila vana mulai. 42 Nirp peyar culiyin nirainta koppul . . . vantu iruppu anna pal kdl alkul.

24

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There are some hyperbolic statements (robbers are said to renounce their work when they hear the music of the yal 'lute,' and the beauty-spots on the songstress' body agitate men's minds while her waist, unable to support her body, is almost invisible) and a touch of humour (the teeth of the meat-eater are blunted like plough-shares). 1.1.4.13. Maturaikkafici 'The Good Counsel (Given to the King) at Maturai' is the longest of the pdttu poems, containing 782 lines in the akaval and vanci metres; it is ascribed to Mankuti Marutanar, a poet who is also the author of a number of stanzas in the anthologies, and its hero is Netuficeliyan, the victor at Talaiyalankanam (ca. 200-215 A.D.); it also goes under the name Peruvalamaturaikkafici 'The Great (and) Excellent Counsel at Maturai.' The heart of the poem is its graphic description of the city life which makes a full circle of 24 hours and shows the poet as a keen observer of men and their behaviour. There is no love element at all in the poem; at the end, the poet holds up the king's predecessors as worthy examples, and wishes his patron prosperity, giving him the good counsel to try to be happy throughout the allotted portion of his life. There are some exceptionally vivid and realistic pictures: e.g. of the ghouls devouring the corpses of heroes fallen in battle; the peymakalir 'demonesses' drink the blood of tuskers that fell in war; they dance on heaps of men's heads; the demon cook boils blood of fallen kings, stirs the carcass food with ladles that were once men's arms, and the female devils serve this food to victorious warriors43. Another striking picture is that of a furious elephant run amok, breaking its pegs and killing its keeper like a ship that furious winds lash, breaking the cordage strong which bounds the sails, tearing the sails, breaking down the mast, making the anchor roll about and drive the vessel into whirlpools. There are also arresting and picturesque descriptions of the harlots of the city, of the burglars and night-watchmen, of the activities of the people in the early hours before dawn. 1.1.4.14. Malaipatukatam. The title is not quite clear. It either means 'The Secretion Oozing from the Hills,' or 'The Sound of katdm Which Arises in the Mountains,' i.e. 'The Echo of the Mountains.' Its author, Perunkunrur Perunkaucikanar, celebrates Nannan son of Nannan in 583 lines which describe various aspects of life of different communities in the hero's land. The title itself is taken from a striking phrase found in line 348 where the echoes in the mountains are compared to the noise made by roaring elephants in rut. Hence, 43 Is this an allusion to cannibalism ? The text says (37-8): pirpeyardp / pataiyorkku murukayara '[the female-devils . . .] perform muruku to the warriors who do not retreat'; this may be interpreted either as 'offer sacrifice' (in fact, there is a v.l. which says pataiyor murukayara 'the warriors perform sacrifice'), or 'distribute as food' (coru valanka) which goes well with the dative pataiyorkku.

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the title meaning literally the secretion (katdm) oozing (patu) from the mountain (malai) may be interpreted as 'The Echo of the Mountains' since the secretion may be taken as metonymy for sound; the mountain resembles the elephant in heat, from whose head flows a secretion. The poem has another name, Kuttararruppatai 'The Guide for the Dancing Minstrels (kuttar).' It repeats some striking similes from earlier texts: thus the strings of the lute could be loosened or tightened like a lady's bangle; the feet of songstresses are like the tongues of panting dogs, etc. There are some very fine pictures of nature, especially the arresting passage with the central theme—the mountain echoes which, blended together, are the malaipatukatdm, and this composite noise is like the roar of the elephant in rut. And there are some lovely short similes like the avarai blossoms compared to drops of curd and their fruits to sickles; the varaku's double stalks are like fingers joined together when a man is arguing, etc. Dated ca. 210 A. D. 1.1.4.15. Mullaippattu 'The Forest Song' is the shortest and one of the most beautiful of the songs. It contains 103 lines in akaval; its hero is anonymous; its poet Napputanar may be dated ca. 230 A. D. or somewhat earlier. The subjective element or akam is the patience and self-control shown by the heroine who is separated from her warrior-husband when he is away on a military campaign (lines 1-28 of the text). A warrior goes away during the summer promising to return home before the rains set in. The rains come; he has not returned. The wife is plunged in grief. She waits for her lord in patience, in an alternation of passionate grief and selfcontrol. Suddenly, hearing the march of the hero's victorious troops, she is filled with joy. The puram or objective element deals with the expedition of the chieftain: his temporary camp in the forest, his chamber specially constructed by the fierce-eyed Yavanas (line 61) clad in toga-like garments. At midnight before the day of the battle, the hero is sleepless thinking of his soldiers and animals wounded in previous engagements. After a victorious battle he returns swiftly home in triumph. Like in some other pdttu poems, the akam and puram genres are inserted one within the other in a blend which is technically known as mdttu 'joining, linking, hooking (of the erotic and heroic elements).' There is a lovely description of different flowers, and a few striking similes (the quivers hung on bows are like the cloth of an ascetic hung on a tripod; the wife trembling with grief resembles a peahen struck with arrows; the severed trunks of elephants writhe in pain like snakes). There is an outstanding commentary on the entire collection of Pattuppattu by the great Naccinarkkiniyar (14th Cent. A.D.).

26

Tamil Literature Chart II 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

kurinci pdlai mullai neytal marutam

Erotic and heroic settings montane: sexual union vetci arid: separation vdkai pastoral: patient waiting vaiici tumpai littoral: pining ulinai riverine: sulking

cattle-raid victory invasion pitched battle siege

1.1.5. The Structure of the Tamil Bardic Poem. 1.1.5.1. Before discussing the hierarchic structure of content and form of the classical Tamil poem we have to face the fact that there are at least two if not three distinctive groups or circles of the classical poetry, the distinction most probably conditioned chronologically. In other words, within the bardic corpus, one may distinguish three evolutionary types: one is the tokai or 'anthology' poem and the pdttu or 'song' poem of the early classical age forming the heart and the bulk of the bardic poetry of the akam and puram genres; another is represented by the late classical collection Kalittokai in which new dramatis personae, new themes, and a new metre appear (though of course the continuity with the early poetry is quite unbroken, and the overall system of conventions is the same); yet another is represented by the late classical collection Paripatal and probably also by Tirumurukarruppatai manifesting very important innovations in themes as well as in the motive and function of literary activity, and in the case of Paripatal in prosody. As to the extent of the poems, we have to distinguish between the shorter tokai pieces, and the longer pdttu songs. As stressed above, the distinction is primarily quantitative. A process of elaboration set in; the occasional stanza grows in length; but each song still continues to be the solitary, occasional poem, only somewhat longer. In all basic properties, both semantic and formal, the longer poem, the pdttu 'song' of the second anthology, is almost or quite identical with the shorter poem, the tokai 'anthology' piece: the metre and other prosodic features are the same; the personnel is the same; the conventions, the diction, the imagery, the themes are the same. There is only one structural feature which is more prominent in the longer songs but may be found in the shorter poems, too: the mdttu or blend of the akam and puram elements in one single poem; thus e.g. in Pattinappalai, there are five lines belonging to the akam or subjective, erotic genre; they occur in lines 218-20 and 299-301 of the text; the rest is devoted to the puram or objective genre (the Chola capital and the Chola king). However, even the shorter poems know of this blend of the two: thus e.g. Puram 83 by the poetess Nakkannaiyar is really 'more of an akam piece than of a puram one44. 44 JOHN R. MAER, Letterature dravidiche (in Storia delle letterature d'Oriente), Milano 1969, p. 564.

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27

Structurally, though the longer songs have preserved the main properties of the shorter poems: thus e. g. Mullaippattu, a poem of 103 lines, divides itself into only three sentences, three "movements" as it were, and together they form a higher unity of a progressive movement, just like in the other solitary stanzas45. From the point of view of formal structure, the single line (ati) is usually emphasized as the largest single unit. According to Peraciriyar, one of the commentators on Porulatikaram, in the commentary on aphorisms 347 and 390, "the syllables (mdttirai), metrical units (acai) and feet (clr) make up the line which gives meaning and pleasure . . . The poet completes his intended meaning (kuritta porul) in each line, without needing another line." To illustrate what he says he gives the following four lines of a four-feet akaval: Mayon mdrpi Idram pola manivarai yilitaru manikila raruvi nanpon varanru ndta nanpuperi tutaiya ninne celine Like the garland on the breast of the dark-coloured god The tinkling stream falls from the side of the hill The chieftain of the country where gold is hoed He is full of love and of sweet words

The poems are hierarchically structured. Apart from purely formal structural properties (such as metrical patterns, phonaesthetic structures, other patterned prosodical features like monai 'alliteration' and etukai 'assonance'), each stanza is hierarchically organized in terms of form-meaning composites. This hierarchy may be set up as follows: tinai 'setting' I turai 'situation' I kolu 'theme' I motif I

formula

There are seven 'ideal' settings (tinai) dealing with subjective or erotic (akam) situations and themes, and seven settings of the heroic (puram) genre. Thus there are seven types of love, "of which the first is unrequited love, and the last is mismatched love46." Most of the poems of the akam genre belong to the "middle" five phases or types of love, the so-called aim tinai > aintinai 'five settings.' These are the subject of true love poetry. The tinai is thus the most inclusive structural form-meaning component; each stanza belongs to a tinai 'setting' (or to more than one tinai which is then designated as tinaimayakkam or 'blend of settings'); the 'setting' comprises thus the entire stanza. 45

415

T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAN, Mullai-p-pattu, Madras 1958, pp. 70-3.

Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram 1.

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Next in the hierarchy is the turai or 'situation' since each tinai 'setting' comprises several decades of 'situations47.' The turai or 'situation' may be defined as a stereotyped and conventional structural level, indicating the conjunction of circumstances for the development and climax of an event in the heroic and erotic life of the dramatis personae. The turai encloses, too, the entire stanza. On the next lower level, there are the themes (Ta. kolu): the underlying action or movement which is the subject of a particular poetic discourse under one of the basic erotic or heroic situations. The turai 'situation' is composed of a number of motifs and formulae which constitute the kolu 'theme' frequently stated at the end of each poem. The motif is a recurring reflex of experience, which is as a rule more expanded and more inclusive than a formula. A formula is the basic and the least inclusive element in the structure of the bardic poem: in contrast to motif, the formula is a structure which apart from a complete or almost complete semantic identity manifests a high degree of identity of diction and total identity of metre vis-a-vis other formulae; motifs are usually not clad in identical or nearly identical linguistic and prosodic material. To see how this works in the poems, let us once more consider Narrinai 153 by Tanimakanar: Like clouds which, drinking of the eastern sea spread westwards, darkening the sky, and raining all around flash with lightning-strokes like sparks that fly from copper pots when shaped by smiths, and, rumbling, turn round to the South— so has my heart gone where my lover is. My body, fed, stays on: like a lonely guard who waits and watches great town desolate whence the people fled in dread of the hordes of a vengeful king.

The tinai or over-all setting is pdlai which is denned as separation from lover or parents. The turai or the situation of this poem is given as 'What she said, weakened by separation' (one of the several decades of situations coming under 47 Thus, e.g. under the setting in the puram genre termed vetci 'cattle-raid' there are 14 situations (according to Tolkappiyam Poru]atikaram) or 20 situations (according to Purapporulvenpamalai). According to Tolkappiyam, the 7 heroic settings (tinai) comprise 138 situations (turai); according to the later grammar of poetics, there are 13 heroic settings comprising 327 situations.

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the palai setting). The theme (kolu) is described as follows: 'The lover has left and the heroine speaks: My heart has gone where he is, and my body was left behind.' There are at least two motifs in this stanza which recur elsewhere: one is the motif of the clouds drinking from the Eastern sea and spreading westward; another the motif of the sparks flying from the smithy: this second motif may be compared with the beautiful lines in Narrinai 13 by Kapilar: The vengai shakes its blossoms down, as sparks Of fire that in the smithy fly48. The simultaneous occurrence of the Eastern sea and of the western direction is also a recurring motif; one could call it 'the motif of an east-west movement.' Thus e.g. in Kuruntokai 128 by Paranar (which begins with the same words as our poem, i.e. kunakatal 'Eastern ocean'), the heron moves from the Eastern sea to the port of Tonti on the west coast. One of such frequent motifs is e.g. the motif of the snake and the thunder occurring in Kuruntokai 158.1-2, Akam 92.11, 323.10-11, Puram 17.38-9, 37.1-4, 58.6-7, 126.19 etc. Or, there is a recurrent theme, in both heroic and erotic poetry, to describe the flourishing sea-port of Tonti on the west coast (known to Greek and Latin sources as Tyndis): Kuruntokai 128 by Paranar which was mentioned above, contains this theme (speaking of the 'front harbour of Tonti belonging to the Poraiyan of mighty chariots')49. Within this theme, which "occurs at least twenty-two times in the Anthology poems50," we find a recurring motif in the love poems to compare Tonti, the beautiful, flourishing sea-port, with the heroine (e.g. in Kuruntokai 238.4, Akam 60.7-8, 171.4, 173.3-4,174.1-2, 180.4 etc.). And the description of Tonti is often coined in recurrent formulae, e.g. "Tonti of seaside groves" in Puram 48.4, Narrinai 18.4, 195.5. A motif is a word or a group of words, a pattern of thought that recurs in a similar situation, or to evoke a similar mood, within a single work or in various works of a type or genre51. It is, however, the formula which is the most important structural element in the Tamil bardic poem. This was shown brilliantly by K. Kailasapathy52 who described how the oral bard, reciting his themes, had 48

49

C. and H. JESTJDASAN, HTL,

p. 25.

The setting of this poem is marutam, infidelity and sulking scenes in the agricultural, riverine landscape. The turai or situation is described as 'What the hero said concerning the fact that there were no signs of conciliation after a love-quarrel.' 50 K. KAILASAPATHY, Tamil Heroic Poetry, p. 212. 51 I make obviously a distinction between the motive of a literary work (i.e. the cause and purpose of a creative action, its motivation), and the motifs as characteristic features of a literary work's design. 52 K. KAILASAPATHY, Tamil Heroic Poetry, Oxford 1968, especially the pathbreaking and detailed chapter on the technique of oral verse-making (pp. 135—86). Long before KAILASAPATHY made the formula a subject of an explicit analytic treatment, M. S. PURNALINGAM PILLAI wrote (in his Primer of Tamil Literature,

30

Tamil Literature

to work rather fast in the midst of an enthusiastic, thrilled and demanding audience; hence formulae had such a great functional value for both the audience and the minstrels. The formulae of the simplest structure are just attributehead constructions of two parts, like valvil 'strong bow' (Kuruntokai 100.5, Akam 120.12, 152.15, 281.5, Puram 150.7, 152.6 etc.). Such bipartite constructions are further slightly expanded: ven talai punari > ventalaippunari 'the white-headed sea' occurs e.g. in Pur. 1.10, 31.14 and Cilappatikaram XXVI.81; porkottimayam 'the golden-peaked Himalaya' occurs in Pur. 1.24, 39.14-15, 369.24, Narrinai 356; netumen panaittdl 'the large, soft, broad shoulders' occurs in Kuruntokai 185.2 and 268.6. Quite frequently such simple formulae reappear in slight variation: either the word-order is changed, or the exponents are substituted for each other: thus aruvin kan mukai (Kuruntokai 95.1-2) 'eaves in rocks with waterfalls' reappears in Puram 141.1 as kanmukai aruvi 'waterfalls in rocky caves.' Smaller or larger portions of formulae are substituted, and the variations which thus arise play an important part in the bard's skill of improvisation: thus e.g. pacuventinkal 'greenish-white moon' in Kuruntokai 129.4 reappears as pacuvennilavu 'greenish-white moonshine' in Kuruntokai 359.28 and Narrinai 196,2; puppolunkan ponpdnmeni, a double formula meaning 'gold-like shape with darkened eyes similar to blossoms' (e.g. Kuruntokai 101.4) reappears partly in Kuruntokai 377.1 where we have malarerunkan 'blossom-like darkened eyes' and in Kuruntokai 319.6 where we have ponnermeni 'gold-like shape.' This substitution of one exponent for another with identical meaning is frequent especially in such formulae which may be followed through whole centuries of literary development: thus e. g. the elephant who is similar to the god of death and strong like wind appears once as kurrattanna . . . kdlkilarntanna velam in Tirumurukarruppatai 81-2, and centuries later in Civakacintamani 973 where the same simile is expressed by kdrrenakkatunkat kurrena . . . katdkkaliru53.

The hierarchically structured components—formula, motif, theme, situation and setting—are parts of a given traditional material54, and the bardic practice depends strongly on this material. This traditional material means at once an inspiration and a restriction for the poet. According to Ilampuranar, the earliest and the most sensible commentator on Tolkappiyam, unity should prevail among the details of a theme and situation, and themes and situations should themselves be in harmony with tradition. Thus the fact that the poet is 1904): "The recurrence of certain ideas and images in some of these idylls by different authors bespeak the stock-in-trade and no literary theft. Broad streets are river-like, rice stalks finger-like, women's soft soles the gasping dog's tongue-like etc." Cf. also J. GONDA, Old Indian, Leiden 1971, p. 14. 53 The elephant, compared to the wind and to the god of death because of its swiftness and strength, and its destructive power, occurs also in Paripatal XXI. 1—2 and later in MuttoUayiram; much later in the Tamil version of Bhagavatapurana X.17.14. However, we cannot classify these occurrences as variations of a formula any more, but as the occurrences of one and the same motif. 84 More about this traditional material in § 1.1.7.

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greatly restricted by the hyperstructure of conventions and by the language stereotype results in our inability to point out, in most cases, individual authorship. But then, the problem of the 'originality' of a poet, of an 'independent,' 'creative,' 'original' personality, is alien to the Tamil tradition. The notion that a poet should create his own plot, ad hoc and ex nihilo, is anyhow relatively modern, typically Western, and possibly misguided55. The Tamil bardic poet is consciously and "effectively traditional56," exploring all possibilities of his tradition, like the austerely orthodox Indian philosopher who wants to show that his ideology is derivative from canonical texts57. Therefore, the question of 'imitation' does not at all arise; there is no problem of plagiarism and copyright. And yet we may distinguish between what is truly conventional and stereotype in the sense of uninventive repetition, and what is 'creative' and 'original' in our sense58. Thus, to quote an instance, again from Narrinai 153: the comparison of the deserted woman to the lonely guard left behind in the desolate city is, as far as we can say, not a part of the conventional stock of motifs or formulae, and was considered so striking, that is, unique (in other words, 'original'), that the poet of this song was nicknamed after it (Tanimakanar 'The Poet (who said) Lonely Guard'). 1.1.6. Language and prosody. The classical bardic poetry is composed in Early Old Tamil, a language which is unintelligible to a modern Tamil speaker without a special study. The formal, standard, written variety of modern Tamil is more conservative than the informally spoken style, and hence closer to earlier-Tamil. The language of the early poetry is formalized and highly standardized. It has a great facility to compound its elements irrespective of their grammatical affiliation; nominal and verbal terminations are deleted so that chunks of utterances stand as large-unit compounds59. This compact texture of the original is a great problem when translating this poetry. Compared to the wonderfully concise constructions of the original, almost any translation will sound clumsy and verbose. Often, the text withstands any straightforward translation, and what remains to be done is only an interpretation. Cf. e.g. a line from Kuruntokai 290.4-6 perunirk j Jcalporu cirunurai pola / mella mella villa Jcutume, lit.' 'I become nothing 85 HARRY LEVIN, Refractions, Essays in Comparative Literature, Oxford 1966, p. 21. 56 K. KAILASAPATHY, Tamil Heroic Poetry, Chapters IV and V. 67 AGEHANANDA BHABATI, The Ochre Robe, New York 1970, p. 130. 58 More on the creative personalities among ancient Tamil bards in § 1.1.8. 59 This fusion of elements permits different break-ups of the compounds (anvaya) resulting in the suggestion of alternative meanings. This feature, together with the symbolism, results in different interpretations, and the elucidation of such nuances has naturally become "a veritable mine in which the commentators of successive centuries have laboured to produce many a gem of interpretative insight" (J. PARTHASARATHI, in Agra University Journal XIX, II, p. 47).

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little by little / like small foam fighting the rock / in large water 60 .'' The structure of perunlrk kalporu cirunurai, lit. "large-water rock-fight small foam" is peru nlr

kal poru

ciru nurai

The utterance involves, incidentally, an important rhetoric device, the socalled muran 'contrast' (perunir 'large water:' cirunurai 'small foam'). In the beautiful English version by A. K. Ramanujan 61 we read and like a streak of foam in high waters dashed on the rocks little by little I ebb and become nothing.

Though indeed an excellent translation, this is more an interpretation than a straightforward translation of the wonderfully concise original62. The entire corpus of earlier classical poetry is composed in two metres 63 : akaval (later called dciriyappd) and vanci. It is necessary to stress the fact that the underlying principles of Tamil prosody are quite independent of Sanskrit metrics and entirely sui generis. While Sanskrit metres are based on the conception of syllables (aksara) and moras (mdtrd), Tamil metres are based on the unit called acai which is of two types: simple, long or short (w or —, neracai), and compound, made up of two syllables (v_/«^ or v^—, niraiyacai). In other words, ner may be quantitatively long or short, whereas the first syllable 60

Cf. J. PARTHASARATHY, Agra University Journal XIX, II. A. K. RAMANUJAN, The Interior Landscape, 1967, p. 86. 62 Sometimes the untranslatability is given by the linguistic material itself: thus e.g. in Paripatal IV. 33 atanal, ivvu muvvu mavvum piravum I . . . "Therefore, this and that (intermediate) and that (remote) and the rest" (. . . all have parted from you who are the protection . . . etc.). The highly significant play upon the three demonstratives i (proximate), u (intermediate) and a (remote) cannot be translated into English. There are other, more general problems, as e.g. the different semantic range and field of various expressions (e.g. of the classical Tamil alkul, a word which primarily means mound-of-venus but also pudendum muliebre, besides 'waist,' and 'side') or the sound associations (e.g. Ta. mulai 'female breast' is almost homophonous with mullai 'jasmine' to the buds of which the breasts are compared). For the language of bardic poetry, cf. S. V. SHANMUGAM, Canka ilakkiya moli amaippu, Araycci, July 1971, 326-34. For the problems of translation, cf. K. ZVELEBIL, Translating Old Tamil Poetry—Some Suggestions, TC 5.3 (1956) 261-73; J. R. MARR, The Translation of Cankam Literature, Proceedings of the First ConferenceSeminar of Tamil Studies 841-6, and A. K. RAMANUJAN, Translator's Note, in The Interior Landscape, 1967, 11-2. 63 For short descriptions of Tamil classical metre, cf. J. R. MARK, Letterature dravidiche, in Storia delle letterature d'Oriente, p. 564; K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 65—6; also J. VINSON, Manuel de la langue tamoule, Paris 1903, pp. 225—31. For a more detailed recent treatment of the subject, cf. K. ZVELEBIL, An Introduction to Classical Tamil Prosody, Hoe and Co., Madras 1974. 61

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of nirai is always short; ner is always a macron, while nirai may be either pyrrhic or iambic. Akaval6* is based on disyllabic feet, each line consisting of four feet; the internal linkage of the line is strengthened by monai, the alliteration of the first sounds between the first and third or other non-initial feet; line-to-line linkage is provided by etukai, the agreement of the second sound-component of the first foot in each line. A typical akaval line: ciruvel laravi navvarik kurulai (Kuruntokai 119.1) / / / — / — / —/ — nirainer nirainer nernirai nirainer The metre is adapted to a narrative flow; its metrical effect is similar to that of stanzas in iambic verse of varying length (since an akaval stanza may have an unlimited number of lines; the standard line has four feet, i.e. eight acai; the penultimate line has regularly three feet, in a subtype of akavalpd four feet). The movement of longer poems in akaval (like those in the collection Akam, or the pdttu poems) has the sweep of English blankverse. The vanci metre (which occasionally occurs with the akaval in the songs of Pattuppattu) has a somewhat different scheme based on identical principles: the foot is made up of three acai units, e.g. — = — nernirainer. The usual vanci line has two feet, so that it.has usually six acai. Stanzas in akaval were recited (not sung) by the bards, who were probably accompanied on a stringed lute-like instrument (yal) and / or by drumming, and it is possible that some of the stanzas were enacted by female dancers

(virali).

'* The etymology of akaval is interesting and perhaps suggestive: it means the call, the peculiar strut of the pea-fowl; dciriyam (cf. Skt. dcdrya-, DBIA p. 13) is 'the master's metre.' It would seem that two conflicting hypotheses could be set up with regard to the earliest metres in Tamil. One prefers the akaval as the 'original' Tamil metre since this is obviously the most favoured metrical medium of both genres, and structurally the least complicated; also, its name may be connected with mantic origins of poetry (cf. K. KAILASAPATHY, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 61-9). The other prefers the kali and the paripdtal metres as 'original,' since these are the suitable metrical forms prescribed for akam poems by Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram Akattinai 53 which says: "The scholars say that the literary tradition of the bardic poetry (pdtal cdnra pulan eri valakkam), based on the usages of dancing (or dramati c usage, ndtaka valakkinum) and on the customs of the world (ulakiyal valakkinum), has as its proper [metres] the two—kali and paripdttu." I would prefer the first view since the two other metres, kali and paripdtal, are almost certainly structural developments of akaval, since the vast majority of the bardic poetry was composed in akaval, and since kali and paripdtal occur only in the two undoubtedly later collections. This would, incidentally, indicate, vice versa, that Porujatikaram of Tolkappiyam may also be regarded as relatively late, coinciding in time with those two later bardic collections which prefer the kali and the paripdttu metres.

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1.1.7. Poetics and rhetoric. Theory of classical poetry. Poetry—like the Greek poiesis—is, in the Tamil theory of literature, neither more nor less than 'making', ceyyul85; and it is significant that the ancient Tamils have developed a highly sophisticated and, as far as we can say, quite independent and original theory of literature, a poetics and a prosody which have their important place in the great literary and theoretical achievements of mankind in this field. What is so immensely attractive about this classical Tamil attempt is that what they have achieved is a structuralist vision of the poetic universe: for the system of conventions constitutes a kind of metalanguage of the poetry; each poem presupposes the existence of the entire system; each situation and theme have a true meaning only in relation and reference to all other themes and situations; each symbol, each image derives from a thematic whole. It is an inventory, not of an enumerative type, but well-organized in a system of interreferences66. This system is recorded in three relatively early works and in a number of derivative, later works and commentaries—in the third part of the earliest extant Tamil grammar, the Porulatikaram 'Subject-Matter' of Tolkappiyam67, Iraiyanar's Kalaviyal 'Treatise on Secret Love' (alias Akapporul 'The Subject Matter of Akam' 4th-6th cent. A.D.) with its magnificent commentary by Nakkirar (700-800 A.D.), and Aiyanar Itanar's Purapporulvenpamalai 'The Garland of Venpd-Stanzas on the Subject Matter of Puram' (early medieval). It is evident that Tolkappiyam was preceded by centuries of literary culture68. 85

ceyyul 'poem; poetry' < cey (DED 1628, PDr *Jcey) 'to do, make, create'; ceyyul means lit. 'doing, making; action, deed.' 66

67

Cf. F. GBOS, Le Paripafcal, 1968, p. IX.

The dating of Tolkappiyam is still a matter of dispute, as well as its integrity and homogeneity. It would appear that the grammar was rather the work of several scholars or even a school than of one man; and, in particular, the third part, Porulatikaram, may be later than the first two parts (after all, it was not exceptional, in the framework in which indigenous grammarians worked, to present only the two parts, eluttu and col, as complete grammars: cf. exactly this arrangement of the Nann.u.1!). It would also seem that the great creative age of bardic poetry preceded the third part of Tolkappiyam rather than followed it, or was contemporary with it. The most probable date of this third part, in the shape in which we have it today, would be ca. 450 A.D., though the nuclear portions of it were probably born round 150 B.C. or somewhat later, and carried on orally. For the problems of the dating of Tolkappiyam, cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, 130-54, K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Literature (Handbuch), Leiden 1975, and V. CHELVANAYAKAM, Some Problems in the Study of Tolkappiyam in Relation to Sangam Poetry, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 38-44. 68 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, 138-45. In many respects, the cultural and linguistic situation in Tamilnadu after the beginning of the Christian era was similar to the state of affairs in Occitania of the 12th Cent, when the poets and grammarians began to codify the facts and to fix the language. Iraiyanar's Kalaviyal may be compared with the Leys d'Amor (before 1356) which, just like the Tamil classical treatises, "est un recueil de regies concernant l'orthographie, la phonetique, la grammaire, la stylistique, de la langue romane; c'est aussi un recueil de pre'ceptes de metrique et de rh^torique" (P. BEC, La langue occitane, Paris, 1963,

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A proper understanding of the system of conventions employed in the poems requires a basic knowledge of these sources and the commentaries, though it seems that the commentators had only an imperfect understanding of the origin, nature, and function of the conventions69. As a source book not only of grammatical and literary study, but also of human geography, social anthropology, culture ecology and psychology, Tolkappiyam. contains very valuable data, and its importance for the study of Tamil culture, and of cultures in general, can hardly be exaggerated70. However, one must beware of taking the literary conventions as a kind of direct report or, even worse, as an objective, explicit and 'scientific' treatment of 'real life.' In some works it was assumed that the bardic court-poetry reflected directly and with utmost fidelity and realism the conduct of men and women of that age in love and war71. But the poetry, based on conventions, reflects 'real life' only obliquely, since a literary convention was a pattern of fictional (or 'ideal') behaviour. The poets and the theoreticians had a clear understanding of the relationship between 'real life' and its reflection in literature, since they clearly differentiated between the two: ulakiyal valakku denoted things said and done in 'real life;' ceyyul valakku (or pulaneri valakku) denoted the practice in poetry of reflecting it72. A literary convention is an agreement between writer and reader that certain themes will be represented in a certain way. The reader is thus truly able to appreciate the poet's skill in handling a familiar theme by means of improvisation. The poetry of the 'interior,' the subjective akam poetry is totally anonymous in the sense that akam poems never mention the hero or heroine by name, not in a single stanza73. Hence they "embody what is typically human rather than what is merely individual and particular74." The objective, 'external' puram poetry is partly impersonal, partly personal75. Thus e.g. the elegies are highly personal tributes to dead patrons and friends, genuine and spontaneous, exp. 76). This cultural situation is typical for 'objective' poetry as such, and for any 'classicist' poetry based on conventions. 69 M. MANUEL, The Use of Literary Conventions in Tamil Classical Poetry, Proceedings of the First Internationa] Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 63-9 j. cf. also M. VABADABAJAN, Literary Theories in Early Tamil—Ettuttokai, Proceedings, I, 45-54, and V. CHELVANAYAKAM, Tradition in Early Tamil Poetry, Proceedings of the Second Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 1971, II, 3-8. 70 X. S. THANI NAYAGAM, Tolkappiyam—the Earliest Record, JTS 1 (Sept.. 1972), p. 68. This journal also prints, beginning with its first issue (1972), K. ZVELEBIL'S translation of Tolkappiyam into English. 71 Notably earlier secondary works, like P. T. S. IYENGAR'S History of the Tamils; from the Earliest Times to 600 A.D., Madras 1929. 72 Cf. Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram 53 (56). 73 This practice which is scrupulously adhered to is explicitly prescribed by Tolkappiyam Porulatikaram 54 (57) which says: "In the five phases of akam, no names of persons should be mentioned." 7 * W. H. HUDSON, An Introduction to the Study of Literature, London 1946, p. 97. 76 Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram 55 (58) says: "Particular names are appropriateonly in puram poetry."

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pressing intimate and personal grief, "free from any conventional bucolic machinery76." Porulatikaram of Tolkappiyam has nine chapters: the first two deal with the basic division of the phenomenal world and its literary reflection in the akam and puram genres; chapters 3 and 4 deal with erotic themes, dividing love-life into kalavu 'pre-marital, secret love' and karpu 'wedded, chaste love.' The fifth chapter deals with subject-matter of erotic poetry, the sixth chapter with the theory of meyppdtu, comparable to Sanskritic rasa 'flavour,' the seventh with rhetoric (chiefly simile), the eighth with prosody, and the ninth with traditional poetics. The basic and primary division of all poetry is in terms of the two genres, of which akam is dealt with first. There are 'seven settings' or elu tinai in akam; among them, five settings (aintinai) are central, two peripheral. The tinai has been frequently described in a rather one-sided and incorrect manner as 'landscape,' 'region' etc., i.e. as a geographic category, a 'place' where events take place. This, however, is only one face of the tinai, since tinai is a unity of behaviour-patterns and the appropriate landscapes. Chart III akam

puram peruntinai

kaikkilai

kdnci

patdn aintinai

aintinai

kurinci

ulinai

vetci natuvunilai (palai)

vdkai

There are two basic coordinates: one in terms of the division into settings and phases of love (tinai), another in terms of porul or structured content organized in strata. According to the 3rd aphorism of Akattinaiyiyal of Porulatikaram, the 'meaning,' the content of poetry comes under mutal or 'first elements,' given in aphorism 4 as space (nilam) and time (polutu), karu M. VARADARAJAN, Literary Theories, p. 50.

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or native elements, and uri or human elements. Thus we may say that human (erotic, and, as we shall see, public, heroic) activity takes part within the framework of different strata structured as mutal (time and space coordinates), karu (basic physical, material manifestations), and uri (psychosomatic behaviourpatterns of people). Now a tinai comprises both the stage, the appropriate landscape, and the conduct of people, their behaviour77. In the hierarchy of the components, of the materials of a poem, the human element—the appropriate over-all mood expressed as pertinent psychosomatic behaviour—is the most important of all, the central thing. These behaviour-patterns may be arranged in a time-sequence —in fact the commentators tend to do so: first comes the sudden meeting of the lovers, their falling in love, and their immediate sexual union (punartal); then anxiety before marriage, symptoms of love, the elopment (pirital), a possible marriage, the lover's infidelity and reconciliation (utal), the going away of the lover in search of wealth or fame, the pining and anxiety of the wife or the beloved (irankal) and her patient waiting (iruttal) as well as the return of the hero. Chart IV Ain tinai 'Five settings' landscape

mullai 'pastoral' kurinci 'montane' pdlai 'arid' marutam 'riverine' neytal 'littoral'

'behaviour

iruttal 'staying, remaining, waiting' punartal '(sexual) union' pirital 'separation, elopment' utal 'feigned quarrel, sulking' irankal 'anxiety, pining'

Each landscape and behaviour, i.e. each setting, has its appropriate season of the year and time of the day (the mutal stratum), cf. Chart V. Karu or the native, inborn elements which are important in that they provide clues for the listener (reader) as to the pertinent setting, are enumerated in Porulatikaram as deity, food, beast, tree, bird, drum, occupation, lute, and 'others.' Later scholiasts and commentators added some more of these clues. However, the determination of tinai and even of turai 'situations' is not always easy; there is room for assigning different settings and situations to the same poem. Also, the procedure of marking the poems by their tinai affiliation was not universally followed, though two later collections (Ainkurunuru and Kalittokai) were anthologized on the basis of the five sections, each devoted to one tinai type. Thus there is no uniform adherence to the tinai classification even by the redactors of the collections. 77

Cf. Cut>amani nikantu 11.5. which says tinai nilan kulan olukkam "tinai [comprises] land, class [and] behaviour."

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Chart V tinai

place

time year

mullai kurinci pdlai marutam neytal

forest mountains

kdr 'rainy season' kutir 'winter' and munpani 'early dew' — mutirvenil 'summer' and pinpani 'late dew' cultivated fields all seasons all seasons (i.e. all the five above sea-shore and ilavenil 'pre-Summer')

day

evening night noon dawn sunrise

Aphorism 5 in Porulatikaram gives four regions (and their appropriate deity): midlai 'forest' (Mayon 'The Dark One'), kurinci 'mountains' (Ceydn 'The Red One' or 'The Distant One'), marutam 'rivers and fields' (Ventan 'The King') and neytal 'sea-shore' (Varunan, cf. Skt. Varuna); aphorism 9 adds the natuvu nilaittinai, the middle landscape, pdlai (the deity sometimes given is goddess Korravai). The next five aphorisms assign the elements of kdlam 'time' in terms of the seasons and day-times to different landscapes, and aphorism 12 is important in that it accounts for the mixed types: tinaimayakkuor 'confusion,' mixing of types is not prevented, and, indeed, we have a number of poems in a mixed tinai. Porulatikaram 19 also adds that elements of the karu strata (e.g. fauna, avifauna, flora) may be found in other regions than those to which they are strictly ascribed78. The later convention that literature should deal with the four goals of life, i.e. virtue (Ta. aram, Skt. dharma), wealth (Ta. porul, Skt. artha), pleasure (Ta. inpam, Skt. kdma) and salvation (Ta. vitu, Skt. moksa) is totally absent from the entire corpus of the early poetry. The conventions concern a limited number of stock characters—the hero, lover or husband; the heroine, his beloved or wife; the hero's friend; the heroine's companion, usually her foster-sister; her foster-mother or mother; the concubine; and passers-by. They also concern standardized scenes, recurrent themes and situations, standard devices of presentation, modes of stylization, restrictions on form. These conventions, which form a 'collective style,' are less evident in the puram genre, though there, too, there is a definite set of situations and themes: vetci, the cattle-raid, as prelude to war; vanci, preparation for war and the beginning of the invasion; ulinai, the siege of a fortified settlement; tumpai, pitched battle; and vdkai,victory. 78

Cf. Kuruntokai 68 which is a mixture ofkuriUci 'montane' and mullai 'pastoral' settings; in fact, this confusion of settings is employed by skillful poets so as to achieve a special effect; thus e.g. in the quoted poem (see A. K. RAMANUJAN, The Interior Landscape, p. 46 for its English version), lovers' union (kurifici) and patient waiting (mullai) brings out effectively the exact nuance of the girl's mood, "mixing memory and desire."

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The peripheral, in a way, the 'abnormal' settings in the akam genre are the kaikkilai, unreciprocated love, one-sided relationship; in the heroic genre, its counterpart is the pdtdn, which is praise or elegy, as well as asking for gifts; and the peruntinai or mismatched love, and the defeat in mismatched love, corresponding to the heroic setting of kdnci or struggle for excellence and endurance which, however, also describes the transience of the world, and defeat. In a way, we should not speak of development within this corpus of poetry at all since poetry was regarded as a timeless pattern of meaning, as 'always contemporary.' It is also true that there is not a single poem extant among our earliest literary or epigraphical records which would be a genuine piece of a preliterary bardic song. However, there are a few poems, e.g. by Auvaiyar, which are as it were echoes of a very early stage, possibly in imitation of what sounds almost like invocations or magic formulas: O daughter of akaval O daughter of akaval Your hair is long and fine and silver like a string of shells O daughter of akaval Sing a song And again sing a song The song of the long and shapely mountain

(Kuruntokai 23)

It is interesting and significant that the Tamil term akaval makal 'daughter of akaval' may be interpreted not only as poetess, but also as woman diviner; and the theme suggests that the underlying function of the song is magical: a woman soothsayer is invited to diagnose the malady of a girl (the illness is of course love); she is requested by the foster-sister of the stricken girl to go on singing. The form is almost that of a folk-song with its repetitions, and in its relative simplicity. The earliest form was obviously a single bardic stanza in akaval metre forming a typical self-contained occasional tanippdtal; this gives way to ten verses forming a kind of unit as they occur in Ainkurunuru which seems to be the first departure from the simple tanippdttu on the road to complicated structures of the various prabandhas. Two very specific and characteristic aspects of the content of this poetry should be mentioned at this point: the place of nature79 in the poems, and the conception of eros. 79

Two important books are dedicated to nature in old Tamil poetry: M. VARASangam Literature, Madras 1957, and X. S. Tamil Poetry, Tuticorin 1953; cf. also his Nature Poetry in Tamil. The Classical Period, Singapore 1963; and Landscape and Poetry, A Study of Nature in Classical Tamil Poetry, Bombay 1965. Cf. further D. NADARAJAH, The Gloriosa Superba in Classical Poetry, TC 11 (1963) 280-90; P. S. SAMY, The Plant Names in Tholkaappiyam, Proceedings of the Second Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 1971, II, 41-54; P. L. SAMY, The Plant Names DARAJAN'S The Treatment of Nature in THANI NAYAGAM'S Nature in Ancient

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Nature has a prominent, but not a primary place in the poems. It is always an integral but subordinate component; it is never, not in one single poem, the goal of the poet's activity to praise or describe nature for its own sake. It is also never dealt with unimaginatively in a detailed description, but only in a forceful and typical abbreviation; these concentrated and abridged pictures of nature remind one of the Japanese painter who had to concentrate on the bamboo for many years to be able to paint it properly80. Nature serves as a symbol-complex, manifold, and conventional: thus e.g. the struggle of the birds and animals for survival in the arid desert symbolizes and emphasizes the hero's struggle for sustenance during his travels across the pdlai region81. The bird anril, makanril which never separates from its mate symbolizes true wedded love (karpu)sz. When Paranar says To eat the silver fish, the stork, as though afraid its steps were audible, moves soft— a burglar entering a guarded house (Akarn 276)

he tries to describe the behaviour and the character of a faithless lover. The waters of rain pouring down on red soil in Kuruntokai 40 are the symbol of two loving hearts blended with each other in passion; but also of the rain of male sperm on the parched red soil of the woman's body. Similar erotic comparison is involved when the hero, impatient to embrace his beloved, says: I am like the ploughman with his single plough in haste to plough his vast virgin land fresh with the rains (Kuruntokai 131)

There is a great feeling for shade: all kinds and degrees of shade are mentioned—the 'rich fat* shade of luxuriant trees, the 'filigree shade of the branches and trees which have shed their leaves', 'the dotted shade' of sun flecks falling through dense leaves, the 'net-like shade' or the 'slender shade' of bare leafless twigs and thin leaves83. There is also great feeling for the sea in Tamil poetry which is absent from Sanskrit literature. And the use of flowers in love as well as in war is another characteristic feature of these poems. The Tamil dynasties, too, had their (totemic?) flowers: the Pandyas had white margosa flowers, in Kurincippattu, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 78-103; JOHN R. MABB, An examination of some plant-names and identities in India, JRAS 1972, 40-56. 80 K. AN AND A COOMABASWAMY, The Transformation of Nature in Art, Cambridge 1935, p. 41. 81 Cf. L. SAMBAMOOBTHY, The Psychological Symbolism of PacUai in Kutunthokai, Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 1971, III, 25-33. 82 Cf. Paripatal VIII.42, Kalittokai 129. Cf. the sarasa and krauflca of Sanskrit poetry.

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the fig's flowers were reserved for the Cholas, and the flowers of palmyra palm for the Cheras. As far as eros is concerned, one can only point out certain striking and unique features of the conception of love and sex found in the texts 84 . Naccinarkkiniyar's definition ofakam first: "The inward stir of emotions caused when a pair of lovers, well-matched in all respects, meeting for the first time in the solitude of nature, give their hearts away to each other and celebrate their union in secret, without the intervention of parents or elders; this stir of feeling being purely subjective, cannot be communicated in words to others 85 ." Of the two types of love-union, the clandestine, pre-marital, and rich in passion, was considered superior, and the regular inferior86. There was a difference between Jcdmam, physical love, and kdtal, affection: cf. Paripatal IX. 14: kdtar kdmankdmattuc cirantatu, lit. "that what is splendid in kdmam that is the kdmam determined by kdtal", where kdmam means pleasure, passion, sexual love, and kdtal affection in love. Another key-idea was karpu 'chastity' which is capable of setting fire to a town (Kannaki in Cilappatikaram) or of bringing about rain (Tirukkural 55, Cilappatikaram XV. 142-9), cf. also Paripatal XX. 68 and Nalatiyar 385 and chapter 3987. There are some interesting classifications relating to the erotic sphere: e.g. there are at least three basic types of love quarrel—tuniyal, protracted love quarrel; pulavi, dislike, sulkiness; utal, feigned dislike; there were two main types of courtesans: kdtarparattai, lit. 'the courtesan in love,' the maitresse; and irparattai, lit. 'the domestic courtesan,' the concubine. Very interesting are the two peripheral erotic settings, kaikkilai and peruntinai. The first which is the one-sided affair, unrequited love, occurs when the man feels a desire for a girl unawakened by sexual impulses and dwells hopelessly on his infatuation. The second, mismatched love, has several forms: when a man and a woman are unfit for sex-life, because they are too old; when they are mismatched in age and come together for duty, convenience, or lust. One-sided and mismatched love may finally result in matal or riding the palmyra stem, or in an act of suicide prompted by rejection or depression. According to Tolkappiyam, these two types may be considered as extremes, 83

84

According to X. S. THANT NAYAGAM, sources in ftn. 79.

Cf. V. Sp. MANICKAM, The Tamil Concept of Love in Akattinai, S.I. S.S. Works Publishing Society, Madras 1962; P. S. SUBRAHMANYA SASTBI, Kajavu in the Tolkappiyam, JORM 1938, 240-42. 85 Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram Akattinaiyiyal 1, Naccinarkkiniyar's comm. translated by J. PABTHASABATHI, Agra University Journal XIX, II, p. 18. 86 Cf. Paripatal XI.41—2 maraiyir punar maintar / katnah kalavittuk kaikolkar purrena "laissent 1'amour clandestin et adoptent le mariage regulier qui lui est infe'rieur" (F. GROS' transl.). 87 What exactly was meant by the term karpu 'purity, chastity, virtue; marital love'—whether it has a magical background rather than purely ethical quality, whether it indeed means conversion of sexual abstinence and moral correctness into some power in the form of fire or fain etc.—is at present becoming the topic of discussion, cf. BRENDA E. F. BECK, The Study of a Tamil Epic, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 23-38.

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as transgressions and aberrations from established norms. They are fit only for slaves, servants, menial workers. As such, they were unsuitable for proper poetic treatment within the akam genre; and, indeed, they were left practically untouched by the bardic poets88. Only rarely, the treatment of sex was coarse and crude89. As a rule, sex was handled in a delicate way, never vulgar or obscene, though the akam poems are sometimes very sensuous, charged with eroticism, and containing sexual allusions; but always reserved and elegant. As a telling instance one may quote Kuruntokai 62 by Ciraikkuti Yantaiyar. The theme is 'What the hero said to his heart longing for embrace at the place where they had made love': Like a royal garland of kotal flowers is she, like budding golden jasmines with fragrant water-lilies intertwined, her body far more fragrant, soft and smooth to touch, and sweeter to my fond embrace90.

1.1.8. The bardic poet. A number of sociological questions concerning the Tamil bardic poet remain still to be answered: the economic basis of bardic literature and the social status of the poet, his social ideology, the questions of his audience etc. It is mainly due to the path-breaking work of K. Kailasapathy that we are able to give 88 Strictly speaking, only fourteen poems in the late bardic anthology Kalittokai (4 in kaikkilai, 10 in peruntinai setting) relate to these themes. A great poet, though, was able to deal with these themes in a rather touching and quite marvellous way, as, e.g., in the poem about the hunchback woman (kun) and the dwarf (kural), both slaves (atiyor), making love, in Kalittokai 94 (cf. A. K. RAMANUJAN'S translation in K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, pp. 121-2). 89 As e.g. in the following text (Kalittokai 60): "Embracing each other and displaying strength, young women, filled with love, with flowers full of petals and eyes painted black, together with young men perform (a dance ?) at the manram (common meeting ground) [covered with] cow-dung and semen (tdt-eru manrattu)." 90 The original poem is a wonder of "orchestration" (cf. the Russian formalist term instrumentovka) of the phonic structure (Lautmalerei). The allusions are many and subtle. Kotal flower is the white species of kdntal (Gloriosa superba). The name of jasmine (mullai) which is of golden and well-shaped flowers, freshly budding, is suggestive of the term for female breasts (mulai), as are the connotations just mentioned (budding, golden, well-shaped). It is also a climbing shrub. The motif of intertwining (itaippata viraii) has sexual connotation; water-lily (kuvalai, Pontederia) with fragrant petals (narital): the term ital is also used for the lips of the mouth and the lips of the vulva; the garland itself (kotai) with its connotation of embracing the throat is suggestive; also, kotai means 'woman' and 'female hair.' The 5th line: muriyinum vayvatu muyankarku minite: her body (menij is more excellent (in fragrance, softness and flexibility) than a budding sprout (muri) and sweeter 'to sexual embrace' (muyankarku). Observe, however, one important feature: the delicacy of the poet; the great respect fot the reader's imaginative potency; the poet never does our imagining for us. Cf. in this connection the marvellous essay by G. STEINER, Night Words, in Language and Silence, Penguin 1969, 91-101.

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at least partial answers to these and similar querries. Thus it is more or less clear that the poets were a professional, vocational group, held generally in high esteem, and belonging to all classes and strata of society, as their names and nick-names indicate. These men and women (there are more than twenty women minstrels) recruited from many different communities, received bardic training and became professionals. They travelled about in groups, some of them rather poor, some quite influential and even affluent, seeking patrons. Patronage always means control and supervision; in a few cases, though, the poets were not only highly respected, but also very influential with their patrons, especially since the idea of wisdom, knowledge and learning was connected at least with some classes of poets (pulavar). Other bards functioned probably as heralds (akavunar), as war-bards (porunar), as dancing minstrels (kuttar), as singing minstrels (pdnar). It would also seem that poets were associated with mantic powers and the cult of Murukan. According to X. S. Thani Nayagam, the degeneracy of the bards set in when, with the advent of a more complex society, the poet outshone the bard as the representative of literary and intellectual life, and the functions of the bardic troupe were differentiated and new types of professional solo dancers, musicians and artistes appeared. On the stage of the 'internal' or akam poetry, the poet had no place as an individual person. He did not express himself in a straightforward manner as is the case in subjective poetry; he spoke only through the actors in the form of dramatic monologues or, rarely, in the shape of very brief dialogues. The autobiographic material was totally suppressed in the akam genre. The subjective element pertains to some imagined, ideal characters, and the poet remains anonymous, though the poetry is 'subjective' and personal in spirit. The 'anonymity' of this poetry, caused, on the one hand, by the over-all convention of the absence of the poet's own personality from his work and, on the other hand, by the pressure of the structure of partial conventions, found its expression in the legend of the Academy as narrated in Pararicoti's Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam LI. 30-37: The forty-eight poet-academicians in Maturai composed innumerable beautiful poems which, however, were BO much alike that those who wanted to comment upon them could not ascribe them to individual poets, unable to recognize any difference (verupdtu ariydtu) and being much amazed (viyantu); not only that: the poets themselves could not recognize their own poems, and were bewildered. It was Siva-Sundara himself who appeared in their midst in the guise of a poet, sorted out their works, and accepted the chair of the president of the Academy. In spite of such uniformity one can point out to certain poetic personalities: Kapilar, Nakkirar, Paranar, Auvaiyar, Nallantuvanar, and a few others stand out clearly as great individual artists91. However, the only bard who has insert91 Cf. C. JESTTDASAN, A Study of Kapilar, the Sangam Poet, TC 3, (1954) 18-35; Paranar, TC 3 (1954) 269-84; T. P . MEENAKSHISTTNDARAM, Nakkiirar the Earliest Tamil Mystic, TC 6 (1957) 309-18.

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ed appreciable autobiographic data into his poems so that his life-story can be reconstructed is Kapilar. He was a Brahman born probably in TiruvatavUr (Pandya country), a friend of his older contemporary Paranar. In his younger days he praised a Chera king (ca. 165 A.D.). He then became a life-long friend and advisor of chieftain Pari and lived in his hilly fortress of Parampumalai. It is possible that he composed his Kurincippattu to instruct an Aryan prince in the beauties of Tamil poetry while living there. Then a tragedy occurred: Pari's fortress was besieged by the three Tamil kings. Kapilar remained loyal to his patron, Pari was killed and his hill taken. It became the duty of Kapilar to find suitable husbands for Pari's two daughters. But two chieftains to whom the poet took the girls refused to marry them. We do not quite know what happened next since there are several contrasting accounts. It would seem that after Pari's death the bard found his way back to the Chera court and composed the 7th decade of Patirruppattu. There was also some relationship between Kapilar and another chieftain, Kari. He died sometime before 210 A.D. The democratism of ancient Tamil poetry was somewhat exaggerated. The idealized types of the akam genre are representative of men and women of conventionalized geographic regions, irrespective of caste or class. However, they represent well-matched, cultured pairs, to the exclusion of uncultured, ignorant, unfit people, who cannot become heroes of akam poems proper. "Servants (slaves) and workmen are outside [the poetry] for they do not have the necessary strength [of character]," according to Porulatikaram 969. The heroes of the puram poems are exclusively aristocratic in their style of life, behaviour and character; the social spirit of this genre is clannish and heroic. Life is considered pleasant and joyful, death an inevitable end. There is no attempt to obtain release from life. Liberality and goodness are indulged in without motives of penance or recompense. About old age there is a note of nostalgic resignation. Life after death is represented as an abode of permanent happiness for the brave and good, and permanent suffering for the wicked. The happiness of future life is a reward of those who by their bravery and altruism established their glory (pukal) in this world. Love and courtship, marriage and children are considered necessary modes of personal perfection. If at all anything remains after death, it is the glory and honour, the praise due to the memory of the days passed in heroism and in the service of fellow men. 1.1.9. The achievement of classical Tamil poetry. One of the more subtle features of the poems is what Tolkappiyam terms ullurai or 'the inner substance.' These are symbolic statements which mention the behaviour of animals and other objects of nature belonging to the region ascribed to the hero and which stand for the behaviour of men. Thus ullurai is an implication by means of a metaphor or a simile, a technique of using the scene to describe the act or agent: e.g. in Kuruntokai 8 where the fresh-water shark in the pool catching with its mouth the ripe mango falling from the tree stands for the lover, and the mango falling into the shark's mouth for the

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concubine. Or in Narrinai 26 where the unfaithful hero having an affair with a concubine is represented by the buffalo grazing on waterlilies and despising the lotus (the heroine); moreover, not content with staying in the house of a parattai (concubine) he goes to the houses of public harlots (ceripparattai), and this is implied by the image of the buffalo who does not stay on the spot where he grazed but, ignoring the place where the lotus grows, wallows in heaps of wet sand. Among other frequent rhetoric devices one should mention parallelism and antithesis. Consider the following instances of parallelism taken from one poet, Paranar: minstrels he crowns with lotuses of gold, gold necklaces he gives the dancing girls. (Patirruppattu 48) the bamboo fades; the rainclouds fail; the hills are dry; rages the sun. (Patirruppattu 43)

And for antithesis, cf. Patirruppattu 45: The sea that is not shrunk up by the clouds that drink and is not swollen by the river-streams. The similes are sometimes captivating, striking, simply beautiful: Palaipatiya Perunkatunko in Kuruntokai 16 compares the clucking sounds of the lizard calling to his mate to the highway robber's fingernail testing the point of his iron arrow—the poem being in the pdlai (arid) setting, its hot desert infected by highway robbers. In Kuruntokai 399 which had been called "the crest of all Paranar's achievements" (C. Jesudasan), the bard compares the pallor of the beloved to the persistent moss on the surface of a pool, which "with every touch gives way / and spreads back with each estrangement." The bias of the classical bard's diction towards synthesis, and the inventory of stock epithets have promoted a technique of listing a few suitable epithets instead of using the detailed description found in later. Tamil poetry. Unfortunately, the compact texture of the original with the technique of suggestive mention is an untranslatable feature. To demonstrate this, let us now analyse one single original bardic poem in all its aspects: ydru millait tdne kalvan tdnatu poyppin ydnevan ceyko tinaittd lanna cirupacuh Jcdla olukuni rdral pdrkkum

kuruku muntutdn mananta ndnre

(Kuruntokai 25 by Kapilar)

The tinai or setting is marutam: the cultivated fields at dawn with the heroine in sulking mood. The theme is 'What she said to her companion on the spot where he took her.'

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The prosodic pattern of the 5 lines (each of them four feet, the penultimate three feet) is /

/____/

= _/_=/ = _/ The stanza is a nericai dciriyappd in the ahaval metre. The word-by-word translation results in Who-ever [was] not [there] only-he the thief he that if-denies I what shall-I-do millet-stalk-like small-green leg[s]-of running-water aval (fish) seeking heron was alone [he] took [me] day

In terms of the three strata: Mutal or time and place are not explicitely given. Karu or native elements: the heron (kuruku) seeking the dral fish, both typical for the marutam region; the millet (tinai), and the running waters are also typical features of marutam; thus these 'native elements' give us a clue as to the landscape-setting. Vri (psychosomatic behaviour): the fear that he will deny having 'taken' her, since there was no other witness but the heron searching for the fish. In terms of motifs and formulae: The motif of the lover's perfidy is found elsewhere (e.g. Kuruntokai 318, Akam 286, Kalittokai 41, Narrinai 200); he is a liar in Kuruntokai 30. 2. The motif of a heron being present at the place of the tryst is found e.g. in Kuruntokai 113, 103, Narrinai 35. There is one formula used by Kapilar in this poem: the heron with legs like millet-stalks; the same occurs elsewhere, and is taken over by later poets, e.g. Cuntarar. The technique of suggestion (ullurai) is of course present, first of all, in using the term thief (kalvan) for the lover, found also elsewhere (e.g. Kuruntokai 318); and the heron, eyeing the araZ-fish, represents the lover's action and character. He takes the fish, without asking its consent, hidden in ambush, a solitary, selfish, predatory robber: the lover-thief. The English version: None else was there but he, the thief. If he denies it, what shall I do ? Only a heron stood by, its thin gold legs like millet stalks eyeing the dral-fish in the gliding watter on the day he took me.

The classical Tamil poet offered an art which was already familiar to the listener, something which assured him of a continuity with the past but, at

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the same time, he added his individual experience and imagination, manifesting supreme skill in handling familiar themes. It was a disciplined poetry, the aim of which was not to express the poet's own ego, but to create a pattern of meaning which would be timeless. Hence it is a classical poetry in the true sense of the term. This is true to a great extent of the heroic (puram) poems, too. A mother says of her warrior-son (Puram 312): It is my duty to give birth and growth. The father's duty is to make him wise. The duty of the smith to hand a shapely spear. The duty of the king to be his guide in fight. To force his way into the fray with his glittering sword and kill the elephants and then return is my young son's duty. The great achievement of the ancient Tamil poet was recognized recently even by Sanskrit-oriented scholars like K. A. Nilakantha &astrl who writes that "we have in the Sangam classics a superb literature of incomparable force and beauty coupled with economy of telling expression92." We certainly agree with A. K. Ramanujan when he says: "In their antiquity and in their contemporaneity, there is not much else in any Indian literature equal to these quiet and dramatic Tamil poems. In their values and stances, they represent a mature classical poetry: passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuances of design, impersonality by vivid detail, leanness of line by richness of implication. These poems are not just the earliest evidence of the Tamil genius. The Tamils, in all their 2,000 years of literary effort, wrote nothing better." Ancient Tamil poetry is multivalent: it is so rich and comprehensive that it includes aesthetic structures and values which give high satisfaction to later ages and periods. It is conceived so that rather a community than a single individual could and can realize all its strata and systems. That is why it has survived generational tastes, and has acquired a permanent and universal position. 1.1.10. Late classical poetry. 1.1.10.1. Kalittokai 'The Anthology in the Kali metre' contains 150 poems of unequal length in the kali metre93 dealing with different phases and details of love-experience. The first part (2-36) relates to the pdlai setting, the second (37-65) to the kurinci themes, the third (66-100) to the marutam situations, Cultural Contacts between Aryans and Dravidians, Bombay 1967, p. 65.

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the fourth (101-117) to the mullai setting, and the fifth (118-150) to the neytal division. The peruntinai 'mismatched love' and kaikkilai 'unrequited love' are handled as additional situations to the five settings. The poet of neytal, Nallantuvanar, probably the most outstanding personality of the late classical age, was also the compiler of the anthology and the author of an invocation to &iva. The other four portions were ascribed according to a (late ?) quatrain to four different poets. The entire collection is permeated with allusions to purdnic legends, but, surprisingly, no name of any king is mentioned other than the Pandya and his capital, and no poets, chieftains, events etc. known from the other collections find place in Kalittokai. This, and some other indications (metre, diction, themes, the over-all tone and spirit of the poems) seem to suggest a later date—somewhere between the 4th-5th cent. A.D. for these stanzas. There exists a detailed, excellent commentary by Naccinarkkiniyar. In many ways, this anthology, which contains some wonderful poetry with spicy dialogues and broad jokes, and which has introduced some new folk-types (e.g. the matchmaker), means a break with the early classical tradition and conventions. 1.1.10.2. There is an even stronger departure from the world of early bardic poetry in Paripatal, traditionally enumerated as the fifth of the tokai 'anthologies'. According to F. Gros94, who has dedicated more time and thought to Paripatal than any other modern scholar, lines XVII. 42-46 which stress the fact that "fetes religieuses et festivites profanes alternent a s'y meprendre et c'est bien ainsi" are the essential key-verses for the understanding of the poem: the union "jusqu'a la confusion" of the religious and the profane, of worldly pleasures with religious observances. The strict dichotomy between alcam and puram is certainly not applicable to Paripatal. The text was only partially exhumated: out of the original 70 poems (8 on Tirumal, 31 on Cevvel, 1 on Durga, 26 on Vaiyai, 4 on Maturai) we possess only 24 (7 on Tirumal, 8 on Cevvel, 9 on Vaiyai), two great and eleven very short fragments. The poems on Tirumal, 'The Blessed Dark One,' are the most clearly religious parts of Paripatal. It is also these hymns that have branded Paripatal as a Sanskrit plagiat within the so-called Cankam texts and their authors as the "fifth column" of Cankam literature (V. Raghavan). These hymns are very probably the first full-fledged bhakti or devotional poems in Tamil literature95, and they are saturated with well-known Vaisnavite legends; Tirumal has a pronouncedly Krsnaite character and appears as Vasudeva-Krsna, albeit—and that may be important—the erotic aspect, and the life of Krsna as cowherd, are totally absent. As F. Gros points out, it is not the religious-philosophical 93 The kali line is based on trisyllabic feet with a rippling and swinging movement; the kali stanza has introductory parts followed by repetitive refrains. It is suitable for dramatic lyrics and dialogue-like situations. 94 Le Paripatal, texte tamoul, introduction, traduction et notes, Pondichery 1968. 95 J. GONDA, Aspects of Early Visnuism, Utrecht 1954; Les religions de l'lnde: Vedisme et hindouisme ancien, Paris 1962.

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speculations in themselves which are important but the fact that here we have, for the first time in the spiritual history of India, basic philosophical speculations of Hindu theology quoted in a language other than Sanskrit and, in addition, with an admirable formal perfection. Cf. e. g. the wonderful verses in III. 63-8: In fire, you are the heat; in blossoms, the fragrance; among the stones, you are the diamond; in speech, truth; among virtues, you are love; in valour—strength; in the Veda, you are the secret; among elements, the primordial; in the burning sun, the light; in moonshine, its sweetness; you are all, and you are the substance and meaning of all.

The other god invoked in Paripatal is Murukan-Cevvel. Whereas Tirumal is more distant, Murukan is more concrete; Tirumal is ageless, Murukan eternally young and very personal: We pray you not for wealth, not for gold, not for pleasure. But for your grace, for love, for virtue, these three, O god with the rich garland of katampu flowers with rolling clusters! (V. 78-81)96

Thus Paripatal, apart from giving us the first Tamil litanies of Vaisnavite devotion, also gives us the first hymns to Murukan, and it may indeed have been in Maturai, on the banks of the Vaikai, that bhakti was born. Music and poetry are intimately connected in Paripatal97. Most of the colophons give the name of the poet, of the musician, and of the melody. The form is defined in the text itself (XI. 137) as a combination of refined music (icai) and sweet poetry (in-n-iyal). It is almost certain that the singing of Paripatal was accompanied by mimic performance (avinayam < Skt. abhinaya, cf. Peraciriyar on Tolkappiyam Ceyyuliyal 242). The paripatal metre is a difficult one, and was soon abandoned by poets. There is a commentary on the text by Parimelalakar (end of 13th-14th cent. A.D.). 1.1.10.3. The first devotional poem per se in Tamil literature is Tirumurukarruppatai 'The Guide to Divine Muruku' ascribed to Nakkirar and containing 317 akaval lines of a carefully planned text which directs the devotee to various 96 The paraphrase published in N. KANDASWAMI PILLAI'S A Garland of Tamil Poetry, Tanjavur 1949 (and reprinted elsewhere, e.g. in Pearls in Tamil Ocean, 1968) translates the commentary of Parimelalakar, not the text itself: We pray Thee not for gold / The gold that gives us wealth; / We pray Thee not for wealth / The wealth that gives us pleasure; / We pray Thee not for pleasure / The pleasure we enjoy; / We pray and pray Thy grace / The grace that comes of love, / We pray Thee for the love / The all embracing love; / The love that comes of Righteousness; / We pray Thy grace to lead us all / In the path of Righteousness / Oh! God of Kadamba Wreath! (Cf. F. GBOS, Le Paripatal, p. 199). 97 Cf. the celebrated passage in XVII.9—21 which establishes correspondences between the sounds in nature and the sounds of various instruments and singing.

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shrines of the god. While we may tentatively date Paripatal between ca. 400550 A.D., this guide-poem may possibly be dated ca. 250 A.D. if its author is the same Nakkirar who composed Netunalvatai and the bardic poems in the anthologies. The Guide to Divine Muruku has six parts of unequal length. It contains much old, presumably pre-Aryan material, but also much if not more of what is Sanskritic, puranic. Murukan appears in the poem as a blend, as a syncretic god, and the poem manifests a welding of two cultures, the indigenous Tamil with the Sanskritic and Brahmanic. Apart from its tremendous importance for our understanding of the evolution of Hinduism and the nature of bhakti, it is also a marvellous work of art98. Right at the beginning we get a glimpse of Murukan, the Red Desire (Cevvel), riding on his blue peacock, the killer of time: Like the sun seen in the sea the delight of the world praised by all men, he is the dazzling light visible from afar even with eyes which are closed.

Then a picture of the lush forest in the rainy season: The forests, cool and fragrant after first showers, pouring down from gigantic clouds, pregnant with waters sucked up from the sea, scattering heavy drops upon the firmament whose darkness is dispelled by the sun and the moon. The forests, darkened and overspread by the dense leaves of the red katampu tree. He has a garland of its flowers on his chest.

Typically a poem of transition, it marks the end of the classical age and the beginning of the period of bhakti—of devotional literature. The unknown compiler of Pattuppattu included it probably as its invocatory poem. But it had also been included into the 11th book of Tirumurai, the Saivite canon. What is so strikingly attractive about this poem is the mystic vision of Nakkirar who sees the whole universe deified and appearing as Youth and Beauty (Muruku, the abstract, neuter form of Murukan means honey, beauty, fragrance, youth, as well as eternity, divinity); in other words, the poem has recognized a 98

Cf. P. S. SUBRAHMANYA SASTRI, Tirumurukarruppatai and Kathopanisad,

JORM 1931, 179-82; T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAM, Nakkiirar, the Earliest Tamil Mystic, TC 6 (1957) 309-18; C. A. KELLER, A Literary Study of the Tirumurukarruppadai, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 55-62.

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very fundamental truth: the tremendous role played by the aesthetic factor in religious experience. 1.2. Medieval Anthologies and Occasional Stanzas. In subsequent development, the isolated stanza assumed the form of the occasional single-stanza poem. Some of these occasional poems were anthologized rather early, some of them, on the other hand, were preserved mainly in oral tradition, and were anthologized comparatively recently (in the 19th or early 20th cent.). 1.2.1. One of such very early anthologies of heroic poetry is Muttollayiram 'Three Times Nine Hundred' which was recovered as a fragmentary but continuous text from a later anthology, the Purattirattu, in 1892, by U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar. A slightly shorter version of the same collection was published in Centamil 1905. The original number of stanzas might have been 2700 as the title implies. The fragment which has been preserved has, according to the 1958 edition, an invocation, 60 stanzas on the Pandya king, 46 on the Chola, and 23 on the Chera. The poems are composed around the insignia of royalty (the king's drum, horse, elephant, titles, flag etc., but also his mountain, river and cities). Much of the vocabulary is still classical, and there is some delicate poetry among these stanzas". It is very difficult to point out a definite date. Anything between the 6th-10th cent, might be possible100. 1.2.2. In terms of purely literary evaluation, Tattuvarayar (ca. 1425-1475 A. D.) is probably the most powerful medieval poet of solitary stanzas, apart from being an immensely prolific author of various genres ('prabandhas) with Saiva and Vedantic ideology101. At this point we are concerned with three anthologies which go under his name. Patuturai is a unique collection of 1140 songs in 138 chapters of very different form and tunes: all of them full of ardent Vedanta-oriented Saivism; in some way or other they praise, besides extolling the poet's preceptor Corupanatar, other teachers of Saiva Jcuruparamparai (succession of gurus) which, according to the poet, begins with Mahes'vara and Uma and runs down to Tattuvarayar himself. Apart from some stanzas gathered from other texts (there are e.g. Saiva and even Vaisnava. bhajanas), the book contains mainly Tattuvarayar's own poetry, partly in the form of such structures as ammanai 'the ball-song,' palliyelucci 'the morning; 99

Cf. M. S. H. THOMPSON, Muttollayiram, TC 9 (1961) 335-42. Cf. T. V. SADASIVA PANDARATHAR, History of Tamil Literature (250-600 A.D.) (in Tamil), Annamalai 1955, p. 87. 101 He composed three venpd collections, two antdtis, six malais, two ulds, two paranis, one on the annihilation of Ignorance, one on the killing of Illusion, a pillaittamil, and a number of other prabandhas almost all in praise of his guru. A portion, of Mokavataipparam 'The parani about the killing of Illusion' includes 110 stanzasin which the Devi instructs her demons in Vedanta: this part of the poem is sometimes considered as an independent work, and is in popular use as the fundamental, introduction to Vedanta in Tamil. 100

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song of awakening,' palldntu 'many years' (a benedictory song), derived from ancient forms of bhakti poetry (q.v.), partly in the very simple form of ditties, and there are enormously important stanzas for our understanding of Tamil folk-poetry in the medieval period: thematically, these poems deal with various occupational groups and castes (e.g. carpenters, barbers, Brahmans, washermen, Paraiya women, religious beggars, Cettiyars), with members of the family (father, mother, sister etc.) and with animals (parrot, lizard, snake, cock etc.), all praising Siva and the gurus. The two other very important works of his are the Peruntirattu or 'Great Anthology' of 2821 stanzas, and the Kuruntirattu or 'Short Anthology' in 1340 stanzas; they conserve the religious and philosophic output of what was termed "the silver age of Saivism" in Tamilnadu. 1.2.3. Irattaiyar 'The Twins' or Irattaippulavar. 'The Twin Poets' (14th cent.) were brothers born in the cenkunta (weaver) caste: the elder, called Mutucuriyar 'Old Sun' was born lame; the younger, Ilafieuriyar 'Young Sun/ was blind. They went about, the blind man carrying his lame brother on the shoulders, begging and composing occasional stanzas, besides a number of prabandhas102. Their occasional verses are witty comments on daily life and extempore poems composed to meet various emergencies; they are all in venpd form and may be found in various anthologies. 1.2.4. A number of solitary stanzas have been ascribed to Auvaiyar 'The Old Lady'—very probably a term applied to more than one author; one of them composed didactic collections (q.v.), another was a medieval poetess composing extempore verses. Most of these stanzas in venpd form are witty, sometimes slightly ironical, often poignant and even profound comments and reflections, immensely popular; in fact, their authoress is a true people's poet, dealing with the common experiences of the masses. It is, though, quite possible that Auvai the authoress of these stanzas is identical with the poetess of the gnomic collections. It is of course almost impossible to set up a date of these stray stanzas. There are many popular stories concerning her life, her relationship to Kampan and Ottakkuttan, the great poets of the Chola court, and she has become so popular that today films are made about her. In fact, as a person, she "has passed into a dearly cherished myth103." Here is her answer to the four basic questions of Hindu moral philosophy (virtue, wealth, pleasure, release): To give is virtue. That which is earned without foul means is wealth. 102 E.g. the Tillaikkalampakam of 100 stanzas on Lord Nataraja of Citamparam which is important and interesting for the history of Tamil language, and the Ekamparanatarula in 556 verses in which they refer to a ruler of North ArcotOhingleput who is dated 1331-1381.

103 c. and

H. JESTJDASAN, HTL,

1961, p.

142.

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The constant love of two who help each other and whose tastes agree is pleasure. To give up these three, in the contemplation of the Supreme, is heavenly bliss.

1.2.5. Another well-known impromptu stanza has been ascribed to the son of the great Kampan, Ampikapati. The young man, a poet at the court of KulSttunka Chola, carried on an amorous intrigue with the king's daughter; betraying it in one of his poems, he was, by the king's command, impaled alive, and died after having suffered on the stake for a couple of days, repeating incessantly the following stanza: What can I do ? The fire which the divine maid with her venomed eyes kindled in my heart104 burns within me, it burns, it burns without extinguishing.

1.2.6. There is a number of solitary stanzas found in later anthologies going under the name Oppilamanippulavar, 'The Incomparable Jewel-Poet' (ca. 1375-1425). But the best known, and the most interesting poet among all who composed extempore stanzas, was Kalamekappulavar, "the only Tamil writer of the past who can claim the name of satirist105." The name which means 'Hailpouring Cloud' was given to him by Sarasvati who endowed him with the gift of poetic improvisation. His date is easy to fix since he was patronized by a Vijayanagara viceroy of the Chola country who ruled in 1453-1468 A.D. Kalamekam has flooded Tamil with torrents of stanzas, some of them witty and sharp, some of them mere word juggleries, or, at best, palindromes and acrostics which were so current in late Sanskrit poetry after Magha. In later medieval Tamil poetry, under the decisive impact of Sanskritic prosody and rhetoric, ciletai (Skt. Mesa), yamaka and cittirakavi (Skt. citrakavi) poems became

quite current. Kalamekappulavar became famous for his collection of stanzas entitled Yamakantam; each stanza contains a description of two entirely different things. Thus e.g. the following poem may be interpreted in two ways: nancirukkun tolurikkum ndtarmutimelirukkum vencinattirpar pattdl milatu—viricupukal ten pdyuncolai tirumalairayan patiyir pdmpdkum vdlaippalam 1. It has poison, it sheds its skin, it sits on the crown of Siva's head, its bite when irritated cannot be cured. Such is the case with the cobra in the city of the renowned Tirumalairayan where groves flow with honey. 2. It is easily bruised, its skin peals off, it hangs from the top of the parent tree, and it will not recover its former state if it comes into contact with teeth. Such is the case with the plantain-fruit in the city of the renowned Tirumalairayan where groves flow with honey. 104 The verse neficileiyttaneruppu 'fire kindled in the heart' has become so popular that it is used until today as title of poems, short stories and novels.

«* c. and H. JESUDASAN, HTL,

1961, p. 230.

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Kalamekam is said to have made Visnu's idol at Kannapuram fall down by the occult power of his couplet106; to have driven serpents out of a village with the magic of his verses; to have won many poetic contests due to his wonderful ability of rapid verse-making. Hence, he is the dcukavi 'extempore poet' of Tamil literature par excellence101. Some of his stanzas attack even gods; thus one day he went to a temple of Skanda; he found it difficult to push his way through the crowd of people and have darsan (the vision of the god); vexed and disappointed, he said, O Kumara! Why this vain parade for you ? Your father is a mendicant, your mother an ogress, your uncle a professed thief, and 108 your brother a glutton, as all the world knows . Some of his poems, however, are quite beautiful in a very different manner, as shown by the following stanza on Visnu-Tirumal: The immense blue ocean, a mountain of blue sapphire, a rising cloud of magnificent shape, or the blue blossom of the kdyd tree, a dark-blue mellow fruit— o Dark One, bewitching the eyes, which is indeed your shape ?

1.2.7. The Siddhas. From the point of view adopted in this book, the Tamil Siddha (cittar) poets will be dealt with at this point since most of their writings consist of typical solitary stanzas. It is necessary to stress that the Tamil Siddhas do interest us here as poets, and as poets only, not as religious thinkers, yogis, physicians or alchemists. And, from this point of view, the most important 106

O Lord of Kannapuram! You are greater than Siva, but I am greater than you! For hear me: You had ten births, and Siva had none, but my births are too many to be counted. 107 How inordinately proud he was of his talents may be gathered from the following lines—one of his poetical epistles to Tirumalairayan: "It is I the poet Kalamekam who has hoisted a flag proclaiming thereby that I shall compose a tutu in five ndlikai-houxs (i.e. 5 times 24 minutes), a mdlai in six ndlikais, an antdti in seven ndlikais, a mated, or kovai, in ten ndlikais, a parani in a day; and all kinds of epics (kdviyam) in a couple of days. I will cut off the ears of the poets who, stealing the compositions of others, parade them as their own, and bluster and puff in the presence of the ever-renowned Tirumalairayan of the race of the placid moon. I will whip them on their backs, slap them on their cheeks, and saddle and ride on them, bridling them with a hard bridle." This charming stanza gives us also a clue to the estimation of progressive difficulty in composing different prabandhas; the most difficult is of course the epic. 108 This reminds us of a solitary stanza by the Iratt-aiyar in which they attack Pi]]aiyar (GaNesa) calling his younger brother a stealer of maidens and Mayan. (Visnu) a stealer of butter. The mendicant father of Kumara is Siva, the mother Parvati. The thieving uncle Krsna, and the gluttonous brother is Ganesa.

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Siddha-oriented Tamil mystical poets are Tirumular, who has been called the greatest Tamil poet of symbolism, Civavakkiyar, Pattinattar, and Pampattic Cittar. The works of these poets, and of other Tamil cittar, have been only partly, and very inadequately, published109. Among the better-known, and rather interesting Siddha poets one should mention in addition to the four names cited above, are Pattirakiri (cf. Skt. Bhadragiri), "the Jeremiah of Tamil literature110," Itaikkattuccittar 'The Siddha of the Pasture-Forest'111 and Kutampaiccittar 'The Siddha with the Earthen Ring112.' Tirumular might have lived in the 7th cent. A. D. and his work Tirumantiram (cf. Skt. Srimantra) became part of the 10th book of the Saiva canon. It is the greatest treatment of Yoga in Tamil literature, and the source of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy; it also contains almost all typical features of the Tamil Siddha movement. It consists of more than 3000 quatrains in the kaliviruttam metre which, though they are connected by a fundamental unity of thought and motivation113, and divided into nine sections (called tantras), may yet be considered as self-contained, solitary stanzas. In many ways, Tirumular is the Tamil poet who, by expressing his mystic and occult experiences, lingering on the border-line between speech and wordless thought, trained the Tamil language to express the ineffable. To a lesser extent this is true of all Siddha poets. Some of the stanzas are simple enough, as e.g. the well-known quatrain which says The ignorant say: Love and Godhead are two different things. They do not know that it is Love that becomes Godhead. When they realize that it is Love that becomes Godhead, they will themselves rest in Godhead which became Love.

Or another in the same vein: Knowledge comes not but for balanced minds. For balanced minds there is no hell. Like the great gods will be balanced minds. I too cling to the path of balanced minds.

However, there are different stanzas, full of occult symbolism, which are rather like mantras (defined, incidentally, by Tirumular as "perfect concentration of the mind on anything"114): 109 jr o r historical and textual problems pertaining to Tamil Siddha works, cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, pp. 218-20, K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), K. V. ZVELEBIL, The Poets of the Powers, London, 1973, pp. 15-24. Cf. also A. V. STJBEAMANIA AIYAB, The Poetry and the Philosophy of the Tamil Siddhars, Tirunelveli 1957. "o Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, The Poets of the Powers, pp. 88-90. in Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, The Poets of the Powers, pp. 107-109. us Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, The Poets of the Powers, pp. 111-112. ii3 Which may be denned as the effort at an integration of Upanisadic knowledge, Yogic technique, and bhakti, all coloured strongly by Tantric thought. in Ta. manam oruvalippattatu mantiram.

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A huge drunk elephant hid the Tree; the huge drunk elephant disappeared behind the Tree; the base elements of the universe hid the Absolute; the base elements of the universe disappeared in the Absolute. At the junction of six roads the sweet sap oozes of the four palmyra palms. I placed a ladder so that I could climb. I climbed the palmyra, and saw the seven oceans.

Civavakkiyar (difficult to date; before the 10th cent.) is a poet of a very different style and diction: simple, often crude, always forceful. He is probably the most typical of all Tamil cittar poets, and, measured by purely literary criteria, certainly a greater poet than Tirumular. Like a lightning arising spreading receding and concealed so the Lord of my heart arose and spread and is concealed within. Like the eye which does not know its own straight sight, I do not know the Lord who is within me. As if he were not there! (St. 121)

Among his 527 stanzas called simply Patal (Songs) there are, apart from ripe mystical poems like the one above, shockingly direct and crude poems like, e.g., st. 38: What does it mean—a Pariah woman ? What is it—a Brahman woman ? Is there any difference in flesh, skin, or bones ? Do you feel any difference when you sleep with a Pariah or a Brahman woman ?

Pattinattar who may probably be regarded as the greatest Siddha poet, lived sometime in the 14th-15th cent., and his work goes into several hundreds of stanzas in different metres, most of them characterized by relativism, pessimism, hatred of women, a peculiar mixture of cynicism with pathetic helplessness, of utter resignation with utter disgust. Some of his images and metaphors are truly great: When the Carpenter of Time will fell, like trees which are broken and bruised,

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the bodies of men and women who clasp each other in close embrace, they will cry out and weep like a stricken drum. Among his 'beggary' stanzas are some which are real jewels of Indian mendicant poetry. There is the loin-cloth for my dress and for my pillow the outer porch. To eat—areca-nuts and betel-leaf. Cool water to drink. For precious help— the holy names, names of the Lord who rides the Bull. What is there higher in this world than the northern horn of the waning Moon ? What is there lower in this world than the southern horn of the waning Moon ?

Pampatticcittar or 'The Siddha with the Dancing Snake' is the most outspoken among all Siddha poets. His most probable date would be 1400-1450 A.D. Many of his stanzas—some rather vulgar, even obscene, some deeply symbolic—have become widely popular: Pus and filth and thick red blood and fat All together making up an ugly-smelling pitcher Now if that breaks Dog and jackal and large goblins and hawks will cry: It belongs to us And they will gobble it (63) Like a bubble that arises on the surface of water and perishes so indeed perishes this unstable body Therefore adhere to the Creator of so many lives in so many worlds Begin by loving Him And dance, O snake (64)

1.2.8. Anthologies. Innumerable occasional, extempore poems, mostly single-stanza poems, on a wide variety of topics and in many different metres (most frequently, though, in the venpd) have found their way, either anonymously, or ascribed to dozens of more or less well-known poets, into a number of anthologies (tirattu, kottu). Probably the earliest, and certainly the most important of the medieval anthologies is Purattirattu which contains 1570 stanzas gathered from 30 books, beginning with the classical bardic pieces and ending with Kampan. 473 poems deal with aram (dharma), 1032 poems with porul (artha); 65 stanzas on kdmarn were also recovered. Apart from stanzas out of well-known works,

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Purattirattu contains dozens of stanzas from texts which had been totally lost. According to S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, its editor, the anthology was compiled in the first half of the 15th cent. An abridged version entitled Purattirattuccurukkam was prepared late in the 17th cent. A.D. In the 19th and early 20th cent., traditionally-oriented Tamil scholars compiled dozens of anthologies, arranged along many different principles. Probably the most useful of all is I. Mu. Irakavaiyankar's Peruntokai 'The Great Anthology' (1935) which contains 2214 poems gathered from texts, commentaries, inscriptions115, and oral transmission (these are denoted as tanippdkkal 'stray stanzas'), and arranged topic-wise116. There are copious notes and two indices. Another important anthology is Tanicceyyutcintamani partly compiled by Karuppaiya Pavalar (b. 1844) in 1904 and edited by Mu. Ra. Kantacami Kavirayar in 1908. It contains many tanicceyyul 'solitary poems' which were current thus far only in oral tradition, or gathered from different old manuscripts in the library of the Fourth Tamil Academy in Maturai. Among the prabandhas there are some which may be considered as anthologies in a very broad sense of the term. These are of two kinds: either collections of poems of identical form on one specific subject by different authors, or collections of poems of identical form on different subjects by one author. A typical example of the first alternative is the well-known Tiruvalluvamalai, a collection of 53 quatrains in the venpd metre ascribed to gods, goddesses, and poets-academicians, all in praise of the Tirukkural and its author. The date of this malai or 'garland of stanzas' is probably the 10th cent. A.D. The second type may be exemplified by Palamolivilakkam 'Elucidation of Proverbs' alias Tantalaiyarcatakam, a cento of gnomic stanzas by Cantalinka Kavirayar of Tantalai (18th cent.); there is a popular saying or proverb (palamoli) quoted in each stanza. However, the obvious difference between anthologies proper and such genres as catakam 'cento' or malai 'garland' is in the degree of integration and formal and structural as well as semantic cohesion, though the basic material is, in both, the solitary stanza. 1.3. Pre-modern and Modern Poetry.

1.3.1. The individual, detached poem reappears as the most productive form in the modern period, after centuries of relative decay when Tamil poetry was us There is a slender but important modern anthology of poems recovered from inscriptions by MAYILAI CINI. VENKATACAMI, CacanacceyyuJ mancari, Madras 1959. n« The anthology is divided into three large sections: Katavulvalttiyal or 'The Chapter of Invocations' (contains 220 invocatory stanzas dedicated to various Hindu and Jaina gods and goddesses), Araviyal or 'The Chapter on Virtue' (dharma, stanzas 221-346), and Porujiyal or 'The Chapter on Worldly Matters' (the rest, on such topics as e.g. kingship, war, different poets, their patrons, various historical personages, literary works, Tamilnadu and its provinces, etc.).

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under the spell of the 'great' epic and narrative forms, and when it produced the ninety-six and odd prabandhas. On the other hand, the solitary, occasional stanza has of course never quite disappeared, and even in the late medieval and the pre-modern periods, it was a favourite with many poets and their patrons. One of the more prominent among these poets was Anantaparati Aiyankar (1786-1846) known as kavirdjasvdmi for his impromptu verses; he also composed many hymns in honour of various Saiva shrines117. The individual poem, however, degenerated in the hands of the 18th and 19th cent, poets into a mere occasional, extempore verse mostly with panegyric function118, or became a mere pastime in addition to more 'serious' preoccupation with 'prabandhas, pitranas, devotional hymns, dramas, and novel. Thus e.g. Ci. Tiyakaraca Cettiyar (1826-1888), one of the disciples of Minatcicuntaram Pillai, and a scholar and professor of Tamil at Kumbakonam, composed funny extempore verses together with his young friend U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar119. A prolific author of occasional stanzas was Mayavaram Vetanayakam Pillai (1824-1889), the well-known first Tamil novelist who in fact began his literary career by writing verse120. Some of his stanzas manifest freshness and happy choice of diction: Sung in the rainy season O you large cloud, you are like the miser who will say* yes and will do nothing! You run swift on the azure sky, stopping, thundering, stretching and flashing, but then you will not pour. You! (Tanippatarrirattu 35)

He praised in his stanzas his teacher Minatcicuntaram Pillai, his colleague Ci. Vai. TamStaram Pillai, and at the same time scolded flesh-eating Brahmans, and commented on such events as a cholera epidemy. In his interest in the simple life around he was a predecessor of Bharati. One of the very popular themes dealt with in the pre-modern poetry of the 19th and early 20th Cent, was Tamil. Without exception, the poems glorified 117 He was important as dramatist, and among his poetic compositions one should mention Uttararamayana kirttanai, Mupparrirattu, and Maruturvenpa. 118 As e.g. Maturakkavirayar (18th cent.), a dramatist who composed many panegyric poems mainly on Pirampur Anantarankam Pillai. 119 Cf. R. P. SETHTJ PILLAI, Tamilk kavitaik kajanciyam, Delhi 1960, p. 175. 120 p o r ^ 3 novel, cf. § 6.6.1. For his devotional poetry with Roman Catholic content, cf. § 2.13. For his didactic works, cf. § 3.4. He also wrote a collection of poems entitled Penputtimalai 'The Garland of Female Wisdom' which deals in a lighter vein with the need for education and social emancipation of women. Two other poets of the last decade of the 19th cent, should be mentioned: Kumarakuruparataca Cuvamikal (1850-1929), a typical traditionalist who has composed most of his poetry in the decade 1893-1903 (a total of 6666 stanzas in 6 volumes), cf. Kumarakurutaca Cuvamikal Patal and Tiruvalankarrirattu, both 1901, Tiruppa (1899), Cuppiramaniyamenpataikkuritta viyacam (1899) etc.; and Atinarayana Aiyar, who was so impressed by the introduction of steam-locomotive to India that he published a 'song' entitled PukaivaNtippirayajiappattu 'The Song about the Journey in a Train,' Madras 1896.

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past greatness of Tamil literature, extolled the excellence of the language, and dwelt on the beauties of Tamilnadu. They were largely composed by men who were not primarily poets but scholars, by Minateicuntaram Pillai (1815-1875), the great master of U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar, by P. Cuntaram Pillai (18551897), the editor, historian and dramatist who praised Goddess Tamil (tamilananku) as the fragrant essence of the tilakam 'beauty-spot' (which is the fair Dravida land) on the crescent-like forehead of India; by Ra. Irakavaiyankar, scholar and editor, by Tiru. Vi. Kalyanacuntara Mutaliyar, essayist, orator, scholar and politician, etc. This praise of Tamil culminated in the patriotic songs of S. Bharati (cf. § 1.3.2.) who, however, looked rather into the future than into the past, and saw wider and deeper contexts than any of his predecessors. It is characteristic of contemporary modern poets that their outlook is much more critical. 1.3.2. Subrahmanya Bharati as poet of short forms. The double "revolution" in the history of Tamil poetry—one formal, one thematic—has been accomplished by the time Bharati appeared on the scene: prosody based on the aksara and mdtrd of Sanskrit poetry has found its way into Tamil literature, and has stayed; and the mass-oriented poetry with some new popular themes, partly influenced by folk-poetry, remained an important factor in the pre-modern period. Also, poetry and music were now intimately connected. What remained was to deliver the diction of poetry from the fetters of traditionalism and classicism, and to apply poetry to the contemporary political and social themes and to a vision of the future. The man who accomplished this was makdkavi Ci. Cuppiramaniya Ayyar alias Subrahmanya Bharati (11. 12. 1882-12. 9. 1921)121. When he died, only about twenty people 121 Born in Ettayapuram, near Tirunelveli, in a Saiva Brahman family as the son of Cinnacami Ayyar and Latcumi AmmaL When he was five, his mother died. In 1889, his father remarried. The title Bharati (Tamil Parati = Sarasvati) was conferred on him in 1893 in the sabhd of the court-poets at Ettayapuram and became his nom de plume. 1894-97 studies in the Hindu College, Tirunelveli; in 1897 marriage with Cellammal (seven years old). 1898, death of father. 1898-1902, stay in Banaras; he learned Hindi, Sanskrit etc. 1902-4, court-poet at Ettayapuram. Disliked the job. 1904, August—November, Tamil teacher at Sethupati High School, Maturai. Nov. 1904: on the staff of Cutecamittiran, a well-known Tamil daily published in Madras. Since 1905 took active part in political life. 1906 on the staff of the radical weekly Intiya. In 1907 meets Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh, L. Lajpat Ray. Composed patriotic songs, published as his first book in 1908. In the same year had to take refuge in Pondicherry to escape arrest by British authorities. 1909, second volume of poems (Janmapumi). In subsequent years, in the Pondicherry exile, wrote for different papers and journals, studied the Vedas, translated the Bhagavadgita (1912), wrote KaNNa]&pattu, Kuyil, Pancalicapatam. 1917 first edition of Kannanpattu. 20. 11. 1918 left Pondicherry, arrested, released at once, went to Kilkkataiyam where he stayed between 1918-1919 in great poverty. In March 1919 returned to Madras, met Gandhi in Rajaji's house. In 1920, again on the staff of Cutecamittiran. Wrote many essays. In Sept. 1921, attacked by a temple elephant, and by dysentery. Died in the early hours of Sept. 12, 1921, aged 39. The best and

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accompanied the funeral bier122. Within the next two decades, he has become the national poet of Tamilnadu, acknowledged as a true mahdkavi123. In 1963, Jawaharlal Nehru has called for a translation of Bharati's poems into all Indian languages124; and, indeed, there now exist translations of his poetry into Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Russian, German, Czech, and English125, and possibly some more languages. We shall be concerned here with the evolution of Bharati's poetic personality, and with Bharati as the poet of short forms126. It was Bharati who in fact made the occasional, individual poem what it is today in Tamil literature, and infused new vigour into it, having influenced its content and form in a lasting manner. Bharati's creative beginnings were under the impact of pedantic, traditional most reliable biography is in Tamil by RA. A. PATMANAPAN, Cittira Parati, Cennai 1957 (published after 30 years of solid research). Cf. also PREMA NANDKUMAE, Subramania Bharati, New Delhi 1968; C. VISWANATHAN, Bharati and his Works, Madras 1929; P. MAHADEVAN, Subramania Bharati—A Memoir, Madras 1957; V, KAMASWAMY, Makakavi Paratiyar (in Tamil), Madras 1944; S. PREMA, Bharati in English Verse, Madras 1958; K. S. RAMASWAMI SASTRI, Subramania Bharati— His Mind and Art, Madras 1951; A. SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN (ed.), The Voice of a Poet, Calcutta 1951; K. N. SUBRAMANIAM, Bharati, Madras 1959; PERIYACAMI TtiRAN, Parati Tamil, Madras 1954; K. MEENAKSHISUNDARAN, A Study on the Poetical Works of Subramania Bharathi, Madras 1965; V. SACHITHANANDAN, The Impact of Western Though on Bharati, Annamalainagar, 1970. There is a number of papers by different scholars on various aspects of Bharati's life and writings to be found on the pages of journals like TC, Indian Literature, and elsewhere. 122 Cf. P. C. Nellaiyappar's testimony, quoted in Cittira Parati, p. 132. 123 The first appeal to Bharati's friends to publish his works came from S. Satyamurthi. In 1921, Bharati's wife CellammaJ and his brother-in-law K. R. Appadurai founded the publishing house Parati Aciramam, and in 1922 they published a few books, but had to close down in 1923. In 1924, Harihara Sharma, C, Viswanathan (the poet's brother), and Natarajan (his son-in-law) founded the Parati Piracuralayam which went on publishing the poet's works for over 20 years. In 1949, the government of Madras bought the editorial rights and in 1954 published Bharati's poems, in 1959-63 four volumes of prose. The copyright was released in 1963. It is almost certain that, so far, not all of Bharati's works have been published, cf. R. KANNAN, Putuneri kattiya Parati, Cennai 1965, foreword, and KalaimakaJ, Tipavah'malar, 1966, p. 27; also according to personal communication by R. A. PADMANABHAN in

1958.

124

Cf. Paratiyarukku Neru pukalmalai, Navamani, 12. 12. 1963, p. 5. 125 Translations into English: Agni and Other Poems and Translations by C. Subrahmanya Bharati, Madras 1937; S. PREMA, Bharati in English Verse, Madras 1958; R. P. SETHU PILLAI, Bharati's Poems, Ind. Lit. 2,1,46-56; C. RAJAGOPALA-

CHARI, Bharati the Tamil Poet, Young India, 13. 12. 1928, 3. 1. 1929, 17. 1. 1929, 24. 1. 1929; T. G. NARAYANASWAMY, Bogus Patriots and Other Poems, Madras 1960; P. S. STJNDARAM, Kannan Pattu, TC 8 (1958) 350-4; HAKI VALAM, Panchali Sapatam (The Vow of Panchali), Devalali 1957; H. JESUDASAN, The Song of the Cuckoo and other Poems, Trivandrum 1950; A. SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN (ed.), The Voice of a Poet, Calcutta 1951, 2nd ed. 1956; RAMA STTBBIAH, The Song of the Kuyil, Tamiloli 1966-7,8,158-84. 128 jPOr the epic poems of Bharati, cf. § 4.6.1. For Bharati's prose, cf. § 6.4.

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medieval poetry; he wrote such genres as ulds, matals, yamaka poems etc. His first short poems (composed before 1904) are a simple erotic poem, a kdvaticcintu on Murukan, and two poems possibly in imitation of Shelley whom he admired127. He deals critically with his own beginnings in a later autobiographic poem of his and in the fragment of an autobiographic story. The fact that he took part, between 1905-8, in the national movement, influenced strongly his poetry which received a decisive political and social stimulus, as may be seen in his first two published collections, Cuvateca kitankal (1908) and Janmapumi (1909). The poems are dedicated to Sister Nivedita128 who converted him to Saktism of the then fashionable Bengali variety, including the worship of Mother India as Sakti. He then considered Nivedita as a goddess and as his guru. She also influenced strongly his thinking on the caste system, and his attitude towards women. In the beginning of 1906, he obviously resolved to compose patriotic songs and poems129. Indeed, all his poems but two, written round 1906-8, are passionate nationalistic propaganda (e.g. Tayin manikkoti in Intiya, 11. 7. 1908, Enne kotumai, 4. 4. 1906 in Cutecamittiran); some are comments on political events (e.g. on the fate of L.Lajpat Ray), some are praises of contemporary political leaders (e.g. of B. G. Tilak), some are visions of future India, and glorifications of its past. These poems, or most of them, have only a limited, historical importance today; but in the evolution of Tamil poetry they had their important place because in them Bharati introduced modern political and social reality into poetry and bridged the abyss, prevalent until then, between literature and the socio-political problems of the day. They are mostly composed with heroic pathos; sometimes they are ironical or elegiac in tone130. Rather powerful are those which are satirical (e.g. Natippucutecikal 127

Tetakkitaiyata Cormame, Paccaittirumayil viran, Celvattut pirantanama, p.61 Tanimai irakkam. The last poem, published in Vivekapanu, Maturai, in July 1904, shows experimentation with the sonnetform, and so do his other early poems, Yan (1906) and Cantirikai (1906). 128 Sister Nivedita (1869-1911), an Irish woman, Margaret E. Noble, disciple of Swami Vivekananda, joined the Ramakrishna Order. Cf. e.g. the following litany of Bharati: Nivedita, Mother, / Thou, Temple consecrated to Love, / Thou, Sun dispelling my soul's darkness, / Thou, Rain to the parched land of our lives, / Thou, helper of the helpless and lost, / Thou, Offering to Grace, / Thou, divine spark of Truth, / My salutation to Thee! (Transl. S. PREMA). The vision of India as the Mother, as Siva's Sakti, is as widespread in space and time, and as deeply ingrained and lasting as the hero and heroine worship, and there are moments in India's history when the two conjoin: this is precisely what has happened very recently to Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, after the victorious war with Pakistan, cf. P. L. SHARMA'S book World's Greatest Woman (1973) in which Mrs. Gandhi is not only designed as 'the warrior queen' and 'greater than the greatest,' but also 'Brahma the creator of the new India, Vishnu the preserver of its democracy and Shiva the destroyer as she destroyed the army of Pakistan.' According to the author, she represents 'time and eternity, both.' la* Cf. Cutecamittiran, 13. 2. and 28. 2. 1906. 130 It is interesting that in Cutecamittiran, 29. 1. 1906, a poem by Bharati appeared in honour of the Prince of Wales and, in fact, in praise of the British

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on 'false patriots'), and also some of the revolutionary-heroic songs have more than ephemeral validity (e.g. Cutantirappallu). Even more important is possibly the formal experimentation in prosody and rhetoric, and the increase of spoken forms in Bharati's poetry. Thus he adopted Tayumanavar's rhythmic pattern of Anantakkalippu for a number of his poems (Tamilttay, Tayin manikkoti), Gopalakrishna Bharati's metres (Cutantirapperumai etc.), and he also used genuine folk-songs as source, and the literary usage which followed folk-songs (i.e. pallu, cintu etc.): thus Enkal tay is formally a kdvaticcintu, the satirical poem on false patriots is a kilihkanni etc. He has also used Ramalinga Svami as model. He adapted these folk forms to political themes and revitalized them. Most of these poems were intended to be sung; and they are being sung until this day, though naturally with lesser impact than thirty years ago. In his poem Cutantira teviyin tuti he sings: Although divorced from the joys of the hearth And consigned to dungeons dark; Although forced to exchange A time of cheer for days of gloom; Although ten million troubles raged To consume me entire; Freedom! Mother! I shall not forget To worship Thee. (Transl. S. Prema)

Another large group of Bharati's'solitary poems are inspired by his Saktism which passed through several stages: the first was rather impersonal and cool (his poems of 1909-10, not much worth poetically). Until about 1908-9 he considered Mother India as "the natural and concentrated symbol of this allmaking Goddess," and as the goddess of freedom. In the days of his Pondicherry exile, iSaktism became Bharati's personal religion (ef. his poems Kalikkuc camarppanam, Cakti tiruppukal, Munru katal, Kalippattu etc.). He became engaged in the search of immortality in this life. Finally he understood mukti or liberation as a state free from all worries, fears and needs, as the overcoming of the feeling of duality, as the union ofjivdtmd with paramdtmd and the ethical perfection in the sense of the Gita. (Saktism became for him the religion of immortality to be achieved by mankind in this existence131; also a religion which rejects external asceticism. He composed a number of philosophical poems (Katci, Poyyo meyyo) in which he says, e.g.: All we see, they are all real . . . All we see are Shakti eternal, All we see are forms eternal.

(Transl. A. Muthusivan)

After 1914, his poems reflect his intimate mystical visions and experiences; there is a mystic-spiritual interpretation of nature and the universe in a number achievement in India (Nalvaravukurutal). This is, however, the only instance of Bharati praising the English. 131 Cf. the Introduction to his version of the Gita; also C. Subrahmanya Bharati, Essays and other Prose Fragments, p. 10, and KatturaikaJ, Tattuvam, p. 11.

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of his poems of this period, some of which belong to his best creations. Thus in the amazing Ulikkuttu 'The Dance of Doom' he sings: When the demon-hosts clash Hitting head against head, When the knocking and the breaking Beat the rhythmic time, When the sparks from your eyes Reach the ends of the earth, Then is the doomed hour Of universal death! Mother, Mother, You've drawn me To see thee dance! (Transl. S. Prema)

In Para^akti he says: Here comes the rain; The clouds huddle in the sky and it is dark; The Lightning flows in a flashing curve, And the north wind is a bark. I turn to sing of this, this miracle of the descent of Heaven's waters, And my words stray away. They sing 'Victory to her! The wind and the rain, they are the Mother's play.' The Mother! Beyond the bourne of the word she lies; And yet all words to her she ties. They who can see light in the womb of darkness, Consciousness in stone, A moment at rest in the ceaseless flow of time, And the flash thrown of Indra's vajra from a blade of grass, They, only they, can see. And yet, strange!she calls: 'Poet, sing of me.' (Transl. A. Srinivasa Raghavan) Another magnificent poem of his ripe years is dedicated to rain (Malai), the second stanza of which runs as follows: Lightning leaps in a clap, And the sea Dashes its mane against Heaven's dome; The clouds break and rumble; The wind tears at the sky as at a trap, And the sky beats a tattoo and laughs in mad spree. The corners of space crumble. Oh, the mighty rain! Dham tarikita dheem tarikita dhom! (Transl. A. Srinivasa Raghavan) Bharati was very very Indian in believing to be able to evoke !§akti and induce her to grant him boons by the magic, mantra-like power of his own

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songs (cf. his Caktikkuttu, Navarattirappattu, Civacaktipukal etc.). There are groups of poems addressed to &akti to grant him knowledge, firmness of will, ethical perfection (cf. Petai neiice, Vitutalai venpa, Canku, Accamillai etc.). He was greatly influenced by &aiva bhakti poets and by Ramalinga: thus Accamillai 'There's no fear' is a pantdra-like song. In 1915-16 he was much under the influence of three non-Brahmin svdmls who instructed him in Vedanta. Under this influence he composed his "Vedantic" songs, like Jayaperikai, Nan, Anpuceytal, etc. He says:' 'Well, brother, if I wear this thread, you brand me a Brahmin forever; but I am as much a Christian, a Mussulman or a Jew as I am a Brahmin. Humanity is my community and Love is my creed." During these years, though, he did not forget contemporary events either; and thus arose typically occasional poems—on women's freedom and equality, political comments, etc. Of these, the best are Putiya konanki 'The New Soothsayer,' and Muracu 'The Drum'—the vision of new, happy India of the future. The second poem is also interesting and important because of its form: it is the song of a religious beggar, accompanied by drumming; the drumming rhythm is suggestive, the use of colloquial forms most apt; the vision of Indian future assumes the power of prophecy. Muracu 'The Drum' is a message of freedom, equality, and brotherhood132. Another group of Bharati's poems is centred around one single theme: the worship of Krsna. His collection Kannanpattu (1912), strongly influenced by the Vaisnava poet-saints, illustrates Bharati's own words: " . . . the Indian mind has turned all forms of human life and emotion and all phenomena of the universe into symbols and means by which the embodied soul may strive after and grasp the Supreme. Indian devotion has especially seized upon the most intimate human relations and made them stepping stones to the superhuman. God the guru, God the master, God the friend, God the mother, God the child, God the self, each of these experiences—for to us these are more than mere ideas—it has carried to its extreme possibilities133." The collection of 23 poems contains gems of mystical poetry, but also some of the best love-lyrics in Tamil literature, composed in the ndyaka-ndyaki bhava under strong influence of Antal 134 : . . . somebody softly stole to me, And behind me standing, closed my eyes. I felt the soft hands and in a flash was wise; I knew her by the fragrance of her silk saree, 13

« Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, Bharati's Poems, TC 3, pp. 297-314. Essays, p. 58. 134 There are twelve of these poems in the collection. For Bharati, this bhava was the summit of the symbolism of the relationship between God and human soul, cf. "It would seem as if this passionate human symbol were the natural culminating point for the mounting flame of the soul's devotion." Essays, p. 58. According to V. V. S. AIYAR (Introduction to the 2nd ed. of Kannanpattu), "our Poet . . . has in delineating this 'Bhava' dwelt more on the physical side of love than on the spiritual." 133

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I knew her by the joy that within me welled, I knew her by the beat of our kindred hearts. 'Oh, take thy hands away, Kannamma. Thy arts,' I cried,' are of no avail.' Her hands I held. And then, while her laughter tinkled, I freed my eye, And turning, drew her to me and said 'Behave.' (Kannamma-en katali. Transl. P. N. Appuswami) Hot is my body; and my head Is all in a whirl; The madding moonlight clasps the sky With arms of pearl. The world is wrapt in a quiet, Steeped in sleep; I alone writhe in a hell Of agony deep . . . To meet and never to part; And all the night, To be thrilled again and yet again With thy body bright . . . (Kannamma-en katali. Transl. A. Srinivasa Raghavan)

Bharati wrote other songs on Krsna, besides the above quoted collection— one of the loveliest and yet very simple is Nantalala135. Another simple love song is Cantiramati136, and, in a similar tune, Kilivitututu or the 'ParrotMessenger137.' Bharati's romantic-mystical visions of Aryan gods were inspired by his own translations of a few Rgvedic hymns (on the instigation of Shri Aurobindo, who also in 1912 induced him to translate the Bhagavadgita into Tamil). These poems are of relatively small importance. Of the poems of his last period (1918-1921), the most important in terms of literary evaluation are those dealing with immortality (e.g. Jayaperikai, Cakavaram). His Intiya camutayam is a synthesis of his nationalistic and social ideas. In his last years, Bharati returned to classical and traditional forms; his language became Sanskritized and highly formal138. One of his last poems, 135

In the crow's dark feathers, Nandalala, your black colour appears, Nandalala. In the leaves of all trees, Nandalala, your divine green is seen, Nandalala. In all the sounds which I hear, Nandalala, it is your song that resounds, Nandalala. When my finger feels the flame, Nandalala, I am thrilled with your sweet touch, Nandalala. 136 The third stanza says: I see in the ocean / Your long winding tresses: / I see in the moon / Your beautiful face: / I see in the world's expanse / The light of your mind: / I see in the march of time / The glow of your Love (Transl. S. PREMA). 137 The message is of a love-lorn maiden to Murukan, the son of the dancer at Tillai. 138 He also employs traditional classical forms: a pancakam in Mahatma. Kantipancakam, a ndnmanimalai in a poem on Vinayaka, a navarattinamalai in PAratamata navarattinamalai.

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Puldkakumari on the goddess of Katayam temple, is written entirely in Sanskrit. There is no doubt that Bharati revived in a decisive way the occasional, solitary poem (tanippdtal) and revomtionalized it both in form and in content. With Ms political comments in verse (such as e.g., on the Russian revolution— though it is not certain which one he had exactly in mind—or on the Belgian bravery vis-d-vis the German occupation) he paved the way for modern and contemporary poets of the type of N. Piccamurtti or C. Mani, Ci. Rakunatan or P. Kalyanacuntaram. In his philosophical and mystical poetry, he showed the road leading to contemporary intellectual poets, and in the field of prosepoetry (vacanak kavitai) he also was the great innovator139. Without S. Bharati and his poetic heritage, much of what contemporary Tamil poetry has achieved would have been quite impossible. In his poetry, the modern, the topical, the temporary and contemporary encounters 'the eternal.' He was the great pathbreaker, and, thus far, none greater than Bharati has appeared in modern Tamil poetry. But some of the contemporary poets are more interesting. 1.3.3. Kavimani Tecikavinayakam Pillai (1876-26. 9. 1954)140 was one of the first Tamil authors to write poetry for children. These verses belong to his best, and he paved the way for the most important children's poet in Tamil, Ala. Valliyappa. His tragicomical satire on the matriarchal system prevalent among the velldla community of Nancilnatn141 had a role to play rather in the social set-up of modern Tamil society than in Tamil literature. Kavimani's kind humour, his concern for women and children, and his supreme command of the venjpd form are the most typical features of his occasional pieces composed in a very simple, flowing language, and influenced, on the one hand, by S. Bharati, on the other by his own translations142. Thus e.g. in a poem entitled 'It ia sweet to live' he echoes his beloved Omar Khayyam: There's cooling shade for the heat of the sun. There's the sweet southern wind. 139 Ci. Rakunatan tried to show that Bharati did not write any prose-poetry, butsimply 'beautiful' poetical prose. But Bharati himself calls such pieces as Kami 'Wind' or Katci 'Spectacle' (which inspired, by the way, N. Piccamurtti to his first attempts at free verse) vacanakavitai, lit. poetry (in) prose, prose-poetry. His prosepoetry was evidently greatly influenced by R. Tagore, but does not at all achieve Tagore's heights. These experiments were induced by Bharati's desire to express himself naturally, forcefully, and effortlessly; in ideology, this prose-poetry (not free verse!) is mostly Vedantic-oriented. Some of it sounds very modern, and indeed opens new vistas in Tamil literature: Mind is the enemy within / And cuts our roots / Parasite Mind alone is the enemy / Let us peck at it / Let us tear it / Come let us hunt in down (Transl. S. PREMA). 140 Born in Terur in Nancilnatu. Received English education, made some research in epigraphy. By profession teacher in a women's college. i« MarumakkalvaJimanmiyam, a satiric kdvya. "* Translated Sir Edwin Arnold's Light of Asia (Aciyajoti) and Omar Khayyam's, quatrains (Umarkayyampa^alkal).

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There's Kamban's poem in my hand and a cup full of wine. There's plenty of divine songs and you, who know how to sing! What other paradise is there but this, this our life to live ?

1.3.4. Namakkal Ve. Iramalinkam Pillai (19. 10. 1888-1972) was proclaimed the official 'national' poet of Madras (Tamilnadu) after 1947, since he took an active part in the Gandhian struggle for Independence. His best work is his charming Autobiography143, not his poems, which lack the necessary multivalence and linguistic stylization of true poetry. One of his songs, though, which begins with the words Kattiyinri rattaminri 'Without knife and blood' became quite famous; it is a message of ahimsd in suggestive rhythm and full of assonances and alliterations, which inspired the masses in their march for freedom. 1.3.5. A very different, and a much greater poet was Ca. Tu. Cuppiramaniya Yoki (S. D. S. Yogi), a tdntric and a devotee of Kali, probably the greatest mystical poet of modern Tamil literature. Apart from translations (Omar Khayyam again), he composed a longish poem on Mary Magdalene, and published a collection of pieces entitled Tamilkkumari patalkal 'The Songs of the Damsel Tamil.' He has not written in abundance, but each of his poems is an important, even striking contribution to Tamil literature, with their suggestions, incantations, employment of connotative meanings of words and phrases, in short, with their use of the reverberative potency of words (Skt. dhvani). Some of his poems are of lasting merit, as e.g. the magnificent vision of time in fifteen stanzas: In the deep expanse of your swelling ocean the years are its waves, months the foaming globes, the days are its bubbles, hours the breaths of air buried in the spume, and the rolling seconds tiny trembling drops. (3) You, indestructible, man has shattered; but every fissure with every break have been coupling and copulating to be joined again. That man does not know. (10) The clouds of past create the torrents of the future. And yet the present, time, windless, drags in sultry heat. (13) Surprisingly enough, Yogi has also composed film-songs; equally surprisingly, he has written a few poems which show deep concern about the utter misery of 143 p o r jjjg Autobiography, cf. § 6.6.8. He also wrote a kdvya entitled Avanum ava]um 'He and She,' and published a collection of poems entitled Tamilan itayam 'The Tamilian's Heart.'

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the impoverished masses in modern Indian society; one of these poems ('Penniless Kanakarattinam') begins Heat hurled headlong glows and burns like a flame, the tar in the long, endless street melts like butter in fire. Cars. And trams. All on the move. Waves of burning heat. There's not a single pipe with running water in that shadeless Madras

and ends His heart in boiling rage, his whole mind on suicide he prowls about through all the streets of the grand city of Madras.

In terms of aesthetic evaluation, Yogi is, besides Bharati and Bharatidasan, the greatest poet of modern Tamil literature. The 'monastic' tradition in modern Tamil poetry is represented mainly by two writers. Cuvami Cuttananta Parati is a yogi who spent many years in Aurobindo's a&ram. He knows a number of languages, has travelled widely, and is the author of a large number of poems, reviews, and of the voluminous Paratacaktimakakaviyam, a blend oT traditionalism and progressivism. He is also responsible for a number of translations. Vipulananta Atikal (1892-1942), a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, is more important as the author of scholarly books144 and as translator (e.g. Tagore's Gitanjali) than as original poet. 1.3.6. When, in 1938, Bharatidasan (Kanaka Cuppurattinam) published the first volume of his poems, he was hailed as the first really great poet after Bharati (K. P. Rajagopalan), as one of the great modern world-poets (T. J. Ranganathan); V. Ramaswamy and Puthumaippittan, both of whom were rather sharp and critical men, accepted Bharatidasan's poetry as exceptionally outstanding. He undoubtedly was the best-known, the most popular, and the most forceful and influential personality in Tamil poetry after the second world-war145. He was born on 29. 4. 1891 in Pondicherry and died on 21. 3. 1964 in Madras. By profession a teacher of Tamil, he had imbibed the French cultural and political atmosphere of Pondicherry, but soon adopted the anti-Brahman and anti-Hindi struggle as his own and has in fact become the bard of the Dravidian movement. He was, to some extent, influenced by Bharati whom he knew personally. However, unlike Bharati, he tried to revive the rich classical heritage in its i*4 Very useful is his Yalnul on Tamil music, Tanjore 1947. He was very active as 145 teacher at the universities of Ceylon and Annamalai. A fine bon mot of Curata is quoted in Tipam, Jan. 1972, p. 8 by Rajentiran: "There was only one Bharatidasan ('slave of Bharati'). But there are many slaves of Bharatidasan."

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entirety, in form and content, revolting against the more recent past. Also unlike Bharati, he was in most of his works violently antireligious; and, again quite contrary to Bharati's vision of one free united India, Bharatidasan became in many of his poems a fierce propagandist of Dravidian separatism. Though he has composed dozens of short solitary poems (collected and published in Paratitacan kavitaikal, 1938-1955, 3 vols., Alakin cirippu 'The Smile of Beauty,' 1940, Katal ninaivukal 'Thoughts about Love,' 1944, Tamiliyakkam 'The Tamil Movement,' 1945, Amaiti 'Peace,' 1946, Icai amutu 'The Nectar of Songs,' 2 vols., Tenaruvi 'The Honeyed Waterfall,' etc.), his most important contributions comprise narrative poetry, epic and dramatic poems146—and, in fact, there is a strong dramatic and narrative element even in his short solitary pieces. He says, in a poem entitled Tamilpperu 'The Tamil Fortune,' that he has chosen rather to sing about the suffering Tamils than about the beauties of nature since his people in Tamilnadu "were stuporous in their sufferings." The solution for their troubles consists in removing social and economic evils and their root-causes: Aryan and Brahman domination over the Tamils, and religion, its main tool. A better society should be built on the model of the glorious, secular, un-Aryan past of Tamilnadu. The basic prerequisite is an ardent, absolute love of Tamil which is, for Bharatidasan, the very essence of his being, his life, for which he would not hesitate to sacrifice everything, even his flesh and blood. Like moonlight and the sky, like the warrior and his sharp sword, like the beautiful blossom and its fragranoe, like the crocodile-shaped lute and its music, like the eye and its lustre, so is my sweet Tamil and I.

Beyond the borders of Tamilnadu is the land of the Dravidians. If a stranger asked me, what was the name of my tribe, an inexpressible joy would arise in my heart. "I am a Dravidian," I'd say, and my tongue would be all honey, and my pride and glory would reach the skies. Brahmins, their rituals, their religion, their gods, and the very idea of god should be removed. In one poem (Katavul maraintar) god disappears when asked the following question by the poet: "You honourable god—show me, who is the sculptor that made you ?" In the same poem Bharatidasan says: He looked at me and kept repeating: "I am God. I am God." "Some say that you don't exist. Some say that you do. I don't care about god." In a similar poem ('God has a tail') Bharatidasan unfolds his vision of religion in this series of forceful metaphors: 148 Cf. § 4.6.3.

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God invisible is, in fact, a black monkey. A cloddy bangle hangs on the tail of the ape. And an ass called Religion rocks in that ring to and fro. And in the claws of the tail of that useless ass hangs a miserable vagabond of a bat— the hateful system of the castes . . .

And Bharatidasan proclaims his simple thesis against the thesis of the 'bellystuffing theist:' cut off the tail of that monkey-god before he burns and scorches the earth. From the classical ipre-bhakti literature he takes not only some themes and motifs, but similes, diction, and metric form. Some of his songs and poems in Icai amutu, Tenaruvi, and other collections, are direct adaptations of bardic poetry (e.g. of Narrinai 284, Kuruntokai 61.2-6), some are simplified paraphrases of classical poems (e.g. of Kuruntokai 186, 189); he also directly quotes from the Tirukkural. His Manimekalaivenpa and Kannakipuratcikkappiyam are modified versions of the two epics. He often uses classical metres (akaval etc.). Many poems are replete with pathos, their diction is consciously 'purified' and the vocabulary classical. To his own poems, he has frequently assigned the tinai (situation) and the turai (theme) of classical poetry of the alcam and puram genres. The poems range from lyrical pieces on love and the beauty of nature through narrative poems with 'revolutionary' message147 to radical political songs and propagandist harangues. Thus he has become a very controversial poet of many works of uneven and problematic quality. Unfortunately, his missionary zeal gets the upper hand and often, especially in later years, stifles the poet in him148. And that is the great tragedy of Bharatidasan, though he would have probably not admitted it (or would he ? he certainly was not a happy man): this true master of modern Tamil uses his powerful and striking imagery in the service of propaganda and political oratory, and many of his poems become a series of hollow slogans. 1.3.7. Mutiyaracan (Ke. Es. Turairacu), professor of Tamil in a high school at Karaikkuti, is a romantic revivalist who writes poems in traditional metres and classical diction, singing about the beauties of nature; noble feelings, some ethical preaching, and occasional apt images are characteristic of his poetry149. Vanitacan (Etiracu Arafikacami), a French-educated student of Bharatidasan, by profession a Tamil teacher in Pondicherry, is another romantic poet; he was hailed as a direct successor of Bharati and Bharatidasan, even as a Tamil 147

He got the title puratcikkavi 'the poet of revolt.' "8 Cf. S. J. GUNASEGARAM, The Poet of Revolt, TC 8 (1959) 71-80; CALAI ILANTIRAIYAN, Paratitacan kavitai, in Putiya tamilk kavitai, Madras 1966, 71—87; L*. NANNITHAMBY, Traces of Earlier Literatures in the Poetical Works of Bharati Dasan, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, II, 1969, 278-87. 149 Collection of songs entitled Kaviyappavai; two slender volumes of poems.

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Tagore, which is a gross exaggeration. His poems are pleasant pictures of nature in choice diction of the classical type with a few beautiful images, though his ideology is occasionally very progressive, and might even be termed leftist humanism150. The well-known short-story writer Ki. Va. Jakannatan, a student of U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar and editor of the popular literary monthly Kalaimakal, has also published a number of poems in a collection entitled Mekamantalam 'The Region of Clouds.' Ala. Valliyappa is well-known as the children's poet (kulantaik kavinar). His poems are not only for children, but also about children, composed in a very simple, sweet language, and full of gentle pathos, teaching the 'good traditional' values151. 1.3.8. Ma. P. Periyacamit Turan, an eminent scholar, discoverer and editor of Bharati's unknown poems and prose-pieces152, chief editor of the Tamil Encyclopaedia, and a well-known short story writer and dramatist, is also a sensitive poet of Tamil country-life, inspired by folk-songs and folk-stories. Mi. Pa. Comacuntaram (born 1921), better known under his nom de plume Somu, is an educated poet and prosateur, who has been active in broadcasting as well as a keen student of art, editor of the well-known journal Kalki, and short-story writer and novelist153. He has received a number of literary awards, one of them for a collection of poems entitled Ilavenil 'Early Summer' (1948). The rhythm of his poems is inspired by medieval poetry, by Ramalinga, Bharati and the folk-songs. However, he also has a keen sense of humour and a sharp eye for contemporary life. In a poem about London he says: And Piccadilly Circus— a pakka shopping centre, I'd say! The abundance of things they sell there— There's not a thing they wouldn't sell! I don't really know Soho— a corner with a crore of universal belles. There are there many additional oho's which I leave better to your fancy's swells!

The most interesting feature of Kottamankalam Cuppu's poems is the fact that he has introduced a truly colloquial, spoken, even vulgar, language into his poetry which deals with the simple life of the masses (without preaching any 150

Collections of poems Eliloviyam (1954), Ko^imullai, Inpa ilakkiyam, Tamilacci, To^uvanam. 151 The best-known collection is Malarum ujjam 'Blossoming Heart.' 152 Paratittamil, Cennai 1963 (2nd ed.). Cf. also E i . A. PATMANAPAN (ed.), Parati putaiyal, 2 vols., Madras 1958, 1959. 153 Born in Tirunelveli. Studied Western art, lived in England. In 1961 received a prize of the Madras Government for Kelatakanam (collection of short stories), in 1963 the Sahitya Akademi prize for his travelogue Akkaraiccimaiyil. Apart from Ilavenil (1948), his poems were collected in Manapparavai 'The Bird of Mind' (1965).

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definite political ideology, though). His long narrative poems, too 154 , are composed in the form and diction of rough folk-songs. He is one of the popular writers of film-songs. To give an instance of his diction: I don't understand nothin', mum— I don't understand nothin' of the great show what goes on in the world, mum When a big man tells a lie he'll get into the papers When a small man tells a lie he'll get into jail When the educated fuck it'll be called love When a lout from a village has a go they'll say it's a sin (From Puriyatavanpattu 'The Song of the One who doesn't understand') Kampatacan (Rajappa) is a left-oriented poet who sees in sharp contours the life of the working classes; for him, the thing worth while singing about is the hard work of the masses which creates material values, and the injustice which the poor have to suffer in capitalist society. There is a remedy for all kinds of fatigue; but there is no appeasement of the hunger, the thirst, the worries, the desires of beggars and exploited workers155. In 1959, premature death snatched away the 29-year old people's bard, Pattukkottai Kalyanacuntaram, who has had seventeen different jobs (peasant, cowherd, miner, driver, dancer, vendor, actor etc.) but only one real profession —poetry, inspired, in its form and language, by Tamil folk-songs, in its sujets by the life of villagers and workers, and in ideology by revolutionary Marxism. As poetry, judged by purely literary criteria, his songs are not much more than versified leftist slogans—with the exception of the simple idyllic pictures of village life, composed on the model of folk-songs. Another premature loss in the field of modern poetry was Tamiloli, a truly gifted, and exceptionally sensitive poet, whose powerful long poem Virayi on Harijans and untouchability, and another poem entitled 'Kannappan's Parrots,' manifest a great beauty coupled with extraordinary skill, a promise of greater things to come, unfortunately unfulfilled. 1.3.9. There is a host of modern and contemporary poets who should at least be mentioned by name: Kavi Ka. Mu. Serippu (Sherifu, Sharif), a well-known author of film lyrics; Es. Kantacami alias Turaivan, the author of a kdvya on Gandhi; Je. Tankavelu alias Curapi, the author of many songs with patriotic feelings and socialist leanings; Ra. Ayyacami, Ka. Appalinkam alias Kalaivanan 156 , Ke. Pi. Kanapati (Maran), the humorist Pe. Ko. Cuntararajan alias 154

Kantimakankatai 'The Story of Mahatma Gandhi,' Paratiyarcarittiram 'The Life of Bharati' etc. 155 Collection of poems Arunotayam 'The Dawn.' 156 A kdvya on Gandhi; collections of poems: Jivanantam, Nivetanam, Manaccimil.

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Citti, Vi. Ra. Rajakopalan (Calivahanan) who has paraphrased in verse the stories of Pancatantra, Ke. Ke. Naracimman alias Cakticaranan, Vidvan Vi. Turaicami, Kuyilan, Murukaiyan and Navarkuliyur Nataracan, both from Ceylon, Tamilalakan, En. Es. Citanaparam, the author of popular radio songs, Mu. Annamalai, Cami Palaniyappan, the well-known dramatist Puttaneri Ra. Cuppiramaniyan, K5vai Ci. E. Ayyamuttu. One of the truly gifted modern poets is the leftist Ke. Ci. Es. Arunacalam, whose collection Kavitai en kaival 'Poetry is my sword' contains some very good pieces. One of the most interesting contemporary poets is Na. Kamaracan157; exceptionally gifted and intelligent, he stands ideologically on the socialist platform, though, unlike so many of his comrades, he does not produce versified harangues but true poetry. In a longish poem entitled 'We are just ordinary people' he says: You and me . . . The ultimate off-shoots of the middle classes Two confused swoons in the evening of the first day of the month Friends in the train of wages You are no Menaka But I am Visvamitra You and me . . . Camels carrying children in the children's park of the Marina I am the lover for your bed-time We are just ordinary people, sweetheart We . . . are not asleep nor are we awake just dumb dreams

While Kamaracan does not hesitate to use many Sanskrit loanwords (and was attacked for this), Turai. Manikkam is one of the most ardent adherents of linguistic purism158. A very different modern poet of the older generation is the scholarly A. Cinivaca Rakavan (A. Srinivasa Raghavan) who, in addition to his rich essay istic writings, criticism, translations (undoubtedly the best translator of Bharati's and Kampan's poetry into English), one-act plays etc., published a few interesting poems of his own under the nom de plume Nanal159. 1.3.10. Apart from Ke. Ci. Es. Arunacalam, the other Tamil Marxist poets are not very distinguished in terms of literary evaluation of their works: Jlva 157

KaruppumalarkaJ 'Black Blossoms,' Curiyakanti 'Sunshine.' Cf. his kdvya Aiyai composed in tanittamil 'Tamil only' diction. 189 He is the editor of English renderings of Bharati's poems entitled The Voice of a Poet, Calcutta 1951. The majority of the translations are his. Also the author of an outstanding, critical study on the beginnings of Tamil modern poetry (Oru nurrantut tamil kavitai, Coimbatore 1970) in which he deals with the works of Gopalakrishna Bharati, Ramalinga Svami, H. A. Krishna Pillai, Vetanayakam Pillai and S. Bharati. I gladly admit my great indebtedness to this book. 158

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and Ve. Na. Tirumurtti were not really true poets at all; and To. Mu. Citampara Rakunatan, who has been writing and publishing poetry under the pen-name Tiruccirrampalak Kavirayar is definitely a better story-teller and essayist than poet. His most important achievement in the field of poetry is his excellent edition of Putumaippittan's free-verse poems (1954) with a thought-provoking introduction and valuable notes160. In this introduction, he points out that Putumaippittan was among the first to write, in Tamil, prose-poetry or vacanakkavitai, i.e. poetry in prose, which he obviously equals with free verse (ilaku kavitai). As we shall see in a moment, we would nowadays distinguish between the two and maintain that Putumaippittan's poems are written as vers libre, free verse, but not as prose-poems. Among the five or six men161 who have dealt with the problems of modern Tamil prosody including the questions of vers libre and of poetry in prose in their discussion, I would tend to agree with M. Rajentiran (Mira)—himself a very promising poet—in making a sharp distinction between vacana kavitai or 'prose poetry,' and (i)laku kavitai (alias cuyeccakavitai, or kattarra kavitai) or free verse. These two are opposed to the 'traditional poetry' or marapukkavitai. Within the context of Tamil, prose-poems (vacana kavitai) need not have the basic prosodic features of etukai (assonance, initial rhyme) and monai (alliteration), and they are not and should not be bound by any of the traditional rhythmic patterns. Free verse (ilaku kavitai), on the other hand, operates in a lesser or greater degree with the alliterations and assonances, and frequently within stanzaic structures, but does not follow the basic traditional metrical patterns of Tamil poetry. Putumaippittan's poems are written typically in free verse, while Bharati has written some prose-poetry162. To exemplify the difference, here is Putumaippittan's poem 'God has an eye' which begins as follows: God indeed has an eye, an eye to set fire; he has the crescent moon on his head— and burning embers in his hand! (1) And when he lifts his leg to dance, with Ganga in his locks, who will forget that he holds in his hand his murdering axe! 160

(2)163

Putumaippittan kavitaika], Star Publications, Madras 1954. N. Piceamurtti and Rakunatan, Ci. Cu. Cellappa and Ka. Na. Cuppiramaniyam, Celvam and MI. Rajentiran. 162 So has, e.g., Bharatidasan (in his Amaiti 'Peace', 1946), or Kannatacan (e.g. Poyvarukiren 'Good-bye'); there is prose-poetry also in Kamaracan's 'Black Blossoms,' and in Mi. Rajentiran's own very interesting collection 'Dreams + Fantasies = Letters.' 163 According to Rakunatan, this poem is akin to a medieval quatrain by Kajamekam with similar message of warning about God's dangerousness. Putumaippittan (1906-1948) had a most influential role to play in the development of Tamil prose (cf. § 6.5.4). However, the three decades or so of poems he left show that he was also an original and gifted poet. 161

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The whole poem is composed in seven quatrains; there occur almost entirely regular assonances (etukai) in the Tamil original, and there are a few alliterations (monai); what is absent is any regular prosodic structure in terms of any accepted Tamil metre. Compare with this poem in vers libre Bharati's prose-poem no. 7: The snake-catcher plays the flute. Was the song born in the flute ? Was it born in its hollow ? Was it born in the breath of the snake-catcher ? It was born in his heart; it came out through the flute. The heart alone does not generate sound. The flute alone does not create songs. The heart itself does not approach the flute. The heart clings to the breath. The breath approaches the flute. The flute sings. This is the sport of Sakti.

Bharati's prose-poems (like the prose-poems of L. S. Ramamirtham, or Mira, to quote some contemporary instances) have a rhythm and a structure of their own which is different from the rhythm and the structure of ordinary prose. 1.3.11. The two most popular poets of today's Tamilnadu are undoubtedly Curata and Kannatacan. Curata is the nom de plume of IracakSpalan from Palaiyanur (Tanjore Distr.). His poems are typical for apt similes, pleasant diction, great skill in versification. He is well aware of this skill, and of his popularity164. To a great extent his popularity is due to kdmarasa or the erotic flavour which pervades almost all his poems in the fashion of late medieval erotic genres (the socalled cirrilakkiyankal). This eroticism165 is present in his collections 'Untouched Youth' (Totatavalipam), 'Lip on Lip' (Utattil utatu), but in 'Nectar and Honey' (Amutum tenum) it is only the sex-play that counts. Kannatacan (an assumed name for Muttaiya, born 1926), the editor of Tenral, and the author of many long narrative poems, became most popular as "the poet of the silver screen," and as the author of hundreds of occasional verses in which he would comment on political issues, often with disastrous lack of any principles: thus he would for instance both scold and praise Nehru, and, in fact, change sides so that an adherent of Kamaraj became an admirer of Karunanidhi. He is very popular; in a way, almost a folk poet, a poet of the masses who know his songs from the innumerable films which they enjoy so much. He entered literature in 1944; since then he must have composed well over a thousand poems, many of them to be set to music (icaippdtal), some of them, Bharatidasan-like, adaptations of classical poetry (of Narrinai 130, Muttollayiram 38, 103 etc.) or classical sujets (Matavi, etc.). More topical are those which were written in praise of important political and cultural figures (e.g. on the death of the proletarian bard Pattukkottai Kalyanacuntaram; or on the death of the great scholar Dr. Somasundara Bharati; or to praise the late 164 In one of his poems he says: "I won't write songs without greatness; there is a crowd of those who will be my epigons." 165 Sometimes there is some wit (of doubtful taste) illuminating this erotic atmosphere, e.g. in an invective against untouchability, since "we, men and women, were born to touch."

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Annadurai, the then chief-minister of Tamilnadu and leader of the DMK party) and as comments on important events (most of them connected with political evolution in Madras over the period before and after the DMK's ascendency to power). Kannatacan has been a passionate adversary of Hindi: for him, Hindi is a demonness (peyppen) to be driven away, a bitch to be killed. However, there are among his poems, too, touching songs about children, skillful poems on love, and, lately, Kannatacan, disillusioned with all ideologies, has become what has been termed the poet of questions166. In a poem entitled En 'Why' he asks: And thus millions have disappeared; and yet, among those millions, in all those aeons of time within the history of this earth, standing like lasting words— the steps of stone— a few will ever be; while others become fantasy and mirages of summer heat. And why ?

It is in these poems that Kannatacan, the author of popular, pleasing, and a little cheap folk-songs and political slogans, reveals himself as a true poet; in fact, as one of the most genuine modern poets. There There There There

are mirages one may see but not reach. are spinsters who have beauty but no life. are fruits of this soil that one cannot eat. are thoughts in the mind which one can't catch in words.

And he concludes: "So are we born on earth, just to live among questions." 1.3.12. Most of the modern Tamil poets before roughly 1959 wrote either on classical and traditional sujets, themes and motifs in rather traditional diction and in a kind of language sanctioned by centuries of poetic usage (like Mutiyaracan or Vanitacan), or on modern, frequently revolutionary subjects and very contemporary, often politically and socially relevant themes, but in the same classicist and traditional diction (like e.g. Bharatidasan). Tiruloka Citaram is a poet who applied modern though very polished diction, and even some free-verse experimental structures, to very traditional, orthodox subjects and motifs. Apart from a lengthy poem called Kantaruvakanam 'The Gandharva Garden' (originally broadcast by the Tiruchi radio station) he published a slender but important volume of poems (1967) and prepared a selection of modern Tamil poetry written by 55 authors, under the title Pututtamilk kavimalarkal (1957). Tiruloka Citaram is a well-educated and sophisticated poet. His thinking is rooted in the Upanisads, but is obviously influenced by Platonism, by Francis Thompson, and some other Western poets and thinkers. 166 H. JESTJI>ASAN, The Achievement of Modern Tamil Literature, Religion and Society. Bangalore 1965.

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Like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Citaram is a mystic poet: poetry is a window of the soul, and a specific way how to comprehend and express the mysteries of the universe; a poet is a seer, a sage; to compose poetry means to perform penance (tavam), to praise the divine, to philosophise. Cltaram created a few very apt metaphors in his poems, which are never dull and never stale: the sun is the bridegroom destroying earthly darkness; the poet speaks of the two reins of shadow and light; and he "will attack the pinnacle of the gopura groping for the radiating sky like a pointing finger." But why setting fire to the two wooden blocks which have seen so much rain, so much heat in the wood ? He spilled honeyed heat and laughed glowing ripe in the lustre of life, and increased. But why did you rouse the truth which was deep, which was soundly asleep in that pair of hearts ? The two logs of wood are tender and ripe, ablaze with pure love—and placed to be charred.157 (Virakum tlyum 'Fuel and fire' in Kantaruvakanam, p. 138)

1.3.13. Deep and decisive changes took place in modern Tamil poetry within the decade 1930-40, but it took almost another twenty years for them to ripen into the first significant fruits. The very roots of these changes—as almost everything in modern Tamil poetry—may be found in S. Bharati's prose-poems as well as in a few stray poems of his which are quite striking in their content. After Bharati, it was the versatile Putumaippittan who deviated from traditional poetry in his free-verse experiments. K. P. Rajagopalan (1902-1944) died too young to exert any lasting influence on these developments. But his close friend, the distinguished short-story writer Na. Piccamurtti (N. Pichamurti, born 15. 8. 1900), has carried the experimental fires of the Thirties to the postwar period. In the introduction to his recent collection Kuyilin curuti 'The Cuckoo's Key-note' (1969) he discusses his developments as a poet: he was drawn to modern poetic forms after reading Walt Whitman, and S. Bharati's prose-poem Katci. Traditional prosody became like fetters to him (yappu = vilanlcu); in his desire to write uninhibitedly and with ease about everyday life, and to introduce the very recent limits of Western poetry, he began writing, since about 1934, free-verse and prose-poetry, mainly under the pseudonym Piksu. At first his poems were 'tame' enough, and indeed strongly influenced by Bharati's and Whitman's vision of nature; but they had an attractive freshness of their own : 167 There are some suggestive overtones in this poem based on the polysemy of such words as tecu which means both lustre and seminal fluid (uyirttecu is thus 'lustre of life' as well as 'life-giving fluid'), and tilai meaning both 'increase' and 'copulate.' T. N. RAMACCANTIRAN, in his introduction to Cltaram's anthology Kantaruvakanam (1967) points to some affinities in similes and metaphors between the Tamil poet and Francis Thompson, Broome, T. S. Eliot. Some of the parallels are striking; but they almost certainly are not a proof of direct influence, rather of deep fundamental affinity between Cltaram and these Western poets.

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Have you seen the wonder ? Have you heard the wonder The dance that chanced in the dead of night ? The clouds rolled down flock on flock The clouds unfolded like leaves like rocks

(Malaikkuttu)

The year 1959 may be considered as a critical moment in the development of 'new poetry' (putukkavitai) in Tamil. In this year, C. S. Chellappa (Ci. Cu. Cellappa, born 1912), himself a significant prose-writer and a poet, and one of the two most unorthodox and modern-oriented literary critics, founded his review Eluttu 'Writing' which opened its pages to everything new and creative. In its issue no. 53, Piccamurtti published his Valittunai 'Fellow-traveller,' which together with his Kattuvattu 'Wild Duck,' and Pettikkatai Naranan 'Petty Shopkeeper Naranan' (publ. in the 1st issue of Eluttu in January, 1959) marked the real beginning of 'new poetry' in Tamil. Putukkuralkal 'New Voices,' a path-breaking, all-important anthology of poems, was published by C. S. Chellappa in Madras in 1962. Besides five poems by Piccamurtti and K. P. Rajagopalan, it contains poems composed only between 1959-62, altogether 63 pieces by 24 poets, a selection made out of about 200 pieces published on the pages of Eluttu till then. It also contains Piccamurtti's Piikkari 'Flower-girl,' part two of which begins as follows: In the darkness of rain In the streets No bird Not even a fly flying. The clouds Grew heavy. The fish of rain Jumped. Laughing lightning Set clouds afire. Beautiful women, Frightened and trembling, Assembled near the fire Embracing its warmth.

Piccamurtti's recent poem 'The Fox-Hole' (Narippallam) is basically a political poem which, as he himself says168, grows out of the 'seminal symbol' of the well-known children's play in the river bed of the Kaviri river when dry in Summer. The poem was the result of Piccamurtti's feelings about India "placed in unexpected situations by seemingly friendly countries." When the evening crept in and the slumbering ford of the Kaviri fading in swoon scorched by the heat stirred opening its eyes, when the leaves with drowsy faces 168 Personal communication dated July 1st, 1972.

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shut their eyes and went to sleep, when the red-haired reeds rustled in the South wind, when the sweet invitation to idle pleasures spread everywhere around, we walked on the sands of the Kaviri. Pleasure and delight. But then, all of a sudden, like a clap of Summer thunder one of my legs—bang!— right in the fox-hole! It was a trick contrived in the sand by digging a hole and setting the stems and spreading the sand— "Who was the traitor ? Was it you, or you ? Oh no, it was you! I tried to find out the truth. They laugh as I fall into the hole— is it just ? As the evening grew ripe the trap to catch the elephants opened in my mind's eye. Even though they went hand in hand, village to village, city to city, land to land— they're fox-holes! The cloth spread to walk on is the red cloth of tricks and deceits. But, in fact, hatred will devour itself. Fraud and deceit will bear no fruit, I hope. We shall go on and won't stop. In the South wind, when the green banners of reed danced, and the flute sang, we went on. The authors, most of them young, whose poems were published in Chellappa's anthology, wanted to dissociate themselves from stock phrases and stock content, as well as from the formulas prescribed by traditional forms. They refused the explicativeness and verbosity of medieval poetry. They refused to remain limited to the traditional, conventional stuff of the Indian poet: love, nature, moralizing, and panegyric. They also ceased to use the alamkdra, the ornamentation, to the extent, and in the same manner and function, as it had been used in traditional poetry. They mostly disregarded traditional prosodic structures, and utilized in a new way the basic prosodic properties of Tamil, though traditional metres like alcaval, vanci, venpd etc. did not cease to be used by them. There was and is a great amount of experimentation with

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language and form of poetry, based on intellection, and on some acquaintance with modern English, American, French, German, Russian and Japanese poetry. There is an intentional distortion of language just like it is practiced by the poets of the Hindi nayi kavitd 'new poetry' movement. There is much imitation of the provoking style of modern Western lyrical poetry. Most importantly, there is a preoccupation with quite contemporary matters and the inclusion of new subjects and themes hitherto ignored. If traditional subjects are handled (like, say, describing a moonlit landscape) they are treated from a new, nontraditional angle. The 'new poetry' movement in Tamil has been fiercely attacked from various quarters, chiefly for its apparent linguistic incomprehensibility and seeming thematic unintelligibility, and for its radical break with the traditional; one of the assailants was K. Alagiriswamy, the well-known conservative prosaist, another S. Raghunathan, the equally well-known Marxist writer and critic. Eluttu 43 published another important poem of the new kind, C. Mani's (Ci. Mani) Narakam 'Hell,' a true mile-stone in modern Tamil poetry. The minor theme—of an unfulfilled relationship between man and woman—is embedded within the major theme of corruption in the city (nakaram). Raw naturalism and surrealism blend in Mani's pessimistic and cynical poem of 334 lines; there is not much rhetoric, but there is powerful hyperbolic abbreviation and lively phantasy in his description of the hellish city of Madras169. Two of Mani's recent poems manifest the two greatest achievements of his: one, the dark symbolism of his modern-oriented stanzas, another the severe classicism he is capable of. Inside: Outside I woke up with the feeling that I escaped. I looked around: the sky was Up above; tremendous darkness all around. The walls, the ceiling were gone. There were roads, too, running on all sides. An open plain, a void—this is not my room: my mind jumped for a while on this thought. I I I I I

walked west—and was hit by a wall. walked south—and was hit by a wall. walked north—and was hit by a wall. walked east—and was hit by a wall. jumped up—and was hit by the roof.

(Natai, 5, 1969)

The second poem is Mani's adaptation of two classical songs, Kuruntokai 136 and 204 by a bardic poet (Milaipperun Kantan; both begin with the words kdmam kdma menpa kdmam 'They say love, love; love is . . .'). 169 For short extracts of Mam's Narakam, cf. pp. 320-1.

ZVELEBIL,

The Smile of Murugan,

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Love They say love, love. Love is not malady or fury. Rather a stream of water flowing to a ford; the light of moon bestowing heaven on the life eager on death.

(Natai, 1, 1968)

Besides Chellappa, it is mainly Ka. Na. Cupramanyam (K. N. Subrahmanyam) who is the theoretician of modern Tamil prose and poetry. This widelyread and extraordinary sarcastic critic who speaks with equal ease about Fielding, Thackerey, Dickens, Swift, Cervantes, Tolstoy, T. Mann, T. S. Eliot, E. Pound, J. Joyce, Rilke, Kafka and Freud, as about classical Tamil poetry, Sanskrit grammar, and modern Tamil novel, and is something of a controversial figure and a fright for mediocre entertainers in the field of writing, is also a poet of sharp, sagacious, terse stanzas like the following: Ascent and descent Lizard is also a crocodile Grass is also bamboo Man is also god God is also man Bamboo is also a grass Crocodile is also a lizard

(1972)

Tarmu Civaramu (Dharmu Sivaramu) is the pseudonym of a Ceylonese poet who first published in Eluttu and became rather well-known for his surrealistic sensitivity and strong sense of form170. His own name is Tarmu Arup Civaram; he lives now in Madras and is composing a novel. The following philosophical poem was published in July, 1972: Old age The hunger of the body left me; it's gone. My life grows weary. In the lines of fate a cut—seven and a half— the final portion. I seek the soul. The Vedas which sing about the soul. Atma, the soul, that which goes beyond duality. Duality: Opposition. That which is beyond reach: the space beyond. Weakness, Weakness. Moss of darkness covers the eyes, tottering, staggering tat tvam Four of his poems may be found in ZVEUEBIL, The Smile or Murugan, pp. 321-2.

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Atma, Self, you, who go beyond duality, Pish! The hunger of the body, left alone, is a false hunger. The hunger of the soul alone remained. This, too, a false hunger, a hungry lie left, a new lie. I bow to the duality: In you, opposition of two, I take refuge.

It is difficult to make choices among the more recent groups of the 'new poets': there is the intellectually inclined T. K. Turaicami171, there is the witty V. Mali with his puns and sometimes rather bizarre experiments172, there is S Ramaswami, a very gifted prosaist173, and others who were represented on the pages of Chellappa's revue and in the anthology New Voices. Hari Srinivasan's Moon-shreds (1968)17* is a lovely recent piece: The skies rained Mud in the footprints Holes of hoofs and Wabbling water Sherd of Moon Moon Shreds Pulverized by the soles of feet In the skies Moon

There is the very promising, highly gifted Nanakkuttan who seems to be much preoccupied with Tamil as such; witness the following two stanzas of his: A great many poets forced Tamil, fettered, pushing it inside a cave, blindfolding everyone's eyes with akam and puram and KuraJ and Cilampu. Fo me, too, Tamil is my very breath. But I don't let it breathe down others'necks.

(Oct. 1970)

(Sept. 1972)

This is a far cry from the reverent and idolizing attitude of Bharatidasan and Kannatacan. Another contemporary poet says on the same theme: m 172 173 i7i

Cf. Cf. Of. Cf.

ZVELEBIL, The ZVELEBIL, The ZVELEBIL, The also ZVELEBIL,

Smile of Murugan, p. 323. Smile of Murugan, pp. 333-4. Smile of Murugan, pp. 318-19. The Smile of Murugan, p. 333.

84 A blind bird fluttering in the darkness fainted and fell. I took it and saw that it was— Tamil.

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Nefcumifcal, in Kacafcatapara, Febr. 1973

Recently (1973) a handsome collection of Nanakkuttan's poems has appeared in Madras, entitled Anru veru kilamai 'That Day the Other Week.' 1.3.14. Among the younger generation of well-established 'new poets,' the two who are probably most talented and influential are T. S. Venugopalan and S. Vaidheeswaran. Ti. Co. Venukopalan (born Nov. 7, 1929) is a teacher and engineer by profession; he began writing poems in 1944, stopped in 1957, and began again after 1959 to try his hand at the new forms, under the decisive influence of Chellappa's Eluttu and Piccamurtti's poetry175. He tends to use simple common words, his similes and metaphors are drawn from things and events which he knows directly and intimately; he shuns modern 'isms' as much as traditional orthodoxy. His poems are usually the result of his study of the behaviour and reactions of men: rather an inner search than an external description176. A 'picture Scram, dog! The word burst like a bark The heart was beating fast The eyes reddened Within the mind a picture crawled The dog painted with its tail-brush a leprous beggar as a human

(1970, trans, by the author and by KVZ)

One and the same A bundle of soiled clothes or bleached and clean garments well-folded: both merely a burden for the donkey (1970, transl. by the author and by KVZ) Es. Vaitisvaran177 (born Sept. 22, 1935) published a collection of short poems entitled Utayanilal 'The Shadow of Sunrise' (1970) which comprises 62 poems, 175 He is at present a teacher in the Manipal Engineering College. In a personal communication (July 14, 1972) he writes: "Writing is a form of relaxation and not a profession or full time occupation to me . . . my output is meagre . . . I have hardly written about sixty pieces in all these twelve years." i?« Six of his poems may be found in ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. ;327-30. IT? Six of his poems may be found in ZVELEBLL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 323-6.

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some of which are very forcible and very original visions of nature; others are experimental trifles, aphorisms, epigrammatic jokes, never dull, always exciting. This collection was justly acclaimed—together with poems by Kannatacan (SJanamalika), Na. Kamaracan (Karuppu malarkal) and Mira—as the best of what was published in the field of Tamil poetry between 1967-1971. There is a wonderful intimacy about Vaidheeswaran's poems, and irony mixed with deep reflection, as well as definite sense of form. Negatimst

After sundown, during a black-out, close to the side-walk they stood, transfixed and dull— I saw them— those towering crosses of grey. At their feet were famished little hands desperately on the edge to pelt the crosses with stones as to evoke some pity whilst a winking white of a face looked out from above. But it must go, ' . and it will hide behind a cloud. (1970, transl. by the author and by KVZ) Scribbler

The Sun stretched out its arms like a lazy fellow, and with its fiery fingers scratched and scribbled on the Earth. But the Moon, unblushing and cool, spread open her white dress and daubed the Earth with her soft light.

(1970)

1.3.15. Among the most recent arrivals on the scene of modern Tamil poetry178 the two young men who must be mentioned are Shanmugam Subbiah and Meera. Sanmukam Cuppaiya made his debut on the pages of Kuruksetram, a collection of essays, stories, and poetry (1968) published by a group of Tamil 178 Strict limitation of space forces me to make a restricted selection, though I am aware that something should be said e. g. about such poets as Kuruvikkarampai Canmukam and his collection Cennel vayalkaj 'Fields of Red Rice' (1972), about the well-established socialist Ku. Cinnappa Parati, about Tamilalakan, Airavatam, Kalapriya and others.

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authors belonging to the Trivandrum region. Cuppaiya's contribution consisted of 43 brief poems—straightforward, pithy, significant comments on everyday life. In fact, Cuppaiya may be described as the poet of familiar things and of ordinary life. The terseness of his diction, the intelligence of his comments, and the force with which he handles words, alliterations and assonances, is truly admirable. Earthen fireplace

In its mouth in a pan glowing on an old palmyra stem fried a few dried salt-fish. Outside in the sun fried a few dried salt-fish to eat them.

In 1972, he published a collection of 25 lovely poems for children entitled Kannan en tampi 'My little brother Kannan.' Mira is the pen-name under which Mi. Racentiran published, in 1971, his collection of prose-poetry entitled Kanavukal + karpanaikal = kakitankal 'Dreams + Phantasies = Letters.' The 72 poems of this book make a delightful reading. Like in Cuppaiya's case, the diction is simple, the language very contemporary, even ordinary, though smooth. But under the surface of seeming simplicity there is much true poetry and more than just skill: When you came I thought you were going to write a preface to my life; but you have come to write an afterword. Or, consider this intimate and meaningful metaphor: Look at my insipid youth— a mere curds without butter gathered after churning.

These are not whole poems —just scraps taken at random; Mira deserves very careful watching since he is a great promise. It is very true that, to a great extent, the best things in Tamil poetry are to be found among the single-stanza poems which tend to be balanced, succint, to have a great unity and force, and which make a quick appeal to modern Western readers. In spite of this fact, it has remained, almost right up to the present time, the symbol of status and prestige of every poet who wishes to be considered 'great,' to compose a kdvya, an epic, a long narrative poem on some grave and imposing topic.

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In conclusion of this chapter one must stress the important function and the great merit of literary journals—some of them almost permanent, some of them rather ephemeral and short-lived—like Eluttu (unfortunately defunct), Natai (defunct), Kacatatapara (defunct), Tamarai, Kanaiyali, Tipam, Ahk, Nulakam (reviews). Without these journals, the giant strides which Tamil poetry has taken in recent years would have been impossible. The same is true about such outstanding publishing houses as Vacakar vattam alias Bookventure and Kalainan patippakam in Madras, or Minatci Puttaka Nilaiyam in Maturai.

THE LITERATURE OF DEVOTION

2.0. By the literature of devotion we understand the religious hymns composed in Tamil since about the sixth century A. D. until the present time, under the impact of a characteristic form of piety termed hhakti1. It is possible that Buddhism influenced this new form of piety, for the concept of the Bodhisattva regarding all creation with affection and compassion was probably earlier than this new form of devotion, in fact, than any comparable idea in Hinduism. On the other hand, it seems that this new form of piety developed first in Tamjlnadu2. The term hhakti ( > Ta. patti; also Ta. anpu, DED 279) is derived from verb-root bhaj- 'to participate, share'; a bhakta is one who participates in the divine. However, as A. L. Basham correctly observes3, in the native Tamil term anpu we have something more closely approaching the Christian virtue of love, caritas, than is to be found in any Sanskrit term. The impassioned devotionalism, the worship of God mixed with a deep sense of sin and inadequacy, affected gradually the whole religious outlook of the Tamil country, including its Christians and Muslims. Hence, we shall also deal on the following pages with the literary expression of Christian and Muslim bhakti in Tamil. 2.1. Various approaches to devotional literature are possible. First, one may approach the texts historically and sociologically, regarding them as literature of social and spiritual protest, as had been done mainly by Soviet and Indian Marxist-oriented literary historiography. But as Wellek and Warren have correctly written4, though literature occurs only in a social context, the social origins of a writer play only a minor part in his work, and the most immediate setting of a literary work is its linguistic and literary tradition, encompassed by a general cultural climate. Another possible approach is comparative: bhakti texts as mystical poetry, in comparison with other forms of Indian and extraIndian devotion and spirituality. There is yet another, very productive approach—a synchronic segmental analysis of bhakti texts in terms of religious literature5. Finally, there is the structural approach to bhakti texts conceived 1 Cf. J. GONDA, Les religions de l'lnde, II, Hindouisme recent, Paris, 1965; J. GONDA, Het begrip bhakti, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, Leuven 1948; J. GONDA, Aspects of Early Visnuism, 2nd ed., Delhi 1969; K. C. VABADACHARI, Aspects of Bhakti, University of Mysore, 1956; MANASUSAI DHAVAMONY, Love of God According to Saiva Siddhanta, Oxford 1971. 2 A. L. BASHAM, The Wonder that was India, 3rd ed. 1967, p. 332. 3 A. L. BASHAM, The Wonder that was India, ed. dt., p. 333. 4

5

R. WELLEK-A. WARREN, Theory of Literature, 3rd ed., 1963, pp. 97 and 105.

Elaborated first by the Russian scholar A. M. PJATIGORSKIJ in his book Materialy po istorii indijskoj filosofii, Moskva 1962, pp. 76-146. Cf. also K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, pp. 185-206.

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purely as poetry. In agreement with the over-all theoretical and methodological tendency of this book, bhakti texts will be treated here as a structural development of the independent poem (tanippdtal) into higher structures, whereby development is taken to mean something else and something more than mere change; a development from a simple bardic poem of the akam and puram genres, in its transformation, formal and semantic, into a more complex structure of the devotional hymn, and, finally, into the first elementary prabandhas. 2.2. The great difference between pre-devotional and devotional literature in Tamil consists in the fact that the ideology of the Hindu bhakti texts still remains, to a great extent, the ideology of the vast majority of the Tamils, notwithstanding progressive secularization; that, in these texts, literature, religion, and culture are inseparable; hence the entirely different manner of the consumption and appreciation of the pre-devotional and devotional literature. While the classical lyrical and epical poetry is, today, appreciated by the educated, the sophisticated, and the young student, in addition to a few 'classicists' and scholars, and as art, as aesthetic value of a glorious past, the bhakti-xnspired, religious-philosophical hymns are consumed and appreciated as ideology, as living religion, as ritual texts and prayers for temple and home, and the aesthetic component of their appreciation as literary art is only secondary. However, we must evaluate literature in terms and degrees of its own nature; but even with this approach in mind, the bhakti poetry of the Tamil Saiva and Vaisnava saints belongs to the greatest achievements of religious poetry of all time6. 2.3. The two earliest full-fledged Tamil literary expressions of the religion of devotion are some passages of the late classical collection Paripatal (350-500 A.D.), and a remarkable poem belonging to the Pattuppattu anthology, called The Guide to Lord Muruku (Tirumurukarruppatai, certainly earlier than the 7th cent.). The pertinent parts of Paripatal are devoted to Cevvel-Murukan, blended with the northern Skanda, and to Mayon-Tirumal (Visnu). In both Paripatal and Tirumurukarruppatai, we find divinity struggling to express itself, the idea of a god who feels an intense affection towards men, and to whom the worshipper responses with the same love. Apart from a magnificent introductory hymn to Murukan, resuscitated by F. Gros from Peraciriyar's commentary to Tolkappiyam Ceyyuliyal 1527, Paripatal in its extant form contains seven hymns to Tirumal and eight hymns to Cevvel. In form, the Paripatal poems represent a prosodic development from the simple akaval and vanci metres of early bardic poetry to a rather involved and complicated (and, 6

In J. GONDA'S words, it occupies 'Tune des premieres places dans la poesie religieuse de tous les temps et de tous les pays" (Les religions de l'lnde, II, 1965, p. 7158). F. GROS, Le Paripa^al, 1968, pp. LIX-LXIII.

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let us add, unproductive) structure called paripatal8. The one long hymn to Murukan, Tirumurukarruppatai, is, however, composed in the ancient akaval. As mentioned, the paripatal form has not left any permanent imprint on the structural development of Tamil poetry9. The akaval, on the other hand, has remained in devotional hymns, both under this term, and under the later name dciriyam10. In terms of the structure of content, both Paripatal and Tirumurukarruppatai show some innovations which reappear and evolve as typical features of bhakti hymns. Thus, first of all, we may observe one of the basic properties of all bhakti hymnody: the synchronic projection of the diachronic event—of the story of the god; in other words, the personal story of the god is telescoped into characteristic epithets. Consider the following instance: when Tirumurukarruppatai I. 46 calls Murukan 'the one [who has] a long, flaming, leaf-shaped spear which killed the chief Cur,' it is an epithetic projection of the epic story of Murukan-Skanda killing the chief of the anti-gods, ^urapadma—a story which was developed much later into the entire fourth book of the formidable Tamil Kantapuranam. Second, in these two literary texts, we may already observe another very typical feature of all later Tamil devotional literature: the objects of praise—Skanda and Visnu—have a series of very concrete places of residence; they live at a given place and at a given moment in time. In fact, the 'Guide to Lord Muruku' is a description of the main shrines of the god, which the worshipper is advised to visit in turn. Finally, the god meets the worshipper face to face and speaks to him, after the worshipper has addressed him directly in a litany of devotion: Holy and mighty will be his form, towering to the skies, but he will hide his sterner face and he will show you his ancient form of youthful godhead, fragrant and beautiful, and tell you in choice words of love: "Fear not! I know why you are come!"

(Tirumuruku 288-95)

We cannot and will not trace the historical (or prehistorical) beginnings of bhakti in Tamil India. But their literary reflections go back beyond the two poems discussed, to a few classical bardic pieces showing preference for the two deities, Murukan and Tirumal. The traces of Siva's worship can also be found in a few early poems. In fact, already Puram 52. 12-13 reflects the typically Hindu concept of the ritual of dvdhanam whereby a divine image becomes the permanent abode of an indwelling deity, and is itself divine: 8 9

Cf. F. GKOS, Le Paripatal, pp. XV-XVI. However, it is important in the sense that here we have, for the first time, a literary text intended to be sung—a development characteristic for bhakti hymns in general—and very probably even 'enacted' (i.e. accompanied by avinayam). 10 Cf. e.g. Kirttitiruvakaval of Tiruvacakam (9th cent.).

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" . . . the divinities (Jcatavul), ere while adored with festive music, abandoned their pillar-homes11." 2.4. The bulk of the bhakti hymns were collected, ordered and anthologized in the two canons, Saiva and Vaisnava. The origins of the Saiva canon as we have it today must be sought in Cuntarar's (between 780-830 A.D.) poem Arur Tiruttontattokai 'The Line of the Holy Slaves [revealed in] Arur' in which the poet-saint mentioned the names, sometimes with suggestive epithets, of 62 ndyanmdrs (saints of Tamil Saivism) and included those of his mother and father. He himself was added as CuntaramUrttinayanar, and thus we obtain the 63 canonized apostles of Saivism. Nampi Antar Nampi (between 10801100 A.D.) arranged the hymns of the three great teachers, Campantar, Appar and Cuntarar, as the first seven books, added Manikkavacakar's Tirukkovaiyar and Tiruvacakam as the 8th book, then 28 hymns of nine other saints as the 9th book, the Tirumantiram of Tirumular as the 10th book, 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the 11th book; then he described in Tiruttontar tiruvantati 'The Sacred Antdti of the Holy Slaves' the labours of the 63 saints, added his own story, and sang his own hymns which he added to the 11th book. The hymns of the first seven books became later to be known as Tevaram, and the whole &aiva canon, to which was added, as its 12th book, Cekkilar's 'Great Puranam' (ca. 1135 A.D.), is known as Tirumurai 'The Holy Book.' Thus the Saiva canon represents a huge body of heterogeneous literature which covers about 600 years of religious, philosophic and literary developments: its earliest strata are probably the songs of Karaikkal Ammaiyar 'The Mother of Karaikkal' (about 500 A.D.) and of Aiyatikal Katavar Kon (ca. 670-700 A.D.), the first Pallava king to express himself in Tamil; the youngest strata of the canon represents Cekkilar's national Tamil epic, Periyapuranam (early 12th Cent.). The compiler of the Vaisnava canon which is known as the Nalayirativyaprapantam 'The Four Thousand Divine Works,' Natamuni (Skt. Nathamuni), was the first in the line of the dcdryas 'teachers' who completed the work begun by the dlvdrs, the Vaisnava saints (lit. 'those who have sunk into the divine'). Though the traditional dates of the dlvdrs are given as 4203-2706 B.C., the earliest Vaisnava poet-saints, Poykai, Putam and Pey, belong probably to 650-700 A.D. The canon was compiled by Natamuni sometime in the 10th cent., though the beginnings of Vaisnava bhakti, apart from the hymns to Tirumal in Paripatal, may be probably sought in an old Ramayana version in pahrotai venpd stanzas (± 650 A.D.) which has not reached us. The Vaisnava canon consists of the works of 14 poets, out of which 12 are considered as dlvdrs. The principle of its arrangement certainly is not chronological, just as in the case of the Saiva canon.

11

Cf. also Akam 167, 307, Manimekalai VI.60, XXIV. 162.

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Tamil Literature Chart VI The Two Canons TlRTTMURAI

No. of book 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8a b 9a b c d e f g h i 10 lla b c d e f g h i j k 11 12

Author Campantar Campantar Campantar Tirunavukkaracar Tirana vukkaracar Tirana vukkaracar Cuntarar Manikkavacakar Manikkavacakar Tirumalikaittevar Centanar Karuvurttevar Punturutti Nampi Kantaratittar Venattatikal Tiruvaliyamutanar Purutottama Nampi Cetiriyar Tirumular Tiruvalavayutaiyar Karaikkalammaiyar Aiyatika] Katarar Kon Ceraman Peramal Nakkiratevar Kallatatevar Kapilatevar Paranatevar Ilamperuman Atikal Atiravatikal Pattmattatikal Nampi Antar Nampi Cekkilar

Name of the work

Tevaram I Tevaram II Tevaram III Tevaram IV Tevaram V Tevaram VI Tevaram VII Tiruvacakam TirukkSvaiyar Tiruvicaippa 4 patikam Tiruvicaippa 3 patikam Tiruvicaippa 10 patikam Tiruvicaippa 2 patikam Tiruvicaippa 1 patikam Tiruvicaippa 1 patikam Tiruvicaippa 4 patikam Tiruvicaippa 2 patikam Tiruvicaippa 1 patikam, Tiruppallantu Tirumantiram Tirumukappacuram 3 works (Arputtatiruvantati etc.) Ksettiratiruvenpa 3 works 9 works (Tirumurukarruppatai etc.) Kannappatevartirumaram 3 works Civaperuman tiruvantati Civaperuman tirumummanikkSvai Muttappillaiyar tirumummanikkovai 4 works 10 works (Tiruttontartiruvantati etc.) Periyapuranam

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NALAYIRATIVYAPRAPANTAM

Mutalayiram 'The First Thousand' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Periyalvar Tiruppallantu Periyalvar Tirumoli Antal Tiruppavai Antal Naycciyartirumoli Kulacekarap Perumal Tirumoli Tirumalicai Alvar Tiruccantaviruttam Tontaratippoti AJvar Tirumalai Tontaratippoti Alvar Tiruppalliyelucci Tiruppanalvar Amalanatipiran Maturakavi Kanninun ciruttampu Irantam ayiram 'The Second Thousand' (alias Periya Tirumoli) Tirumankai Alvar Periya Tirumoli Tirumankai Alvar Tirukkuruntantakam Tirumankai Alvar Tirunetuntantakam Munram ayiram 'The Third Thousand' (alias Iyarpa) Poykai Alvar Mutal Tiruvantati „ Irantam Tiruvantati Piitam Alvar Pey Alvar Munram Tiruvantati Tirumalicai Alvar Nankam Tiruvantati Nammalvar Tiruviruttam Nammalvar Tiruvaciriyam Nammalvar Periya Tiruvantati Tirumankai Alvar Tiruvelukkurrirukkai Tirumankai Alvar Ciriya Tirumatal Tirumankai Alvar Periya Tirumatal Nankam ayiram 'The Fourth Thousand' (alias Tiruvaymoli) Nammalvar Tiruvaymoli Appendix Tiruvarankamutanar Iramanucanurrantati

The hymns of individual dlvdrs are introduced by prefatory stanzas (socalled taniyan, pi. taniyankal) which are composed partly in Sanskrit. 2.5. The Saiva and Vaisnava hymn in Tamil literature—from the formal point of view and in terms of its literary development—emerges directly from the tanippdtal or individual bardic stanza of the puram and akam genres. In fact, one of the heroic settings, the pdtdn, which represents praise, and asking for gifts, is a direct predecessor of bhakti hymns. With the early Saiva and

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Vaisnava poet-saints, it is usually still the one-stanza poem which is the hymn, addressed, instead of to a feudal patron, to the god, Siva or Visnu, and asking, instead of for the gifts of flesh and wine, rice and land and gold, for the gift of grace (arul), and for deliverance. The pa/an-type of old heroic poetry and the bhakti hymns have also in common that in both the poet speaks in his own voice, for himself, and his poems are very personal. One thing is important: in contrast to the Vedic hymns, these Tamil hymns are not ritual at all in nature. The intimate side of worship is very highly developed and, indeed, like in a number of early bardic poems of the pur am genre, the most important feature is the relation between the subject who praises and asks, and the object who listens and gives. There are quite parallel segments in the bardic and the bliakti poems: The bardic poet's praise of the patron; he asks for gifts; the patron grants him gold etc.; rarely, but still, the poet scolds the patron for his wretched and miserly attitude.

The poet-saint's praise of Siva or Visnu; he asks for knowledge of himself, and of God; God grants him knowledge, grace, redemption; rarely, but still, the saint blames and reproaches God for his misfortunes.

The structure of a Saiva or Vaisnava bhakti hymn—in terms of semantic segments—tends to follow a certain regular pattern: There is the praise of the god describing, usually through a number of epithets, divine qualities, actions, states; very often, this segment has the form of a synchronic projection of a diachronic event—thus e.g. when Manikkavacakar describes Siva as the one who knew of the pure desire of the hunter (XV. 3.3) he refers to the beautiful story of Kannappanayanar or the 'Eye-Devotee' who gave his eye in the service of Siva. A typical 'praise-segment' may be illustrated by the following stanza of Appar (6th-7th cent.): He is of heaven; He is above the gods; He is Sanskrit and Tamil; and the four scriptures; He bathes in milk; He is the Lord; He is the woodsman who danced with fire in His hand; He is the One who blessed the woodsman; He is the honey that oozes within the lotus-heart of those who think of Him; He is the darling we may not attain; He is Siva; He is the darling who dwells in Sivapuram12. With great poets like Appar or Campantar, such lines may result in wonderful poetry, as indeed—to quote a well-known example—this stanza of Appar: 12

Transl. C. and H. JESXJDASAN. This stanza contains also some short portions of other segments (e.g. 'we may not attain,' 'those who think of Him'), but they are all clearly atrophied, and the praise-segment is absolutely prevalent.

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The faultless vind; the evening moon; the softly blowing breeze; the fragrant Spring; the pool haunted by bees—like these the shade of my God, my Father's holy feet13.

It was mainly Campantar who was preoccupied with Siva's qualities and actions, described mostly in epithetic form. Though less emotional and less 'lyrical' than Appar, he has yet achieved a few surprisingly beautiful and striking metaphors, like in the following stanza (the first quatrain sung by him): He has the palm-leaf roll in his ears; riding a steer, crowned with the pure white crescent moon, besmeared with ashes of the jungle burning-ground, he is the thief who stole away my soul14.

Tirunanacampantar was a younger contemporary of Appar, a Brahman from Cikali, a great adversary of the Jains and the Buddhists. He is said to have died at the age of sixteen, on the day of his wedding, in ca. 655 A.D. Originally supposed to be the author of 16.000 hymns, only 383/4 patikamsls of his survived in today's editions, coming altogether to 4181 stanzas. They were set to music by Nilakantaperumanar who is said to have accompanied the poet on his ydl or 'lute.' His hymns are characterized by strong egocentrism16, by militancy and great ardour, by a warm feeling for the greatness and the beauty of Tamil, by a particular virility and exuberance coupled with keen scholarly experimentation in metres showing familiarity with Sanskrit forms. Another segment of Tamil bhakti poems deals with the inner, psychological and emotional state of the poet-saint. This segment is developed to a very different extent in different poets. While almost absent in Campantar, it is strongly pronounced in Appar's hymns, and is probably the most important component in the poetry of Manikkavacakar. Appar's original name was Marunikkiyar. He was born sometime between 570-596 A.D. in Tiruvarur in a veldla Saiva family. As a youth, he joined the Jains, became head of their monastery, then embraced Saivism, and was persecuted by them. In ca. 620 A.D. he converted to Saivism the Pallava king 13

The rare lyrical beauty of the sweet-sounding original is untranslatable: macil vinaiyum malai matiyamum / vicu tenralum vlnkila venilum / mucu vanturaip poykaiyum ponrate j lea nentai yinaiyati nllale. 14 Ennullankavarkalvan. 15 As in the early bardic poetry there was a collection, Ainkurunuru, in which the solitary stanzas were arranged in decades of ten connected by some loose kind of formal and semantic link, so there was rather early a tendency to arrange the invividual hymns into decades called (tirup)patikam, tiruppatiyam (or pattus); the number ten was frequently only approximative. 16 There is a current saying in Tamil which characterizes the great Saiva trio of Tevaram as follows: "My Appar sang of me; Campantan sang of himself; Cuntarar sang of women".

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Mahendravarman I. Under the name Tirana vukkaracu 'King of Divine Speech' he praised Siva in 49.000 stanzas out of which 3130 are now available in books IV to VI of Tirumurai. He met Campantar who called him Appar 'Father,' lived to the ripe age of 81, and died in Tiruppakalur. In contrast to Campantar, Appar's poems are almost exclusively emotional; there is rich material connected with the autobiography of the poet and with the very personal worship of Siva by Appar as an individual. In the best known of all Appar's poems, this personal, psychological and emotional component assumes the form of a diagnostic attitude towards life exhibited by the bhaktas, by the devotees; this marvellous hymn has indeed become a kind of battle-cry of Tamil Saiva bhaktas: To none are we subject! Death we do not fear! We do not grieve in hell. No tremblings know we, and no illnesses. It's joy for us, joy day by day, for we are His, forever His, His who does reign, our Sankara, in bliss.

Finally, there is the segment which contains the description of God's reaction towards his devotee; and this segment, though present in almost all the poems in question, is hypertrophied in the hymns of Cuntarar alias Cuntaramurttinayanar, born in Tiranavalur in a Saiva Brahman family at the end of the 7th cent. A.D. His own name was Nampi Arurar. His marriage was prevented by Siva whose devotee he then became, but later he married a temple-girl called Paravai, and a veldla girl called Cankili. He died sometime about 730 A.D., as a close friend of another poet, the Chera king Ceraman Perumal. Cuntaramurtti was given the titles 'The Lord's Comrade' and 'The Insolent Devotee.' He is the author of 1026 poems in book VII of Tirumurai. Cuntarar must have lost entirely or partly his eyesight; he takes this as a punishment by Siva for breaking his vow of fidelity to Cankili. This affliction colours many of his intimately personal stanzas, like e.g. the following beautiful poem (95.2) which illustrates what was said above: I was sold and bought by you. I am no loan. I am your slave of my own will. I did no wrong. You made me blind. Why, Lord, did you take away my sight ? You, you are to blame!

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Among the lesser poets of the earlier strata of the Saivite Tirumurai one must not fail to mention the amazing woman-saint, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, probably the earliest Saiva poetess (ca. 550-600 A.D.) whose stanzas may be found in the 11th book of the canon. She became famous for her unique description of the dance of Siva at Tiruvalankatu where he danced in competition with Kali, surrounded by the demons of the burning pyre, and the "Mother of Karaikkal" is said to have identified herself with one of the dreadful demons, after she had been abandoned by her terrified husband17. From our point of view—i.e. with regard to the development of the literary forms and genres in Tamil poetry—her work is extremely important since it was perhaps she who introduced the kattalai-k-kali-t-turai metre—as far as we know the earliest finished and complicated structural departure from the old Tamil classical metres. The old classical metres oiakaval (dciriyam), kali and venpd grew in length and increased in complexity; an over-all term for these developments is the viruttam (cf. Skt. vrita 'round') which was first applied to kattalaikkalitturai. This metre (lit. 'the ordered branch of kali') is a rather sophisticated development of the ancient kali metre, and its rule (kattalai) is fivefold: 1. each stanza must have four lines, of five feet each, under one 'rhyme' (etukai); 2. the sequence of feet is ventalai; 3. the first four feet of each line are , = —, = = , — = ; 4. the fifth foot must be — = — or = = —; 5. the stanza always ends in -e18. The other metre Karaikkal Ammai used was the old venpd; however, she also used the antdti arrangement, in which the offset of one line or stanza is identical with the onset of the next line or stanza. On Karaikkal Anamai's poems we may also exemplify the beginning of a trend which became increasingly productive and remained so for more than a thousand years of literary development: solitary stanzas began to form larger units—not only in terms of tens (patikam, pattu) or hundreds (nuru, catakams, cf. Skt. sataka) but also units of formal and (or) semantic wholes which later became to be known as different varieties of prabandhas (Ta. pirapantam), i.e. genres determined by form or content or both: thus e.g. her Tiru-v-irattai-manimalai, 'The Garland (mdlai) of the Sacred (tiru < Skt. hi) Pair (irattai) of Gems (mani)' which contained 20 stanzas (a pair often) in venpd and kattalaikkalitturai metres, in the antdti arrangement. This form became later a well-defined formal genre, irattaimani mdlai—a poem consisting of twenty stanzas in venpd and kalitturai according to the rules of antdti. Yet another convention began to be increasingly employed: to give names 17

Cf. KARAVELANE, Kareikkalammeiyar, oeuvres editees et traduites. Introduction par JEAN FILLIOZAT. Institut francais d'indologie, Pondichery 1956. Manikkavacakar sings of her in Tiruvacakam VII. 16. For her legend, cf. G. U. POPE'S The Tiruvacagam, Oxford 1900, pp. 111-13. 18 Manikkavacakar has developed this metre beautifully in his Tiruvacakam V.I, VI and XXXVI.

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to collections of stanzas according to their number and (or) metres they employed: witness Karaikkal Ammai's poem cited above, or her famous collection Arputattiruvantati of 101 venpd stanzas, lit. 'The Sacred Antdti of Wonder.' 2.6. From the point of formal development, and as far as the content is concerned, Tamil Saiva devotional poetry culminated in the two wonderful works of Manikkavacakar, Tiruvacakam and Tirukkovaiyar. They form the eighth book of the canon. Manikkavacakar, 'He whose utterances are rubies,' was born in a Brahman family in Tiruvatavur, sometime in the 9th cent. His personal name was Tiruvatavurar. Following in the steps of his father, he became chief minister of the Pandya king, but turned away from worldly affairs to Siva-devotion, and became a Saiva poet-saint19. His Tirukkovaiyar is one of the two earliest specimens of a new genre: the kdvai 'string'—a genre which treats the akam themes of love as a continuous story in the kalitturai metre. His magnum ojnis, though, is the Tiruvacakam or 'Sacred Utterance' consisting of 51 chapters, a total of 3327 lines, which represent the peak of Saiva bhakti poetry. Four main features characterise the work of Manikkavacakar when compared with the hymns of the earlier poets: first, the central theme, the love of the devotee for God and God's response with arul, divine grace, is all that matters, and hence the two structural segments of the inner state of the devotee and of the respective reactions of God towards the man are excessively overgrown, while the other segments of content are almost suppressed; second, the object of devotion has developed a system resulting in the transformation of simple devotional hymns into a religious-philosophical treatise; third, the prosodic development has resulted in complex and sophisticated metres and stanzaic structures; fourth, the individual poems are woven into an intricate, complicated pattern of an entire book. To illustrate the first and the second points (the preponderance of the very personal, emotional relationship of the devotee to God and God's response, and the development of philosophy in Manikkavacakar's poetry), I shall quote three beautiful hymns of his in this order: Civapuranam 24-32 (from the first chapter of Tiruvacakam), and Kuyirpattu 8, and 10 (from the eighteenth chapter): As grass as weed as worm as tree as many kinds of beast as bird as snake as rock as man as goblin and as demon as mighty giant ascetic and god, mobile, and immobile, 19 For the legendary history of Manikkavacakar cf. G. U. POPE, The Tiruvacagam, pp. xvii-xxxvi.

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in every kind of birth My Lord I've lived and tired. Your golden feet I saw this day Oh Reality I've reached my home Come here young Icuyil Go and invite Him The Rider on the prancing horse Him with the flowing matted locks Who on that day when Visnu Brahma both forsook their search for Him and stood plunged deep in thought pierced through the sky and shot up like a blazing fire and rising high passed beyond all spheres and stood as wide-spread Flame O kuyil calling from the groves Do listen now He came—a brahmin—and revealed His lovely rosy feet Tome And said This man here is My man and made me all His own With grace with boundless grace all glowing flames His form Go call Him once again

Manikkavacakar's surrender is total: Abide in me, and make me slave, sell me and mortgage me, but this apart don't turn me off— I am a stranger seeking you as host. 0 Lord, Who ate the poison as ambrosia! Uttarakocamankai's king! .0 healing balm of those crippled by the ail of births!

The architectonics of Tiruvacakam is rather complex: it has 51 'decades' comprising 658 stanzas. Unlike in the case of the decades of the other three great poet-saints, the places where these decades were sung are not of much importance since in Manikkavaeakar's remarkable work it is the inner progress of the mystic's soul which is significant rather than the physical pilgrimage from shrine to shrine. The hymns were sung in seven places: we do not knowwhen and in what order the poet-saint visited those shrines; but it is clear that he started at Tirupperunturai, and ended in Tillai-Citamparam. The first part of the work comprises as it were the first four decades which count as one stanza each and serve as a kind of prologue. The second part which comprises the Tiruccatakam 'The Holy Cento' and the Nlttalvinnappam 'Forsake (Me) Not-Plea' (decades 5 and 6), 150 stanzas, corresponds to the purgative stage of a

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mystic's progress, and "is a genuine human cry for Divine help in the midst of a terrible struggle20." The third part comprises sixteen decades beginning with Tiruvempavai 'The Maiden's Song of the Dawning' and ending with Koyil tiruppatikam 'The Temple Lyric,' a total of 243 stanzas in. which the mystic gains illumination. The fourth and last part will comprise the remaining 29 decades of the via unitiva: the path to union with the Godhead, beginning with Cettillapattu 'The Decade of Non-dying,' and ending with AccSpatikam 'The Lyric of Wonder.' If this interpretation21 is correct, and I think it is, then the Tiruvacakam is in fact an autobiographical poem of a great mystic. It is also the work of a supreme poet. There are fourteen varieties of metre which he had used with utmost skill: there is the nericaivenpd inherited from the didactic poetry of the preceding age; there are seven variations of the kalippd, all developments of the ancient classical kali: the kalivenpd, the koccakakkalippd, the kalittdlicai, the sophisticated kattalaikkalitturai, the ammanai in kali, and the 'mixed metre' of kalavai mainly in kali rhythm; there is the ancient akaval, again developed in three interesting varieties; finally, there is the vim/Mam proper which became immensely productive in later poetry. This metre arranged lines in rhymed stanzas, mostly quatrains, according to the over-all rule which states that if a foot in one line ends in md, vilam, kdy, or kani, the corresponding feet in the other line must end in the same. The viruttam has several varieties—the kaliviruttam of four feet, the dciriyaviruttam of six or more feet, and the variety of five feet22. Another interesting feature of Tiruvacakam is the enrichment of Tamil devotional poetry through the adaptation of what must have originally been folk-songs: thus the ammanai (Tiruvacakam VIII) in the leaping koccakakkalippd metre is an imitation of the simple songs accompanying the game of ammanai23; 'The Sacred Golden Dust' is an imitation of songs sung by women in Tillai who pounded the gold dust which, mixed "w ith perfumes, was scattered on the heads of distinguished visitors to the shrine; other decades composed in imitation of popular songs are Tiruttonokkam (XV)24, Tiruvuntiyar (XIV)25, 20

21

Cf. G. V. POPE, The Tiruvacagam, p. 85.

Cf. G. VANMIKANATHAN, Pathway to God through Tamil Literature I—Through the Thiruvaachakam, Delhi Tamil Sangam 1971. 22 For details, cf. G. IT. POPE, The Tiruvacagam, pp. I xxxviii-xcii. However, POPE'S metric interpretations are not always quite acceptable. For translations of the work into English, cf. G. U. POPE'S translation of 1900 published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, and G. VANMIKANATHAN'S translation published in 1971 by the Delhi Tamil Sangam. 23 In the play, the women, usually six in number, sit in a circle and toss a number of little balls from one to another, accompanying their game with simple songs the subject of which are usually some popular heroic exploits or great acts of a deity. 24 The name of this game means 'aiming at the shoulder' (tolnokkam) since it ends up with placing the hands of each opposing pair on the shoulder of the other. 25 Another game with ball resembling the English game of battledore and shuttlecock.

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Tiruppormucal (XVI) 'The Sacred Golden Swing'; and traces of colloquialisms and folk poetry may be found elsewhere. 2.7. The earliest Vaisnava dlvdrs or poet-saints, Poykai, Piitam and Pey composed their devotional stanzas in the old venpd metre, in antdti arrangement, sometime between 650-700 A.D. Tituppanalvar has left one piece (Amalanatipiran of 10 stanzas describing Visnu at Srirangam from head to heel). Tirumalicai Alvar (850 A.D.) is very important from our point of view since he seems to have been the one who has in a massive way introduced the cantam or the rigidly set rhythmical pattern in terms of long and short syllables into Tamil poetry26, and thus started a minor prosodic revolution which reached its peak with Arunakiri's creations (see § 2.10). His Tiruccantaviruttam 'The Sacred ViruUam with Cantam' is pervaded by the mysticism of numbers and by philosophical abstraction. Tontaratippotiyalvar whose name means 'The Dust on the Feet of the Lord's Slaves' (first quarter of the 9th cent. A.D.) has introduced a very important genre, the palliyelucci or the request to the deity to wake from sleep. He has adapted a classical, bardic theme of tuyiletainilai which describes, according to Tolkappiyam Purattinaiyiyal 36.2, how the bards (cutar < Skt. suta) were employed to wake up kings from their sleep. By adopting this theme (and demonstrating thus once more a line of direct descent of some devotional themes from heroic themes, in this case again from the pdtdn tinai), Tontaratippoti has created a beautiful precedence for later poets including Manikkavacakar27. His Tiruppalliyelucei is a lyric of ten stanzas of four long lines each with the refrain arankattammd palliyeluntaruldye "O God of Srirahgam! Deign to arise from sleep!" In his other poem, however, which is of the mdlai or 'garland' type (Tirumalai 'Holy Garland'), and prosodically resembles strongly Appar's tirunericai and tirukkuruntdntakam26, the poet appears as a pious but prejudiced bigot. 26

More on cantam in § 2.10. Cf. e.g. stanza 2 of Tiruccantaviruttam: drumdrumdrumdy oraintumaintumaintumay / erucirirantumiin rumelumdrumettumdy / ve.ruverwhdnamd kimeyyinotupoyyumdy / urutocaiyayavai ntumdyavdyamdyane 'Mysterious One, who art the fire from touch to sound, / The truth and the falsehood, and the varied wisdom, / The six and six and six, and the five and five and five, / The two and three, the seven and six and eight' (Transl. C. and H. JESUD^SAN). Observe that apart from the regular metrical pattern of the viruUam of eight feet there is here a rigid rhythmic pattern (cantam) in terms of long and short syllables of the following sequence: -\_J-\J-\J-\J-KJ-\~>-\->~. 27 Cf. the Tiruppajliyelucci (hymn XX) of Tiruvacakam in kaliviruttam metre. The formula of this beautiful poem is — vilam — vilam — vilam — ma, e.g. in the first stanza: porriyen vdlmutal dkiya porule j pularntatu punkalar kinaitunai malarkon / . . . tiruperun turaiyurai civaperu mdne / emperu mdnpalli yeluntaru = = / = — / / — = / — = / = = / — —. 28 Tdntakam: a stanza each line of which consists of more than 26 syllables; a poem in praise of a deity made of quatrains of equal length, each line containing either six or eight clr.

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Kulacekaralvar (ca. 800 A.D.), the author of a favourite devotional poem in Sanskrit, Mukundamala, is interesting for his verses on Rama and Krsna, and we may possibly ascribe to him the foundation of Rama worship in Tamil India. He sings about renunciation in his Tirumoli, and has beautiful verses on the famous Vaisnava shrine of Tiruvenkatam (Tixupati) north of Madras: Where humming beetles sing their song I'd be A champak tree, Standing at Tiruvengadam, that I The feet might spy Of him, mysterious Lord, who slumbers in the cool Milk-sea, all tossing with its waves of coral bright! (Tirumoli 4, transl. J. S. M. Hooper) Especially moving is the following stanza (Tirumoli 5, in Hooper's version): Slayer of elephant great and fierce of eye Vitruvakodu's Lord, Where shall I go and live ? Save for Thy feet, like a great bird am I Which goes around and sees no shore and comes at last Back o'er the tossing sea and perches on ship's mast! But the greatest among the dlvdrs of the earlier period is Periyalvar, a Brahman from VilliputtUr (9th cent. A.D.). More than half of his poems are dedicated to the Krsna incarnation, chiefly to Krsna as child and boy. In these verses we have the roots of a tremendously prolific genre, the pillaittamil, a form depicting the child-life of a hero or god. Not only did Periyalvar introduce many current Krsna stories, proverbs, and other popular matter into his poetry, but he has created the picture of a lovely child, with every realistic detail, vivacious, colourful, complete, with even the funny or embarrassing aspects of childhood: Come, you coral-mouthed, come and see the flower-like feet the silly babe takes to its mouth and sucks and munches29. Small pearls sprouting at the tip of the ruby-like bud, trickling and dripping in tiny drops—my little lamb came and wetted my back, GSvinda wetted my back30. There are also enchanting pictures of Krsna the flutist, the object of the passion of young girls. Apart from the 460 stanzas of Tirumoli Periyalvar is also the author of Tiruppallantu in 13 stanzas, the most popular of all Vaisnava hymns, a benedictory poem with the refrain 'Many thousand years' (palldyirattdntu)31. This is how this famous hymn of praise begins: 29 30 81

Tirumoli I.ii.l. Tirumoli I.ix.l. Cf. the same form, Tiruppallan^u of CSntanar, in the Saiva canon, book IX.

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Reverence, reverence be unto thee, O thou mighty One, who didst overcome the Mallas, thou like to the sapphire in glory! Infinitely blest be the beauty of thy holy feet for many many years, for thousands of years, for crores of years, for ever! All All All All

hail! Oh may no rift come 'twixt thy slaves and thee! hail to Sri, who dwells, thy lustre, on thy right! hail, the glorious discus in thy fair right hand! hail to Panchajanyam sounding in the fight! (Transl. J. S. M. Hooper)

2.8. Many hymns of the Vaisnava poet-saints, and some hymns of the Saivites, notably of Manikkavacakar, may be considered a direct though complicated development of classical themes of the akam genre. The Tirukkovaiyar by Manikkavacakar in which, by allegory, the love of the soul for the Lord—the lady-love being God, her lover the soul—is narrated as a continuous story unfolding the akam themes and using in abundance various akam motifs, was mentioned before. Among the Vaisnava poets, it was probably Antal who in her Tiruppavai developed the akam themes in an amazing manner and with an unsurpassed poetic power. Antal (9th cent. A.D.) was found under a tulasl (Ocymum sanctum) tree by Periyalvar, and raised as his daughter. She refused to marry any mortal, and has chosen God Ranganatha of Srirangam as her spouse; the God accepted her, and she disappeared into his shrine. Krsna is the hero of her two poems, Tiruppavai in 30 stanzas, and Naycciyartirumoli in 143 stanzas. Girls of the cowherd caste, who have fasted all through the night, go early in the morning in the month of Markali (December-January) to bathe in the river and practice certain rites which should earn for them suitable husbands, and for their country abundant rain. Antal—who is well-versed in the Visistadvaita philosophy and introduces the Supreme as Narayana—goes with her friends from door to door rousing the sleepy girls, until they reach the house of Nantakopan, Krsna's foster-father, and Krsna's wife Nappinnai opens the door. Krsna should accept their services; they want to be his slaves, while Nappinnai 'The Beautiful Younger One'32 remains his spouse. There are some stanzas of superlative beauty, as e.g. the following poem (23) where Antal entreats Krsna to arise and come, like the lion, asleep in his den in the mountains at the time of the rains, that wakes and opens his eyes of fire, 32 Nal + pinnai; this interpretation of the name is to be preferred to that of "the beautiful-tressed", found in some sources. For the problem of the identification of Nappinnai with Laksmi and Nila, cf. J. FIXLIOZAT, La devotion vishnouite en pays tamoul, Conferenze tenute all' Is.M.E.O., vol. 2, Serie Orientale, Roma, 5,87-93; Introduction to J. FILLIOZAT, Un texte tamoul de devotion vishnouite—

Le Tiruppavai d' SntaJ, Pondichery 1972; ERIK AT EDHOLM and CARL SUNESON,

The Seven Bulls and Krsna's Marriage to Nlla/Nappinnai in Sanskrit and Tamil Literature, Temenos, 8 (1972) 29-53. For KrsNa in Tamil literature, cf. V. R. R. DIKSHITAR, Krsna in Early Tamil Literature, Indian Culture 4 (1937).

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shakes himself till the hair rises along his mane, lazily stretches his length, and with a roar moves out of his lair. Krsna rests on the breasts of Nappinnai33, and Nappi^nai is addressed (st. 20) O Sri, O lady Nappinnai with cup-like tender breasts, red-mouthed and with slender waist! Wake up from your sleep! Give fan and mirror to your spouse and let us bathe now, eldrempdvdy !34 In Naycciyar Tirumoli, Anta], in 143 stanzas, narrates the dream which she had of her marriage with Krsna; there is also a pillaittamil (the second Tirumoli) in which she imagines herself to be a small girl whose doll's house was destroyed by the mischievous Krsna. There is also a lovely poem addressed to the white conch (vencanJcu, poem VII). The dream-hymn in the sixth Tirumoli known as Varanamayiram 'One thousand elephants' (its first words) of 11 stanzas is sung at every Vaisnava wedding in Tamilnadu, and is the most beautiful part of this work of hers. Indeed, "everything left by Andal shows a rare sense of wordvalues, a trembling sensitiveness to beauty and a deep and single-hearted passion35." It is striking that Manikkavacakar, the greatest among the Saiva poet-saints, composed a poem in the same form as the Tiruppavai—the Tiruvempavai (Tiruvacakam VII). The identity of form consists in the identity of metre (kalippd of eight four-feet lines) and in the fact that the stanzas end in the phrase eldrempdvdy (which reappears in the titles of the two poems) interpretable as 'our fair lady, arise!' While Antal's poem has 30 stanzas, its Saiva counterpart has only 20 stanzas. Both poems have the same background and 33

Cf. the first of the three introductory verses (taniyankal) which introduce the recital of Tiruppavai (the first is in Sanskrit, the second and the third is in Tamil, composed by Uyyakon^ar, probably Pundarlkaksa, a pupil of Nathamuni): Adoration again and again to Goda (ANt-al) who, awakening Krima sleeping on the mountain slope of Nila's swelling breasts, teaches him her highest truth that is established in the beginnings of hundreds of sacred texts and forcibly swallowing him (i.e. Krsna) in the garland discarded by her, she enjoys (him).—From purely literary and aesthetic points of view, the contrast between the delicate sensualism of AntaJ and the unblushing eroticism of this Sanskrit stanza is quite striking. 34 For a recent edition and translation of Tiruppavai, consult J. FILLIOZAT, Le Tiruppavai d'ANtal, Pondichery 1972. This work gives a complete bibliography of editions and translations. 35 C. and H. JESTJDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. III. 36 Cf. J. FILLIOZAT, Le Tiruppavai d'AntaL p. XIV. Bhagavatapurana X.22.1 refers to a vow called kdtydyanyarcanavrata observed by the cowgirls during the first winter-month in order to gain Krsna as husband (including a bathing ritual— the introduction to the famous episode in which Kr?Na steals the clothes of the bathing girls): it is striking that although the Bhagavatapurana is an exclusively Vaisnava work, the goddess said to be worshipped is KatyayanI (Durga); cf. EDHOLM and STJNESON, The Seven Bulls, Temenos 8 (1972) p. 29.

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very similar content: based on the ceremony of ritual bathing in the month of Markali, the young girls in the Saiva poem arouse their companions and sing the praises of Siva and of the various manifestations of his Sakti. The poems were intended for singing, and, indeed, most editions of Tiruppavai contain the indications of the melody-type (ardkam < Skt. rdga) and of the rhythm (tdlam < Skt. tola) of individual stanzas. The ceremony itself is probably not a purely Krsnaite one, but may just be part of a cult of a "dieu jeune homme," and, according to J. Filliozat, the priority of the pdvai form belongs to the Saivite poet. Both poems spread across the borders of India and were popular as far as Thailand37. 2.9. The devotional hymns of the Saiva ndyanmdrs and Vaisnava dlvdrs evolved in ever increasing complexity. We may observe, with the passage of time, not only a development en train towards more and more complex metrical forms, but also a transformation of the ancient themes and situations of the alcam and puram settings into religious-philosophical, polemic, or simply devotional genres which gave rise to the various prabandhas. This development took place, on the one hand, ab intra, but, at the same time, it would not have been possible if it were not influenced strongly by Sanskrit form and content. Most of such groups of stanzas forming new and specific wholes were designated according to their metre, or the number of stanzas involved: thus we have the venpd of Aiyatikal Katavarkon (Ksettirattiruvenpa) and of Nakkiratevar, too (P5rrittirukkalivenpa), the viruttams of Nampi Antar Nampi (K5yil tiruppanniyar viruttam and Alutaiyapillaiyar tiruccanpai viruttam) among the Saivites, and of Nammalvar (Tiruviruttam) and Tirumalicai Aivar (Tiruecantaviruttam) among the Vaisnavas, we have the dciriyam (e.g. Nammalvar's Tiruvaciriyam) and the many antdtis (e.g. Poykai's, Putam's and Pey's First, Second and Third tiruvantati in venpd, Nammalvar's Periya tiruvantati etc.). Nakkiratevar's Karettu 'Eight on the Rainy Season' is a poem in 8 venpd stanzas in which he sees nature as Siva's revelation; TiruvinkSymalaiyelupatu of the same poet consists of seventy (elupatu) stanzas, etc. We have one Saiva and one Vaisnava elukurrirukkai—a poem whose component words are represented by numerals in seven contiguous rows of squares38. There are mdlais 'garlands' and kdvais 'strings' of stanzas of different subtypes: a mummanikkovai39 'string of three jewels' is a poem of three decades containing stanzas in different metres; a mummanimdlai 'garland of three jewels' is a poem of thirty 37 Cf. T E . P O . MINATCICUNTARAM, Cay ami 1 tiruvempavai tiruppavai, Madras 1961; T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDABAM, Tiru—p—pavai, Tiruvempavai in South-East Asia, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies I, Kuala Lumpur 1966, pp. 13-20. 38 Cf. the Saiva Tiruvelukkurrirukkai of 55 lines in the inaiJckuralaciriyappa metre by Nakkiratevar, and Tirumankai Alvar's Vaisnava Tiruvelukkurrirukkai in 46 lines. 39 E.g. Ceraman PerumaJ's Tiruvaliir mummamkkovai.

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stanzas in the venpd, kalitturai and akaval metres; a ndnmanimdlaii0 'garland of four gems' is a poem of forty stanzas of four varieties; an irattaimanimdlai*1 'garland of two gems' is a poem of twenty stanzas in venpd and kalitturai in the antdti sequence; an ekdtacamdlaii2 is a 'garland' of eleven stanzas. There are a few other forms typical for devotional poetry like the morning hymn (palliyeluccii3, verbatim 'rousing from the couch') sung daily to awaken the god; the palldntuil of benediction (verbatim 'Many years!'), and the pdcurami!> 'hymn.' The 9th book of the Saivite canon called Tiruvicaippa consists of 301 stanzas sung by nine different poets; they are arranged in patikams of roughly ten stanzas each; the stanzas are termed icai-p-pd, lit. 'musical stanzas' since these were hymns sung in the Chola temples in the lOth-llth centuries. Most interesting are of course those forms which are defined chiefly by their content and only optionally by their formal properties. They evolved into more or less productive genres in subsequent literary developments. Ceraman Perumal (8th cent. A. D.) developed the uld 'procession' as a distinct literary form. It had already been suggested in the Muttollayiram (q.v.) but this Saiva poet elaborated it and adopted it for religious and philosophical purposes. In an uld the patron, king or god goes in procession around the streets of a city, and women of the seven varying ages fall in love with him. Their love is not returned. The metre is kalivenpd. This has later become a very productive and very important genre (see § 5.1.19). Two Saivite poets of the 11th book of the canon, Nakkiratevar and Kallatatevar (9th-10th cent.) are responsible for the origin of another interesting, though much less productive genre, the maram or 'heroism.' Their poems are both called Tirukkannappatevar tirumaram and deal with the moving story of the vantontar or 'hard devotee,' the hunter Kannappan, who gave his eyes to his lord Siva. Matal is based on the ancient erotic theme belonging to the setting of onesided love; in its embryonic form it is found in the bardic poetry; later it becomes a narrative poem describing a disappointed lover riding on a palmyra stem, or on the figure of a horse designed out of palmyra fronds (using it possibly fastened to a chariot). The frustrated lover will ride through the street where his beloved lives to force her, by this ridiculous, tragi-comic act, to accept his love. In the Vaisnava canon we have the 'Short Holy MataV and the 'Long Holy MataV by Tirumankai Alvar, the most prolific poet among the Vaisnava saints (six poems with 1361 stanzas) of ca. 800-870 A.D. These poems deal with divine love: the heroine—the soul—throwing away all conventional restraint, yearns for the beauty of the deity. 40 41 42 43

E.g. PatrtinattatikaJ's Koyilnanmammalai. E.g. Karaikkal Ammaiyar's Tiruvirattaimanimalai. E.g. Nampi Antar Nampi's Tirunavukkaracutevar tiruvekatacamalai. E.g. Manikkavacakar's Tiruvacakam XX, a tiruppalliyelucci in 10 stanzas in the44aciriyaviruttam metre. E.g. the famous Tiruppallantu of Periyalvar. *5 E.g. the mysterious Tirumukappacuram ascribed to Siva himself in the form of the Lord of Maturai (Tiruvalavayu^aiyar).

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The velldla saint Nammalvar (ca. 880-930 A.D.) is considered to be the greatest of all Vaisnava poet-saints, and justifiably so. His main work, the Tiruvaymoli in 1102 stanzas, wants to replace the Vedas; he is also the author of Tiniviruttam (100 stanzas) which applies the moods of classical love-poetry to religion, of Tiruvaciriyam (7 stanzas) on the qualities of Visnu, and of Periyatiruvantati in 87 stanzas. His diction is rather scholarly, the tone of his poems is mainly argumentative and philosophical; what they lack in the intensity of feeling and ardour of devotion, they gain in the depth of thought and the grandness of vision. I have watched the skies to spell the mystery of the stars. I never knew what those innumerable sprays were. But, bewitched by them, I lay still and out of the silence of my heart broke a song. The stars, glimmering through ages, are no mere sparks dotting the nightly heavens; but flowers plucked by the heavenly crowds, offered at the altar of the Unknown. The hosts of our Lord who reclines on the sea of Vastness, behold them thronging hither. Meseems they will tear up all these weeds of grasping cults. And varied songs do they sing, our Lord's own hosts, as they dance, falling, sitting, standing, marching, leaping, bending. (Transl. C. Subrahmanya Bharati) The Tiruviruttam of Nammalvar is said to contain the quintessence of the Rgveda (a most curious and quite inappropriate comparison). It is a poem of 100 quatrains in which the dlvdr expresses the longing of his soul for union with God, in the true ndyaka-ndyaki bhava; the dlvdr's almost unrelieved yearning is that of the mistress for her absent lover (though in some stanzas the parts are changed). Two illustrations in the insightful translation of J. S. M. Hooper must be sufficient: Is this the sky in which the strong dark bulls Pawing the ground till Earth shakes, sweat and fight ? Is this the cool fair time that takes the form of Tirumal, and sounds his harshness who Is gone ? Sinful, I know not what I see. (7) Hail, stormy sea, where, on his serpent couch Rests Perumal, like to a bright black sun Of sapphire, pouring forth glowing darkness! Make not a dusk with thy full waves, nor hide Track of his car who left me in the dark. (17) The devotional hymns contained in the two canons embody also some concepts and conventions which subsequently became characteristic of South

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Indian Hinduism in general and of its speculation in particular. They were, inter alia, the vision of divine activities as 'sports'; the mystique of the 'five letters' in Sivaism; the concept of God as a lunatic. Since everything is easy to Him, everything is a sport to Him, a play (vilaiydtu, vilaiydtal), and the whole universe is bright and alive with His joyous movements: more specifically, Manikkavacakar speaks of Siva sporting in Citamparam (XXI. 7), and again of Tillai where the Magician plays (vittakandr vilaiydtal vilanku tillai, XXXI. 7). The five-letter formula (anceluttu) Civdyanama or Namacivdya appears in the very first line of Tiruvacakam (Civapuranam 1): namaccivdya vdalka 'Hail, the namacivdya!' and in Tiruccatakam 245-8 there is an ecstatic quatrain dedicated to Namacivdya. The concept of Siva as madman may be beautifully illustrated by the following verses of Manikkavacakar again: If you forsake me, I shall abuse you: Madman, clad in the raging elephant's skin! Lunatic with the hide of the tiger! Crank feeding in poison! The Crazy of the burning-ground fire! Madman who chose even me for his slave!

(Nittalvinnappam, XXIX)*'

2.10. Three latterday giants of Tamil devotional poetry appeared every two hundred years, beginning with Arunakirinatar (15th cent.); the 17th cent, was the century of Tayumanavar; and the last great and true bhathi poet was Iramalinkar (Ramalinga Svami) in the 19th cent. They carried on the devotional stanza, the prayer of bhaJcti, the hymn, enriching it more by prosodic inventions than in the message of its content which remained—with significant modifications—basically the same: absolute devotion to a personal God, and God's response by grace. Arunakirinatar was born in a veldla (or perhaps a Brahman) family in Tiruvannamalai sometimes round 1370 A.D. After a youth spent in rioting and seducing women he tried to commit suicide but was saved by God Murukan who expelled from his heart worldly desires and bestowed on him the gift of divine songs. He died as an esteemed poet and devotee of Skanda in ca. 1450 A.D. and left behind a huge poetic work: Tiruppukal 'The Divine Praise' of MurukanSubrahmanya in more than 1300 stanzas, characterised by perfection of form 46

Tiruvacakam has also been translated into German: H. W. SCHOMEBUS, Die Hymnen des Manikka-Vasaga (Tiruvasaga), Jena 1923. Apart from POPE'S and VANMIKANATHAN'S versions, there is an English version of K. M. BALASUBRAMANIAM, Tiruvachakam of Saint Manikavachakar, Madras 1958. Cf. also RATNA NAVARATNAM, A New Approach to Tiruvasagam, Annamalainagar 1951. A wellknown selection of &aivite hymns in English: F. KINOSBTJRY and G. E. PHILLIPS, Hymns of the Tamil Saivite Saints, Oxford University Press, London 1921. A selection of VaisNava hymns in an excellent translation by J. S. M. HOOPER, Hymns of the Alvars, Association Press, Calcutta 1929. Cf. also K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 185-206 for Saiva bhakti, and K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), for the questions of dating and chronology of differents parts of the f^aiva and Vaisnava canons.

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and supreme command of a very rich, Sanskritized diction, and intricate prosody; Kantarantati 'The Antdti on Skanda,' 102 stanzas on Skanda in kattalaikkalitturai metre; Kantaralarikaram 'The Beauty of Skanda' of 102 stanzas in kattalaikkalitturai; the deeply philosophic Kantaramiputi 'The Perception of Skanda' of 51 stanzas; besides a part of Tiruvakuppu (probably the first 18 divisions). By the time Arunakiri became the devotee of Murukan, this complex and fascinating deity, known also as Skanda, Subrahmanya, and Arumukan, became once again a prominent 'great god' in the South. Also, with Arunakirinatar, the first major 'revolution' was accomplished in the sphere of Tamil prosody. It was an all-important transformation of the Tamil metrical system under the ever-increasing impact of Sanskrit metres, which began with the Vaisnava Tirumalicai Alvar (8th cent.) and his Tiruccantaviruttam, with yet another alvar—Tirumankai, and with the two Saivite poets, Pattinattar the Elder and Nampi Antar Nampi. Arunakiri, who is typically a blend of the two cultures, Tamil and Sanskritic, in all their aspects (language and diction, motifs and themes, the mythology of his poetry), is, naturally, also a master of the two metrical systems: the Tamil system based on acai or basic metrical unit (single or compound), and the Sanskrit system based on aksara—syllable, and mdtrd—mora. The constant and regular use of cantam (< Skt. chandas) means historically a massive assault of syllable-based metrics on the indigenous Tamil system which had originally been quite different. In Arunakiri's poems it has reached its peak. Now a poem has, in addition to the basic prosodic properties of Tamil metres, also the cantam or a rigidly set pattern of rhythm based on syllabic quantity: cf. the well-known Tiruppukal 418: tirumakalu lavum irupuyamu rdri tirumaruka ndmap perumdl kdn The indigenous Tamil prosodic pattern is

In addition, the lines have the following cantam: tana tana tdna'na / tana tana tdnd'na / tana tana tdna'na / tana td'nd, i. e. ww ww w—w / ww www—w / ww ww w—w / ww . Observe that in this way, each line has a double organisation: in terms of acai organised into feet (cir), which is the original Tamil metrical structure; and in terms of syllables organized into regular rhythmic groups purely on the basis of quantity, whether short or long, which represents the impact of the Sanskritic metrical structure. All this is part of the process whereby the connection between poetry and music, which began with the adoption of fixed melody-types (pan) for poetry identified with devotional singing of Saiva and Vaisnava bhakti hymns, be-

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comes closer and closer, more intimate, more organic, until centuries later, the Tamil klrttanai is born, culminating in the work of such great pre-modern poets as Arunacala Kavirayar, Gopalakrishna Bharati and Annamalai Reddiyar. Arunakiri's singing the praise of the Lord Skanda, his Tiruppukal, is the first step towards klrttanai. Arunakiri's Tiruppukal is religious hymnody, intervowen with Saiva Siddhanta doctrines, fed profusedly by Northern, Brahmanic, and indigenous, Tamil mythology, and based, to a great extent, on personal, autobiographic experience. Some of his stanzas are full of supreme sensuousness and coined in very daring language; thus when the intoxicated woman-devotee addresses the god You burnt the two trunks of the Wrestlers; they stood against you like two giant mounts! You came—beautiful, mighty, magnificent chest— you came to feed—and climbing my venus-mound you drink with your lips one of my breasts, you caress another with gentle strokes, and they both languish, in their turn; as you don't eat them, they long and yearn.

The philosophical stanzas containing no autobiographic material may be illustrated by the well-known quatrain, Kantaranuputi 51—an entire philosophy in four lines of poetry which sounds like music in the original Tamil47 and manifests yet other properties of Arunakiri's poetry, in addition to his exceptionally copious, highly Sanskritised diction, and the use of cantam: the poet's supreme skill in using to the utmost the phonaesthetic qualities of Tamil in sound-painting, Lautmalerei, and his great ability to produce a lovely, easyflowing ocai, or 'basic tone.' You who are form, and who are formless, you who are both being and non-being, who are the fragrance and the blossom, who are the jewel and its lustre, who are the seed of life and life itself, who are the mode and act of existence, who are the supreme guru, come, and bestow, Guha, your grace!

The rhythmic patterns, the sound-symbolism, the profuse, albeit somewhat pedantic vocabulary, and many striking metaphors and powerful similes with occasional display of over-elaborated associations and analogies (conceits) give to his poems a particular flavour of many-coloured, glittering gems set in gold: the mountainous breasts of lewd women sparkling with golden chains are the two tusks of black elephants—of women who trade soft caresses for wealth, and are lovely like five-colour parrots. These images are of the same deep, rich, intoxicating colours as the comparison of his own songs to a floor of diamonds, 47 Uruvdy aruvdy ulatay ilatdy / maruvdy malardy maniydy oliydyk / karuvdy uyirdy katiydy vitiydyk / kuruvdy varuvdy arulvdy kukane.

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to a child suddenly coming into a barren womb, to a river that descends from heaven, to a mine of new-found treasures. However, this baroque splendour of his songs is sometimes relieved by simple stanzas of deep mystical meaning: The Thief stealing the red-doe's daughter48, the great Murukan, birthless and immortal, once said: Be still and do not speak! And, oh, I don't know a thing of what he meant! O Nectar Indestructible! King of Sharp Spear! 0 Source of Wisdom! What can I say ? Devour me for what I was! Nothing to be but You, o Supreme Self!49

2.11. Tayumanavar's date is either A.D. 1704-1742 (with minor modifications, 1706-1744) or 1608-1664 (or 1659). The matter is complicated and so far unsolved. He was of veldla origin, studied Tamil, Sanskrit, and philosophy, was appointed steward of the ruler of Trichinopoly, after a short period of married life assumed the life of a religious beggar, and died at Ramnad. He is held in great esteem as a saint, and as a poet-philosopher he may be the greatest figure of Tamil literature. Most of the editions contain 1452 poems of Tayumanavar: out of this, 587 are solitary stanzas, songs (pdtal), 863 are kanni stanzas, there is one ahaval, and one vannam (cf. §§ 5.1.2. and 5.1.85). The songs are arranged according to metres, sometimes according to their content, into 39 groupings, but the individual stanzas are often being sung in isolation, and can certainly be enjoyed as such. Many, if not most of them, contain autobiographic elements concerning the state of the poet's heart and mind. Some of them are deeply reflexive and very philosophical, though the intellectual side is almost always balanced by genuine and sincere, albeit restrained emotion. The emphasis in his work is not on bhakti so much as on Yoga and meditation; though he is deeply conscious of his sins, the tone of his poems is predominantly meditative, not emotional, ethical or polemic. Also, he is very universal; there is no trace of any sectarianism; this great tolerance, so characteristic of him, applies even to the language he has used; both Tamil and Sanskrit enter his poems, without any prejudice, so that some of his stanzas are in heavily Sanskritised Tamil. He is almost always disciplined, yet also forceful; severe, yet also gentle; dignified and noble, and yet very personal, intimate and sincere; and saintly. 1 went in quest of gold and women and earth The Lord of my soul sought me Whoever seeks You finds the pure freedom of Your Grace Whoever seeks himself will ever remain alone (Ponnaimatarai 1) 48 The allusion is to VaJJi, who was born as a child of an ascetic's lustful thought and a doe, and became the second wife of Murukan, who 'stole' her from her adoptive parents, the hunter Nampi and his wife. 49 Arunakiri or AruNacalam is the Sanskrit name of Tiruvannamalai. Cf. K. ZVEI/EBIL, Arunakirinathar—Confessor of Beauty, New Orient IV 5 (Oct. 1965).

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Those who understand themselves, gathering many a wreath, The Wise men, proclaimed You alone to be the breath of Love In garlands of songs selected like excellent wreaths. I, the unlearned, too, opened my mouth, and in delight String garlands of words with tears which trickle in strings. I praise you daily, I, your slave. Please, take my wreath And say: "Come to me!" And embrace me, my Lord of Holy Grace! (Panmalai 1)

Many songs of Tayumanavar are so well-known that parts of them became proverbial: dcaikkoralavittai (II. 10.1) 'There is no limit to desire' is as popular as kalldta perkale nallavarkal nallavarkal (VII. 10.1) 'The unlearned people are those who are truly good.' The 863 kannikal (lit. 'flower-buds, flower-bunches') are mostly distichs intended to be sung, arranged into 'garlands'—e.g. the Paraparakkannikal, 389 distichs, all ending with the allocution Paraparame 'Oh, Almighty One!': My heart is the temple; my thoughts, the incense; my love, the holy water; come to take my offering, Almighty One! (151) Anantakkalippu is a marvellous, ecstatic song of joy in 30 stanzas with the famous refrain Cankara Cankara Campd, Civa Cankara Cankara Cankara Campu. Some of the most beautiful stanzas of Tayumanavar are found in his Painkilikkannikal which is a kind of kilivitututu or 'the parrot as messenger' genre in 58 distichs. The following translation is a version of distichs 4, 8,17, 24, 44, 55 and 58: Oh my tender parrot, will you fly on your swift wings to my Lord and whisper into his ears my secret message and beg him to steal to my tryst ? Will the Nameless One know me, this desolate one ? Like the loadstone that lures the iron, will the prince of mercy draw me on to his beloved bosom ? Shall I forever clasp to bosom my lover, who breaks through language and escapes ? Earth and Heaven are wrapped in sweet slumber. Smitten with love, my forlorn eyes know not the balm of sleep. How dare I stand before my Lord who unseen beholds all the treacherous tricks of my soul ? Oh what a great prince of thieves is my Lord! He beckons not, and speaks not, but he has slid into my soul. Do you know what his secret designs are ?50 50

Translated by R. S. D. in P. SBI ACHARYA and V. RAGHAVAN, Sheaves from Tamil Muse. For translations of Tayumanavar's poems, cf. ISAAC T. TAMBYAH, Psalms of a Saiva Saint, Being Selections from the Writing of Tayumanaswamy Translated into English with Introduction and Notes, Luzac, London 1925; R. SHANMXJGA MTJDALIAR, The Philosophical Poem of S. Tayumanavar, Edited and translated, Salem 1897; AENO LEHMANN, Die Hymnen des Tayumanavar. Texte zur Gottesmystik des Hinduismus, Gutersloh 1935.

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2.12. Iramalinka Cuvamikal (Ramalinga Svami, 1823-1874), a controversial figure as a religious leader, was unquestionably the greatest Tamil poet of the 19th century. He was also the last great poet in the line of the Saiva bhakti poetsaints, though his devotion is combined with great emphasis on sanmdrga or the good life: arid was defined by him as non-killing, non-eating meat, and nonlying; God as "the mountain that can be felt in the handful that is love." Though he belongs to the 19th century, many legends have grown about his life so that it is difficult to get at authentic historical details51. The latest authorized and complete one-volume edition of his writings, called Tiruvarutpa 'Songs of Divine Grace,' was published in 1924 by M. Kandaswami Mudaliar; it has more than 1500 pages in royal quarto, and contains all the known poems and prose-writings52 of Iramalinkar. The book is divided into six Tirumurais53. The poet's output was immense, and a considerable portion of it is of high quality. The poems are in varied metres, forms and tunes (hymns, mdlais or 'garlands,' as well as kummi, Jcanni, palliyelucci, dnantahkalippu etc.).

There is wonderful music and varied rhythm in these poems which are intended to be sung. The poet's command of language was astonishing; he was capable of composing lines which are almost completely in Sanskrit, and in an aristocratic, very intricate and complex diction and syntax54; on the other hand, most of his poems are simple in language and diction: common, almost colloquial Tamil, is used to express mystic experience, deep philosophical thought, and prayer to God for mercy, forgiveness and. grace. The style is often flamboyant and under strong impact of Tayumanavar. But Iramalinkar is also able to command language of force and brevity, e.g. in his Vennila stanzas in Tirumurai II addressed to the Moon, or in his Civanecavenpa, and in some songs in popular tunes and unorthodox verse forms. In almost all of his poems Iramalinka sang of Siva; he also composed poems on Ganesa and Murukan of Tiruttani. He has elaborated his views condemning caste, sectarianism and ritualism mainly in Tirumurai VI which includes his best-known poem, Arulperuficotiyakaval in more than 1500 lines: there, conventional religion with its rites and sects is strongly rejected and the poet pleads for universal love, unity and harmony. 51 He is said to have been composing songs from his ninth year. He was persuaded to marry his sister's daughter, but remained presumably celibate. One day early in 1874 he is reported to have locked himself in a room in Mettukkuppam (which he used for samddhi) and instructed his disciples not to open it for some time. He has never been seen since, and the room is still locked. 52 "His prose is far too ornate to be much to the purpose" (C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 254). 83 The fact that Iramalinkar's writings were termed Tiru-v-aruJ-pa, and especially that the six parts were termed Tirumurai (which, after all, is a technical term reserved for the canonical writings only) was resented by orthodox Saivite scholars led by Arumuka Navalar and N. Katiraivel PilJai, cf. CUTTANANTA PARATI, Navalar Peruman, pp. 205-7. 54 The majority of lines in Tiruvatippukalcci (1st Tirumurai) is of this type, which is called "unreadable" and "unintelligible" by C. and H. JESUDASAN.

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Tamil Literature Tree yielding cool shade for men who toil in hot summer! plentous Shade, Fruit ripened in the Shade, sweet, delicious Water springing in the brook, fragrant Flower, blossoming in that Spring of joy, lively Breeze, blowing so gently on the heights, Pleasure sprouting from that tender Breeze, Fruit and Yield of Happiness, Bridegroom wedded to me in playful days, King and Universal Dancer, please, accept the garland of my words!

2.13. Tamil Christianity had its bhakti poets, too. Their most important contributions, however, belong to epic literature (cf. § 4.4.);,the short pieces usually are of little literary value. The one Christian poet whose work constitutes a truly creative contribution to Tamil literature is Henry Albert Krishna Pillai (1827-1900)55 whose magnum opus, Iratcaniya Yattirikam, is one of the two great poems in Tamil on themes relating to Christ and Christianity, the other being Tempavani of Beschi (cf. for both § 4.4.). In 1899, Krishna Pillai published Iratcaniya manokaram, a collection of songs in praise of the Lord, written in the manner and style of Tevaram hymns and of Tayumanavar. He has also composed Iratcaniya kural, held in high esteem by Christian scholars. Mayuram Vetanayakam Pillai (1826-1889), the well-known author of the first long Tamil romance in prose (1876, cf. § 6.6.1.) has also written a number of devotional poems on Catholic religious themes, published in the following collections: Tiruvarulmalai (1873), Tevamata antati (1873), Tiruvarul antati, Periya Nayaki patikam, and Vetatottiramalai of 110 kattalaik Jcalitturai stanzas. He was a great devotee of the Virgin Mary (Kanni Mari) and a defender of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854): as early as in 1857, he has a poem on the Immaculate Virgin (mdcilldta Kanni). In his Carvacamayacamaracak kirttanai he has demonstrated great tolerance and deep devotion, expressed in a form strongly influenced by Gopalakrishna Bharati (who lived for a long time in Mayuram, and for whom Vetanayakam had a warm and friendly admiration); the impact of some of these klrttanais is visible in S. Bharati's poetry56. 65 In 1852 appointed Tamil teacher in a mission school; he also worked with dr. PERCIVAL as Tamil pandit at the Presidency College in Madras, and as a journalist in a Tamil daily. He became Christian in 1858 and served at Trivandrum in the Maharaja's College and as literary advisor to the Christian Literature Society, Madras. 56 For little known Christian texts in Tamil, cf. D. YESUDHAS, Unknown or little known Christian literatures in Tamil, Preprint, Nagercoil 1967; cf. also DEVANESAM RAJABIGAM, Christliche Literatur in der Tamilsprache, Berlin 1961; P. JOTHIMUTTU, A General Evaluation of the Tamil Poet Krishna Pillai (1827-1900), TC 9 (1961) 301—4. There are some interesting, though certainly not outstanding Christian poets among the Tamils, cf. Antonikkutti Anriaviyar (18th cent.) from a low-caste of either fishermen or coconut tappers, who composed Kiristucamayakirttanam (publ. in Jaffna, 1891); or Kulankaiyar alias Kulankait Tampiran (died 1795) of Kanci, who embraced Christianity in Jaffna after a terrible ordeal in the

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2.14. Since there was a large number of Muslim converts throughout Tamilnadu following the Muslim penetration of the South, a need arose for Islamic literature in Tamil, too. There were many patrons of Tamil poets among the Muslim community, the best known among them Citakkati (Sheikh Abd-ul Qadir), ca. 1650-1715, whose place, Kayalturai, became the centre of Muslim literary activities. Tamil Muslim poetry is almost entirely devoted to Islam, though Muslim authors adopted a number of Tamil literary forms. If we look for an outstanding original contribution of Tamil Muslim poets, we are indeed disappointed57—with the exception of two men, Umaru and Mastan Sahab. Umaruppulavar's main work is an epic dealing with the life of the Prophet (cf. § 4.5.). Umaru was also the author of a poem of 88 stanzas on the Prophet entitled Mutumolimalai, and this work is modelled on Tamil bhakti poems. It is, however, one of the typical features of Muslim literary works in Tamil that they are almost exclusively of narrative, epic character58. The most colourful personality among Muslim poets of Tamilnadu is the elusive, mysterious Kunankuti Mastan, known also as Mastan Sahab (Mattan Cakippu). He was born around 1830 as Sultan Ahmad Kadiri Lebbai in Kunankuti near Trichinopoly. A vendor of attar, he became ascetic and mystic, in about 1850 withdrew from active life, lived for years in a forest, then wandered from place to place and lived finally as a yogi in Madras. He had many disciples, teaching them a kind of universal mysticism expressed through some hundred poems (altogether about 5000 lines), mostly devotional and philosophical verses, modelled on Tayumanavar, and some Jcirttanais. In fact, his lyrics almost equal those of Tayumanavar in pathos and depth of feeling, but are simpler, more crude and colloquial, and do not mind using obscene language. Aiyacami Mutaliyar (2nd half, 19th cent.) composed a panegyric on him entitled Kunankutiyar patirruppattantati. A junior contemporary of Mastan Sahab was Maccarakal Cittar of Kalankuti (near Tirunelveli)—the pseudonym of Syed Abdul Warid Hydross, a noted mystic and poet, author of a large number of poems modelled on the writings of Tamil Siddhas. 2.15. The poetry of bhakti in Tamil is still alive, and almost every day sees the composition of new Hindu devotional stanzas, both Saiva and Vaisnava, of little literary value. A latterday Ceylonese poet of no mean status, though,. Somasundara Pulavar of Jaffna (1876-1953) was one of those who carried on Tiruvariir matha where he had been a monk; he composed, among other things, a YoceppuraNam in 1023 stanzas. Francis Kingsbury, the son of Ci. Vai. TamStaram Pijlai (1873—1941), the translator of Saiva hymns into English, was also author of many books with Christian sujets, besides Iramankatai and PaNtavarkatai. 57 C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 235. 68 Cf. V. I. SUBRAMONIAM, Muslim Literature in Tamil, TC 4 (1955) 73-89, and M. M. UWISE, Muslim Contribution to Tamil Literature, Kandy 1953; M. M. UWISE, Islamic Poetry in Tamil, TC 3 (1954) 292-6; M. M. UWISE, Muslim Literary Forms in Tamil Literature, Proceedings of the Second International ConferenceSeminar of Tamil Studies, Madras 1971, 82-9.

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the bhakti tradition up to the middle of our century59. Arutkavi Ceturaman (born 1937) who became an ardent devotee of Murukan in January 1952, and in 1953 began composing bhakti poems, may be quoted as a vigorous representative of contemporary Saiva devotional poetry. I witnessed myself60 Ceturaman's composing extempore new and original devotional stanzas in a temple in Madras in 1962.

59 Cf. K. S. AETJLNANDHY, Somasunthera Pulavar of Navaliyur, Jaffna, TC 3 <1954) p. 47ff. 60 Thanks to the kindness of Mr. V. SUBBIAH of the SISSWorks Publishing Society, I was able to visit the temple of PilJaiyar (Madras) and observe personally the Arutkavi's striking performance; the event occurred on Sept. 14, 1962.

DIDACTIC HERESY

3.0. There is a large number of works comprising hundreds and hundreds of stanzas of versified banalities and platitudes which occasionally flash with the force of true insight into human nature and motives, but which were, characteristically, judged as substitute philosophy rather than as literature. However, we ought to evaluate literature in terms and degrees of its own, of its literary value; it is not "what elements but how they are put together, and with what function, which determine whether a given work is or is not literature1." Judged from this point of view, most of the poems we shall deal with on the immediately following pages can be called poetry only on account of their metric form; with a few exceptions, they are, as poetry, dull and dreary. We do not know who was responsible for the compilation of the Eighteen Shorter Texts, known as Patin-en-kil-k-kanakku in Tamil. They are mentioned as such by the commentator Peraciriyar (13th cent.) in his commentary on Tolkappiyam Ceyyuliyal 547, and by Naccinarkkiniyar (14th cent.) in his gloss on the same text; and in the commentary on Viracoliyam 145. The reasons which led to the origin and massive spread of didacticism in Tamil literature sometime in the 4th-6th centuries A. D. are complex, and not quite clear. Some of the reasons were undoubtedly of political and social nature, some were ideologic, and the prevailing reason, in more general terms, seems to be the ever increasing impact of Buddhist and Jaina doctrines and Northern culture. It is a naive oversimplification to search for the cause of the existence "of so many works on the ethics of daily life" in the "low state of morality among the early Tamils2." This view is not only upheld but made worse and less credible by an author who maintains that the lack of morals was due to the influence of foreign religions like Buddhism and Jainism3. It was rightly stressed by C. and H. Jesudasan that the biased nature of such comments was too glaring. There are three types of works included among the Eighteen Shorter Texts: a war-poem developing the puram genre and signalling later war-poetry; six poems which may be considered as echoes of the vanishing tradition of the akam genre (the tinai poems); and eleven collections of maxims on ethical and social conventions dealing with rules of private and public conduct—in short, collections of aphorisms on nlti proper. 3.1. The war-poem is called Kalavalinarpatu 'Forty Stanzas on the Battleground,' and is ascribed to Poykaiyar; it looks like a fore-runner of a medieval 1 8 3

R. WEIXEK-A. WARREN, Theory of Literature, 3rd ed. p. 239. Tamil Studies, Madras 1914, p. 193. Tamil ilakkiya varala.ru, Annamalai 1955, p. 24.

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genre, the parani (cf. § 5.1.64.). It is dedicated to the battle at Kalumalam in which the Chola king Cenkanan crushed the four-fold forces (chariots, elephants, cavalry, infantry) of the Chera ruler Kanaikkal ('Stout Leg') Irumporai4. The poem is rather gruesome: blood runs in rivers, the severed trunks of elephants under the white royal umbrella look like the black serpent trying to swallow the moon, jackals try to draw the entrails of fallen soldiers, etc. The title is based on the name of a heroic theme, viz. kalavali 'battle-field' (the theme of a minstrel praising the spoils of a victorious king). The date of the poem seems to be rather late, ca. 850 A. D.5 3.2.1. The six poems on the tinais (settings of ancient bardic poetry) are the Karnarpatu 'Forty Stanzas on the Rainy Season' (Jcdr), ascribed to Maturai Kannan Kuttanar, in the venpd metre in praise of love in the mullai (pastoral) setting (5th-6th cent. A.D.); Aintinaiyelupatu 'Seventy Stanzas About the Five Settings' by Muvatiyar in innicai and nericai venpd; only 64 stanzas are available; the invocation of Ganesa indicates a date not earlier than the 7th cent.; Aintinaiyaimpatu 'Fifty Stanzas About the Five Settings' in nericaivenpd with an occasional innicai by Maran Poraiyanar (5th-6th cent.); Tinaimoliyaimpatu 'Fifty Stanzas Speaking of the Settings' by Kannan Centanar (5th-6th cent.); Kainnilai which probably means 'Five Attitudes of Conduct,' discovered as late as 1931, a collection of 60 stanzas, each of the five settings (tinai) getting twelve, by Pullankatanar, the son of the kdviti (collector of revenues) of Mullinattunallur in Marokkam; many lines are missing; Tinaimalainurraimpatu 'One Hundred and Fifty Stanzas on the Garland of Settings' containing in fact 153 venpd stanzas out of which 31 are on kurinci, 31 on neytal, 30 on pdlai, 31 on mullai, 30 on marutam, by Kanimetaviyar, the author of Elati (q. v.). Very interesting is the venpd quoted as Preamble which suggests the reason why these restatements of the ancient akam genre were composed: not only that the interest in the old literary conventions and themes was vanishing, but there were even poeple who hated (munintdr) and attacked the conception of kalavu 'pre-marital love,' and hence it became necessary to reemphasize the ancient message of love6. These short works may be thus 4

Cf. a learned discussion of the plot of the poem in S. VAIYAPUBI PILIAI'S HTLL pp. 95-8. 5 Contra: C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 4. According to them, the Kalavali could to some extent justify the claim to be as ancient as the bardic poems. Cf. also KANAKASABHAI PILLAI'S paper in IA 18 (1889) 258-65. 6 This posits an interesting problem: Tamil seems to have been equated with kalavu 'pre-marital eros, spontaneous love,' e.g. in the commentary on Iraiyanar's Kalaviyal by Nakkirar. The Preamble to Aintinaiyaimpatu states that those who do not read this work on the five settings of akam are "far removed from Tamil." The entire socio-aesthetic concept of iyarkaippunarcci 'natural, spontaneous union of sexes' was justly regarded as something specifically Tamil. In Paripa^al IX.2-26, there occurs a debate between the Tamils and the followers of the Veda, who are ridiculed, on the propriety of pre-marital love and sex. Cf. T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAM, A History of Tamil Literature, Annamalainagar 1965, p. 63, and F. GBOS, Le Paripatal, pp. 228-9.

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regarded as a kind of reaction, weak and impermanent, though, against the prevailing trend of the period which disapproved of and slighted the traditional conception of eros. It is obvious that the primary motive behind these works, too, was didactic and instructive. As poetry, they are not much. They are all composed in different sub-types of the four-line venpa stanza which has now gained almost absolute supremacy. 3.2.2. Tirukkural. 'The Sacred KuraV is undoubtedly quite exceptional as to its literary qualities among the Eighteen Shorter Works, though it has been typically evaluated rather according to the merit of its moral and instructive message than of its aesthetic values. It is a comprehensive manual of ethics, polity, and love, consisting of 1330 distichs divided into 133 sections of 10 couplets each, the first 38 on moral and cosmic order (aram, Skt. dharma), the next 70 on political skill and social behaviour (porul, Skt. artha), and the rest on pleasure (kdmam, Skt. Jcdma). The author was probably a Jain with eclectic leanings and good knowledge of the early works of Tamil poetry as well as of the Sanskrit gnomic and legal texts. We have no authentic information on his life7. Even his name Tiruvalluvar is not quite clear to us8. A date of the work sometime between A.D. 400-500 may be the best we can at this moment suggest9. Hindus, Jains and Christians have claimed this highly esteemed and prestigious work for themselves. The ethics of Tirukkural is a reflection of the Jaina moral code, and its theology, if we can at all speak of any, reflects rather the Jaina doctrines than anything else10. There has been much speculation why there is no specific portion devoted to the fourth basic objective of life, vitu (Skt. moksa 'deliverance'), while virtue, wealth, and pleasure are dealt with in detail. It seems that the main reason consists in the nature of Tiruvalluvar's moral code which was eminently empirical, pragmatic, even practical11. As a work of literary art, Tirukkural reveals a single structural plan and 7 There are a number of conflicting traditions and many legends about the poet: He is supposed to have been an issue of a union between a Brahman and a Pariah woman, the brother of Kapilar and Auvaiyar, belonging to Mylapore, or to Maturai. Some think that he was a weaver by caste. 8 The name was equated with vallabha—a superintendent to the king, cf. Mtr. IEAKAVAIYANKAR, Arayccittokuti, 2nd ed. 1964, pp. 206-9. Cf. however DED 4354 Ta. valluvan a Pariah caste, the members of which are royal drummers, and priests for Paraiyas. S. VAIYAPURI PILLAI thinks that the poet was "the chief of the proclaiming boys analogous to a trumpet-major of the army" (History of Tamil Language and Literature, p. 80). G. U. POPE calls the poet "The Weaver of Mayilapur." 9 Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch). 10 Cf. the epithes for god in Tirukkural 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 which have a strong Jaina flavour; the Jains have claimed Tiruvaljuvar as their authority already in the 16th cent.; the great importance given to kollamai 'non-killing,' and to vegetarianism (cf. Tirukkural 321-33, 251-60) is typically Jaina. Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), ftn. 86 to Chapter VII. 11 According to POPE, the people of TiruvaJJuvar's time were "not prepared for the higher teaching" of liberation (moksa)—a ridiculously naive statement.

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looks like the work of a single master. The whole book employs one kind of metre, perfectly suited to didactic poetry, the kuralvenpd, lit. 'the short vel stanza' whose properties are: only feet of two or three metrical units (acai) may be used; the stanza must always end in a foot of the type —, = , — ^ or = w ; strict rules of a particular consonance of lines (ventotai) must be observed; the number of feet is seven, the number of lines two, the first line consisting usually of four feet, the second of three. Illustration: kannutaiya renpavar karror mukattirantu punnutaiyar kalld tavar / / / — / —/ / — — The learned men alone are said to have eyes: the unlearned have but a pair of sores in their face. The "rhyme" (etukai) occurs in the coda of the first syllable: kann- / punn-. Observe how intimately the formal properties and the content are connected: kan "eye(s)" and pun "sore(s)" are placed in the most prominent slots in the lines and bear the "rhyme" because these two words express the contrast between learning and ignorance; on the other hand, the alliteration (monai) occurs in kannutaiya and karror, connecting these two words formally: it is the learned (karror) who have eyes (kan). This formal excellence and the eminently suitable metre are responsible for what H. A. Popley describes as "the terse, vivid couplets" which "lend themselves so aptly to memorisation and quotation12." I have tried to show elsewhere13 that the content of Tirukkural is patterned and that no 'structural gaps' occur in the text. Every distich has as it were two kinds of meaning: its own intrinsic and isolated meaning, and the additional structural meaning in relation to other couplets and to the entire text which forms a perfect total structure. One should never contemplate the couplets in isolation. They have true validity and meaning only in their patterned relations with other couplets: the relevant context concerns, first, the 133 decades of couplets (referred to as atikdram 'chapter'), second, the three portions (pal), and, ultimately, the whole book; also, the decades complement each other, e.g. decade 56 on tyranny complements decades 55 on the 'right sceptre' and 57 on the absence of tyranny. In short, Tirukkural is no anthology of isolated aphorisms. If no replacement of any semantic element, however small, will do in a text where a single alteration will transform or destroy it, how can one expect to have an adequate translation ? To quote H. A. Popley again: "It is impossible in any translation to do justice to the beauty and force of the original14." Man in totality of his relationships to God, to fellow-men is society, and to woman in the intimacy of the family, is the sujet of Tirukkural. As such, the 12 H. A. POPLEY, The Sacred KuraJ, Calcutta and London 1931, p. 32. 13 K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, p^. 158-67. 14 H. A. POPLEY, The Sacred KuraJ, p. x.

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book was called "the living ethics of love," a collection of maxims in which we find so much lofty wisdom that any other like it hardly exists in world-literature15 ; "the first of works, from which, whether for thought or language, there is no appeal16"; "the best . . . Tamil work of any extent which is now in existence17." C. and H. Jesudasan, in their book on Tamil literature, are somewhat off the mark when they say that "literary charm, it is too wellknown, is an indefinable, inexplicable quality18." It is on the contrary quite obvious wherein lies the literary charm of the Tirukkural: in the skillful use of the suitable metre, in the careful over-all structural plan, in the double meaning of the couplets referred to above. It is, of course, primarily a book of ideas and ideals. However, poems are made not of ideas but of words. This dictum of Mallarme cuts deep when applied to Tirukkural. For even this undoubtedly greatest of the Tamil didactic texts is not, according to my opinion, a supreme work of art19. First of all, there are banalities and platitudes even in the Kural, and sometimes not the slightest attempt has been made by the poet to strife after poetic charm20. Second, measured by the 'loftiness' of its ideas, the Kural is sometimes, thought not too often, a book of shrewd cunning, and not only of justice, kindness, friendship21. If there is true poetry anywhere in the book it will be found among the erotic couplets of its third part, because there the teacher, the preacher in Valluvar has stepped aside, and the poet speaks almost the language of the superb love-poetry of the classical age22. Occasionally, we 15 A. SCHWEITZEB, Indian Thought and its Development, London 1951, pp. 200-205. 16 DREW'S Preface to the Kural, Vol. I., p. 2. 17 R. CALDWELL'S Comparative Grammar, Introduction, p. 85. Cf. also his praise: "Nothing certainly in the whole compass of human language can equal the force and terseness of the sententious distichs in which the author conveys the lessons of wisdom he utters" (P. PEBCIVAL'S Land of the Veda, p. 110). In Tiruvaljuvamalai we find the following stanza ascribed to VanNakkancarranar: "It is difficult to say whether Sanskrit (driyam) or Tamil (centamil) is the best; they are perhaps on a par, since Sanskrit possesses the Veda, and Tamil the Kural composed by the divine Valjuvan." 18 A History of Tamil Literature, p. 48. 19 It is still almost a heresy to express this opinion; but it was expressed even by some Tamil critics, notably by K. N. SUBBAMANYAM. 20 E.g. 34: Be pure in mind, for that true Virtue is; All else is merely sound and sham. Or 582: Each day, of every subject every deed, 'This duty of the king to learn with speed. Or 584: His officers, his friends, his enemies, All these who watch are trusty spies. The original text is equally banal and poor as the translations

of POPLEY and 21

POPE.

Cf. 759: Make money! Foeman's insolence o'ergrown / To lop away no keener steel is known (POPE). Or 879: Destroy the thorn, while tender point can work thee no offence. Matured in time, 'twill pierce the hand that plucks it thence (POPE). 22 Here it is necessary to stress that Tiruvalluvar's conception of eros is utterly different from the treatment of sex in any of the Sanskrit kdmasdstras. Love, in Tirukkura], is an exalting passion pictured as ideal love in the dramatic situations according to the ancient akam conventions; the work of Vatsyayana and of other Sanskrit authors is sdstra, that is, objective, scientific analysis of sex.

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find great and striking similes and metaphors: love is more tender than an opening flower (1289); the base, like sugarcane, will profit those who bruise (1078); the grievous plague of enmity (853) is a fine metaphor, just like eye wet with the dew of tears (1232) and the comparison of happy love to a sea of joy (1232). However, Tiruvalluvar's aim was not art and poetry as such; he was a teacher; not art but wisdom, justice, morals are his objectives. This "bard of universal man" is emphatically not "the greatest poet of South India" as Pope calls him. I t is not true that he "has made every maxim a beautiful verse of wonderful poetry23." On the whole, though, when taken as an integrated vision of man and his duties and pleasures, the Kural is a great book of sentences, and one may agree with Pope when he says that Tiruvalluvar has touched "all things with poetic grace"; this poetic grace is unmistakably perceptible even in the translations of which a few samples from the pen of Pope, Popley and V. V. S. Aiyar are given here24: 23

T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDARAM, The Pageant of Tamil Literature, Madras 1966, p. 19. 24 Tirukkural has been translated into a number of languages (cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), ftn. 99 to Chapter VII). The translation of the text was initiated by Western scholars in the beginning of the 18th century. The first two parts of the text were first translated into Latin by BESCHI in 1730. When ARIEL published his French translation of the third part in 1848, he referred to another French version attempted by about 1767. In 1794, KINDERSLEY translated some of the couplets into English. The most important translations into English, German, French, Russian and Swedish: F. W. ELLIS, ca. 1819 in Madras (without title-page or date), republished by R. P. SETHTJ PILLAI as Tirukkural, Ellis' Commentary, Madras 1955; W. H. DREW, The Cural of Tiruvalluvar, I, 1840, II, 1852; republished with the translation of J. LAZARUS, Madras 1949; J. LAZARUS, The Kural of Tiruvalluvar, Madras 1885; G. U. POPE, The 'Sacred' Kurral of Tiruvajhiva-Nayanar, London 1886; V. V. S. AIYAR, Thiruvalluvar; The Kural, or the Maxims of Thiruvalluvar, 1915 (2nd ed. 1925, 3rd 1951, 4th 1961); H. A. POPLEY, The Sacred Kural, the Tamil Veda of Tiruvalluvar, Calcutta 1937 (2nd ed. 1958); M. S. PURNALINGAM PILLAI, The Kural in English, with Foreword, Footnotes and Appendix, Tirunelveli 1942; V. R. RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR, Tirukkural in Roman Transliteration with English Translation, Madras 1949. A set of translations of the text published by the South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society, Madras 1958, includes the versions of POPE, ELLIS, DREW and LAZARUS. German: AUGUST FRIEDRICH CAMMERER, Das Tiruwalluvar, Gedichte

und Denkspruehe, Niirnberg 1803, 176 p.; a few couplets by F. RUCKERT (1847); K. GRAUL, Der Kural des Tiruvalluver, London-Leipzig 1856. French: Apart from partial translations by ARIEL (1848), DUMAST (1854), LAMAIRESSE (1867), JACOLLIOT (1876), G. BARRIGUE DE FONTAINIEU (1889), GNANOU-DIAGOU, Tirouvallouvar,

Koural, Pondichery 1942. Russian: J. J. GLAZOV, Moskva 1963. Swedish: INGVE FRYKHOLM, Tirukkural, i svensk tolkning, Uddevalla 1971. Tirukkural has also been translated, completely or partially, into Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati, Burmese, Malay, Chinese, Fijian, Latin and Polish. Cf. also A. THIRUMALAIMUTHUSWAMY, A Bibliography on Thirukkural, Madurai 1962; M. S. PURNALINGAM PILLAI, Critical Studies in Kural, Munnirpallam 1929; A. S. DURAISWAMY PILLAI, An Introdoction to the Study of Tiruvalluvar, Madurai 1961; Tirukkural Lectures 1959-60 to 1968-9, University of Madras, Madras 1971. There are innumerable editions, most valuable among them those of

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"The flute is sweet, the lute is sweet," say those Who've never heard the pretty prattle of their little ones. (66, Popley) The living soul subsists in love ; The loveless are but skin and bone. (80, Popley) The vile, maybe, are like the gods; They, too, just do as they desire. (1073, Popley) If farmers quiet sit and go not to their land, 'Twill sulk and take the huff, like sulking wife. (1039, Popley) I never knew Death before: I know it now: it wareth the form of a woman and hath large and battling eyes. (1083, V. V. S. Aiyar) She is simple and gracious, but yet her eyes are versed in the ways of waging war; for they drink the lives of those that look on her. (1084, V. V. S. Aiyar) Is it by her fair forehead that my manhood is overcome, the manhood that causeth to tremble even those that have not yet faced me on the battle-field ? (1088, V. V. S. Aiyar) A double witchery have glances of her liquid eyes; One glance is glance that brings me pain; the other heals again. Withdraw, it burns; approach, it soothes the pain; Whence did the maid this wondrous fire obtain ?

(1091, Pope) (1104, Pope)

My solution of the question how to translate the Kural would be to translate as briefly and tersely as possible, preferably not in rhymed couplets, e.g. A is the beginning of all letters; the Primeval Lord is the beginning of the world. The joy of the avenger lasts but a day; the fame of the forgiver lasts forever. (156) They are great who fast and do penance. They are greater who forgive injuries. (160)

(1)

The pleasure of love is wide as ocean. Wider still is the sorrow of parting. (1166) The passion of love is stronger than wine: the very thought of it intoxicates. (12< (1201) 3.2.3. Nalatiyar 'The Great Quatrains' (or Nalatinanuru 'The Four Hundred Quatrains') is the most popular book of moral maxims in Tamil next to Tirukkural, a joint product of a group of Jaina authors collected and classified according to topics by Patumanar whose date is unknown. Based on internal evidence found in stanzas 200 and 296 we may possibly date the collection between 675-700 A.D. at the earliest. The 400 venpd quatrains are built each W. H. DREW (1840-52), K. GRATTL (1865), G. U. POPE (1886), V. R. R. DISKHITAR (1949), R. P. SETHU PILLAI-F. W. ELLIS (1955) and U. VE. VAI. MTJ. KOPALA KBTJSNAMACAEYAS (4th ed. 1965). The best commentary is that of Parimelalakar (13th-14th cent.).

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around a central idea; but, in spite of the fact that the book is organized into 40 chapters of 10 stanzas each, Nalatiyar is typically an anthology, unlike the Tirukkural. The tone of the work is strongly ascetic and cynical; and only a few stanzas manifest true poetry, though the style of Nalatiyar is more formal and literary than that of the Rural. Say not This day, or That day, or Any day. Think of death which is ever standing behind you. Eschew evil, and with unceasing endeavour Adhere to virtue, ordained by sages. (86) Learning knows no bounds: The learner's days are few. Think of it with calm: there's a lot of maladies. Learn with clear discrimination what there is to learn, Like the heron who leaves water and drinks milk. (145) Like the scroll read by one who understands it well, Like riches to men of generous heart, Like a sharp sword in a warrior's hand, So is the beauty of a faithful wife. (386) 3.2.4. The rest of the collections of didactic maxims must be dismissed as just rhymed instructions on right conduct; they have little merit as literature: Tirikatukam 'The Three Spices,' a collection of four-line venpd verses by Nallatanar (ca. 650 A.D.), Nanmanikkatikai 'The Salver of Four Gems,' 101 (or 104, or 106, depending on the edition) venpd quatrains by Vilampinakanar (7th-8th cent. A.D.), Cirupancamulam 'The Five Small Remedies,' 102 venpd stanzas by Makkariyacan (650-750 A.D.), Elati 'Cardamom and the Rest/ 81 gnomic stanzas by Kanimetaviyar (650-750 A.D.), Mutumolikkafici 'The Advice of Ancient Sayings' ascribed to Kutalur Kilar in venturai metre, probably earlier than the rest, Innanarpatu 'Forty (Stanzas) on Things Unpleasant' in innicaivenpd ascribed to Kapilar (500-650 A.D.), Iniyavainarpatu (alias Initunarpatu, Iniyatunarpatu) 'Forty Stanzas on Things Pleasant' by Putaficentanar in venpd quatrains (650-700 A.D.). A single illustration (Nanmanikkatikai 48) will suffice to characterise all these collections: Without rain, the inhabitants of Earth have nothing; where there are no penitents, there's no rain; penance is not performed where there's no king; and kings don't reign where there's no civilized life. Closely connected with the collections of gnomic maxims and yet different is Acarakkovai 'The Garland of Right Conduct' of a Saiva author, Kayatturp Peruvayil Mulliyar. This work of 100 stanzas in a variety of venpd metres is not only a collection of moral exhortations but also of ritual observances and customs considered proper and correct. Date: ± 825 A.D. The only other work besides Nalatiyar and Tirukkural which may claim some literary merit is Palamolinanuru 'Four Hundred (Stanzas) of Old Sayings' in venpd, ascribed to Munruraiyaraiyan, a Jaina author. The greatest interest of this work consists in the fact that one may hear a number of reminiscences of old Tamil matter

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of the bardic age in it, and that each quatrain contains a proverb (palamoli). There exists a brief old anonymous commentary on this work. The date may be ± 700 A.D. 3.2.5. Medieval Spriiche. In quantitative terms of sheer output, Tamil is very rich in texts whose primary aim and function is to instruct by means of pithy maxims and terse sayings in verse. Their aesthetic value is very small. Most of them are anonymous, or were ascribed to more or less known poets, and may be found in the many current anthologies. One notable exception is Auvaiyar25, lit. 'The Old Lady,' or 'The Venerable Lady,' one of the least tangible figures in Tamil literature, though she probably possesses the distinction to have been the first Tamil author ever translated into a European language26. This is not so much due to the literary qualities of works ascribed to her as rather to the immense popularity she has always enjoyed among the Tamil people, and to the fact that gnomic sayings were very much in vogue in European culture of a certain period. Auvaiyar, the author of didactic stanzas, must be distinguished from the classical female bard of early Tamil literature, and probably also from (a later ?) poetess of occasional verses. The composite Auvaiyar has merged into one single hero of innumerable popular legends. At least four of the many works ascribed to this "Tamil Sappho" whose writings, in the words of Beschi, were "worthy of Seneca himself," may fairly certainly be considered as the compositions of the "second" Auvaiyar, who probably belongs to the 9th-10th cent. A.D.: Atticuti and Konraiventan, moral aphorisms written in the order of Tamil alphabet, MUturai in 30 venpd stanzas, and Nalvali in 40 venpd stanzas. In AtticUti, the arrangement of the maxims is in the so-called varukkam ( < Skt. varga) 'alphabetic series,' cf. its beginning: aranceyavirumpu aruvatu cinam iyalvatu karavel Ivatu vilajchel

'Desire performing virtue' 'Subdue wrath' 'Don't withold what you can give' 'Hinder not [another's] gift' etc.

To illustrate the aphorisms of Konrai ventan 'The King of Konrai (Cassia)* the following is given here: There is no mantra greater than the father's words. "No temple is holier than the mother. 25

Cf. DED 323 Ta. avvai 'mother, old woman, woman ascetic'

86

Her Konraiventan was translated by BARTHOLOMAETJS ZIEGENBALG in 1708

with other moral sayings (NitiveNpa and Ulakanlti) in his Malabarische Moralia, cf. W. CALAND, B. Ziegenbalg's Kleinere Schriften, Amsterdam 1930. For other translations of her works cf. S. WINFRED, Tamil Minor Poets. Containing Attisudi, Konreiventhan, Vettirverkei, Muthurei, Nalvali, Nanneri, and Nithinerivilakkam, Madras 1872; E. J. ROBINSON, Tales and Poems of South India, London 1885; C. SRI-KANTA, Ethical Epigrams of Auvaiyar, Jaffna 1915. Cf. also P. PERCIVAL, Tamil Minor Poets, Nitimlrrirattu, Madras 1864; G. U. POPE, A Tamil Poetical Anthology, 2nd ed. Madras 1859, and H. A. POPLEY, Satsamayavijakkam . . . Selections from Tamil Literature relating to Religion and Morals, Madras 1915.

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As far as Muturai is concerned (which is composed in an interesting sub-type of venpd, the so-called camanilaivenpd with four lines of four, three, four and three feet respectively), cf. Though milk is boiled, it does not loose its flavour. Though the non-affectionate be loved, no love is returned. The illustrious, though ruined, are still great, like the conch, though burned, gives forth whiteness.

Of Nalvali 'The Good Path,' the most interesting part is its invocation to Ganesa (its form is a perfect venpd of four lines employing lines of three and four feet): Milk, clear honey, treacle and dhal, these four mixed together I'll give you—O Spotless Gem with the elephant's face! You give me the three-fold classical Tamil! These crisp sayings full of ripe wisdom and gentle irony have much in common in their thought-content, diction and form. They are perfectly simple and intelligible, and generations of Tamil school-children were brought up on such aphorisms as "Mother and father are the first known gods27," or "If you consider faults, there can be no friends28." Only very rarely has Auvaiyar flashes of genuine poetry. What is important about her is that her sayings have "percolated down to the lowest strata of Tamilian society29" and merged with other sayings and proverbs the Tamils are so fond of quoting and repeating daily. To feel the moral pulse of the Tamil people, to understand the wonderful sense of humour, the quick intelligence, the grace, dignity, and self-assurance of the Tamils, one should listen to these sayings and proverbs which are often delightful in their straightforwardness (e.g. The excrement varies with the food, or / / one dreams of eating shit, whom can he tell it at daybreak ?) and, on the other hand, quite marvellous in their poetic force (e.g. She is as beautiful as a flying parrot, or She is the home of beauty, or It is as if you want to pluck and eat her beauty when you see it)30.

3.3. The belief that the first function of poetry is to teach prevailed in much Tamil thinking throughout the ages, right down to the present-day prose 27 28 29 30

Konraiventan 1. Konraiventan 18. C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 139. These sayings and proverbs should certainly be made an object of literary study, in terms of aesthetic, literary, and linguistic approach, without the burden of historical and sociological examination. Cf. the following source-books which contain ample data: Uvamaiccol akarati, 1872; P. PERCIVAL, Tamil Proverbs with their English Translation, Madras and London 1877; P. SATYA NESAN, Handbook of Tamil Proverbs and Phrases, 1888; J. LAZARUS, A Dictionary of Tamil Proverbs, with Introduction, Notes, Text and Translation, Madras 1894; H. JENSEN, Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, with Translation, Explanation and Indices, Madras 1897.

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writers like Rajaji. M. Vetanayakam Pillai, the "father of the Tamil novel" published, at the age of 33, a collection oi moral maxims entitled Nitinul 'The Book of Right Conduct' (1859) which is striking for its pessimism, bitterness, and Siddha-like hatred of women—the temptress; and, like some of the Siddha poets, he finds, instead of female beauty, rheum in the eyes, wax in her two ears, saliva in the gaping mouth, thick mucus in the nose, lice and sweat in the hair.

Even the man who tried to free modern Tamil literature from many traditional notions, Subrahmanya Bharati (1882-1921) yielded to the didactic urge and composed two collections which are exclusively didactic. His Putiya Atticuti 'The New Atticuti' (1914) has been composed in imitation of the didactic collection ascribed to Auvaiyar: 110 sayings, arranged alphabetically; but the content is new, socially and politically conditioned31. In a way, Pappappattu (of the same period), a collection of 16 quatrains, is also a didactic work since its purpose is purely instructive: to teach children the new ideology of Bharati's active and patriotic &aktism32.

31 E.g. Avoid fear! Spend the whole day working! Withstand evil! Worship the hero! Strive for new things! Work collectively! Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, Bharati's Poems, TC 3 (1953) 314-16. 32 The collection is dedicated to the poet's daughter, Mrs. N. Sakuntala Bharati, nicknamed Pappa, Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, Bharati's Poems, TC 3 (1954) 316-19.

THE EPIC POETRY

4.0. The Tamil epics are all what has been called 'literary' epics rather than 'primitive' or 'authentic' epics1. None of them is comparable with the great 'authentic' Old Indian epics, but rather with the works classified as kdvya literature in Sanskrit. To express this terminologically, we may say that Tamil epic texts are not itihdsas, i.e. large narrative poems (large in character, in events, in setting, in effect) of the traditional heroic past, but rather longer or shorter mahdkdvyas. This is true even of the extant Tamil versions of the two great national epics of India. Some of the Tamil epics may probably be works of greater art (thus Cilappatikaram, Civakacintamani, Villi's Paratam, Kampan's Ramayanam, Periyapuranam) but of much less vigour. They are very different from each other and, strictly speaking, some of them should hardly be called epics in the narrower and more technical sense at all. But they are not as radically different from the accepted concept of the epic as, say, Dante's Divine Comedy which has also been called an epic. On the other hand, they have some fundamental features in common which distinguish them radically from other literary forms: they all tell a story (even if the story constitutes sometimes only a frame for Buddhist or Jaina propaganda), and hence they are all narrative poetry; moreover, the story is usually told in a systematic manner and developed from the very beginning (i.e. from the birth or early youth of the hero and (or) heroine); almost all of them have a scale which transcends that of ordinary life; they all introduce supernatural characters; they all appear to be based on some previously known 'ancient* story2; they are never told in the first person; formally, there is an attempt at some underlying unity throughout the large poems. In structure, the epic is usually presented in uniform lines, not broken into stanzas, but this is not an absolute requirement3, and, in fact, it is usually not met in Tamil epics. On the other hand, there is a common epic style and diction, rich in static epithets, recurrent formulas, circumlocutions, and introduction of speeches. Invention is usually restricted to elaboration and variation of details, since the poet's powers are devoted to making an epic out of a traditional story, well-known to his prospective audience. In our view of Tamil literature and for the purposes of this book we adopt 1

C. M. BOWRA, From Virgil to Milton, 2nd ed. London 1957, pp. 1 and 9. To tell the traditional, well-known, ancient story is a requirement mentioned as tonmai as early as in Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram 550 which obviously refers to epic poetry when it says that tol is that which speaks of noble ideas in sweet words, and which is composed of many lines at wide range. 3 Thus e.g. early Yugoslav epics were broken into stanzas. 2

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thus a rather broad conception of the epic, so that we are entitled to include, as epic poetry whose chief function we define here as the narration of a wellknown story on a large scale, even the Tamil purdnas. This, incidentally, is in agreement with the Tamil tradition itself which includes purdnas under epic poetry4. The Tamil epic poetry will hence be treated under the following subdivisions: Jaina epics, Buddhist epics, Hindu epics, Christian epics, Muslim epics, purdnas, and modern Tamil epic poetry. The standard medieval Tamil handbook of rhetoric and poetics, Tantiyalankaram. (? 10th cent. A.D.) classifies epics as perunkappiyam (Skt. mahdkdvya) or 'major epics' and kdppiyam (Skt. hdvya) or '(minor) epics.' The perunkdppiyam should have the following characteristics: 1. It should commence with any or more of the three components: vdlttu or praise of god, vanakkam or invocation, and varuporul or introduction to the subject; the hero's country, his capital city, and its life, should be dealt with at the very beginning and in idealized terms. 2. The four chief aims of life, aram 'virtue,' porul 'wealth,' inpam 'pleasure' and vitu 'deliverance' should form its content. 3. It should have a hero of unparalleled magnitude whose story should develop from the beginning, i.e. his (or her) birth. 4. An epic should contain the descriptions of the mountains, sea, countryside, city, the six seasons, the sunrise and the rising of the moon. 5. It should further deal with the consummation of marriage, coronation, beauties offlower-gardens,water games, indulgence in intoxicating drinks, bearing forth of children, love-quarrej, sexual love etc. 6. The state council composed of the king and the ministers, diplomatic missions, invasions, battles, victories, should also find place in it. Requirements 4, 5 and 6 are thus an expression of the basic tendency to be as comprehensive as possible vis-d-vis the stage set for the action, the private life, and the public life of the heroes. 7. The epic should be an interesting poem infused with emotional elements. 8. It should be divided into chapters called carukkam, patalam, ilampakam, pariccetam or attiydyam (all Sanskrit loans), and, if a very long poem, into books (kdntam). 9. It should be the work of a savant. The kdppiyam is defined like the 'major epic' but for one point: it deals with any one or more of the four major goals of life, but not exceeding three of the four. It is obvious that this conception of the epic is based totally on Sanskrit tradition, and cannot and does not apply strictly to Tamil epics: thus e.g. Cilappatikaram or Manimekalai which are classified as 'major epics' do not conform at all to the principles outlined above. The medieval treatise Pannirupattiyal, of a different and less Sanskrit tradition, speaks of epic (totarnilaicceyyul, see below) as of three kinds: talai 'first,' itai 'middle' and katai 'final.' Unfortunately, among this curious classification only talai is defined, viz. as dealing with the four goals of life in "clear terms and continuous narration5." 4

Puranas are classified as epics under dru kdppiyam in Vaccanantimalai (13th cent. A.D.) and in Citamparappa^tiyal (1508 A.D.). s Aphorisms 224-6.

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According to earlier Tamil theoreticians, e.g. the great commentator Atiyarkkunallar (12th-13th cent. A.D.), poems of larger format which included and united different phases of akapporul 'erotic experience' and purapporul 'heroic experience,' and different from disconnected poems (tanicceyyul), were termed totarnilai, lit. 'continuing' or 'connected' type, in contrast to tokainilai, anthology (of isolated poems). There are two kinds of these: col-totar-nilai-cceyyul, i.e. poems connected by virtue of their formal properties (e.g. owing to the antdti arrangement), and porul-totar-nilai-c-ceyyul, i.e. poems connected by virtue of the content which forms a unity. Cilappatikaram, the earliest Tamil epic, is defined by Atiyarkkunallar6 as iyal-icai-ndtaka-porul-totar-nilai-cceyyul, i.e. 'a poem whose stanzas are connected by their content, having elements of poetry, music, and drama.' Such large poems (ceyyul) of connected stanzas of text (totarnilai) were identified, under the impact of Sanskrit thinking, as kdvyas, and came to be called kdppiyam. In Mayilainatar's commentary (14th cent.) on the grammar Nannul we hear for the first time of aimperunkdpjnyam or 'the five great kdvyas' (cf. Skt. pancamahdkdvya). Later the Tamil epics of the pre-Kampan period were classified into the 'five great epics' and the 'five minor epics': Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai, Civakacintamani, Valaiyapati and Kuntalakeci became to be known as aimperunkdppiyankal, 'the five major epics,' whereas Utayanakumarakaviyam, Yacotarakaviyam, Nakakumarakaviyam, Culamani and Nilakeci were known as aincirunkdppiyankal 'the five minor epics'—incidentally, a useless classification without any justification. To compose a kdvya has been a must for any writer claiming high status, and this opinion was predominant among Tamil poets and critics until very recently7. It is difficult to determine the exact causes of the origin of connected, continuous narratives in verse in Tamil literature after an age of discontinuous poetry—unless of course we are willing to see the causes in the imitation of Sanskrit models, an oversimplified solution. The impact of the great national epics of India cannot naturally be underestimated. There had been a Southern recension of the Mahabharata. The story was familiar to early bardic poets: Puram 2, Akam 233, and Cilappatikaram XXIX all mention the great war. Inscriptional evidence is available for the ceremonial participation of South Indian rulers in the great battle. One of the early poets is known as Paratampatiya Peruntevanar, i.e. 'The Peruntevanar who sang the Bharatam.' All this suggests an early popularity of the great epic. According to epigraphic evidence, there were—apart from this Paratam about which we know only from the now, de plume of an early bardic poet—two other early renderings of the epics into Tamil, one during the time of an early Pandya ruler, another 6

7

U. V. SWAMINATHA AIYAR'S ed. of Cilappatikaram, 1950, p. 6.

Cf. M. RAMASWAMY, Panchali's Vow—Drama ? Epic 1 in Essays on Bharathi, Calcutta 1962, p. 145: " . . . our savants . . . cannot conceive of a great poet without an epic to his credit, a 'must' for writers claiming the status of an immortal genius."

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during the reign of Rulottunka III (A.D. 1178-1218). Inscriptions refer to an ancient Pandya ruler who "established a Maturai cankam which (among other things) Tamilised the Mahabharatam." The story of Rama, too, was current in early Tamil India, as may be seen from Akam 70, Puram 378, and Cilappatikaram XIII. 64-6 and XIV. 46-8. Yapparunkalam (10th Cent. A.D.) mentions a Ramayanam in the pahrotai venpd metre. None of these early Tamil versions of the two great epics is extant now. On the other hand, it should be noted that, while considering Kalittokai (§ 1.1.10.1) and Paripatal (§ 1.1.10.2) as later classical collections forming a kind of transition between the bardic age and later early feudal periods, we may venture the guess that elements of narration and dialogue developing into dramatic scenes could further develop into a dramatic epic. And, indeed, the earliest extant great narrative poem in Tamil, Cilappatikaram, consists of thirty long cantos which can be regarded as monologues "sung by any character in the story or by an outsider as his own monologue often quoting the dialogues he has known or witnessed8." Another, presumably rather early heroic epic was the anonymous Takaturyattirai mentioned by the medieval commentator Peraciriyar (13th cent. A.D.) as an instance of some past incident being made the subject-matter of a poem; the past incident referred to was the war fought and won by the Chera king Peruficeral Irumporai (ca. A.D. 190) against Atikaman, the chieftain of Takatur (cf. e.g. Patirruppattu VIII). 4.1. The Jaina Cycle.

4.1.1. Cilappatikaram 'The Lay of the Anklet' is based on a story which must have been readily available since it has obviously been current in Tamil 8 9

T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDABAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 38. There are at least two ancient references to the motif of the woman who tore off her breast: in Narrinai 216.9, and in Puram 278.4-5. In Yapparunkalam (M. V. VENUGOPALA PILLAI'S ed. 1950, p. 287) we find four lines which are part of theheroine's lament, ascribed to Kannaki-Pattini, but are not found in the current literary version of the epic. IJampuranar in his commentary on Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram Akattinaiyiyal 30 speaks of Ceran Cenkuttuvan establishing KaNnaki as a deity. Various versions of the story are current even today in oral tradition,, and available as cheap popular prints. Cf. BRENDA E. F. BECK in JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 23-38. Cf. also footnotes 6 and 7 to Chapter VII in K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch). 10 XXX.171: ". . . after the king entered the sacrificial hall, I, too, followed." 11 The story goes that the poet renounced the throne which, according to the prophecy of a soothsayer, he should have had occupied, and became an ascetic (hence his name). However, Patirruppattu V by ParaNar dedicated to his alleged brother Cenkuttuvan, and quite reliable, knows nothing of this, or of the existence of any younger brother of the king. For a discussion of the problems connected with the date of Cilappatikaram and Manimekalai, cf. especially K. A. N. SASTRI, A Comprehensive History of India, pp. 522-25, K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 174-6, and K. V. ZVELEBIL,, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), Chapter VII and the> pertinent footnootes.

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India at that time and, in fact, has been alive until today9. The poet, Ilankovatikal, 'Prince-Ascetic,' is mentioned for the first time in the Preamble to the epic, which does not belong to the original text whose content it summarizes. At the end of the last canto he introduces himself in the first person10. It is not improbable that he indeed belonged to the royal Chera family, but obviously to a later age than his famous ancestor Cenkuttuvan. The dating of Cilappatikaram was frequently discussed and is not yet quite settled11. However, a date around A.D. 450 would be most appropriate, and a somewhat later date could be suggested fot the Buddhist "twin-epic" Manimekalai. There is a detailed, outstanding commentary on Cilappatikaram by Atiyarkkunallar (12th-13th cent.) which is unfortunately incomplete. A more ancient anonymous, and simpler, commentary termed Arumpatavurai is also available. The epic has been translated twice into English, once into French, once into Russian, and once into Czech12. Only the Czech version renders prose by prose and verse by verse in exact agreement with the original text. Cilappatikaram is in many ways the most outstanding single poem in Tamil literature. The story: A very young couple from Pukar (alias Kavirippattinam), the capital and the great sea-port of the Cholas, Kovalan, a sixteen-year old son of a rich merchant, and Kannaki, aged twelve, lead a happy and quiet life. But then Kovalan abandons his wife for Matavi, the lovely, sophisticated danceuse at the king's court; she gives birth to a girl, Manimekalai. On account of a silly but fateful quarrel at the end of the great national Indra festival, the lovers part though Matavi does not believe that this is their final separation. Kannaki welcomes her husband back, and KSvalan, ruined in his career, accepts his wife's anklet, cilampu, to raise some money on which he wants to start a new life. They travel to Maturai, the Pandya's capital, accompanied by a Jaina nun who gives them much comfort on their strenuous journey. In Maturai Kovalan entrusts his wife to the care of the shepherds and rushes away to the city to find a jeweller. The royal goldsmith who had stolen the queen's anklet sees his opportunity in Kovalan's coming and accuses him before the king as the thief. To please his jealous queen, the king commands Kovalan's execution, without investigating properly the matter. A drunken soldier murders K5valan. Kannaki proves her husband's innocence by the symbolic act of bursting open her other anklet which reveals to the king the ruby inside instead of the pearls contained in the anklet of the queen. The shocked king is killed by remorse, and the queen swoons and dies, too. Kannaki's wrath turns now upon the city; twisting off her lovely breast and hurling it onto the city, she sets fire to Maturai, and the capital goes up in flames. Kannaki breaks her bangles and leaves the city. She 12

Cf. V. R. RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR (transl.), The Shilappadikaram or the

Lay of the Anklet, Oxford University Press, Madras 1939; A. DANIELOU (transl.), Shilappadikaram (The Ankle Bracelet), New York: New Directions 1965; A. DANIExou-R. S. DESIKAN (transl.), Le roman de l'anneau, Gallimard, Paris 1961; •J. J. GLAZOV (transl.), Povest' o braclete (Silappadikaram), Moskva 1966; K. ZVELEBIL (transl.), Pfsen o klenotu—Silappadigaram, Praha SNKL 1965.

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turns West to the land of the Cheras where she spends fourteen days in the mountains, performing penance. A divine chariot appears, with Kovalan, and Kannaki ascends in it to heaven. The mountaineers report the miracle to the Chera king Cenkuttuvan who leads an expedition to the Himalaya to bring a stone for carving Kannaki's image. Northern kings are defeated by the Tamils, and the stone-image is brought to the South on their heads and shoulders. A temple to Kannaki-Pattini is built in Vafici, the Chera capital, and its consecration is witnessed by many rulers, among them Gajabahu of Ceylon. Kannaki, now the patron-goddess of wifely loyalty and chastity, graces the temple with her presence. Though Cilappatikaram was composed for educated audience, and in faultless literary style, it is nearer to the life of the people than any Sanskrit courtly epic, and is comparatively realistic. The driving forces of the story spring out of human motives. One of the greatest merits of the poem is the treatment of guilt and evil: Cilappatikaram is not a story of schematic figures, of faultless heroes and demoniac villains. Nobody is entirely bad, and no one is entirely to be blamed for the human tragedy. Kannaki, who is clearly good from the beginning to the end, undergoes a tremendous change from an innocent, obedient, silent child to a heroine of the magnitude of Greek tragedy. Fate is omnipresent in the poem, but there appears to be an inner tension between the conception of fate, of dharmic and karmic interpretation of events, and between Kannaki's free and passionate actions; she finally succeeds in compelling the forces of fate to give up. Kannaki is set into a significant contrast with Matavi: a naive, reticent, unsophisticated upper middle-class girl, in contrast to a literate, cultured, witty, brilliant artiste. The cilampu, the anklet, is deeply symbolic in more than one sense: in the beginning, when she was happy, Kannaki wore a pair of anklets; once her husband deserts her and goes to live with Matavi, she no longer wears any anklets. The anklet, offered to Kovalan after his return home, becomes the instrumental cause of his death; it is the anklet which, broke open, proves KSvalan's innocence—a symbol of truth which is ultimately always revealed. At the end of the poem, Kannaki, united with Kovalan in heaven, again wears both her anklets. There is a formal perfection which matches the greatness of the story and the skill of the poet's handling the characters: the narrative parts proper are composed in the ancient akaval, full of simple sweep and grandeur; e.g. at the end of Canto XIX, after she has learned the truth of Kovalan's death, Kannaki says: "I shall meet the evil king, I shall ask for justice against himself." She spoke, and stood up, she remembered her evil vision, she stood and she thought, and tears fell from her long carp-shaped eyes, she stiffened and remembered, and wiping away

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the tears falling from her long carp-shaped eyes, she went to the majestic gate of the royal palace.

In a number of cantos, the poet has introduced lyrics in different metres, "jets of pure song," which always have a definite purpose: they either provide an atmosphere (like those sung by the mountain-girls in canto XXIV); or, like the songs of the cowgirls (canto XVII), they foretell the catastrophe; sometimes they reveal the depths of a character (as the melancholic, lovely songs of canto VII). These lyrical songs form a marvellous collection still full of the ancient flavour of the classical bardic poetry, and they indeed intersperse the otherwise dignified, restrained narrative in a most fortunate manner. Only rarely can Ilankovatikal be criticised for wearisome descriptions, long and with catalogues of details13. His description of things and events is, on the contrary, and as a rule, rather sober and to the point: e.g. in canto XV which deals with Karmaki taking refuge with the cowherds: "Beautiful Karmaki, with her tender breasts, shoulders like bending reeds, and gleaming teeth, followed the good cowherd women. As they went she heard cows mooing to their calves. Soon they met the shepherds, with lambs on their shoulders, carrying axes and long staves from which hung jars full of pure milk. All the cowherd girls wore showy bracelets14." Ilankovatikal can certainly not be accused of the bombast and turgidity which was so characteristic of medieval Tamil kdvya-like poetry. One must also emphasize the all-important theme of the unity of the three Tamil-speaking areas against the North. The occasion for confrontation is Cenkuttuvan's expedition to obtain the stone. Hence Cilappatikaram may be justifiable viewed as a national Tamil epic15. There are some subleties which should be mentioned in conclusion, since they depend on our interpretation of the story and of IlankSvatikal's version of it; but we believe that our interpretation is correct. First, the left breast of Kannaki, which she tears off to create the conflagration of Maturai, seems to be the seat of an occult, magic power, and the symbolisms suggest a truly internal source of fire16. Second, the central importance of the anklet not only in the literary structure of the poem (giving it even its name), but also in its symbolism, was mentioned before. Third, the heroine's power, converted into a great fire and used to destroy evil-doers, rests on an inner purity, termed karpu 'chastity; wifely loyalty'; this terrific power is central to all versions of the Karmaki saga; 13

E.g. in the 3rd canto of the first book, where he describes with great technical knowledge and in much detail Matavi's dance, the accompanying music, and the stage set up for her performance. 14 Transl. A. DANIELOU. 18 I am convinced that the poet has on purpose set the movement of the epic from the country of the Cholas (the first kdntam 'book') to that of the Pandyas (Maturai is the name of the second book) to that of the Cheras (Vanci, the Chera capital, being the name of the third book): i.e. the story takes part in the whole of Tamilnadu which is set in purposeful contrast to Northern, Aryan India. 16 BKENDA E. F. BECK, 'The Study of a Tamil Epic,' JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) p. 32.

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it ultimately identifies her as a goddess, and may indeed be regarded as "conversion of sexual abstinence and moral correctness, into power in the form of fire"—a theme in Indian mythology which seems to pervade South Indian culture in particular17. 4.1.2. In their attempt to adapt Sanskrit and Northern literary works to Tamil, the Jains turned first their attention to the Brhatkatha 'The Great Story,' ascribed traditionally to Gunadhya, a poet on the Salivahana court (1st cent. A.D.), written in the Paisuci language. This work is not extant, nor is the Sanskrit version of the story by Durvinita who was a Ganga king in the 1st half of the 7th cent. It is a vast collection of anecdotes which grew around the central hero, king Udayana of Kausambi, and many of the episodes were treated separately by different poets. The Tamil version is ascribed to Konkuvelir, 'The chieftain of Konku,' and goes under the name Perunkatai 'The Great Story'; since it quotes from Tirukkural and Nalatiyar, it can hardly be earlier than ± 750 A.D., and since it is cited by Nakkirar in his commentary on Akapporul, a date between 800-900 A.D. is quite appropriate for it. The author was obviously a Jain, since Jaina beliefs, mythology, and even terminology are abundant. The work is a torso of nearly 16.000 lines in akaval metre, following the antdti arrangement. The story: King Utayanan is taken prisoner treacherously by the king of Ujjain. While in prison he gives musical lessons to princess Vacavatattai. The two fall in love, Utayanan elopes with the princess, and they get married. Yuki, the chief minister and close friend of Utayanan, resenting the fact that the king neglects his duties spending all his time in amorous play with his wife, spreads the rumour that Vacavatattai was burnt to death, and that he himself perished. Utayanan, overwhelmed by grief, cannot take up the reins of government, and his friends take him to Magadha where princess Patumapati wins his love, and he marries her. Yuki reappears and restores Vacavatattai to the king. While Utayanan lives happily with his two wives, he falls in love with one of the queen's attendants, who is in fact the princess of Kosala. Vacavatattai is angry and orders the head of the servant-girl to be shaved. At the last moment a letter reveals to the queen the true identify of the girl, and the king marries her, too. He also marries an ascetic's daughter whom he had known as a little girl. Each of the love episodes is developed into a pleasant adventure. Vacavatattai, while pregnant, flies in an air-chariot and sees the whole of India. She gives birth to a son, Naravanan, who marries the beautiful Matanamaficikai. She is carried away by another prince who is unable to win her love; his sister Vekavati manages on the other hand to win the affection of Naravanan who ultimately gets back his first wife, and in addition eight thousand and one more wives, and rules as emperor. Utayanan renounces the world, after he has made over to his son by Patumavati, Komukan, the burden of the state. This is thus the first of the Jaina narratives in Tamil which have for their 17

B. E. F. BECK, 'The Study of a Tamil Epic,' p. 24.

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topic the story of a man driven to religious life and asceticism through satiation with the good things and pleasures of life. There are many striking parallels between Perunkatai and a later Jaina epic, Civakacintamani. The aesthetic evaluation of Perunkatai varies widely. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai writes: "The author has great poetic powers and his command of language is far above that of any other known till then. The sweet diction, the liquidness of his style and the magnificent flow which is sustained throughout place him in the front rank among Tamil poets18." Compare this praise with the negative evaluation of C. and H. Jesudasan: "The work has been praised to the extent of being mentioned along with the Kural and the Kambardmdyanam, but that is to set a molehill alongside of mountains and we can but pity the judgment that could commit such a crime in the field of criticism19." I am afraid that both opinions are rather extreme. It is true that the epic does not reveal a closely-knit plot, being the story of two kings, father and son. It is a loose narrative, but its author has withstood the temptation to make his work a tool of sheer propaganda, and he has attempted some characterisation: Utayanan is portrayed as a skillful and devoted musician, a pleasure-loving ruler; Patumavati is generous, whereas Vacavatattai is jealous and vindictive. He was exceptionally fortunate in creating a minor character, Cankiyattay, a fallen woman (the name literary means 'Samkhya-mother'!) who should have been drowned, but is released by Utayanan, and made Vacavatattai's maid of honour; she becomes more than a mother to her, indeed a lovable and very human character: " . . . in the creation of Cankiya-t-tay the poet has succeeded beyond measure20." There is not much real depth in the epic, not much real force and greatness; but it certainly ranks relatively high among the long narrative poems in Tamil, and, judged purely formally, in its diction and metre it shows more than ordinary skill. 4.1.3. Civakacintamani 'Civaka, the Fabulous Gem' follows the Ksattracudamani of Vadibhasimha, itself based on the Uttarapurana of Gunabhadra composed, as we know for certain from its pradasti, in 897/8 A.D. The Tamil epic could thus be not earlier than ± 900 A. D. And, indeed, most authorities would maintain today that the work belongs to early 10th cent., following late ninth-century Sanskrit originals. The story: King Caccatan marries the beautiful Vicaiyai. He entrusts the administration to the hands of the treacherous Kattiyankaran who besieges the royal palace, in an attempt at a coup. Caccatan sends Vicaiyai away in a peacock-shaped aerial chariot, and welcomes death. The queen gives birth, in a graveyard, to Civakan. The child is taken by a loyal servant of the murdered king, while the queen-mother takes refuge in a nunnery. Civakan learns the 18 19 20

History of Tamil Language and Literature, p. 138. A History of Tamil Literature, p. 118. T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 89.

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truth of his noble birth but continues to live incognito, and becomes a perfect man and hero, indeed, a superman. While enjoying the pleasures of his first marriage with KSvintai, he competes with another lady, Kantaruvatattai, in a musical performance, and wins her heart and hand. After another marriage to Kunamalai he meets Patumai, a Pallava princes, heals her from a snake-bite, and marries her. Then he marries another girl, Kemacari, and proving his skill in archery, he marries princess Kanakamalai. After marrying a merchant's daughter, Vimalai, he again marries, this time Curamancari, and when he hits a target, he wins the youngest daughter of the king of Videha. The fame of Civakan spreads far and wide. He meets his mother at the svayamvara of his uncle's daughter, and is successful in the competition. The usurper, Kattiyankaran, who is also present, incites other kings to attack Civakan, but the villain is killed in the struggle and Civakan is crowned king and emperor, and marries Ilakkanai. He spends his life in happiness with his wives, begetting many sons to whom he partitions his realm. Finally he renounces the world and attains sainthood. Here we have thus again the story of a man becoming Jaina ascetic after he has tasted in full worldly pleasures of power and sex. We do not know anything authentic about the author. He is called Tiruttakkatevar and, according to Naccinarkkiniyar who wrote a commentary on the epic, he belonged to the Chola race. He is said to have become a Jaina ascetic as a young man and lived in Maturai. Other non-Jaina poets challenged his capacity to contribute to the literature of love (akam). His guru then permitted him to compose an erotic poem; however, the other poets raised a new objection : one who had no experience of sex-life could not produce such poem. Tiruttakkatevar then demonstrated his purity by means of an ordeal. The epic, called also Marian ul 'Book of Marriages' is divided into thirteen cantos (ilampaJeam < Skt. lambaka) and contains 3145 quatrains in various subtypes of the viruttam metre in which the poet performed many skillful experiments. Only 2700 stanzas are said to have been composed by Tiruttakkatevar, two contributed by the guru, and the rest by a later anonymous author. The poem was hailed especially by earlier generations of European scholars. For Beschi, its author was "a prince among Tamil poets," and Pope regarded the epic as the greatest existing Tamil literary monument, ''at once the Iliad and Odyssey of the Tamil language," surely an exaggerated praise. The work is fantastic and lacks any contact with real life, unlike e.g Cilappatikaram. One moves in a world of typical court-poetry, and in a universe where the supernatural mingles freely with the natural. Civakan is a perfect man; in addition to his tremendous accomplishments as a lover, a warrior, a master of all arts, he is also gentle and considerate, and full of sympathy and affection for all living beings21. The stories of his love-conquests which may have been 21

Thus, e.g., when he saves a young woman from a rogue elephant, he brings it under control without causing any injury to the animal. When some hunters drive away the cattle of a city, he brings back the cattle without shedding a drop of blood. He utters a powerful mantra into the ears of a dog which is about to die; the dog,

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based on some folk-stories22, stand as separate episodes, loosely related to the person of Civakan. These episodes are dealt with in great graphic detail; the poet has excelled in double entendre23, and for some hopelessly prudish critics, these episodes are unbearably sensuous24. However, this frank sensuousness in sentiment and diction is an integral part of Tiruttakkatevar's conception of his hero as a completely integrated, perfect male, enjoying all aspects of life in total harmony. On the other hand, Tiruttakkatevar is fond of making his similes vehicles of moral instruction; and this fashion has been accepted as extraordinary fitting, even by Kampan. Thus, e.g., he will say the blade, when green, rears up its head, like the base men who possess wealth; when ripe for harvest, it will be inclined, like the heads of the wise.

(Nattuccirappu 53)

But when not moralizing, his metaphors are very forceful; thus, describing a feast at which a number of chiefs discharge their arrows at a wild boar, he says of an arrow pulliyaporiyai mdntu purankotuttittatanre "Turning its back, it pursued its flight, scenting the thick bristles" (Manamakalilampakam 85). Tiruttakkatevar has established certain conventions followed by later authors, like the description of the ideal land and city at the beginning of the story and the song of humility addressed to the learned audience of the readers. His epic had a tremendous influence on the entire subsequent development of Tamil kdvya-type literature. He has made a great contribution to the growth of the viruttam verse, changing the metre to suit the varying moods of the narration. Kampan was obviously a pupil of Tiruttakkatevar in the art of versification, and even in imagery. Though the praise bestowed on the epic was often exaggerated, Civakacintamani "makes delicious, often intoxicating reading25." 4.1.4. Valaiyapati, a Jaina epic which had been famous in its day, is lost except for a few dozen stanzas cited in later works and commentaries26. The reborn as an angel, later comes to save him. The passion of the Jaina authors for supernatural events is quite striking. 22 T. P. MEENAKSHINSUNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 93. 23 E.g. in stanza 26 of the 9th ilampakam where the phrase kumari-y-ata means both 'to bathe in the Kumari (river)' and 'to lie with a virgin.' Bathing in the Kumari the bather would regain youth and beauty; in order to enjoy a virgin, Civakan appeared as a shining youth, sloughing off his old form. 84 C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 148, warn that the poem "gives terribly dangerous stimulation to the senses," and go as far as to say that it "should be banned for the young!" 25 C. and H. JESTJDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 147. H. BOWER and E. MUTTAIYA PILLAI edited the first book of the epic with Naccinarkkiniyar's commentary in Madras in 1868. The best edition is the epoch-making edition of IT. V. SWAMINATHA AIYAR, Madras 1887. J. VINSON published in 1900 in his Legendes

bouddhistes et djainas, tradouites du Tamoul, an abbreviated prose-version of the epic. 26 66 stanzas may be found in Purattirattu, the 15th cent, anthology (ed. by S. VAIYAPUEI PILLAI). A few additional stanzas occur in two commentaries.

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story of this epic is given in the 35th chapter of the Vaiciyapuranam (1855) of Ciitamanip Pulavar: A rich merchant married two wives, one from his caste, another from a different caste. His caste men threaten him with excommunication ; the second wife is sent away. A few months later she gives birth to a son whom she brings up, but the boy is abused by his playmates as the son of a nameless father. The mother finally reveals the father's name and the boy introduces himself to his father who does not believe him and repudiates his claim. The lady is asked to prove her fidelity. She invokes the promised help of the goddess Kali and with her testimony convinces the caste-elders of her chastity. The father accepts the boy as his son and enables him to start business as a merchant. It is indeed a pity that the text of this epic—if the socially-based and very interesting story is really authentic—has perished. According to S. Vaiyapuri, the work was one of the earliest poems in the viruttam metre and may be probably ascribed to the first half of the 10th cent. A. D. 4.1.5. Nilakeci was intended as a Jaina counter-blast against the Buddhist Kuntalakeci (q.v.) which is now lost. It is the story of Nilakeci, a demoness known from Tamil folk-religion, who is converted by a Jaina ascetic and made a preacher of Jainism. The work has ten books comprising 894 viruttam stanzas, and may be probably dated in the latter half of the 10th cent. The story of Kuntalakeci is preserved in Camaya Tivakara Vamana Munivar's commentary (16th cent.) on stanza 176 of Nilakeci. Nilakeci throws considerable light on the nature of medieval controversies. There must have been quite a number of Jaina and Buddhist polemic works: the commentary on Yapparunkalam mentions Anjanakeei, Pinkalakeci and Kalakeci, but of these no trace is left. The same text mentions two other works now lost, a Kaliyanakatai 'The Story of Marriages,' and an Arnirtapati (or Amirtamati) which dealt with the story of an unchaste wife27. 4.1.6. Culamani or 'The Crest Jewel' is a fairy-tale composed by Srivarddhadeva alias Tolamolittevar, and is based on the Mahapuranam composed in 897/8 A.D. Since it is quoted in the Mallisena Epitaph at Sravana Belgola28, and mentioned in stanza 186 of Iracaracanula, right after Civakacintamani, it may be dated in ± 950 A.D29. This Jaina epic has twelve books of 2139 quatrains in the viruttam metre. The story: A king by name of Payapati (Skt. Prajapati) of Curamainatu (The Land of Delight) has two sons, Vijayan and Tivittan. A soothsayer reveals that Tivittan will marry a fairy princess. Another soothsayer informs the king of the fairy-land that his daughter Cuyampirapai will marry an earthly prince, Tivittan. The fairy emperor, to whom Payapati was subject, demands of him the usual tribute, but Tivittan defies the emperor, whereupon a coun27 88 29

For the outline of this story, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), ftn. 66, El, III, p. 191. Cf. S. VAIYALURI PIIXAI, HTLL, p. 163.

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cillor of the fairy court takes the form of a lion and lays Curamainatu to waste. Tivittan follows the lion to its cave and kills it. Cuyampirapai's father weds the princess to the lion-slayer, but the fairy emperor sets out with a powerful army against Tivittan. Tivittan, gifted with magic powers, kills the fairy emperor, and this makes his father-in-law sovereign lord of the fairy empire. Tivittan shares the ancestral kingdom with his father Payapati and lives happily with his bride and ten thousand other spouses. Finally, a firm alliance between the earthly and the fairy kingdoms results in the marriages of Tivittan's children and the children of his wife's brother. The two families increase and nmltiply. Payapati renounces the world and obtains release. Aryan religious practices and ideas had by now been thoroughly grafted on to the original Tamil heritage, and Sanskrit rhetoric had a decisive impact on Tamil literature. Culamani reveals the Sanskrit influence more than any other Tamil work of the period30. Wild improbabilities, supernatural elements, exaggerations and hyperboles suppressed totally the realism of early Tamil literature. In spite of these features, there are charming descriptions of nature and of the ideal country and city, and the poet tries to give us the portrait of an ideal king, of a complete and perfect personality. 4.1.7. Utayanancaritam (also termed Utayanancaritai or Utayanankatai) is another Jaina epic in six cantos of 368 stanzas, published by U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar whose evaluation of the work was completely (and deservedly) negative. It is an abridged version of Perunkatai, and may have been composed as late as the 14th-15th cent. A.D. Nakakumarakaviyam is another Jaina work, probably of the same period, thus far unedited. The Jaina author of the Tamil version of Yacotarakaviyam is unknown; it had a Sanskrit model by Vadiraja, of 296 slokas in 4 chapters. The Tamil work has five parts in 320 stanzas, and is dated between ca. 975-1050 A.D. The story is bizarre but interesting: King Yacotaran, obeying his mother Cantiramati's dictate, 'kills' a cock made of flour in the temple of Kali. His wife Amirutamati, enchanted by the tune sung by an elephant-keeper, who is a leper, falls in love with this man, and kills the king and his mother by poisoning them. The construction of the plot is poor and exceedingly involved, and one gets lost in the complicated account of the many births of the heroes; in spite of this, there is a sense of drama and even tragedy pervading the work, especially the story of Yacotaran, his mother, his unfaithful and murderous wife, and her lover the leper. 4.2. The Buddhist Cycle. 4.2.1. Manimekalai 'The Jewel Belt' (also translated as 'The Precious Girdle', or 'The Waistlet'). According to tradition, Kulavanikan Cittalaic Cattanar, the author of Manimekalai, requested IlankS to compose the epic of the anklet. 30 Cf. T. P. MINATCICUNTARAN, Culamam pa^um urainataiyum, Cennaittamilccankam Series No. 6, Madras 1944. 31 Manimekalai XXII.59-61: TirukkuraJ 55.

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It is, however, almost certain that Manimekalai is later than its twin-epic, though there might have been no considerable interval in time between the two. It must be later than the Tirukkural, though, which it quotes31. The epic consist of 4861 akaval lines in 30 cantos and a Preamble. It is a Buddhist epic which reflects, in its 29th canto, almost exactly the ideas of Dinnaga, the founder of Buddhist logic. It was argued that it must be later than the 7th cent. A.D. but, according to K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, the Samkhya philosophy is reflected in the epic in its early phases32, and the Dinnaga-like exposition might have been interpolated into the epic which was in fact pre-Dinnaga in its views. Moreover, Ilankovatikal probably refers to the author of Manimekalai. The date ± 550 A.D. seems thus to be the best available date at the moment. The story: Matavi's daughter Manimekalai becomes a Buddhist ascetic. This is unwelcome to the public which has admired the girl as a dancer, and to Matavi's mother who believes that she should follow the hereditary occupation. The lovely maiden is firm, though she finds herself drawn to prince Utayakumaran (since, we are told, she had been his wife in former births). In fleeing from him, she tries to free herself from human ties, and is helped in her struggle by her mother, the angels, and a great Buddhist saint, Aravana Atikal. The prince pursues her but an angel removes her magically to a distant island, and when she returns, she bears a magic bowl which is ever full of food to feed the poor in the land suffering from a famine. To escape the attentions of the prince, she takes the form of another woman whose husband, seeing the prince pursuing her, kills him on the spot. The queen-mother puts Manimekalai in prison to die, and sends a villain to kill her, but when the young nun miraculously escapes, the queen repents and the king sets her free. Manimekalai then goes to worship at Kannaki's temple in Vafici, and then returns to Kanci to help the famine-stricken people. To some critics, the Buddhist epic is more interesting than Cilappatikaram33; however, in terms of purely literary evaluation, it is much inferior. None of the formal perfection of Cilappatikaram is to be found in Manimekalai. The story, crammed with supernatural elements, seems to be of lesser interest to the author himself whose chief aim had obviously been spreading Buddhist propaganda. The character of Manimekalai, compared to that of Kannaki, is rather feeble; she is lovely, she feeds the poor, she is a firm Buddhist; and she lets herself be handled by supernatural agencies. There is not even a remote similarity to the tragical greatness of Kannaki. In Cilappatikaram, ethics and religion serve art; in Manimekalai, the reverse is the case; not only that: 32 K. A. N. SASTRI, The Colas, Madras 1955, pp. 55-6, and ftn. 117 on p. 62; also, G. SURYANARAYANA SASTRI, The Manimekalai Account of the Sankhya, Journal of Indian History 8 (1929) 322-7, and Buddhist Logic in Manimekalai, J I H 9 (1930) pt. iii. 33 Cf. J. VINSON in Legendes bouddhistes, 1900, who says that Manimekalai "eat beaucoup plus facile a lire" (true), and "beaucoup plus interessant."

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Manimekalai preaches the Buddhist ideal of serving all living beings with detachment at the expense of Jainism which is attacked and ridiculed. The human interest is lost in supernatural features, though the story is captivating enough; observed from the formal point of view, the narration in akaval moves on without the relief of any lyric stanzas which are the glory of Cilappatikaram. But even Cattanar "has his flashes of genius"34 in a few lovely pictures of nature and a few striking similes35. 4.2.2. Apart from Manimekalai, we know of the existence of other Buddhist narrative and epic works, but they are all lost. One of the most interesting must have been Kuntalakeci (end of the 10th cent. ?) by Natakuttanar (Nathagupta). Its story is preserved in Camaya Tivakara Vamana Munivar's commentary (16th cent.) on Nilakeci 176. All that has survived are 19 stanzas in the anthology Purattirattu, 25 stanzas in the commentary to Nilakeci, and about 180 fragments in the same source. The dramatic story runs as follows: Kuntalakeci, a maiden of the merchant (cetti) caste, playing on the terrace of her house, sees a young man, Kalan, escorted under the sentence of death to the state prison. The youth, though a Buddhist, is a gambler and a robber; but the unexperienced girl falls with him violently in love. Her father manages to get a pardon for him, and their marriage is celebrated. One day, in one of her love-sulks, Kuntalakeci reminds Kalan of his past; this hurts and angers him so much that, true to his violent character, he takes her up a hill on a false pretext and there tells her plainly that he intends to kill her. She begs him to grant her one last favour: to circle her husband thrice as a sanctifying rite before death. As she gets behind him, she pushes him over the edge, and he is killed. Remorse and disgust with life drive her to seek salvation as a Buddhist nun. She holds disputations with the leading exponents of several religions, and finally attains release36. The Pimpicarakatai of which few lines are cited in the commentary on Nilakeci was a Buddhist epic on Bimbisara (B.C. 543-491), king of Rajagrha, a contemporary of the Buddha. 4.3. Hindu Epics. 4.3.1. The Mahabharata. Between the first partly extant Tamil version of Peruntevanar (9th cent.) and the great poem of Villiputtur Alvar (q.v.) there must have existed another version of the great epic mentioned in an inscription at Tiruvalankatu from A.D. 1210 which says that one of the officers of Kulottunka III "established the $aiva path by translating the Paratam into sweet 34

C. and H. JESUDASAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 63. Cf. also S. K. KRISHNASVAMI AIYANGAR, Manimekalai in Its Historical Setting, Madras 1928, and J. VINSON, Legendes bouddhistes et djainas, Paris 1900; 35

S. VAIYAPURI PILLAI, HTLL, pp. 168-90. 36 A story which is obviously inspired by a very similar story in the Buddhist Pali Therigatha.

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Tamil." There is now no trace of this translation. The earliest of the extant versions is Paratavenpa of Peruntevanar (9th cent. A.D.); the author must not be confused with the Paratampatiya Peruntevanar who had obviously composed some very early version of the epic at the end of the bardic age, that is about six centuries earlier. Paratavenpa is a kind of campu: poetic stanzas are connected by brief link passages of prose. Another work in mixed prose and verse, the prose sections predominating, was the heroic epic Takaturyattirai, now lost save for a few dozens of stanzas preserved in Purattirattu37. The author of Paratavenpa was patronized by the Pallava victor at Tellaru, almost certainly Nandivarman III (A.D. 846-869). The preserved portions include about half of the Udyogaparvan, the Bhismaparvan, and part of the Dronaparvan (to the battle on the 13th day), ca. 800 stanzas out of the supposed original 12.000. The venpd stanzas are skillful and competent, but not great art. The prose passages are certainly interesting: they are well-cut and vigorous, rather Sanskritized, occasionally rhythmic, serving as link and as comment. The Mahabharata has inspired one of the greatest poets of Tamil literature, Pukalenti, 'The Fame-Bearer' (most probably late 12th-early 13th cent. A.D., maybe somewhat later), whose patron was a chieftain, Cantiran Cuvarkki38. His Nalavenpa in 378 stanzas (excluding interpolations39) in three books (kantam) is composed in the nericaivenpd metre of which he was a sovereign master40. The subject of the poem is the well-known episode of Nala and Damayanti—the longest narrative episode of the Sanskrit epic. It tells how king Nala won princess Damayanti at a svayamvara and then lost her and his kingdom at a gambling tournament, to regain both after many exciting adventures. In Pukalenti's version, the story turned into an easy, moving narration with splendid descriptions of nature, abounding in sweet music and grace of rhythm. The first stanza of Nalavenpa describes Nitatanatu (Nisadha), the land of Nalan: The shining carp rolls over; the buds of the blue lily unfold; the lotus, dripping honey, blooms; like the eyes of the Lady Earth, great and beautiful, and first among all, renowned, this land among ocean-girt lands. 37

Cf. Naccinarkkiniyar's comra. on Tolkappiyam Porujatikaram, PurattiNaiyiyal 17, and Peraciriyar's comm. on Poru]atikaram 485. Takaturyattirai, the story of the conquest of Takatur, a fortress of Atikaman, by the Chera king, was based on section VIII of Patirruppattu. 38 Nalavenpa, ed. RAJ AM, 1959, II, 119. 39 The original full version has 424 stanzas. Cf. ed. RAJ AM of 1959. 40 He was known as venpdpuli 'the tiger of venpd,' and a solitary stanza said to be Auvaiyar's (Peruntokai 1804) ascribes to him the absolute mastery in this metre (venpdvir pukalenti); this interesting stanza praises Kampan as the greatest in viruttam, CayarikoNtar as the best poet of paranis, Ottakkuttan for his kovais, ulds and antatis, the Twin Poets (Irattaiyar) for their kalampakams, and Kajamekam as the most famous author of satires (vacai).

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The description of Damayanti's excellence is quite striking: Queen of womanhood, ruling under the umbrella of her moon-face; with sword-like, spear-like eyes, sweet-sounding anklets, vibrant tambourine, with the good ministry of her five senses, and the four armies of her splendid qualities.

There is occasionally great pathos in the poem which shows strong influence of Kampan41. The greatest and the best of the Tamil Mahabharatas is easily the grand, ambitious, majestic and musical version by Villiputtur Alvar. The poet was a Vaisnava Brahman from Caniyur (unidentified) in Tontaimantalam (North Tamilnadu). He composed his Paratam at the request of his patron Varapati Atkontan of the Kinkar family, the ruler of Vakkapakai. Literary and epigraphic tradition connects Villi and Arunakirinatar. Since the latter poet is relatively safely datable, Villiputtur may also be dated in ca. 1400 A.D.42. The number of stanzas varies in different editions between 4339 and 4351. According to an old poem, Villi composed in fact 6000 stanzas. The present version of the epic has ten paruvams. It was completed in the 18th cent, by Attavatanam Arankanata Kavirayar who added the remaining eight books in 2477 stanzas. Villi's work has always enjoyed great esteem and popularity43. The literary evaluation of Villi's Paratam varies with different critics. C. and H. Jesudasan44 say that "its intrinsic literary merit is not much." To my mind, this criticism is unjust, though its authors add that "the verses are dignified and fine modulations of feeling are evident here and there," and that the work "can hardly be called unpoetical." Villi's diction is highly Sanskritized. The chief attraction of the work's prosody is the cantam of its viruttam stanzas, the rigid rhythmic pattern, used with marvellous skill especially in the battle-scenes. The influence of Kampan is very strong, though a distinctive severe style is Villi's own, as shown e.g. by the following quatrain of Dharmaputra speaking to his brothers and wife: "Sometimes, all honey-filled flowers will fade; some flowers will open. When a dry forest is on fire, will not all that live therein burn ? Different riches are obtained in favourable times; in harsh times They will go. You had patience before. Suffer yet for a while," he said. (II.2.230) 41 For a free translation, see The Story of King Nala and Princess Damayanti, A narrative poem by MAURICE LANGTON from the Tamil by Puhalendi Pulavar, Christian Literature Society, Madras 1950. Another work of Pukalenti, Cencikkalampakam, is not extant save for one stanza. He has also been credited with the authorship of very late popular compositions, ballads, narratives etc. whose authorship is unknown, and which were produced between ca. 1750-1850. 43 This dating is confirmed by the Irattaiyar (datable comfortably in 1331-83) who praise the same Varapati AtkoN$an who was Villi's patron. Cf. ftn. 65 to Chapter X in K. V. ZVELEBIL'S Tamil Lit. (Handbuch). 43 Cf. T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 159. 44 A History of Tamil Literature, pp. 207-8.

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Or, consider the sophistication of the following stanza (very difficult to translate) in which Villi plays with different kinds of lotus and water-lily, and their names (nilam 'blue lotus,' kuvalai 'water-lily,' cenkamalam 'red lotus,' pankayam 'lotus' as 'mud-born'): Two eyes blossomed in the woman's face—two blue buds of nilam sprouting in the lotus which devours the burning sunbeams. And the lady wept, and she wiped her eyes with her hands, and it was as if two red lotus flowers plucked two tender nilams.

A scholar-poet of the first half of the 18th cent., Nalla Pillai, brought out a full rendering of the Mahabharata in Tamil; he began translating when he was 21 years of age, and in several years' time he was able to finish the work, known as Nalla Pillai Paratam, in 15.300 quatrains. Regrettably, the poem is quite mediocre and pedestrian. A complete rendering of the great epic into Tamil prose, prepared with much ability and care, was prepared by M. V. Ramanujacharya at the beginning of this century. Two other outstanding poets were inspired by Mahabharata episodes beside Pukalenti: one was S. Bharati (see § 4.6.1.), another Ativirarama Pandya. Ativirarama Pandya (reigned 1562/3-1604/5, died 1610) was the ruler of Tenkaci and Korkai in southernmost Tamilnadu. His personal name was Alakar Perumal, son of Kulacekara. He is also known in the literary historical tradition as Tamilvalartta Tennavan 'The Southern King who Fostered Tamil,' Piljaippantiyan, Vallapatevan and Kunacekaravaluti. His Naitatam in 12 chapters (1172-6 viruttam stanzas) follows the Sanskiit Naisadhacarita of Sriharsa (12th cent.) and is again an elaboration of the well-known NalaDamayanti episode. The evaluation of Naitatam varies very widely. C. and H. Jesudasan, true to their prudish outlook, are quite negative: " . . . there are no real merits worth mentioning. Naidadam is almost unreadable45." T. P. Meenakshisundaran, on the other hand, maintains that "in spite of sensuous descriptions it remains popular and dignified46." I cannot quite agree with either of the two: the judgment of C. and H. Jesudasan is clearly prejudiced and unjust; and T. P. Meenakshisundaran has hardly chosen a happy word in his term "dignified." Naitatam is sensuous and popular; it is typical for the beginning of the late medieval trends which culminated with the erotic poetry written for the sake of sensuousness. Ativirarama was, though, a poet of considerable skill, and even great art, in spite of freely imitating Tiruttakkatevar and Kampan. His work reads like an intoxicating drug; hence, probably, the saying Naitatam pulavarlc kautatam "Naitatam is the drug of poets." Everything reverberates with the echo Of the murderous tiger's thundery roar The noise of churning white curds Soft fingers redden like blossoms of kdntal Silver-white bracelets speak out and cry 45 46

A History of Tamil Literature, p. 210. A History of Tamil Literature, p. 157.

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Creeper-like waist suffers and copious sweat Appears on the moon of the face of the belle Who is like jasmine-wreath47

4.3.2. Ramayana. The story of Rama must have been current in early Tamil India since we have several clear allusions to it in the ancient texts. It was of course a popular story with the dlvdrsiS. In addition, Naccinarkkiniyar in his commentary on Tolkappiyam 1021 quotes a few venpds which may be taken from an early Tamil Ramayana version. The 10th century handbook of prosody, Yapparunkalam, mentions a Ramayana in the pahrotai venpd metre49. But the earliest extant Tamil version is the supreme poem by Kampan, Iramavataram 'The Descent of Rama,' which had most probably other sources of inspiration besides Valmiki's Sanskrit epic, above all a late Sanskrit version, the Adhyatma Ramayana80. We know almost nothing authentic about the author of the greatest epic in Tamil literature. The 'emperor of poets' was known as Kampan, later also as Kampanatan, Kampanutaiya Vallal, and Kampanatalvar; but even his name, which was not his personal name, is interpreted in different ways51. He was the son of Adita, a resident of Muvalur in the Tanjore district, who seems to have been an uvaccan (drummer, priest in Kali temple) by caste. His patron was a certain Cataiyan whom he mentions many times in his stanzas; and the contemporary Chola king who is said to have granted him the fief of Kampanatu, and the title kavicakravarti. The poet is said to have been murdered by the Chola king himself who was jealous of his fame52. The dating of Kampan 47

This stanza, incidentally, imitates Kampan's stanza beginning with Toyum veNtayir; only where Ativirarama is somewhat grandiloquent, Kampan is wonderfully concise and precise. Apart from Naitatam, Ativirarama translated the Kacikan^am in 2525 stanzas of the Skt. Skandapurana, and the Kurmapurana (3717 stanzas). He is also credited with the Tamil version of Lingapurana and a few other works (probably spurious). On the other hand, a well-known didactic work, Verriverkai "The Hand with the Victorious Spear' alias Naruntokai (called also Cuntarapantiyantokuti), a collection of maxims meant for children, is almost certainly his work, though some room for doubt remains. Cf. S. WINFRETJ, Tamil Minor Poets, Madras 1872. Also V. G. RAMAKEJSHNA IYER, The Life and Times of Ativirarama Pandya, Annamalai University 1952. 48 Kampan has imitated quite frequently the motifs, episodes, diction and even metaphors and similes occurring in the works of the dlvdrs: e. g. Kulacekara's verses occurring in Mutalayiram 729-39 are used by Kampan in II. iv. 54-65; the same alvar's lullaby for Rama (718-28) and a summary of the entire RamayaNa (740-50); Kampan's V.iii.23 may be compared with Tirumankai's Periyatirumoli 1418; Kampan has elaborated Periyalvar's Rama-episode in Tirumoli V.iv. 60-62; cf. also Nammalvar, Tiruvaymoli 3695-6. This is only a random choice of many affinities and correspondences. 49 Commentary on 62, p. 195 of the 1960 edition. 50 J. R. MARR, "Letterature dravidiche", Storia delle letterature d'Oriente, Milano 1969, p. 529. For the history of the RamayaNa story in Tamil literature, cf. Mil. IRAKAVAIYANKAR, Arayccittokuti, pp. 16-51. 51 Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), Note 96 on Chapter IX. 52 K. A. N. SASTRI calls this account of the poet's end "puerile" (The Cojas, p.

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ranges over a period of three centuries, from the 9th to the 12th. The latest time-limit is set by Periyavaccan Pillai who quotes Kampan in his commentary on the Vaisnava canon; thus Kampan must be earlier than the first half of the 13th cent. Tradition makes him a contemporary of the Chola court-poet Ottakkuttan (ca. 1118-1170 A.D.). I t is possible that he lived at the courts of Kulottunka I (1070-1122) and Kulottunka I I (1133-1150). Other dates were suggested53, some of them with great ingenuity and supported by rather convincing evidence; thus we have at least three important contesting dates, based on a rival interpretation of some stanzas: 885 A.D., 978 A. D., and 1185 A. D., and it is very difficult to decide as to which is correct. I t would seem though that the most probable date for Kampan is either the end of the 10th cent., or the period of the reign of Vikrama Chola ( ± 1130 A.D.), and not the 9th century which is almost certainly too early, nor the too late second part of the 12th cent. As for Iramavataram 'The Descent of Rama,' there is no definitely established text, and it certainly contains numerous interpolations and additions. The number of stanzas varies from 10.569 to 12.016; the epic is about thrice the length of the Iliad 54 ; the stanzas, ranging from four to six lines, are composed in 87 varieties of the viruttam metre. It would have been impossible for the "Schiller of Tamil literature 55 ," in the period when he composed his poem, to treat his Rama as a mere mortal— equally impossible as it would have been for medieval Occident to treat Christ as a mere man. By the time Kampan was composing his poem, Rama was universally accepted as God incarnate 56 . This process of the growth and deification of Rama began in Tamilnadu with the dlvdrs, in particular with Kulacekara Alvar. In contrast to Valmiki's epic in which Rama is the perfectly virtuous, valorous prince, in Kampan he is Narayana, the Supreme Lord, and. even Ravana is forced to come to this conclusion: Who can this Rama be ? He is not Siva, nor Tirumal, nor the Four-faced One. As for austerities, he looks not strong enough to mortify his flesh. Is he perhaps the Universal Cause of whom that Veda speaks ?

(VT.37.135)

672). According to another version, Kampan fled the Chola court, and died at the* age of sixty in the Ramnad country. S3 Cf. for a discussion of the various dates suggested, K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch). 64 Valmiki's Ramayana in the southern recension has 21.018 Uokas mostly of 2 lines, and the Sanskrit Mahabharata has about 100.000 Slokas. We have about 30-40 palm-leaf manuscripts of the epic. Attempts to reach the original text were made several times. Cf. S. MURTTGAPPA, Kamparkaviyam, Madras 1953. ss Thus according to KARL GRAUX who compared Tiruvaljuvar with Goethe^ Kampan has also been called the Homer, and the Shakespeare of Tamil literatureNothing is more misleading than these empty metaphors. 58

Cf. C. RAJAGOPALACHARI, The Ramayanam, p. 9.

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Rama is the all-forgiving and all-loving God: 'Tis little if I say he loved all men Ev'n as he loves himself: the love he bears To thee, ev'n that's the measure of his love To all things living. (II. 1.38, transl. V. V. S. Aiyar) When Ravana has fallen in battle, Rama does not war with the dead but directs Vibhisana to perform the traditional rites, saying nobly: "Although his evil has cleaved our heart in twain, let us forgive!" (VI. 36.216). In spite of his utterly divine nature, Kampan's Rama is also an ideal man; according to T. P. Meenakshisundaran, Rama is God who became man, God descended to man's level (hence Iramavataram 'The Descent of Rama'), and the poet gives expression to his conception of Rama in a phrase which says mdnutam venratanre •"Truly, human nature has won 57 ." Perhaps nothing characterises Kampan's Rama better than the following lines: It is my intention and will to help the destitute and poor and cure their sufferings.

(IV.7.108)58

Nevertheless, when valued purely as a literary hero, Kampan's Rama is Tather weak and unimpressive. It is noteworthy that the anti-god Ravana takes on frequently the proportions of a nobly heroic figure; as A. L. Basham observes, "like Milton, Kamban was of the devil's party without knowing it 59 ." The poet always preserves the dignity and even the prestige of Ravana. Love of power, love of glory are his chief characteristics. But he is intelligent, noble, brave, exalted, and cultured: Even if I lose, if that Rama's name will stand, will not my name last, too, as long as the Veda exists ? Who can escape death that comes to all ? We live today, and tomorrow we die. JBut glory—does it ever die ? „ . . And even if I fall, I cannot stoop to shameful littleness!

(VX28.10-11)60

After he had asked himself about Rama's true nature, and with a foreboding of the coming catastrophe, he exclaims: 57

IV.iii.19. Cf. T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 119. The quotation in this book (manitam venratanre) is incorrect. Some manuiscripts give manitam 'dignity, pride.' 58 etildrum eliyar enrdlum avar / tltu tlrppatu en dntaik karuttu aro (108.3-4). 59 The Wonder That Was India, 3rd ed. 1967,~p. 477. 80 10.4: inruldr ndlai mdlvar; pukalukku mirutiyunto'i The key-word is pukal 'glory.' And 11.3: pattanen enjra potum, elimaiyin patukilen ydn.

Tamil Literature "Whoever he may be, I will not swerve from war's straight path. I won't withdraw from my fighter's duty. I will yet conquer him—today! . . . And should I fall by his darts, my name for valour undismayed will last for ever! Let there be victory or death— I turn not back!

149

(VL37.136ff.)

Thus Ravana remains supremely brave to the bitter end. The most outstanding feature of Hanuman's character is his devotion to Rama, and the mainspring of Laksmana's character is an utterly selfless, allabsorbing love which he feels for his brother. I know not father, mother, lord. You alone are master, mother, father, all to me.

(II.4.137)

Among the minor male characters, Indrajit is a warrior who is not torn by any conflict. He does not care to enquire whether his father Ravana is right or wrong, since he is absolutely loyal and devoted to him; he is proud, full of valour, confident; he must die. Vibhlsana, one of the two brothers of Ravana, is very different, and so is Kumbhakarna. The second, in particular, is very interesting and quite lovable: though he upbraids Ravana for his crime, he is for ever loyal, and he would never leave Ravana's side. In depicting this character, Kampan was very independent of his model. In Valmiki, Kumbhakarna is almost nothing more than a sleepy, gluttonous giant. In the work of the Tamil poet, he has become a tender-hearted brother, a stern pursuer of duty, a tragical figure, reminding us at once of Bhisma and of Hector. He foresees his fate, but will not flinch from duty though his own brother Vibhlsana has shown him how he could save himself. He finds that he cannot "refuse to give his life for him . . . who has sent him to the battlefield." And so he dies the death of a tragic hero. Dying, he says to Rama: Let not the rsis and the gods deride me for my noseless face deformed. Shoot, lord, your powerful dart clean through my neck, and send my severed head to sink into the darkness of the sea.

(VI.16.353)

And, indeed, that 'mountain of a face' (mukakkunram) plunged into the black ocean (354, 355), beyond the reach of living men. Rama and Laksmana, walking down the streets of Mithila, stop enthralled by the sight of Sita on the terrace. Her eyes caught Rama's eyes, and there and then love at first sight—in perfect agreement with the conventions of classical Tamil akam poetry and quite unlike in Valmiki—was born in that single moment.

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So stood that maiden of rare loveliness And eye caught eye and each the other ate; As quiet they stood, minds into one were fused; The hero looked at her and Sita looked at him. (1.10.35, transl. H. A. Popley)

Kampan's Sita was of an age to fall in love at first sight, and, as Kampan says, he of the curved bow, and she with sword-like eyes, in turn entered each other's heart. The maid with bangles like a statue stood, for she could not embrace the handsome man, her heart and will and beauty trailing him, the youth, who with the sage now disappeared.

(1.10.37)

(1.10.39)

Through forty-two stanzas Sita suffers the pangs of love, though not a word has passed between them. Rama suffers, too, thinking of the unknown beauty, quite in accord with the conventions of akam. Apart from this lovely beginning, there is not much dramatic development in Sita's character, and, in fact, she is much less impressive or even attractive than Kannaki or Matavi, the heroines of Cilappatikaram. The one leading feature of her character is her unwavering firmness in remaining 'the jewel of chastity' (karpinukkani) and faithfulness61. But, on the other hand, she is even revengeful and cruel, cf. "where shall my honour be if Rama did not cut off the noses of these shameless women and make them all bereft of the wedding strings ?" There are two classes of supernatural beings in the Ramayana: rdksasas and vanaras. The rdksasas, being of enormous size and power are, as V. V. S. Aiyar beautifully says, "preternatural beings." Ravana has ten heads, Trisiras three, some have heads of horses, wolves, lions, etc. By performing great and severe austerities, they have acquired enormous physical strength and many magical powers; they hate virtue and love a life of vice and luxury; destruction and humiliation of gods and men are their chief delight. Gods as such take no part in the story; they have been conquered by their enemies, the rdksasas; their world is in the hands of Ravana, their wives and daughters work as maids of the rdksasa women. At the command of Visnu, who is the one designed in this age to destroy the antigods, the gods are born as vanaras or giant monkies on earth (keeping their divine bodies back in svarga). They have the same preternatural strength and courage as the rdksasas, and Hanuman is the greatest of them62. 61

This is a contemporary orthodox Hindu writer's moral evaluation of Sita: "Sita's unwavering firmness . . . will continue to be a beacon of light through the centuries for millions of Hindu women caught in the sea of a wife's life, where the oglers are the rocks, the libertines the sharks, the abductors are the storms, the silver-tongued family friend the sunken, coral reef, and the village zamindar is Ravana himself" (V. V. S. AIYAR, Kamba Ramayana, A Study, Bombay 1965, p. 301). 68 The preceding part owes much to V. V. S. AIYAB'S (1881-1925) penetrating study of Kampan's epic, cf. V. V. S. AIYAB, Kamba Ramayana, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay 1965.

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Rama and his brothers are divine incarnations but Kampan like Valmiki treats their actions as those of human heroes (though endowed with some extraordinary powers). In their physical condition, and most of their actions, Rama and his brothers are human, but in their ultimate nature they are divine. As stressed before, Kampan, unlike Valmiki, constantly and everywhere reminds us that Rama is the Supreme Being, immanent in everything, and transcending even the Trinity. There is one kind of machinery which influences the action of the epic: the arrows, astras, impregnated by spells; the spell pronounced by the bowman at the time of aiming it converts the weapon into something possessing supernatural power. Arrows wrestle against arrows in mid-air, since the archer sends against an astra his own astra of superior might, which conquers or neutralizes it. Out of all astras the Brahmastra (Ayanpatai) is the most powerful, and it is this arrow which ultimately kills Ravana entering his chest (VI.37.196). Rama and Laksmana, as well as the great leaders of the antigods, are great experts in the science of astras. In addition, Rama's arrows return to his quiver after fulfilling their task. For the modern reader, it becomes almost unbearable after a while to follow these unending duells of the astras, especially as one's senses are inundated by hyperboles on hyperboles. Black as the stormy cloud, sooner than one may utter one word, she sent forth from her hands a shower of stones such as might fill the ocean. This he opposed by a shower of darts from his own bow. Her face wore the semblance of night. Rama discharged an arrow swifter than speech and flaming as fire. It pierced her breast which was hard as a diamond rock, and indignant of delay it pursued its flight: and thus will disappear the divine words from the ears of the wicked.

(1.7.48-9)

These stanzas are found among lines describing the slaying of the demoness Tataka by Rama. But in the sixth kdntam, such stanzas become too tiresome, and, though they might have been comprehensive to and enjoyed by Kampan's contemporaries, they do not really satisfy later periods—unlike some other parts of the great poem which are truly immortal. Kampan has not escaped the two faults of grand court-poetry—the use of cliches, outworn, stereotype, and uninteresting; and the use of over-elaborated, far-fetched conceits. A few instances from the very first book (Palakantam):

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the eyes of women are the darts of Kama (1.2.5.2); women's foreheads are of course like the crescent moon (1.2.36.1), Sita is carp-eyed (1.10.46.1); when smitten by love for Rama, she was like a pea-hen wounded by the arrow from the hand of the hunter Kama (1.10.49.1-2); the white moon blossomed above the sea like a huge white lotus-flower (1.10.71), etc. etc. However, even in cliches he can surprise us: thus Sita (1.10.76.4) addresses the moon as 'white fire'; and even stereotyped descriptions are often chosen so skillfully that they at least produce a wonderful sound-effect, like in 1.2.18.1: mularai mulari vellcti mulai ira 'the silvery shoots of thorn-stemmed mulari drop off.' There are many points of difference between Valmiki and Kampan. One reason for this is of course purely external: a whole world of many centuries lies between Valmiki's age of the Sanskrit epics, an age of straightforward telling and blunt heroes, and the period of the sophisticated court of imperial Cholas. However, there are also some more subtle and deeper differences between the Sanskrit model and its Tamil version. These will be exemplified by the difference in the treatment of the Sita—Ravana relationship; by the difference in the handling of the Ahalya episode; and by the different conception of Vali. At the first meeting of Ravana with Sita in the forest, Ravana speaks bluntly, like a vulgar wooer of her physical beauty, in the Sanskrit epic. In Griffith's translation, he says: Thy charms of smile and teeth and hair And winning eyes, O thou most fair, Steal all my spirit, as the flow Of rivers mines the bank below . . . Ravan the Rakshas king am I . . . My love, O thou of perfect mould, For all my dames is dead and cold. A thousand fairest women, torn From many a land my home adorn. But come, loveliest lady, be The queen of every dame and me.

In Kampan's treatment, the conversation is presented with much more sophistication and art; no indelicate, rude or rough expression is uttered by Ravana; in fact, only remote suggestion is at work in his speech. Though countless are the beauteous damsels who Desire to call him Lord, he hasn't given His heart to one of them: he is searching earth And heaven for one who could delight his heart. I passed these days in Lanka where he reigns: But as a longing came on me to join My friends in holy endeavour, I left His realms and am come back. (III. 12.47-8, transl. V.V. S. Aiyar)

Ravana then speaks in favour of the rdksasas: they are not worse than gods (tevarin tlyar anre); they are good friends of men like him.

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Even greater is the difference in the second interview between Havana and Sita (Valmiki's third), in the adoka grove when Hanuman, concealed in the foliage of a tree, is watching. Again, whereas Valmlki's Havana is blunt and rough, Kampan's antigod is delicate and courteous. Valmlki's rdksasa says: "Why dost thou cover thy breasts and body at the sight of me, 0 thou whose thighs are like the trunk of an elephant ? I desire thee, o Sita! Look upon me with favour!" Kampan's Havana (in V.3) addresses Sita with the following courteous words: "0 slender-waisted kuyill When will you bestow on me your sweet grace (in arul) ? Speak! "And he proceeds: "The days are dying one by one . . . Will you accept me after I am dead, killed by your cruelty ?" He reminds her of the transiency of life and youth, and asks her to accept him, who rules the triple world without a peer, as her slave. The love of Havana for Sita is decidedly of a higher type in Kampan than in Valmiki; it is dignified and courtly, passionate, deep and all-absorbing, and hence tragical. The difference in the treatment of the Ahalya episode was discussed elsewhere63. It is handled more effectively and more dramatically by Kampan in 1.9. The two innovations of Indra stealing away in the shape of a cat64, and the thousand vaginas as a sign of shame on Indra's body65, seem to be folklore motifs (A. K. Ramanujan)66. The most important difference is the moral attitude of Ahalya: assentient in Valmiki, chaste in Kampan67. Though Vali is a grand creation of Valmiki, Kampan has added some features which make him even greater68. Incidentally, the struggle of Vali with the arrow of Rama is one of the finest word-paintings of sheer physical strength (V.7.67ff.). The final argument of Rama for killing Vali is, according to Valmiki, this: as a Ksatriya, Rama was at liberty to kill Vali, a mere monkey, in whatever manner he pleased. This is typically an argument of Valmiki's 'heroic' times, and worthy of the Bhagavadgita ideology. Kampan obviously considered it unworthy of his Rama. In the Tamil version, Rama killed Vali because Vali, in the pride of his strength, and without regard to dharma (V. 7.107) pursued his brother with the object of killing him, and, besides, has taken forcibly his brother's wife from him69. "Therefore," says Rama, "since he 63

The Smile of Murugan, p. 213. Anku or pucaiydy pokalurrdn I.ix.20.4. 65 Ayiram mdtarkku ulla arikuri unakku untdka I.ix.21.3. 66 My attention to the difference between Valmiki and Kampan in dealing with the Ahalya episode was drawn by A. K. RAMANUJAN; I gratefully acknowledge this fact here. 67 After she tasted the "intoxication of the sweetness of the fresh passion of sex" with Indra, Ahalya, in Kampan, ponders: "It is not right"; and she stands stunned and degraded, repentant (I.ix.19-20). 68 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, p. 212; V. V. S. AIYAB, Kamba Ramayana—A Study, pp. 172-8. 69 Tarumam anru . . . arumai umpitan dr uyirt teviyai / perumai nlnkinai eytapperutiyo vii.107. 64

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is my dearest friend, I killed you; and, since it is my intention and desire to help the oppressed and the poor" (V.7.108). The last words of Vali in Kampan's version convert the great but ordinary hero of Valmiki into a being of supreme moral grandeur: Vali not only exonerates his brother of his murder, but almost thanks him as one who helped him attain salvation, and recommends him to Rama. The most masterly touch, however, is the pathetic reference to the help which he could and would have rendered to Rama if fate had been kind to him (7.140-41). The episode of Hiranyakasipu is one of the few additions which Kampan has contributed to the story of the epic. His imagination must have been stirred by the figures of the great asura and his destroyer, Visnu's Man-Lion incarnation, since he alluded to them more than a dozen times in his similes, and, as if not satisfied with these references, he produced an entire episode and placed it most appropirately into the speech of Vibhisana in the war-council in which he attempted to advise Ravana to make peace with Rama70. The episode is one of Kampan's masterpieces. Though, as usually, he follows fairly faithfully his model, he does not do so in all details, but retells the story in his own way, adding his own sublime touches. In very brief outline, it is the story of the demon Hiranyakasipu (Ta. Iraniyan) who could not be killed either by day or night by god, man, or beast, and persecuted gods and men, including his own pious son Prahlada whom he ordered killed. When Prahlada turned to Visnu for help, the god burst from a pillar at sunset (neither day nor night) in the form of a lion-man, and slew the demon. Kampan's Iraniyan may be interpreted in modern terms as an absolute, unbridled tyrant, raised by his proper tapas to sovereign power over all the worlds, who has banished from his realm all sacrifice and forbidden all thirst after knowledge and inquiry. Drunken with power and pride, he was ruling over the universe without a rival. If there is in Kampan's epic an embodiment of pure evil, it is certainly not Ravana but Iraniyan71. And, indeed, if there is any part of Kampan's great work to be translated as representative of Tamil epical poetry, it should be the Iraniyanvataippatalam (VI.3)72. As for Kampan's diction and style, we get the first hints of his skill and depth right in the first book (Palakantam) when he describes the ideal land and city, where a kind of golden-age 'primitive communism' prevails: ' ° The original story is found in the 7th skandha of the Bhagavatapurana, and is a great favourite with the Vaisnavas, in particular with the worshippers of Narasimha. 71 In contemporary fiction I can think of one figure similar to Iraniyan of Kampan, and this character, too, was interpreted symbolically, as contemporary allegory: Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor, created by J. R. R. TOLKIEN in his threevolume saga Lord of the Rings (1954). 72 The editor of V. V. S. AIYAR'S Kamba Ramayana (p. 142) quotes the article Le Ramayana de Kamban by S. KICHENASSAMY published in the Paris Hind Quarterly which says: "Ce chapitre inconnu chez Valmiki est une creation stupefiante d'art et de genie; . . . il couronne la plus belle partie de l'oeuvre de Kamban, le Yudda Kandam."

Tamil Literature There was no need for bounty, for no one was poor; There was no need for strength, for no one violated justice; There was even no truth there, for there was no lie at all.

155

(1.2.53)

And in 1.3.73.3-4, Kampan says quite succintly: Since all have acquired equally great wealth, there were no poor; there were no rich either. Right in the first cantos of the first book, we also get some beautiful similes and metaphors: the groves were like a dark green garment which the golden city of Ayodhya put on (3.20.4); while garlands scattered fresh and cool fragrance, the tales told showered ripe fruits of enjoyment for the ear (2.51.1 and 4) etc. But the first truly magnificent part of the epic is 1.7 dealing with the slaying of the demoness Tataka. The picture of the hot desert (pdlai) is of unique poetic power: Since there's no other season here but the Summer •which as it were took the reins of rule for ever in its hands, the heavenly Sun breaks the Earth and sucks up all her green juice, and in the rays of the flaming god the heart burns, and the eye burns, too. (1.7.5)

Though you may only wish to mention the heat pouring down on Earth, your tongue will burn; even the darkness of night which covers the Earth, will glow; and the zenith glows, too, and when the day breaks, it burns; and the clouds are ablaze, and with a flash of lightning thunder will glow, and everything scorch. (1.7.6)

What about this magnificent conceit ? "The entire sky—a red ruby spit out from the wide-open jaws of a vicious, poisonous snake" (8.3-4); or, in 11.1: "a huge snake rolling through the dust, with its hot hunger 73 ." When that single glowing heat became king, elephants as well as crows died from heat in the jungles; from the fire in the seas to the blaze in the skies one single flame, as if the burning sky collapsed on Earth.

(1.7.12)

But Kampan can be equally good when it comes to brief exchanges of words, to terse, almost laconic descriptions; and he is, from time to time, quite clever and witty, too. Compare the following quick exchange of words between Kumbhakarna and Laksmana: Behold, thou art the brother of Ram, and I Am brother to mighty Ravana; and lo, The Gods assemble round to witness our deeds Of war. 'Fore them I swear that I shall cleave In twain the sacrilegeous hands that dared To hold my sister by the hair and her Deformed. 73

Listen to the sound of this line: pulunku vem paciyotu pura}um per ard.

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Laksmana replies: Not learned in the braggart's art, we can But answer thee with th'arrow's point.

(Transl. V. V. S. Aiyar)

As Indrajit, Ravana's sternly handsome son, walks alone to the combat, the rdksasa beauties look at him with varying emotions: Some bowed to him; some blessed him in their heart; Some trembled for his life; some sobbed to see Him part; his lordly walk did fascinate Some fair ones; others melted longing for His love and soft embrace. (VI.27.16, transl. V. V. S. Aiyar) When Prahlada finishes his hymn on Visnu, Hiranya's rising rage bursts into flame and his eyes drop blood. He thunders out the following words: Have not I foe enough in him who's sprung To my misfortune out of my own loins, And pays his worship and his love to him Who is my foe of foes ? Put him to death! (VI.3.80, transl. V. V. S. Aiyar) Or, finally, cf. Dasaratha's words to Kaikeyi: 0 wretched woman! 1 have now understood fully your heart! For a long time I tasted poison from your fruit-like lips. And thus you have devoured my life to the root. I did not marry you then, queen, before the sacred fire, but I have chosen yet another unique god of death!74

(II.4.47)

This quatrain will also help us to exemplify Kampan's great skill in the architectonics of stanzas; the original reads kante nerican kanivdyk kanivdy vitana netund} unte natana nlyen nuyirai mutalo tuntdy pante yerimun nunnaip pdvi tevi ydkak konte nallen veror kur^an tetik kanten Word-for-word translation: I understood (your) heart in a ripe manner; (from your) fruit-like lips poison I long days (1) drank; thus you my life with the root devoured (2); in the old days before fire you, a wretched woman, as a queen (3) I took not; another unique god of death I chose and took (4). Observe how the predicative verbs, which are so important, and which are emphasized, are placed in the first slots of the lines: kanten 'I saw, I understood' ; unten 'I drank'; konten 'I took'; moreover, the two forms of the verb to eat (un) are placed in the first and last feet of the same verse (2): unten 'I ate, I drank' (poison from your lips): untdy 'you ate, you devoured' (my life); 74

In the original, there is an untranslatable pun on the word kani 'ripe fruit' and kanivu 'ripeness': kanten nencam kanivdy; kanivdy vitam ndn netundl unten, lit. 'I have understood (your) heart ripely; I ate long days poison from your lips (similar to) ripe fruit.'

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there is the skillful pun on the words kani 'ripe fruit' and Jcanivu 'ripeness' (line 1); the two crucial words used to denote Kaikeyi are placed right next to each other to stress the contrast: pdvi tevi (line 3) '0 wretched women: queen75.' For the great skill, cleverness, and wit of Kampan in seemingly small matters I would like to quote no more than three instances: Sita (and, for that matter, any beautiful heroine of Indian poetry) has been compared to a number of splendid things in a long line of cliches (some of them naturally adopted by Kampan too). It is therefore refreshing to read in 1.10.23: She stood there, near . . . the lustre of gold, the fragrance of a bud, the sweet taste of honey sucked by humming bees from an opened flower, the pleasure of a poem composed of right words. And, again, in 10.26, Kampan says very cleverly about Sita as she appeared to Rama: not like the nectar bestowed some day, somewhere, beyond those skies— no; she was like the nectar, enjoyed here, today, in this place. When Rama broke the diadems on Ravana's heads, the demon looked like night without moon, day without sun, and also . . . like kings who though they stand Unrivalled in their wealth and sovereign power, Straightway their honour and their name do lose,' The moment noble poets send their shafts of stinging satire78. (VI.15.248, transl. V. V. S. Aiyar)

There can be no doubt about the symbolic value of sounds77. This was recognized and used by many poets, but Kampan (like a few others, e.g. Arunakiri and Tayumanavar, or Ramalingasvami, or, among the very modern ones, S. D. S. Yogi and Triloka Sitaram) had a specially sharp ear for this quality of vowels and consonants, and knew how to exploit sound-symbolism to its utmost possibilities78. Probably nothing can provide a better illustration of the careful 'orchestration' (instrumentovka) or the use of the functional status of phonaesthetic 75

For a few other remarks on the architectonics of Kampan's poem, cf. p. 215 of The Smile of Murugan. On p. 216, two instances are quoted of Kampan's skill. 76 Arral nal netun kavinan or ankatam uraippa / porra arum pukal ilanta per oruvanum ponrdn. The term for satire is ankatam. 77 That symbolism operates in language cannot be denied; examples abound from modern and historically attested languages. One interesting example is the correlation between size and distance, and vowel quality. In Tamil, for instance, there seems to be a correlation between front and high vowels, and diminutive and proximate categories (cf. the deictic proximate base t-versus the remote a-, and such adjectives like ciriya, cinna 'small'). Cf. ULTAN, RXJSSEL, Size-Sound Symbolism, Working Papers on Language Universals, Stanford University, 1970, 3. S 1 - S 31. 78 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 214-15.

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properties of Tamil sounds than Kampan's comparing the two belles, the wicked, bizarre, deadly beauty of Surpanakha, Ravana's sister, as she comes to seduce Rama, with the beauty of Sita. Sita's beauty is first described in 1.10, but more specifically when Ravana's sister gives an account to her brother of what had happened to her, when Laksmana chopped off her "nose, ears, and the nipples of her hot and fierce breasts79." Ravana's question Araval 'Who is she V marks the beginning of a paean on Sita's beauty which begins: Sire! One-wheeled chariot is her Venus-mount; breasts—shining cups of reddish burnished gold; blessed is the earth that bears her tender feet. Her name is Sita.

(III.10.68)

And she goes on describing the music of her voice recalling the sounds of woods and groves, her tresses similar to rain-clouds, the eyes deeper than the sea, though her face is not larger than a lotus flower, the cotton-soft feet, the fingers, like tender-red coral, etc. etc., in about a dozen of stanzas: they are all of a very pleasing phonaesthetic effect, too. A very different k nd of sound-symbolism is employed by Kampan when, in III.6, he describes the encounter of Rama with Surpanakha, the demoness of uncouth, weird beauty, who is introduced to us right in the beginning as having "dense and copious hair powdered with red dust" and "a unique, ripe body full of hungry passion." The reverberating power of words, the connotations and associations, are used by Kampan with supreme skill: these two lines (6.2.1-2) give the prevailing tone to the entire episode: cem 'red' is the main colour of that episode; the colour of copper—and Curppanakai's body is all like glowing copper; and vempu ardkam 'hungry passion,' which is the Leitmotif of the episode; but vempu in line two means also 'prematurely ripe' and 'fade'; and 'angry'; and by sound-association evokes vem 'hot' and veppu 'heat': all these connotations arise in one's mind at once when hearing these words. What contrast! Against the lovely Sita of 'cooling beauty' whose hair is like 'falling rain' and 'deep-black cloud' (blessed, because, shade-giving and rain-bestowing), and whose voice reverberates with the sounds, of forests and groves, we have here a woman 'in heat,' of angry, hungry passion, with red dust in her dense hair, all dry and dangerous. She will be so devoured by her lust that she will tremble and shake and speak such words to Rama that he will feel like licking poison (6.79). And the sound-symbolism used by Kampan in this episode is most appropriate: the high and front vowels, and the palatal consonants, especially the cluster—nc—having definite though subconscious association with things bizarre, dangerous and deadly80. One could dwell upon so many other wonderful aspects of Kampan's masterpiece; one could e.g. admire the manner of Vali's argumentation when he points out to Rama that a mere beast, an ape, is not responsible for his acts in, 79

III.vi.86.

80

Cf. for details K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 214-15.

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the same moral way as men since there is no established marriage and no cult of chastity among the brutes as there is or should be among men: they mate as they please, and their conduct is not based on the Vedas, but on their momentary inclination (IV.7.109-112); one could admire the suggestive way in which Kampan paints Rama's wrath when he hears from Jatayu's lips about the abduction of Sita (III.8.201-6); but one must also admire seemingly very small matters—just words or phrases thrown into the text as if incidentally, and yet with definite purpose, as when e.g. Vali tries to draw out Rama's arrow, and gods (amarar) and antigods (avunar) and others look on and feel new thrill "swelling their limbs" for "who can help admiring a hero ?"81 How very Indian this remark of Kampan is: hero-worship, as we know well, is one of the crucial and most characteristic features of the Indian character82. No other Tamil poet has ever attempted a Ramayana after Kampan, though there exists a modern anti-Ramayana, a 'chanson de Ravana83.' 4.4. Christian epics. There are two great epic poems in Tamil with Christian content—Beschi's Tempavani and H. A. K. Pillai's Iratcaniya yattirikam. One would be tempted to dismiss the versified story of St. Joseph in Tamil as a mere curiosity if the author were someone else than the amazing Italian C. G. E. Beschi (1680-1747)84, poet, grammarian, lexicographer, prose-writer, and Jesuit missionary, an expert in at least twelve languages85. His epic poem Tempavani 'The Jewel of Fragrant Beauty' (a name bestowed upon the newborn child Joseph by a voice from heaven) in three books (kdntams) follows as models Civakacintamani, and, to some extent, Kampan's Ramayana; besides, certain echoes of Tasso were recognized in the work, and a more careful study 81 82

Vlrarai ydr viyavdtdr, IV.vii.73.4.

No adequate translation, not even partial, of Kampan's epic has so far been published. For rather inadequate partial translations, cf. GNANOTT DIAGOTT, Kambaramayanam, Revue hist, de l'lnde franc., t.viii (1952) 273-9; C. R. RAJAGOPALACHARI, The Ayodhya Canto of the Ramayana as told by Kamban, London 1961. Cf. further C. P. VENKATARAMA AIYAR, Kamban and his Art, Madras 1913, S. A. SiNGARAVEiiU, A Comparative Study of the Story of Rama in South Asia and Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur 1966, K. A. N. SASTRI, The Ramayana in Greater India, JORM 1932, 113-20, S. SHANKAR RAJTJ NAIDXJ, A Comparative Study of Kamba Ramayana and Tulsi Ramayana, Madras 1971. 83 A contemporary Tamil scholar-poet, KULANTAI PUXAVAR, composed Iravanan kappiyam, 'The Epic of Ravana.' Cf. also E. V. RAMASWAMI NAICKER'S The Ramayana: a True Reading, Madras 1959, in which the founder of the Dravida Kazhagam party extolls Ravana as the true hero, and says: " . . . Rama and Sita are despicable characters not worthy of imitation or admiration even by the lowest of the fourth-rate humans . . . the veneration of the story any longer in Tamil Nad is injurious and ignominous to the self-respect of the community and of the country." 84 Born Nov. 8, 1680 at Castiglione near Mantova. Arrived in Goa in 1707/8, began his missionary activities in Tirunelveli, wrote a number of excellent grammars, dictionaries, a short prosaic satire, catechisms, became divan of Chanda Sahib, died Febr. 4, 1474 (or, according to other sources, at the end of 1746) at Ambalakkadu. 85 Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Persian, Urdu, Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil.

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would probably reveal the influence of other Latin and Italian models. In content, the epic deals with the legendary life of St. Joseph, Beschi's patronsaint, based on the Gospels and, so it seems, on a Portuguese source. The basic story is that of the New Testament, beginning with the birth and youth of Cucaiyappar—Father Joseph, Tamilized also as Valan 'The One who has Plenitude (of Grace)', and describing his marriage with Mary, the birth of Jesus, the journey to and stay in Egypt, the return to Jerusalem, etc., till the death of St. Joseph and his coronation on Earth and in Heaven; but there is also a number of episodes, e.g. the Old Testament episodes, or Joseph's struggle with the devils in the second kantam, the life of St. John the Baptist, etc. It was obviously Beschi's policy to Indianize and to Tamilize as throroughly as possible not only in personal life and missionary activities86, but also in literature. The atmosphere, as well as the form of his epic, are thoroughly South Indian. The Indianization of the sujet goes so far that—to quote a flagrant illustration—Beschi has made Joseph a ruler's son who had chosen the life of an ascetic but an old rsi called him back to take up his duties as a grhastha. Jerusalem is compared to Ayodhya, naturally to Jerusalem's great advantage, etc. etc. In his Grammatica latino-tamulica (1730) Beschi boasts of having made, in his Tempavani, without any difficulty, 90 variations of viruttam based on cantam 'cadence87.' And, indeed, the prosodic variety of the text is staggering. The poem was composed, in 3615 viruttam stanzas and 36 cantos, in about A.D. 1726, but the manuscript was buried in a private collection until 1853 when it was printed for the first time in Pondicherry. There are didactic stanzas in this work which are not much poetically, as well as magnificent and colourful verses which indeed remind us closely of the battle-scenes in Kampan's Yuttakantam. The following kdppiyakkalitturai in four lines may serve as an illustration of the first type of moralizing stanzas: Who is ignorant that death fears not the strong bow dreaded by enemies, Nor the works in verse or prose of such as have made all learning their own, Nor the splendour of the king's sceptre, sparkling with innumerable refulgent rays, Nor the beauty of such as resemble the unexpanded flower ? (Muticuttuppatalam 75, transl. B. G. Babington)

In the second book, there is an effective, forcible description of a battlefield (pcrkkala nilai, Cocuvanverrippatalam 90 ff.); as an illustration I give my version of st. 91 which, in the original, is a marvellous instance of kulippu, a sequence of rhythmic units, a musical flow based on regular alternation of long and short syllables88. 85 He has adopted a Tamil name, Viramamunivar; he tried to imitate the way of life of Hindu ascetics; when he set up an image of the Holy Virgin in the first place of worship erected by him, she was dressed in native dress, and fashioned in Manila after a model he himself had made. 87 . . . ego in poemate Tempavani dicto, ubi tria millia sexcentae quindecim tantum modo sunt strophes, nullo labore nonaginta diversos tonos posuerim (p. 84, ed. 1917,

publ. by L. BESSE). 88

The kulippu of this stanza is w w w — wwv_/ / K^>\^>K_J — \JKJKJ /

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The horses chafed on their bits, the elephants were infuriated by the horses, the chariots with flags were dragged by the elephants, the bows tinkled with bells, arrows were discharged from the bows, blood gushed from arrow-wounds as the battle raged, bodies were sore-smitten in the battle, souls separated and fled from the bodies—and thus the just lord high raised on his jewel-decked chariot, vanquished the foes89.

Another instance, taken from Kununkumantirappatalam, st. 7 of the second book, is a six-feet aciriyaviruttam describing with grotesque horror an apefaced devil : Like a spear-erect stood the ape-faced demon, with hair-filled ears broad as those of an ass, with open mouth fetid from the lump of carrion that dropped from his lips, with a long and red beard, close-tangled like the forest underwood, and stiff as the leaves of the cocoa-palms, himself a matchless mass of impurity. (Transl. B. G. Babington)

Henry Albert Krishna Pillai's (1827-1900) Iratcaniya yattirikam is the Tamil adaptation of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. The first part of Bunyan's book appeared in Tamil as early as in 1793. In 1853, the Tamil version of the entire work was published in Jaffna. Another Tamil version appeared in 1882. Among the differing features of Krishna Pillai's Tamil poetic version, there is the division of the epic into five books (subdivided into patalams)90; the fact that his work is in the third person whereas Bunyan's narration is in the first; the five hundred and odd verses on the life of Jesus woven cleverly into the figurative story of the second book. He deliberately modelled his poetic diction and style (as he himself says in the Preface) on Kampan's epic. Most of the characters—personifications of abstract qualities—are retained even with their allegorical names, translated simply from English into Tamilized Sanskrit. On the other hand, the work has nine devotional lyrical hymns in the purest bhakti tradition scattered through the text, and these 144 verses belong to the highlights of the book. The work has about 4000 stanzas in 47 chapters91. / w ^ w — which reads in Tamil mnemonic terms tanatanantanana — tanatanantanana — tanatanantanana — tanatand, cf. the first line: aniyu tanrapari, pariyu tanrakari, kariyu tanrakoti, aniyum ter. 89 The original has an untranslatable pun on the verb utal 'be furious, wrangle, wage war, fight, yearn after' which is used throughout the stanza (utanra) with different subjects. 90 Bunyan's book is in two parts. 91 Cf. MARY MASIIXAMANI, H. A. Krishna Pillai's Contribution to Tamil Literature, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, II, 224—31; D. YESTTDHAS, The Pilgrims Progress and Iratcaniya yaattirikam, Proceedings, Vol. II, 232-6. One of the earliest Christian poets in Tamil seems to have been Arujappa Navalar alias Pulokacinkamutaliyar who composed a kdvya about a Roman Catholic 'saint,' Tiruccelvar, called Tiruccelvaracarkaviyam. This book is supposed to have been printed in 1647( ?!) with notes by Tiyakaraca Pijjai. It was published in print in Jaffna, 1896. The same Christian poet is also credited with Tiruccelvarammanai and Cantiyokumaiyur ammanai.

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4.5. Most important of the Muslim epics is Cirappuranam which deals in three kdntams of 5027 stanzas with the life of the Prophet. The work was written by Umaruppulavar (born ca. 1665) and was finished around 1715. Though the story takes place in Arabia, the milieu and the atmosphere are thoroughly Tamilized; ideologically, though, the work is fiercely Islamic. According to V. I. Subramoniam92, it may be compared, "in style, in imagery and in the capacity for narration" with Paraficoti's Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam, and regarded as "a monumental contribution of the Muslims, of which . . . the Tamil language can be proud." The first kdntam (Kilattukkantam) begins with the invocation of God and describes the countryside and the townships of totally Tamilized Arabia (the influence of Tiruttakkatevar and Kampan is quite visible); the second, Nupuvattukkantam, deals with the revelation of Muhammad, and the third, Hijrattukkantam, deals with the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. 4.6. Modern Tamil Narrative Poetry. By the same token which enables us to classify Civakacintamani or Tempavani as epics, there is hardly any poem in modern Tamil literature which may be so classified. With the possible exception of Bharatidasan's magnum opus, Kutumpavilakku 'The Lamp of the Family,' no modern Tamil epical poem has the necessary amplitude, breadth and inclusiveness of a true epic; they do not deal with a hero's journey through life from his birth on, or with the plenitude of human experience. In this respect, they do not satisfy either Indian (Dandin's) or Western (e.g. Bowra's, Huxley's) criteria. Almost all modern Tamil kdvyas are just longer or shorter narrative poems; some of them are rather dramas, or propaganda in verse, than epics. 4.6.1. S. Bharati (1882-1921) has left behind two long narrative poems: Paficaii capatam 'The Vow of Paficaii,' and Kuyilpattu 'The Song of the Cuckoo.' The first part of 'The Vow of Paficaii' was published in 1912, the second after the poet's death in 1924. The poem has 2548 lines of which about 1900 lines are in the nature of dialogue or monologue; of the rest, 200 lines are dedicated to the description of the land and the people of Hastinapura—of the stage on which the action will take place; the remaining 400 lines are the poet's comments (comparable to the function of the chorus in Greek tragedies). It has been therefore argued that Paficaii capatam is more of a tragic and heroic drama in verse than a true epic poem93. The action, the plot concentrates on a single crisis in the Mahabharata, described in five sargas (carukkam): to overthrow the Pandavas by knavery. The first sarga, Duryodhana's Plot, begins with a prayer (in the popular metre and form of a nonticcintu) and the description of Hastinapura. In Duryodhana's 92 93

V. I. Subramoniam, Muslim Literature in Tamil, TC 4 (1955) 73-89. Cf. M. RAMASWAMY, Panchali's Vow—Drama ? Epic ? in Essays on Bharathi, Calcutta 1962, 140-50.

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court, we witness the evil thoughts seezing his heart, the plotting for the gambling, and Dhrtara^tra's giving in. In the second canto, The Game of Dice, the Pandavas receive the invitation through Vidura, discuss it and, in the third canto, they lose themselves and Draupadi in the game. The fourth canto—the beginning of the climax—opens with these suggestive lines: Would one kill a dear child for leather to make sandals ? For the dicing between angered princes should Pancali be the pawn ? (246)

The Panda vas are horrified and helpless; Duryodhana and his mates exult in their victory; Vidura argues and curses in vain. In the final canto, The Vow, Draupadi is dragged by her tresses to the Kaurava court by Duryodhana; her appeals are in vain, and only Bhima raises his voice in protest. In the royal court, she suffers insult and infamy; as Duh^asana starts to disrobe her, she finds her only defense in the gesture of complete surrender to god (stanzas 292-302) in agreement with the Vaisnava doctrine oiprapatti94. Her prayer is heard, and she is saved by a miracle, whereupon she takes a terible vow (st. 307): Om! By devi Parasakti I swear: Not till the miserable Duh&asana's blood mingles with the blood of that wretched Duryodhana and I smear my tresses with their blood and then bathe and wash it away— not till then will I gather again this my unloosened hair!

There are many beautiful portions in the poem (e.g. the prayer of Draupadi to Krsna); for sheer poetic thrill, the best part is probably the glory of a sunset witnessed by Arjuna and Draupadi on their way to Hastinapura (150-2): The sun rolls down Immeasurably swift Towards the nadir of the sky. Look! Dark-haired one, Kali, the Mother, Has melted down a million lightning streaks And cast their flaming disc; She whirls it now. A bright green wheels in front of the supernal glory. What wondrous green, a green not of this earth! And from the circling flame, jagged diamond tongues Shoot forth intermittent. 94

In the introduction to his Tamil version of the Bhagavadgita, Bharati says r "!§rl Ramanuja taught that, while one is caught in this sea of samsdra, one should surrender to the Divine with hands uplifted, just as the drowning person holds his hands above water . . . This truth is revealed also in the lives of Prahlada and Draupadi. It is only when she removed her hand from the robe she was wearing, and lifted both hands above her head, that by the grace of the Lord KrsNa her honourwas saved, robes grew on her, and tired the hands of Duryodhana."

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Oh, but this is a poem that the Mother is weaving. Rise up, my love, pray 'May this last for ever and ever.' Clouds crowd on the glowing sun encircling him. They burn. Colours break out, will no one tell me their secret ? They burn. What shapes, what subtle tones! Liquid fire. Streams of molten gold. Burning gold isles. Look, in their midst blue lagoons. What multitudinous shades of blue, Innumerable reds, legions of blacks and greens, And here a black monster towering mighty and huge. In the heart of the pools of blue, Gold boats dancing. Black peaks laced with golden light; And there in the sea of darkness, wave on wave, Gold whales prancing. A riot of light, turn where I may, A riot, an ineffable glory of colour. (Transl. A. Srinivasa Raghavan)

There is a view that Draupadi "is the image of Mother India in shackles but still defiant, in the most critical moment of her ageless life95." However, it would seem that Bharati's intention was not a reinterpretation of the Mahabharata in terms of India's struggle for independence. He never says so explicitely, nor does he anywhere hint at it. On the contrary, he says in his Preface that his aim was to create a poem of epic magnitude in modern Tamil, "in eimple phrases, simple style, easily understood prosody, rhythms liked by the •common man." He underlines the fact that he has not taken liberties with the original in any material way. "It is possible to consider this book a translation of Vyasa's Bharatam." This shows that Bharati's aim was purely literary, not political. The famous episode was intended to become a standard for modern Tamil kdvya (". . . to infuse new life to our mother-tongue, Tamil, by composing & kdvya for the present time"). Apart from traditional metres, he has used the popular cintu form, and in the notes appended to the first edition of 1912 he has often given the rhythmic pattern showing how these stanzas should be ;8ung96. Very interesting and suggestive of Bharati's great and modern insight is what he says in his note on stanzas 53-83: "It is necessary to see to it carefully that these stanzas are sung so as to agree with the great naturalness of their style and diction, reflecting truthfully and with aptness the dialogues." Kuyil pattu 'The Song of the Cuckoo' is a narrative poem of 741 lines in the traditional kalivenpd metre97 connected by the unity of the plot, characters, and 95

PREMA NANDAKTTMAR, Subramania Bharati, New Delhi 1968, p. 107. E.g. the introductory stanzas 1—18 should have the following rhythm of nonticcintu: 'lalala 'lalala 'la-lala / 'lalala 'lalala 'lala Vald (omena periyor kal— enrum j otuva tayvinai motuva lay). 97 And not in akaval as maintained e.g. by PREMA NANDAKUMAR in her fine introduction Subramania Bharati, Delhi 1968, p. 108. 96

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form. It was written in 1912 and published in 1923, and is probably the best of Bharati's poems. It is a fable about the Indian nightingale (Eudynamis honorata), the Icuyil, a bull, and a monkey. One day the poet goes to rest in a mango grove (mdncolai) west of Pondicherry98. The place is very quiet—only a solitary kuyil sings there, and her song makes the poet drowsy. Reality shades into a dream: the poet hears in the huyiVs song a lament about the impermanence of love and the inevitability of death. The poet asks the bird what reason she has for her bitter-sweet song. "I seek love—or death!" is the answer"; and then, declaring her love for the poet, she says she will meet him again on the fourth day. The poet, too, falls madly in love with the dark bird, and love's impatience drives him to the mango-garden next day itself. To his horror, he finds the kuyil flirting with a ridiculous monkey. He draws his sword, but the bird and the beast vanish. After an agonized night, the poet returns next day to find the kuyil flirting this time with an old bull. The odd lovers vanish once more, the poet undergoes another bad night, and, on the fourth day is finally told the story of the kuyWs former birth. She had been born as Kuyili, the daughter of a Chera chieftain. Her cousin Matan ('Bull') had loved her; she, out of pity, agreed to marry him. But the Chera chieftain decided to marry her to Nettai Kurankan ('Tall Ape'), and the wedding was fixed. Kuyili went to the forest with her friends and there, the prince of Vanci happened to meet her by accident ; they fell in love at first sight, in the true akam fashion. While they were lost in bliss, Matan and Kurankan surprised them and attacked the prince who, before he died, struck them fatal blows, too, and assured Kuyili that their love would find fulfilment in some future birth. Kuyili was born as a kuyil; a rsi had told her the circumstances of her former birth, and also revealed to her that the prince of Vanci was now born as the poet. The misunderstanding is cleared; the poet kisses ardently the tiny bird in his hand—and There stood a woman. In deep delight she gazed On me awhile, and never winked her eyes; Then bent her head, a very little. Lord! How shall I sing her praise in Tamil verse ? . . . In ecstasy At sight of her, with ardour I embraced And straightway kissed her; kissed and kissed those lips Of fragrant wine, and in a cloudy daze Of love forgot myself awhile. Behold! That jewel of a maid, and all the grove, 98

CentamUt tenputuvai yennun tirunakarin / merke, 1.6-7. Kdtalaiventik karaikinren; illaiyenil j catalai ve. 100 There is a very inadequate translation of Pancalicapatam into English by Mrs. HAKI VALAM, Panchali Sapatham (The Vow of Panchali), Devalali 1957. As for Kuyilpa^tu, we have a translation by H. JESTTDASAN, The Song of the Cuckoo and Other Poems, Trivandrum 1950 (in blank verse, and quite readable); and a prose-rendering (much less readable) by A. DOBAISWAMI PILLAI, Bharathi's Poems (Kannan and Kuyilpattu), Madras 1966. 99

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Did vanish from my sight. I screamed and fell. Opening anon my eyes, I looked around. I was at home! Around me but the old Familiar sights . . . pen, paper, tablets, mat! The grove, the cuckoo, love, and all the tale I have just now narrated, but the trick Imagination played upon a mind To languor by the beauteous eve inspired.

(Transl. H. Jesudasan)

The fable—a wonderful poem which, in its delicious mixture of reality with phantasy, sadness and nostalgia with irony and bizarre humour has much in common with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream—has been interpreted by modern critics in many different ways: as an allegory, a symbol of mystic, religious content, "the crowning glory" of Bharati's mystic experience (T. P. Meenakshisundaran, P. M. Sundaram, K. P. Rajagopalan); whereas K. P. Rajagopalan equals the kuyil with love itself, P. M. Sundaram has found in the tale the Saiva Siddhanta triad of pati (the prince), pacu (Kuyili) and pacam (various illusions which must be passed through by the soul before her union with the Lord). According to T. P. Meenakshisundaran, the prince-poet is, on the contrary, jivatma, and it is the kuyil who symbolizes the paramdtmd. One may of course interpret the fable very differently—in terms of English romanticism and of Keats whom Bharati knew and admired: the cuckoo represents beauty which is truth. However, the poet says, it seems, ironically—or is it an ambiguous challenge : O you great Tamil savants! Will you not, wherever there's the slightest possibility, analyse and interpret the content in terms of Vedanta— though it's only a phantasy ? Thus ends the poem—and there begins the interpretation. One proof of great poetry is that it is multivalent; it lends itself to many interpretations, and yet it remains unexplained completely. It is rich and comprehensive, and includes many strata and structures. This is precisely the case of Bharati's Kuyil pattu. It seems to me that R. K. Kannan and Prema Nandakumar are nearer the truth than the other critics when they simply see the poem as a great praise of love's immortality. It would appear to me to be Bharati's escape from the cruel reality of his Pondicherry exile into the ideal realm of phantasy evoked by dreams and meditations on the beauties of nature and greatness of love. In a way, it is an elegy, full of yearning; but the occasional, and the final, irony removes from it entirely any sentimentality. The diction is clear and melodious, at once modern and traditional.100 4.6.2. Kavimani Tecikavinayakam Pillai's poem on the evils of the matriarchal system among the Pillaimars in Naficimatu (South-Western-most part of the Tamil country) was first published in a serial form in 1917-18. It indeed is

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one of the important minor 'epics' of modern Tamil literature with its 1700 lines, especially since it is one of the few poetic satires in the language. Its bitter irony, sincereity, and occasional poetic power were such that the government had to abolish the system in 1926, chiefly due to the impact the poem had on public opinion. Nancikiattu marumakkal valimanmiyam 'The Greatness of Matriarchate of Naficimatu' was published in a new edition of 1942 by S. Vaiyapuri Pillai. 4.6.3. Bharatidasan (1891-1964) has composed a number of narrative poems; a few belong, in parts, to the best Tamil poetry written in the first half of the 20th century. The main theme of Pantiyanparicu 'The Pandya's Reward' is hunting after a lost treasure-case, in order to win the hand of a princess. The hero is Velan, son of Atta, a typical 'heroic mother' in the vein of the courageous mothers of the bardic age; the heroine, Armani, a love-stricken princess. They hail from different social strata: Bharatidasan attempted to show that caste should be no barrier to their love and marriage. There is much nationalism in the poem—one should die for its country if necessary. The removal of any form of absolutism and dictatorship is a necessity. Bharatidasan has spoken out for democratic and republican ideas elsewhere, too, in Virattay 'Heroic Mother,' and in Puratcikkaviiian 'Revolutionary Poet.' Here he also pleads for a kind of collective ownership, and reflects S. Prudhomme's adage "Possession is theft." But there is plenty of romantic sentimentalism in the poem, no character development, basic feelings and emotions of the heroes are innate and unchangeable. In Puratcikkavinan Bharatidasan takes the story of Bilhana101 and transforms it into a poem of revolt: the poet and his lady-love, a princess of the land, appeal to the citizens against the king in the name of true love, the citizens rise and solemnize their marriage, overthrowing the tyranny. There are many similarities between the plot, the milieu, and the characters of Pantiyanparicu, and those of classical Tamil literature: cf. the battle-scenes, modelled on those of Kampan, the character portrayal of Narikkannan, the villain of the poem which reminds us of the goldsmith in Cilappatikaram; his evil eloquence is that of Kuni in Kampan's epic; the stereotype description of nature forms a traditional background of human events, etc. Tamilacciyinkatti 'The Knife of a Tamil Woman' is the story of Sudarsan Singh, an army captain from the North, who bribes Cuppamma's husband Timman into taking her North, by offering him a new post in the army, so that he would have easy access to his wife. But when Sudarsan Singh approaches Cupamma with evil intentions, she stabs him fatally. Timman is arrested. 101 The Kasmiri Bilhana (llth-12th Cent. A.D.) wrote 'Fifty Stanzas of the Thief (Caurapancasika.) in Sanskrit, purporting to describe the secret love of a bold housebreaker and a princess. An unknown author of unknown date composed a poem on Bilhana's life (Bilhanlyam) which deals with the legend of the love between the poet and the princess; the poet, sentenced to death, is said to have composed the fifty stanzas on secret love while approaching the place of execution.

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Cuppamma appears before the court with a great speech to win her cause. Thus we have here a contemporary plot, not badly constructed, but the poem is, again, quite melodramatic, though the heroine is modelled on Cilappatikaram's Kannaki. Like Kannaki, she gathers the support of the people for her cause; and she even alludes to the ancient Tamil epic when she says You say the Tamils have no vigour and no courage ? But ask the North Indian who carried rocks from the Himalayas. He would tell you of Chera's ability! We may recognize an almost identical pattern in many of Bharatidasan's narrative poems: its positive heroes are of Tamil origin; the Northeners are villains; the heroes fight against the 'establishment'; and they ultimately have the support of the people. Almost all that Bharatidasan has written is ideologically strongly motivated: most often, this ideological motivation is detrimental to his poetry. Etirparata muttam 'The Unexpected Kiss' of 1938 is a tragical love-story of Punkotai and Ponmuti, both from the caste of vanikar 'traders'; their love is not approved of by the 'establishment'; Ponmuti is tied to a laurel tree and beaten up for having met the girl in secret. Finally he is sent North by compulsion on a trade mission to forget Punkotai. In a raid between the Northern and Southern traders he is killed, and PunkStai, his faithful sweetheart, who goes North to meet him, dies instantly as soon as she witnesses her lover's death. Ponmuti and others returned from the North. Punkotai, with the traders, travelled from the South towards the Northern country. They drew near. Thickets and bushes. Mighty trees, a forest upon earth. The road they went was a small narrow path. There, four or five bullocks, and the Tamil men approaching from the North she saw, and they could recognize a caravan of traders from afar. Ponmuti expected to meet and join them soon. But what he saw instead, was wretched rogues set upon murder and on vicious deeds And as they met and their two heads drew near, a long sword flashed out of the shelter of a mighty tree! And she hung close to him, lifting her arm and stretching forth, when, suddenly, she got a kiss—a face resplendent with his blood she saw—no body could she see, and with the head in hands, she sank—and thus he died for the sweet Tamil's excellence, and she, the swan of South died for her lover's death.

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Kannakipuratci and Manimekalaivenpa are straight adaptations of the two old Tamil epics. In later narrative poetry of Bharatidasan, the heroic pathos tends to disappear and the ties with the past loosen; but what remains is the basic ideology of nationalism and revolutionary democratism. Judged by literary standards only, these pieces are not much real poetry either. Thus Nallamuttukkatai 'The Story of Nallamuttu' is replete with anti-Hindi slogans; it says openly: this government is trying to destroy Tamil and impose Hindi. Isn't it our sacred duty to protect our Tamil ? Katalmerkumilikal 'Bubbles on the Surface of the Sea' ends with a gathering of the people of Tiralnatu 'The Country of Valour' in the former royal palace; they had established a republic; factories and workshops became their temples; Brahmans and all other exploiters were deprived of power; the republic is governed democratically through elected representatives of the people102. The greatest poem of Bharatidasan is Kutumpavilakku 'The Lamp of the Family,' a true, ambitious epic in five volumes: The Events of a Day, Hospitality, Wedding, Birth of Children, The Affection of the Old. In this moving epic Bharatidasan has tried—for the first time in Tamil literature, and with success—to give a many-sided, detailed portrayal of the life of an ideal Tamil family in all its fullness and complexity. The philosophy of the poem is based on the pragmatic ethics of the Tirukkural: hospitality and service of fellow-men are the fundamental virtues of a family man and his wife. It tells the story of Tankattammal and Manavaiakan who love each other, marry, and grow old together. Their senses worn-out and exhausted, their powers tired and resting, only their hearts remain. But they are happy and content. As Manavaiakan says: What gives me happiness ? Only that one thing— that she simply is! And his old Tankattammal agrees: My hands are tired of performing deeds of charity. My legs, which went about to take the children out, must rest; my ears, which listened to the beauties of sweet Tamil poetry, are weary and fatigued; the eyes which looked so eagerly are dimmed; only my heart which carries my old Maravan is not yet tired. 102 A. K. CHETTIAB. wrote in his assessment of Bharatidasan's collection Tamiliyakkam: "Some people will say: Bharatidasan is a good poet; but he is a BrahmaN-hater. But Bharatidasan is not only a Brahman-hater. Bharatidasan hates everyone who, in the name of religion, in the name of caste, in the name of dharma, in the name of morals, robs others, cheats others, enjoys the fruits of others' labours."

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4.7. Tamil Pur anas. The Tamil purdnas103 flourished for a very long period between ca. 1200-1750 A.D. The earliest—and, in many respect, the greatest—of all Tamil purdnas was, however, composed before that limit—around 1135 A.D.: Cekkilar's Tiruttontarpuranam 'The Purdna of the Holy Devotees.' And one of the largest purdnas in more than 7000 stanzas was composed later than the limit set above, in 1869: the sthalapurdna of Tirunelveli by Nellaiyappa Pillai. In fact, purdnas in Tamil continue to be composed very probably until this day. One of the relatively recent and relatively important Tamil purdnas is the Tamil version of Visnupurana by Subbarayya Iyer of Chettinad of 1904, a poem of 4440 stanzas published with the encomiums of such scholars as U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar and R. Raghava Iyengar104. There are not only Hindu purdnas in Tamil, but also Jaina 105 and Muslim106 purdnas composed in the language. What is a purdnam in Tamil literature % How does it differ from a kdppiyam proper ? What is its status and function % There are basically three types of Tamil purdnas: 1. Full or partial verse-renderings of the eighteen Sanskrit mahdpurdnas107; 2. hagiographic purdnas; 3. sthalapurdnas, Ta. talapurdnam, dealing with the story of a particular shrine. Among this last group, one of the very earliest is the Koyilpuranam by Umapati Civacariyar which narrates the legends of Citamparam (Tillai), follows the kdvya style, and "ranks fairly high as literature 108 ." Umapati has— a very rare case indeed—dated himself quite precisely in A.D. 1313. Other important talapurdnams are the Cevvantipuranam (Trichinopoly) by Ellappa Navalar (17th cent.), the Tirunelveli Talapuranam of Nellaiyappa Pillai (1869), 103 104

Ta. purdnam < Skt purdna 'ancient(story).' Among other late (i.e. 19th—early 20th century) purdnas one should mention the interesting VaiciyapuraNam (Vaisyapurana) of Cutamani Pulavar of 1855, cf. Triennial Catalogue of Mss. collected during 1910-11 to 1912-13, R. No. 44(a) of Part 2 (Tamil); Mannarkoyirpuranam (1868) by Vi. KovintappilJai; Valjiyurttalapuranam by Alvarappa PiJJai (1839-1924); Tiruvitaiyurttalapuranam by Acal&mpikai Ammal and Kulantaiveluppiljai, published in Kutalur 1899; and Veja]arpuranam by Kantacami Kavirayar of Konkunatu, printed 1907 by Muttuccami Upattiyayar. los E.g. the Srlpuranam in manipravdla diction, or the MerumantarapuraNam. 106 E.g. the purdnas composed by Badr-ud-DIn Pulavar. 107 The 18 mahdpurdnas are as follows: Sdttvika-purdnas (Vaisnava): Visnupurana, Varahapurana, Bhagavatapurana, Garudapurana, Padmapurana, Naradapurana. The Tamil versions of the Bhagavatam are important. Tdmasapurdnas (Saiva): Matsyapurana, Kurmapurana, Lingapurana, Vayupurana, Skandapurana, Agnipurana. The Tamil versions of Skandapurajia, KurmapuraNa, Lingapurana and Matsyapurana are important. Rdjasapurdnas (mixed): Brahmapurana, Brahmandapurana, Brahmavaivartapurana, Markandeyapurana, VamanapuraNa, BhavisyapuraNa. 108 K. A. NILAKANTA SASTBI, A History of South India, 3rd ed. 1966, p. 386. 109 M. SINGER, When a Great Tradition Modernizes, Prager 1972, p. 76.

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and of course the two great Tiruvilaiyatarpuranams of Maturai, and the Kancipuranam (see below). Purdnas, composed almost exclusively in the viruttam metres, differ from the epic poems in that they usually do not deal with one central story of a matchless hero but are narrative and mythological accounts of the lives of gods, or legendary accounts of the lives of saints, dealing with various incidents and episodes; or with the history of a sacred place or shrine. The main component parts of the content of purdnas are or should be the creation of the world (sarga), the evolution of the primary creation by secondary creative acts (pratisarga), the genealogy of gods and rsis (vamsa), the great periods in the history of the world (manvantardni), the history of the royal families (vamsdnucarita ) . The purdnas naturally contain much more than this. In Tamilnadu in particular, the sthalapurdnas are in a way collections of folk-tales. One seldom comes across Indians who would read the purdnic stories simply as books. There is a sense of intimate familiarity with the characters and incidents of the purdnas, the stoiies are thought of as if they were events of everyday world and life. "The very tissue of the culture is made from puranic themes . . . The cultural and physical landscapes are literally and imaginatively painted with them 109 ." One of the most important aspects of the purdnas is the attempt to link legendary lore and myth with genuine history. The purdnas were not written as historical writing. They are not history, since history is a strictly temporal process divorced carefully from mythology110. But the purdnas are historical in the sense that they were concerned with 'historical' explanation of certain phenomena: the explanation is phantastic, non-scientific, and unconvincing, but not unhistorical. The authors were more concerned with the patterns of events occurring in the world than with the events themselves. Also, the Hindus held a view that earthly influences are ephemeral, and that the recording of human achievements is not worthy of our endeavour. They had a sense of continuity and of order, but not an exact sense of chronology. Such statements as Sanskrit uvdca 'said' or Tamil enpa 'they will say' show not a critical evaluation of facts but a recapitulation of what someone, usually of high prestige, had earlier recounted. "If a king had lost his kingdom through gambling or through misconduct with innocent women, these events would find place as illustrations of the effects of such misconduct in kings" (V. Ramasubramaniam). One of the fascinations of the study of the purdnas consists in the fact that they are the most typical literary product of totally non-empirical and a-historic patterns of thought. After all, the purdnas are religious texts, and religion must be religious, not 'scientific' when 'scientific' is supposed to mean 'subject to empirical verification or confutation111.' When approaching the purdnas from the right angle, we have of course to get rid of Western smugness, 110

It is an inescapable fact that historical literature was not present in India in the same degree in which it was present elsewhere. Indian literature is also significantly lacking in letters, diaries, personal memoirs etc. in AGEHANANDA BHARATI, The Ochre Robe, 1970, p. 189.

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and attempt to understand these texts from within their own terms112. The value of the Tamil puranas—even of the four great ones, Periyapuranam, Paraficoti's Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam, Kantapuranam and Kancipuranam—was and frequently still is downgraded on four critical points: a) that they are only adaptations or imitations of Sanskrit models; b) that they are too long, too involved, too tiresome to read; c) that they deal too much with 'supernatural' elements and too little with 'human' elements and interests; d) that they are too 'phantastic,' even bizarre and grotesque. All these points can be easily refuted: point one is partly untrue, since such purdnas as e.g. the Periyapuranam, the great Saiva hagiography, is a highly original and independent masterpiece of narrative poetry, a 'national' epic of Tamilnadu, and even the other purdnas (like e.g. Kantapuranam), and, in particular, the sthalapurdnas, contain plenty of indigenous, Tamil matter (lots of local folklore motifs, current stories etc.). However: Kampan's epic, too, is only an 'adaptation' and 'imitation' of Valmiki; we do not measure the greatness of Shakespeare against the background of his sources like Plutarch with the view of 'originality.' We must observe Tamil purdnas from within Tamil literature itself, and see their place in Tamil culture. The purdnas are as tedious, long and involved as any of the great epics, including the Ramayana or the Odyssey. One has to immerge into the involved plots and listen to the marvellous stories, trying to experience the inventive power behind the intricate and thrilling plots. The purdnas indeed deal with 'supernatural' elements because they are primarily religious texts. If they did not, they would not be purdnas. Also, there is no sharp boundary, no deep abyss between 'sacred' and 'profane' in traditional Hindu culture. There are many purdnas which have plenty of 'human matter': thus the Periyapuranam in fact is very human and humane; there are many moving, touching, ironical and humorous, even funny episodes and elements of human interest in the Periyapuranam as well as in the Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam. The Kantapuranam is, on the whole, very divine and 'supernatural'—but would it 112 It is not only the tardy Westerners who misunderstand Hinduism, and its purdnas. Cf. T. G. ABAVAMUTHAN, The Madurai Chronicles and the Tamil Academies, JORM Madras 1932, p. 93: "The determination to discover a miracle in the common-place, the preference for the marvellous over the probable, or even the possible, the presumption that the impossible is well within the ambit of the probable, the pathetic anxiety to make the improbable look wholly probable, the liability to slide from the probable to the puerile in the endeavour to lift the improbable into the region of the probable, the resort to the expedient of the deus ex machina, even where the trick would be out of place, the abrogation of the ordinary laws of nature, the inability to realise when one is overstepping the limits of reason,—indeed, the suspension of the faculty of reason,—the utter lack of not only a sense of proportion but also of a sense of humour . . . " This evaluation shows a complete misunderstanding, based on the fallacy of applying the historically and empirically oriented positivistic thinking on patterns of thought which are quite different. A number of so-called 'modern' Indian critics nourished by the so-called Hindu renaissance, and ultimately by Darwinism and positivism, are guilty of this fallacy.

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not be silly to blame fairy-tales for dealing with fairies ? Gods and demons belong to the purdnas because this is what the purdnas are largely about113. Above all, when reading the purdnas one has to value the power of fabulation, the skill of the construction of intricate plots, the inventive power and the unbridled imagination of minds which were not imprisoned—as we in our 'typographic age' are—in the assumption (or illusion?) of a linear, sequential, discrete, forward-flowing space-time continuum. The purdnas may seem a jungle to us; but it is an enormously colourful, rich jungle of marvellous storytelling, and, what more, the reflexion of a universe of 'unified sensibility'; with such great poets of the purdnas as Cekkilar or ParaficSti, we have the additional features of grand metaphors, striking similes, and dexterous, expert handling of metres. 4.7.1. There are some specific features of the Tamil Saiva Acta Sanctorum— Cekkilar's Periyapuranam 'The Great Purdnam': it deals with the lives of Tamil Saiva saints, and is thus a collection of hagiographic stories; it contains much less mythological material than any Sanskrit purdna, and indeed less than any later Tamil purdnam. It has influenced the habits and thinking of the Tamils more than any other book; to this day, many Tamils accept the legends as historical truth. Since Umapati Civaeariya who dates himself in the introduction to his Cankarpanirakaranam in A. D. 1313 tells with great gusto in his Cekkilarnayanarpuranam how Cekkilar came to write Periyapuranam to wean king Anapaya Chola from the study of the Jaina epic Civakacintamani, it is evident that in ± 1300 A.D. 'The Great Purdnam' was regarded as a sacred book which means that it must have been by that time about a century old. The Chola Anapaya in whose time Cekkilar lived may be identified with Kulottunka II (1133-1150). Cekkilar was a veldla by caste, born in Kunrattur in Tontaimantalam; his own name was probably Ramatevar; he is also known as Arunmolitevar, Cevaikkavalar, and Cekkilarnayanar. As chief minister of the Chola emperor he earned the title UttamacSlappallavan. The Tiruttontarpuranam 'The Purdnam of the Holy Devotees' (for this is the original name of 'The Great Purdnam') was composed in Citamparam where the king's minister retired, and worked on his immortal epic, using, as his basic texts, Cuntarar's Tiruttontattokai and Nampi Antar Nampi's Tiruttontarvirutti; he also made use of additional materials like inscriptions, archives, court records, and legends current in oral tradition. The Great Purdnam was composed in ± 1135 A.D. What, in Cun113 In the Bulletin of the Institute of Traditional Cultures, Madras 1962, II, p. 307, K. A. N. SASTRI quotes this ancient story: An Indian philosopher asked Socrates what was his interest. "I am studying the ways of man," said Socrates. "Have you studied the ways of gods ?" "Never," said Socrates. "I do not know what they are." "How are you going to understand men, "asked the Indian, "if you have not understood the gods ?" The issue is of course not whether or not gods exist, but of the traditional Hindu attitude and the place of gods and other 'supernatural' agents in the purdnas.

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tarar's treatment, was part of the living memory of a saint—Cuntarar provided the names of the devotees with a few suggestive epithets—and with Nampi became a religious characteristic with a more elaborate and detailed reminiscence of the saints' activities, became in Periyapuranam a hagiographic episode, embedded in a temporal sequence and a structural context, the description of the life of a ndyanar which must have taken into account additional records and, above all, the popular, oral legends. The basis of such legend is always an individual fact, real or fantastic; these legends are partly based on information preserved in the hymns of the poet-saints, but they also contain facts gathered from extratextual sphere, or from texts losts since. What is given in the bhakti hymns as a "flat," unidimensional, atemporal epithet becomes, in the puranam, an entire story blossoming into a legend. The legend usually began to take shape with the death of the devotee. The next stage which might have covered a few years or a few centuries saw the fixation of the legend in the work of a literary author, and its systematization, i.e. its inclusion into a corpus. These legends have some recurring structural features in common: there will be a standardized description of the hero's birth-place, of his origins and education; there will be the central episode preceded by tension and conflict; with diva's help, the hero is victorious in his clash with the establishment. The stories of Periyapuranam have no other unity except through the original vision of Cuntarar of the 62 saints; and through the basic ideology of the work which has been called an epic of "perfect spiritual democracy114." Periyapuranam has—depending on its edition—between 4253 and 4289 quatrains in the viruttam metre, contained in the 13 sargas of the book; the longest purdnam is about Campantar (1256 quatrains); next comes the story of Appar in 429 stanzas. The book begins with the purdnam about Cuntarar115, preceded by four introductory legends: of what happened on Mount Kailasa, the legend of the sacred Chola land, the legend of the sacred town of Arur, and 114 T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDABAK, A History of Tamil Literature, Annamalainagar 1965, p. 123. 115 One of the most interesting points about the story of Cuntarar (raised by A. M. PJATIGORSKIJ in Materialy po istorii indijskoj filosofii, Moskva p. 150) is the epithet pittan 'madman' which Cuntarar gives to Siva (= the old BrahmaN), and the entire concept of "mad" Siva, found before and after: in Karaikkal Arnmai's poems, in Appar, in Manikkavacakar; and later even in Tayumanavar. According to PJATIGORSKIJ, it seems that the whole legend (probably popular, oral ?) was created (?!) to account for this epithet of Siva. Also, PJATIGORSKIJ sees an interesting parallel between Cuntarar's relationship to Siva, and the sexual relationship between man and woman: the exchange of the object of sexual relationship for the object of cult-relationship. The sexual behaviour is transferred into the ritual sphere. It is a 'sacralization' of sex-relationship (sexual travestism ?!). For the erotic relationship and the concept of 'mad' Siva, PJATIGORSKIJ (p. 160) quotes three similar poems, one by Manikkavacakar (9th cent.), one by Pattinattar (11th cent. ?), and one by Iramalinkar (19th cent.). The epithet 'crazy,' 'mad' used of Siva is a specific Tamil feature according to PJATIGORSKIJ, though there are similar epithets of the god found in Sanskrit texts.

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the legend of the sacred meeting of Saiva Brahmans in Tillai. Then follow the legends of the saints: Tirunilakantan (a potter), Iyarpakai (a vaisya saint),. Ilaiyankutimaran (a veldla), Meypporunayanar (a king), Viranmintayanar (veldla by caste), Amarniti (vaisya), Eripattanayanar, Enatinatar (toddytapper), Kannappan (hunter), a typical representative of what was termed vantontar or 'hard saints116,' Kunkuliyakkalayar (Brahman), Manakkaficaran (veldla), Tayanar (a rich veldla), Armyar (herdsman), Murti (vaisya), Murukan (Brahman), Pacupati (Brahman), Tirunalaippovar alias Nantamr (an untouchable pulaiya), the devotee whose story became the subject of a beautiful dramatic poem by Gopalakrishna Bharati of the 19th cent., Tirukkuripputtontar (a washerman), Cantecuvarar117, Tiranavukkaracar, the famous poet of the 7th cent., Kulaccirai, Perumilalaikkurumpan, Karaikkal Ammai, the great early Saiva poetess (6th cent.), Apputiyatikal (Brahman), Tirunilanakkan (Brahman), Naminantiyatikal (Brahman), Tirufianacampantamurtti, the 118 Tinnan ('The Sturdy One') was the son of a chief of hunters (born by the grace of their tutelary deity Murukan); one day he pursued a gigantic boar in the mountainous jungle; he came upon a stone lihga with the upper part fashioned into an image of Siva. Drawn to it irresistibly, he placed before it as offerings the choicest flesh of the boar, and some wild flowers which he took from his hair, on it. The BrahmaN in charge of the linga who came next day at daybreak was horrified by this pollution; having removed the filth, he performed his daily worship and departed for his hermitage. During the night, TiNNaB again came to guard his new god and to offer his gifts, and the unhappy and perplexed Brahman asked Siva to guard himself from these pollutions. Siva appeared to him in the night and told him that TiNnan's actions were dear to him because what he was offering was in fact pure love. Next morning the Brahman hid behind the lihga. Siva caused blood to trickle down from the right eye of the image, and Tinnan, unable to stop the bleeding, scooped out with his arrow his own right eye, and applied it to the image from which blood ceased to flow at once. After a moment of rapturous joy, though, he saw the other eye bleeding; unhesitating, he proceeded to scoop out his other eye. Siva stopped him in time, and made him his dearly beloved companion; he is adored under the name KanNappan, the devotee who gave his eye (lean) in the service of his Lord. 117 A Brahman boy from Ceynalur who has intuitively grasped the divine truths of Saivism, became a herdsman, guarding each day the kine of all the Brahman community of the town. The cows increased daily in beauty, weight and the output of milk, though the boy used their milk for his daily worship of Siva. Some malicious person revealed it to the Brahmans of the village, and the boy's father, having witnessed himself what the boy was doing, reproached him, inflicting on him severe blows. But the boy was so absorbed in worship that he did not hear the words or feel the blows. So the infuriated father broke his vessels of milk and kicked over his altar. The boy aimed a blow at the offender's feet with his staff, and in that moment the shepherd's staff became the sacred axe of Siva, and the father fell maimed and dying on the ground. Then Siva himself appeared, and the young devotee prostrated himself in the ecstasy of joy. "Since you have smitten down your father for my sake," said Siva, "I alone am your father now." And he took him to Kailasa to become the chief among his devotees, known since then as CaNtecuvarar ('The Impetuous Lord'). The father was forgiven and restored, and with the whole family passed into Siva's abode.

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famous poet of the 7th-8th cent., Kalikkamanayanar (veldla), Tirumular, the well-known yogi and author of Tirumantiram, the blind Tantiyatikal, Murkkan (veldla), Comacimaran (Brahman), Cakkiyan (veldla), Cirappuli (Brahman), Ciruttontar alias Paroncoti, the general of the Pallava armies118, Ceraman Perumal, a well-known poet and king, Kananatan (Brahman), Kurruvan; of the forty-nine poets of the Academy of Maturai who are here termed Poyyatimaiyillatapulavar 'The Poets who Are No Slaves to Lies'; of Pukalccolan, a king of Uraiyur, Naracinkamunaiyaraiyan, Atipattan (a fisherman), Kalikkampan (vaisya), Kaliyan (oil-monger), Cattinayan (veldla), Aiyatikal Katavar Kon, the Pallava poet-king, Kanampullan, Kari, Netunwan alias Kunpantiyan, a Pandya king who embraced Saivism because of Nanacampantar, Vayilar (veldla), Munaiyatuvar (veldla), Kalarcinkan (ksatriya), Itankali (a king), Ceruttunai (veldla), Pukalttunai (Adisaiva), Kotpuli (veldla), of paktardyppanivdr, i.e. all bhaktas, explaining who deserves this title, of paramanaiyepdtuvdr, i. e. those who sing about the Highest, of cittattaiccivanpdlevaittdr, i. e. those who direct their mind on Siva, of tiruvdrurppirantdr, i.e. those who were born in Tiruvarur in reward for their former good deeds, of muppolutuntirumenitlntuvdr, i. e. those privileged Brahmans who may touch the sacred body of $iva three times a day, of mulunirupuciyamunivar, i.e. those devotees who besmear their body constantly with holy ashes, of appdlumaticcdrntdr, i.e. those devotees who do not belong to the Tamil land; of Pucalar (Brahman), Mankaiyarkkaraci (the wife of Netumaran, a princess who was praised in Campantar's hymns), Necanayanar (a weaver), Kdceenkatcolan 'The Chola with the Red Eyes,' Tirunilakantayalppanan (a musician and singer), Cataiyan (Adis"aiva), the father of Cuntarar, and Icaifiani, the mother of Cuntarar. The Great Purdnam is composed in simple, lively style; it contains beautiful, graphic descriptions of the saints' native villages and towns; its diction is rich, the prosody skilful; the longer legends give us a picture of mental and spiritual development of the saints; the highest ideal preached by Cekkiiar is life spent in love and service: social and divine service are one. The Saiva hagiographic tradition after Cekkiiar was carried on by Umapati Civacariyar (the author of eight of the fourteen Saiva Siddhanta ddstras), ca. 1315 A.D. He wrote a purdnam about Nampi Antar Nampi, about Cekkiiar, about the Periyapurana. His purdnas were not included into the Saiva canon. Sometime in the 14th-15th cent. Katavunmakamunivar composed his Tiruvatavurarpuranam which tells the story of Manikkavacakar in 545 stanzas of 7 sargas119. 118 Paraficoti led the Pallava armies against the Chalukyan capital Badami (Vatapi) which he conquered and laid waste probably in 642 A.D. He retired later from public life, probably under the influence of Appar, and became a Saiva devotee under the name Ciruttontar 'The Little Slave.' 119 For a German (prosaic) version of Arumuka Navalar's Tamil (prosaic) version of Periyapuranam cf. H. W. Schomerus, ^ivaistische Heiligenlegenden (Periyapurana und Tiruvatavurar-Purajna), Jena 1925; the same book gives a German poetic translation of Tiruvatavurarpuranam. For the English version of Periya-

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4.7.2. Maturai (Madura) seems to have had always been one of great centres of living religion, and of many national legends of Tamilnadu. There are legends surrounding the temple of Visnu (Saundararaja) which are embodied in a Sanskrit sthalapurdna entitled Kutalm.ahatm.ya (professing to be a section of the Ksetramahatmya of the Brahmandapurana); a Tamil version (which, incidentally, mentions Sri Ramanuja, 1017-1137) is the Kutalpuranam, at least 200 years old120. A much more important and varied group of legends surrounds the Maturai temple of Siva Sundara who is said to have performed his sixty-four sports (Ilia, vilaiydtal) there or in its vicinity121. The 64 sports have been chronicled by various sthalapurdnas, Sanskrit and Tamil: the Skt. Sarasamuecaya, said to be a section of the Uttaramahapurana, and supposed to deal with Maturai, is no more traceable; the Skt. Halasyamahatmya has been very popular for some centuries; three other Skt. pur anas are known (Kadambavanapurana alias Niparanyapurana, Sundarapandya, and Astamipradaksinamahatmya). There is also the Sivalilarnava by Nilakantha Diksita (17th cent.) which closely follows the Halasyam. The sthalapurdnas on Maturai in Tamil are very probably more or less close adaptations of these Sanskrit chronicles: 1. The Kadambavanapurana was rendered into Tamil unter the title Katampavanapuranam by Vimanatapantitar, not earlier than in the 16th cent. A.D. 2. The Sundarapandya was translated, in A.D. 1563, into an excellent Tamil poem by Anatari. 3. There is a Tamil version of the Astamipradaksinam by Ramaswami Pillai of about 1880. 4. The Sarasamuccaya was the main model of Tiruvalavayutaiyar Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam by Perumparrappuliyur Nampi (see below). 5. The Halasyamahatmya became very probably the main model of Maturai Arupattunanku Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam by Paraficoti which, together with puranam cf. J. M. NALLASWAMI PILLAI, St. Sekkilar's Periyapuranam, Madras 1924; J. M. NALLASWAMI PILLAI, Periyapuranam, Lives of the Saiva Saints by St. Sekkilar (2nd ed.), Madras 1955 (enlarged and illustrated). 120 Apart from Ramanuja, Kutalpuranam mentions also Sathakopa (12-3). Its first section relates the events of Krtayuga: Vyasa speaks about the sanctity of Kiital, about Visnu's temple built on the Southern bank of Krtamala (alias Vegavatl, Ta. Vaikai) by Visvakarma etc. In the next section (Tretayuga) we hear about Visnu of Kiital, the following section is dedicated to Dvaparayuga, and finally follow tales of the Kaliyuga (e. g. how Pururavas and TJrvasi lived in Maturai and obtained salvation by worshipping Visnu). It also speaks of Vismicitta alias Periyalvar, how he expounded the doctrines of Vaisnavism and how the king of Maturai gave him many treasures and worshipped him, whereupon he returned to Srivilliputtur where he spent the rest of his life. 121 There are modern paintings of these sports (1894). However, they succeeded another set of paintings which were reproduced in a Dutch work of the 18th cent., cf. R. DESSIGANE, P. Z. PATTABIRAMIN, J. FILLIOZAT, La ldgende des jeux de (piva

a Madurai d'apres les textes et les peintures, Pondichery 1960, Fasc. 2: Planches.

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Periyapuranam, Kantapuranam, and Kancipuranam forms the quartet of the great Tamil puranas. Let us say at once that the Sanskrit version may in fact be secondary, an adaptation of the Tamil original. In none of the early bardic anthologies there are any allusions to the 'sports' of Siva. Cilappatikaram XI. 17-22 tells oi a Pandya king throwing a javelin at the sea, and in 23-30 of a Pandya vanquishing Indra. A few of the 'sports' are referred to in the devotional hymns of Appar and Slanacampantar122: thus Appar refers to a Pandya's victory over Indra, Sanacampantar to Siva curing a Pandya and to his vanquishing the Jainas. The Pantikkovai refers to two sports: a Pandya defeating Indra (in 156), and a Pandya on Mount Meru (in 52, 102, 156 and 202). The poet of Kallatam (850-950 A.D.), a Saiva work which is also a very late reflection of the classical akam conventions, embodies 31 of Siva's 'sports' in his poem; they illustrate the ceaseless activity of the Lord. It also fixes the number of sixty-four for the first time. It would seem that from about the 9th century the legends which picture Siva 'sporting' in Maturai, and as connected intimately with the Pandyas, became increasingly popular. Some of the sports are conglomerations of legends of great men to whom the Pandyas claimed to be kin or with whom they claimed connection otherwise (e.g. Agastya, ISfanacampantar); a few are legends based on the life story of Kranacampantar. Early in the 9th cent., legends became popular which made Siva an 'academician' to 'examine' Tamil at Maturai; in Manikkavacakar's hymns he even becomes a Pandya. Perumparrappuliyur Nampi's Tiruvalavayutaiyar Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam or 'The Purdna of the Divine Sports of the Master of Tiru Alavay' is the next important Tamil purdna after Cekkilar. It cannot be earlier than ca. 850 A.D., and it must be earlier than 1227-8 A.D.123. An inscription of A.D. 1304 mentions the author. T. G. Aravamuthan dates the purdna between ca. 1135-1304124. It is rather safe to assign it to the 12th cent. After an invocation (kdppu), salutation to god (Icatavulvdlttu) and preface (patikam) the author gives the nulvaraldru or 'the history of the book': it is Agastya who narrates the sports of Siva on the banks of Vegavati to his fellow-ms gathered in Banaras. Then follows Agastya's eulogy of the greatness of Pantinatu (tirundttucrirappu), the sage's praise of Maturai (tirunakaraccirappu), and nurpayan, or the merit of the work. Then finally we come to the narration of the 64 sports of Siva told in a haphazard, non-chronological sequence. The purdna has 1753 stanzas. As a literary work it is definitely inferior to the later work on the same subject by ParancSti Munivar. ParaficSti Munivar's Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam 'The Purdna of the Holy Sports' differs in one essential feature from Nampi's poem: the myths are narrated "» Cf. JOR Madras 1932, p. 279, ftn. 2. 123 It narrates tales of Nanacampantar and Varakunan, hence it can hardly be earlier than 850 A.D. and later than 1227/8 A.D., cf. U. V. S. AIYAR'S Introduction to his ed. p. 19. 12* JOR Madras 5 (1931) p. 97.

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in an elaborate and strictly chronological setting. Parancoti always takes care to mention the name of the Pandya king in whose reign each miracle occurred. According to T. G. Aravamuthan125, it is possible to deduce a full successionline of the Pandya dynasty, and a chronological system showing the order of the Lord's sports. The poem has 3363 stanzas organized into three kdntams: the first book (chapters 1-18) is entitled Maturaikkantam, the second (19-48) Kutarkantam, the third (49-64) Tiruvalavaykkantam. The dating, and the question of textual priority, are the two grave problems still unsolved. H. H. Wilson126 assigned Parancoti to the reign of Harivira Pandya, A.D. 1051. In this he was followed by S. C. Chitty in The Tamil Plutarch127, and by a few other authors. Wilson did not know or examine the original text; his dating is obviously most doubtful. N. Venkatacami Nattar128, in his edition of the text, set up the year 1650 A.D. as the date, and this became the most widely accepted dating. However, there are absolutely no reliable direct data from which inferences or a conclusion could be drawn pointing to a date. According to T. G. Aravamuthan, the chronological scheme of the 'sports' was set up later than the unsystematic arrangement of Nampi. Parancoti very probably took Nampi's work as the basis of his own, but "recast it so as to bring out the chronological sequence of the sports". It is quite obvious that Parancoti's poem is later than the purdna of Nampi. The influence of Nampi is probably traceable to about 1600 A.D.130. On the other hand, the chronological version can be found in the Maturaic Cokkanatarula of Purana Tirumalainatar131, a poet of the beginning of the 16th cent132. Thus, the unchronological version persisted till about 1600 A.D., and the chronological version can be traced back as early as ca. 1506 A.D. We have to postulate a chronicle with a chronological sequence before 1506 A.D. Probably this was the chronologically arranged Halasyamahatmya133 which bears such close resemblance to Parancoti. On the other hand, there are some facts which suggest the priority of the Tamil source before the parallel Sanskrit text134. Parancoti may be probably dated las JOR Madras 5 (1931) p. 210. «e JRAS 3 (1836) p. 203, ftn. 1. 127 Jaffna 1859, p. 64. las 1927, pp. 12-13. la* JOR Madras 6 (1932) p. 97. 130 The unchronological order has been adopted in a number of works, e.g. Palaniyappan Cervai's Tiru TJccatana Nanmanimalai, of ca. A.D. 1600. "I

Cf. U. V. SWAMINATHA AIYAR'S ed. 1931, Preface p. 7.

132 JOR Madras 6 (1932) p. 103, ftn. 4. 133 Halasyamahatmya has 71 adhydyas. Halasya is a name of Maturai. The work professes to be a portion of Agastyasamhita which is supposed to have been part of the notorious Skandapurana; under the aegis of Skandapurana, a great number of all possible puranic texts have been subsumed. 134 The Sanskrit version conserves some Tamil proper names without Sanskritizing them (i.e. without translating them into Sanskrit) which is striking indeed. Cf. DESSIOANE, PATTABIRAMIN, FJXLIOZAT, La legende des jeux de Qiva a Madurai,, p. ii-iii.

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between 1450/1500 and 1625 A.D., but to get, at the present moment, at a more exact date, is virtually impossible135. The legends narrated in the purdna have all one aim: to exalt the infinite greatness of the Supreme Being which in spite of its absolute transcendence is gracious enough to play its sports for those who profess total devotion to the lingam. Most of the sports are quite fantastic, even grotesque; some of them very simple. They are possible because, for God, everything is possible; and they are popular with both simple and sophisticated readers. There is also the belief expressed in the purdna that Tamil is God; Tamil poets are God's concern ; the Tamil land is God's favourite resort. The greatest achievements and the most charming features of the purdna are its enchanting rhythm and the haunting melody of its diction, combined with the limpid flow of its metres (mostly kaliviruttam), besides the florid exuberance of its style, and an occasional emotional surge. The purdna begins with fourteen introductory portions: in the tenth, Puranavaralara, Akattiyar narrates, in Kaci, the 64 sports of Siva; he himself has heard the account from Murukan who overheard Siva as he narrated the tale to Uma. In Talavicetappatalam (11), Pantinatu is compared to a pretty young woman and Maturai to her beautiful face. The 12th portion deals with the Pond of the Golden Lotus (Pon tamaraip poykai), Murttivicetam describes the magnificent lingam (it is a mulalinkam, called Comacuntarar by the gods because of its beauty; Civan, the beginning and end of all, resides in that Cokkalinkam). Then follow the chapters (patalam) proper: 1. The messengers of Indra discovered a Sivalingam in the shade of a katampa tree in a forest, on the bank of a clear pond which Indra named Porramarai 'Golden Lotus.' Indra has established there the worship of Sundara. 2. Because of a curse, Indra's white elephant Airavatam turned savage and black: . . . The white elephant left behind Heavens and loosing his senses, like a black mountain mixed with the wild beasts of the jungle. Among the jungle elephants, he roamed for centuries in the waste-lands of the red-eyed Maravas, in the forests whose rivers carry jasmine blossoms, in the stony mountains where the hillmen worship Murukan.

(11.19-20)

Worshipping the lingam, Airavatam rid itself of the curse. 3. The sacred city is founded by Kulacekara Pandya on the command of Sundara. Sundara poured over the city his divine nectar (maturam), and thus it received its name (maturanakar)136. 4 and 5. Kulacekara's son Malayattuvacan married to the Chola princess Kaficanai performed great austerities, and obtained a daughter who appeared with three breasts as a three-year old child. Her name 136

According to J. FIXLIOZAT, the work belongs to the "debut du XVIeme .siecle," cf. La legende, p. ii. 136 III.42: atunalmaturamayam anatanmaiydl maturanakar ena namam uraittanar.

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was Tatatakai. She was crowned by the king and reigned well. She was also very beautiful. She set out to conquer the world, marched up to Mount Kailasa, and at the sight of Siva her third breast disappeared. Siva took her to Maturai, married her, and became the king of the South under the name Sundara Mara. 6. After the marriage, to please Patanjali, Siva as Sundara Pandya danced in the Silver Hall (Velliyampalam). 7. There was a big feast, and too much food was left. Sundara raised an unquenchable fire in the stomach of Kuntotaran who ate Himalayas of food, but his hunger was still not appeased. 8. In addition, he became terribly thirsty and drank up all rivers, lakes, and tanks; so Siva made Ganga descend from his tresses near Maturai as Vaikai (that's why the river has different names—Civakankai, Vekavati, Civafianatirttam), and the goblin's thirst was appeased. 9. Kafieanai, the mother of Tatatakai, wanted to bathe in the sea; Siva made the seven seas come and unite in a tank near Maturai, to provide a swimming pool for his mother-in-law. 10. Then he called his father-in-law from the world of Indra so that husband and wife could bathe together hand in hand according to the Brahmanic law. 11. A son—Ukkira (Ugra)—was born to Sundara. 12. After the marriage of Ukkira and Kantimati of Manavur, Sundara told his son: 'Indra, Varuna and Mount Meru are your mortal enemies. I give you three weapons: a discus to aim at Indra, a javelin to quell the sea, and a club to strike down Mount Meru.' Then Sundara and Tatatakai disappeared in the Temple. 13. The sea, i.e. Varuna, jealous of the perfect rule of Ukkira, rose and threatened Maturai. The sleeping king was roused by Siva in the form of a Siddha, and hurled his javelin at the sea which instantly subsided licking his feet. 14. Indra made the clouds rain copiously on the lands of the Chola and Chera but denied rain to the Pandya137. One day while hunting, the Pandya found four great clouds wandering about Potiyamalai. He captured and imprisoned them. Indra declared war on him, in the battle the Pandya smote the god with his discus and compelled him to send prompt rains in exchange for the liberation of the clouds. 15. After the victorious struggle with Mount Meru Ukkira crowned his son Vira Pandya. 16. The meaning of the Veda is explained by Siva-Daksinamurti. 17. The story of the sale of the rubies. 18. Varuna again ordered the ocean to destroy Maturai. The then reigning Pandya, Apiteka, prostrated himself before Cokkalinkar who ordered four clouds to absorb the ocean. 19. The four clouds descended from the locks of Siva changed into four canopied halls to protect Maturai against downpours of torrential rains, and that is why the city became known as Nanmatakkutal 'The Junction of Four Palatial Buildings.' 20. The Lord 137 In Perumparrappuliyur Nampi's version there is at this place the following episode (according to TJ. V. S. AIYAR, probably an interpolation): The Pandya went to Tirupparankunram to worship Murukan. A leaf fell from a tree on the bank of the pool, and turned into a living creature, half bird, half fish. The bird-half wanted to fly, the fish to swim. The poet Kiran wished to end this strife, but was caught by an ogre and put into a dungeon. He prayed to Murukan and composed his Tirumurukarruppatai; Murukan set him free, Kiran returned to Maturai, came to the Academy, and asked what the Pandya had done to obtain rain.

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Sundara in the form of a Siddha roamed about the city working strange miracles. 21. He e.g. brought a stone-elephant to life and made it munch sugar-cane on the first day of the month Tai (13th-14th January). Apiteka's son Vikkirama Pandya became king. 22. He uprooted Buddhism and Jainism. A Chola king in Kafici, a Jain, ordered Jaina preachers to perform a black-magic sacrifice which brought about an ogre-elephant conditioned to destroy Maturai. Sundara killed it with his arrow, Vikkirama won the battle against the Chola who with the Jaina magicians fled, and the elephant turned into the Anaimalai 'Elephant Hill.' 23. The Lord became an old man, then a youth, and lastly a baby, in an endeavour to console the girl Kauri who, though born and bread as a Saivite, had been married to a Vaisnava. 24. The next king in the line Iracacekaran was dissatisfied with Siva's monotonous dance on one and the same leg in Velliyampalam; so he asked the god to change legs not to suffer from this constant strain; Siva obliged and danced contrariwise. 25. To save Kulottunka Pandya from incurring the infamy of a judicial murder, Siva revealed the true circumstances of an accidental death. 26. Siva shows the path of salvation to a wretched Brahman boy who has been guilty of incest with his own mother, and of parricide. 27. Siva cuts down limb by limb a young Siddha who had forgotten himself so as to make love to the wife of his aged master. 28. Under Anantakuna Pandya, the Jainas sent a demon in the form of a gigantic snake to destroy Maturai. The king killed it but its venom spread all over the city; the Lord then cleaned Maturai with ambrosia. 29. Subsequently, the Jains forced an asura to take on the nature of a magic COAV to destroy Maturai. Siva sent his bull against the cow which was destroyed by the fire of her own passion. The body of the cow was changed into a hill (Pacumalai). Nandi's material body was also transformed into a hill to commemorate the incident (Itapamalai). 30. The Lord appeared as a general at the head of a huge army to save from disgrace a chieftain who had spent, on temples and devotees, large sums entrusted to him by king Kulaputana for raising an army to repulse an invasion. 31. Sundara gave an unfailing purse to Kulaputana. 32. The Lord, disguised as a bracelet-merchant, sold bangles and delighted vanika girls of Maturai. 33. The Lord as teacher of the attamdcitti or 'eight magic powers.' 34. Still during the reign of Kulaputana, Siva cut open a new gateway through the ramparts of the city. Iracentira crowned as Pandya king. 35. Sundara became a water-carrier, serving out wa,ter to the thirsty Pandya troops while they were engaged in battle with the forces of Katuvettiya Chola. 36. To fulfill the wish of a pious danceuse, the Lord became an alchemist so that she could have an idol of Siva cast and consecrated. 37. To save Cuntareca Patacekara Pandya from an invading Chola, SundaresVara fought on the battlefield and drove with his javelin the Chola to a watery grave in a lake. 38. The Lord gave a never-failing bag to a devotee, Atiyarkku Nallar, who had spent his substance in feeding Siva's bhaktas. 39. Sundara in the disguise of a maternal uncle settled a dispute about succession to a property. 40. To atone for the sin of having unwittingly killed a Brahman, and to cast out the ghost which, in

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consequence, had possessed him, Varakuna Pandya, encouraged by the Lord, routed and pursued a Chola who dared march on Maturai. 41. In response to an appeal from Panapattira (bard Bhadra) to help him vanquish a rival bard, the Lord appeared as a wood-cutter and sang a song of such sweetness that the rival (a North Indian named Emanatan) took to his heels. 42. The Lord sent Pattiran the bard with a commendatory note to the Chera king. 43. The Lord gave Pattiran a board on which to stand when signing songs in diva's praise. 44. The Lord made king Iracaraca Pandya award the palm to Pattiran's wife in a musical contest (in which also a Ceylonese songstress took part), though the king had arranged for the conquest to spite himself against Pattiran and his wife. 45. The dozen sons of a velldla Cukalan and his wife Cukalai were born, through a curse, as pups to a boar and a sow. The couple lost their lives at the hands of the king, but the Lord played mother to the orphan pups. 46. Through Siva's grace, the pups were born again as human beings, were brought up on the Boar Hill (Panrimalai), and in due course became ministers of the Pandya. 47. The Lord taught a black-bird the mrtyumjayamantra (the powerful mantra against death given to Markandeya when Yama wanted to kill him). A beautiful and famous stanza (47.23) of this canto says: Those who do not love the feet of the Lord are the most miserable creatures of all. Those who do love the feet of the Lord are the most valiant creatures of all. The little bird, poor and wandering—as there was no love for the feet of the Lord— became strong and brave among all creatures, for he had the love for the feet of the Lord.

48. How through piety a crane forswore fish and starved, and how Siva vouchsafed salvation to it and to all its kind. 49. A brahmakalpa came to a close and dissolution. A new age dawned, and Vankiyacekara Pandya raised a city round Sundara's temple and appealed to Siva to discover for him the ancient city limits. A serpent wound itself along the ancient boundaries, and thus the city became known as Alavay, lit. '[having] poison in mouth,' i.e. the city encircled by a coiled serpent. 50. Vikkirama Chola, assisted by Northern kings, attacked the city; Siva appeared as an archer and drove away the attacker with his arrows. 51. While Brahma was on his way to take a bath in Ganga, Sarasvati lingered behind (under the spell of a song) and came late; the furious Brahma told her that she must take forty-eight human bodies (symbols of the devanagari script). The letters became men, reached Pandyanadu, adored the feet of Sundara, and established an Academy (cankam). They prayed the Lord to grant them a board on which they could sit. Sundara gave them a board that was first mounted by Nakkirar, then by Kapilar, then by Paranar. Each of the 48 academicians composed wonderful poetry, but the poems resembled each other so much that the poets could not recognize their own works. Sundara sorted them out and became the president of the academy which now had 49 members. 52. The next king, Vankiyacutamani, walked with his queen in the garden, and the breeze brought to him the fragrance of the queen's tresses. The king offered a purse with 1000 gold pieces to

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anyone who could answer his question: was the fragrance independent of the flowers and scents in the queen's tresses or no? A Saiva Brahman, Tarumi, was so poor that he could not even marry. Sundara composed a poem—preserved as Kuruntokai 2138—gave it to Tarumi as an answer to the king's question, and told him to take the purse. Nakkirar declared that the poem was untrue. Tarumi turned to Sundara who appeared in the guise of a poet and asked who among the academicians had found fault with his poem. Nakkirar stood out: if a head of hair was not properly washed and dressed it would emit evil odour; and this could apply even to the hair of goddesses. What about the consort of Siva, asked the god. But Nakkirar remained firm. When Sundara revealed his identity by opening his blazing third eye, Nakkirar replied: "Though all your body be covered with flaming eyes, I repeat that a flaw remains a flaw!" Roasted by Siva's flaming eye, Nakkirar threw himself into the Pond of the Golden Lotus. The Lord vanished. 53. At the intercession of the poets, mainly Kapilar and Paranar, Sundara and Minaksi went to the pool, and Kirar composed a poem in their honour. The Lord helped him out of the pond, Tarumi was given the purse, and Siva vanished. 54. Sundara was pleased with Nakkirar's devotion and wanted to improve his knowledge of Tamil. No one but Akattiyar could teach him. Akattiyar appeared and taught Nakkirar so perfectly that the poet became the teacher of Tamil grammar among the academicians. 55. The learned poets had disputes about the merit of their works. Sundara therefore sent them to a merchant who had a very handsome, intelligent, but mute son. This boy was chosen by Siva as adjudicator The amazed poets took the mute boy to the Academy seat, and he approved or disapproved by nodding his head, but when he heard the poems of Kapilar, Paranar and Nakkirar, he showed signs of great joy. Henceforward, the poets lived and worked in harmony. 56. One of the Pandya kings insulted a poet who complained to Sundara saying that, since Siva is the Word, and Minaksi the Meaning, the king, in insulting poetry, insulted the divine pair. The Lord with his consort left the city and returned only when the king prayed for forgiveness. 57. A catastrophy in the divine family: Siva was explaining the Veda to Minaksi, but she did not listen attentively enough; so she was cursed to be born as the daughter of a fisherman-chief. Murukan, who threw into the sea the Civarianapotam snatching it away from Siva's hands, was cursed to be born as a congenital mute and a simple merchant; Vinayaka was the only one to be spared, though he threw all books into the sea as the source of all troubles! Then Siva plied fish-nets in the sea and took the fisherman's daughter as his wife. 58. A Brahman boy was born in Tiruvatavur. He became the prime minister of king Arimarttana Pandya. In Tirupperunturai he saw Siva in the form of a guru, received his grace there, became Siva's devotee under the name Manikkavacakan, and renounced the world. 59. He then turned over the 138 Yov the English version of this poem, translated by J . R. MAKR, cf. A. L. BASHAM, The Wonder That Was India, 3rd ed. 1967, p . 467, and K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, p . 75.

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money which the king had given him to buy some horses, to his guru, but the king's people threw him into prison and tortured him. Siva transformed jackals into horses and in the guise of a cavalier took them to the king. 60. Vatavurar alias Manikkavacakan was restored to the king's favour. In the night the horses became jackals again. Vatavurar was again arrested and tortured but Siva helped him by causing the Vaiyai to overflow. 61. The king appointed Vatavurar to build a dam to check the waters of the river and thus save the city. All inhabitants were ordered to help building the dikes, including an old baker-woman. Sundara himself carried for her on his head baskets of earth. The king then wanted to restore Vatavurar to his post, but Manikkavacakar refused and went to Tillai, won arguments with the Buddhists, made many miracles, and composed his Tiruvacakam. 62. Legends about miracles worked by the Lord through Nanacampantar: the saint cured king Kun Pandya of a malignant fever and transformed him from a hunchback into a beautiful man. He also induced him to forsake Jainism and embrace Saivism. 63. Sanacampantar vanquished the Jains and had them impaled. 64. Nanacampantar resurrected a young man of the vanikar caste who had been bitten by a cobra, and had him married his cousin with no witnesses but a vanni tree, a well, and the Sivalinga of the temple in Tiruppurampayam. After years, the marriage was in doubt, but Siva made the tree, the well, and the linga appear in Maturai as witnesses. In the Epilogue, the sages, having heard what Akattiyar told them, expressed their desire to visit Tiruvalavay and adore Sundara. On their way, Agastya guided them through all the sacred Saivite places. In Maturai they worshipped and installed themselves in the forest of Papovanam near the city139. The divine sports of Siva at Maturai became the subject-matter of a 16th century Tamil narrative poet Anatari who composed his Cuntarapantiyam, based on a Sanskrit model, at the request of Tiruviruntan, a general of Virappa Nayaka (A.D. 1572-1659). Only a fragment of over 2000 stanzas has survived140. 4.7.3. Kacciyappa Civacariyar's Kantapuranam is the Tamil version of a Sanskrit model, the first six books of Sivarahasyakhanda of the Skandapurana which, according to Jean Filliozat141, looks very much as if it had been composed in the Tamil country. I think that we may safely accept the hypothesis that at least two of the later Sanskrit jmrdnas, Halasyamahatmya and Sivarahasyakhanda of Skandapurana, were indeed composed in the South142. 139

An English resume of the purdnam was prepared by W. TAYLOR in Oriental

Historical Manuscripts, 2. vol., 1835. Cf. also DTCSSIGANE, PATTABIRAMIN, FILLIOZAT,

La legende des jeux de Civa a Madurai, 2 vols., Pondichery 1960. i*o Publ. as Madras Government Oriental Ms. Series No. 41 in 1955. Cf. CentamiJ 4, 371-5, for its author and date. in Cf. R. DESSIGANE et P. Z. PATTABIRAMIN, La legende de Skanda, Pondichery 1967, Introduction par J. F., p. II. 142 Cf. J. R. MARR, Review of La legende de Skanda, BSOAS 32, 2 (1969) 457-8.

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According to Kacciyappa himself, he founded his story on a Sanskrit Sankarasamhita. The Sanskrit source which inspired the Tamil poem was recently published with a Tamil translation under the title Sriskandamapurana; it claims to be contained in the Sivarahasyakhanda of Sankarasamhita. But it is not ruled out that the Sanskrit text is a free rendering of an underlying Tamil work, possibly even of Kacciyappa's purdna. It is certainly striking that many legends contained in the Tamil and Sanskrit texts are completely different from the standard Sanskrit Skandapurana published in Bombay143. Kacciyappa Civacariyar was a native of Kafici, son of a Brahman priest at the Kumarakottam temple, and himself a pujdri. The first line of the first stanza of the purdna is believed to have been revealed to the poet by god Kantacami himself who is said to have corrected during nights the stanzas which the poet had composed by day. The work has 10.340 (alternatively 10.345/6) viruttam quatrains in six books (kdntavis) in 141 chapters. The 7th book (Upatecakantam) was added in two versions by two pupils of Kacciyappa : one by Sanavarotayar (in 2602 stanzas, 85 chapters), another by Koneriyappar. Kantapuranam was dated bet weed widely differing margins: 7th cent. A. D. as the limit a quo—17th cent. A.D. as the limit ad quern. The early dating is absurd. Since three different authors of the 17th cent, praise Kacciyappa, this is obviously a safe limit. There are some indications that Arunakiri ( ± 1400 A.D.) was later than Kacciyappa; it seems almost certain that Kacciyappa knew Meykantar's exposition of Saiva Siddhanta; one of Kacciyappa's students, S^anavarotayar, is praised by Kalamekam, and himself praises Arunakiri. All these, and some additional data, point to the years 1350-1400 A. D. as a possible though by no means certain date of Kacciyappa Munivar144. The purdna begins with the invocations and praises of Tontainatu and Kanci, and its most important temple, the Kumarakottam. It also gives an involved history of the purdna. The first book (Urpatti Kantam, Book of Creation) in 26 chapters first narrates about the destruction of Kama by Siva when the god of love tried to excite Siva's passion to beget a son so that he would destroy Curan—the demon who tormented gods and men. Then we hear about Siva's visiting Uma; he promises to marry her; and, indeed, the following cantos describe the preparations for the wedding and the wedding itself. Kama is resuscitated. The gods again implore Siva to give them a son to protect them. Siva takes on his ancient six-faced shape with the flashing third eyes, and commands Fire and Wind to take sparks from these third frontal eyes; Fire lets them fall into Ganga which dries out, whereupon they fall into the pond of Saravana. Gods are waiting on its banks. After a few moments,

143

Cf. R. C. HAZRA, Studies in Puranio Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Dacca 1940, p. 157. 144 Thus e.g. according to K. A. NILAKANTA SASTBI, the Kantapuranam was composed in 1625 (A History of South India, 3rd. ed. 1966, p. 387).

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Murukan rises from the waters of Saravana on a lotus-flower, with a brilliant body, six heads and twelve arms, as Arumukakkatavul, 'The Six-Faced God.' That which was formless, became a Form, a column of Light: the Brahman, the One, the Many, the Endless, became one Body: six faces abundant with grace; twelve mighty arms; one Tiru Murukan arose and arrived for the world to be saved.

(I-11)

The gods command the Karttikaippenkal, 'the Kartika women' to foster the child. The one child suddently becomes six children, and the nymphs take each one child and feed it. Each of the children manifests a typical activity (one laughs, one weeps, one sucks milk, one sings, one plays, one sleeps, one crawls about). The sons of the Saktis are born as many different heroes (vlrans) who are commanded by Siva to serve Murukan as warriors. Siva and Parvati then go to visit their children at Saravana; as Parvati simultaneously embraces the six boys, they unite into one body with six heads and twelve arms. In the next few cantos, Murukan amuses himself, quarrels with Brahma on account of the syllable dm, assumes the role of the Creator, etc. Amutavalli and Cuntaravalli enter the scene in canto 18; they are the daughters of Visnu; Amutavalli takes the form of a baby and is born as Indra's daughter; because of Indra's white elephant she is called Teyvayanai '[The One Who is Friendly With] the Divine Elephant.' Cuntaravalli becomes the daughter of Civamuni, and is brought up by the hunters of Tontainatu as Valli. Murukan goes to war with Tarakan and kills the demon with his lance which splits open his chest and his mountain Kiravuncam (Kraufica). Gods rejoice and worship Murukan. He leaves Tevakiri and goes South (tenticai); he builds a city there which he calls Ceyanalur ('Beautiful City of the Son') or Kumarapuri; finally, he reaches Tiruccentur, where he is told by a sage the history of the asuras. The second book (Avunar Kantam 'The Book of Asuras') is a long and involved narrative with a few interesting and important passages (e.g. in canto 4 an expose of Saiva Siddhanta; another detailed exposition of cosmology in canto 11; the story of Akattiyan and the Vindhyas and what happened subsequently, stories connected with Aiyanar or Makacatta). Murukan listens patiently to the story about the anti-gods and then promises Indra that he will destroy the entire race of Curan and return the rule of the heavenly world to Indra's hands. The third book is called Makentira Kantam. The beginning cantos relate the heroic deeds of Viravaku, Murukan's messenger. He goes to Curapanman's court and tells him that Arumukan, 'The Six-Faced,' had destroyed Taraka and the Kraufica bill, had established himself at Centi, and is going to deliver the gods. He is willing to pardon Curan if he lets the imprisoned gods free. This request is refused. The whole book is closed by a detailed description of the

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council of Curan and his ministers. Arimarnukan advises him to submit to the approaching god and to release the gods. P5r Kantam, the fourth book, 'The Book of War,' describes first the armies gathered in their camps, then the beginning of the war, and then, chronologically, the many subsequent battledays: thus e.g. on the fourth day, three thousand asurw are massacred; as the war goes on, the antigods are exterminated one by one. Arumukan fights personally against the terrible Cinkamukacuran whom he kills. Now it is up to Curapanman himself to fight against Kumaran. There follows a final, total mobilization in both camps, and a total war of destruction (7th-10th day). Finally, only the two great adversaries remain on the battlefield, and taking on different horrible forms (of snakes, lions, mountains, devils etc.) they fight each other. At last, the vel, the spear of Cevvel-Murukan splits the anti-god's body in two, throws the two halves in the sea, goes and bathes in the Ganga, and returns to the hand of Murukan. The two portions of Curan's body return to life (thanks to Siva) as a cock and a peafowl. Murukan commands the cock to serve him as banner, and the peacock to be his vehicle. Everyone is happy, only the demon Iraniyan despises the fact that his father serves Murukan in the shape of two birds, and goes away to perform penance. The imprisoned are set free, Varuna's waters devastate the asura city of Mahendrapura, and Murukan returns victorious to Tiruccentur. In the fifth book (Tevakantam, 'The Book of the Gods'), Cevvel-Murukan leaves Tiruccentur for Parankunram. Indra marries off his daughter Teyvayanai to Arumukan, and is again crowned king of the gods, who resume their gay and happy life. After some days in their heaven, Cevvel leaves for Kantaverpu. At the end of the book, Brhaspati begins to tell the story of Takkan. The last book, Takkakantam, tells first the story of Takkan who became terribly powerful due to his austerities, fell apart with Siva, and finally adored him in the form of Sivalinga. The beginning of this books is interesting in proclaiming the absolute supremacy of Siva as the omnipresent, omniscient, incomparable, supreme Being; and canto 23 in 127 stanzas is important for it speaks in detail about the cult of Kantan-Skanda. Most interesting, and most charming in the whole epic, is canto 24 of this book entitled Valliyammai Tirumanam, 'The Happy Wedding of Lady Valli,' a thoroughly Tamilian, non-Sanskritic story. Near the village of Merpati in Tontainatu is a mountain called Vallimalai. A hunter, Nampi, lived there, having sons but no daughter. Sage Civamuni who performed penance on the mountain, saw one day a gazelle, and looked at her with passionate desire; the gazelle became pregnant and the daughter of Tirumal (Visnu), incarnate in the embryo, was born of the gazelle in a pifc made for the tubers of valli (Dioscoreaceae sp.)liS. The child, abandoned by the gazelle, was found by Nampi and his wife, and given the name Valli. When twelve, she went to watch the millet-field. Narada saw her, went to Tiruttanikai. and spoke about her 145

Already as early as in Narrinai 82.4, Valli is personalized as Murukan's consort (Murukupuriarntu iyanra Valli pola "similar to Valli whom Muruku approached and enjoyed in embrace").

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to Arumukan who took on the form of a hunter and arrived at the millet-field. He began to speak to Valli, when Nampi and other hunters appeared, and Murukan took on the shape of a venkai tree to evade them. When Nampi left, Murukan reappeared and asked Valli to marry him. At that moment, Nampi and the hunters came again, and this time Kumara took the form of an old Saiva devotee. Valli fed him and gave him water. "Now that you appeased my hunger and my thirst," said the $aiva ascetic, "I want your love." When she refused, Murukan's brother Vinayaka appeared as a terrible elephant and the scared Valli rushed into Murukan's arms demanding his protection. The god appeared in his real divine shape, and they made love on the spot. After further adventures, Murukan married Valli146, and the young couple left for Tanikai, and then proceeded to Kantaverpu to meet Teyvayanai. The two wives of Murukan lived in harmony like Ganga and Yamuna147. The dependance of Kacciyappa on Kampan as his literary model cannot be doubted. It is so striking that T. P. Meenakshisundaran148 calls Kantapuranam "a homage of imitation to Kampan": against Havana we have Curan, against Hanuman, Rama's heroic and swift messenger, we have Viravaku; Cinkamukacuran may be easily compared with Kumbhakarna; and, of course, Skanda is the image of Rama. Being, however, the story of gods, Kantapuranam moves 146 Observe that the entire episode of Murukan's and Vajli's love adheres closely to the ancient Tamil akam conventions of the kurinci 'montane' setting: The young girl watching the millet-field in the hills, the sudden appearance of the hero who falls in love at first sight, and the immediate sex-enjoyment; public wedding takes place only subsequently; the Valli episode is thus in perfect harmony with the kalavu olukkam 'clandestine love behaviour' of pre-Axyan Tamilnadu. 147 In Tamil folklore, the motif of the mutual jealousy of Teyvayanai and VaJJi is very popular. It results in a heroic-comic battle between the two camps. Thus we have a VaUiyammainatakam (ed. in 1922) in which Narada rouses Teyvayanai's jealousy by talking about ValJi's liveliness. Other texts, such as Kantapuranam, adopt a conciliatory version, since both women are in fact daughters of Tirumal and they want to marry Skanda from eternity. Teyvayanai, who incarnates as Indra's daughter, is the Tamilization of the original Devasena 'The Army of the Gods'; the etymology of her name as the one who is closely connected with Indra's elephant (ydnai), is a reinterpretation of the original Tamilization. Va}]i, on the other hand, is of purely Tamilian origin (and is Sanskritized into Valli): she is Murukan's wife in Narrinai 82.4, in Paripatal, in Tirumurukarruppatai: originally simply the daughter of the mountains, she does not carry any allusion to divine origin. What is true of VaJJi, is also true of Curan who occurs frequently in the early bardic poetry as cur, a personalized demonic force causing terror, infesting passes, springs, waterfalls, and appearing frequently in female form (curmakal, Akam 198.17 and elsewhere). Only later he becomes the male demon whom Murukan slays, first with a shining sharp leaf (Akam 59.10-11), then with the leaf-shaped spear. The elaborate mythology of the demons, the asuras associated with the Skanda of the epic tradition, adapted easily to the malevolent Cur of the Southern mountains. The two were originally quite unconnected; in later versions, the force of terror. Cur, was personalized as the chief among anti-gods, Surapadma, and this is also how he appears in Kantapuranam.

i*8 A History of Tamil Literature, 1965, p. 119.

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almost totally in divine and supernatural spheres, replete with the dualism of the eternal strife between God and Anti-God, between this-worldly egotism and divine spirituality. The evaluation of the purdna varies. T. P. Meenakshisundaran is certainly right when he says that it does not rise to the heights of Kampan's work, but I find the opinion of C. and H. Jesudasan149 rather unjust. I would rather agree with H. Nau who wrote that the Kantapuranarn "Kamban's Rdmdyana an Eleganz der Ausdrucksweise und Schonheit der Sprache nicht viel nachsteht150." Kacciyappamunivar (died 1790) was the author of the second great Tamil purdna dedicated to Murukan, Tanikaippuranam, which is the sthalapurdna of the famous Tiruttani (Tanikaimalai, Tiruttanikai) shrine of Skanda. I t has 28 patalams with 3161 stanzas, and was composed in ca. 1780151. 4.7.4. There exist two Sanskrit mdhdtmyas on Kanci, the Vaisnava Kaficimahatmya said to be a part of Brahmandapurana, and the Saiva Kanci mahatmya alias Kaiicisthalamahatmya said to be a part of Kalikakhanda of the Sanatkumarasamhita (belonging to Skandapurana). The Tamil Kancipuranam by Civananamunivar and his pupil Kacciyappamunivar is a rather close translation of this Saiva mahatmya152. Civananamunivar, who was a famous scholar and a poet, died on 17. 4. 1785, and the second part of Kancipuranam was finished by his student Kacciyappamunivar (died in 1790 A.D.), the author of Tanikaipuranam, Vinayakapuranam, PerUrppuranam, and many other rather conventional purdnas. Civanana Munivar, a Saiva veldla born in Vikkiramacinkapuram in a family replete with traditional scholarship, received his dlksd in Tiruvavatuturai, became an excellent scholar in both Tamil and Sanskrit, and a Saiva Siddhanta philosopher, grammarian, and outstanding teacher. The greatest of his philosophical books is a huge commentary on Civafianapotam, the Tiravita Mapatiyam, the Dravida Mahabhasya. This versatile genius who was also a poet, was the greatest literary personality of the monastery-fed, traditional, orthodox Tamil culture of the 18th century153; though a great Sanskrit scholar, he opposed the overbearing enthusiasm of Sanskritists like Swaminatha Desikar, Vaidyanatha Desikar, and Subrahmanya Dikshitar; he was an uncompromising critic of Vaidyanatha Desikar's totally Sanskrit-oriented grammar Ilakkanavilakkam. He composed dozens of poems in traditional forms, commentaries, polemic works—an important no HTL, p. 211: "Unfortunately, no one other than a &aivite with conventional ideas would be able to make much out of the work. As poetry it is not a success . . . " 160 H. NAU, Prolegonema zu PattaNattu PilJaiyars Padal, Halle 1919, p. 103. ls * For a prose risumi in French of the Kantapuranam cf. R. DESSIGANE, P. Z. PATTABIRAMIK, La legende de Skanda selon le Kandapuranam tamoul et l'iconographie, Pondichery 1967. 15

2 R. DESSIGANE, P. Z. PATTABIBAMIN, JEAN FILLIOZAT, Les legendes civai'tes

de Kancipuram, Pondichery 1964, p. vii. The Tamil poet indicates his Sanskrit source in V.26. 153 Though he was also called "a conceited fbaiva monk" by M. SKINIVASA AIYANGAB in Tamil Studies, 1914, p. 149.

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prose-work of his is Tarukka Cankirakam, a translation from a Telugu original of Annappattar who wrote the book as a commentary on a Sanskrit philosophical treatise. The most ambitious poetic creation of Civafiana Cuvamikal is Kancipuranam which, however, shows "a want of the finer poetic sensibilities and falls flat154." The Tamil version of the Matsyapurana, entitled Maccapuranam, was composed in 1706-7 A.D. by Iracai Vatamalaiyappa Pillaiyan, a poet of the Maturai Nayaka ruler of Tirunelveli; it has 5008 stanzas in 175 chapters, composed in relatively simple language and with great prosodic skill. The Bhagavatam was Tamilized at least three times: First by Cevvaiccutuvar, a Vaisnava Brahman of Veppattur at the close of the 15th—beginning of the 16th century; this version, called Vintupakavatam, has 4970 stanzas, deals with the stories of four avatdras of Visnu (most importantly, with Krsna), and its diction is flowing and smooth, the stanzas musical and quite captivating. Arulala Tacar alias Varataraca Aiyankar of Nellinakar produced his version of the purdna in 1543 A.D. in 9151 viruttam stanzas of vigorous and animated narration on the six avatdras of Visnu. It is also known as Vacutevakatai or Makapakavatam, and is probably the longest purdna in Tamil literature. Finally, there is a later version of the 18th cent, of Ariyappa Pulavar, a veldla from Kumbakonam, in 4970 viruttam stanzas. Among other Tamil purdnas, one should mention the Citamparapuranam (1508) of Purana Tirumalainatan in 813 viruttam stanzas, Ellappa Pupati's (2nd half, 16th cent.) Arunacalapuranam and Tiruvirincaipuranam, Ativirarama Pandya's (died 1610) Kuimapuranam (3717 stanzas) and Ilinkapuranam, Nanakkuttar's (17th-18th cent.) Ceppecarpuranam and Viruttacalapuranam (435 stanzas), Akoramunivar's (16th-17th cent.) Kumpakonapuranam (118 stanzas), Tirukkanapperppuranam (650 stanzas), Vetaraniyapuranam (3243 stanzas), Kalantaikkumaran's Tiruvancippuranam (of 1616, in 830 stanzas), the Jaina &ripuranam in manipravdla diction (ca. 1400 A.D.), the Jaina Merumantarapuranam by Vamanamunivar (ca. 1375-1400 A.D.) in 1405 stanzas, and the important Muslim purdnas—Badr-ud-Dln's Moyititupuranam, and Umarupulavar's Cirapuranam on the life of Muhammad (early 17th cent.). Finally, one must not fail to mention a unique and precious purdna of the 19th century, Murukatacar's Pulavarpuranam. Murukatacar (his boyhood name was Cankaralinkam), known also as Tiruppukalcuvami and Tantapanicuvami, born in 1838, is said to have had a vision of Murukan and composed hundreds of songs on the god on the model of Arunakiri's Tiruppukal. Ramalinkacuvami actually gave him the name 'modern Arunakirinatar'. Though he was deep in his heart an ascetic, he was persuaded to marry and had a son, Centinata Pillai, who edited some of his works and wrote his father's biography in verse. The poet died in 1898. Besides hundreds of minor narrative and devotional poems, 154

C. and H. JESTTDASAN, HTL, p. 245. A prose resumi in French of the Kaiicipuranam may be found in R. DESSIGANE, P. Z. PATTABIRAMIN, JEAN FILLIOZAT, Les legendes civaites de Kaficipuram, Pondichdry 1964.

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a sthalapurdna, an autobiography in verse, some ethical poetry and a grammatical treatise, he composed the Pulavarpuranam (published first in 1901, subsequently in 1908) of about 3000 stanzas in 74 chapters dealing with the life sketches of 70 poets; apart from its enormous importance for the literary folklore and as a source of knowledge about less-known personalities, it is also a literary work of considerable merit, simple, forceful and well-formed.

PlRAPANTAM

5.0. It is extremely difficult, probably impossible, to provide a formal definition of the Tamil prabandhas (Ta. pirapantam) on the classical model by identifying the 'essence' of this 'super-genre.' However, since one can group these literary forms under the heading of a single super-genre, they must obviously have something in common which distinguishes them from all other poetic genres thus far described. I shall try to direct attention to certain features of the Tamil prabandhas which, when present in sufficient strength, constitute what may be described as a single 'hypergenre,' the prabandha1. The term itself has various meanings: connected discourse; connected narrative ; composition; a general term for various kinds of compositions which have the character of connected narrative with strong elements of description. Traditionally, ninety-six varieties of prabandhas are enumerated. This tradition of the number 96 is probably as old as the 16th century. The number, popular as the total number of the elements of human body (tattvas), might have been chosen to show that there were varieties of literary compositions nearing a hundred2; in fact, the ultimate number of actual prabandhas may be higher than that. There is a kind of grammar known as pdttiyal 'essence of poetry'3 which gives us some kind of definition of some of these compositions. All pdttiyal-type grammars agree on thirty-six varieties; but even the first work now available adds thirty more. Beschi in his lexicon Caturakarati (18th cent.) made an attempt to arrive at the figure ninety-six, but the list in his dictionary differs from another in his grammar Tonnul. The reader will observe that I, too, arrived at the classical number ninety-six in this book. On the positive side, a prabandha (as I would like to use the term in this work) always contains a narrative and a descriptive component, and has the character of a connected discourse about an event, or a series of events, or of connected description of an item or a person. This principle of internal cohesion and connectedness, either formal or based on unity of content, is important: by virtue of this classification, the prabandhas belong to the totapnilaicceyyul hyper-class of literary works, as opposed to the tokainilai works (anthologies of disconnected poems). Unfortunately, it is impossible to go, in positive terms, beyond this rather vague description. Even more unfortunate is the fact that 1 Cf. for this kind of 'range-definition' M. BLACK, Problems of Analysis, Ithaca 1954, and M. BLACK, The Labyrinth of Language, Penguin Books, 1972, p. 79. 2 T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 126. 8 The most popular among them being the Pannirupattiyal in 232 aphorisms, ascribed to a number of authors.

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according to the Tamil sources some so-called prabandhas are defined purely formally (e.g. as to the type of metre or the number of stanzas they employ), some are defined purely in terms of their subject-matter and content, and some are defined as to both form and content. We may of course follow the good old Indian way of avoiding definition by taking recourse to a simple enumeration or classification of a wider class into a number of sub-classes. Adopting this policy, we may distinguish the following large sub-types of Tamil prabandhas: 1) Heroic narrative genres, e.g. the parani (see No. 64), which may be viewed as a late development of the ancient pur am genre. 2) Erotic narrative genres, e.g. the kdtal (see No. 32), which may be viewed as a very late development of the ancient akam genre. 3) Descriptive genres, e.g. the ankamdlai (No. 3). 4) Late folk-poetry-based genres (e.g. the pallu, § 5.2.4). 5) Specific Muslim literary forms (e.g. the pataippor). This classification, which, I am afraid, is not a very successful one, is obviously based on the content-component of the poems. Many of these genres are however differentiated simply by the number of stanzas they contain: 5, 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 100, and 400. Poems of five stanzas (e.g. pancarattinamdlai) remind us of the 'five precious gems'; poems of nine stanzas (e.g. navarattinamdlai) allude to the 'nine precious gems.' The very popular decades are termed pattu, patikam, or orupdvorupaktu. The next popular number is a hundred (catakam < Skt. sataka). Compositions of a hundred stanzas—but also shorter compositions—are often linked together like a necklace or a garland (kovai, mdlai), and are frequently in the antdti arrangement. Many of these compositions are defined according to the metre they employ. Considering all that has been said above, I find as the only satisfactory definition of the Tamil prabandhas a definition in purely negative terms: All poetic literary forms which remain after we have removed the solitary stanza (tanippdtal), the didactic aphorism, the bhakti hymn proper, and the large epic-narrative forms (epics proper, and purdnas) may be profitably classified as pirapantam, and dealt with according to their names, preferably in the alphabetic order, with important illustrative texts as their characteristic representatives. This is the procedure which I shall adopt on the following pages. 5.1.1. Akapporutkovai 'string of love-matters,' a narrative genre which treats love-themes in kattalaikkalitturai metre. See also kovai. 2. Akaval. Originally one of the four basic types of classical Tamil metres 4 ; developed in devotional and subsequent poetry into a purely formally defined genre as 'poem composed in the akaval metre': thus Manikkavacakar (9th cent.) has a Porrittiruvakaval as the 4th part-of his Tiruvacakam; this 'Sacred Akaval of Salutation' deals with the creation of the universe. The best-known 4

Akaval, vafici, kali, venpd. Cf. CH. E. GOVEB, The Folk-Songs of Southern India, 1st ed. Madras 1871, 2nd ed. Madras 1959, pp. 163-5. 5

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ofakavals is the Akaval of Kapilar (Kapilarakaval), a popular medieval poem of uncertain date attacking castes in general and Brahmans in particular5. The TPA quotes 17 akavals. 3. Ankamdlai 'The Garland of Limbs,' a descriptive genre, composed either in venpd or in veliviruttam, dealing with the members of the body. In the male, such poem describes usually shoulders, arms, chest etc., in the female, eyes, face, breasts etc. The order must be from feet to hair, or vice versa. 4. Attamankalam (Skt. astamangala) is a benedictory poem of eight stanzas in dciriyaviruttam metre6. 5. Antdti (Skt. antddi) is a purely formally defined genre: it may design any poem in the antdti arrangement, i.e. a poem in which the last syllable or foot of the last line of a stanza (the 'end' portion) is identical with the first syllable or foot of the following stanza (the 'beginning' portion). It has always been one of the most productive forms since it first appeared in bhakti poetry. As famous instances of early antdtis one should cite Arputattiruvantati 'The Sacred Antdti of Wonder' by Karaikkal Ammaiyar (550-600 A.D.) and Tiruttontarantati 'The Antdti of Holy Devotees' by Nampi Antar Nampi (10th cent.). Iramanucanurrantati 'The Hundred Antdti-St&nzas on Ramanuja' composed by Tiruvarankattamutanar in 1017 A.D. is a very important poem for several reasons: it gives us a certain order of the Vaisnava dlvdrs which seems to be on the whole historically reliable; it gives us some glimpses of Sri Ramanuja's character, and it formulates the central idea of the necessity of the guru's grace to attain salvation. Orthodox Vaisnavas who call it their Prapannagayatri hold it in high esteem and recite it in their daily prayers. Among the late antdtis, one must not fail to mention Apirami antati by Subrahmanya Aiyar (Apiramipattar) of Tirukkatavur (18th cent.), a devotional poem of 100 stanzas on the Supreme Power, conceived as Jaganmata or WoiId-Mother, addressed to the famous goddess Apirami of Tirukkatavur temple (Tanjore distr.). The Muslims have composed their antdtis, too, cf. Carkkarai Pulavar's (18th cent.) antati on Medina (Metmantati). TPA cites 135 antdti poems7. 6. Ammdnai is a minor but interesting genre which may enter larger genres as their component (e.g. kalampakam, cf. No. 30). The origin of this form may be sought in a game played by young girls who threw up toy-like pieces (usually five to seven cowries or pebbles, or a number of balls) in the air, and caught them usually on the back on the hand; the game was accompanied by simple songs the rhythm of which was suited to the tempo of the game. Subsequently,, it became the name of the rhythm and metre of the songs, and finally the term was applied to poems which had in each verse ammdndy as refrain. The name was much later adopted for a ballad-like narrative genre. Such poems usually consist of couplets of lines of four feet of the vencir or iyarcir type. The sequence is usually ventalai. Two or three intermediate lines in viruttam are often introduced containing the subject matter which is then elaborated. The diction 6 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 189. 7 Antati has a number of subtypes. Pannirupattiyal 157-61 quotes some of them-

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tends to be simple and straightforward. A later ammdnai usually deals with the life of a deity or a hero, and some of them have historical value, as e.g. the anonymous Ramappayyanammanai (17th cent.) about the military expedition of Ramappayyar, a general of Tirumala Nayaka. One of the most beautiful poems of this type is Manikkavacakar's Tiruvammanai (part eight of Tiruvacakam, 9th cent.). TPA quotes 15 ammdnai poems. 7. Aracanviruttam is a poem celebrating the natural resources, prosperity and prowess of a king (aracan), containing 10 kalitturai, 30 viruttam and 30 kalittdlicai stanzas. 8. Alankdrapancakam: a purely formally defined genre—a poem in five stanzas in five different metres in which the last syllable of each stanza is identical with the first syllable of the next stanza. The whole poem has 100 stanzas. The five kinds of metre are venpd, kalitturai, akaval, dciriyaviruttam and cantaviruttam, in this order. 9. Alankdram, 'Embellishment,' a kind of late panegyric poem, e.g. Arunakiri's (15th cent.) Kantaralankaram 'The Ornaments of Skanda.' TPA quotes 11 poems of this sort. 10. Anuputi (Skt. anubhiiti) 'Blessing, Boon', a later genre of devotional poetry, e.g. Arunakiri's Kantaranuputi, 51 quatrains in praise of Skanda. TPA quotes 9 poems of this land. 11. Anurdkamdlai (cf. Skt. anurdga) 'The Garland of Passion,' is a love-poem describing the hero's erotic feelings in his dreams. 12. Atoranamancari (cf. dtoranar 'elephant drivers, riders') is a poem in vanci metre in praise of a warrior who has subdued or killed one or more furious elephants of a hostile army. 13. Arruppatai 'The Guide' is one of the most interesting and productive ancient genres; it must have developed into a well-defined form during the bardic age itself. We may witness its beginnings in bardic poems like Puram 141 in which Paranar tells another wandering minstrel to seek out chieftain Pekan, because he is sure of the latter's bounty: Poorer than thou were we, before we saw Pehan, victorious patron; and now are we Thus satisfied. He knows 'tis good to give. His bounty is not meant to earn him heaven, But to soothe the poverty of men. (Transl. C. Jesudasan) In Puram, there are seven poems as guide-songs of the musicians, four of the women dancers, three of the literary artists. Patirruppattu contains one guidesong of the musician and five of the female dancers. Out of the long poems of the Pattuppattu anthology, four are designed as arruppatai8. The end of the 8 For the etymology of the term cf. Paripatal V.10 malaiydrruppatutta 'pour pratiquer un chemin dans cette montagne' (transl. F. GROS), but especially Paripatal IV.2 onrdrruppatutta 'guides sur une unique voi.' Cf. also Pannirupattiyal 202-4 which says that the appropriate metre for this genre is akaval, and that a .guide poem may also be directed towards deities (puttel). The commentary quotes

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bardic age saw an extension of this genre to include a deity to which the devotee is guided: Nakkirar's Tirumurukarruppatai 'The Guide to Lord Muruku.' The most interesting guide-poem of the later period is Irattina Kavirayar's Pulavararruppatai (1692), a 'guide' to Tamil poets, dedicated to I. Vatamalaiyappa Pillai, the author of Maccapuranam. TPA quotes 12 guide-poems. 14. Anantakkalippu, originally not considered a special genre, is a poem expressive of ecstatic joy. The 8th chapter of Tiruvacakam, Tiruvammanai, is subtitled Anantakkalippu 'Rapturous Joy.' Later, this was considered a genre of religious poetry dealing with mystical rapture. The best-known representative of the genre is Tayumanavar's (17th-18th cent.) Anantakkalippu in 30 stanzas. TPA cites 4 poems of this kind. 15. Inaimanimdlai is a purely formally defined genre, a poem of 100 stanzas in the antdti arrangement, consisting of pairs (inai) of stanzas, either venpd -fakaval, or venpd -j- Jcattalaikkalitturai9. 16. Iyanmolivdlttu: a panegyric poem on a hero attributing to him the noble deeds of his ancestors, or requesting one to emulate the noble examples set by his ancestors. 17. Irattaimanimdlai: a purely formally defined genre of 20 stanzas in antdti arrangement composed alternately in venpd and kattalaikkalitturai10. E.g. Karaikkal Ammaiyar's Tiruvirattaimanimalai (Tevaram 11). The form was in particular favour with bhakti poets. 18. Irupdvirupaktu: a poem in 20 stanzas in which venpd and akaval alternate in antdti arrangement. Observe the very close affinity of this form with Nos 15 and 1711. E.g. Arunanti Civacariyar's (13th cent.) Irupavirupaktu. 19. TJld 'Procession.' A very interesting and productive genre: A poem in kalivenpd which describes the patron (or god) going in procession around the streets of a city, while women of varying ages (makalir paruvam) fall in love with him; their love is not returned. The women belong to the classes of petai (5-7 years of age), petumpai (8-11 years), mankai (12-13 years), matantai (14-19 years), arivai (19-25 years), terivai (26-31 years), and perilampen (31-40 years). The earliest uld is by Ceraman Perumal, a Saiva devotional poet of the 8th cent. It is known as Tirukkayilayananavula or simply as Nanavula 'The Procession of "Wisdom' (also as Ati ula or 'The First Uld'). The genre was developed by outstanding poets like Tattuvarayar (ca. 1450-1500), Purana Tirumalainatar (in Cokkanatarula), Ceraik Kaviraca Pillai (16th cent.) who was the author of Ceyur Murukanula, Irattinakiriyula and Kalattinatarula, by Kalamekappulavar, the author of Tiruvanaikkavula, and especially by Ottakkiittar (q.v. Puram 48, 49 and 141 as 'guides' to humans, and Tirumurukarruppatai as a guide to god. Cf. also L. P. K. IRAM. CETTIYAR, Pattuppattil arruppatai, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, pp. 449—59. 9 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 150; the commentary cites Vaccanantimalai. 10 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 151. 11 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 220.

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below). "The poetic importance of this kind of literature consists in being true to the varying ages of women falling in love with God or the patron; and in creating dramatic situations, preparing for these women falling thus in love with the hero12." Thus, in the original uld of Ceraman Perumal (st. 83-4), the child plays the game of the mother, and when asked replies that Siva is the father of her toy, implying that the god is her own husband. Women of different ages have different expression in their eyes as they watch the hero passing by. The petai (5-7 years of age) . . . had the naive, innocent eyes, which did not known the least disturbance, reflecting a mind empty of worldly confusion.

(Cokkanatarula)

However, already the mankai of 12-13 years looked at Kumara with the sword in his hand with eyes which knew how to arouse and afflict—and redeem. (Tiruppuvananatar ula of 1621 by Kantacami Pulavar) And the matantai (14-19 years) had eyes like sharp spears, more cruel than the crooked scepter of an evil-doing king, who ruined a just and ordered reign.

(Cokkanatarula)

The arivai (19-25 years) tied flower-buds in her hair, and girdling high her breasts, threw her looks like the nets upon rolling waves.

(Kalattinatarula)

And the perilampen (31-40 years of age) not having coloured her eye-lids black looked with the eyes of a ripe and full gazelle; they shone like the eyes of a careful dark-blue deer. (Tirukkalukkunravula) Ottakkuttar who was given not only the title of the 'emperor of poetry' but also 'the poet of majestic style' and 'the giant of poetry' as well as 'the divinelygifted poet,' was the court poet of the three Cholas, Vikrama (1118-1135), Kulottunka II (1135-1150) and Rajaraja II (1146-1173). On each of them he composed an uld; they are known collectively as Muvarula 'The Ulas on the Three Kings.' The poems are Ottakkuttar's best, and probably also best among the ulds; they supply some historical data but, above all, they manifest grandeur and colour, and offer some lovely description of women. One of them was discussed and partly translated as early as 189313. Ottakkuttar is credited with fifteen works, among them a Cankaracdlanula which is no more available. Apart from Takkayakapparani (q.v. under No. 64), Ottakkuttar is the author of Eluppelupatu (available only in fragments), of Ittiyelupatu—poor poetry 12 13

T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAN, A History of Tamil Literature, p. 142. V. KANAKASABHAI PILLAI, The Vikrama Cholan Ula, IA 22 (1893) 141-50.

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containing a number of local and historical allusions, KulSttunkacolan pillaittamil (q.v. under No. 69), and of Kalirikapparani which is lost14. 19. TJldmatal is a poem in kalivenpd metre in which a man who has seen an unknown woman in a dream vows to possess her in reality or die by riding the palmyra stem (see mated, No. 76). 20. TJlattippdttu is mentioned in the pdttiyal type of grammars. The name which means 'The song of the woman of the ploughman caste' {ulatti, cf. ulavan 'ploughman, agriculturist') suggests a poem based on peasants' folksongs; according to the commentary to Panniruppattiyal, this type has developed later into the well-known pallu-genre (cf. § 5.2.4)15. 21. Ulinaimdlai: poem which describes the storming of a fortress, developed from the ancient puram setting of ulinai 'theme describing laying siege to a fort16.' 22. Urpavamdlai: a late Vaisnava prabandha describing the ten incarnations of Visnu. 23. Ucal, lit. 'moving to and fro'; then 'swing' and 'swing-song'; a poem in praise of a deity or great personage in verses in akavalviruttam or kalittdlicai metres, sung while moving a swing on which the idol or the hero is seated. A good illustration is Manikkavacakar's (9th cent.) Tiruvacakam 16, Tirupponnucal 'The Sacred Golden Swing' in which the heroine and her companions on a golden swing sing the glory of their Lord Siva. TPA quotes 10 instances. 24. Urinnicai: eulogy in 50, 70 or 90 innicaivenpd stanzas describing the town (ur) of the hero; urnericai: the same kind of poem in the nericaivenpd metre; urvenpd: eulogy in 10 venpd stanzas on the town of the hero. 25. Ehikurrirukkai: a formally defined genre in which the numbers one to seven (elu) occur first in the ascending, then in the descending order; the form was productive in bhakti poetry, cf. Nakkiratevar's Tiruvelukurrirukkai, 11th book of Tirumurai. 26. Orupdvorupaktu: a formally defined genre—a poem in 10 stanzas composed in akaval, venpd or kalitturai metres, e.g. Pattinattatikal's Tiruvorriyur orupavorupaktu (11th Tirumurai)17. 14

For uld, cf. Pannirupattiyal 131-8. The commentary and notes give slightly differing years for the various age-groups of women: here is a comparative statement: petal petumpai mankai matantai arivai terivai perilampen Poykaiyar 5-8 9-10 11-14 15^19 24 31 36 Vaccanantimalai ' 5-7 8-11 12-13 14-19 20-25 26-31*32-40 Anonymous 5-8 9-10 11-14 15-18 19-24 25-29 30-36 The corresponding ages for men are given as follows: pdlan mili maravon tiralon Icdlai vitalai mutumakan Avinayanar 7 10 14 15 16 30 over thirty Anonymous 1-7 8-10 11-14 15 16 17-30 over thirty 15 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 216. 16 Ulinai, Cardiospermum halicacabum; balloon vine garland worn by warriors when storming a fort. 17 Pannirupattiyal 219.

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27. Katikaivenpd: a poem of 32 stanzas in nericaivenpd metre describing the noble deeds of kings or gods as if performed within one ndlikai (hour of 24 minutes) ; the name is derived from Skt. ghatikd, an hour of 24 minutes. 28. Katainilai: a poem describing a tired poet sending the gate-keeper to announce his arrival to the chief or king18. 29. Kanpatainilai: a poem describing the members of the court as they suggest to the king that it is time for him to go to bed19. 30. Kalampakam, lit. 'mixture, combination'20 was an immensely productive genre since it admitted great variety both in metre and in theme. The earliest kalampakam now available is Nantikkalampakam sung in praise of the Pallava king Nandivarman III (846-869 A. D.) by a poet whose name is unknown. There is a Jaina Tirukkalampakam by Uticittevar of 110 stanzas (15th cent.). The well-known Alutaiyapillaiyar Tirukkalampakam by Nampi Antar Nampi is in praise of Tirufianacampantar. Many kalampakams were sung in praise of deity or temple, or of one's spiritual master, e.g. Irattaiyar's poems of this genre, Tolkappiyattevar's Tiruppatirippuliyurkkalampakam, Tattuvarayar's and Civappirakacar's many poems in honour of their gurus, Elappa Navalar's (1542-80) Tiruvarunaikkalampakam, Kaccifianappirakacar's Kaccikkalampakam etc. The genre was productive in the 19th cent., too, cf. Minatcicuntaram Pillai's (1815-1875) many kalampakams. Even C. G. E. Beschi (16891746) wrote the Tirukkavailur kalampakam on Virgin Mary. There are also Muslim poems of this genre, e.g. by Cevvatup Pulavar (18th cent.): Nakaikkalampakam. The best kalampakams of late medieval period were composed by Kumarakuruparar (q.v. sub pillaittamil). A kalampakam should have fourteen to eighteen sections or components: puyam (or puyavakuppu), a panegyric on the hero of the poem; ammdnai—a discussion of the hero's excellence (usually in Mesa) among three women playing the ammdnai game; ucal, the 'swing-song'; yamakam; kali on the effusion of a drunkard; maram, singing about the scorn of the Marava warriors of a king; cittu, about Siddha alchemists; kdlam, on the separation between hero and heroine; matanki, about the love of a man for an actress playing with swords in both hands; vantu, a kind of bee-as-messenger poem; mekam, a kind of cloud-as-messenger poem; kaikkilai, one-sided love; campiratam, about the power of magicians; tavam dealing with austerities. The four additional components are pan, the heroine's complaint about the lover's infidelity, ur on the excellence of the hero's town, talai 'leaf, foliage' with erotic themes, and irankal on the heroine bemoaning the lover's absence. It is a rather untidy and bizarre genre. 18

Parmirupattiyal 229; katainilai 'outer gate.' Pannirupattiyal 205; kanpatai 'sleep; bed; bed-chamber.' Cf. DED 1092 Ta. kala 'to mix, unite in friendship,' kalampakam 'mixture, combination.' The kalampakam may in fact be viewed as a comprehensive hypergenre which combined and united a number of forms, usually fourteen to eighteen {ammdnai, ucal, maram, tutu etc.) under one thematic whole, and in the antdti arrangement. Cf. Pannirupattiyal 129-30. An expanded development of this form is known as kalampakamalai, cf. Pannirupattiyal 155. 19

20

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31. Kancimalai: a poem on the warriors wearing the kdnci garland, ready to occuppy a post on hostile frontiers and face the enemy, developed from the ancient puram setting of kdnci; also a poem on the defence of a fortress in face of the assaulting enemy. 32. Kdtal, lit. 'love.' There is a special type of prabandhas of late medieval provenience called kdtalpirapantankal or erotic prabandhas. They were usually composed by poets patronized by local rulers, high officials of state and rich zamlnddrs of the 17th-19th centuries. These prabandhas gave scope to matters of love and sex and to unbridled praise of patrons. They are heavily sensuous, even lascivious, but, in a way, they may be regarded as an equivalent of morality plays since their ultimate function was the message of a moral: it is not to the advantage of men to have liaison with courtesans. In the kdtal genre proper, the heroine usually tells her friend, in a flower-garden, about her love, and her sorrow at having to part from her lover; she recalls his and her entire story; she sends her friend as messenger to the hero to come again. Since the motif of a love-message is almost never absent from a kdtal poem, the genre can also be regarded as a sub-type of the tutu (q-v.), the messenger poems. The two greatest names among poets who composed kdtal poems are Katikaimuttu Pulavar and Cupratipa Kavirayar. Katikaimuttu Pulavar (ca. 1665ca. 1730): His pacron was a ruler of Ettaiyapuram (1705-1725) in whose honour he composed two poems (Camuttiravilacam, Kamaracamancari); he also wrote a pallu on Periyacami Tevar and some other panegyric poems to glorify the chieftains of Sivagiri and Uthumalai (Civakirivarakunaramapantiya Vanniyanar tikkuvicayam, Matanavittaramalai). Camuttiravilacam is the lament of a lovelorn maiden sitting at the sea-shore, separated from her lover and panting for his return. Kamaracamancari is an erotic kdtal poem in flowing and vigorous language. Matanavittaramalai is a racy, lovely poem on the god of love and his vagaries, with flashes of sarcasm and sardonic humour. Cupratipa Kavirayar lived under the patronage of Nakamma Kulappa Nayakkan (early 18th cent.); a Vaisnava born in Srirangam, known also as Attavatani, he was the author of two prabandhas, Kulappa Nayakkan Katal, and the lovely Viralivitututu (q.v. under No. 93). Both are justly regarded as the best representatives of their class of poems. In the kdtal poem a young unmarried girl accompanied by her friends goes to a forest and gathers flowers. At a moment when she is alone, a youth of valour and charm approaches her, they fall in love, and become lovers on the spot. Then they separate and go their way. The youth, who is a chieftain, sends his retinue to fetch the girl, and marries her with great pomp. An early 19th cent, author of a well-known kdtal poem carried on the tradition of conventional 'learned' literati: He was Caravana Perumal Kavirayar, a student of Somasundara Pillai who in his turn was a student of the famous Civanana Munivar (d. 1785). A court poet of Mutturamalinka Cetupati of Ramnad (ca. 1770 A.D.), he composed only traditional genres—among them Muttirulappa Pillaimitu katal. The kdtal genre was also adapted to religious

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purposes: thus there is a Kantarkatal 'The love of Skanda' which tells of a meeting in the flower-garden of a human heroine with god Murukan21. The earliest kdtal poem seems to have been composed by a Virapattirar, probably in the middle of the 17th century. Most of these poems composed by the late representatives of court-poetry in the 18th and early 19th centuries, manifest "the paradox of stringing together fine-sounding words and only afterwards troubling about what they mean" (M. Proust). 33. Kdppumdlai, lit. 'garland of protection,' is a short poem of 3, 5, or 7 stanzas imploring the protection of deities. 34. Kulamakan, 'youthful hero': a poem in which women praise the worth of a young hero. 35. Kecdtipdtam (Skt. kesddipdda) lit. '(from) head to foot': a poem in kalivenpd describing a person fully head to foot. 36. Kaikkilaimdlai: a poem in five viruttam stanzas treating of unreciprocated love, developed from the ancient akam setting of kaikkilai 'one-sided love affair22.' 37. Kaiyarunilai: an elegy describing the helplessness of dependants at the death of a chief, or his wife, and expressing the grief of their friends and household23; developed from a situation of the ancient puram genre, cf. Tolkappiyam Porul. 7924. 38. Kovai, lit. 'string; arrangement; scheme25.' This is an extremely productive genre, with its roots well deep in the past, which has survived many centuries, and was employed by some of the greatest poets in Tamil literature. The term kovai in the meaning of 'string of stanzas' occurs probably for the first time in the title of AcarakkSvai, a collection of 101 stanzas on morals and right conduct, dated ± 825 A.D.; here it has not yet acquired the technical sense it has later. This technical sense came to mean an anthology of poems by a single poet, illustrating the akam themes arranged as a continuous story. It seems that the first kovai recovered so far is the Pantikkovai (dated ± 700 A. D.) on a Pandya ruler, Netumaran; as such the work has been lost, but a substantial portion (more than 350 stanzas out of the presumed original 400) was restored from two commentaries26; 34 victories are attributed to the king. Some scholars doubted that the work has only one hero27, but it seems that R. NAGA21

The Tanjore Sarasvati Mahal Library Ms. No. 392. Pannirupattiyal 184 et seq. 23 Kaiyaravu 'state of utter helplessness; death; affliction'; kaiyarutal 'to be overcome; broken-hearted; to die.' 24 Pannirupattiyal 230-32; according to this source, it should be composed in the kali or vanci metres (231). 25 Cf. ho 'to string' etc.; the verb-noun means stringing of beads, flowers, etc.; filing; also necklace. 26 For historical details, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch). 27 Each stanza mentions one battlefield; the hero is known under more than a dozen names; S. VAIYAPTJRI PILLAI speaks cautiously about "the hero or heroes" 22

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SWAMY correctly ascribes the person of the hero to one ruler, Arikecari Parankuca Maravarman (ca. 670-700 A.D.)28. The kovai genre may be regarded as the first successful attempt in Tamil writing to arrange the total context of love poetry into a continuously developing story. The prabandha was expected to have 400 stanzas, each of them dealing with an aspect of love, knit together so that the whole would make up a continuous story of the lover and his sweetheart. Historically the second important attempt at the kovai form is the eroticmystical Tirukkovaiyar by Manikkavacakar (9th cent.). The most famous of later kovais is TancaivanankSvai by Poyyamolippulavar on Vanan (Bana), a Pandya chieftain praised as the conqueror of Cholas and Cheras; he might have been a feudatory of either Cataiyavarman Cuntarapantiya (1251-1271) or Maravarman Kulacekaran (1271-1311)29. The commentary on this work divides the events referred to in the monologues into a number of successive days. A kovai which is not so important from the literary point of view as rather for its historical data is the Kulottunkan kovai on Kumara Kulottunkan who may be tentatively identified with the Chola emperor Kulottunka III (1178-1216). There have been hundreds of kovai poems30, both on kings and chieftains, and on deities in the temples. According to tradition, the hero of a kovai should never be named in the title; it is rather the patron in whose country the lovestory takes place that is quoted in the title31. A late (probably 14th cent.) but extremely interesting kovai is the anonymous Kapparkovai in honour of the Pandya general Karumanikkan of Kappalur; the poem has only recently been recovered in its totality and printed32. Late medieval poets like Kumarakuruparar went on composing kovais33, and the tradition extended well into the 19th (HTLL, p. 136), and K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI thinks that many previous Paxidya kings folded up into one single hero. 28 Cf. his paper Pandya Arikesari and Pandikkovai in Prof. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri Felicitation Volume, Madras 1971, 108-11. Pantikkovai preserves three interesting legends of the Paridyas (a Pandya learning Tamil from Agastya, st. 93, a Pandya securing amrta for the gods, st. 214, and a Pandya effecting peace between two warrior kings, st. 245), and refers to incidents which have later been transformed into Siva's sports (a Pandya defeating Indra, and the carving of the Pandya crest on Mount Meru). 29

30

Cf. T. V. S. PANTARATTAR, Pantiyarvaralaru, pp. 53-4.

Among the earlier kovais, one should quote at least the Muttaraiyarkovai of about 850 A.D. 31 Thus Pajitikkovai which has Panti(natu), the PaNdya land, in its title, or TancaivaNankovai: Tancai is a place in Tenkaci tdluq of the Tirunelveli District. 32 Cf. Kappalkovai, publ. by Dr. U. V. Swaninatha Aiyar Library in 1957. Cf. also Mix. IRAKAVAIYANKAR'S path-breaking paper Karumamkkan kovai akiya Kapparkovai, in Centamil 6 (1907-8). 33 Cf. h i s C i t a m p a r a c c e y y u t k o v a i . Cf. also A m i r t a k a v i r a y a r ' s (1637—1672) Oruturaikkovai 'The Kovai of a Harbour.' The alleged son of Kampan, Ampikapati, who is according to tradition the father of TaNti, the author of the Tamil TaNtiyalankaram, is supposed to have composed the Ampikapatikkovai. Cf. also Pannirupattiyal 221.

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cent.: Karuppaiya Pavalar (born 1844), a poet who sang the life of Queen Victoria in Tamil, composed also an Aintinaikkovai. The TPA cites 69 kovais. 39. Catakam < Skt. sataka is a purely formally defined genre of any poem of 100 stanzas. TPA quotes 55 poems in this form—a mere fragment of the catakams composed in Tamil. Not a single Tamil catakam,, though, is great poetry. A special type of catakams is devoted to traditional stories connected with different territories of Tamilnadu: thus we have a Colamantalacatakam (18th cent.) which embodies stories belonging to the 17th-18th cent.; Patikkacu Pulavar's (1686-1723) Tontaimantalacatakam devoted to the Northern districts of Tamilnadu, Konkumantalacatakam by the Jaina poet Karmekakkavinar (18th cent.), and Pantimantalacatakam by Aiyamperumal Pillai. 40. Carittiram < Skt. caritra is a) a narrative poem based on actual historical events, reminiscent frequently of historical ballads of the West—cf. Civakankaicarittiram of early 19th cent, which gives an account of the struggle against the British rule in the Tamil state of Sivagangai in the years 1799-1801; cf. also varaldru; b) a term used for dramatic poems of the 18th-19th cent, based on narratives about heroes and bhaktas (see § 5.2). 41. Catakam, cf. Skt. jdtaka; a poem relating all particulars of one's horoscope ; horoscope in verse; considered one of the prabandhas. 42. Cinnappu, lit. 'little flower,' a poem of 30, 50, 70, 90 or 100 nericaivenpd stanzas celebrating the 10 constituents of a kingdom. The tacdnkam (Skt. dasdnga), the ten constituents, are: ndmam 'name,' ndtu 'cultivated land,' ur 'town,' dru 'river,' malai 'mountain,' urti 'vehicle' (or kutirai 'war-horses'), patai or tdnai 'army' (or cenkol 'sceptre'), muracu 'drum,' tdr 'garland' and koti 'banner34.' 43. Ceviyarivuruumarutpd: a poem in marutpd stanzas instructing the king in the path of virtue. 44. Tacdnkattiyal or tacdnkattayal, a poem in the dciriyam metre on 10 constituents of a kingdom. 45. Tacdnkapattu: a poem in nericaivenpd celebrating the constituents of a kingdom in 10 stanzas. 46. Tantakamdlai: a poem of 300 stanzas in the venpd metre. 47. Tdntakam: a poem in praise of deities, consisting of quatrains of equal length, each Line of 6-8 feet long35. This is typically a form derived even in its metrical pattern from Sanskrit models (alternation of short and long syllables); a typical early instance is Appar's (7th cent.) Tiruttantakam. 48. Tdrakaimdlai: a poem describing the chastity of a woman who equals the star (tdraka), i.e. Arundhati, in virtue. 49. Tdnaimdlai: a poem in the dciriyam metre describing the van of an army {tdnai, cf. Skt. send). 34

Cf. Pannirupattiyal 139—40. In 140, this source gives the following tacdnkam: malai 'mountain,' ydru 'river,' ndtu 'country,' ur 'town,' parai 'drum,' pari 'steed,' kaliru 'elephant,' tdr 'garland,' peyar 'name,' koti 'banner.' 35 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 196.

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50. Tumpaimdlai: panegyric on a warrior wearing a tumpai garland; the genre is based on the ancient bardic theme of tumpai 'pitched battle.' 51. Tuyiletainilai, lit. 'the state of waking one from sleep'; a poem sung to wake a king or some other great person from sleep, based on an ancient puram theme, and developed, in devotional poetry, in the palliyelucci (q.v.). 52. Turaikkovai: a poem of 400 stanzas describing a turai 'place; ford; ghat; harbour'; a good example is Amirta Kavirayar's (1637-1672) turaikkovai singing about the glory of his patron Raghunatha I Sethupati of Ramnad (1645-1670). 53. Tutu, lit. 'message' (Skt. dhuta) is a poem defined semantically and formally as a genre in kalivenpd which purports to be a message of love sent through a companion to effect reconciliation between lovers. M. Varadarajan36 has shown that the 'message' poems were current in embryonic form even in the early bardic poetry where different animals, birds and objects function as messengers of love: e.g. in Kuruntokai 266, the heroine asks her confidante how it was that the hero had forgotten to leave a message through some birds. The message is referred to as pulvdy tutu 'the message through the bird's mouth.' In Akam 170, the crab is requested by the heroine to serve as her messenger. Cilappatikaram has a few songs of this type (Canto VII). Ten hymns by Tirufianacampantar (7th cent.) are messages of love; cf. also Tiruvaymoli I.iv.1-8. Heroic poetry also manifests poems of this type, e.g. Puram 67 in which the poet Picintaiyar addresses a swan and requests it to visit the place of his friend, king Kopperuncolan, and introduce itself as the servant of the poet. The Sanskrit duta poetry had probably a trigger-effect on the 'message' poems so that they developed into a full-fledged and productive genre, narrative and erotic, with many sub-types. The tutu in later Tamil literature uses, as messengers, swans, peacocks, parrots, clouds, cuckoos, the mina birds, the South wind (tenral), one's own heart, a female companion, a danceuse—vimli, but also tobacco-leaf (!), paddy (!) and pieces of dress (!). The heroine is usually the one who sends the message though the reverse is also found. Cinic Carkkaraip Pulavar (late 18th-early 19th cent.), the author of Tiruccenturpparani, was also the poet of Pukayilaivitututu 'Tobacco-leaf as Messenger37.' The anthology Perunkatai, quoting from the commentary on Colamantala catakam 6538, contains a lovely and moving poetic message ascribed to Catti murruppulavar39 which says: 36 In. A Type of Apostrophes in Sangam Literature, a paper read before the Third International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies in Paris, July 1970. 37

38

Edited by U. V. SWAMINATHA AIYAB in

1936.

Mu. IEAKAVAIYANKAB, Peruntokai, 1935-36, p. 335, poem No. 1463. 39 The name means simply 'The Poet of Cattimurram.' Cattimurram is a place in the Chola country in the vicinity of Kumpakonam. The only vague clue is given in line 10 which speaks about Roman Valuti Kutan manram which may be interpreted as 'the hall in [the city of] Kutal ( = Maturai) of king Valuti.' The diction and style of the original are quite exquisite; the poem is one of the most beautiful single-stanza poems ever composed in the language. It can be compared with Puram 67 by Picirantai addressed to a male swan (annacceval).

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Stork! Stork! Red-legged stork! Red-legged stork with the sharp red beak like the cleft root of the fruit-bearing palmyra palm! When you and your female have bathed at the Southern Kumari, if you should return to the North and bathe in the Kaviri, stop at the home of Cattimurram and tell my wife, who must be watching the clicking lizard on the rain-wet wall, that in the city hall of our king Valuti without a garment, shivering from cold, covering my body with my legs, and sighing like a snake in a basket opening its mouth with its sharp teeth the miserable me you have seen here. 54. Nayanappattu is a poem in ten stanzas (pattu) in praise of a person's eyes (nayanam). 55. Navamanimdlai 'garland of nine gems' is a poem in nine stanzas of various metres in the antdti arrangement40. As a modern 'garland of nine gems' one may quote S. Bharati's (1882-1921) Paratamata navarattinamalai 'The Garland of Nine Gems of Mother India.' 56. Ndmamdlai 'garland of names': a poem celebrating a deity or a hero by reciting his names in the vancippd form. 57. Ndnmanimdlai 'garland of four gems': a poem in forty stanzas in four different metres in the antdti sequence, e.g. Civappirakacar's Tiruvarurnanmanimalai; a relatively modern ndnmanimdlai was composed by S. Bharati in praise of god Vinayaka; the sequence of metres in it is venpd, kalitturai, viruttam and akaval. 58. Nurrantdti is a poem of 100 venpd or kalitturai stanzas in the antdti arrangement. 59. Noccimdlai: a poem describing the defence of a fortress, based on the ancient war-theme of nocci (warrior defending a fort wearing a garland of nocci flowers). 60. Patikam. This all-important term has two (unconnected) meanings though it does not denote a true prabandha in either case. Patikam1 (cf. probably Skt. padya) is the term which began to be used for groups of &aiva and Vaisnava bhakti hymns, usually collected in groups of ten (but sometimes of nine to twelve) stanzas; an alternative term is patiyam. Patikam2 (cf. probably the Skt. pratika) is a poetic preface or an epilogue of some poems or groups of poems usually provided by a person other than the author (the anthologist, the commentator)42. 40 41

Pannirupattiyal 183. Pannirupattiyal 153-4: the four different metres are venpd, kalitturai, akaval, viruttam; or dciriyappd and dciriyaviruttam in antdti, together 40 stanzas. 42 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 197. TPA quotes 61 patikams (as decads, independent collections of non-canonical devotional or panegyric poems). Of the poetic prefaces, the most precious are the patikams of Patirruppattu.

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61. Patirrantdti: a poem of 10 stanzas in venpd or in Jcalitturai in the antdti sequence. 62. Patirruppattantdti: a poem of 100 stanzas in the antdti arrangement, each ten in a different metre. 63. Payotarapattu: a poem in 10 stanzas on female breasts (payotaram < Skt. payodhara). 64. Parani*3. Besides uld and pillaittamil, the parani (cf. Skt. bharanl) is the most interesting of medieval genres, though far less productive than the other two. It is a poem which has for its hero a warrior who has killed seven hundred or a thousand male elephants on the battlefield. It is, however, much more than that: a poem praising and extolling war, a war-poem par excellence; and a poetic expression of gruesomeness and horror. In medieval Tamil literature, it has the place of the 'gothic novel' of the 18th—19th centuries, and of the horror stories of today. It is not a very productive genre, as stated above, but perhaps all the paranis** we have are important poems, and one of them belongs to the peaks of Tamil poetry. This is the Kalinkattupparani falsely ascribed to Ottakkuttar, but in fact the work of Cayankontar, the poet-laureate of Kulottunka I, on the Kalinga war in about 1110 A.D. This war is well attested by an independent source—the inscriptions45, according to which the Chola army crossed the Vengi territory, destroyed the elephant corps sent by the enemy to oppose its march, spread fire across the hostile country of Kalingam, killed in the fight many powerful leaders of the Kalinga army, and in the end subdued the Seven Kalingas. The immediate cause of the war was the default on the part of the Kalinga king in the payment of the annual tribute. Kulottunka was undoubtedly the aggressor, in spite of the fact that the Kalinga king, Anantavarman Codaganga, was the grandson of Virarajendra Chola by his daughter Rajasundari. The expedition was led by the Pallava chieftain and Chola general Karunakara Tontaiman, lord of Vantai. There is a tradition that the emperor was so impressed with the poem that, at its rehearsal, he rewarded the poet by rolling a golden coconut at the end of each stanza. Three features characterise the Kalinkattupparani46: its gruesome aspects; its sensuousness; and its high formal perfection. 43

Cf. Pannirupattiyal 142-45. 44 XPA quotes only 5 paranis; besides Kalinkattupparani, these are the allegoric Annavataipparani (alias Nanaparam) and Mokavataipparani ascribed alternatively to Tattuvarayar and CStippirakacar (16th cent.), Tiruccenturpparam by Clriic Carkkaraippulavar (late 18th—early 19th cent.) and the allegorical Pacavataipparani by Vaittiyanata Tecikar. Surprisingly, it does not quote Takkayakapparam. 45 44 of 1891, SII iv, 445. 46 Cf. V. KANAKASABHAI PILLAI, The Kalingathu Parani, IA 19 (1890) 329-45; K. SIVATHAMBY, Kalingattupparani—A Short Note on its Form and Content, Kalaimancari 2 (1966), Peradeniya; T. P. MEENAKSHISTJNDARAM, The Param Poetry, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 196-207; M. RAGHAVA IYENGAB, Kalinkattupparanikkurippukkal, Centamil 23, pp. 97-179.

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As to the first feature: the poem is a war-extolling poem, as stressed above. It is obviously gruesome on purpose. The poet does not hesitate to paint the most gruesome pictures, cf. st. 167: Look at the fats! Look at the soil ripe with the odours of fat! Look at the earth crowded with cadavers! Or the very terrible st. 169 in which the devils sniff at their hands bathed in rivers of rich blood (kolunkarutipunal). Such and many similar verses are almost obscene in their bloodthirsty and horror-inspiring grotesqueness. In Canto 9, Kali promises her devils a feast: the Kalinga war will result in a glorious massacre; the devils dance with joy, but suddenly they become worried whether they will indeed be able to feed their bellies full with the gruel prepared from the corpses, and Kali assures them that the war will be so exceptionally fierce and cruel that they will certainly be satisfied: it will be double the size of the war in Lanka (st. 231). The sensuous, haunting beauty of the first canto ends with st. 74, and with st. 75 we enter the realm of horror and of the grotesque. There is a suggestive and in places a masterful description of the waste jungle, inhabited by the demons, which contrasts with the sweet, voluptuous loveliness of the first canto. These stanzas abound in words like pinam 'corpse,' pey 'devil,' Jcuruti 'blood,' cutukatu 'cremation ground' and the like. In a way, the central figure of the poem is Kali in her most terrifying aspects. Stanzas 134-152 describe with gusto the horrible anatomy of the devils and their different varieties. Why all these gruesome aspects? We shall return to this question below; suffice it so say at this point that there can be no doubt of the 'social order' of the poem: it is a court-poem of the Chola emperors pervaded by the ideology serving the ruling dynasty; this is revealed quite clearly in the series of panegyric stanzas (e.g. 195-208) which praise shamelessly the Chola kings including Karikala, Parantaka, Rajaraja etc., and of course the present patron of the poet. Even Kali is full of praise for Kulottunka (210, 211). The poem is at the same time the glorification of the expansionist imperialism of the Cholas. After an elaborate invocation in 20 stanzas of various deities who are asked to protect Kulottunka there is the lovely canto 2 'Opening of the doors' (21-74): Ladies are asked to stop their sulking and open the doors of their bed-chambers for the victorious heroes of the battle in Kalingam, to celebrate, in the morning, their victory with songs. The next canto (75-96) offers the description of the waste-land (kdtu) which is the seat of Kali, the queen of the demons (pey), feeding on corpses at the battlefield of Kalingam. Stanzas 97-120 of the third canto deal with the temple of Kali in the midst of the jungle. Canto 5 (121-133) is an invocation of Kali and the description of her deeds; the goddess is a horrible apparition, and is served by terrifying rites. In canto 6 (134-152), the demons who form the company of Kali, are described in detail. They are lean and famished. Canto 7 (153-177): Kali reclines amidst her demonesses on her throne, and an old devil shows her his magical tricks. This 'visiting' devil

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conjures a battle-scene so that the demons are mad with blood-lust. Canto 8 (178-211) gives the genealogy of Kulottunka, as related to Kali by the old demon. Canto 9, 'The Complaint of the Devils' (212-231): The devils are hungry. They look forward to Kulottunka's expedition, for it will provide them with food. The next is a long canto (232-311) describing the birth and life of Kulottunka and his deeds in detail, related by Kali to her demons. In canto 11 (312-403), the Chola general sets out and arrives in Kafici. After receiving ministers, feudal lords etc., he marches North, arrives in the Kalinga country, and the battle begins. This is related by a demon who comes to inform Kali. The description of the war proper is found in the next canto (404-473): the Kalinga king loses the war, his heroes are dispersed or annihilated. The longest canto of the poem is its last (472-596); it describes the battlefield: the demons, with mouth watering, rush in a wild stampede to the feast on the battleground. Kali takes a bath, the demons clean their teeth, and then set out to feed on the corpses. Satisfied, they praise Kulottunka for the feast. Thus the entire poem, a masterpiece of gruesome and grotesque imagery, is in fact a vision of the demons. The poet's main plan seems to be to show the love-hungry women of the Chola country first; then to proceed to the demoniac havoc caused by their husbands on the battlefield; and finally to show the bereaved women of the country which opposed the Chola invasion. The devils and Kali are always present; so, in a way, the whole poem is a devilish commentary upon the cruel deeds of men. The most gruesome stanzas are probably found in the last canto which describes e.g. the killed warriors into whose mouths spears were thrown: they look as if they blew trumpets (498); arrows are pulled out of the wounds with their heads stained by human blood and fat (500); Kali permits her demons to fall upon corpses and cook their gruel (kul) from the blood, bones, fat and marrow of the dead (503). Many stanzas describe with gusto and in detail the procedure of the cooking, to the minutest details. Stanzas 565 ff. contain specimens of horrible humour: the Brahman devil gapes with his mouth ajar at the tasty soup of stinking corpses and begs for it like a religious beggar; the Jaina devil eats only once a day and will be given only strained soup; the Buddhist devil (567) will be given only the brains of the dead. In 578, the devils are invited to eat tender entrails, to chew cut-off fingers, to masticate the bones of the fore-arms, and to swallow the brains and marrows. They are told to stuff themselves till they will sweat (581). After the feast, there are games and betel-chewing. This 'realistic,' fully exposed, uncovered and'obscene description of the horrors of war is not a characteristic feature of Tamil culture and poetry; it is almost utterly absent from ancient classical poems which speak only in allusions and suggestions, in similes and metaphors, and always with elegance and decency. Is Kalinkattupparani a poem which reflects Kaliworship ? It would indeed seem so, since Canto 6 is truly a sort of demonology of the Tamil imperial age. The physical appearance of the devils is described in detail, with an odd kind of cruel, grotesque humour, and various kinds and

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classes of demons are dealt with: the devil with lame legs, the dwarf-devil, the dumb devil, the deaf devil, the hunch-back devil, etc. Cayankontar is great in his similes and metaphors: the arms and legs of the emaciated devils are compared to a thick forest of tall black palmyras (135); their backs are rugged like the outer part of wooden boats beaten by waves and winds (139); their teeth are strung like plough-nails and hoes (141); the fallen elephants in the sea of blood are compared to a dark cloud sinking into the ocean to dry it out (434). Some similes are quite realistic and drawn from the rough life around: thus in 435, the men who cut off elephants' trunks with their swords and placed then on their shoulders are like men who carry on their shoulders leather-bags with drinking water. As one might expect, the poet is at his best in this war poem when describing the scenes which depict battles; thus st. 406 operates with the picture of oceans clashing against each other: the two armies fell upon each other like two oceans, the two cavalries fell upon each other like clashing waves. In 407, the elephants attacked each other like attacking mountains; the war-chariots fell upon each other like a clashing accumulation of clouds. In 408, men fell upon each other like fighting tigers; and the kings like fighting lions. The regular and firm structure may be demonstrated by the following triad of stanzas, a kind of ministructure operating with the device of parallelism: 406: ocean clashes with ocean: army with army; waves upon waves: horsemen against horsemen. 407: mountains clash with mountains: elephants with elephants; clouds with clouds: chariots with chariots. 408: tigers fight with tigers: men with men; lions with lions: kings with kings. The first and third verses of the three stanzas end all with pol 'like,' the second and fourth verses with the verbal infinitives. The etukai 'rhyme' is identical in the whole triad: abab. There are other regular prosodic features, e.g. the initial rhyme which is aabb; and the stanzas have identical metre (= = = = ) . In the best stanzas, form and content are in complete unity, the form obeying the content and multiplying its effect: thus stanzas 302 ff., which depict the gruesome joy of the devils, manifest the oddly primitive way in which these sub-humans speak, with their terribly sounding repetitions, and the horribly suggestive rhythm, which reflect marvellously the eagerness, the hunger, the perverse joy of the demons: The blood, the blood of the Kalingas, all over, all over Kalingam, destroy the soft bodies, destroy the soft bodies! (302) To appease our shrunk bellies, to eat and drink to the brim, arise, arise, o demons, arise, arise, hosts of devils! (303)

*•

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St. 309 reflects the sound of the mad dance of the devils: pillai vlla vila vumpe runtu nankai kottume vallai pdti dti oti vdve ndva laikkwme The poet achieves tremendous effect by syntactic inversion: thus in st. 358: Arose the armies. And as they arose, ruined was the back of the Earth. Trembled and fell the forests and the mountains, all regions changed to devastated nothingness. The Lautmalerei in this poem is astounding: there is e.g. a substantial sounddifference among stanzas describing war-elephants (350), horses (351), chariots (352), marching soldiers (353); in this last, to give an illustration, there is not a single long vowel in the eight lines, and the rhythm is that of a quick march of footmen. In 355, which deals with horses, we indeed 'hear' the horses neighing—a rational explanation is available: the predominance of velar and palatal fricatives in words like ukam, mukil, ukaittal, mukatta, nakai; the following consonants are 'diagnostic' for elephants: I, I, t, r, i.e. retroflexes. And the rhythm is handled with the same supreme skill: while in the stanzas which deal with the different armies (cavalry, elephants etc.) the rhythmic pattern is = — ' / = = / = — ' / = = / / = — ' / = = / = —' —-'*7, as soon as the poet describes the beginnings of the actions as such—the armies raise and march towards the battle-field—the rhythm changes drastically: = = / ' / = '— I I — = I ' / = '—; a wavelike majestic motion may be heard in these lines48. A special effect is achieved by repeating entire phrases, like in 23: O you of sweet speech, open the gates, after you rise from your sleep; like peacocks, like peacocks you come, your curling hair dances and dances, and the bells tinkle and tinkle. Cayankontar is above all a great painter; thus e. g. in 46 he describes a woman,, rising from sleep, in the following way: With one hand raised, she smoothes the waves of her hair, and tucks in clusters of flowers; the other hand sliding down, she folds her dress in waves, and the face blooms from the sweet morning sleep. It is natural that a Chola court-poet employs many sophisticated figures: hemakes use of ciletai (Mesa), e.g. in 63 or 73 where he puns on the two meanings of kdnci: the female waist-girdle, and the city of Kafici; in 63 on the two meanings of kalinkam (the dress and the name of the country), in 73 again on the two meanings of vaiamalai (Himalaya, and female breasts adorned with garlands). Yamaka, the repetition of words or syllables of like sound but. 47 Cf. the Tamil text (in an approximation to phonetic transcription): kadutta; viseyirul koduttd vulahoru / Jcdnattil vdlamvdru Jcdnippil tier. 48 Cf. the Tamil text: yezhundadu sienei y&zhalum j irindadu pdarin muduhu..

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different meaning in different slots of a stanza is also employed, e.g. in 454 which says: On the day when the One (oruvan, i.e. Karunakaran, the Chola general) destroyed the one Kalingam, a kalinlcam (cloth) was worn by every one (oruvar). Although much schematism, hyperbolic overstatement and conceits has entered the delicate matter of 'mood' and 'flavour', there are some stanzas which ring rather true, e.g. 450 where the fear of the Kalingas is described: What is this ? Is it some delusion ? Is it a conflagration ? Or Yama's coming ? Is it the end of the world ? They shouted and fell, shaking and trembling, the Kalingas.

The short shouts in the original text (etu kol itu itu mdyai onru kol j erikol maralikol uli yinkatai / atu kol . . . etc.) sound very convincing. The poet is great in 'sustaining' the flavour (rasa) of particular stanzas: e.g. in 347 which is typically illustrative of wonder (viyappu); 357 of anger (vekuli); 377 of heroism (vlram); 450 of fear (accam); 484 of weeping and sorrow (alukai); 573 of gruesome humour (nakai): the devil using an elephant's cut-off trunk as a laddie; 581 illustrates joy (uvakai). The metric form of the poem is tdlicai quatrains with a variety of cantam. On the other hand, Kalinkattupparani lacks breadth of vision and depth of experience. It is a feudal court-poem for the war-like and the blood-thirsty, not a poem of elementary human emotions. In spite of the fact that most of its stanzas are extremely skillful in the employment of metre and phonaesthetic devices, that there are some striking similes and metaphors, some magnificent descriptions of battle-scenes, one very fundamental feature is missing: humanity ; human warmth, human interest, even human characters. It is at the same time sub-human and super-human, having for its 'heroes' either horrible demons and their goddess, or superhuman, magnified and glorified kings. There is not a single character of human proportions. The impression it leaves is that of a fantastic nightmare, "of devils and corpses and sex-hungry women and weeping widows49." The other truly impressive parani is Ottakkuttar's Takkayakapparani (ca. 1150 A.D.). The story is taken from Sanskrit purdnic material: the battle between Daksa (Takkan), the son of Brahma and the father-in-law of Siva, and Siva's general Virabhadra. Daksa desires to take revenge on Siva for his having married his daughter Daksayanl without his permission. He arranges for a sacrifice and refuses to invite Siva. Virabhadra and Kali march and destroy the sacrifice. The ghosts and demons enjoy an incomparable feast. The proud Daksa appears transformed with the head of a foolish goat. The style of Ottakkuttan is great, magnificent, and rather artificial. One can hardly escape the impression that the mythology of the Devi as Kali, the Power of Time, and as Bhairavi, the Power of Death, with her demons and ghosts, made use of with such knowledge and skill, and to so much detail by 49

C. and H. JESUDASAN, HTL, p. 188.

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Ottakkuttan and Cayankontar, must reflect her worship and the predominance of Tantric atmosphere which was probably typical for that age in Tamilnadu's religious history, if not universally, then at least in the feudal and intellectual circles of the Chola court. 65. Palcantamdlai: a poem of 10-100 stanzas in ten different kinds of cantam. 66. Pavanikkdtal: a poem in which a woman fascinated by a hero riding in procession reveals her disconsolate love to her maids. A sub-type of Jcdtal (q.v.). 67. Panmanimdlai: a poem containing all sections of a kalampakam except orupoku, ucal and ammdnai (cf. No. 30). 68. Pdtdtikecam ( < Skt. pddddikeia): a poem describing a person from the sole of the feet to the tuft of hair. Cf. No. 35. 69. Pillaittamil 'The Tamil of Childhood,' alias pillaikkavi, pillaippdttu, pillaitirundrnam, is the most popular and the most productive of all prabandhas50. It is defined as a genre in praise of childhood, singing of the male or female child between its third and twenty-first month of life. According to Civanana Munivar (d. 1785), even while singing of the omnipotent deity it is more charming to sing of it as of a child51. If the child is male, the genre has the following components: 1. kdppu: the praise of the deity and a prayer offered for the child's welfare; 2. cenkirai: teaching the child to speak correctly {cent 'correct, proper' -f- Mr 'speech'); 3. tdl, the lullaby; 4. cappdni: the song of clapping hands; 4. muttam: the song of kisses; 5. varukai or varuka (also vdrdnai): the welcome song; 6. ampuli: song addressed to the Moon, requesting it to come down to appease the child; 7. cirril (ilaittal): the song of brushing aside toy-houses (cirril) built by little girls; 8. ciruparai (mulakkal): the song of the kettle-drum; 9. ciruter (uruttal): the song of the toy-cart. If the child is a female, there are the following components instead of Nos. 7, 8, 9: 7. nirdtal: the song of the bath; 8. ammdnai: the song of throwing up and catching seeds (kalanku) or balls; 9. ucal: the song of the swing. It seems that the first poet who developed the genre was the Vaisnava Periyalvar who sang about Krsna. In his poetry—though it contains various components like the song of calling the Moon, of the child's clapping its hands, the song of piercing the ear-lobes, the song of hide-and-seek etc.—the events of childhood have not yet been conventionalized into the nine or ten stages of the child's life. It might have been Ottakkuttan or some other poet52 who has 60 The cult of the child seems to be a very deep-rooted and all-embracing feature of Tamil culture (as it is of Tamil life in general): it is probably not imcidental that we have on the one hand this interesting genre of such popularity and productiveness, and, on the other hand, that a surprisingly high number of modern Tamil stories deal with the problems of childhood. Cf. also the concept of Muruku, Murukan, the 'Tamil' god par excellence, as a boy, as eternal youth, as the adolescent. 51 AmutampikaippiUaittamil 1. 62 We know e.g. of a Kankeyan piUaittamil composed in ± 1230 A.D. by KotikkoNtan Periyan Aticcatevan; the poem is lost and our knowledge stems from epigraphy.

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structured the pillaittamil. Ottakkuttan composed a pillaikavi in his grand courtly style on his patron Kulottunka II (12th cent.). The greatest poet to use this genre was Kumarakuruparar who worshipped god in the form of the divine child Murukan and of the divine mother Minatci. There were innumerable poems of this kind in later literature: Tattuvarayar (ca. 1450-1475) and Civappirakacar (first half, 17th cent.), both mystic philosophers, used it for praising their gurus53; PakalikkUttar composed his Tiruccenturppillaittamil (ca. 1410) in praise of Murukan's childhood54; Citamparacuvami, a poet and grammarian, composed another pillaittamil to praise Murukan55; even Muslims have a number of pillaittamil poems on the Prophet and on their saints56. Kumarakuruparar, one of the most prolific poets in Tamil literature, was born at Srivaikuntam (Tirunelveli) of velldla parents; the boy was dumb till his fifth year; he is said to have gained the power of speech when five years old at Murukan's temple in Tiruccentur. He then praised the god in his first poem, Kantarkalivenpa, a work of intensely moving power and fine literary qualities. To your broad chest, bedecked with gems and golden jewels, you clasp your consorts of red lips and slender waist. The golden sacred thread, rudraksa beads, soft silken clothes, a waistcord and a belt adorn your youthful body. Your divine shape is dazzling like a million suns. Your Hill is the mountain of Bliss which dwells in the hearts of those that are filled with unceasing devotion. Your River is the joyous, overflowing flood of Bliss. Your Land is that which confers supreme happiness. Your City is the lovely town of infinite joy, Your Steed is that which has no beginning and no end— the all-pervasive beast, the teacher of the mystery of Five Letters . . .

Kumarakuruparar received initiation from Macilamani Tecikar, the fourth head of the matha at Dharmapuram; he studied philosophy, Sanskrit and Tamil; was sent North and, sometime after 1655, made a tour of Northern India, met the Mughal emperor, and received from him a gift of land in Banaras where he established a monastery and built a temple. He died there in ca. 1688. Kumarakuruparar was the author of the well-known Nitinerivilakkam 'The Lamp in the Path of Righteousness' in 102 venpds on moral subjects57. His Cakalakalavallimalai in ten stanzas in praise of Sarasvati is said to have been composed in Banaras as a thanksgiving for gaining proficiency in Hindustani to meet and converse with the emperor in Dilli. He wrote philosophical poems 63

E.g. Tattuvarayar's Corupanantar piljaittamil, and Civappirakacar's Civarianapalaiyarcuvamikal pillaittamil. 54 Cf. Mir. IRAKAVAIYANKAR, Centamil 6.6 (1907-8). 55 Tirupporur Murukan pillaittamil (18th cent.). 58 E.g. Caiyitu Mukiyyittin, Napinayakan piUaittamil. 57 Cf. S. WINFRED, Tamil Minor Poets, Madras 1872, which contains an English version of Nitinerivilakkam.

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(Pantaramummanikkovai), works on Tamil prosody (Citamparaceyyutkovai), devotional prabandhas (Kacikkalampakam, Kayilaikkalampakam, Tiruvarurnanmanimalai, Maturaikkalampakam, Minatciyammaikkurametc), and several pillaittamil poems: Muttukkumaracuvamippillaittamil which praises Murukan of Vaiticuvarankoyil, and Minatciyamman pillaittamil in praise of goddess Mmatci of Maturai are the two best-known. In these poems, he has sung of the god and the goddess with love, reverence and joy, in a majestic language, appropriate to the treatment of the child as divine child, playing with the universe : O you gentle, young Light spreading the rays of grace, devouring Earth and Heavens, o you Light of the shining Lamp illuminating the house built of flesh and the senses! (MuttukkumaracuvamippiJlaittamil 28)58 Since about the end of the 17th century, and especially in 18th century poems of this genre, a pillaittamil is usually divided into ten sections, and each stage (paruvam) becomes the platform for extolling particular virtues of the god-child Murukan. In the 'protected stage' (kdppupparuvam), the protection and blessing of gods and goddesses is invoked for the newborn Murukan. The second section is interpreted as 'red plant' (cem + klrai) which sways rhythmically in breeze just like the child's head nodding in response to external stimuli: the nodding of the god's head in time with the dancing of the gods corresponds to the rhythm and pulsation of the universe. In the 'cradle stage' the child sleeps, soothed by the singing of the gods, and the poet asks Murukan for peace and rest. In the next, crawling stage (cappdni), the god-child begins to explore the world and play on all fours. In muttapparuvam (the 'kissing stage'), the poet asks the god-child who is like a precious pearl (muttu) to 'kiss' him and adorn him with the pearls of liberation (mutti). In the next section (vdrdnai) the poet asks the god-child extending his hands to embrace him in times of need. In ampulipparuvam (ampuli = moon) the Moon is invited to come and play with Murukan as his toy and attendant. In cirrir paruvam, Murukan, aged four, plays with a 'small house' (cirril), and the poet ask the god to protect his home and the homes of humanity. In the next stage, the godchild plays with his small drum (ciruparai) whose constant beat provides the cosmos with its rhythm. Finally, in the ciruterparuvam, the five year old child Murukan roams the world in his chariot, granting his blessing to the whole world which is his play yard. 70. Pukalccimdlai: panegyric on a heroine in vanci intermixed with akaval and kali. 71. Peyarinnicai: a poem of 50, 70 or 90 stanzas in innicaivenpd which mentions in each stanza the name (peyar) of the hero or patron; peyarnericai: the same in nericaivenpd. 68

Pannirupattiyal devotes to this genre aphorisms 101—15, which also manifests its great relative importance.

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72. PerumakUccimdlai: panegyric on the greatness of a chaste woman. 73. Perumankalam: benedictory song; poem describing the celebration of the king's birthday. 74. Porkkeluvanci: panegyric on an army marching to battle, the warriors decked with garlands of vanci. 75. Mankalavellai: poem on a chaste woman of noble birth in 9 stanzas in mixed venpd and vakwppu, or one kalivenpd plus 9 stanzas either in venpd or vakuppu. 76. Mated, lit. 'jagged stem of a palmyra leaf.' One of the most interesting, and obviously old, genres of erotic narrative poetry. In its embryonic form it is found in later strata of classical bardic poetry. It developed into a narrative poem in kalivenpd metre, describing (figuratively ?) a disappointed lover riding on a palmyra stem. The figure of a horse is designed out of palmyra fronds and fastened to a chariot. The figure of the heroine is drawn on a piece of cloth (with a suitable legend glorifying her beauty and virtue). The hero holds it in his hand as he rides on the doll-horse which is drawn by the youngsters of the place. Alternatively, he will mount the palmyra stem and ride it like a horse (matalurtal or matal-erutal). He will ride through the street where his beloved lives. This tragicomical, ridiculous act will lead to gossip. Threatened in this way, the maid should agree to marry him; or, alternatively, the maid-companion agrees to convey the message of love. Later there are two sub-types oimatal: uldmatal in which the hero who has dreamt about a woman wakes up and proclaims that he will ride the mated horse because of her; and valamatal which praises pleasure as exceeding virtue, wealth and even deliverance, and mentions the name of the hero in the etukai (assonance)59. 77. Manimdlai, a poem of 20 venpd and 40 kalitturai stanzas. 78. Mdlai 'garland, wrath of flowers,' a supergenre defined formally as a number of stanzas connected by some structural principle. It has a great number of subtypes, the most important among them being (in agreement with Pannirupattiyal 150-155,183-187 and 193-195) palcantamdlai or 'the garland of many (kinds of) cantam', inaimanimdlai (cf. No. 15), irattaimanimdlai (cf. No. 17), mummanimdlai (cf. No. 82), ndnmanimdlai (cf. No. 57), kalampalcamdlai, navamanimdlai 'the garland of nine gems,' a poem in nine stanzas in venpd, dciriyappd, kalippd and vancippd stanzas organized as tdlicai, turai and viruttam, kaikkilaimdlai on one-sided love, tdrakaimalai in 27 different stanzas and in ilesa (dealing simultaneously with two subjects), and centamilmdlai in 27 stanzas in the classical metres on any subject. For varukkamdlai cf. No. 88. 79. Maram 'heroism' is an interesting though unproductive genre defined thematically as a poem on a heroic deed or heroic attitude. It is superbly illustrated by the two poems on Tinnan Kannapanayanar, the heroic devotee of $iva who has given his eye in the service of his god, one by Nakkirar and another by Kallatar (both 11th Tirumurai). As a part of kalampakam, maram 59

Cf. Pannirupattiyal 146-7.

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describes the refusal by Maravar (the warrior tribe, the Marava caste) to give a girl of their clan to a king in marriage60. 80. Mutukdnci: a poem of admonition and instruction (leanci) by old men of ripe wisdom (mutu) to inexperienced youths. 81. Mummanikkovai 'the string of three gems': a poem of 30 stanzas in which akaval, venpd and kalitturai occur one after another in antdti arrangement (Ilakkanavilakkam 815); according to Pannirupattiyal 156, the sequence is venpd, akaval, kalitturai. 82. Mummanimdlai 'the garland of three gems,' a poem of 30 stanzas in which venpd, kalitturai and akaval occur one after another in antdti (Ilakkanavilakkam 820; Pannirupattiyal 152). 83. Meykklrittimdlai is a panegyric poem about the great deeds of a king. 84. Vacantamdlai: a poem in antdti arrangement on the South wind (tenral). 85. Vannam (cf. Pkt. vanna, Skt. varna), lit. 'colour; beauty; decoration' is a complex, late, and rather formalistic genre, consisting of eight equal stanzas each of which is termed kalai (the first kalai, the second kalai, etc.). The first contains invocation of deity, the second description of the kingdom of the hero, the third and fourth contain his name and praises, the four remaining stanzas deal in a sophisticated way with his women and contain usually erotic descriptions of great realism. The etukai 'initial rhyme' is repeated in the 1st, 3rd, 5th an 7th kalai, the other kalais containing the monai 'initial alliteration.' The stanzas should be equal, and composed according to cantam, not metre. The best vannams all belong to the 16th-18th centuries: Tayumanavar composed a vannam, as well as Kaviracappillai (Tiruvannamalaiyar vannam, 16th cent.)61. The son of the great Muslim poet Umaru, Kavikkalanciya Pulavar (18th cent.) composed a Cirappuranavannam 62 . 86. Varaldru 'history,' see carittiram. 87. Varaldrruvanci, a poem describing the march of an army to the battlefield. 88. Varukkakkovai, a poem in kalitturai metre in which the stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in successive order; varukkamdlai (cf. Skt. vargamdld), a poem in which the stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in successive order. 89. Vakaimdlai: poem in praise of a victorious warrior crowned with a garland of vakai (Sirissa) flowers. 90. Vdyuraivdlttu: poem with the theme of wise men giving advice to a chief. 91. Viruttavilakkanam: poem dealing with the bow, sword, spear, sceptre, 60 Cf. Pannirupattiyal 148. 61 Ceraik Kaviraja PiJlai, a &aiva poet of the karunikar 'accountant' caste of the 2nd half of the 16th century, author of Tirukkajattinatarula in 578 kanni verses, Tirukkajatinatar kattajaik kalitturai malai (100 stanzas), Ceyur Murukan ula (as yet unprinted), and Irattinakiriyula (408 kanni verses). The vannam has a very complex and intricate cantam pattern. 62 Besides an ammdnai on the Prophet (Napiyavatara ammanai, 1713), and an anthology of citrakavi (Cittirakkavittirat^u).

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elephant, horse, country, capital city, and liberality of a king, each praised in a decade of stanzas in a different metre. 92. Vildcam < Skt. vildsa, lit. 'sport, play, diversion.' A genre not usually included among the standard prabandhas, and covering a wide range of subjects, based either on traditional themes (such as Makaparatavilacam by Iramaccantirak Kavirayar, 19th cent., Iramavilacam by Kantap Pillai, b. 1766, the father of Arumuka Navalar, or Markkanteyavilacam by Venkatarama Upattiyayar, Madras 1869), or—and these poems are rather interesting—• on actual contemporary or recent events. A fascinating poem of this second type is the Pancalaksana trrumukavilacam, a satire published in 1899, composed by Villiyappa Pillai, one of the court poets of Sivagangai. This narrative piece full of humour and biting irony deals in ca. 4500 lines with the conditions of the people suffering in the great famine of 1876. There are effective thrusts at the hypocrisy and fraud of astrologers, goldsmiths, prostitutes, etc. God SundaresVara of Maturai pleads his helplessness in solving the problems of the inhabitants hit by the famine, and gives them a letter to Turaicinka Tevar, the zammddr of Sivagangai, asking him to relieve their suffering. 93. Viralivitututu, lit. 'virali (songstress-danceuse) as messenger,' is a subtype of the 'messenger' poems (tutu, vitututu). The earliest Tamil full-fledged tutu poem may have been Kumaracuvami Avatani's Teyvaccilaiyar viralivitututu in honour of a Nayaka agent in Tirunelveli composed as early as the end of the 16th century. The greatest name among the poets of this genre is Cuppiratipa Kavirayar, a Vaisnava Brahman from Srirangam who is said to have been a student of Parancoti (the author of Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam) and the Tamil teacher and collaborator of C. G. E. Beschi (1680-1746). He lived under the patronage of Kulappa Nayaka, the ruler of a fortress near Dindigul, and composed two prabandhas for him, Kulappanayakkan katal (q.v.), and Viralivitututu in 1085 couplets (kanni)™. Cuppiratipa had many imitators. The most outstanding among them was Caravana Perumal Kavirayar from Mutukulattur (Ramnad distr.), one of the traditional poets of Cetunatu. He belonged to the 18th century, was the student of Civafiana Munivar's student Comacuntara Pillai, became the court poet of Mutturamalinka Cetupati (2nd half, 18th cent.), and author of Panavitututu 'Money as Messenger,' Acuvametayakapuranam, Vinayakatirumukavilacam and Muttirulappap Pillaimitu Katal. The story of his great messenger poem, Cetupativirali vitututu, is derived from the older Viralivitututu of Cupratipa; but instead of Kulappa Nayaka, the nominal hero is Cetupati, and there is some difference in style. The story: Cuntaramaiyan, the son of Atirattinam Aiyar, a well-educated, skillful and accomplished boy, leaves his house after a quarrel with his wife on account of his unfaithfulness. He falls into the trap of a prostitute and loses 63

As many as 1144 couplets are given in the unexpurgated editions, difficult to obtain, though. The recent printed editions of the katal and vitututu poems are all expurgated with reference to the Madras G. O. Nos. 1507 of 1948 and 3397 of 1949 Public General.

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his wealth. Ill, deserted, poor, he seeks the patronage of Civacami Cetupati who helps him. He longs now for the happy domestic life, and sends a virali 'danceuse' to appease his wife; before she goes, he tells her his whole life-story: How he studied Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit, how he married Tunaimalai, how happily they lived, how he met a courtesan, Manikkam, went with her, gave her money, how his wife found out, how after a quarrel he left home, got as far as Marutur, there came to learn Cenkamalavalli and her enchanting daughter Mokanamuttu; he recalls the advice given by the old ddsi to her daughter, and how the girl became the most accomplished courtesan of all times. Though he had been warned, he fell for her, gave her 1750 gold pieces, and became her lover. After he had lost all his property and his health, he finally left Marutur to seek the patronage of Cetupati, and there again regained wealth and wellbeing. Now he sends the virali to his wife. The poem is composed in 1776 couplets of two lines, four plus three feet, with a detached word. There is not much of great poetry; the narrative moves on smoothly, in conventional phrases, without inventiveness; the speeches are, however, replete with sayings and proverbs; and some of the descriptions are rather forceful and colourful (e.g. of the suitors of MSkanamuttu). The old hag is a lively character, described as 'fiery scorpion of black old age' (408) and as 'the camel of greying old age' (409); she is ugly, hunch-backed, grey-haired, red-tongued and wicked; she welcomes the hero 'like the deity of our tribe' (577), and he is caught in the snares of the great courtesan and her friends: I hastened to her house and came in like a grass-hopper falling into the flame of the lamp, like an elephant falling into a pit-fall, like a tiger in heat into the net in the forest, like a capsized ship. (542-3) He is invited to the bed-chamber. For a very brief while he is happy. Then the poor fool looses all his money and strength, and the old hag wants to get rid of him as soon as possible. At the court of Cetupati the fool is again transformed into an accomplished poet, and receives paricil 'gifts' for his poetry which he pours forth like Kalamekam (st. 1143). At the end of the poem, his deserted wife becomes again kalal manaiydl 'the beloved lady of the house.' Apart from the lively and pleasing dialogues, there are a few very interesting x>ortions, e.g. when the old woman teaches the young prostitute the kulavidyd or the 'wisdom of the trade'; in such passages there is a wealth of interesting psychological, sociological and cultural data. 94. Viravetcimdlai: poem in praise of tacdnkam or ten components of a hero's country; the hero captured the enemy's cattle covered with a vetci (Ixora coccinea, scarlet Ixora) garland. 95. Verrikkarantaimancari: poem celebrating the recovery of cattle from the enemies by warriors wearing karantai (Spaeranthes indicus, the globe thistle). 96. Veninmdlai: poem describing the hot season in its two divisions: ilavenil 'the season of young heat' and mutuvenil 'the season of ripe heat.'

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5.2. Late and non-traditional genres.

One of the 'revolutionary' changes in Tamil poetry was the intrusion and the massive impact of syllable-based and ma£ra-oriented prosody, superimposed on the acai-based system of Tamil metres64. Another occurred in the 17th-18th centuries with the introduction of new forms which did no t evolve from the Tamil 'great tradition,' but were derived from the undercurrent of folk-poetry. I would like to put forward the following hypothesis: In the millenium between approximately the 6th/7th cent. A.D. and ca. 1750 A. D., two massive and all-important upheavals in the field of Tamil poetry occurred which functioned as a kind of break-up of the structures of standard writing. The first was purely formal and concerned with prosody: mdtra-based metrics was superimposed on ami-based prosody, and the result was a new metric organisation of Tamil stanzas. The second was both thematic and formal: a special type of literary works evolved which may be designated as folk-oriented popular literature. This does not mean that echoes of folk-songs were not to be heard in the works of classical and medieval poets. It is sufficient to recall such poems as Auvaiyar's Kuruntokai 23; the poems in Kalittokai; the lyrical songs in Cilappatikaram; Manikkavacakar's poetry; some of the poems of the dlvdrs; many stanzas by the Siddhas, etc. What I have in mind is, however, vastly different. It is a special type of literature which cannot be regarded as folklore proper, and yet is definitely 'popular' in the sense that it was created (often by outstanding poets) as literature for the people (not any more for the tiny upper strata of the rulers), and modelled undoubtedly on folk-literature. These works, created in the 17th-19th centuries, but mostly between 1750-1850, have some diagnostic features in common: 1) The main motifs are primarily religious, based frequently on popular devotional legends; 2) all of these works are written so that they may be set to music; 3) almost all of them are so composed as to be fit for being enacted as street plays; 4) the authors were traditional scholars, not folk bards or popular minstrels; 5) the works enrich metrical patterns and experiment with prosody, which is of the mixed acai and mdtrd based variety and shows close relationship with songs and music; 6) as for the language and diction, they strive after easily intelligible Tamil. The represent64 If I am not mistaken, this has not been explicitely stated so far. I first became aware of this great transformation of Tamil metres when preparing my Heidelberg lectures on classical Tamil prosody in 1967. I was happy to a find a confirmation of this view in the preface to a collection of poems by the eminent Tamil poet and short story writer N. PICHAMUBTI which was published in 1970 under the title Kuyilincuruti by Bookventure, Madras. Therein he says: acaiyin atippataiyil elunta kavitai mattiraiyin atippataikku mdrivittatu. tamilk kavitaiyil erpattulla inta marram parrikkurum yappilakkanam etumillai (p, viii). Precisely: there is not a single treatise on this enormous and fundamental change of Tamil prosodic system. One thing is, however, clear: since about the 14th—15th cent, when the process was accomplished, the Tamil poem has usually a double prosodie organisation: in terms of acais or ('original') Tamil metrical units, and in terms of long and short syllables; and many pieces of poetry have only the second, imported, Sanskritic-based prosodic organisation.

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ative works of this kind are Armamalai Rettiyar's Kavaticcintu, Arunacalak Kavirayar's Iramanatakam, Ennaiyinap Pulavar's Mukkutarpal]u, Rajappa Kavirayar's Tirukkurralakkuravaiici, and Kopaiakirusna Paratiyar's Nantanar carittiram. We must make a strict distinction between these works, and the creation of unknown, anonymous authors of the early 19th century which belong to genuine folklore; these poems, of which only a small fragment was published in cheap popular prints, have drawn their sujets either from the purdnas (without much fidelity to them), or from oral tradition of popular sagas and legends, or, finally, from late medieval historical events. They may be represented by such narrative poems as Nallatankai carittiram (which also formed the subject of plays enacted until quite recently)65, Tecinkurajan katai based on the events around the Maratha resistance in the South against Muslim invaders66, the various popular version of the Kannaki-Pattini saga67, the vilpdttus or songs sung to the accompaniment of the bow68, the songs of the rdpdti or the 'night-singer69' etc. It is beyond the scope of this book, which deals solely with the written tradition to the exclusion of any type of folklore, to discuss forms which are closely related to folksongs and folktales, or may even be regarded as parts of genuine folklore. On the other hand, the mass-oriented popular literature of the 17th-19th centuries will be dealt with; the following genres will be discussed: kirttanai, cintu, kuravanci, pallu and carittiram.

5.2.1. According to the great modern essayist V. Ramaswami, the first important poets who tried to write in a language comprehensible to the people were Pattinattar and Tayumanavar. However, they did not really succeed in bridging the abyss between the spoken and the written language. Another medieval poet who was obviously greatly attracted by folksongs and inspired by them was Tattuvarayar (q.v.). However, the first one who really succeeded in bridging the gap was Arunacala Kavirayar (1712-1779) in his klrttanais on Rama. The dominant feature of his diction was intelligibility. Klrttanam or kirttanai (< Skt. klrtana, hlrtand), a song of praise of deity, hymn, "psalm," has a long history; its beginnings may be seen in stanzas describing the different varieties of victorious and glorious deeds of the hands and arms of kings or gods in succession {vakuppu 'section, division, compartment'). Since such vakuppu poems were sung, vakuppu also becomes the name of a musical composition. The next step was the tiruppukal 'divine praise,' 65 66

Going also under the name Nallatankajkatai, and ascribed to Pukalenti. The story of a popular prince of Cenci (Gingee, Jinji) whose Muslim friend died on the battle-field when the navab led an expedition against the prince. 67 Cf. e.g. BRENDA E. F. BECK, The Study of a Tamil Epic, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 23-38. 68 Cf. K. P. S. HAMEED, BOW Song: A Folk Art from South Travancore, TC 5 (1956) 274-84. 69 Cf. M. SHANMXJGAM PIX,LAI, Rapati—The Night Singer, Proceedings of the Second International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, II, Madras 1971, 275-9.

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which, in fact, is a direct forerunner of kirttanai; these stanzas were composed in intricate viruttam patterns in long verses, and the poems were divided into regular stanzas; only the refrain was still missing. As soon as a refrain developed, we get the true kirttanai. There is a kirttanai sung by Venrimalaik Kavirayar when the idol of Tiruccentur, removed by the Dutch, was recovered in 165370. Muttuttantavar composed klrttanams on Siva probably in the last part of the 17th cent, (published only in 1870). Marimuttup Pillai (d. 1787) composed the Nataracarkirttanai. In the 18th century, and especially in the early 19th cent., plays came to be written entirely or almost entirely in klrttanais, and Arunacala Ravi's Ramanatakam is the earliest and the most popular attempt of this sort. A klrttanam consist of three parts: pallavi, the chorus or burden, containing the main theme, of one or two lines, repeated as refrain after each stanza; anupallavi, the counter-theme, usually of two to three lines; one or more caranam or regular stanzas, usually of two to four lines. Much use is made of the final rhyme besides etukai and monai, usually in two successive lines. Sometimes, the anupallavi is missing; and the caranam may be longer (up to nine lines). Arunacala Kavi (1711/12-1778/79)71 was the author of Acdmukinatakam, Cirkalippuranam, Cirkalikkovai, Anumar pillaittamil, and Iramanatakam which he composed when he was sixty. He received high honours and magnificent presents for the last work which became extremely popular. It was so prestigious that its manuscripts were used as a kind of magic: if there was trouble, people would take a thread, throw it among the palm-leaves, and read the lines where it would fall, deriving some augury or advice from it. It is a 70 T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDABAN, A History of Tamil Literature, 1965, p. 171. He was also the author of Tiruccenturppuranam. 71 He was born at Tillaiyati near Tranquebar of velldla parents whom he lost as a boy. He studied Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil at Dharmapura tnatha, married when thirty years old, became a banker, but devoted all his free time to literary studies, in particular to Kampan. In 1754 on his way to Pondicherry, he stopped at Cikali; the head of the matha there, Citamparam Pillai, had been his fellow student at Dharmapuram. He had a house erected, and while Arunacala was in Pondicherry, he sent for the poet's wife and children, so that Arunacala, when he was returning via Cikali, found his family awaiting him in the new house there. He agreed to settle down in Cikali. When he composed the Iramanatakam, he went first to Pondicherry to recite it before Anandarangam Pillai, one of the most influential persons of the age, but Anandarangam, not wishing to hear it prior to its recital at some princely court, referred him to Manali Muttukkisana Mutaliyar, a great celebrity at Madras, known as cakalapdsanipurian (the one skilled in all languages). From this distinguished man, Arunacala received high "honours and generous gifts. After the Maratha king of Tanjore, Tuljajl (1765-1787) made peace with the navab, Arunacala found admittance to his presence, had the honour of reciting his dramatic poem before him, and was handsomely awarded. In later years he assumed the garb of a {§aiva ascetic and lived in retirement in Cikali where he died at the age of 67.

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dramatic poem, following closely Kampan's epic on Rama and composed entirely in klrttanais. The poems are meant to be sung, and they obviously loose much of their charm if deprived of their music component. The poem which follows should be sung in rdga curutti, and the tola should be cdpu: Theme A hundred thousand eyes are needed to see! In beauty, is any woman equal to Sltadevi ? Counter-theme

O roaming Ravana, you've established your fame in every world, you've been vexing the paradise—but will your twenty eyes be enough ? Stanza The blue lotus-like eyes ? Darts! Oh the happiness of her sweet words! Nine gems in gold her ear-jewels! In gait—a swan. There's no one equal to her on earth. She's a match only to herself.

All this is pleasantly conventional and not much of a poetry; there is, however, exceptionally, great poetry in the songs dealing with the battle-scenes like the one in kalydni rdga the counter-theme of which sounds like the beat of big drums: Ravana himself appears on the battle-field in his chariot, yoked with thousands of steeds, who arose like fire over the ocean with jumping waves, over the mountains, over the regions, over the rocks of the earth.

5.2.2. Cintu72 is a form very closely related to klrttanai. It usually contains four stanzas, the first of which is preceded by the theme (pattavi) repeated before each of the following stanzas as a refrain. Out of the four stanzas, the first is shorter than the rest, and is termed anwpallavi. It also makes frequent use of the final rhyme besides etukai and monai. The etymology of the term cintu is not at all clear72. The form has a number of subtypes; the three most popular are valinataiccintu, songs sung by travellers along the way to release them of the fatigue of the journey; nonticcintu, the cintu of the cripple (see below); and kdvaticcintu or the cintu of the kdvati. Kdvati is a decorated pole of wood with an arch, carried on shoulders, with offerings, in a parade-march in the temples of god Murukan. A special class of minstrels has arisen in Southern Tamilnadu to recite the kdvaticcintu songs which became a kind of liturgy in Murukan's temples; the songs are recited while lifting the kdvati. Annamalai Rettiyar (1861-1890)73 was the best-known author in this genre; his Kavaticcintu is a bunch of wonderfully optimistic, melodious songs in praise of Murukan; their structure is usually four quatrains making up a song, with a rhyme between the first and the third feet of the last line. 72 Cf. cintu 'dwarf; also also cintati 'metrical line of three feet'; are these items connected with cintu 'to trickle, to scatter' etc. ? Another word cintu means musical note or melody (= pan). 73 Born in Cermikkujam; patronized by the zamlndars of Cerrur and Urrumalai. Author of Cankaranarayana koyirriripantati and Navanitavirai antati.

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Nonticcintu has developed into a most interesting and quite forceful dramatic form which at the same time represents a true satire. It is then termed nontindtakam, 'the cripple's play,' and may be viewed as a kind of burlesque with broad, mordant humour of satirical effect. In form, it is a dramatic monologue with a veneer of autobiographic simulation and self-debunking74. The best representative of this class is the Nontinatakam written in honour of god Subrahmanya at the Tirumalai Hill by Manapperumal Pulavar, which belongs probably to the first half of the 18th cent. The vigorous narration in ca. 1500 lines of simple language tells us how a man who lost all his property on a public woman in Maturai, went in the garb of a sannyasi to the poligar's camp at Kurralam during his visit of the ruler of Maturai, Vijayanagara Chokkanatha Nayaka (1706—1732), whose horse he stole at night; how he was caught, maimed, then became a devotee of god Subrahmanya by whom he was healed, and his limbs restored. The early part is modelled on viralivitututus and gives a vivid portraiture of prostitutes and their clients. We are informed in many details of the 18th century social conditions and life under the poligars. This excellent work, making free use of spoken language, was followed by the Nontinatakam of Cinnattampi (1830-1878). We also have a Muslim 'drama of the lame,' called Citakkatinontinatakam. The hero, who begins life as a simple villager, falls prey to a prostitute and becomes a robber. She wants to have a horse. He attempts to steal the horse of Zulfikar Khan, the Mughal chieftain who was then encamped at Cenci (Gingee). He is caught and his leg is cut off. A friend of Citakkati, the merchant prince of Ramnad, takes pity on him and arranges for treatment; the lame man becomes a Muslim, goes to Mecca where his leg becomes whole, and returns to thank Citakkati. 5.2.3. Kuravanci (alias kuram or kumttippattu)1*. This form which was very productive between ca. 1650/1670-1830, developed from the erotic but sublimated 'ballets' that sprang up in Tamilnadu in the late middle ages when local feudal lords, landholders, and temple managers began to utilize courtesandancers of temples and towns as instruments of entertainment. Several danceuses participated to enact the story woven around a stereotype plot: a young girl, or a courtesan, playing with her companion, would chance to see the local lord, or the god-image carried in procession, and fall in love with him. Lovesick, she would invite a soothsaying Kurava woman to foretell her the future. The handmaid would then carry a love-message, and the god or chieftain would appear in disguise before the girl to woo her. She would not yield, being steadfast in her love; satisfied with her fidelity, the god or the lord would reveal himself and marry her. These 'ballets' were enacted by an all-female cast, consisting of courtesans who rendered the play in pantomime in appropriate costumes. The vocalist 74

76

A. V. SUBRAMANIA AIYAB, Tamil Studies I, 1969, p. 86.

For the etymology cf. DED 1530 Ta. kuram Kurava tribe, palmistry as practiced by Kurava women; kuratti female member of the Kurava tribe.

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of the orchestra sang the songs composed in various metres as substitute for dialogues. This art-form has not survived the first half of the 19th century, but it was revived in the middle of the 20th century by modern dancers and art savants (like Rukmini Devi, Vijayantimala, Kamala Lakshman and Balasaraswati). The theme itself appears, however, in its embryonic form much earlier76. The songs used as dialogue-substitute developed in the hands of skillful poets into an important and very productive genre, of which the first so far discovered seem to be Venkalappa Nayakkar kuravafici by Cirrampalakkavirayar (1647/8), and the anonymous Tancaivellaippillaiyar kuravafici, so far unpublished77, which belongs almost certainly to the 2nd half of the 17th century. Rajappa kavirayar (first half, 18th cent.)78 was the author of one of the earliest, and undoubtedly the most brilliant poem of this kind. Its central theme is that of human and divine love, and the traditional street play is clad in fine poetry and sensuous imagery. The premiere of the dramatic poem took place at Kurralam before the ruler of Maturai, Muttuvijayaranka Cokkanata Nayaka (1706-1732) who was so pleased with the work that he made its author the temple vidvdn and gave him a grant of land, commemorating the event in a copper plate dated 1718 A. D. The musical dance-drama opens with a description of the local manifestation of Siva coming in procession. Vacantavalli, a high-born maid of bewitching charm, is engaged in playing with the ball: her abundant hair dances rolling and revolving like silver-red carps crowding among thick foliage; she is like a dancing peacock; she is pankayamankai 'lotus-like damsel,' dtakavalli 'golden creeper,' paintotindri 'golden-bangled woman,' Vacanta oyydri cavuntari 'Vacanta the belle of graceful movements.' While at play, she sees the god and falls in love with him. Her companion is commissioned to seek an interview and convey to him the pangs of love of her mistress. Cinki, the gypsy-girl, enters the scene with a basket and a magic wand in her hand. She claims Kurralam as her home and sings of its wonderful scenery: Big apes dally with their monkey-maids, and give them fruit. Monkey-dwarflings beg those forest-apes for gifts. Hunters with their burning eyes invite their gods. Jaina ascetics improve their magic strength. Honeyed streams arise in waves and flow the way of skies. 78 The motif of a sooth-saying woman who is begged to reveal the future of a love-sick heroine is as ancient as the bardic poetry of the akam genre. According to U. V. SWAMINATHA AIYAB (commentary on Kuruntokai 23), the ,ancient akavanmakal (mentioned e.g. by Auvaiyar in Kur. 23) is the prototype of the future kuratti. 77 Ms. No. 614(a) in the Tanjore Sarasvati Mahal Library, cf. The Journal of the Tanjore Sarasvati Mahal Library XVI, 3, 1962. 78 Tirikuta Iracappak Kavirayar was born at Melakaram, a village near Kurralam (Tirunelveli distr.) in a velldla family, and was greatly devoted to the god and goddess of the famous temple there. Apart from the kuravafici and a purdnam on Kurralam, he was the author of a number of other poems, some of them still unprinted, cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), § 11.7.1.

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Red-rayed Sun's steeds' legs and car-wheels swerve and sway. Our hill is Three-peaked mountain above Kurralam, of the Lord of Matted Hair, who's crowned with crescent Moon.

Cinki then examines the palm of the lady, gets inspired, and tells Vacantavalli that her love-malady will cease and that she will be united with the Lord Siva of Kurralam. The maid rewards the gypsy with many jewels, and nothing more is heard of her. Now begins the other love-story, human and coarsely realistic: Cinkan appears in search of Cinki. As the handsome hunter is pining for his girl, his comrade Nuvan taunts him for being a weak and lustful creature. At last Cinkan finds Cinki at Kurralam; after a lively dialogue he becomes impatient and makes daring overtures, but Cinki scolds him and asks him to control himself lest others should laugh at them. Dozens of kuravanci plays were written subsequently, and a great number remains still unedited'9. 5.2.4. The Pallas (sg. pallan, pi. pallar)80 who were untouchable agricultural labourers have preserved a distinct culture of their own. The prabandhas called pallu have usually been composed so that the nominal hero was either a feudal landlord or a god. But, like in the kuravancis where the real hero and heroine belong to the Kuram tribe, the real heroes of the pallus are the Pallan and his wives; he is usually the chief tenant responsible for paddy cultivation on the farm or a temple estate. The pallus are a kind of 'musicals' which offer often a realistic and rather impressive picture of rural life. One of the earliest pallus, Kanappallu alias Tiruvarurppallu, is ascribed to Kamalaifianappirakacar (1526-1575). The Atippallu by Citamparanata Nanappirakacar has not survived81. The best-known of all pallus is a poem called Mukkutarpallu composed sometimes in the latter half of the 17th century and attributed to Ennaiyinap Pulavar alias Velan Cirmattampi. The nominal hero of the poem is god Sri Alakar (Visnu) of Mukkutal82. The temple owned extensive lands, and the manager of the estate (pannaikkdran) is one of the main characters. The real hero, though, is Alakan the Pallan; one of his wives is a Saivite, the other a Vaisnavite. The Pallan is so infatuated with the younger woman that he neglects his first wife and the farm. He is reprimanded by the manager, since rains have arrived and the season commenced. Though he promises, he goes back to the lap of his woman. The elder wife makes a complaint to the manager who puts the Pallan in fetters. On the intervention of his elder wife he is re79

Cf. K. V. ZVELEBIL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), § 11.7.1. Connected probably with DED 3307 Ta. pallam 'lowness, low land' etc., Te. pallamu 'wet land, wet crop.' They speak a very distinct dialect of Tamil, cf. K. ZvELEBiL, Pallar Speech: A Contribution to Tamil Dialectology, Linguistics 1966, 87-97. 81 For other important pallus, cf. K. V. ZVELEBTL, Tamil Lit. (Handbuch), § 11.7.2. 82 A small village on the northern bank of Tamiraparum in the Tirunelveli District, known today as Civalapperi. 80

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leased, but attacked and injured by a bull. In spite of this, the agricultural labours proceed well, and result in a bumper crop. After a sharp exchange between the two wives, reconciliation takes place and happiness is restored. There is some very lively description (in a variety of metres), e.g. of the Pallan (his weakness for drink, his infatuation with the younger wife), of the jealousy between the two women, of the manager's uncouth appearance which provokes the ridicule of the Palla women, of the details of paddy cultivation. Though the characters (as those of all kuravancis and pallus) are only types and not individual persons, the poet shows deep insight into human nature and considerable skill as dramatist. The poem also offers rich sociological and cultural information. Thus it gives e.g. a catalogue of names of the Palla women83; and another list of names of the bulls, quite charming and suggestive: Hollow-horned, Red-spotted, Thrust-hoofed, Hornless, Umbrella-eared, Hitter, Joined-horned, Black Corn-heap, Ash-coloured, Loose-eyed, Black One, Saffron-tailed etc.

Some of the dialogues are deliciously vulgar: thus e.g. when the younger wife calls the elder woman a wild civet-cat, she gets the following answer: So you say a civet-cat, hey, a cat you say, you PaJJi of Marudur! If I'm a cat, you creature, a cat, you're a miserable cracked bitch!

It seems that we may date this highly interesting and amusing work in about A.D. 168084. 5.2.5. In the 19th century, the musical dance-drama developed fully into a complex genre utilizing connective prose besides a great number of stanzaic forms like kirttanai, cintu, kummi, the kanni lines, and several others. A general term for the activity whose aim was to listen to discourses on sacred stories was kdlaksepam (lit. 'passing one's time') which may be interpreted in this context as exposition of devotional stories with music, and listening to them. The genres themselves came to be known as vildcam (< Skt. vildsa) 'past time, play,' or ndtakam 'play,' as carittiram ( < Skt. caritra) 'story,' or carittirakkirttanai. The greatest of all these early 19th century musicals is Nantanar carittirakkirttanai by Gopalakrishna Bharati (ca. 1795-1896; according to some sources, he was born either 1800 or 1811 )85, a poet and musician whose main occupation was 83

Such names as Cinni 'The Little One,' Celli 'The Dear One,' Cempi 'The Copper-Coloured One,' Nanni 'The Good One,' Kumukki (kumukku 'to beat with fists,, press wet clothes'), Cataicci 'The One with Plaited Hair,' Nalli 'The Good One' etc. 84 The text was first printed in 1864. An excellent edition with valuable introduction and copious notes was prepared by Mu. ABTJNACALAM (1940, 1949). 85 Kopalakirusna Parati was a Brahman born in a family of musicians in Nari-

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to perform kdlaksepams in which he sang his own kirttanais. While in Nakappattinam he gave a kdlaksepam on the life of Nantan, the only pulaiya (Harijan outcaste) among the 63 Saiva saints. It was so excellent that he was asked to give a permanent shape to the story and the music. He worked at it in Nakappattinam and in Mayavaram, taking as his point of departure the 37 stanzas found in the 'Great purdnam.' The work was an instant hit. The story of Nantan is narrated in a song-sequence and scenic dialogues. The majority of the songs is composed in the klrttanai form, the rest in nonticcintu, kummi, and the like. Connecting links are provided by simple prose or verses in viruttam, some of them taken from Periyapuranam. The story of Nantan runs as follows: Nantan was born as a pulaiya in the ceri (outcaste village) of Atanur. He was devoted to Siva from his boyhood. He went to Tiruppankur temple and succeeded in having a darsan. He then decided to go to Citamparam, but about this he was rather irresolute, and since he always planned to go next day, he became known as Tirunalaippovar 'The holy one who will go tomorrow.' Finally he went. However, before he could be received by Siva and the priests, he had to bathe in a fire-pit from which he emerged unscathed with the visage of a sage: then he was taken to Siva's sanctissimum where he disappeared in a blaze of effulgence. Gopalakrishna Bharati—undoubtedly the greatest Tamil poet of the premodern era besides Ramalinga—enlarged the story, embodied it into a dramatic setting, created at least two new important characters, and wrote a few magnificent stanzas manifesting realistic vision of life and warm humour, exceptional power of observation and imagination, and perfect union of poetry (iyaltamil) and music (icaittamil). The result is a forceful dramatic poem, a combination of medieval morality play with almost modern opera. While Cekkilar just tells the story of Nantan in his TirunalaippSvar Nayanar puranam, Bharati presents it in a series of dramatic scenes, fit to be enacted, with a wonderful sense for artistic unity and design. The subject-matter of the play is bhakti; and this the poet admits at the very beginning: "I stammered out, in a few kirttanas and viruttams, the life-stories of Siva's devotees, drinking in handfulls the water from the sea of the path of devotion." In Cekkilar's purdna, Nantanar is alone, isolated; Bharati has made him an aggressive bhakta, who tries to convert his ceri folk; he has "socialized" him; he is "the Pariah serf of the Vedic Brahmans of Atanur." The content of the book may be interpreted as the clash of Nantanar's bhakti first with the people of his ceri, then with the Brahman priests, then with the Lord Siva. Bharati's conception of Nantan is not that of a solitary devotee, but of a social being, a slave of God and a Serf of God's servants, a very low member of a very low social strata86. manam near Tanjore. He lived as a bachelor in several places; began composing early, having learned Hindustani music and the Carnatic system at the court of the raja Pratap Singh in Tanjore. He was greatly esteemed and highly praised by his contemporaries. 86 A. CINIVACA RAKAVAN, Oru nurrantut tamilk kavitai, 1970, p. 16.

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The low people of his community express a critical and negative attitude to Nantan: even if there were a god in Ambalam, like he says, it is a Brahman god, it has no sense, he won't protect a Pariah87. Bharati created the person of Periyakilavan, the old man of Nantan's caste, who defines their duties as follows: Young shoots and tendrils to carry, and to plough, to go around the watered fields and to see that they yield, green-beds to make, to strew the seeds, and to weed, to open and shut the springing sluices, to live down in the ceri, and to winnow the chaff and the husk, to weight the paddy, to beat the drum around the village, and to drink toddy from the pitchers— then to sleep . . . "As if it were for us, to have dardan of god," complains the old man and adds: "Aren't we Pulaiyas ? Doesn't he know what's niti ?" Nantan the Pariah should worship "Viran, Irulan, Veriyan of the jungle, and Nonti and Camunti." The God of whom Nantan speaks is of the Brahman caste! But Nantan is the slave of the One great God; he says: I am a slave of the original stock, a slave of the Lord who made the Three Worlds, I am the slave of the Lord, indeed I am the slave of the One Great Lord! He is of course hindered by the Brahmans, too, chief among them Vetiyar, another creation of Bharati, a real protagonist of Brahman supremacy. Paraya, you cannot go to Sidambaram, you cannot even utter the word Sidambaram, sirrah, Paraya, leave Sidambaram alone, come back to your miserable shut-off ceri, grasp your bunches of plants and get to work, and take your offerings to your Karuppan— hey, sirrah, Paraya! And he proceeds: "How often should I remind you that you are a miserable slave! I'll show you, wait, what law and order mean! And if you utter one word contradicting me, I'll smash your jaw in!" Nantanar then asks God if He, too, was born in a caste. His lieart is pure and white like a lotus—a lotus grown out of the mud of the ceri of Atanur. He never forgets that he is a Pariah, that he is the lowest among the lowest, and must obey the rules of society. Bharati's poem is not a revolutionary poem by any means. What more, the Brahmans in Tillai even refuse to come near him, and 87

Pdppdra teyvamatu palikkdtu paraiyaraik kdppdrra mdttdtu.

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he has to take, on the intervention of Siva, the fire-bath; only then can he get rid of his low birth, enter the temple, and have darsan. It was stressed that Gopalakrisna Bharati succeeded in bringing about a perfect union of words and music. Thus e.g. the poem beginning Capapatikku has the following musical properties: Bdga: dbhogi: ascent sarigamadhasa (CD E " F A c ) ; descent sadhamagarisa (c A F E b D C). Tola: Rupaka (2+4). The form is a tripartite klrttanai with pallavi, anwpattavi and caranam. The

text: Is there any equal to god Capapati of Tillai ? Can we find anyone on this earth to match him in comparison ? It is enough to utter only once the name of Siva of Citamparam— can there be any more virtuous deed leading to salvation ? It is said in the epics that the Lord worshipped by Gopalakrishna granted salvation even to Untouchables!

When Nantanar saw the Beloved of his heart, he was jumping, jumping, clasping his hands in ecstasy, praising and praising till his sorrows ceased. Praising and praising, worshipping the Golden Feet, staring and staring, and grasping the Supreme Bliss.

LITERATURE IN PROSE

6.1. The Fonts of Prose.

Aphorisms 477-8,485 and 658 of the third book of Tolkappiyam contain the term urai; among other meanings, this word is used in modern Tamil to designate 'prose1.' By a kind of short-cut, for a number of scholars this seems almost beyond doubt to prove that there had been literary works in prose in Tamil more than two millennia ago. In fact, no early work in prose is in existence now, either narrative or technical, though very rich ancient poetry has been preserved. As R. E. Asher has argued2, if there had been a tradition of composing eruditory works in prose, it is probable that Tolkappiyam itself would have been written in prose, and not composed in hundreds of stanzas. What was the significance of the term urai ? It would seem that the underlying meaning of urai in the pertinent aphorisms of the ancient grammar was 'conversation,' or 'commentary,' and, in its applied sense, a particular kind of literary composition which functioned as a 'discourse' or 'commentary' (originally very probably oral, not written) on a primary, underlying work (composed in verse). Alternatively, the term urai might have been used for a kind of free-verse of blankverse-like passages within other works written in verse. It would seem anyhow that works designated as urai belonged to the less rigorously defined literary works (like riddles, proverbs, and the like), and among such compositions which had looser structure and were not much limited by any formal rules; it might even have referred to oral literature, to some kind of 'folklore.' In aphorism 658 (which is very probably interpolated), urai most probably signifies 'commentary.' Be it as it may, there is no example of any work in urai available from that early epoch or, for that matter, from the ancient, classical age proper as such. On the other hand, a line in the ancient Purananuru (27.5)3 may be interpreted as providing us with yet another interesting dichotomy of Old Tamil literary culture—that of urai and pdttu. It would seem that both terms refer to panegyrics; if the opinion of Parimelalakar (13th-14th cent.) can be accepted4, then panegyrics (pukal) are of two kinds, urai and pdttu; and we might probably translate (interpretatively) the pertinent line in Puram as "a few [kings] 1 Cf. DED 557 urai v. to sound, speak, tell; n. roar, loud noise, speaking, utterance, word, fame; derived from ura v. to become loud. In Tamil, the meanings cover 'utterance; speaking; word; expression; explanation; commentary; gloss; sound of a letter (eluttoli); fame; mantra recited aloud.' 2 R. E. ASHER, Aspects de la litterature en prose dans le Sud de l'lnde, Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Tome LIX, Paris 1972, p. 127. 3 Uraiyum pdttum utaiydr dlare 'a few [rulers] have both urai and pdttu.' 4 Commentary on Tirukkural 232.

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possess [praises in] both prose and songs," taking urai as referring to inscriptions^) in prose( ?), and pdttu, rather obviously, to the (panegyric, heroic) songs in the puram genre5. It is not surprising that an author like the poet of Cilappatikaram (5th cent. A.D.) who obviously loved a great variety of forms should also try his hand at prose6. However, the prose which he has employed is alliterative and rhythmic and, above all, the prose-passage in question is quite short and plays a rather unimportant role. The only example of genuine prose which can be regarded as authentic, from the hand of Ilankovatikal, is the introductory lines to the 29th canto in the third book of the epic. The uraiperukatturai in four prose sentences at the beginning of the poem was certainly not composed by the poet himself. There are no other specimens of ancient narrative prose available. From a considerably later period (9th cent. A.D.) we have the prose passages in Paratavenpa by Peruntevanar which serve as link between the venpd stanzas and as commentary upon them; these prose-passages are well-cut and vigorous, rather Sanskritized, and occasionally rhythmic. Other than that, the only old prose we possess is the prose of the commentaries. What is so striking about this ancient prose (including that of Cilappatikaram and Paratavenpa) is its secondary, subservient function: the short passages of narrative prose are used as links between stanzas, as comments on stanzas, as introduction to poetic passages which are what really matters. The commentaries are ex definitione derived, secondary texts, glosses upon primary, basic eruditory texts which are, too, in verse. Thus we cannot escape the following conclusion: prose was not used as an expression of literary art; its use in literary culture was limited to secondary elucidatory texts, and to very rare occasional links in poetry; apart from that, the function of prose was administrative and commemorative (inscriptions), probably diplomatic (in correspondence) and economic (in trade etc.). In spite of this, the huge medieval commentaries have become a powerful accumulator of possibilities which could be utilized and resorted to by the 'makers of modern Tamil.' Many of the prose-writers of the 18th and 19th centuries were also scholars, editors, commentators, and all of them were to some extent directly indebted to the medieval scholastic and commentatorial tradition. The first large commentary which has come down to us is Nakkirar's detailed gloss on Iraiyanar's Kalaviyal 'The Treatise on Secret Love' which probably belongs to the 8th cent. A.D., but its final shape may be later. These are pages on pages of alliterative, melodic, rhythmic prose, ornate and highly accomplished, not at all dry or pedantic, with relatively short, well-built, balanced 5

An alternative interpretation is of course very well possible: taking urai as referring to 'fame' or 'praise' expressed in loud words. 6 R. E. ASHER, Aspects de la litterature en prose, p. 128. 7 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 254-6.

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sentences. Tamil was in a way rather fortunate to have this magnificent piece of prose at the very source of its prosaic literary tradition7. Ilampuranar wrote a commentary on Tolkappiyam sometime in the 11th12th cent. His style is clear and simple; there are comparatively few Sanskrit loans, though he is not a purist. Cenavaraiyar (13th cent.), another commentator on Tolkappiyam, is more elegant and more descriptive, his syntax is more complicated, and he displays his Sanskritic education. One of the great masters of Tamil erudite prose was Peraciriyar (13th cent.), who composed a terse, elegant, sharp commentary on Tolkappiyam, and a mellow, melodious, but simple gloss on Manikkavacakar's Tirukkovaiyar. One of the greatest Tamil commentators was Atiyarkkunallar, born in Nirampaiyur in the 13th cent. Poppanna Kankeyan, the son of a Ganga king, was his patron. His commentary on Cilappatikaram is above all a mine of data, including many quotations (identified by him as to the sources and (or) authorship), often from works now lost. His sentences are usually complex and long, his style high and learned. Parimelalakar (13th-14th cent.), a Brahman from Kaficipuram or from Maturai, is considered by many the 'prince' of commentators. The two great commentaries he is said to have composed, on Tirukkural and on Paripatal, are undoubtedly his; he is also credited with some other commentaries, which are probably not authentic8. He is very much indebted to Sanskrit sources which enriched his vocabulary and style considerably. He has great power of argumentation, writing with forceful clarity, in terse, brief sentences. Naccinarkkiniyar (14th cent.) may probably be considered as the last of the great medieval commentators; and probably the greatest. He has produced magnificent glosses, full of original, bold thought, and composed in a vivid, vehement style, shining with learning and sophistication, on Pattuppattu, Kalittokai, Tolkappiyam, Civakacintamani, and on a few stanzas of Kuruntokai. There were of course many more commentators, important in the field of grammatical literature (e.g. Mayilainatar on Nannul, 13th-14th cent.) or in the field of religion and philosophy (e.g. the Vaisnava commentators on the canon, or Civariana Munivar who died in 1785, whose monumental commentary on Civananapotam contains some marvellous passages), but their writing was not so very important for the development of pre-modern Tamil prose-fiction9. We must guard against overestimating the role the great commentaries played in the origin and development of belletristic prose-writing. Nevertheless, they may be regarded as the great font, the great reservoir of the potencies and possibilities to develop a prose-literature. In the late 18th* and early 19th centuries, under the impact of different forces, almost beyond doubt the most 8 9

E.g. on Tirumurukarruppatai, cf. Ko. VATIVELU CETTIYAR'S ed., Madras, s.d. It has been stressed in the Introduction to this book that it does not deal with two spheres of writing which are of course of tremendous, but only marginal and not central importance for a national literary culture: with folklore, and with eruditory, technical literature.

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decisive among them Western influences, the purpose and the function of prose changed drastically. The basic change leading to the origin of modern prose-fiction occurred in the conceptual sphere: prose ceased to be regarded as suitable merely for the secondary interpretative and elucidatory purposes. This fundamental change, however, was connected intimately with the impact of Western, European thinking about prose, and with the transition from the scribal to the typographic culture. 6.2. A not negligible role was played in the development of Tamil prose by foreigners. Roberto de Nobili, an Italian Jesuit who lived in South India between 1605-1656 when he died at the age of 78, assumed the habits and the style of a Tamil sannyasi, learned Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, and composed a number of books in the three languages. Besides the fifteen works ascribed to him now, possibly ten more will be added by future research10. He wrote on Christian sujets (dialogues about the faith, about the Cross, about eternal life, dissertations on the nature of the soul, sermons, refutations of some Hindu beliefs, etc.), and all his works are composed in prose; they are the first Tamil works dealing with Christianity. He and his native collaborators coined a number of new terms. His diction is heavily Sanskritized but, according to S. Rajamanickam, the style is clear, direct and simple. C. G. E. Beschi (1680-1746) alias Viramamunivar dealt with the same subjects as de Nobili but, in addition, created a short, amusing prose-history of a guru who is 'the perfection of ignorance' in his conte drdlatique of Paramartta kuruvin katai11. Is it a satire on Hindu monks ? Or against Protestants ? Or simply a funny narrative containing Indian as well as European motifs ? In any case it is the first prosaic narrative in Tamil which has reached us. The work was translated into Latin, English, Czech, German and French12. The various translations of the Bible into Tamil played 10 Cf. P. S. RAJAMANICKAM S. J., Robert de Nobili, alias Tattuva Podagar, the Father of Tamil Prose, Univ. of Madras 1967. The author gives on pp. 278-80 a list of Nobili's works; he has also edited or re-edited a number of his writings. 11 In the British Museum in London, a manuscript is available from Beschi's own hand of the original version and a Latin translation (MS. Add. 26110, pp. 199-221, see R. E. ASHEB, Aspects, p. 131, ftn. 3.) RAMA SUBBIAH edited this text in Tamil Oli, Journ. of the Tamil Language Society, Univ. of Malaya, No. 5 (1965-66) pp. 105-27. For Beschi's life and works, cf. L. BESSE S. J., Father Beschi of the Society of Jesus. His Times and Writings, Trichinopoly 1918; T. SRINIVASAN, Beschi, the Tamil Scholar and Poet, TC 3 (1954) 297-313. 12 Cf. BENJAMIN GUY BABINGTON (trans.), The Adventures of the Gooroo Paramartan, London 1822 (repr. 1861, 1871, 1915); Fahrten und Abenteuer Gimpels und Compagnie. Ein tamulisches Reise- und Scherzmarchen nacherzahlt von J. G. T H . GRAESSE, Dresden 1860; Abbe J. A. DUBOIS (transl.), Aventures du gourou Paramarta. Conte drolatique indien. Paris 1877; KAMIL ZVELEBIL (transl.), Zertovne pfibehy Mistra Paramarty, Praha 1954. For the history of Tamil prose in general, cf. also V. SELVANAYAGAM, Tamil urainatai varalaru, KumpakoNam 1957, and A. M. PARAMASIVANANDAM, Tamil urainatai, Madras 1959. In English, V. S. CHENGALVARAYA PILLAI, History of Tamil Prose Literature, Madras 1966 (1st ed., 1904).

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some role in the development of prose, too: The first translation was the Biblia Damulica prepared by German missionaries B. Ziegenbalg, J. Griindler and B. Schultze in Tranquebar between 1714-172813. The Dutch in Ceylon put out a New Testament in Tamil in 1759. J. P. Fabricius produced a version which the Lutherans continue to use14. The Bower version, which is the authorised version of the Tamil protestants (1871) made it practically its basis. The Bible Society chose Rhenius, another German missionary, to work on the Fabricius version; his New Testament came out between 1827-33; it is in good and clear style, but less faithful to the original than Fabricius. Peter Percival, a Methodist, was chosen to be the chief translator by the American missionaries. His main assistant was K. Arumukam (born 1822, later known as Arumuka Navalar, one of the most energetic adversaries of Christianity). They produced the Jaffna version, based on the English Authorised Version of 1611, but made from Greek and Hebrew originals, and from Rhenius. It appeared between 1845-185015. A poetic version in Tamil of the four gospels was composed by a Lutheran Tamil poet, Tancavur Vetanayakam Cattiri (iSastri), 17741864. We must guard against overestimating the importance of this early Tamil prose written mostly by foreigners, often assisted by Tamil pandits reared on the commentators, since, for a long time, it has not exercised any considerable influence on the indigenous literary tradition. Nevertheless, it was there—and Pope speaks even of a particular "Christian style" of Tamil16—manifesting the fact that one can handle, through the Tamil medium and in prose, new subjects like Christian theology and Christian devotion. A rather exceptional but very important ease is that of Anandarangam Pillai's fascinating Diary. Anantarankap Pillai17 began writing his Diary18 on 13 While ZIEGENBALG'S part of the translation was found intelligible and faithful (J. M. S. HOOPER), though BESCHI ridiculed its colloquialisms, SCHUXTZE'S part was described as "curious" and 'infelicitous." 14 It is faithful to the original, but this faithfulness led the translator to some curious and unidiomatic expressions. 15 There are of course innumerable problems in translating the Bible into Tamil. What expression to use, e.g., in Tamil for such key-item as 'God' ? The Portuguese Catholic prayer-books used Tampirdn (the Lord, the Absolute). ZIEGENBALG introduced Carvecuran (the Almighty), still retained by most Roman Catholics. FABBICIUS used Pardparan (the Lord of Heavens), still employed by the Lutherans. TEVAN (< Skt. deva) was used in the Jaffna version. The recent Larsen Version of 1936 introduced Katavul (the Transcendental God). Cf. SABAPATHY KULANDBAN, The Tentative Version of the Bible or "The Navalar Version," Tq 7 (1958) 229-250. Cf. also J. S. M. HOOPER, The Bible in India, Oxford 1938. 16 Preface to Tiruyacagam, p. xii. 17 Born near Madras in April 1709; acted as a kind of Prime Minister of the French colony of Pondichery under governor J. F. Dupleix; was also a patron of literature. Died on Jan. 11, 1761. 18 The Tamil title is Tinappati ceti kurippu. Costa likitam. Translated from the Tamil as The Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai (ed. by M. DODWELL), for the Government of Madras.

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Sept. 6, 1736. It is one of the most important documents ever written in Tamil: from, state secrets to small everyday trivia of family life, he has captured the events of a quarter of a century. It makes a charming reading, in the most deliciously colloquial language with a number of spelling errors; a spontaneous piece of writing, with a keen sense of minute observation, here and there with a pinch of humour and even irony, entirely independent of the traditional line of high Tamil prose. Thus e.g. under Tuesday, March 29, 1757, we may read: This is the town news of to-day:— As usual, the Kammalas erected the Kinnither for their Goddess last night and carried her to the temple after taking her in procession along the street of the left-hand caste people. Kandappa Mudali ordered them, the dancing-girls and pipers, to be seized and brought as the car was more than the usual height and the dancing-girls danced in the streets. He beat them himself and imprisoned the dancing-girls and pipers saying that he had the Governor's orders so to do. Such a scandalous and unjust thing has not been heared of till now, and now that it has happened, all fear what else will come to pass. Wednesday, March 30 . . . The Kammalas whose dancing-girls, pipers and others are in prison came and said that they had built the car as usual, that the dancing-girls had done nothing except look around in the course of dancing, and that they had been unjustly treated. I, replying that their affair would prosper, went to the office in the flower-garden at ten o'clock. Thursday, March 31. . . . M. Calard, who is in charge of the carpenter's shop, went up and said to Kandappa Mudali, 'Are you the dubash of the place to accuse carpenters and blacksmiths falsely with not having salaamed to you, and to drag them out and beat and imprison them ? You have not heard the last of this. I will take the matter up, so look to yourself.' Having thus addressed him harshly, he then went up to the Governor and spoke to him; the latter did not seem to pay much heed to his complaint; but he came back to Kandappa Mudali and declared that he would have him properly punished. He then went downstairs, and sent for the carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. . . . 6.3. Apart from purely historical, and some external ideological factors, the two most important preconditions for the origin and growth of modern and popular prose as fiction in Tamil India were printing and journalism19. The first known Tamil types were cast in 1577 at Goa; a second and more satisfactory set was produced in Quilon in 1578. However, earlier than that, on Febr. 11, 1554, a brochure entitled Cartilha e lingoa Tamul e Portugues appear19 Some of the historical and political factors, as well as the external cultural and ideological reasons were briefly mentioned in K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, 1973, pp. 264-7. Cf. also K. K. PILLAI, The Western Influence on Tamil Prose, TC 6 (1957) 159—75; and especially R. E. ASHEB, Some Landmarks in the History of Tamil Prose, Dr. R. P. Sethu Pillai Silver Jubilee Endowment Lectures, University of Madras 1967-68, ande ASHEK, Litterature en prose en tamoul et an malayalam jusqu'a la fin du XIX siecle, Bull, de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, LIX (1972) 123-43.

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ed in Lisbon. The Tamil part was, of course, Romanized. This is the first Tamil printed work known thus far, and the first translation into Tamil of a European work20. The earliest example of printing in the characters of an Indian script, and the first available example of printing executed in an Indian language, is the Doctrina Christam en Lingua Malauar Tamul, 16 pp., entitled in Tamil Tampiran vanakkam, dated 20. 2. 1577 in Quilon21; its authors were Anrique Anriquez22 and F. Manuel; it is probably based on St. Francis Xavier's Portuguese (1542) and Tamil (1544) catechisms. Another Doctrina Christam alias Kiricittiyani vanakkam of 120 pp. is dated 14. 11. 1579 at Cochin. Finally, a large work, Flos Sanctorum of 669 pages, was prepared for Tamil print by Henriquez and printed in or around 1586 at Tuticorin or Punnakayil23. The two most important printing establishments in the South of India were founded at Ambalakkadu (since 1679) and in Tranquebar (1710). However, it was only the massive spread of printing, which began in Tamil India after the 1835 Act enabling Indians to own pressworks, that played such a decisive role in the development of modern prose. Owing to the appearance of printing and paper, and to the availability of printing to Tamil editors, scholars and original authors after 1835, Tamilnadu found itself at the beginning of a tremendous process of change—the transition from the 'scribal era' to the 'typographic era24,' a process which has not quite ended yet, since representatives of the two eras still coexist in today's Tamilnadu. Printing revolutionalized the whole conception, the ways, methods and techniques of writing. At the same time, 19th century is the century of Tamil journalism. Early printed Tamil books in prose are frequently translations of Sanskrit epics and tales, versions of traditional Tamil stories, and, finally, translations from English and French. Thus e.g. John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress 20 Written by Vincente de Nazareth, Jorge Carvalho, and Thome da Cruz. This short catechism is also one of the earliest examples of a continuous text in an Indian language to be transliterated into a Western script. It is interesting linguistically since it preserves some colloquialisms of the 16th cent. Cf. J. FILLIOZAT (ed. and transl.), Un catechisme tamoul du XVII e siecle en lettres latines, Pondichery 1967. 21 Now at the Harward College Library. 22 I.e. Henrique Henriques, S. J. Arrived in Goa in 1546. Francis Xavier advised him to study Tamil "day and night"; in 1552 he compiled a Tamil grammar in Portuguese. He is the first known European who has initiated serious study of Tamil; in about 1560, he has even proposed the erection of a Tamil university at Mannar or Punnakayil, cf. S. G. PEREIRA, The Jesuits in Ceylon, Madura 1941, and D. FERROLI, The Jesuits in Malabar, Vol. I., Bangalore 1939. 23 Cf. XAVIER S. THANI NAYAGAM'S excellent paper The First Books Printed in Tamil, TL 7 (1958) 288-308. Also, C. E. KENNET, Notes on Eefrly-Printed Tamil Books, in IA 1873, and A. GAUR, European Missionaries and the Study of Dravidian Languages, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, II, Kuala Lumpur 1969, 322-38; according to her, the first Tamil printed book was Henrique Henriques' Tamil version of St. Francis Xavier's Doutrina Christe in 1578, Goa. This seems to refer to the Doctrina Christam or Tampiran vaNakkam printed in Quilon on 20. 10. 1578. 24 Cf. MARSHALL Me LTJHAN, The Gutenberg Galaxy, London 1967.

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was translated as early as 1793. Parts of a French children's periodical, Berquin's L'ami des enfants, appeared in Tamil in 183825. The first Tamil teacher of G. U. Pope, Ramanuja Kavirayar (born about 1785-90 at Ramnad, died 1853) remained for forty years the first among an illustrious group of Tamil scholars in Madras. Among his European students were, besides Pope, Winslow, Drew and Rhenius; he helped Drew in his translation of the Tirukkural and Winslow in the compilation of his dictionary. Another of the Tamil scholars of the first half of the 19th century, Tantavaraya Mutaliyar, translated in 1824 the Pancatantra into Tamil (from a Marathi version), and in 1826 published a bunch of tales entitled Katamaficari. Arunacalam Catacivam Pillai alias Anal (Arnold), 1820-1896, translated Simon Casie Chitty's The Tamil Plutarch (1859) under the title Pavalar carittira tipakam (1886). A very important contribution to the early narrative proseliterature is the collection of literary anecdotes, Vin5taracamancari, by A. Viracami Cettiyar. Celvakecavaraya Mutaliyar (1864-1921) with his Apinavakkataikal 'Modern Stories' belongs to this early creative stage of Tamil prose. Probably the most outstanding personality of all was Yalppanattu Nallur Arumuka Navalar (1822-1889) whose prose versions of the two great purdnas, Periyapuranam and Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam, became true classics. The Tamil of his writings is simple but powerful, severe, spotlessly correct, polished, without any bombast, lucid and clear, though somewhat pedantic and dry. All these men, and a host of others who were their contemporaries and successors, were mainly nourished by two sources, the medieval commentators, and the early Christian missionary writings. One has to admit that the use of prose in fiction, in original literary composition, is recent in Tamil. The decisive impetus came with the tremendous impact of Europe upon India; this impact must not be underestimated, or even rejected. Modern Tamil prose fiction arose and developed under Western influence; it was first nourished by scholastic food; and, during the first half of the 19th century, and well into the second, this high-style, academic stream was the mainstream of Tamil writing, even as it came under direct impact of English literature. When the various factors, external and internal, combined—the spread of education, administrative and economic needs, confrontation of Hindu India with Christianity and Western ideologies, the tremendous impact of the 'typographic' image of the world created by the printing press, the influence of European, above all English, prose-writing, and, last but not least, the 'rediscovery' of ancient Tamil literature—when all these factors combined, an atmosphere and a milieu was created which favoured original Tamil works in 25 T. Vytheanatha Moodelair, The Looking-Glass for the mind; . . . stories . . . from L'Aim des Enfans. With analysis and close translation in Tamil, Madras 1838. Cf. R. E. ASHEB, The Tamil Renaissance and the Beginnings of the Tamil Novels, JRAS 1969, p. 16. For the Tamil translations of Shakespeare, cf. KA. NAA. STJBRAHMANYAM, Shakespeare in Tamil, Ind. Lit. 7 (1964) 120-6, with a bibliography.

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prose, original Tamil prose fiction. And, indeed, in a rapid succession, a considerable number of novelists appeared at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and the short story, too, made its important debut. The first two truly modern Tamil writers were Subrahmanya Bharati (1882-1921) and V. V. S. Aiyar (1881-1925). Bharati made Tamil adequate for all literary expression: modern journalism as well as political songs, essay as well as narrative prose. V. V. S. Aiyar was probably the first to attempt short story as a distinctive genre. Simultaneously, this vigorously creative period produced five novelists of primary importance. 6.4. Subrahmanya Bharati attempted three novels: one allegorical, one autobiographic, and one which he planned as a great documentary novel with progressive tendencies of social reformism. Neither of these works can be called a complete success. iSlanaratam 'The Chariot of Knowledge' is probably his first important prose-work (1910). It is an allegorical journey on the chariot of knowledge through different worlds: the poet climbs the chariot which should take him into a world without sorrows and needs. He comes first to the world of peace; but at the entrance he finds out that he would have to forsake not only his sorrows and pains, but also his desires, wishes, and joys. He does not enter and proceeds to the world of the gandharvas—i.e. to the world of joys. This world disappoints him, too: for he cannot escape the painful comparison of India so full of suffering and pain with this joyful realm; and the perfect stability of the gandharvas who cannot develop any further, he finds repulsive. So he goes on to the world of dharma. There he finds finally fulfilment in the acceptance of duties according to everyone's fixed place in the order of things; all should act within an ideal four-mma-society without fear and without any claims to the fruits of their work. The language of the book is simple though replete with Sanskrit loans; the diction clear, but dry; the work is heavy with tedious philosophic discussion. In fact, it is not a novel at all. In 1913, Bharati wrote Cinnacankaran katai 'The Story of Cinnacankaran' of which we have, very unfortunately, only a fragment recovered from Subrahmanya Siva's journal Nanapanu. The whole work is supposed to have had sixty chapters. It was confiscated by the police, and only four chapters survived which describe vividly, in a poetic prose-style, full of rhetoric embellishments, the poet's childhood and early youth in Ettayapuram until about ten years of age. In the brief foreword, Bharati says explicitely that he will try to attempt in his story a blend (kalantu velai) of two styles and two approaches—Indian and Western. Another fragmentary novel, 'The Story of Cantirikai' (Cantirikayin katai) in 9 chapters (about 68 p.) was written probably between 1917-20. The heroine is only eight years old when the incomplete novel ends. It was obviously planned as a great work. There are three lines of action: in the first, a widow, Vicalatci, marries a sannydsi, Nittiyanantar; the second deals with Kopalayyankar, a

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Brahman and a high official, who marries Minatci, a girl of a lower caste; the third line describes a very different type of marriage—conservative and oppresive, in which the wife of Comanatayyar, a judge, is almost his slave. The novel manifests educational and Utopian tendencies, striving after social reforms, but, artistically, is rather poor: the characters are schematic, the text is dull and dry, and, above all, Bharati was obviously incompetent to attack successfully the complicated theme in all its complexity. This and the other abortive attempts show that Bharati was not a novelist and could have hardly developed into one. He was more successful in his short prose pieces, above all in his essays on many different topics. There, his chief principle was that one must write as one speaks, and his prose style is clear and simple. The form of the essay (katturai) was eminently suitable to the argumentative, frequently polemic character of Bharati's writings26. He also attempted short narrative pieces, and, though some of them are interesting, none are successful as art forms. Thus e.g. one of the more important, Aril oru panku (1911—12) which was strongly influenced by Bengali writing and by the radical views of Aurobindo Ghosh, is of absorbing sujet but very weak as a story. Though the two main heroes are Tamils, the action takes part in Bengal, in the milieu of revolutionary terrorism and the fight against untouchability. Some of the best pieces in prose he has ever written are just very brief sketches of almost lyrical nature, like e.g. Malai 'Rain' (containing the splendid poem on rain), Putiyakonanki 'The New Soothsayer,' or Pinkalavarusam 'The Fifty-first Year27.' The most attractive of Bharati's English prose-writings is his biting satire The Fox With the Golden 26

Cf. what Bharati says about prose style in one of his essays: "It is not many years ago that Tamil prose was born. The habits of the cradle last to the grave. Hence it is now that we have to strive after a prose style that is clearer than in any other language. I am convinced that it is of supreme importance to write—as far as it is possible—as one speaks." For Bharati's prose-writings, cf. K. ZVE:LEBI:L, The Prose Works of Bharati, TC 5 (1956) 315-27; VIJAYA S. BHARATI, The Other Harmony : A Study of Bharati's Prose Writings, Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 2, Madras 1971, 116-21; and especially her unpublished PhD dissertation A Critical Study of Bharati's Works, Annamalai University 1967. While living in Pondicherry, Bharati also translated a few of R. Tagore's stories from the Calcutta Modern Review (these translations were republished by Amuda Nilayam, Madras 1958). He was also capable of vigorous, lucid style in English, cf. e.g. "I have seen, among 'wealthy and respectable Brahmanas,' babies wrenched from their mothers' breasts, yelling, in order to be made 'wives' to equally helpless male ones—all the 'sacred rites' ordained by the 'holy scriptures' being duly observed." Or, "Mankind is fundamentally one. Of course there are some silly theorists and sillier rhymesters in Europe, as here, who have been pleased to divide mankind into hearts which 'shall never meet,' but the true seers have everywhere proclaimed the unity of the human race." Or: "We live because we love; not because we make compromises. Love is life. Custom is nothing." "Where woman comes, comes art. And what is Art, if not the effort of humanity towards divinity ?" 27 For the English translation of two of those prose-sketches cf. New Orient Bimonthly 2, Prague 1962.

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Tail—A Fable with an Esoteric Significance (1914), an attack on Annie Besant ("the great she-fox of the golden tail"), on theosophy and Hindu reformists. Varakaneri Venkateca Cuppiramaniya Aiyar (V. V. S. Aiyar, 1881-1925)28 brought out, during his brief, stormy life which ended in tragedy, quite a number of important works in Tamil and English. He translated into English the Tirukkural, he wrote a penetrating study in English on Kampaii's great epic29, he established a Kambanilayam to publish translations, critical essays, histories of literature, etc., he wrote in Tamil biographies of Napoleon, Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Rana Pratap Singh; he also had a magnificent plan to write and publish a series of large historical novels dealing with the past of Tamil India. Instead, this exceptionally broadly educated and brilliant man, who knew and studied, besides Tamil and Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, French, Greek, Latin, and of course English, published just one single volume of original stories creating thus a new genre in Tamil—the short story as defined by specific features and techniques. The collection of his short stories is entitled Mankaiyarkkaraciyin katal 'The Love of Mankaiyarkkaraci'30 and contains eight pieces: five of them are love-stories, two (Kankeyan, Kamalavijayam) with a happy ending, three tragical (Mankaiyarkkaraciyin katal, Laili Ma j nun, Anarkkali). Of the rest, Alen Lakkeyin Carittiram 'The History of Alen Lakke' is a tragical and, as the author maintains, a true story of a Frenchman in the First World War; Kulattankarai aracamaram 'The Pipal Tree on the Bank of a Tank' is a tragical Indian family tale; and Etiroliyal 'The Echo-Woman' is adapted from Greek mythology. It was the opinion of V. V. S. Aiyar that stories in prose should each have a basic flavour, basic mood (rasa) just like poems; that, in fact, a short story should be a kind of short poem in prose. The first story is a tale of grief and abandonment. The very beginning introduces its basic flavour:— "It was dark everywhere; utterly dark. Heavy, black clouds covered the entire sky. The moon appeared for a moment, only to disappear at once behind even heavier clouds. The wind blows in rage. In the distance, a tiger and a bear roar, and from a nearby grove one hears the howling of jackals. There, on the banyan tree, an owl screams terribly . . . " 28 Born in Varakaneri near Trichinopoly, got his B. A. degree when 16, for a time lived in Rangoon, practiced as barrister-in-law, 1907-1910 in England where he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the king before admission to the Bar. Became a radical Indian nationalist, when a warrant was issued for his arrest went to France, therefrom to Pondicherry, where he spent ten years. In 1917 he met Gandhi whom he tried to convert to radicalism and terrorism. Making use of the amnesty in 1920, he returned to Madras, became editor of a Tamil journal (Tecapaktan) of which only four issues were published. Two years later he was charged with sedition and spent nine months in Bellary jail. When he was released, he made a swift tour of India, then settled down at the Shermadevi Gurukul Ashram. He drowned in June 1925 while trying to save his daughter. 29 Kamba Ramayanam, A Study, written in Bellary jail in 1922-23, published by the Delhi Tamil Sangam in 1950, reprinted by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay 1965. 30 Publ. by Alliance Company, Madras 1953.

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The events of 'The Pipal Tree on the Bank of a Tank' are contemporary, but the hero and heroine appear to be ancient epic figures. The story is told by an old tree—a motif which reappears more than half a century later in the excellent novelette by Cuntara Ramacami (q.v.). In two stories (Kankeyan and Alen Lakke) Aiyar used his own experience of exile. Through his French hero who is sentenced to death, Aiyar expresses the opinion that the freedom and happiness of one's country is much more important than the private happiness of one's family. The virtues and vices of Aiyar's heroes are uncomplicated and straightforward; love is immortalized in Anarkkali and Laili Majnun; other virtues put forward by Aiyar are pure heroism and total renunciation. His style is exalted and majestic, dignified and stately, but not very well suited to the genre of short story; it is rather an epic style. Sanskrit loanwords give Tamil, according to V. V. S. Aiyar, depth and stateliness (kampiram) and do not deprive it of dignity at all. Consequently, his diction is richly Sanskritized. 6.5. Short Forms. 6.5.1. According to Raghunathan31, V. V. S. Aiyar was the 'first cause' and the 'true pathfinder' in the realm of the Tamil short story. There are, in his opinion, three truly great story writers in Tamil: Puthumaippittan, Mauni, and L. S. Ramamirtham. "The world of Tamil may attain greatness on account of the stories by these three authors. If one should point out the best contributions of the Tamils to the realm of short story on a world-scale, two stories would be enough—Puthumaippittan's Capavimocanam and Mauni's Enkirunto vantan." Though we may agree in general with Raghunathan's evaluation, the real picture is much more complicated. Short story was attempted even before V. V. S. Aiyar. With V. V. S. Aiyar's and Bharati's attempts, short story writing in Tamil made a good start, but it was only with Puthumaippittan that the short story attained a decided status. Long before Puthimaippittan's writings exercised decisive impact on Tamil prose, and even before V. V. S. Aiyar gave the Tamil short story a firm shape, Celvakecavaraya Mutaliyar (1864-1921) published his slender collection of Apinavakkataikal or 'Modern Stories,' and may thus be regarded as the true 'father' of this genre in Tamil. Then came the great formative period started by V. V. S. Aiyar who "gave life and shape" to the Tamil story32, marked by the names of Bharati, Ma31 Ilakkiyavimareanam, 2nd ed. Madras 1956, pp. 97-9. For Tamil short story, cf. KA. CIVATTAMPI, Tamilil cirukkataiyin torramum vajarcciyum, Madras 1967; A. CHIDAMBARANATHA CHETTIAR, The Short Story and its Development in Tamil, TC 4 (1955) 227-238; P. G. STJNDARARAJAN, The Short Story in Tamil, Indian Writing Today 2,2 (April-June 1968) 58-64; KAMIL ZVELEBIL, The Tamil Short Story Today: Jayakanthan, Janakiraman, Ramamirtham, Mahfil 4,3-4 (1968) 37-45. For modern prose in general, see E. ANNAMALAI, Changing Society and Modern Tamil Literature, Mahfil 4,3-4 (1968) 21-36, and ALBERT B. FRANKLIN, The Tamil Language in the Modern World, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 9-22. 32 Putumaippittan, Katturaikal, Madras 1954.

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dhaviah, Ramanujalu Naidu. And then followed the all-important, though relatively brief time of the Manikkoti group—of creative writers gathered around a journal started by K. Srinivasan for spearheading the literary renaissance under the editorship of V. Ramaswami, and later turned into a medium solely for the short story by B. S. Ramiah. The most prolific prose-writer of the pre-Manikkoti period was probably Madhaviah (A. Matavaiya, 1874-1926), a very important novelist (§6.6.1). Most of his stories were first written in English and published in The Hindu, Madras; then translated into Tamil by the author, and published in his own journal Pancamirtam, and in a volume entitled Kucikar kuttikkataikal. They are mostly oriented towards social reform (e.g. female rights). Because of Madhaviah's knowledge of English prose, the form of his stories is not bad; but they are very strongly didactic and without much real life. His place in the development of this genre in Tamil is important, but of purely historical interest. 6.5.2. The complicated, engaging history of Manikkoti 'The Jewel-Banner,' a literary journal which has become a legend, was touched by Raghunathan in his biography of Puthumaippittan33 and, in fact, by Puthumaippittan himself34. Quite recently, B. S. Ramiah, a man more competent than anyone else, published a detailed account of the whole story in the journal Tipam (Deepam)35. The journal Manikkoti was founded by Ke. Cmivasan (K. Srinivasan) with Va. Ramacami (V. Ramaswami) as sub-editor in 1933. Main contributors were Pi. Es. Ramaiya (B. S. Ramiah), Na. PiccamUrtti (N. Pichamurti), and Puthumaippittan. At the end of 1934, it fused with Kanti, and Kanti's editor R. S. Chokkalingam became the chief manager of Manikkoti, while B. S. Ramiah and Puthumaippittan helped him to run it. But soon three very important men left—Srinivasan for the Bombay Standard, Chokkalingam became the editor of Tinamani, V. Ramaswami of Virakecari. Puthumaippittan and Ramiah remained and, in fact, Ramiah transformed it into a purely literary journal devoted specifically to short-story writing. This fact, however, seems to have shortened its life. It stopped publishing at the end of 1936. Among its most important contributors then were Ku. Pa. Rajakopalan (K. P. Rajagopalan), Ci. Cu. Cellappa (C. S. Chellappa), Citampara Cuppiramaniyam (Chidambara Subramanyam), and Mauni. In 1937 it was revived, but only for a very short period. After 1947, B. S. Ramiah tried, in vain, to revive it again. V. Ramaswami (Va. Ramasvami Ayyankar, d. 29. 8. 1951) was probably the true spiritus movens behind this unique and vigorous creative ferment of the Thirties. He was introduced to Tamil literature by Bharati who, after 33 34

1947.

RAKUNATAN, Putumaippittan, Madras 1951. In the foreword to his short story collection Anmai 'Manliness,' dated 29. 8..

35 Pi. E S . RAMAIYA, Manikkotikkalam, in 31 parts (last instalment, October1971) in N. Parthasarathy's Tipam (Deepam).

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having read Ramaswami's translations of Bankimchandra's Bengali prose into Tamil, is reported to have exclaimed: "From now on, I shall write only poetry. For prose, he is the one!" Ramaswami became a journalist, and the Manikkoti was born out of the dicussions which he had with a few friends, notably with K. Srinivasan who had been inspired in London by the Sunday Observer. Ramaswami worked thirty-five years to create a diction and style which would be rich and colourful but, at the same time, accessible to the masses. Modern prose should be understood even by a rikshaw-puller, was his credo. He was supremely political; a profound reformer, occasionally a revolutionary; sometimes quite unbelievably progressive for his age36. A journalist and a powerful orator as well. Literature and society was his main theme. He loved Hinduism, but hated its negative aspects: the rigours of the caste-system, the superstitions, the low status of women. He parted with his orthodox Vaisnava family and with his Brahman caste, and married outside his caste. He had many close Harijan friends. He loved Bharati, whose humanitarian ideals he carried on but, at the same time, he admired Mussolini. For music and some other arts he had no admiration at all. Writers must educate people so as to get rid of their inertia and cowardice. Nature is fine, but, according to Ramaswami, it should not be the true object of a writer's attention. Man and his place in society should be in the center of a writer's interest. True art must be a mirror of life. Human society is an ever-fresh spring of literary inspiration. Literature must deal with the living problems of human and social life. In the controversy about the nature of modern diction, he takes a decisive counter-purist view: since there is not enough common lexical material in Tamil to coin scientific terminology, the language should not hesitate to borrow freely37. Ramaswami introduced his dynamic and secular philosophy of life and his progressive social thinking into an innumerable number of essays and speeches, as well as into his four novels. In addition, he was the author of an excellent biography of S. Bharati, and of delightful short sketches of various small people; he has produced these according to a definite plan—about three dozens of them—inspired by A. G. Gardner's Pillars of Society and Prophets, Priests and Kings. His admirable prose is clear, lucid, powerful; right from the beginning it contains comparatively few Sanskrit loanwords (even less than Bharati's diction), not because of any conscious purism, but because his model was the day-to-day spoken language of simple people wich was not Sanskritized. "The thoughts, the content of my writings may be lofty and heavy; but the form, the words oannot." T. J. Ranganathan compared Ramaswami with G. K. Chesterton; 38 Thus e.g. in one of his speeches to the Tamil Writer's Association he refuses as rubbish such concepts as fate (talaiviti), the fruits of previous births (purvajanmapalan), ill-luck (atirustam), and he exhorts writers to sweep them out of literature and to create a writing which will educate people to freedom and riddance of ;such nonsense (pitarral). 37 "How is it possible to express modern concepts of this period of electrification ^,nd Communist ideology through a language which was born in the rural society V
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they had both a keen sense of humour, and could use paradox as a powerful stylistic weapon. In 1944, for the first time, the authors of Dravidian speaking Indian nations met in Madras and Ramaswami held the welcome address. While recognizing the meeting as an important historical event, he felt with a rare sensitiveness the dangers of stagnation in glorifying the past, and warned against it: it is impossible ever to go back. Apart from such programmatic speeches and essays he was able to write in an utterly engaging manner about day-to-day events and the common man in the street38. 6.5.3. Apart from the group of Manikkoti writers, the two men who were most active and very influential on the literary scene of Tamilnadu in the Thirties and Forties were C. Rajagopalachari (1878-1973) and R. Krishnamurti —Kalki (1899-1954). Cakkaravartti Irajakopalaccariyar (Rajaji)39, besides being one of the elder and truly great statesmen of India and a vigorous politiican (founder of the Swatantra Party), was also one of the popular Tamil writers. In his writings, he always wants to teach, and his preaching is done through his stories. This he not only admits, but proclaims as a program: " . . . some highbrows maintain that stories should be stories and not propaganda. These pieces, most of them, had a purpose but I claim that purpose is inevitable and good40." He writes his stories, he says, "for furthering the public causes" in which he is involved. He writes like a paurdnika, a traditional story teller. His stories are most often naive, like parables, and judged by purely literary criteria, quite bad. Take, e.g. his Minister Sitarama Ayyar41, about a minister who resigns his office and becomes a wandering ascetic; or Kunicuntari 'The Hunch-backed Beauty' in which a retired sub-judge and widower, Vedanta Sastri, is wedded by force of circumstances to a hunch-back woman of 22 years; a kind of Upanisadic wisdom helps him to look at her true self, and not at her deformed body; or finally The Nose-Jewel42 which is a poor and silly fable that does not even have a pointe, unless the pointe is meant to be what the she^ sparrow said to the male-sparrow: "I shall never disobey you, my husband." 88 An excellent reader of Ramaswami's selected essays, speeches, and sketches was published recently by the editors of Vacakarvattam (Bookventure), Madras 1968, with an introduction of K. SBINIVASAN, and a splendid account of Va. Ra.'s

prose by T. J. RANGANATHAN. 39

He was born in a Brahman family near Salem. Lawyer by profession. In 1919 joined the Satyagraha movement. 1939-39 was the Prime Minister of Madras, in 1947 Governor of West Bengal, then governor-general of India until Jan. 1950. Chief Minister of Madras, 1952-54. Has been engaged intensely in political activities both in Madras and on all-India level; founded the Swatantra Party. Until late 1951, minister in the central government. One of the great protagonists of English and opponents of Hindi. 40 Stories for the Innocent, transl. by C. R. RAMASWAMI and P. SANKABANABAYANAN, Bombay 1967, p. ix. 41 In the Plough and the Stars (ed. by K. SWAMINATHAN, M. P. PEBJASWAMI THOOBAN and M. R. PEBTJMAL MTJDALIAB), Madras 1963. 42

In Contemporary Indian Short Stories, Sahitya Akademi, Series I, 1959.

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In diction and style, his stories are very very simple, lacking completely any sophistication of form43. R. Krishnamurti who became immensely popular under the pseudonym Kalki*4 was one of the most prolific short-story writers and novelists, as well as an influential journalist. Though his permanent place in Tamil literature is due rather to his historical novels (see § 6.6.3) than to any other of his writings, he was also the author of a number of stories of very different and uneven quality, and with a great variety of topics. His early stories45 have the proper form and shape of short story, though they are by no means perfect; in his later stories46 the form cracks and dissolves, his narratives become too long; in fact, they are loose tales describing many scattered incidents and a number of characters, leaving the reader totaly unsatisfied as to their form and structure. Although he succeeds in entering into a sort of direct communication with the reader, he is unable to convey through one central plot or incident the entire life-story or the main tone of life or the character of his heroes. He was at his best in stories manifesting gentle irony and kind humour, e.g. in The Tiger-King which is a soft satire on the puppet-ra?a,s of modern India: the raja, born under the sign of the Taurus, will die because of a tiger, since there is animosity between bulls and tigers. The rdjd becomes a famous tiger-killer; but he dies from an infection caused by the splinter from a wooden tiger-toy belonging to his son47. Ku. Pa. Rajakopalan (Ku. Pa. Ra., K. P. Rajagopalan, 1901-1944) was a writer of an entirely different calibre. His three collections48 contain about eighty-five stories. The most important matter in literature was to him to portray feelings, emotions, sensibilities, frequently as a battle-field of the relationship between men and women. His knowledge of and affection for both Tamil and Sanskrit classics (Kalidasa) and English literature (Shelley, Keats) helped him to develop a polished style and a rich diction, and some of his prose has the qualities of a poem. The tensions of human relationships are described with tact and delicacy. He was one of the first writers to introduce sex as a legitimate topic, including repressed emotions and extramarital excursions. His portrayals of characters in embarrassing situations are like exquisite miniature paintings, since he had a keen sense of colour and form. The stories 43

He is also the author of Tamil renderings of the Mahabharata (Vyacar viruntu) and Ramayana (Cakkiravarti tirumakan); of a good translation of a part of Kampan's Ramayanam into English: The Ayodhya Canto of the Ramayana as Told by Kamban, London 1961. His Cakkiravarti tirumakan etc. were reviewed in detail, and positively, by K. S. KBISHNAN in Indian Literature 2.2 (April-Sept. 1959), 105-20. 44 He founded his journal Kalki in 1941. 45 As e.g. Kamala's Wedding or The Poisonous Mantra. 46 E.g. Immortal Life. 47 Cf. also Kedari's Mother, Indian Literature 9.1 (Jan.-March 1966), p. 33. 48 Punarjanmam, Kanakamparam, Kancanamalai. He also translated very aptly Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (as Ira^aimanitan 'The Double Man').

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are well-knit, often full of tension and suspense, e.g. his well-known story Vitiyuma 'Will it dawn V which deals with the shock of sudden death. On just a few pages it describes the journey by train from Kumbakonam to Madras of a brother and his married elder sister following an utterly unexpected telegram which they had received from the general hospital; when they arrive early in the morning, they are received by a clerk. "You from Kumbakonam ?" he asked. I said: "Yes." "The patient—died—last night," said the clerk distinctly. "Die—died ? How—what do you— ?" Even then, distrust and disbelief have not left us. "Sivaram Aiyar— ?" "Yes, sir." "Perhaps—•" "Wait a while. You can collect the corpse." He was very curt. He went after his business. After a while we were given the corpse. And then, as we saw it, we were sure. Somehow, our fear disappeared; our minds were free of any terror. And then— ? It dawned completely. 6.5.4. The greatest prosateur in the Tamil writing of the first half of the 20th century was Co. Viruttacalam (25. 4. 1906-30. 6. 1948) known as Puthumaippittan 49 . He wrote over 200 stories (not all of them published as yet) 50 , a novelette 51 , three one-act plays, a number of essays52; a book of his poems 49

This nom-de-plume means 'He who is mad after novelty.' He used several other pseudonyms: Co.Vi., Vejur Ve. Kantacami Kavirayar, Racamattam, Kuttan, Nanti, Kapali, and Cukraccari. 50 The most important collection was entitled simply Putumaippittan kataikaj (1st ed. 1940) and contains 26 stories, out of which five or six are quite outstanding (such as Akalyai, The Golden City, Vinayakacaturtti). Amnai 'Manliness' is a collection of 8 stories (1st ed. 1947) and contains such 'classical' pieces as Vali 'Exit.' His early stories were mostly collected in the anthology Putiya oh' 'New light' (1953) which contains 29 pieces, most of them weaker than the rest, but some of them quite forceful (e.g. The Rope-Snake). Anru iravu 'That Night' (1954) contains thirteen stories (one of them is the splendid Nacakarakkumpal). Among the other collections, one should name Citti (1955) with 8 stories, none of them firstrate, though. 51 Cirrannai, 2nd ed. Madras 1956. 52 St>me of his essays were published as Putumaippittan katturaikal in 1954. They are most revealing, especially for his own views on art and literature. "Works of literature are echoes of life; milestones showing the growth of society; vital arteries of mankind." The mystery of literature consists in its ability to reflect and discover truth. The constant tension of literary activity consists in the contrast between this fact and the fact that all art is a kind of lie. He sharply attacks dilettantism in art and writing. Bharati is for him the 'Prometheus' of Tamil literature, Mauni 'the Tirumiilar of Tamil short story.' In one of the essays he has named four short stories which, as he says, have no precedent and no equal in Tamil writing: B. S. Ramiah's Star Children (Natcattirak kulantaikaj), Mauni's From Somewhere He Came (Enkirunto vantan), Ta. Na. Kumaracami's Sri Cailam, and his own 'God and Kandasami Pillai' which, so it seerns, he has considered as one of his best stories.

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was edited by his faithful disciple and friend Raghunathan. He also made about 100 translations of stories by Western and Eastern authors 53 . He was strongly influenced by Maupassant, Tolstoy, Chekhov, N. Hawthorne, Kipling and Gorkij. This influence went so far that he rather faithfully adapted some of their stories to the Tamil milieu54. Later, though, he emerged as a magnificent prose-writer of undisciplined, creative forcefulness, often morbid, pessimistic and sarcastic, who has forged a staccato style of his own so that for compression and abbreviation his prose is still unique. As his own life was a constant struggle of a very unsettled existence which must have provoked constant change of his mental attitudes, so his view of life was as that of a battlefield; in one of his essays he says: "Life must be killed in order for life to live. The growth of life is conditioned by the murder of life. And that's a natural law." Frustration and death dominate much of his writing. When describing sex, he would not hesitate to deal with stark desire, with dark corners of human passions. He would deal with various weaknesses of individuals as well as with social evils; with the incongruities and maladjustments of ordinary people as well as with such common evils as the atrocities of the dowry system, the plight of widows, the misinterpretation of justice. His concern, however, was not to reform society, but to portray critically the miserable drama of human life; with penetrating insight, he would picture the struggles, vanities and frustrations of individuals, mock with dry sarcastic wit at the life of his own Pillai community, satirize intercaste marriages, Harijan uplift, astrology, point out the vulnerability of women. He neither moralizes, nor preaches, nor offers any solution; he simply points out the symptoms and diagnoses the disease. Almost each of his stories is an experiment either in form, plot, theme or style. Thus he used the stream-of-consciousness technique in The Rope-Snake, which is an intellectual dissertation on the meaning of life, but, on the other hand, a detailed realistic description with dialogues in the spoken dialect of the Pillai community of Tirunelveli in Nacakarakkumpal. In fact, he used the dialects for the first time in conversational discourses: the Brahman speech, the Harijan dialects, apart from the velldla speech55. He never went beyond the experimental stage to perfect or improve on any one type of his stories, and many of his stories strike us as not quite finished. As E. Sa. Visswanathan very aptly writes, the one defect of his stories is a lack of structural tidiness which one overlooks because of his forceful style. Puthumaippittan would also reinterpret old stories from the epics. Thus 53 Cf. UlakattuccirukataikaJ, 3rd ed. 1956. His translations have a particular lucidity and straightforwardness. 54 Thus e.g. Anta muttaj Vemi 'That fool Venu' (1934) is simply plagiarized from a story of Maupassant. 55 He was attacked for this usage, though in his writings it was restricted to dialogues and he never extended it to the narrative and descriptive passages. Neyertheless, his usage came to stay as an accepted pattern with most contemporary authors.

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Akalyai and Capavimocanam both deal with the story of Ahalya. In the Ramayana, Ahalya is cursed and turned into a stone by her saint-husband Gautama after she let herself be raped by Indra. Puthumaippittan's Gautama forgives his wife, affirming that chastity lies in the purity of mind. "My sweet Ahalya, didn't your body at that moment turn into an unconscious stone ?" said he, and stroked gently her head. Peace descended into his mind. A new truth. "An emotion will change even a god into a beast. Chastity consists solely in the purity of mind."

CapavimScanam 'Expiation of the Curse', which may be regarded as a good example of psychoanalytic writing, shows Ahalya, brought back to life by Rama's gracious touch, as she turns herself into a stone again when she learns that Rama had asked Sita to enter fire to prove her chastity, and as the unfortunate drama of Indra has thus once more been enacted on the stage of her mind. In the symbolic 'Rope-Snake,' Puthumaippittan narrates the birth and the inevitable death of Paravasivam Pillai, ending the story with an axiom that the whole concept of time has a meaning and a value only when it is perceived by the human mind. Oppantam 'The Contract' may serve as the example of an early story (1934). A boy goes to a prostitute after his father has arranged his marriage. Can it be wrong for the boy, asks the writer, to make a girl his 'wife' for two hours for five rupees when he agrees to live with a girl for life for three thousand rupees ? In Vali 'The Exit,' Alamu's sick husband dies soon after marriage. She lives a life of anguish and agony. She is tempted to ask the reformer next door, who advocates widow remarriage, to marry her, but is afraid because "Hindu women don't know how to act according to their decisions." As she throws herself down on her bed, the point of a tweezers which she had kept on her key chain stucks her in the chest. Blood flows out from this accidental wound, but she has no wish to stop it and finds relief in death. She dies with a curse on the creator and on man-made unjust laws: "Go, smear this blood on the face of that Brahma. Don't block my way out!" are her words to her father who tries to save her. Tani opuvarmkku 'For one single man' is sarcastic: While people are eloquent on the public platform quoting Bharati's poem "If there's one man who has no food we'll go and annihilate this world," a Harijan orphan and several others like him die for want of a morsel of food. * A brief but extremely pregnant 'story' on the meaning of god is entitled simply ' V: A guru and his disciple walk to the abode of Siva, Mount Kailasa. God is like a bright star above the mountains, says the guru. But the disciple has his doubts: "What is the difference between being out of reach and being completely unseen ?" "If one man reaches it, it's as if all mankind reached it." "Because the world then loses him — ?" "No, because he loses the world . . ."

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In his best story, God and Kandasami Pillai, Puthumaippittan anthropomorphized God and made him undergo the hardships of human life. God's tour with Kandasami Pillai from the Broadway-Esplanade junction to Triplicane in Madras is a marvel of graphic, witty, clever description. Kandasami is a caricature of a typical Tamil journal publisher of his time, with his pragmatic attitude to life, his veiled exhibition of his human dignity before the Supreme, his extraordinary equipoise in the presence of Siva. "I am terribly thirsty," said God. "You won't get water anywhere here," said Kandasami Pillai. "If you want, we could drink a cup of coffee; there, there's a coffee-house." "Well, why not ? Let's go and have one," said God. Kandasami Pillai was quite an egalitarian. An acquaintance or a stranger, he didn't mind. "All right, let's go." For a second, though, a doubt crept into his mind: what if he expects Kandasami to pay the bill ? In the next moment, he thought: He who doesn't risk doesn't win. They entered a busy coffee-house. God followed Kandasami Pillai at his heels. They sat behind a table. Kandasami Pillai gave the waiter no time to recite his lesson and said, shaking his head: "Two cup o'coffee. An' make it hot'n strong!" "Watch your Tamil," said God. "Shouldn't one say Two cup with hot and strong coffie ?" "Not quite. If at all, one should say Two cups of hot and strong coffee."

At the end, the Almighty runs away from the world filled with fakes. He realizes he does not know the rules of the game of life on earth56. 6.5.5. Mauni (S. Mani), the man whom Puthumaippittan termed so fittingly ,,the Tirumular of short story writing57," was born near Tanjavur in 1907. He has never had any profession. Until 1943 he lived in Kumbakonam; since 1943 he has been hiding in Citamparam where he lives on his patrimony running a rice-mill. At the end of 1934 he wrote in fast succession about seven stories and a short novel (not available). It was B. S. Ramiah who met him in 1933 and told him that he should write. The stories appeared in 1936. Between 19381959 nothing was published from his pen. In 1959 a story finally appeared again, and in the same year, K. N. Subrahmanyam succeeded in publishing fifteen stories of Mauni58, while in 1967 a representative collection of seventeen 56 Cf. E. SA. VISSWANATHAN, Puthumaippiththan's Contribution to Modern Tamil Literature, Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 2, 1971, 122-29. Two short stories, 'The Exit' and ' ?', were published in Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968). An anthology of Puthumaippittan's stories in A. IBBAGIMOV'S Russian version was published in Moscow in 1961 (Svet l'ubvi; contains 22 stories). 57 Referring to his style of dry restraint, to the scarcity of his stories, and to the shyness and mysteriousness enwrapping the man. 68 Aliyaccutar 'Indestructible Glow,' Star Publications, Madras 1959.

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stories appreared with important forewords by Tarumu Civaramu and K. N. Subrahmanyam59. Mauni is a great and independent talent who does not 'belong' to any group or period. Restraint is the key-word to his writings; and depth is another. The prevailing flavour of his writings is sadness. Even in love there is an underlying sadness. He excells in dealing with mental and emotional torment, with pain and suffering. Plots, events are not important; in fact, there is an over-emphasis on psychological analysis of character and on atmosphere, built up painstakingly at the expense of the development of the plot. Events are what goes on inside, in the mental and emotional set-up of men and women. With great subtlety he knows how to express disappointment, frustration, tedium. In social relations he is totally uninterested. One of the striking features is his intimate knowledge of music, manifested in all his stories. Mauni was hailed by all adversaries of realism and socially and politically engaged writing. Every word counts in Mauni's apparently dry style. Unlike in the case of some authors who arouse passionate interest of the reader with the first reading (e.g. Jeyakanthan), Mauni's stories must be reread to be fully appreciated. There is, however, no 'hidden' meaning in his stories, no philosophical tricks; his stories give an impression of stern epics of the heart and soul. B. S. Ramiah (Pi. Es. Ramaiya, b. 24. 3. 1905 in Vattalakkuntu, Maturai distr.) is a prolific writer. The range of his stories seem to be unlimited, the power of narration unsurpassed. Events, actions, the plot are what counts: he can build up the atmosphere of contrast and conflict with a keen sense of drama; one event unfolds from another, and often an unexpected climax is reached60. Since his first well-known story Malarum manamum 'Flower and Fragrance' (1933) he has published a great number of stories in the vein of V. V. S. Aiyar; many of them read like abbreviated novels, and the form, the structure is certainly not too firm and well-balanced. Also, his stories are certainly not an intellectual exercise; not even detailed realistic views of life. On the other hand, his skill in creating convincing characters and lovely small scenes and pictures of the middle-class life of Tamilnadu is no doubt exceptional. Thus e.g. in Naksattirakkulantaikal 'The Star Children'—one of his best-known stories— there is a wonderfully gentle description of a child's vision of the world, charming and poetic in its naive confidence. Watching the nightly sky, the child is puzzled and fascinated by the stars. 59 Mauni: KataikaJ, Madras 1967. The two collections contain a number of identical stories. All in all, the number of Mauni's published stories does not exceed about wo decades. Cf. also Sameeksha (1970), and an English version of his story Born of Death in New Writing in India (ed. A. JUSSAWALLA), Penguin Books 1974, 217-30. 80 E.g. in Panam pilaittatu 'Money Survived': a very wealthy old man is dying, and expects Yama-Kalan, the god of death, to come and fetch him any minute. Hearing the dog howling several times he is quite certain that he must die, but it turns out that Kalan came to fetch another fellow, and the rich man survives, as well as a large amount of money which he was prepared to pay to the relatives of the man who would go with Kalan instead of him.

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"Daddy! Have the stars, too, a father of their own ?" "Yes, my little one." "Who is their father, Daddy ?" "God." "God ? And, Daddy, he is just like you, isn't he ? I mean, the stars are so beautiful! Surely their father is also beautiful, isn't he ?" "Yes, my darling. No one is as beautiful as God." "Daddy, when are the stars born ?" "In the evening." "And how are they born ?" "When we speak the truth. Whenever we say something which is true, a star is born." "And when I speak the truth, is there a star born too, Daddy ?" "Certainly, nay little one. Always when you speak the truth, a star is born."

Then the child sees a falling star. She interprets it in the only possible way, and becomes very unhappy. Someone must have just told a lie, and that's why the star fell. Na. Piccamurtti (N. Pitchamurthi, N. Pichamurti, born 15. 8. 1900 in Kumbakonam)81 belongs very much to the original Manikkoti group of writers; in 1956 he reentered literature with stories which manifest a new depth and philosophical vision of life. Among all contemporary Tamil writers, Pichamurti is perhaps the most philosophically inclined one, and his philosophy is thoroughly Indian, in fact, Vedantic. In these later stories, he deals with the soul's desire for release. However, even his earlier stories have a longing, a nostalgia in them which so far no other writer surpassed. Most of his writings are replete with the 'milk of human kindness,' like e.g. 'The Blind Girl62': A man who is rather poor, belonging to a typical lower middle class setting, takes care of a blind girl, an orphan, for years, out of sheer kindness. But prices rise, life becomes more expensive, and the poor old man and his wife are forced to take the decision of sending the blind gill to an orphanage. When, however, the man from the orphanage comes to fetch the girl, the old man changes his mind and keeps her. Most important about this simple and moving narration is the fact that it is quite unsentimental; and the description of the blind girl's behaviour is superb in the difficult artistry of what has not been said63. 61 He was active for about 13 years as lawyer. In 1932 he began writing stories, later also plays, essays, and since 1934 poems under the pseudonym Piksu. He was a close friend of K. P. Rajagopalan. In 1938 he become active as journalist, between 1939-56 worked in the administration of Hindu temples. Published at least six collections of short stories and three of poems. Cf. also § 1.3.12. 62 Engl. version published in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. 63 Another typical story of Pichamurti's, Mother: in this very brief sketch full of piercing pain, a scrawny Naidu woman is described with her baby, her breast dry, travelling alongside some other passengers; one of them is a man with three motherless children, suffering terribly from whooping cough; the father just gives them brandy to pacify them. Though the Naidu woman has no milk to feed her own baby, she still tries to feed and pacify the youngest child of the stranger. Cf. Mahfil IV,3—4 (1968).

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6.5.6. Ti. Ja. Rankanatan (T. J. Ranganathan, born 1901)64 is undoubtedly one of the important and powerful stylists in Tamil prose-writing65. As a storyteller, he believes in direct narration, and his stories have an air of taking place right before our eyes; the impressive, crystal-like clarity of his style is probably responsible for the particular magic of his writings. Ci. Cu. Cellappa (C. S. Chellappa, born 1912) and K. N. Subrahmanyam (Ka. Naa. Subramaniam, Ka. Na. Cupramanyam) are both much more important as creative critics and essayists than original story writers. Chellappa, who is one of the main opponents of politically progressive speakers in Tamil writing, and a Western-oriented, supremely intelligent literary expert and reviewer, is prone to indulge in excessive analysis of his characters, whose sentiments are delineated with meticulous care but not much creative force. Nevertheless, he has succeeded in producing a few lovely stories66 and a very interesting longer narration, Vativacal 'The Gateway to the Enclosure' (Madras 1959) dedicated to the thrilling bull-baiting festival (jalUkkattu) taking place yearly in the Maturai and Ramnad country-side67. K. N. Subrahmanyam, whose chief aim has always been to proclaim the self-sufficiency of literature and the primacy of purely literary criteria and check the influence of leftist forces im Tamil writing, is not very successful as original creative writer since he slides too often from storytelling into intellectual disputes and skilful reporting. Shankar Ram, distinguished as a novelist (§ 6.6.2), has also written a few successful stories with bucolic background, capturing well the atmosphere of the Tamil countryside68. S. K. Raman alias Mayavi (born 1917) is the author of about 150 stories and nine novels69. Only a few of the stories are important; one, however, is quite distinguished. In Panittirai 'Waves of Mist,' Krishnan, a friend of Ramu for over twenty years, lives in a house built by Ramu about 64 Was jailed in 1933 for one year for having taken part in the Salt Satyagraha movement. 65 Witness his marvellous essay on the prose of V. Ramaswami in Va. Ra. Vacakam, Bookventure, Madras 1968, 221-33. His best short stories are Nakarattinam 'Cobra's Jewel,' involving two young people and a cobra with its precious stone; Rajattin kuntal 'Rajam's Hair,' and NoNtikkih' 'The Lame Parrot.' 66 E.g. 'The Lame Child': It is a hard life for Gnanam, a lame boy, ostracized from the companionship of other children because of his lameness which is considered odd and inauspicious. When finally he is admitted to other children's games, he crashes his head in an accident and dies. Cf. The Plough and the Stars, 1963. 67 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, Bull-baiting festival in Tamil India, Annals of Naprstek Museum, Prague 1962, 191-99. 68 E.g. Wound Can Heal Wound (The Plough and the Stars, 1963): Buchanna and Ramanna, two buffaloes, were ideal friends. In fact, such* divine intimacy could not have existed anywhere among men, and that is why perhaps they were born as buffaloes. The story is about their jealousies and envies, and how one of the animals rescues his friend from the clutches of a tiger. There is great charm about this story, and somehow its author has succeeded in capturing well the amiable character of the Indian buffalo. 69 Among the novels, one should mention Vatamalar 'Unfading Blossom'; an interesting novelette of his is Anpin uruvam 'The Shape of Love.'

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15 miles from Bombay. The house was built as residence for Ramu's sick wife. Owing to financial difficulties, the house is now required by him, but Krishnan refuses to vacate it because of a misunderstanding. "The false prestige of Krishnan, the lovable nature of Ramu, the waywardness and cruelty of Krishnan's friends who go to the length of scorning the owner of the house, the pathetic position of the ailing patient, Krishnan's dramatic appearance at Ramu's house, his offer to vacate the house for the occupation of the patient are all portrayed with vividness, insight and sympathy" (A. C. Chettiar). One of the most prolific and gifted authors in Tamil short-story writting was undoubtedly Ku. Alakiricami (K. Alagiriswamy, 9. 6. 1923-5. 7. 1970)70, scholar71 and writer, journalist and essayist. His stories are straightforward telling, simple, lucid, observing life directly, with a clear and frequently optimistic vision. His natural, realistic writing glows with the flame of true humanism, where good and evil are clearly distinguished and dealt with. In creating a plausible and engaging plot, and lively and living characters, in shedding rays of humour on events, in portraying throbbing humanity and evoking realistic pictures of life with penetrating insight into the motivations of peoples' actions, there was hardly anyone better than Alagiriswamy. In style and diction, his stories have an air of austerity about them; and in structure and form, they tend to be carefully balanced, too. Thus 'Raja has come72' is the story of an orphan boy, Raja, who goes to find out whether his aunt will have him. The boy finds a new home in his aunt's family; his arrival is pictured against the background of the children's rivalry between the son of a wealthy zamindar, and the three children of the very poor family of Raja's aunt. In a very different vein, Word and Its Meaning73 is a sensitive and moving story about Murthy's letters to Brinda. There is keen psychological insight in Alagiriswamy's portrayal of Murthy filled with anger, almost hatred towards the girl and her people and, at the same time, feeling love and admiration for her. The two young people force themselves into unhappiness by the very curious yet frequent phenomenon which we all know: something compels us to do the very opposite of what we wish in fact to do. Brinda and Murthy enact a 'dumb drama' which they both love to play74. 6.5.7. Among the leftist writers, socially and politically engage in the extreme, Raghunathan (To. Mu. Citampara Rakunatan, born 1923 in Tirunelveli) is 70 Born in Tirunelveli district, worked for a while in a taluq office, became journalist and editor. His first short story collection, Alakiricami kataikaj, appeared in 1952 with Kalki's foreword. 71 He edited e.g. Annamalai Rettiyar's Kavaticcintu and the first four kdntams of Kampan's epic. He also published many essays on Tamil literature. He has to his credit eight short story collections. 72 Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. 73 Cf. Sameeksha, Dec. 1965, 127-31. 74 Cf. also New Orient Bimonthly 2 (1962) for an English version of Alagiriswamy's story 'A Real Man.'

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probably the most oustanding. In his short stories, he is the direct disciple of Puthumaippittan whose close friend he was, but his writings show much less variety and creative originality. The sympathy for the underdog, an atmosphere of utter seriousness, and clear Communist political orientation are the main features of his writings. Where Puthumaippittan manifested wit, sarcasm, irony and pessimism, Raghunathan shows righteous indignation, social optimism, and the schematic ideology of a disciplined member of the Party. Some of his short stories are quite forceful; but many of them are just propaganda for the orthodox Marxist solution of social problems. Among the younger leftist writers, T. Selvaraj (Ti. Celvaraj) is sometimes quite successful in depicting the life of the proletariat, especially of the Pallar agricultural labourers. Among the three or four most outstanding prose-writers of present-day Tamilnadu, Ta. Jeyakantan (D. Jeyakanthan, Jayakanthan, born in Kadalur on May 2, 1934), the enfant terrible of modern Tamil writing, began, too, as an orthodox Communist and member of the Party. He started publishing in magazines, particularly in Saraswathi (1956-60), and has produced a large number of stories, novelettes and novels (cf. § 6.6.9), of rather uneven quality. His short stories may be roughly divided, chronologically, in two groups. The earlier group is fiercely political and strictly realistic. Through these stories, he has reached students, a thin progressive layer of educated workers, and leftist intellectuals. To reach a much wider circle of readers, he began writing for journals with mass circulation (like Anantavikatan) reaching out to the large middle-classes in towns and even to the vast rural population, and nowadays he is the most widely read prose-writer in Tamil. His sense of realism is undiminished; sex, politics and social relations are still important; his 'amoral' outlook shocking some of the readers is still present. He has not withdrawn from stark realistic narration of the facts of life, centering upon basic human problems. He has left behind some of his principles, e.g. his original rigid Marxist ideology, and he has changed his strategies. Whereas previously the individual was portrayed as a somewhat schematic illustration of a number of ideological, political and social problems—though always in deeply human conditions—now his attention is turned towards the individual as an individual, though always in a social context (unlike, e.g. in the case of Mauni's or Ramamirtham's stories), and often, in fact almost always, the individual is socially conditioned. There is also a change in the form and style of his writing—a mellowing and an additional depth, wealth and colour of expression. In Parrukkdl 'The Staff of Life' (1959)75, an old rikshaw-puller is stopped by a policeman who demands of him the license which he has not got. The rickshaw is confiscated. There is a parallelism between the almost dilapidated rikshaw and the old man; the rikshaw collapses, and so does its owner who refuses to leave the police-station without his carriage. 75

Contained in The Plough and the Stars, 1963.

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"Give me my carriage and I'll go," said the old man. "I won't give it back." "Then, I won't get out." Their debate seemed endless. The old man would not yield an inch; he struggled stubbornly. What happened at last ? His rickshaw was not returned to him. Nor did he go away from there. This story is very much in the line of Puthumaippittan and Raghunathan. Similarly, e.g., Tarkkam 'The Dispute' (1959)76, which tells of Meenakshi, a prostitute who is almost forty and lives rather comfortably in her own house, though she is getting too old and unwell to keep up her profession, and a twenty-five years old lovely beggar-woman, Ponnammal, who usually comes and sleeps on the veranda of Meenakshi's house. One day Meenakshi falls sick with fever. In a dispute with Ponnammal she tries to persuade the young woman to become a prostitute arguing that it is better to sell oneself as a regular business-woman than to beg for charities. At first, the horrified and indignant Ponnammal refuses. But at the end, the roles are exchanged: Ponnammal convinces herself that for her and her baby it will be better if she will be able to earn a lot as a young handsome prostitute, and she goes to Meenakshi's room to take her place. Meenakshi decides that she is too old and too sick to continue in her profession, and goes to the entrance of the temple to take Ponnammal's place and to beg. In Yukacanti 'Ages Meet' (1963)77, Gowri, an elderly widow, lives with her granddaughter Git ha, widowed at an early age. Gowri visits her son Ganesayyar's family every weekend. One day she brings him a letter from Githa who decided to marry a colleague of hers. Ganesayyar is furious and states plainly that Githa as a daughter is dead for him. He is afraid that he will be unable to marry off his younger daughter Mina. But Gowri sees her own self in her granddaughter and does not want her to go through the ordeals she had been through. She says to her son who complains that Githa has by her decision acted against the sdstras: "She has denied the sdstras. But, my Ganesh, I cannot deny her. I want her. What else do I need in life ? Let me keep the sdstras to myself. They can burn with me at my funeral. May you fare well, I am leaving. I am going to Githa." One of the most important of Jeyakanthan's stories is Maunam oru pasai 'Silence is a Language' (1962). A mother in her forties tries to commit suicide unsuccessfully after learning that she is pregnant, since the silent, embarassed stares of her married children torture her. One of her sons, Ravi, a doctor who married a European girl, and has therefore been excommunicated by his family, comes back and tries to console her. Sex is no sin, motherhood is no crime. The story has a sequel, Kilakkum merkum 'East and West' (1963). Ravi tells his mother that social structures and religious rituals were made to better 76

Contained in Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968). " Contained in Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968).

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life; if they become dry rules, the fault is with men. His mother wanted to kill herself because of self-hatred that her disguise—of having abandoned sexual pleasure—was exposed. Ravi tells her now that he and his wife, who is pregnant, are not going to give birth to an Anglo-Indian, but to a new Indian. "Life in India became an image of falsehood. In cursing life and pleasures while enjoying them at the same time, the Indian became a hypocrite . . . A new man, a new culture, a new life—a combination of the East and West will make the future world78." In his later stories and recent novels, Jeyakanthan has discovered that the fundamental human conflict is internal, that dramatic dialogue is in the final analysis between self and self. Jeyakanthan's writing is solid, robust and honest. In challenging various evils in man and society, and in daring realistic description, he has no equal in contemporary Tamil literature. Cuntara Ramacami (Sundara Ramaswamy, born 30. 5. 1931) is not a prolific writer, but almost each of his short stories is excellent79. One of the best written and most pathetic stories in the Tamil language is his 'The Window80,' describing a sick young man lying on a cot near the window for many months. I have become so bony that my ribs look like the staves of a bamboo basket, and even the soft mattress grates against my body. My flesh has shrunk away to such an extent that my collar bone sticks out, forming a cavity so big that you could fill it with a cupful of water. I can't bend my arms or legs, or even move them. Every joint is swollen. I am confined to lying flat on my back without moving a muscle. Sometimes grinding pain wracks my body; other times it is as if flames lick my limbs. Tears stream from my eyes. Even so, I don't make a sound. Over a period of months I have disciplined myself to grit my teeth and check back the pain. He hates his room. How long can I go looking at the same yellow wall ? I have been observing four dark spots on that wall. In two places the plaster is bulging and is about to fall at any moment. At another spot it fell out two months ago. The same will happen to these. At another place, just level with the cot, someone has blown his nose and wiped the snot on the wall. Everyday I vow not to look at it. Every day without fail I end up looking at it.

The only consolation of the sick youth is the window. He becomes fantastically sensitive to every possible detail outside—the rose buds on the rose-bushes, the banana leaves, the tops of the electric posts, the wires and the drops of rain on them. He looks at the sky for hours on end. It is the window which gives a meaning to all those passing days. 78 A selection of his short stories translated by K. DIRAVIAM was published in Madras in 1972 under the title Game of Cards. 79 Contained in two volumes, Akkaraic cimaiyile 'In the Country of Opposite Shores' and Piracatam 'Food-Offering.' For his short novel, cf. § 6.6.6. At present he runs a textile shop in Nagarcoil and writes occasional short stories, but does not seem to have produced any substantial work recently. 80 Contained in Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968), transl. by E. ANNAMALAI and H. SHIFT-

MAN.

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The clouds travel in bunches. Where are they heading ? Now and then they get lazy and lie right down. There will be no movement. At times I wish I was lying on one of these clouds; sometimes I feel like scooping them up in my arms and heaping them over my head. They come in various disguises—now in pure white, now in pale gray, then in darkest black, in ash gray—here like a reclining monster, there like a flying horse, now like a great banyan tree . . . One moment, a golden chariot: six horses, but no driver. The next minute it dissolves into nothing.

One day the doctor tells the family that the cool breeze from the window is bad for the patient, and orders them to move the cot over to the wall. There, the story ends:— I could barely speak. My mother put her ear near my mouth. "I'm suffocating," I managed to gasp. Everyone shouted, "Doctor, doctor!" In another story81, Subbiah Asari accepted 100 rupees as advance from Panikkar to paint a picture of Sita for a poster to advertise the latter's business. The painter did not like the idea of painting Sita without Rama beside her. But out of need of money he accepted. When Panikkar came to collect the painting, he wanted Sita's figure to be more seductive. Asari was shocked, and Panikkar, demanding the advance to be paid back, left. Asari's wife was happy that her husband did not concede to a mean thing for money; but when asked where to get the money which he must return to Panikkar, she had no answer. Ramaswamy's writing is highly original, very careful, and there is in him a great promise for the future—if he keeps on writing. 6.5.8. Ti. Janakiraman (T. Janakiraman, born June 8, 1921 in Tevangudi near Tanjavur) has published a great number of short stories, novelettes, novels (cf. 6.6.9) and plays, as well as charming travelogues. The best-known of his short story collections is probably Civappuriksa 'The Red Riksha' (1956). One may regard his stories as realistic in the best sense of the term. With supreme skill, he is able to evoke the true flavour of the locality, to create figures true to life, real people of flesh and blood. This calm, composed and honest writer offers us beautiful descriptions of the life of villagers and middle-class families in small towns along the Kaviri river, in the Tanjavur country-side. His characters live very much their own life, speaking their colloquial speech in lively dialogues; with vivid sense of gentle irony and humour, without intellectual pretention and philosophic discourses, Janakiraman makes us to know intimately through his writings the places and their inhabitants. Though his diction is rich and his style vivid, colourful and plastic, there is not much of an aesthetically satisfying side to his writings; there is no experimentation with techniques of writing; instead there is a lively, sympathetic interest in the present life and its manysidedness; there is depth and the ability, probably greater than in any contemporary writer, to create a large number of lively, realistic characters. In The Champak Blossom, for instance, an old man and his wife watch a young, beautiful widow 81

Cf. E.

ANNAMALAI

in Mahfil IV.3-4 (1968) 27-8.

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of their neighbourhood; the old man regards her with admiration, awe and sympathy, his wife with distrust, suspicion, even hatred. There is not much of a plot in the story, but wonderful character-portrayal. In Exultation82, a very gentle and deeply human story, a lady sits in a train vis a vis the writer and his boy; she takes a girl long way from her home to Calcutta. "Every home has its problem," is the motto of the story which is not quite spared the curse of sentimentalism. One of his best stories is Kopuravilakku 'The Temple Light.'83 In this extremely well-written story with very lively dialogues between the writer and his wife, the heroine, whom the reader never really meets, but about whom is the whole talk, is a young handsome prostitute whom the writer had seen in the temple as she prayed to Durga. After some time he is shocked to hear that the girl is dead, and that the rumour says that she has been pregnant for three months. "It seems her mother went and saw the doctor. And they say that hard man asked for fifty rupees. So finally the mother shut all the doors front and back, stuffed the girl's mouth full of straw and cloth and all sorts of things, and practiced her own medicine. The girl couldn't scream, she couldn't even whimper, so all breath stopped. That's what the flower girl says. But the temple priest's wife says the mother ground up glass mixed in water and told the girl to drink. When she drank it, the bowels of the whole town writhed to hear her screaming at the pain in her stomach. Only then her mother stuffed her mouth with cloth to stop her from crying out. And that stopped her life." It turned my stomach when I heard this. Gauri began to cry—sobbing like a child. It made me feel weak.

Because of her death, there is no pujd in the temple, there is no light on the temple tower, and the street is dark. But the temple-manager refuses to light the lamp, for he feels that somehow he must mourn the death of the girl who used to come to the temple, and that the street and its people should have no light either. L. S. Ramamirtham (Lalkuti Ca. Ramamirutam, born on Oct. 30, 1916)8* has given to the Tamil story a sense of form and an attention to diction and style unachieved any time before. If there is any writer in modern Tamilnadu who has demonstrated of what Tamil prose is capable, it is, after Puthumaippittan and Mauni, L. S. Ramamirtham. So far, he has written more than a hundred short stories and two novels (cf. § 6.6.10). The collections of short stories comprise Janani (1957), Italkal 'Petals' (1959), Paccaikkanavu 'Green Dream' (1961), Kanka (1962), Ancali 'Gesture of Worship' (1963), Alaikali 82

Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. Contained in Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968), transl. by D. A. NELSON. Cf. also his story Concert, in Indian Literature, March 1972, 41-51. 84 He began writing in English. It was T. J. Ranganathan who induced him to write in Tamil. Ramamirtham admits to have been influenced by Tolstoy, Knut Hamsun, and Hemingway. J. Joyce and F. Kafka also seem to belong to his models. He is employed in the Punjab National Bank (previously in Madras, now at Tenkasi). 83

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'Waves' (1964) and Taya (1966). The world of Ramamirtham's stories is frequently limited to just two persons: husband and wife; parent and child; two friends; sometimes, he draws a family into the magic circle of his writing. Only rarely does he deal with the relations of an individual toward society. Where the problems of Jeyakanthan's socially conditioned characters arise primarily from such phenomena as caste, social status, religion, nationality, race, class struggle, occupation, differences of age, the problems of Ramamirtham's heroes are deeply psychological, emotional. It is the subconscious workings of the mind, the conflicts within the individuals which are his frequent themes. The chief aim of literature is, according to him, to express in detail and with sensitive, delicate attention, the feelings and emotions of human beings, their struggle for higher consciousness and realization. Another characteristic feature of Ramamirtham's writing is his constant experimentation with diction, style, form: he has tried interior monologue, stream-of-consciousness technique, prose-poetry. One has to admit, though, that sometimes his sense of proportion is not quite what it should be, and his stories tend to be too tediously long. He is obsessed with words, and with the Word85. "If you say 'fire,' your mouth must burn86." And, indeed, most frequently he succeeds in placing words into contexts and associations with such mastery that his diction and style has not yet been surpassed by any prose-writer. The words in his prose are usually fully durchkom'poniert (musicalized), to use Schoenberg's term; they have their own cadence, rhythm, tonalities—and it is naturally difficult to translate his prose. His language is very rich, for, not being a purist, he has at his disposal a large number of Sanskrit loanwords. He employs new and striking metaphors: Rajam's eye-lids fluttered like the wings of a caged bird (Savitri). Or: The world took them up in its hand like a huge metal bowl for flowers (Petals). Listen to this description of a hot Indian day: The sky was a blue hollow, a bent blade of hot steel, with gold in the middle, pouring out in all directions, down on earth, with streams of heat (Talking Fingers). Hearing the name of the girl Ganga in an unexpected context, the hero of the story says: Something happened in my heart, like the birth of a spark when a knife strikes another knife (Ganga). Alliteration seems to come naturally to him as well as a particular cadence and a powerful rhythm. He shows the march of images and thougths, elements of cognition, feelings, emotions, passions, and one gets lulled into a trance while going through the verbal permutations he indulges in with magic effect87. That is why Raniamirtham is not a popular writer. He is sometimes rather difficult to understand. His obsession with the 'word' drives him to the brink of pure formalism, and his experiments may be carried too far. He is, above all, in constant search of 85 Cf. his autobiographic sketch in English, The Word, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Nov. 20, 1966.

86 87

Eluttu 4.

P. P. STTNDARARAJAN, The Short Story in Tamil, Indian Writing Today, 4, p. 61.

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himself88. The texture of his plots is usually not very intricate, but the complicated net of emotions and occasional dream-like quality of fantasies and illusions in his prose make the reading difficult. Paccaikkanavu 'Emerald Dream' (1961)89 is the story of a blind man who married a woman to give her and her brother shelter and comfort and a place in society. She takes care of him, but an odd relationship is established between them: on her side, there is affection mixed with impatience and anger, gratitude mixed with frustration. Then one day he tells her about his past. He had already been married once, before he lost his sight, only to find out that his bride was deaf-and-dumb. The bride was at once sent back to her parents' house and enmity arose between the two families. Then he went blind (the green colour being the last he had seen). He would idle away his days near a pond, and one day the girl came there to join him. A hand touched me. I grasped it roughly and pulled, bending under the weight she put on me. My quick tug had made her lose her balance and she fell on me. A great sigh carried away our thoughts . . . Whatever did we talk about from that day on ? What could we talk about ? What was there to say ? The pounding of our blood throbbing in our green veins was our language . . . Green days. Green nights. She became pregnant, and poisoned herself. Someone had laid out the corpse in the hall. The remnants of the juice she drank lay in a clay pot in her hands. I touched the pot. Then I touched her lips. (They were quite green.)

When the blind man tells his present wife this tragic story of his past, "the affection that lay compressed in her heart welled up with such vehemence it choked her." For she, too, is bearing his child. ". . . we must have a girl, and we must give her the right name." "What shall we name her ?" she asked with eager surprise. His eyes opened wide as if they had received the light to see. "Emerald."

In Ganga (1962), the husband, out of disgust with his everyday gray life, chases after a love-dream of childhood and adolescence. After a drastic confrontation with reality, he hastens back to his wife, the symbol and guarantee of sanity, security, certainty. Man 'Clay' (1961) is the story of a family of potters who come to settle down in a poor village. They are physically very ugly, crude and harsh in behaviour, the man beating his wife. They have a dirty, monkey-like baby. One day the child dies. When the feast of Pongal comes when all Tamil housewives break old pots and buy new ones, the two—the potter and his wife—prepare a pile of beautiful new pots and invite the village. Then, when all have gathered, the woman gives the pile a kick, and not a single pot remains whole. The potter and his wife, cursing the village and its 88 89

Cf. Eluttu 4. Mahfil IV.3-4 (1968).

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people, walk away. Janani (1957) is a long, somewhat unbalanced story of Parasakti born on this earth in the shape of a female child90. 'Stained Leaf91' has for its central idea the madness of poetry, the higher, transrealistic vision of the poet against the earthy, realistic plane of the vulgar. In the confrontation, the higher, idealistic plane is destroyed by the vulgar. One of the most interesting of his collections is Aficali (1963) in which he has introduced five types of female characters, each one of them standing for one of the five elements: Tarankini for water, Jamatakni symbolizing fire, Purani earth, Kayatri air and Eka the all-pervading ether. Reading a story by Ramamirtham is always an unfortgettable experience. Sometimes, one feels that there is a certain amount of affectation; Ramamirtham should probably be occasionally more straightforward and more sincere. But, together with Janakiraman and Jeyakanthan, he is the most talented and the most distinguished of contemporary Tamil prose-writers. This trio has elevated modern Tamil writing to a universal level. 6.5.9. Those who are the best in the eyes of the literary critic and historian of literature are not necessarily the most popular authors. This commonplace has special validity in Tamilnadu. In fact, Jeyakanthan is the only writer of excellence who enjoys an over-all popularity. Three authors emerge as sure-sellers in the field of short-story collections: Jeyakanthan, Akilan (§ 6.5.9) and N. Parthasarathy (§ 6.5.10). The six most popular authors of short stories in magazines who are relative best-sellers on today's market (in order of frequency of publication) are Sujatha (born 1938), Indira Parthasarathy (§ 6.5.10), T. Janakiraman, Jeyakanthan, Ramakrishnan ('P.V.R.', born 1926) and Jegachirpian (born 1920)92. Conspicuously absent from best-seller lists are 90 Parasakti, tired of having been the Mother of Universe, and of being old (kilavi), wants to become a child. It is not a new avatdram she seeks, but a simple human birth. She finds an embryo, and enters it, giving the soul which should have occupied her place, freedom in exchange. The child, a girl, is born as an unwanted baby to an adulterous woman who tries to strangle it; the father saves its life, and they leave it alone on the bank of a pond. There an old Brahman finds it in the morning, takes it home, and makes his wife accept it. They call the girl Janani. She grows up in their family, but her adoptive mother feels a strange discomfort, fear, even hatred in her presence. When she attains puberty as a beautiful, strong, dark girl, she is married off to a stranger who dies in her embrace. She loses her speech, is dismissed from a hospital as mad, wanders about as a woman-beggar, manifesting strange healing powers. Thus she goes on living until she dies on a road under a tree. This curious story shows all the weakness of some of Ramamirtham's writing: it is too long, with a tremendously powerful but very very involved exposition, and an unsatisfactory, somewhat melodramatic and unbalanced climax, and a kind of brief, disappointing anti-climax. 91 Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968). 92 According to ALBERT B. FRANKLIN, The Tamil Language in the Modern World, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 9-22. Cf. also A. C. CHETTIAR (1955): "If I were asked to recommend a dozen Tamil short stories for translation into other Indian languages, I would recommend the following: Ku. Pa. Ra: Kanamalekatal; Puthu-

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several authors whose works have won great critical esteem: L. S. Ramamirtham, N. Pichamurti, R. Shanmugasundaram (cf. § 6.6.6). I shall now deal with the short stories of authors who are very possibly rather important in this or that field, even innovative and creative, and more or less popular, but whom I cannot force myself to accept among the masters of the first category. Na. Citampara Cuppiramaniyan (N. Chidambara Subrahmanyan, Subramaniam, born 1912) is more important as a novelist (see 6.6.8) than a short story writer. He has a keen sense of the traditional culture of India and pays great attention to the fundamentals of human existence. His style is livid, simple, limpid. In the Backyard Fowl he narrates of a cock which comes regularly into a couple's garden and destroys it. And yet when it is finally killed and eaten by its proprietor, there is nothing but remorse. 'Alamu', I said, 'they have killed our cock.' Vindan (Vintan, norn-de-plume of Ve. Kovintan, born 1916) is one of the socially strongly engage authors. He knows intimately, out of his own experience, the milieu of workers, poor village-folk, the oppressed and downtrodden. In Ore urimai 'A Single Right' (1950) which emphasizes the injustices of a rigid caste system, he demonstrates the helplessness of low-caste people on the case of a low-class man who concludes, after his bitter experience to set up a shop, that the sole right he possesses is to commit suicide. In another story (Ponnaiya) he narrates how a district board president of reformist views tries to get rid of a barber suffering from the ravages of flood by shelling out 50 rupees rather than allow him to stop in the veranda of his large mansion. Akilan (Vai. Akilantam, born 7. 2. 1922) is a novelist of distinction (cf. § 6.6.9)93 and a very prolific short story writer. He is one of the most popular prose-writers. He has a wide range of themes—family life, children, poverty, prostitutes, sex, social injustices. Usually he does not preach or use his stories as propaganda. He was influenced by Kalki who had aroused his interest in short story as a form, by K. P. Rajagopalan who induced him to identify himself with his characters, and by Puthumaippittan who made him think. And, indeed, when Akilan began writing, he achieved a rich portrayal of so far unattained variety and depth in the relationship between men and women. Later, unfortunately, he slipped into comfortable cliches, and the initial creative variety became superficial show. In the words of K. N. Subrahmanyam, Akilan's writings are "pseudopsychological narratives with an eye on melodramatic incidents and structure." Akilan is not strictly a social critic; he comments on social injustices but does not commit himself. In some stories he deals with the position of widows: thus e. g. in Canti (1952) he tells of a woman married to a rich man who, diseased maippitthan's Vali, Kalki's Visamantiram, Suddhananda Bharati's Katikaracankili, Akilan's Itayaciraiyil, Vintan's MullaikotiyaL Lakshmi's Vilvanti, Jeeva's Vedantakecari, Mayavi's Panittirai, T. K. Sreenivasan's Tunpakatai, Pushpatturai Subrahmanyam's Jivacilai, KaNaiyali's Nontikkuruvi." 93 10 short story collections, 10 novels, 2 plays, essays.

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through his own evil life, was never a husband to her, and she played the role of his nurse till his end; when he dies, she wants to marry again, but is hindered by her father; there is however a suggestion that she will not remain a widow. Another widow-story is the well known An-Pen 'Male-Female' of 1957. The book which bears the same title shows a wide range of different aspects of manwoman relationship. Some of the stories are melodramatic to the utmost94. Typical for Akilan's sentimental melodrama is e.g. Kulateyvam 'The Family Deity': A boy, Pasupati, is ill-treated by his teachers and school-mates for his stupidity; the worst of his tormentors was Kandayya. When they meet after years, Kandayya sees Pasupati married to a good woman. His lust makes him take advantage of the fact that she cannot see at night. When she finds what happened she dies. Pasupati, however, attains a great strength of character through this tragedy and offers Kandayya as a sacrifice at the 'shrine' he has built for his dead wife. Akilan has a number of stories about children, beggars and poverty. Thus e.g. Caktivel (1957) which is a pathetic story of a little beggar boy: he earns his livelihood bringing water for train passengers. One day he comes to the railway station with the water-tap but is too weak to turn it on. In despair he asks a rich man filling his own vessel for some water. The furious man throws the water on his head. The boy dies in the end. In K5yil vilakku 'The Temple Lamp' a child is born in utter darkness on a stormy night; it is ration time; a shop-owner who refuses to sell kerosene for four annas to the child's father is engaged in the public switching on of the electric light he has put up at the cost of thousands of rupees. 'Ritual bath in the Ganga' (1950) tells of the suicide of a childless woman who could no longer bear the scornful and unsympathetic attitude of her in-laws. In some stories, Akilan is sarcastic, even cynical: thus e.g. in 'Oh! These Humans' which is the story of a blind beggar who is not blind, a young woman who is not young, a lady who is no lady . . . etc., the basic idea being that everyone cheats everyone else95. Somu (Mi. Pa. Comacuntaram, born 1921), a journalist and a poet is also a short story writer and novelist96, with great admiration for traditional cultural and social values. In Udayakumari97 he tells the story of a Buddhist nun who obediently suppresses the stirrings of pleasure aroused in her by a young poet's verses. 94

There are e.g. two stories, Inpati 'Sweet Fire' and Neruppu 'Fire' on voluntary, deliberate suicide by fire of women on account of their great love. In some stories, Akilan operates with ghosts, as e.g. in Pucca-Nti which shows a wrong-doer dying through fear on a dark moonless night. 95 Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. Cf. A. CHANDKASEKHARAN, A discussion of Akilan as a short story writer, Proceedings of the First International Conference—Seminar of Tamil Studies, 296—303. 96 Received the Madras Government award for the short story collection, Kelatakanam, in 1961. A social novel, Ravicantirika, and an unfinished historical novel KatalkaNta kanavu 'Dream of the Sea' belong also to his writings. 1963 Sahitya Akademi prize for a travelogue. 97 Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963.

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Jiva (Jeeva, Narana Turaikkannan, born 1906), a well-known and distinguished novelist (cf. § 6.6.9)08 published a number of stories filled with lofty ethic principles mixed with sentimentality. The Cloud" for instance deals with complicated family matters: A girl remains unmarried while her younger sister and her brother marry; the story describes the meeting of the two sisters in their mother's house. It starts well and with considerable skill, but then it becomes unbearably sentimental. Another popular writer is Ki. Va. Jakannatan (K. V. Jagannathan, born 1906) who is also a scholar and editor of Kalaimakal. Though his stories tend to be naive and sentimental, they are almost always interesting; the themes are good, the plots well-built, but the style is usually poor and inartistic. One of his best stories tells of an old sculptor of clay-figures, Narayana Pillai, who took an apprentice, Murugan. The boy turned out to be very gifted; after ten years, a tender attachment has developed between the old man and Murugan, watched with hatred and jealousy by the old man's son Krishnan. When all of a sudden Murugan's real father appears and the truth comes out that the young man belongs to the low shoemakers' caste, Krishnan beats him and chases him away; he also warns him not to make any more figures. Murugan becomes a shoemaker, but in secrecy produces clayfigures, which Krishnan takes away and breaks. When the old sculptor dies, Murugan makes the figure of his master and hides it away. Krishnan finds it, but cannot make himself break it. He collapses, and, in tears, returns the statue to Murugan who, however, renounces his art and this time makes no more statues100. Periyacami Turan (Periyaswamy Thooran, born 1908), the chief editor of the Tamil Encyclopaedia, excells in stories which deal with the charms of the Tamil countryside, and with the difficulties and problems of children. He is a good story-teller, and his prose pieces are always interesting and replete with gentle humour. Thus e.g. in Gift of Grace101 two svdmls compete with each other who is the more influential religious preceptor. The pointe of the lovely, ironical story is revealed in the letter of a devotee who approaches one of the svdmls asking for the recipe for preparing the consecrated sweets which he had received from him as prasdda, blessed food. 6.5.10. Na. Parttacarati (N. Parthasarathy, born 1932), the editor of a valuable literary monthly Deepam (Tipam) is a very popular novelist and short 9« Writes under many pseudonyms (Maivannan, VeJ, Liyo). Apart from a number of novels and plays, a short story collection Jivavin cirukataikaj. 99 Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. 100 Cf. also his story The Beggar Woman (The Plough and the Stars, 1963) which tells of a strange attachement between a beggar woman and Gopal, a boy born and brought up in a rich mansion. The boy trains himself to beg for her, after his father stops his allowance. In Pavalamallikai a young girl fond of gathering flowers for her deity is upset by the cruel intention of the owner of the house to cut down the tree. 101 Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963.

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story writer. A typical story of his is the 'Right Spiralled Conch102': While Pumalai's wife is giving birth to a child, Pumalai who is a professional, hired diver, finds a right-spiralled conch (considered auspicious, and worth thousands of rupees because it is found only once in a hundred or more years, as the story maintains). But right at that moment he learns that both his wife and baby are dead. Out of shock he drops the precious conch back in the sea. A complaint is lodged with the police against him by his master. After cremating his wife and child, he is forced to dive again and he drowns—but in his hand is found the right-spiralled conch. The story is characteristic for those melodramatic narratives crammed with tragical and bizarre events, so popular with many readers. There is of course a host of short-story writers who are both prolific and popular, and who will not be dealt with in this survey since their writing, though well-established and liked by many readers at the present moment, is considered rather ephemeral by serious criticism: Jegachirpiyan (b. 1920), a full-time writer of many stories in conservative tone; Sujatha (b. 1938); Rajam Krishnan, a woman novelist who had earned an international price in 1951103, who has developed recently into an important and creative novelist (cf. § 6.6.6). Among the very recent young writers, some have already distinguished themselves and are full of promise: thus e.g. Indra Parthasarathy, the young Delhi writer, whose future lies probably in drama (cf. § 7.4); N. Muthuswami, another young writer of unconventional stories in forceful style; Ashokamitran and Neela. Padmanabhan (cf. § 6.6.6); and a few Tamil writers from Ceylon who would deserve more than a fleeting mention: the well-established Civafianacuntaram who writes under the pseudonym Ilankaiyarkon 104 ; S. Ganeshalingam (Ce. Kanecalinkan), journalist, reviewer and novelist who follows M. Varadarajan as his master (cf. § 6.6.4); K. Daniel, a worker writing about the social problems of Ceylonese proletariat, S. Vaidyalingam105, and Dominik Jeeva with his terse style, writing about the joys and sorrows of the ordinary people in Ceylonese villages. "In culture, no less than in politics, chauvinism and isolation are suicidal options 106 ." Unfortunately, chauvinism and isolation have entered modern Tamil literature. Though one appreciates the enormous positive role played in the very complicated and delicate socio-political set-up of contemporary Tamilnadu by such men as C. N. Annadurai (Ci. En. Annaturai, 1909-1969) and M. Karunanidhi (Mu. Karunaniti), their writings, judged by purely aesthetic 102

Contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963. Cf. her story Yellow string, contained in The Plough and the Stars, London 1963, about an unfitting marriage conducted under economic pressure. "How did Ramasubbu's thin hand with its aged veins like a cheap rubber or glass bangle hold this lovely wrist ?" She manifests considerable knowledge of children's psychology i n some of her narrations, e.g. in the story Pincumartam 'Tender Heart.' 104 Translator of I. S. Turgenev's writings. 105 Translated I. S. Turgenev's novel Na kanune. loe G. STEINER, Language and Silence, Pelican Books, 1969, p. 86. 103

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criteria, are rather political manifestos replete with eloquent words than sensitive and artistically finished contributions to modern prose. In Annadurai's stories, "rhetoric has greatly outweighed the creative tendency," and only in a few pieces of Karpanaicittiram (1947), "propaganda is subordinate to creative genius" (A. C. Chettiar). Thus e.g. in Kurravali yar 'Who is to blame,' where Annadurai shows that if a character misbehaves, it is because of the neglect of society; or in Peran Pankaloril 'Grandson in Bangalore' in which a young Brahman widow is married to a teacher of the Mudaliar community. 6.5.11. The picture of the short form in modern Tamil prose would be incomplete if no mention were made of the essay (katturai) which plays such an important role in the development of modern prose style. Apart from V. Ramaswami, it was mainly Maraimalai Atikal (Svami Vetacalam Pillai, 18. 7. 1876-15. 9.1950), Tiruvarur Viruttacala Kaliyanacuntara Mutaliyar (Thiru. Vi. Ka., 26. 8. 1883-17. 9. 1953) and Ti. Ke. Citamparanata Mutaliyar (Ti. Ke. Ci., 1882-1954) who were responsible for the growth of essay and oratory in Tamil. While Maraimalai Adigal was the most influential among the protagonists of the purist 'Tamil only' diction and style, Thiru. Vi. Ka. was a social reformer, politician, marvellous orator and prolific essayist, and Ti. Ke. Ci. who did so much for popularizing Kampan's poetry, was one of the great opponents of linguistic and cultural purism and chauvinism. An excellent essayistic style was also developed by A. Srinivasa Raghavan. The Tamils have a keen sense of humour, though thus far Tamil literature has not produced a supreme humourist of the calibre of a Rabelais or a Hasek. But there are a few modern authors who have published humoristic sketches of great merit, chief among them Em. Venkatraman (nom-de-plume Natoti, b. 1912) with his witty sketches poking fun at the foibles of society, e.g. Ennai kelunkonno 'You ask me!107.' 6.6. Novel. 1. Beginnings109.

The first printed Tamil book which calls itself a novel is a versified narrative by D. V. Seshaiyangar, Athiyuravadhani, or the self-made man. An original 107 2nd ed., Madras 1957. Cf. also Es. Vi. Vi. who writes about South Indian Brahman life, cf. his Valkkaiyo Valkkai 'Life's life!,' and Tumilan's writings. For Thiru Vi. Ka., cf. T. P. MEENAKSHISUNDARAM, Thiru T. V. K.—the Living, TC 7 (1958) 16-21, and E. SA. VISSWANATHAN, Thiru Vi. Kalyanasundarar's Concept of Caste, TC 9 (1964) 226-51. Also X. S. THANI NAYAGAM, Nature and the Natural in Kalya: nasundarar, TC 10 (1963) 1-20. 108 Cf. KA. NAA. STJBRAHMANYAM, Mutal aintu tamil navalkaj 'The first five Tamil novels,' Madras 1957; KA. NAA. STJBRAHMANYAM, The First Three Novels of the Tamil Language, Quest 30 (1961) 29-32; R. E. ASHER, The Tamil Renaissance and the Beginnings of the Tamil Novel, in The Novel in India (ed. T. W. CLARK), London 1970, 179-204; R. eE. ASHER, Litterature en prose en tamoul et en malayalarn jusqu'a la fin du XIX siecle, in Aspects de la litterature en prose dans le sud de l'lnde, Bull, de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, 59, 1972 124^-43.

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Tamil novel delineating pictures of modern Hindu life, Madras 1875109. But the first true Tamil novelist was almost beyond doubt Mayavaram Vetanayakam Pillai (Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, 1826-1889) whose Piratapa Mutaliyar Carittiram 'The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Prathapa Mudaliar' was published in 1879 in Madras. The preface gives a clear idea of the nature of the work; and it is characteristic that the two main features of almost all earliest Tamil novels—both of them regarded by Western criticism usually as drawbacks—are explicitely stated in this preface: the didacticism, and the purposeful idealisation of characters. "My object in writing this work of fiction is to supply the want of prose works in Tamil, . . . and also to give a practical illustration of the maxims of morality contained in my former works110 . . . There are many subordinate characters . . . affording examples of filial affection, fraternal affection, conjugal affection, chastity, universal benevolence, integrity,

gratitude, etc. In writing this story, I have not followed the example of those novelists who depict human nature as it is, not as it ought to be, and who thus exhibit bad specimens of humanity which are often mistaken by the young and inexperienced for objects of imitation. I have represented the principal personages as perfectly virtuous . . . I have endeavoured to exhibit the inherent beauty of virtue, and to expose the deformity of vice." The 'didactic heresy' could be hardly formulated more clearly. The story is simple, though "the book is long and rambling111." The life-story of the main character who is "a well-educated native gentleman of brilliant parts, wit and humour" is told in the Ich-form.. The hero is the son of a minister of state. Among his boyhood companions is his mother's twin brother's daughter, the brilliant and virtuous Gnanambal. After various disputes among the parents, and after an intervention of fate, Prathapa and Gnanambal are married. Gnanambal becomes queen of a nearby state, and rescues her imprisoned husband. With his help she rules the state benevolently, introducing many reforms. They return home together, and a happy end crowns the work. It is obviously a bad story, entirely unrealistic, a mixture of naive romanticism and moralising, with chains of improbabilities and badly constructed plot, without any attempt to bind the main plot and the secondary themes together. The "observations of a moral tendency" are tediously frequent. In spite of all this, the novel has a few positive features: brief life-like scenes and reflections of the author's own experience; in a few spots, acute observations of life. Easy style, occasional effective character sketches, and touches of humour also belong to the redeeming features of the book. According to Asher112, it is widely read even today, last but not least for its quaintness. Because of its success, the author published in 1887 another novel, Cukunaio» Atiyur avatarri caritam. no An allusion to verses published by the author in his role of a Christian moralist, cf. § 3.4. in ASHER, The Tamil Renaissance, p. 185. 112 ASHER, The Tamil Renaissance, p. 189.

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cuntaricarittiram 'Suguna Sundari, a Tamil novel,' which was unsuccessful with the readers, but has some importance "because of its attempt to expose the evils of certain social customs, among them the practice of early marriages113." Rajam Aiyar's114 Kamalambal, or the Fatal Rumour (serialized 1893-95, as book in Madras, 1896)115 is quite different. It is an almost realistic picture of a South Indian Brahman home-life based on an account of the middle years of the heroine, Kamalambal. Rajam Aiyar pursues realism not only in form, introducing the colloquial speech of the Tanjore Brahman dialect, but also in the plot, avoiding the fantastic improbabilities and naive romanticism of the earlier novel. There is plenty of action, including robbery, arson and manslaughter, and the moving force behind most of the action, malicious gossip. There are also some marvellous character sketches, e.g. of Peyandi Thevan, the robber with extraordinary strength. In the preface, the author admits that his main purpose was not the story but to spread and popularize Vedanta through the story. In spite of this program, and probably contrary to the author's original intentions, the novel reads and lives on as a true work of fiction; the author has left the romantic world of kings and queens, and has entered the world of firmly 'localized' South Indian reality. In this sense, it is the first regional novel of Tamil, since it clearly pictures the mores and customs of the region, and the characters speak a local dialect. In the last portion of the novel, R. Aiyar returns to his main objective, and the philosophical preoccupation increases. A. Madhaviah (A. Matavaiya) was born in 1872 like R. Aiyar and he, too, was a Brahman. He held a government post, writing in his spare time. He is the author of quite a few novels in English and Tamil116, of English short 113 ASHEB, The Tamil Renaissance, p. 189. Cf. also F. MORAIS, Vedanayagam Pillai, TC 10 (1963) 30-41. 114 B. R. Rajam Aiyar (Iyer, 1872-1898), a disciple and collaborator of Svami Vivekananda, editor of the monthly Prabuddha Bharata, wrote between 1896-98 many articles for the journal under a large number of pseudonyms. The bulk of these writings were reproduced in book-form as Rambles in Vedanta, Madras 1905; it also contains (pp. xxxii-xxxix) a sketch of his brief but brilliant life. His unfinished English novel True Greatness, or Vasudeva Sastri, is also published in Rambles pp. 617-734. Pastime Pleasure Books, Madras, published in 1967 True Greatness, Stories that Inspire, Parables of Wisdom, and God Seekers, all of which contain selections from R. Aiyar's writings. Cf. also A. S. KASTURIRANKA AYYAR, Rajam Ayyar caritai, Madras 1909, and P E . K O . CTJNTABARAJAN, Naval elutiya tattuvanani, Tlpam, Jan. 1972, 76-80 and Febr. 1972, 51-56. 115 Apattukkitamana apavatam, allatu Kamalampal caritti#am, originally serialized in 20 sections in Viveka Chintamani, 1893-95. The best edition is the third, ed. C. V. SWAMINATHA IYER, Madras 1910. According to ASHER, modern editors have made a "good number of minor textual changes" (e.g. in the 7th ed., Madras 1947). 116 Among his English novels, the best-known is probably Thillai Govindan: A Posthumous Autobiography, London 1903, translated into Tamil in 1929. Cf. also his The Story of Ramayana retold in a simple straight manner, London 1914.

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stories117, of volumes of verses and translations from Shakespeare. He died in 1926. Madhaviah preferred the realism—but not the regionalism—of R. Aiyar, and did not follow Vedenayagam's romantic phantasies. In contrast to R. Aiyar who was interested in philosophic and religious questions, Madhaviah was rather interested in social problems and social reforms. His first tentative attempt at a Tamil novel, Savitri, has never been finished; he published only its first 6 chapters in Viveka Chintamani in 1892 (before the first chapters appeared of R. Aiyar's Kamalambal). His first finished novel is Patmavati carittiram, oru tamilnattukkatai in 2 volumes, 1898-1900, his second Vijayamarttantam (1st ed. probably 1902, 2nd ed. 1922); it is, however, his third novel, Muthumeenakshi. The Autobiography of a Brahmin Girl (Muttummaksi, oru piramanappen cuvacaritai), Madras 1903118, which marks Madhaviah as one of the great Tamil novelists119. It is a powerful attack on the marriage customs of the Brahman community, on child marriage, on the treatment of widows, on the joint family system. The heroine is married at an age of nine to a widower of thirty. When she fails to give birth to a child, she is treated with utmost cruelty by her mother-in-law. When her husband dies from cholera, she is left alone, a young childless widow, the most terrible lot of a Hindu Brahman woman. After a suicide attempt, she is driven out, lives with her married brother, and finally marries her childhood friend Somasundaram, violating thus one of the most rigorous rules of the orthodox society. The novel does not contain any long digressions of attack on the established rules, but it is quite clear where the author stands. In writing directly—in 1903—about the social evils of his caste, Madhaviah was a very courageous man; many of his views would be considered revolutionary even today. As Asher says, "no anti-brahman tract has called more vigorously for a more consistently human attitude among brahmans towards the question of the marrige of their daughters120." The publication of the novel in 1903 produced energetic protests, particularly in the daily The Hindu (Madras). Madhaviah has also used new technique in his swift moving narrative: instead of merely interrupting the narrative to make his point, he does his preaching mainly by "weighting the action," and this is a decisive improvement. 117 Collections of his English short stories appeared in Madras in 1916 and 1924: Kusika's Short Stories on Marriage-Reforms and Allied Topics. 118 It was translated into English by one of Madhaviah's daughters and published in Madras in 1955. 119 \ y e may observe Madhaviah's development in his three successive Tamil novels: in Patmavati, he tried to write a realistic novel, under the influence of Scott, Thackeray and Dickens, and George Eliot (cf. what his Thillai Govindan says on p. 16); but he grows more and more socially engagd: in Patmavati itself he criticises the customs of his caste. In VijayamarttaNtan he takes interest in other castes in addition to his own: in the agricultural Maravar, and in Nattukkottai Cettis, the usurers; he also attacks the zamlndari system. 120 Cf. R. E. ASHER, Social Comment in South Indian Prose Fiction, South Asian Review 5 (1972) 207-220.

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Natesa Sastri (C. M. Nateca Castiri, 1859-1906)121 was the most prolific among the early novelists, and the one whose output was indeed remarkably varied. The purpose of this energetic writer who always thirsted after new experiments was, however, not so much to reform and educate as to entertain. He has to his credit over a score of books in English, and over a score in Tamil: among them, there are tales from Shakespeare122, South Indian folk-tales in Tamil and English123, and six original Tamil novels published between 19001903. Col. Ch. A. Porteous, Inspector General of Police, asked Natesa Sastri to write some detective stories in Tamil: within six weeks he produced five stories, all based in South India, but conceived on the model of English and French stories of the genre; the hero, Tana van, is so called because of his English model Dick Donovan124. His first original Tamil novel, Dinadayalu (Tmatayalu), appeared under a pseudonym in 1900, and, revised and enlarged, in 1902125. It is the story of the first son of a Brahman family whose mother died when he was young126. 121

The best paper on Natesa Sastri is beyond doubt R. E. ASHEB'S Pandit S. M. Natesa Sastri (1859-1906), Pioneer Tamil Novelist, in Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 2, Madras 1971, 107-15. 122 E.g. Twelfth Night (1892), Measure for Measure (1893). 123 Cf. S. M. Natesa Sastri, Folklore in Southern India, 4 parts, Bombay 1884-93; Folklore in South India—Tiravita purvakkalak kataikaj, Madras 1886; Mediaeval Tales of Southern India. In Tamil. Tiravita mattiyakalakkataikaj, Madras 1886; The Dravidian Nights Entertainments: being a translation of Madanakamarajan kadai, Madras 1886; The King and his four ministers. An old Hindu Romance, translated into English from the Tamil, Madras 1889; Tales of Tennalirama (the famous court jester of Southern India), Madras 1900; Hindu Feasts, Fasts and Ceremonies, Madras 1913; Indian Folk-tales, Madras 1908; Tales of Tennaliraman. 184 Indian Tales of Fun, Folly and Folk-lore, Madras 1920. There are also prose translations of several Sanskrit classics, including Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa, Sudraka's Mrechakatika and Visakhadatta's Mudraraksasa; and especially a prose version of the Ramayana: Valmiki RamayaNa vacanam, with T. Kanakasundaram Pillai, in 6 parts, Madras 1901-12. From an Urdu translation he rendered into Tamil a set of Persian tales. He translated some South Indian inscriptions, and published a Tamil Handbook of Sanitary Science (1905)—indeed a vast and remarkable output, considering the fact that he dedicated to literature only his 'hours of leisure.' 124

Tanavanenra polls nipuNan kaNtupititta arputa kurrankal (Tales of an Indian Detective"), 1st ed. 1892, 2nd ed. 1914. 125 He claimed this to be the first novel in Tamil, though he almost certainly knew the several novels published between 1879-1900; but obviously he did not consider them to be 'true' novels. 126 R. E. ASHER thinks that there may be an autobiographic touch to the novel's portraiture of the hero's step-mother, one of the chief characters who appears in a "somewhat unsympathetic" light, since the author's father remarried while N. Sastri was still only a boy. In the novel, Dinadayalu's father suffers from a fatal illness, and the young man becomes responsible for the affairs of the joint family in debts. Out of this almost commonplace plot the author managed to produce "a tightly-knit and gripping narrative" (ASHER) with successfully built-up suspense;

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The Rejuvenation of Komalam (Komalam kumariyanatu), Madras 1902, is quite different: it is a "farcical romance" (hasyakaramana naval). Two sisters— former dancing-girls—Komalam, aged 60, and Tanam, aged 55, obtain a drug which should make them young again. One day, Komalam accidentally knocks over the bottle, and in her panic drinks an overdose. Her sister returns home to find a small baby. A nurse is engaged to look after the infant. Tanam is turned out of her home because of the suspicion that she had murdered her sister. In a rather comic court scene Tanam tries to explain what had really happened. The impossible situation is resolved when the effects of the drug wear off. Whereas in Dinadayalu the novelist tried to show that a man must have faith in God amidst the ups and downs of family life, in this book he attempted a bizarre romance combined with a satire. The Two Orphans (Tikkarra iru kulantaikal), Madras 1902, is a pathetic and moralizing story with several plots combined. The action, which covers a period of twenty years, deals with the life of two orphaned sisters from their birth to the time when they marry, while a series of flashbacks solves a number of mysteries. The story shows a real narrative skill, and it is an attempt to write a story in karundrasa, the 'flavour' of compassion. A Wife Condoned (Matiketta manaivi), Madras 1903, employs again the technique of flashbacks. When the melodramatic story opens, Payoniti Mudaliyar and Karbagam were married some 18-19 years. The book's plot unfolds from the disovery of Payoniti that his wife has adulterous relationship with the unscrupulous Kandiravan. This time the author's message is that the main duty of man and wife in such circumstances is to think of the welfare of the children. The motif of a wife's adultery is something quite new in Tamil fiction. The Mother-in-law in Council (Sri mami koluvirukkai), Madras 1903, is a kind of historical novel combined with social criticism. It claims a few palm-leaf manuscripts as its source. The narrative is set in Arcot in the years following 1732. It is an attack on the jointfamily system and on the tremendous powers enjoyed in family affairs by mothers-in-law. Curtain Lectures (Talaiyanai mantiropatecam), Madras 1903, is a very skilful adaptation of Douglas Yerrold's immensely popular Mrs. Candle's Curtain Lectures of 1846127. Natesa Sastri wanted to demonstrate that what could be done in English could equally well be done in Tamil, and in this he largely succeeded. He was a good story teller, with a straightforward, unpedantic style, and a language close to colloquial speech. Another of the early novelist was T. M. Ponnuccami Piljai (Ponnusami Pillai) with his six novels (Kamalatci carittiram, 1903, Vijayacuntaram, 1910, Sfanacampantam, 1913, Sanampikai, 1913, Nanappirakacam, 1920, Civananam, 1920). All of his novels possess a familiar pattern: an extremely complicated plot, virtuous or vile characters, melodramatic incidents, and a set of typical the characters are not painted as simplified black ansd white types; the main character is as complicated as his stepmother and step-brother. 127 "Lectures" delivered by poor Candle's wife every night of their married life before she would let him go to sleep.

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heroes—thieves, crooks, prostitutes, murderers. The world of his novels is close to the world of G. W. H. Reynolds (1814-1879), a prolific Victorian novelist, widely esteemed in India even after he was forgotten in England. The search for the melodrama, for the sensational, so typical of Ponnusami's novels, marks the beginning of a decline. This deterioration in the quality of the Tamil novel was not rescued by the one original feature of his writings—their form: the chapters are a succession of dialogues, with brief narrative introductions. 6.6.2. After a promising, vigorous start, there followed an interlude, characterized by an over-all setback. A great number of mediocre and bad novels were produced, mostly sentimental recits or detective stories, tales of melodrama and suspense. This second generation of Tamil novelists imitated secondrate English macabre novels, writing stories replete with gruesome murder scenes, melodramatic and morbid. The three most prolific writers in this vein were Arani Kuppusami Mudaliar, Vaduvur K. Duraisami Iyengar, and T. R. Rangaraju128. V. M. Kothainayaki Ammal (V. M. Kotainayaki Ammal) was the most prolific and successful woman writer in modern Tamil literature. Between 19261950 she produced at least eighty but possibly almost a hundred novels and founded a press for female writers of whom she introduced about fifty to Tamil readers. Most of her novels were light reading of the most ephemeral kind (R. E. Asher). However, in some of them, there appeared an additional motivation besides a simple narration of incidents of suspense: thus in Tiyakakkoti (Madras 1934) she accentuates Gandhian principles; in Vanakkuyil (Madras 1938) she speaks out against the import of foreign goods to India; in some other novels (e.g. Camalanatan, 1930, or The Tide of Feeling—Unarccivellam, 1940) she draws the readers' attention to the miserable lot of women and approves of the remarriage of young, virginal widows (but not of those who had children!). In Carulocana, 1929, she disapproves of arranged marriages between young women and old men. The first among the female writers was Vicalaksi Ammal who at the beginning of the century wrote fourteen novels creating ideal female types and introducing supernatural episodes. In some, e.g. in Sujata, Madras 1908, she tries to point out how Indian woman could better their lot. This period of decline had, however, its great novelists, too, who did not follow the main trend which did not demand from the reader anything else but a taste for suspense. For V. Ramaswami Aiyangar (cf. § 6.5.4) there were two kinds of novels, those which entertain, and those which instruct. His aim was to instruct; it is imperative to change society, not to amuse readers. Of 128 According to R. E. ASHER, one of the detective novels of Rangaraju (Rajampaj, 27th ed. Madras 1936) was reprinted within two decades twenty-six times, which shows that some of these works are still read and popular, e.g. A. Kuppusami Mudaliyar's Secrets of the Yellow Chamber (ManeaJ araiyin marmam allatu tuppariyum apuracamarttiyam), 7th ed. Madras 1951.

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his four novels, Vijayam reads more like a collection of essays than a story. Cuntari (1917), his first novel, tells the life-story of a young widow, showing the suffering imposed on her by society. The Island of Women (1945) tells of an imaginary island administred completely by women to contrast what women are capable of and what they have to endure. There was a time when readers, especially young readers and students, greatly enjoyed a short-story collection written in English by Shankar Ram, The Children of the Cauvery. Of his Tamil novels, the best is Manimcai 'The Desire of Earth,' a picture of Tamil village life about 60 years ago. It is a story of the three fundamental desires: of earth, of woman, of gold. It does not use any new techniques, but moves like a broad and deep river in the good old narrative way. In the village of Viramankalam, there live two kinds of men: a few "who will succeed in whatever they may do. There are others, at whose touch everything will be lost. Circumstances seem to favour men of the first kind; incoveniences hinder and destroy the labours of the second kind." A widow, Minatchi, and her younger brother Mayandi, rule the village. Poor Venkatasalam gets entangled, first in debts, then loosing his land. One after the other of his possessions leave him, including his labourers. His pious but impractical wife Alamelu is no real help to him. He has no children of his own but becomes father to a small adopted boy, Velu, the son of his run-away friend. His neighbour's daughter Valli and Velu love each other since childhood, but Virappan and his wife Latchmi do not want to give their daughter to Velu; instead, they promise her to Mayandi's younger son Mallan. The day of the wedding is settled. But on the wedding day, Mayandi is killed, and suspicion falls on Velu. In the last moment the real murderer confesses—the elder son of Mayandi, Sholan, who ran away from home, unable to bear his aunt's Minatchi's despotism, and turned into a bad boy. Velu is released. It so happens that Velu's father had left a large sum of money to Venkatasalam and Velu, and the two young people can marry. But Venkatasalam dies before he can even know the happy outcome of things. Inspite of a melodramatic plot, and a great deal of naive sentimentalism, the novel reads like a poem in prose on Tamil rural life. 6.6.3. Historical Novel.

The historical romance in Tamil was created by R. Krishnamurti alias Kalki (1899-1954), the author of 35 volumes of short stories, novels, essays, travelogues and biographies. He appeared on the literary scene around 1921. In a way, his writings remind us of Vedanayagam Pillai: picturesque heroes of his novels go on performing series of adventures, meeting many different people. It looks as if Kalki is led by his plots instead of controlling them. Various novels manifest repetition of the same motifs and incidents. There are, though, three redeeming features to his writing: a doubtless gift of story-telling, a sense of humour, and attentiveness to the cultural and social aspects of Tamil history. He did not begin as a historical romancier. His Kalvanin katali 'The Bri-

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gand's Darling' (1937-38) pictures, in a rather sympathetic light, a completely antisocial hero. Tiyakapumi 'The Land of Sacrifice' (1938-39) tells the sad life of a woman, Savitri. Like Madhaviah's Muthumeenakshi, she suffers in the paternal house from her stepmother, and after marriage from her motherin-law. The father-in-law is quite indifferent, and her husband does not please her either. Finally, she is chased away from the house. She becomes rich, a court orders her to return to her husband, but she avoids him by letting herself be imprisoned for the participation in the struggle for Independence. In Colaimalai ilavaraci, Madras 1947, Kalki skillfully alternates chapters from Indian history with contemporary events. He relates events of 1842 when British forces established themselves firmly in India, to the great August movement of 1942, the culmination of the struggle against the British. This novel thus combines a historical and a social novel. His three great historical novels are Parttipan kanavu 'Parttiban's Dream' (Madras 1941-43) dealing with the 7th century Pallava period, Ponniyin celvan 'The Treasure of Ponni' in 5 volumes (Madras 1955) on 10th century Chola history, and Civakamiyin. capatam 'The Vow of Sivakami' (Madras 1948) returning again to the 7th century Pallavas. In these historical novels, Kalki has no doubt created a few very impressive characters, e.g. Naganadi of the last novel; while some of his major heroes are failures (e.g. Sivakami herself), he deals rather skilfully with the minor characters. His cliches become tiresome: like A. Dumas, he used the device of creating the original and its duplicate (typical are Naganandi and Pulike&in in Civakami); like Walter Scott, he hides his characters in disguise (e.g. king Mahendravarman in Civakami). Social history escaped him. He did not picture the life of the people, and in this feature he was not like W. Scott who gave a total picture of Scotland in his Waverly novels. He reads more like A. Dumas—only the French writer used better constructed plots and his characterisation is sometimes great. The best novel of Kalki is probably Alai ocai 'Noise of Waves' (1953). In its Preface he says that his aim was to picture 28 years of India's national history between 1930-1948. Against this background, which depicts the Salt satydgraha (1930), the Quit India movement,, the Second World War, Japan's invasion of Malaya, the great August movement of 1942, S. Ch. Bose's Indian National Army, Hiroshima-Nagasaki (1945),. India's Independence and the war with Pakistan (1947), the cruelties of the razzakars and the communists in Hyderabad, the integration of Indian princely states, and finally the assassination of Gandhi on Jan. 30, 1948, he unfolds a history of tragical love; all its main characters take part in the fight for Independence129. The historical romance, created by Kalki chiefly as didactic literature, degenerated into many pseudo-historical novels, naive and immature, tales of escape and make-believe, with the original educational component completely 129 Cf. K. R. SRINIVASA IYENGAR, Kalki, The Indian PEN 21,3, Bombay, March 1965; and R. DHANDAYUDHAM, Special Features of Kalki's Novels, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 2, 1969, 288-95.

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evaporated. Typical for this kind of writing is Chandilyan (b. 1911) with his long pseudo-historical fantasies in hard cover couched in bad style with long, involved sentences130. 6.6.4. Maraimalai Atikal (1876-1950), the protagonist of the puristic movement, published his first novel Kumutavalli in 1911; it is a bad literary work, an adaptation of the 'sensational' G. W. M. Reynolds all over again. His second novel, Kokilampal katitankal 'The Letters of Kokilambal,' 1921, is quite exceptional as to its form: it is all composed in 17 letters. But as Asher says, its author was unfortunately no Richardson or Choderlos de Laclos, and so the novel falls flat. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai (1891-1956), the eminent scholar, lexicographer, editor, and literary historian, who opposed Tamil linguistic purism with great courage and passion for truth, wrote also a novel, Raji, which was published after the author's death in 1958. The didactic mode runs strong in Tamil writing. Coupled with the respect for forefathers and for age, it creates a formidable barrier to the development of truly creative literature. Since it is essentially a writing for immature minds, or addressed to an imagined pupil, it excludes development towards a truly adult literature131. In its best form, the didactic writing may be typified in the stories and novels of Mu. Varataracan (M. Varadarajan, born 1912), a distinguished scholar, the Vice-Chancellor of Maturai University, who is responsible for sixty or more published works. This top-flight, highly intelligent writer in a classic style, perceptive of human and social values and respectful of orthodox concepts of treatment, conceives his novels with the purpose of making people think about current moral, religious, social and political issues. He will often put forward a whole range of possible opinions and solutions and provide the protagonists for each opinion with equally fluent arguments, in what R. E. Asher termed so aptly the Shawian technique. His own approach to the problems discussed is largely liberal and humanistic. Thus his characters will discuss the role of art and science in modern Indian society; whether Gandhian ideas are suitable for an industrialized age; the spread of education on all levels; arranged marriages; they will speak for and against capitalism; about the education of women. And, more specifically, they will discuss social issues prominent in the city of Madras: unemployment, inadequate housing, corruption, the great number of beggars. He knows how to evoke, by restrained means, the characteristic features of the great city, being mainly interested in the people of Madras and their views132. In his writings he will often popularize the ethical maxims of Tirukkural applying them to modern situations. As a typical novel of Varadarajan one may introduce e.g. his Karittuntu 'A Piece 130 Cf. also HYACINTH LEO, The Historical Novel of the Mid-Century, Proceedings of the Second International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, 2, 1971, 130-35. 131 ALBERT B. FRANKLIN, The Tamil Language in the Modern. eWorld, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) p. 15. 132 Cf. X. S. THANI NAYAGAM, The Novelist of the City of Madras, TC 10 (1963) 1-18.

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of Charcoal' (Madras, 2nd ed. 1955). Simple characterization of the setting by naming appears in its very first sentence: "If one walks in Madras from the Pachaiyappa's Building as far as Parry's Corner . . . " The novel is about the life in a Harijan ceri in the city, and is essentially the story of a crippled painter. The author is present directly in the Ich-form of the narration. Varadarajan's style is puristic, but not pedantic. He certainly avoids introducing archaisms, but, if necessary, he will not hesitate using English loans. His style is correct, academic, dignified, but modern. In the words of Asher, it is simple, and, like the style of Shaw or Voltaire, transparently clear. 6.6.5. The contemporary situation in Tamil novel-writing is an outcome of a complex interraction of a great number of economic, social, political and cultural fectors133. That there is at present a strong creative ferment in this field no one can deny. This is partly due to the fact that Tamil culture is engaged "in translating itself from one radical mode" of expression, that of the scribal era, to another, of the typographic era134. Roughly over 2000 books get published every year, and yet, novels in book form are still a luxury in India. Periodicals are much cheaper. There is a host of popular weekly and monthly magazines which print mostly light, casual, ephemeral literature, full of gossip and comment135. There are no central booklists, no publishers' lists, no reviewmagazines of universal interest. On the other hand, there are some 'little magazines' of great critical value, most of them unfortunately short-lived, which try to open the windows wide into world-literature, and see Tamil literature in a wide world-context136. It may sound like harsh criticism, but to a great extent it is true when K. N. Subrahmanyam says that the standards of popular magazines are becoming so poor as to be alarming, and goes on: "The publisher who wants to buy his car and bungalow in five years' time of having started life in Madras as a cycle-boy and become a publisher-proprietor can hardly thrive except by cheating, first his authors, secondly his buyers and thirdly his partners, if any . . . " And yet, Tamil literature somehow survives, i3s p o r t n e discussion of these issues, cf. especially KA. NAA. SUBRAHMANYAM, The Tamil: Symptoms of a Stalemate, Quest 3 (Bombay 1957) 33-37; M. VARADARAJAN, The Spoken and Literary Language in Modern Tamil Literature, Indian Literature 8.1 (1965) 82-89; KA. NAA. SUBRAMANIAM, What is wrong with the Tamil novel? The Sunday Standard, Nov. 20, 1966; Tamil navalka] (in Tamil), Madras 1966; LOGANAYAGY NANNITHAMBY, Women in modern Tamil literature (1880-1960), Kuala Lumpur 1969; ALBERT B. FRANKLIN, The Tamil Language in the Modern World, JTS 1 (Sept. 1972) 9-22; VIMALA MANUEL, Man in Modern Tamil Fiction, Christian Literature Society, Madras 1973. 134 Me LUHAN'S distinction (The Gutenberg Galaxy, London 1967) as applied to Tamil by A. B. FRANKLIN in JTS 1 (Sept. 1972), 9-22. 135 What Jeyakanthan (1968) has called "worthless gossip and meaningless rubbish coming out in lavish abundance in current Tamil publications" (cited by FRANKLIN, p. 136

15).

Cf. V. SWAMINATHAN, Little magazines in Tamil, Indian Writing Today 3,4 (Oct.-Dec. 1969) 58-65.

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"in spite of the mediocre publishers, the popular journals and the academic world which thinks it should have nothing to do with the common and the current." The economic pressures are very strong, and they are mainly responsible for the great number of 'entertainers' and 'commercial' writers which we shall drop and dismiss here en bloc. Among the cultural factors, greatly responsible for the ferment, an important one is the increasing number of translations into Tamil of works of world literature: thus in 1962, translations of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes appeared (K. S. Venkataraman) as well as of Ibsen (M. A. Dorai Rangaswami) and of Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai's Malayalam novel Chemmeen (S. Ramaswami), 1963-64 saw a new translation of Hamlet and of Faust, etc. 1965 was important in that Lakshmi Krishnamurthi, daughter of the late politician S. Satyamurthi, started the Book Venture in Madras, a kind of selective publishing house applying relatively strict rules of criticism to the books on its list. The nine-volume Tamil Encyclopeadia under the editorship of M. P. P. Thooran has been completed in 1963-64, and Gandhi's works were translated into Tamil. As for the popularity of individual novelists, M. Varadarajan (b. 1912) still heads the list as absolute best-seller, followed by Jeyakanthan (q.v.), Akilan (q.v.), N. Parthasarathy, Chandilyan and Karunanidhi. The two most outspoken literary critics are C. S. Chellappa and K. N. Subrahmanyam. 6.6.6. Realistic and Regional Writting. Naturalism. It would be obviously an impossible task to deal in any appreciably detailed and exhaustive manner with contemporary Tamil novels. Instead, I adopted the selective approach, having chosen a few typical works representing various types of contemporary novels, illustrating them by what serious criticism regards as the best in the field. One of the outstanding representatives of realistic writing localized in firm, concrete setting is R. Shanmugasundaram (Ar. Canmukacuntaram) who in the early forties entered literature with three novelettes about life in a certain region of Coimbatore district. 1959 saw his Aruvatai 'The Harvest,' in 1965 appeared two further good novels of his, The Pot Was Hot (Catticuttatu) and The Unseen Spring (Kanaccunai), but probably his best novel, one of the first truly tragical stories in Tamil literature, is Nakammal in 27 chapters which was published in 1941. Shanmugasundaram, who was born in Kiranur near Coimbatore, prefers, in his great honesty and with a characteristic feeling of responsibility, to write about the village life of the region which he knows closely and intimately. Nakammal, considered today as a classic of modern prose-writing, describes the struggle of a being who dares to fight society. The setting of the action is a small village, Civiyarpalaiyam, near Coimbatore, about 40 years ago. There are two factions in the village: Sinnappan and his family consisting of his wife Ramayi, of his elder brother's wife Nagammal, and her child Muttaiya; and Ramasami Gaundar with his people. They succeed in splitting

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Sinnappan's family and in injuring the position of Nagammal. The mutual hatred in the family reaches unbearable proportions and a tragic outcome is inevitable: Sinnappan is killed in a brawl by Kettiyappan, the black sheep of the village, who lives like a mad elephant, but for whom Nagammal has high esteem and deep affection. The plot is straightforward and powerful; the characters portrayed with great vivacity and truthfulness; the language clear and simple. The dialogues have a clear touch of the spoken language of Konkunatu, but they are not too close reflections of it in order to remain intelligible. There are no unnecessary or hair-rising and excitement-provoking episodes, there is no sentimental lovetale, no melodrama. The heroine Nagammal has the magnitude of some women created by Balzac. It is a realistic novel in the best sense of the term: it does not shut the eyes before the weaknesses, frustrations, and even criminal elements of village life. It is not afraid to show scheming and treachery, brutality, drunkeness and stupidity. Life in the village is no sentimental idyll; rather than a man's rise and happiness, it depicts his misery and fall. And yet it is not a pessimistic novel. At the time when it was published, practically no one wrote truly great novels. Before Nakammal, there was probably only one good modern novel, K. N. Subrahmanyam's Paci 'Hunger.' In a way, Nakammal is the first great tragical and truly realistic novel in Tamil137. Rajam Krishnan's Kurincitten 'Kurinci Honey'138 is interesting in that it is a regional novel which deals with the changes taking place among the Badagas of the Nilagiri mountains. At the same time, its action spreads over a long period: the boy Joki who is nine years old at the beginning, is an old man of sixty at the end of the book. It is a story of the granddaughter of Krishnan, Joki's friend, who marries his boy, and it shows the ups and downs in the lives of Joki, the son of Mati and Lingayyan, of Rangan, the son of Lingayyan's elder brother Mathan, and of Krishnan himself. The axis of a weakly constructed plot is the worthiness of Lingayyan who stands firm among the waves of acculturation change. As a documentary on the Badagas, and 137 Recently, Shanmugasundaram published Mayattakam 'Empty Desire' (Madras 1966), a typical regional novel of the Konku country again: the hero runs a cotton-mill, a book-shop, and a cement business. This mediocre realistic novel does in no way reach the magnitude of Nakammal. 138 Kurinci, Strobilanthes kunthianus, a typical flower of the Tamil mountains with small bell-shaped blue blossoms. Rajam KirusNan began writing in English. Thus far she has published 12 novels, 7 short story collections, 4 novelettes, and 10 of her plays were broadcast by radio. She also translated one of Muhammad Basheer's Malayalam novels, and wrote a very good biography *f one of the great Tamil medical scientists, Dr. Rangachari. Her short story Uciyum unarvum 'Needle and Sensibility' won an international prize in 1951. Among her novels, one should notice PeNkural 'The Voice of Women' and MalarkaJ 'Blossoms' both of whom were awarded. In 1972, she published her so far perhaps best novel, Verukkunir 'Water for the Roots,' a book which tries to analyse the political and social developments of the post-Gandhian era and suggest solutions for the current crisis. It won the 1973 Sahitya Akademi award for Tamil.

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a story about the Nilagiris, it is not bad; but, as one critic put it, it is a mixture of Pearl Buck's Good Earth with Romeo and Juliet in love and K. N. Subrahmanyam's Poyttevu—a good and experimental novel about the experiences suffered on the path of love by one who cannot see the difference between falsehood and reality. A very different piece of realistic writing is Sundara Ramaswami's (born 1931) slender but outstanding Oru puliyamarattin katai 'The Story of a Tamarind Tree,' Madras 1966. It is his first and best novel, conceived between 1956-58, and intended as a sequence-story for the journal Saraswathi in 1959. The story is based on close and intimate knowledge of the setting and the characters: the transformation of a small, quiet, serene town left to itself, and filled with legends, into a big turbulent place with new realities, no longer isolated. The detached manner of narration is achieved by the fact that it is told by an old tamarind tree, the silent witness of all what was going on. "This is the story of the life and death of a tamarind tree," says the author in the preface. A few interesting realistic novels were written about Ceylon: thus e.g. Ce. Kanecalinkan's Catanku 'Rites and Ceremonies' (Madras 1966) which deals with the changes in society and in individual lives dotted by life's ceremonies139, or the same author's Ninta payanam 'Long Journey' (Madras 1965) dealing with the untouchable community of a small village near Jaffna. Kokilam Subbiah (Kokilam Cuppaiya) published in 1964 her Turattuppaccai 'Distant Greens,' a regional novel of Ceylon tea plantations with a definite social motivation, couched in a realistic, even naturalistic manner, and emphasizing the strength of external forces, natural (like the draught and famine in the Ramnad district) and social (the pressure of the owners and of the kankdni, the watchdog, on the plantation worker) that obstruct human freedom. This philosophy is exemplified on the fate of a Tamil woman, Valli. The intimate knowledge which Mis. Subbiah has of the countryside of Ceylon hills, of the people living there, and of the socio-economic relations on the plantations, is quite visible in the book, and one can hardly doubt where her true sympathies rest: certainly not with the kankdni. The realistic, regionally localized precision-writing seems to have reacheds thus far, its peak with two novels by Nila. Patmanapan (Neela. Padmanabhan, born 1938 in Tiruvanandapuram)140. Talaimuraikal 'The Generations' (Madra, 139 Catanku is a term used for various kinds of rites and ceremonies which accompany critical events in life (birth, puberty, marriage, death); in the Tamil of Jaffna, the term was narrowed down to mean 'marriage rites.'—Ceylonese, as well as Malaysian Tamil writing would no doubt deserve more adequate and more detailed treatment; however, there are practically no Vorarbeiten available, and an over-all assessment is very difficult; also, there are some specific features to these peripheral Tamil literatures, different from the literature of the mainland. 140 By profession an electrical engineer; has been writing since his 13th year. Apart from translations from Malayalam into Tamil and vice versa, he wrote several dramas, and a number of stories, e.g. Can^aiyum camatanamum 'War and

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1968)i*i is the novel of one community, the Cettimars of Iraniyal, told in a detailed, precise, realistic and robust manner, with a bewildering variety of characters and events. The incidents of the main plot unfold in the East Street of Iraniyal and are highly dramatic. The novel is framed by the sound of the bells from the temple of Vinayaka sounding through the cool air of a night in the month of Markali, and the same bell-sounds heard exactly a year later; but the events of about seventy years are at the same time compressed within the life-story of Tiravi's mother. Apart from the Cettimar family, caught in the whirlwind of events, some other communities are involved, notably the Nayars and the Natars. The leading motif: the only possibility to escape and be free again for those who are caught in the process of corruption and disintegration of a community is to leave it. And this, indeed, is how the novel ends:— "Like in a dream, father, mother, elder sister Nagu, and Tiravi left their street and stepped out . . . Like walking corpses, they mounted the bus, and when they sat down, endless, countless thoughts arose in their hearts, like raging bubbles in a flood of reminiscences, and they looked for the last time, through a screen of tears, at the Eastern Street which had known prosperity and happiness.'

The Generations is not an easy reading with its overwhelming wealth of details, its proverbs, sayings, folk-songs—as much a fruit of painstaking study as of artistic intuition and inspiration. It may be that its documentary value is greater than its artistic prominence. Padmanabhan has a style of his own, supremely attentive to concrete details with long, involved, almost technical descriptions, in long sentences of great precision and plasticity142. It is an important and highly interesting novel, chiefly in the creation of a number of lively figures, in the development of intricate narrative structure, and, above all, in the skilful dealing with the setting. The second novel, Pallikkontapuram (Madras, 1970)143, though written in Tamil, deals in fact with life in Kerala and has more affinity with Malayalam writing than with Tamil. Among other regional novels with social motivation one should perhaps notice Em. Vi. Venkatram's (born 1920) Velvitti 'The Sacrificial Fire' (Madras Peace' (Nagarcoil 1973) containing 11 pieces out of which a few are certainly very good (e.g. the first Tolstoyan story, or Virakti, reminding of his second important novel). 141 Begun on 2. 2. 1966 and finished on 3. 10. 1966. This fast written book is, however, as its author tells us, the product of preparatory studies during eight years of work. 142 A typical sentence of Padmanabhan: "The scattered fragments of the sound of the bells ringing now and then during the lamp-worship of the nirmalya puja in the shrine of PiUaiyar at Singavinayaka Temple swam in the black darkness and the cool air of the month of Markali, dropping and saluting in prostration the temple which stood facing the East, and as they approached the corner of the long street stretching from East to West, reaching its very limits, they diminished with a sound of soulful restraint." 143 Selected by the National Book Trust for translation into the sister languages.

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1967). Through its three main characters the reader will get acquainted with the interesting weavers' community of the Saurastras of Maturai. 6.6.7. An interest in social change does represent a predominant trend in modern Tamil fiction. South Indian writers have exhibited a strong commitment to social and political changes, "expressed in extreme cases in the form of explicit advocacy, but more commonly through realistic social description144." Thus we get a very strong socially and politically engage writing, both leftist and rightest. The foremost representant of the leftist writing is Citampara Rakunatan (Raghunathan, born 1923 in Tirunelveli)145. The first Tamil novel dealing exclusively with the working class and with class-struggle in terms of proletariat and capitalists is his Pancum paciyum 'Cotton and Hunger' (Madras, 1953). The main characters of its dramatic plot are Kamala, the daughter of the capitalist Tatulinga Mudaliar, Mani, her admirer, son of Kailasa Mudaliar, a textile merchant, Sankar, Kamala's progressive brother, and Irulappakkonar, as representative of the simple folk. The action takes place in Ambasamudram, a center of textile industry near Maturai, and in Maturai itself. Kailasa Mudaliar is impoverished, and Kamala's father opposes strongly Kamala's wish to marry his son Mani. Personal tragedies unfold against the background of the fight of the weavers against big capital. When Kailasa Mudaliar's other son dies, the father is unable to bear the blow and hangs himself. Mani becomes first seriously ill, then recovers. In the meantime, Sankar organises a weavers' union. After some adventures in Maturai, Mani gets into touch with the organised workers' movement, and their totally 'positive' representative, Raju, and works in the union. When he returns to Ambasamudram, Sankar leaves his father's house, and Mani marries Kamala. The novel ends with a great demonstration of the weavers led by Raju, Mani, Sankar, Kamala and other 'positive' types. The novel shows many shortcomings in composition and style, is strongly influenced by socialistic schematism, and is not free from sentimentality. Ta. Jeyakantan (D. Jeyakanthan, born 1934)146 began his literary and public career as a Communist having joined the Party when he was twelve. Though disillusioned with its policies, he still retains deep concern for India's poor and downtrodden. He encourages reformulation of traditional values and 144 Cf. R. E. ASHEB, Social Comment in South Indian Prose Fiction, South Asian Review, 5.3 (April 1972) 207-20. Cf. also E. ANNAMALAI, Changing Society and Modern Tamil Literature, Mahfil IV,3-4 (1968) 21-36. 145 A close friend of Puthumaippittan. Began writing in 1940. Working as journalist, essayist and critic in Communist and leftist press (Cakti 1948, Canti 1955 etc.). Translator of Gorkij's 'Mother,' of Lermontov, etc. 146 Cf. also § 6.5.7. Jeyakanthan has the distinction to appear on all lists of best-sellers as writer of short stories and novels. He is the most widely read present writer in Tamil, reaching each week something like 300.000 readers through magazine serials. In a way, the late Sixties and early Seventies of our century in Tamil writing may be called (as they indeed were) 'the age of Jeyakanthan.' The film version of his novel A Man Like You won the President's medal for the best movie of 1968.

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modernization. He describes everyday-life experience, his themes centering on the impact of modernization and change on individual and common life. His motivation reminds of Zola and Balzac, his optimism of Gorki]. The role of literature is to oppose accepted norms of society, to change them, to place their unjust judgments under critical scruciny well in time, and even before time. Living literature is such that liberates through honest knowledge of the ups and downs of life, approaching writing with a world-view, with a definite ideology and philosophy. The beauty of literature is in its ability to resist, to be in opposition. Whatever society, capitalist or socialistic, denies this function to literature, will ultimately perish. Since a life without problems has no sense, stories which are unproblematic, which one forgets as soon as one has finished reading them, are of no use. Jeyakanthan enjoys writing things which lend themselves to controversial evaluation, to dispute, even stories which shock. Jeyakanthan has published many novelettes and short novels, before he reached true maturity (cf. § 6.6.9), e.g. Valkkai alaikkiratu 'Invitation to Life147' about the velldla community, Unnaippol oruvan 'A Man Like You' about the Untouchables of Madras, made into a film scenario which marked a revolutionary event in Tamil film industry, Piralayam 'Deluge' (Madras 1965) about Madras Harijan life, or Paricukkuppo 'Go to Paris' (1966) which proposes the view that south Indian classical music should not deal with devotion alone but should be versatile in themes to become a medium of expression of all human emotions, and should absorb the best in folk-songs in form. In his writings, he exploits the use of many different dialects. Thus he used the slum dialect of Madras City, velldla Tamil, Brahman Tamil, even baby-talk. In the latter half of the sixties he began writing about middle-class people, and since code-switching (Tamil-English) is so characteristic of their speech, he has used it quite successfully, and in fact is the first to do it with true artistic effect. In his greatest novel (cf. § 6.6.9), he has consistently used the dialect even in connected narrative and descriptive passages, since the novel is written in the stream-of-consciousness technique. The resulting effect is quite forceful. Two very much committed writers are M. Karunanidhi (born 1923), the acting Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, and C. N. Annadurai (Ci. En. Annaturai, 1909-1969), Chief Minister between 1967-69 and head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, both of whom have shown considerable talent of advancing the interests of the Dravidian movement and their party by means of novels, stories, scenarios and theatre pieces. 6.6.8. Autobiographic and Documentary Writings. The earliest regular autobiographical work in Tamil has not yet been printed148: it is Murukatacar's (cf. § 4.7.4) Kuruparatattuvam in 1250 viruttam 147

Translated into Russian, cf. Zizn' zovet, Moskva 1965. 148 The manuscript is in the possession of the poet's descendants. Cf. A. V. SUBBAMANIA AIYAR, Tamil Studies I (1969) p. 110.

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stanzas of simple and racy verse, introducing the reader to the poet's life dotted with many miraculous incidents caused by the grace of Murukan. Another versified autobiography in more than 3000 akaval lines, published in 1946, contains the story of V. 0. Chidambaram Pillai's (1872-1936) life till his release from jail in 1912, and is an invaluable source for the historian of the national movement in Tamilnadu. One of the best-known prose-autobiographies is En carittiram 'My LifeStory' by Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar (Madras, 1950). Though his artistic ability does not equal his scholarship, and the text reads often as a monotonous chronicle without any true originality, and without any artistic finish, its lucid style, its simplicity of language and directness of expression, its passion for detail and sense of atmosphere make it an interesting, and in places even charming reading. The author's reflections—he was a conservative man who revered the past and lived in it since nothing in the present interested him—and his portraits of many traditional scholars, pandits and monastic patrons drawn with insight and sympathy make it a valuable and interesting document149. The best political autobiography in Tamil is Dr. T. S. S. Rajan's Ninaivu alaikal 'Waves of Reminiscences' (1947), about 400 pages of remarkably well written prose describing the author's life from childhood upto his leaving Rajaji's first Madras ministry in 1939. There is a moving picture of his early struggle with poverty, and a humorous account of the festival rites in Srlrangam temple. T. V. Kalyanasundaram (Thiru. Vi. Ka.) wrote a faithful autobiography with precious references to several contemporary personalities in his Valkkaikkurippukkal 'Life Notes,' a book of about 1000 pages. P. Sambanda Mudaliar, the prolific dramatist, published a six-volume autobiography, Natakametai ninaivukal 'Reminiscences on Stage' in 1963. In this monotonous and tiresome writing he gives an account of his life and reports on plays staged at various places during the period of more than 60 years; the book is obviously an indispensable source for any historian of Tamil theatre. The best-written autobiography in Tamil is perhaps En katai 'My Story* (1944) by Namakkal Kavifiar Ve. Iramalinkam Pillai (Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai). It begins with the birth of the poet on 19. 10. 1888, describing his parents—the mother who could not read or write but knew by heart the epics and the purdnas, the father who was a local policeman; his childhood, his schooldays and studies in Coimbatore. He gives a portrayal of his first love for a Kannada girl, Sita, who became the wife of another man (the poet met her after fifteen years as a widow); of his career as a painter, musical composer, poet, and Gandhian political worker; of his journey to Delhi in 1912 where he attended the coronation of George V, and the subsequent tour of North West 149 His biography of his teacher Minatcicuntaram PiJJai (1815—1875) was the first prose-biography in Tamil. Other valuable biographies are Kanakarattina Upattiyayar's biography of Arumuka Navalar (1892), Ca. Kiruttinacami Mutaliyar's biography of Kucelamunivar (1893), and Iracarattinam Pijjai's biography of Ci. Vai. Tamotaram PiJlai entitled Civiyacarittiram (1902).

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Frontier provinces, of Benares, etc. Very important are the data on the beginnings of the Tamil pre-cinema modern stage, since he knew closely all who were involved in its development between 1899-1917. A moving chapter deals with the story of his unwilling marriage to Muttammal of Kariir, a girl-relative who was forced on him, of his cruel treatment of her till the time when her patient suffering shamed him and how, though they had no children, he finally learned to love her. When she died, he married again and had three boys and two girls. He also gives an account of his encounter with Bharati, and of his plans for a new commentary on Tirukkural; one chapter is called characteristically 'Poetry and Poverty.' The whole book is written in an easy, colourful style, in simple language full of echoes of day-to-day talk, with warm humour: sheer delight to read. Among the documentary novels with autobiographic background, one of the most interesting is Mannil teriyutu vanam 'On the Earth Heaven Will Be Recognized' (Madras 1969) by Na. Citampara Cuppiramaniyam (N. Chidambara Subramaniam, born 30. 11. 1912)150. It was conceived as an epic novel of the Gandhian era as reflected in events in Madras, written for Gandhi's centenary in 1969151. The story opens on 1. 7. 1930 in a small South Indian town and ends with the assassination of Gandhi in 1948152. Some of the chapters are poor 150

He became a journalist in Madras, and worked many years in a film studio. Since 1935 he has been writing stories, essays, plays. His other novels, Itayanatam and Nakamani, are mentioned in § 6.6.10. 151 "This is the story of one man; but also the story of the Mahatma; and, indeed, the story of the country, too" (from the Preface). 152 The father of the hero, Raja, is a typical head-official in the British collector's office, and the prototype of a well-meaning collaborator with the British raj. He naturally intends to make out of the boy a turai—i.e. a British-oriented Indian civil servant, for he himself has been programmed by his education to admire and love everything which is English. We also catch a glimpse of a certain type of Englishman (in the character of Cowper) who brought to India his classical and humanistic education and tried to understand India from within by studying Sanskrit and Tamil. Raja however goes soon his own way and disagrees ever more fundamentally with his father, ridiculing the British model as based on the whiskey bottle, eating of flesh, and smoking. He develops into a fanatical nationalistic puritan. When it comes to a clash with the police, his father, in face of the Law, renounces him. The boy spends six months in jail, known no more as Natarajan, but as number 394. We get a somewhat flat, idealized and simplified picture of the life of a political prisoner, though plenty of experience has obviously gone into its description. In the meantime, Raja's mother dies, but even this event does not break the young patriot and he does not return home, for, to him, Mother India has become his mother. Another character, "Ti. Ja.," enters his life—a devoted nationalist, a 'servant of the cause,' and becomes his model. After a final clash with his father, our hero leaves first for Madras, then for Bombay, where he is admitted into the corps of young volunteers in the Gandhian movement. He gets to know the Mahatma personally, and naturally becomes most devoted to him. He learns Hindi, undergoes rigorous training, then returns to Madras and, beaten by mounted police, is taken, unconscious, to a Satyagraha hospital where he meets for the first time Saroja, a nurse destined to become his love and wife. She is naturally the paramount of beauty and duty. When released from the hospital, he must

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as narrative art153; the plot shows too many coincidences, and only exceptionally, the author's style rises to something more than simple journalistic reporting. On the other hand, as an account of an entire era, introducing reminiscences of many well-known personalities (V. Ramaswami, B. S. Ramiah, T. J. Ranganathan and others) and describing the famous meetings on the Triplicane Beach, it is quite a valuable book. 6.6.9. Male-Female Relationship. As can be expected, very many novels deal with the eternal and fundamental human problem of the relation between the two sexes. Among the earlier writers on this sujet, one must mention Narana Turaikkannan alias Jiva (Jeeva) whose Uyiroviyam—Or unnatakatal cittiram 'The Picture of Life— The Story of a Lofty Love' (Madras 1942) is precisely what its subtitle—but not its title—says: a story of idealized love, and an idealized picture of life. When it was published, it was hailed as one of the great novels about love in Tamil. It was called 'a storm of emotions,' 'the true story of true love which illustrates its full meaning,' 'a great innovation'; and its ending was considered quite unconventional and original. Only a few voices were mildly critical154. From the distance of thirty years and under the perspective of more recent novels it shows how very underdeveloped the Tamil novel still was in the Forties. Its didacticism, its moralizing and philosophizing, the romantic melodrama and the sweetish sentimentalism make it poor literature, though, to be fair, it had quite an innovative value in its time. The story of its few heroes takes place within two years' time in Madras. It is a tale of the pure affection of Natarajan, a young teacher, for Karbaham, a college girl and his student, told in the Ich-iovm. Natarajan performs a supreme act of renouncement, Karbaham marries Sandirasekaran, and Natarajan's attitude to Karbaham develops into the affection of a brother for his sister. Noble feelings prevail, everyone feels lofty, and the tale has a bittersweet 'happy' end. The great story-teller about sex and love in Tamil is Akilan (Akilan, Ahilan, P. V. Akilantam, born 27. 6. 1922)155. The novel which exemplifies best Akilan's find a job. His good angel, "Ti. Ja.," gets him a job of a journalist; he studies Tamil literature, and is involved in the famous meetings at the beach of Triplicane where contemporary short stories are discussed as fiercely as current political issues. He marries Saroja; they live together through the war, enjoy the Independence of 1947, and are shocked by Gandhi's assassination. Raja's father dies, too, unreconciled with his son. 153 The action stops, nothing happens, and the author indulges in naive, shallow philosophising and didacticism (e.g. in chapter 13). 154 K. Alagiriswamy, Vallikkannan. N. TuraikkanNan published other novels besides Uyiroviyam, less popular but better, e.g. Natutteru Narayanan (1960) and Parvati (1962). 155 Began writing when 16. Aged 21, he finished his first novel, called characteristically Pen 'The Woman'; it won at once the first prize of the journal Kalaimakal. Subsequently, Akilan almost always serialized his novels in Kalaimakal before publishing them in book-form.

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attitude towards women and sex is Pavaivilakku 'Damsel Lamp' (1st ed., Madras 1958). It is a novel in praise of love, and about its many faces and aspects. Akilan's entire writing is dedicated to strong emotional bondage (warm friendship, bhakti-devotion, passionate love, gentle affection), and to the understanding and definition of women. Because Akilan is not the greatest of writers, though he is immensely popular, he succeeds only occasionally, and his work is burdened by tons of sentimentalism. However, because he is not a bad writer either, he sometimes succeeds at least to some degree, and it is always interesting to read him. In Pavaivilakku, the hero, a writer named Tanikasalam (obviously endowed with strong autobiographic touches of the author) is confronted by four very different women, Tevaki, Senkamalam, Gauri and Uma. In his psychological make-up a constant struggle takes place between intellect and emotion, between reason and passion. Tevaki is a widow, Senkamalam a devaddsi, Gauri a typical traditional Tamil girl, and Uma the woman of the future, the new type. On another level, Tanikasalam the writer symbolizes Tamil literature, Tevaki the respect necessary for writing, Gauri the ethos of writing, Senkamalam stands for its artistic nature, and Uma for true culture, manifested by the courage to express the truth156. Tanikasalam's heart is lighted up by Tevaki, who is sweet and affectionate; stirred up and excited by Senkamalam the danceuse; made stady and enlarged by Gauri; and Uma, who is the one to remain, nourishes the light of his heart. The first to cross Tanikasalam's life is Tevaki. She is the first to discover a ripe man within a naive child. While ber beauty is soothing and pacifying, Senkamalam turns into an exciting inspiration. Gauri, the third woman, becomes the writer's wife and the mother of his children, to finally give place to Uma. She is the only one who disappears entirely from Tanikasalam's life: but she is the best character of all, intended by the author to remain the one woman in whom all four merge. There is no villain in the story, and there is no absolute hero. Akilan also expressed some of his views on Tamil writing and literary life through Tanikasalam. This novel—the fruit of about six years of work—is decidedly interesting and reads well; its weakness—the typifying of a few basic psychological traits and character-qualities in the figures of the four women—is at the same time the source of its interest and power: thus Uma is typically a girl of emotions, of a gay and sunny nature, of a warm heart with passionate feelings, while Gauri, the writer's wife, represents patience, renouncement, stability157. Probably the most valuable of Akilan's writings so far is his epic novel Neficin alaikal 'The Heart's Waves' (1953) with a strong social and political bias written against the background of the struggle for Independence before, during, and after World War II158. 156 Cf. IRA. TANTAYUTAM, Tamil navalkaj, 1966, p. 91. 157 The novel was translated into Kannada; a Hindi abridged version also appeared; and it was made into a film-scenario. 15 8 Among his recent novels, one should cite PutuveUam 'New Flood,' Madras 1964.

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Hephzibah Jesudasan's novel Puttamvitu 'Brand-new House' is the story of the path of love which never has run smooth: Lizzy, a Christian girl, loves Tangaraj, a Hindu boy, and the story contains the usual load of dramatic incidents, including murder and suicide. What is interesting and valuable about it is its setting: it is the first Tamil novel which deals with the life of those castes who climb palmyra trees to obtain the juice; also, it is the first realistic picture of a Tamil Christian community in the Kanyakumari district adjoining Kerala. But, besides the relationship between Lizzy and Tangaraj, nothing seems to be really very important. In an astonishing tempo, the reader is confronted with a killing, its investigation, a suicide, and the final relief, but it is all rather unconvincing. In spite of its share of sentimentality, the novel manifests its authoress' sharp observation power, and a truly realistic approach to many things in life. C. S. Chellappa is quite right in qualifying it as a cumdrdna naval, a "not-bad novel." In many ways, the most distinguished novelist in present-day Tamil writing is T. Janakiraman (born in 1921). His originality, even greatness, consists in the profound analysis of his characters chosen from the middle-class people of small towns, and in the skill employed when developing and disentangling the complicated plots. Among his seven novels, three are indeed great, and should be translated as the best representatives of Tamil fiction to date: Mokamul 'The Thorn of Desire,' Amma vantal 'Mother Came,' and Cemparutti 'Red Cotton.' Mokamul 'The Thorn of Desire' (1955-56), a novel of very large proportions, is the story of a Tamil youth, Babu, and of Yamuna, the daughter of Subrahmanya Ayyar and a Marathi woman, Parvatibai. Yamuna is ten years older than Babu. The main characters attain occasionally the proportions of Balzac's heroes. Babu's inner life is \ery rich, full of deep and involved thoughts; the young man, extraordinary gifted for vocal music, fights constantly an inner struggle between passionate desire and art. The relationship of Babu and Yamuna is of course the novel's axis. The two are, ultimately, clean and innocent, and filled with true glowing emotions. But Babu watches Yamuna and thinks: — "Yamuna's head rests on the pillow, bending slightly to the right. She lies on her back. Both legs are stretched out, long, unbent and slender. There is some weakness in her, a weary flexibility. The braided hair is twisted as it climbs the pillow and falls back. I am twenty-four now. She will be thirty-five." The weakest part of the novel is where Janakiraman turns Yamuna into a charitable self-sacrificing shadow. Also, the tempo of the novel is balanced unequally: the first part moves very slowly, as in a broad channel, in an unhurried manner; the second part is fast and hurried. The novel ends with the picture of Babu on the Central Station in Madras, leaving Yamuna who sees him off, behind. "It seemed that her youth vanished. It occurred to Babu that her incessant desire, a bell-metal idol, lay trampled under the feet." Amma vantal 'Mother Came' (1965) is the story of Appu, a Brahman boy,

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who is sent at the age of eight to a Sanskrit seminary to learn the Vedas. Living in a serene atmosphere on the banks of the Kaviri, he stays sixteen years to master the scriptures. He is the only one who does not know that Alangaram, his handsome, overbearing mother, who appears before his eyes as a luminous vision, is an adulteress. By turning her son into a Vedic scholar she seeks vicarious atonement. After sixteen years Appu returns home to learn the devastating truth: his affectionate younger brothers and sisters turn out to be bastard half-brothers and half-sisters. Seeing that his resigned, withdrawn father ignores the aberration of his wife, Appu, who underwent an emotional catastrophe, rejects his home and returns to the seminary whose founder on her death-bed made him the joint heir to her property. Appu ends by living "in sin" with her widowed niece, a lovely and sensual woman by name of Indu159. Cemparutti 'Red Cotton' (1968) is the picture of a typical Tanjavur district rural joint family centering round the youngest of a three-brother household. It happens that the woman whom the young man has loved as a student becomes the wife of the second brother. The second brother dies a premature death, the eldest brother who had lived in opulence becomes a pauper overnight, and the young man has to bear the burden of protecting not only their families, but of the pent-up, hysterical and possessive love of his sister-in-law, even though he is married. The eldest sister-in-law is also very difficult. Thus we see a series of diverse womanly passions ranged against a young man torn between the Hindu ideal of chastity, faithfulness to a dead brother, personal affection for a wife, tender feelings for his former love. He becomes a grocer and tries to forget his distress in the dust and flood of humanity that is characteristic of an Indian town. The wife who had been devoted to him suddenly becomes hostile. The hero also finds one of his friends murdered and realizes that he is now absolutely alone. His loneliness is aggravated by the political chicanery of a successful acquaintance of his. This short synopsis cannot reflect all the complexities of the novel, nor the host of minor but important characters, nor the depths of the main problem: a traditionally-minded idealistic young Hindu confronted with the terrifying aspects of modern Indian life, and, on a more personal level, with three passionate women whose hysteria grows up from the suppressed desires of rural Indian womanhood160. One of the greatest novels ever written in Tamil about sex is Jeyakanthan's Cila nerankalil cila manitarkal 'Some People at Some Time' (Maturai 1970)161. The novel opens with a forceful description of the heroine, Ganga, going home 159

For a specimen of Janakiraman's prose quoted from his novel Amma vantal, cf. K. ZVBLEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 298-9. 160 According to a personal communication received from Janakiraman on 3. 4. 1972, he is working currently on a new novel, Marappacu 'The Wooden Cow.' 161 It is based on an original short story (Akkinippiravecam); was first published as a serialized story under the title Kalankal marum 'Times Change' in TinamaNikatir. In 1972 it deservedly received the Sahitya Akademi award for the best Tamil book of the year. In the foreword, Jeyakanthan admits that the novel was carefully planned and written according to a well-prepared scheme. Characterising it he

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in an overcrowded bus on a rainy day. She belongs to a middle-class Brahman family of Madras, and lives with her widowed mother Kanagam. While she was in the first year of college she was raped by Prabu, a wealthy play-boy, whom she never knew and did not care to known till after a lapse of twelve years. She was expelled from home by her elder brother Ganesan, and her mother left the house with her. They were supported by an uncle of Ganga, Venkatram Ayyar ('uncle Venku'), a leading criminal lawyer and a Sanskrit scholar at Tanjavur, who gave her a good education. She took her M. A. degree from Annamalai University and became an important officer in the services of the government of Tamilnadu in Madras. However, uncle Venku is a pervert, a sadist, who hopes to have Ganga as his concubine, though he is seventy. "This uncle is a tiger," says Ganga. "And one has to watch this tiger carefully. Indeed, this was the only mantra which my aunt taught me.'' He uses his Sanskrit scholarship to prove to her that she can never again become a wife; that, on the day she was raped, she in fact became a wife; that she can only be someone's concubine. Ganga protects herself carefully against him. Once she overhears him telling her mother that if she wanted she could search for the man who had raped her, and force him to marry her. And, though she has an aversion and a fear of men, she begins her search and after six months she actually finds him. He is very wealthy, married to Padma, and not really happy at all; he has several children, among them Manju, who is his eldest daughter. Ganga and Prabu become good and close friends but nothing more; Ganga, though, enjoys the pleasure of being known as his mistress. Prabu smokes a lot, drinks more, and his philosophy is that one should take things easy in life. Uncle Venku and Ganga's mother resent her friendship with Prabu. The mother is fetched away by Ganesan and Ganga lives now alone. Prabu feels rather guilty about his misbehaviour towards Ganga twelve years ago, and wants her to get married and start a new life. She refuses. "You are the only thing I have," she tells Prabu. "I am yours. You are my man." But Prabu rejects this: "We cannot love each other. You yourself have said it several times before." And when she insists, saying in her desperation: "I will share my bed with you . . . I will marry you!", he answers curtly: "Stop this nonsense!" Ganga becomes an alcoholic, and loses herself in drinking. The novel ends in a cynical tone: Prabu and his wife Padma sit at home, and suddenly Padma says: "I saw today Ganga in the cinema. Do you know, that woman has changed!" But Prabu answers angrily: "I dont' care a damn. Don't spoil my evening!" And his wife, as if to appease him, goes and pours out some whiskey into his glass, for she, too, has changed. writes: "This is the story of a life which is uplifted on the waves of time, beaten and sunk by these •waves, floating with them, opposing them, and perishing in the process." Jeyakanthan has since published at least two other outstanding novels: the short but explosive Cinimavukkup pona cittalu 'The Cinema-Goers', Madurai 1972, and the broadly conceived Oru manitan, oru vitu, oru ulakam 'One man, one house, one world,' Madurai 1973.

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Almost the entire story is set within the interior monologue of Ganga, told in the stream-of-consciousness technique; it develops mainly through le monologue interieure, and through conversations. Since she is a Brahman girl, her interior monologue reflects faithfully the Brahman colloquial speech. There is constant code-switching involving this style and English, non-Brahman colloquial, and standard literary Tamil162. In the figure of Ganga, Jeyakanthan created one of those rare individuals in whose life are reflected in a special way great social changes, and who perish in the process. She is an unforgettable character. 6.6.10. Experimental Novel. N. Chidambara Subramanyam's (born 1912) Itayanatam 'The Sound of the Heart' is the Tamil noveJ about music. Kittu, having left home, meets an old man who recognizes his gift for music and takes him to a famous teacher, Vidvan Tiruvaiyar Sabesayyar. After ten years of study the young man returns home, finds out that his mother is dead, and goes back to Tiruvaiyar. He makes a promise never to sing for money but only for God; he also promises to marry Nila, the younger sister of his dead teacher's wife Tarumambal. Since he does not want to sell his art, the family gets into financial difficulties. He 'solves' the crisis again by leaving home. But under the influence of his friend Kandasami he returns to Nila who welcomes him back. His life is then filled with the devotion of his student, a girl named Palambal, and with the chagrin of his wife Nila. He reaches the heights of his art, becomes well-known, even famous under the name Krishna Bhagavatar; and then suddenly he looses his voice. His friend Kandasami again comes to his rescue: "You suffer now since you have lost your precious voice. True enough. But does it mean the end of everything ? Until now you were immersed in the sea of sounds which you heard with your ears. Now you have reached a point when you can be absorbed in the sweet sound which is not heard with ears. What is beyond is silence." Kittu has finally an answer: "Until now I cried to God with my voice. Now I shall call Him with my heart." It is a strange book which proclaims that "true life begins in the burial ground." Its Leitmotif is renunciation; its all-pervasive flavour, a sweet, quiet melancholy. 162 Cf. M. SHANMUGAM PILLAI, Code-switching in a Tamil novel, Dravlingpex vol. V, no. 6. Most of the English sentences express things of taboo or are used in emotional situations. One of the most interesting features of the novel is in fact the great attention payed to problems of language: e.g. (p. 69): What is the Tamil equivalent of 'perversion' ? Or (p. 100): If I want to write out the story I should first start thinking in Tamil. Or (p. 143): You are a vegetarian, aren't you? I think you are a Brahmin—it would seem so from the way you talk. Or (p. 143): He admits not to be able to speak properly either Tamil or English; p. 148: He spoke Tamil in a funny way. It was not simply a typical Madras speech. It was rather like the Tamil of an Anglo-Indian.—This is how "Tinglish" (Tamil cum English) sounds in Jeyakanthan's version: kataid oru variyai ret inkle antarlain panni mama tepille kontu vaccuttu vantutten (p. 67).

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Probably the 'most experimental' of all Tamil experimental novels is L. S. Ramamirtham's (born 1916) Putra 'Son' (1st part, Madras 1965), a novel full of twillight, reminding the reader of Italian Marinism, and of the English metaphysical poets. In the short foreword we are suprised to find out that, for Ramamirtham, like in Blake's 'Tyger,' God, or an aspect of God, is a Tiger (less than a man, more than a man). Putra is the 'autobiography' of a curse, hurled by a Hindu mother on her son: no son should be born to him, and if he is born, he will rot. The curse then lives its own terrible life, exercising powerful influence on all concerned163. Ramamirtham's Apita (Madras 1970) reads like a fragile prose-poem: it is all about the dark and deep corners of Ambi's heart where the thoughts and memories of youth blend with the longings, the desires, the entanglements of the present. In some respects, we may consider as an experimental piece of writing the first novel of a young author, S. Kandasami's (Ca. Kantacami) Cayavanam 'The Forest of Shadows' (Madras 1969) in which the struggle is described, taking part about 60 years ago in the setting of Tanjavur countryside, of a solitary man, Sidambaram, against wild forest, dark and impenetrable. "Those who went in have never returned. Nine years ago, Periya Karuppana Tevar went in, searching for a bull at midday. After a while he couldn't go any further; somehow, the path disappeared. He returned, coughing blood. On the third day, he was dead." The young author writes with great verisimilitude, reminding us of the novels of Shankar Ram and R. Shanmugasundaram, both of them masters of realistic description of Tamilnadu's rural life. 6.6.11. There is a number of novels which are difficult to classify, many of them either unbearably sentimental, or unbearably didactic, or both. Witness e.g. Na. Parttacarati's Kurincimalar164 or Tevan's Mistar Vetantam165. There 163 Cf. K. ZVELEBIL, The Smile of Murugan, pp. 309-11. The novel is unfinished; we are still waiting for its second volume. 164 The hero is Purani, the eldest daughter of a man who had left his family. Purani takes care of her two young brothers and a sister. She receives generous help from a rich woman, gets a job as a teacher, establishes a press to publish in cheap editions her father's works. There she meets Aravindan, and a mutual affection develops. She travels all over India and Ceylon, politically and socially active, a modern woman, a woman of the future, and finally returns to the South. There she finds Aravindan who went out to help in an epidemy raging in the villages near Maturai. He fell ill and Purani remains with him. In the very moment when she achieves a decisive political victory, and a huge procession of people appears to praise her, her lover dies. The plot is interesting and engaging enough; unfortunately, the novel is burdened with melodrama and sentimentalism. Moreover, it is a typically neo-didactic piece of writing, full of overwhelming smugness and bombast. There are a few redeeming features, though: the interesting plot, the alternation of its setting, and the description of Maturai, Kotaikkanal, Calcutta and Ceylon. N. Parthasarathy, who is a very good journalist and the editor of an important literary and cultural monthly (Tlpam, Deepam), has received the 1971 Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Camutayavlti 'Public Street.' 165 There is the hero, Vedantam, and the heroine—inevitably his cousine—Sel-

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are also some very recent new-comers to the field of Tamil novel who seem to promise great things: Nakulan with his Ninaivuppatai 'The Path of Reminiscences' (Nagarcoil, 1972), a unique reading experience, a diary sounding in its first portion like a parody on L. S. Ramamirtham; Ka. Cupramanyan (born 1932) with his first novel Verum velutum 'Roots and Aerial Roots' (Madras 1970) who has tried a new form of novel, with new diction and style reflecting the fast changing Indian society; andlndraParthasarthy who ventured successfully into drama (cf. § 7.4). The output is enormous, both in book-form as well as on the pages of newspapers and magazines; and with novels like Janakiraman's Thorn of Desire, Mother Came and Red Cotton, with novels like Jeyakanthans Some People at Some Time, and Ramamirtham's Son, the Tamil novel, too, has taken 'giant strides,' undreamt of only two decades ago.

lam. Poor Vedantam becomes the victim of fate, and many cruel things happen to him. In the midst of all his misfortunes he wants to become a writer. Friend Svami takes care of him, and with his help Vedantam becomes the editor of a journal, thus fulfilling his dream, and marries Sellam.

DRAMATIC WRITING

7.1. It is very difficult to discuss in any appreciable detail Tamil dramatic writing. The difficulties are both objective and subjective. The most important subjective impediment to an over-all survey of Tamil dramatic production is the fact that there is almost none preliminary investigation available; the few papers which are accessible are too brief and too general1. Objectively speaking, it is quite obvious that, unlike in the case of Sanskrit, Tamil has not produced any important classical drama at all; or, if it had—which I doubt—it has not survived2. Thirdly, even in modern literature, dramatic writing, compared to lyrical poetry, short story and novel, is almost negligible as to quality and importance. True, there is a large number of plays and dramatic sketches—but there is almost no great drama. Also, there is a difficulty in definition; we can hardly designate everything which appears on the stage and in the radio and which goes under the term natakam as 'drama'. It is appropriate to make a distinction between 'play' and 'drama'; 'play' is a much broader term for us: it is any kind of mimic action, any kind of stage performance including the operatic plays of the 18th century (cf. § 5.2.3), the street-plays, the pallus (cf. § 5.2.4) and the like. Drama, for us, is certainly not any kind of mimetic performance but, more specifically, it designates a play written for interpretation by actors on the stage and motivated at least in part and probably chiefly artistically. Play—whereby a group of persons (e.g. temple servants, courtesans, dancers, or members of vagrant comedian groups) impersonate certain characters before a group of their fellow-men—has existed quite obviously in Tamil culture from very early times. This impersonation was intended, at the period of temple-based culture, as a votive offering to the gods, and had ritualistic or religious purpose. When it left the prakdra of the temple and went out into the streets, we get the street-play (terukkuttu) with its various developments. 1

Cf. A. SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN, Tamil Drama, Ind. Lit. 1.2 (1958) 128-33; V. NARAYANAN, Vestiges of the Drama in Early Tamil Literature, JORM 1936, 30214; K. SIVATHAMBY, The Ritualistic Origins of Tamil Drama, Proceedings of the First International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies, I, 170-80. 2 Stage arranged for mimetic performance was for the first time in Tamil literature explicitely described in Cilappatikaram (ca. 450 A.D.), canto III, and in Atiyarkkunallar's commentary on the text, though some hints may be observed in Paripatal of a somewhat earlier age. We know from epigraphy about the existence of some historical and panegyric plays in the Chola period of the 10th-12th cent. (Rajarajesvara natakam, Pumpuliyur natakam); the plays themselves have not survived. Beginning with the 17th-18th cent., a kind of 'folk opera' or 'musical' developed, crystalising in the three genres of pseudo-dramatic literature intended to be enacted as street plays, viz. noNtinatakam (cf. § 5.2.2), kuravanci (cf. § 5.2.3) and pajhi (cf. § 5.2.4).

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7.2. The beginnings of modern plays may be seen in the 'play of entertainment' (vildcandtakam) which was usually the last portion of a mimetic danceperformance (ndttiyandtakam). In fact, we may regard almost all plays devised by P. Sambanda Mudaliyar, the famous actor and playwright of the first half of this century3, or by Sankardas Svami, or by the popular 'T. K. S. Brothers' and similar playwrights and companies, as modern developments of this 'play of entertainment.' Strictly speaking, these are no dramas. Somewhat apart stands an attempt to create a drama which is not destined for theatrical performance but for reading: P. Sundaram Pillai (1855-1897), the well-known scholar, wrote his Manonmaniyam on the model of Shakespeare and with a plot based on Lord Lytton's The Secret Way, one of the Lost Tales of Miletus*. The dance-mime (ndttiyandtakam, kuttu) is followed up today in the performances of such groups as the Adyar Kalakshetra, or in the Bhagavata melds e.g. in MelattUr, etc. In a way, all the plays destined for stage and radio by writers like T. Janakiraman, B. S. Ramiah, P. Thooran, or Aru. Ramanathan may be regarded as so many kinds of nontindtakam 'the drama of the lame' (cf. § 5.2.2): in that kind of play, the hero is a villain endowed with all sorts of evil qualities; when he finally falls, a positive hero appears, conveys to him what is righteous and correct, and the villain changes, leaving behind his evil ways, worships the appropriate deity (a god, or progress, or the Congress Party, or the D. M. K. party, or Marx, or Mao), and all his troubles disappear; the happy end consists in the moral transformation of the chief character. 7.3. It is possible to divide very roughly the plays referred to above in two large groups: those with the historical and mythological themes, and those dealing with contemporary sujets (by far more numerous). Puthumaippittan (who died in 1948) wrote a mythological-cwm-historical play intended as an allegory to spread certain socio-political ideas by means of a film scenario5. The most popular of historical plays which had been staged is probably Irajaraja Colan, Carittiranatakam (1st ed. 1955); the script is by Aru. Ramanathan, with songs composed by Puttaneri Ra. Cuppiramaniyan. It revives the glory of Tamilnadu during the rule of one of the greatest Chola monarchs, Rajaraja (985-1016 A.D.) The play moves in a high tempo. The dialogues are written in strictly literary, standard, forceful Tamil which lends an air of dignity and grandeur to the performance. It puts forth the ideas of patriotism, chivalry, heroism and nobility, and there is naturally the inevitable 3

He has written innumerable prose-plays for the Tamil stage and enacted them with his Saguna Vilasa Sabha, moving all over Tamilnadu for more than thirty years. Cf. his Autobiography in six volumes, entitled Natakametai ninaivukal 'Reminiscences on the Stage' (Madras 1963). 4 It is about Manonmam, the Pajidya king Jivaka's daughter, who loves Purutottama and after a series of trials and turmoils finally garlands him as her husband. 6 Vakkum vakkum 'Word and Its Echo' (1st ed., Madras 1952).

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element of jest6. Another, and a more literary and serious attempt at a historical play is, e.g., Es. Pi. Mani's Mutinta koyil 'The Finished Temple' (1967) set, too, in the times of Rajaraja Chola. There are also plays of the past dealing with religion and philosophy, such as A. Cinivacarakavan's Vicuvarupam (1965) with Sri Ramanuja as the main character. Sri Ramanuja died in 1137. As an illustration of the numerous plays with mythological and legendary sujets, we may cite e.g. Kiruttinacami Pillai's Tamayantinatakam (Madras 1883) based on the well-known Mahabharata episode again. Among the second kind of plays, those with contemporary subjects—the absolute majority of them destined as one-act radio plays—there are many types ranging from short farces to politically engage harangues both leftist and rightist. There are some which are strictly localized, employing the respective dialects of the region, e.g. Ka. Kanapati Pillai's Porulo porul 'Property is Property' (1952) set in Jaffna and Colombo, or A. P. Nagarajan's famous filmscenario Makkalaipperra makaraci (1957) with Konkunatu (Coimbatore) dialectisms. An interesting political play by Ka. Kanapati Pillai, Tavarana ennam 'Mistaken Calculation' (Colombo 1952) takes place in the mythical islands of the Nagas but is in fact a political satire using Tamil-English code-switching7. The authors connected with the Dravidian movement use naturally the stage and the films as platforms for energetic propaganda of their views: thus e.g. the acting Chief Minister of Tamilnadu M. Karunanidhi in his socio-political play Utayacuriyan 'The Rising Sun' (1958). Most of these plays, though—like those of Suki. Subramanyam, P. Thooran, or T. Janakiraman, deal rather with some social problem, or are just harmless entertainment: thus e.g. Suki Subramanyam's (Ti. En. Cuki Cuppiramaniyan) Pirativati Annammal 'Annammal the Defendant' (1965), a short one-act play with the court-room as its setting, or Arvi's Pdli 'Counterfeit' (1967), a serious attempt to realistically portray the apalling conditions of city life in 'block N' in Madras8. 6 I saw its performance by the extremely popular T. K. S. Brothers (T. K. Shanmugam, T. K. Bhagavathi, T. K. Sankaran, T. K. Muttusami) in Madras on 7. 2. 1958 and, though some of the acting was definitely oddly pathetic and 'overdone,' I could not help being carried away by the breath-taking tempo of the play and by its grandeur. Historical novels are frequently made into scenarios: thus Kalki's Civakamicapatam, rewritten for stage by Puttaneri Ra. Cuppiramaniyam, and enacted by the T. K. S. brothers in 1962. 7 One of the heroes says: "We will stir the masses into direct action and paralyse the machinery of government. The strike will rise wave after wave and we will kick the governor into the sea." 8 It is the first long play of an author who has produced twelve novels and more than 200 short stories and radio-plays. The action takes place at the beginning of 1967 in Colony O, block N in Madras City. Written in Madras colloquial speech, it is an exceptionally good play showing with cynical openness the deceits and fakes of city-life. Somewhat similar but in a lighter vein are some plays by B. S. Ramiah (Pollskaran makan. 'The Policeman's Son', Terottimakan. 'Cart-drawing Boy') and by Janakiraman (Nalu veli nilam 'Four Measures of Land,' Vativeluvattiyar "Teacher Vativelu') and a few other authors. Compared to their short-stories and novels, though, the plays are of decidedly lower quality and of almost no artistic effect.

Tamil Literature

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7.4. It seems to me that there are only two or three authors nowadays among contemporary Tamil playwrights whose plays may be termed true dramas, since they are qualitatively different from any other plays written before and mentioned above. N. Muttusami's plays9 are a fusion of the old Tamil genres (the mimetic performances of the street-plays) with the ideas of the 'theatre of the absurd' and other Western elements (Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams). A kind of revolution was carried out in Tamil drama by the three plays of Indra Parthasarathi, the young Delhi writer. As an illustration of his dramatic creations, we may take his three-act play Malai 'The Rain' (1971) which means a significant departure from previous play-writing and play-acting in Tamil10. It was typically staged first in Delhi and not in Madras. Parthasarathi's dramas are unusual in the Tamil setting, off-beat, cynical, clever, artful, and modern. The Rain is a drama of repressed passions, hatreds and frustrations. Nirmala, aged thirty, lives alone with her 65 years old father (the mother had died long ago when she was still a child), professor Chandrasekhar, in a small village near Tanjavur. Her brother Raghu had left home after a quarrel about a decade ago. The ailing professor is a patient of Dr. James. The play opens with Dr. James coming to see his patient who had suffered several heart-attacks. Now he needs complete rest. Nirmala is terribly frustrated; she had been hindered by her father to marry an air-force officer, who later died in a crash. She hates being an all-time "daughter, nurse and secretary" to her sick father. But she cannot leave him. She shocks the forty-year old doctor (separated from his wife) when she tells him: "I need a man . . . it could even be you." Admitting that she hates her father (does she indeed ?), she shocks him even more saying rudely: ' 'Are all saints impotent, doctor ?'' There is a heavy, stormy rain outside. Suddenly, the lamp in the room goes out and the room is plunged into darkness. Nirmala disappears from the room. When she reappears with a candle, the doctor sees that his patient is dead. In the second act, Raghu returns home, too late to see his father alive. He does not care much; his father was, for him, "a funny old man." In a conversation full of hints and hidden meanings, Nirmala admits that her father's death has pleased her. She hates the house, indeed the whole place and village. Outside, it is still raining heavily. The key-words to the play are probably those uttered by Nirmala when she says: "And who is not alone in our family ?" It is a play of complete alienation. Nirmala acts strangely; she "wants to get out of this joint." She wants freedom. Because her father died, Nirmala, too, feels dead. Suddenly she says something strange: "Love and hatred are after all at 9 N. Muttusami is also one of the most gifted and controversial short-story writers. Some of his stories were published on the pages of Kacatatapara (Coimbatore). 10 Its text was published in one of the last issues of the now defunct literary magazine Kacatatapara (Coimbatore).

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the bottom the same emotion. Kill the thing you love." Raghu observes that she reads a book entitled The Ethic and Sociological Aspects of Murder and Other Crimes. In the meantime, Nirmala explains to her brother that she needs Dr. James; it is not only a matter of pent-up sex; she needs him because he is a normal, well-balanced man. Outside it keeps raining, and Nirmala hates it. She sends her brother, who begins to suspect that she suffers from a fixed idea of having killed her father, to find Dr. James and ask him to come. In Act Three, Raghu returns, first without the doctor: there is trouble in the village; all huts of the poor are submerged, it is "one single water-jungle." Finally, the doctor manages to come. It has been raining incessantly for twenty days now. While Nirmala dozes off, Raghu and the doctor discuss her excitement and her odd behaviour. Raghu explains that Nirmala firmly believes to have killed her father; she connects the sound of the rain with the supposed murder. Suddenly, the rain stops. Nirmala wakes up and says quite distinctly: "Yes, I have killed him." The doctor agrees to leave the village with Nirmala, and goes out to finish his work. When he reappears—in the meantime Nirmala reassures her brother that she had indeed killed their father—he tells them that there is an outbreak of cholera in the village. His place is among the people there, he cannot leave. But they should go at once. "Shut up!" says Nirmala. "I knew already then that you wouldn't come with me. You are a coward . . . All saints are impotent." And she adds: "You are scared because I killed my father, so you grab your cross . . . Why do you fear women more than cholera, doctor ?" And when the doctor expresses again his disbelief, and his opinion that she suffers from a fixed idea ("You have not killed your father!"), she screams: "Yes, I did, I did . . .!" Then she begins to weep and cry; and the doctor leaves. Alter a while she opens the window and looks out: "It is still raining . . . It won't stop. It won't . . . " It is left for the audience to decide whether Nirmala murdered her father or not. The dialogues are lively, intelligent, and switching from spoken Tamil to English. The motif of the rain is used very skillfully. There are some inadequacies, showing an unexperienced and young playwright trying to bring Freud and Kafka and Ionesco into his Tamil drama; there are some vulgarities, and a few naive spots. But, on the whole, it is a good and thrilling drama: the irreverance and cynicism of Raghu and Nirmala are relieved by the inherent nobility of Dr. James. Also, Nirmala is quite interestingly complicated. I am convinced that at least one of the alleys which the Tamil drama should take in the future is the one pointed out by Indra Parthasarathy. It certainly is not a blind alley, like most of the others.

ABBREVIATIONS BSOAS — Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London DED — Dravidian Etymological Dictionary by T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau, Oxford 1961 HTL — C. and H. Jesudasan, A History of Tamil Literature, Calcutta 1961 HTLL — S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, History of Tamil Language and Literature, Madras 1956 IA — Indian Antiquary, Bombay Ind. Lit. — Indian Literature JOAS — Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven, Baltimore JORM — Journal of Oriental Research, Madras JRAS — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London JTS — Journal of Tamil Studies, Madras PDr — Proto - Dravidian Skt. — Sanskrit Ta. — Tamil TC — Tamil Culture, Madras

INDEX The bewildering variety of transcriptions and transliterations of some names and titles is purposeful for it reflects the actual state of affairs in various handbooks and articles on Tamil literature, both Tamil and English. abhinaya 49 acai 27, 32-33, 109, 120, 220 Acarakkovai 124, 202 deary as 91 aciriyam 33 ftn. 64, 90, 97, 105, 204 dciriyappd 32-33, 206 ftn. 41, 216 ddryaviruttam 100, 106 ftn. 43, 161, 196, 206 ftn. 41 Acomukinatakam, 222 dcukavi 54 Acuvametayakapuranam 218 Adhyatma Ramayana 146 Agastya, see also Akattiyar 6, 178, 185 Agastyasamhita 179 ftn. 133 Ahilan, see Akilan, Akilan 286 aimperunkdppiyam 130 aincirunkdppiyankal 130 Ainkurunuru 7, 9 r i2-14, 37 aintinai 13, 27, 36 Aintinaikkovai 204 Aintinaiyelupatu 118 Airavatam 85 ftn. 178 Aiyacami Mutaliyar 115 Aiyamperumal PiJlai 204 Aiyanar Itanar 34

Aiyar, IT. V. S. see also Swaminatha Aiyar, U. V. 181 ftn. 137 Aiyar, U. V. Swaminatha, see also Swaminatha Aiyar, U. V. 170 Aiyar, V. V. S. 4, 122, 150, 241, 242, 251 Aiyatikal Katavarkdn 91, 105, 176 Akananuru (Akam) 8 ftn. 7, 9, 14-15, 29, 30,~33, 130, 131, 189 ftn. 147, 205 akam 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 35 ftn. 73, 36, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 71, 89, 93, 103, 105, 117, 118, 118 ftn. 6, 121 ftn. 22, 137, 149, 150, 165, 178, 189, 202 akapporul 130, 135 Akapporul 11, 34 akapporutkovai 194 Akattiyam 4 Akattiyar, see also Agastya 180, 184, 185, 187 akaval 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 32-33, 33 ftn. 64, 39, 46, 49, 50, 89, 90, 97, 100, 106, 111, 133, 135, 164, 191 ftn. 8, 194, 194 ftn. 4, 196, 197, 199 Akaval, see also Kapilarakaval 195

300

Index

akavalviruttam 199 akavunar 43 Akilan, see also Akilan 262, 263, 264, ftn. 94, 286 Akilan 286-287, 278 Akil&Ntam, P. Vai. see Akilan 263, 286287' ' Akoramunivar 191 aksara 7, 32-33, 60, 109 Alagiriswamy, K. 81, 254, 286 ftn. 154 AlaikaJ 259 Alai Ocai 2, 275 Alakin cirippu 70 Ajakiricami, Ku. see also Alagiriswamy, "K. 254 alamkara 80 alankdram 196 alahkdrapancakam 196 Aliyaccutar 250 ftn. 58 AJutaiyapilJaiyar tiruccanpai viruttam 105 Alutaiyapijlaiyar Tirukkalampakam 200 dlvd'rs 91, 93, 101, 102, 107, 109, 146, 146 ftn. 48, 147, 197, 220 Amaiti 70 Amalanatipiran 101 Amirtakavirayar 203 ftn. 33 Amma vantal 288-289 ammanai 51, 100, 195, 217 ftn. 62 Ampikapati 53, 203 ftn. 33 Ampikapatikkovai 203 ftn. 33 Anal (Arnold) 238 Anandarangam Pillai 235 Anantaparati Aiyankar 59 dnatakkalippu 113, 197 Anantarankap Pillai, see also Anandarangam Pillai 235-236, 235 ftn. 17 Anatari 177, 185 Ancali 259 Anjanakeci 139 ankamdlai 194, 195 Anmai 247 ftn. 50 Annadurai, C. N. 266, 267, 283 AnNamalai, Mu. 74 Annamalai Reddiyar, see also Rettiyar Annamalai 110 Annappattar 191 Armaturai, Ci. En. see also Annadurai, C. N. 266, 283 Annavataipparani, see also Nanaparani 207 ftn. 44 anpu 88 Anru iravu 247 65, 103-104, 104 ftn. 33

antati 51 ftn. 101, 97, 101, 105, 106, 135, 143 ftn. 40, 194, 195, 195 ftn. 7, 197, 200 ftn. 20, 206, 206 ftn. 41, 217 anti-Ramayana 159 Antonikkutti AnNaviyar 114 ftn. 56 anubhuti 196 Anumar pillaittamil 222 anupallavi 222, 223, 230 anuputi 196 anurdga 196 anurakamdlai 196 anvaya 31 ftn. 59 Apinavakkataikal 238, 242 Apirami antati 195 Apiramipattar 195 Apita 292 Appalinkam, Ka. 73 Appar 91, 94, 95, 95 ftn. 16, 96, 174, 174 ftn. 115, 176 ftn. 118, 178, 204 aracanviruttam 196 ardkam 105 aram 38 Arankacami, Etiracu 71 Aravamuthan, T . G . 178, 179 Arilorupanku 246 driyam 121 ftn. 17 Ariyappa Pulavar 191 arputtattiruvantdti 98, 195 drruppatai 20, 23, 196-197 artha 38, 57, 119 arul 94, 98, 113 Arulala Tacar 191 Arujappa Navalar 161 ftn. 91 ArulperuncStiyakaval 113 Arumuka Navalar, Ya. Na. 113, 176 ftn. "119, 218, 235, 238, 284 ftn. 149 Arumukam, K. see also Arumuka Nava"lar 235 Arunacala Kavi (Kavirayar) 110, 221, 222-223, 222 ftn. 71 Arunacalam, Ke. Ci. Es. 74 Arunacalapuranam 191 Anmakiri, Arunakirinatar 101, 108— 110, 144, 157, 191, 196 AruN^nti Civacariyar 197 Arunmolittevar 173 Ariir Tiruttontattokai 91 Arutkavi Ceturaman 116 Arvi 296 Asher, R. E. 231, 268, 273, 276, 277 Ashokamitran 266 astamangala 195 Astamlpradaksinamahatmya 177 asura 154

Index ati 27 Atinarayana Aiyar 59 ftn. 120 Atippallu 226 Ati ula 197 Ativirama Pandya 145, 146 ftn. 47, 191 Atiyarkkunallar 130, 131, 233, 294 ftn. 2 dtoranamancari 196 attamankalam 195 Attavatanam Arankanata Kavirayar 'l44 Atticuti 125 attiydyam 129 Auvai (Auvaiyar) 20, 39, 43, 52, 119 ftn. 7, 125, 127, 143 ftn. 40, 220 dvdhanam 90 avatdra 3 avinayam 49, 90 Ayyacami, Ra. 73 Ayyamuttu, Kovai Ci. E. 74 Badr-ud-Dln Pulavar 170 ftn. 106, 191 Bankimchandra 244 Basham, A. L. 88, 148 Besant, Annie 241 Beschi, C. G. E. 114, 125, 137, 159, 160, 193, 200, 218, 234, 234 ftn. 11, 235 ftn. 13 Bhagavadglta 63 ftn. 131, 66, 163 ftn. 94 Bhagavatapurana 30 ftn. 53, 104 ftn. 36, 154 ftn. 70, 191 bhaj- 88 bhajana 51 bhakta 88, 96, 204, 228 bhakti 7, 13, 48, 49, 50, 52, 65, 88, 89, 90, 90 ftn. 9, 91, 93, 94, 95, 98, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 161, 174, 194, 195, 197, 206, 228 bharani 207 Bharati, Agehananda 2 Bharati, Gopalakrishna 3, 94 ftn. 159, 110, 114, 175, 227-228 Bharati, Subrahmanya C. 1, 4, 59, 60, 67, 67 ftn. 139, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 74 ftn. 159, 75, 76, 78,107, 127, 145, 162, 163 ftn. 94, 164 ftn. 97, 165, 166, 206, 239-241 Bharatidasan 69-71, 75 ftn. 162, 76, 77, 83, 162, 167-169, 169 ftn. 102 Bible, in Tamil 234-235, 235 ftn. 15 Bibliotheca Malabarica 2 Bilhana 167, 167 ftn. 101 Bilhaniyam 167 ftn. 101

301

BrahmaNdapurana 177, 190 Brhatkatha 135 Caiyitu Mukiyyittin 214 ftn. 56 Cakkiravarti tirumakan 246 ftn. 43 Cakticaranan 74 Calivahanan 74 Camaya Tivakara Vamana Munivar 139 Campantar, see also TiruNancampantamurtti, ^anacampantar 91, 94, 95, 95 ftn. 16, 96, 174 campu 143 Camuttiravilacam 201 cankam 2, 7, 11, 12, 48, 131, 183 Cankaracolanula 198 Cankaranarayana Koyirriripantati 223 ftn. 73 Cankarpanirakaranam 173 Cankili 96 Canmukacuntaram, Ar. 278 CaNmukam, Kuruvikkarumpai 85 ftn. 178 Canon, gaiva 91-92, 102 ftn. 31 Canon, Vaimava 83, 91, 147 Cantalinka Kavirayar 58 cantam 101, 101 ftn. 26, 109, 110, 144, 160, 212, 213, 216, 217, 217 ftn. 61 cantaviruttam 196 Cantecuvarar 175, 175 ftn. 117 Cantirikaiyin katai 239-240 caranam 22, 230 Caravana Peruma] Kavirayar 201, 218219 caritra 204, 227 carittirakkirttanai 227 carittiram 204, 221, 227 Carkkaraip Pulavar 195 carukkam 129, 162 Carvacamayacamaracak kirttanai 114 Catacivam PilJai, AruNacalam 238 catakam 58, 97, 194, 204 cdtakam 204 Catanku 280 Cattanar 142 Catticuttatu 278 Cattimurrr.ppulavar 205, 205 ftn. 39 Caturakarati 193 Caurapancasika 167 ftn. 101 Cayankontar 143 ftn. 40, 207, 210, 213 Cayavanam 292 Cekkilar 91, 170, 173, 174, 178, 228 Cekkilamayanai puranam 173

302

Index

Cellappa, Ci. Cu., see also Chellappa, C. S. 243, 253 Celvakecavaraya Mutaliyar 242 Celvaraj, Ti. see also Selvaraj, D. 225 Cemparutti 289 Cenavaraiyar 233 Ceficikkalampakam 144 ftn. 41 centamil 11, 121 ftn. 17 centamilmalai 216 Centanar 102 ftn. 31 Centinata Piljai 19 Ceppecarpuranam 191 Ceraman Perumal 96, 105 ftn. 39, 109, 176, 197, 198 Cetupativiralivitututu 218—219 ceviyarivaruumarutpd 204 Cevvaicciituvar 191 Cevvantipuranam 170 Cevvatup Pulavar 200 ceyyul 34, 34 ftn. 65, 35, 130 chandas 109 Chandilyan 276, 278 Chellappa, C. S. 79, 80, 82, 243, 253, 278, 288 Chettiar, A. C. 254, 267 Chidambara Subrahmanyam (Subrahmanyan), N. 243, 263, 291 The Children of the Cauvery 274 Chitty, S. C. 179, 238 Chokkalingam, R. S. 243 Christian texts 114 ftn. 56 cilampu 132, 133 Cila nerankajil cila manitarkaj 289-291 Cilappatikaram 9 ftn. 11, 14, 16, 30, 128, 129, 130, 131, 131 ftn. 11, 137, 141, 142, 167, 178, 205, 220, 232, 233, 294 ftn. 21 dletai 53, 211 Cmic Carkkaraip Pulavar 205, 207 ftn. 44 Cinimavukkup pona Cittaju 289 ftn. 61 Cinivasan, Ke. 243 Cinivacarakavan, A. 296 Cinnacankaran katai 239 cinnappu 204 Cinnattampi 224 cintu 63, 164, 221, 223-224, 227 cir 27, 109 Clrappuranam 162, 191 ClrappuraNavaNNam 217 C.Irkalikkovai 222 Cirkajipp iranam 222 Cirrampalakkavirayar 225 Cirrannai 247 ftn. 51

ciru kappiyam 129 ftn. 4 CirupaNarruppatai 9, 20—21 Cirupancamulam 124 Ciruttontar 176, 176 ftn. 118 Cltakkati 115 Citakkatinontinatakam 224 Citamparacceyyutkovai 283 ftn. 33, 215 Citampara CuppiramaNiyam (Cuppiramaniyan), Na. 243, 263 Citamparacuvami 214 Citamparam, En. Es. 74 Citamparam PiJJai 22 ftn. 71 Citamparanata Nanappirakacar 226 Citamparappattiyal 129 ftn. 4 Citamparapuranam 19 Citaram, Tiruloka, see also Sitaram, Triloka 77-78, 78 ftn. 167 cittar 54, 56 Citti 247 ftn. 50 Citti 74 cittirahavi 53 Cittirakkavittirattu 217 ftn. 62 Clvakacintamani 8 ftn. 2, 30, 128, 136, 138, 139, 157, 162, 233 Civakamiyin capatam (also Civakamicapatam) 275, 296 ftn. 6 Civakankaicarittiram 204 Civananacuntaram 266 CivaNana Cuvamikal, see also Civanana Munivar 191 CivananapalaiyarcuvamikaJ pij}aittamil 214 ftn. 53 Civananamunivar 190, 201, 213, 218, 233 Civananapotam 184, 190, 233 Civappirakacar 200, 206, 214 Civappuriksa 258 Civaramu, Tarmu 82 Civavakkiyar 55, 56 Cokkanatarula 197 Colaimalai ijavaraci 275 ColamaNtalacatakana 204, 205 col-totar-nilai-c-ceyyul 130 Comacuntaram, Ml. Pa. 72, 264 Comacuntara PiUai 218 conventions, poetic 31, 35, 38-44 Corupanantar pillaitamil 214 ftn. 53 Cotippirakacar 207 ftn. 44 Cukunacuntaricarittiram 269 Culamani 130, 139, 140 Cuntarapantiyam 185 Cuntaram Pillai, P. 60 Cuntaramurttinayanar, see also Cuntarar 91, 96

Index

303

Cuntarar 46, 91, 95 ftn. 16, 96, 173, 174, 174 ftn. 115, 176 Cuntararajan, Pe. K6. 74 Cuntari 274 Cuppaiya, Kokilam, see Subbiah, Kokilam 280 Cuppiramaniya Ayyar Ci. 60 Cuppiramamyam, Na. Citampara 285 Cuppiramamyan, Cuki. Ti. En. 296 Cuppiramaniyan, Puttaneri Ra. 74, 295, 296 ftn. 6 Cuppurattinam, Kanaka, see also Bharatidasan 69 Cupramanyam, Ka. Na., see also Subrahmanyam, K. N. 82, 253 Cupramanyam, Ka. 293 Cupratlpa (Cuppiratipa) Kavirayar 201, 218-219 Curapi 73 Curata 76 Cutamanip Pulavar 139, 170 ftn. 104 cutar 101 Cuttananta Parati, Cuvami 69 CuvatecakltankaJ 62

En katai 284 Ennaiyanap Pulavar, see also Velan Cinnattampi 221, 226 eros, in early poetry 41—42 Etirparata muttam 168 Ettutokai 7, 9, 11, 19, 97 etukai 27, 33, 75, 76, 120, 210, 216, 217, 222, 223

Damodaram Pillai, S. V. 8, 8 ftn. 3 Dandin 162 Daniel, K. 266 daMnga 204 dharma 38, 57, 119, 153 dharmic 3, 133 dhuta 205 dhvani 68 Diary, of Ananda Ranga Pillai 235-236, 235 ftn. 18 Dinadayalu 271 Dinnaga 141 Durai Rangaswami, M. A. 280 double entendre 138 Dravida Mahabhasya 190 Drew 238 Duraisami Iyengar, Vadavur K. 273 Durvinita 135

Halasya mahatmya 177, 179, 179 ftn. 133, 184 Henriques, Henrique 237, 237 ftn. 22 Hindu renaissance 172 ftn. 112 Hooper, J. S. M. 107

Early Old Tamil 31 Ekamparanatarula 52 ftn. 102 ekdtacamdlai 106 Ellappa Navalar 170, 220 Ellappa Piipati 191 Elati 124 elukurrirukkai 105, 199 Eluppelupatu 198 Eluttu"79, 81, 82 En carittiram 8 ftn. 2. 284

Pabricius, J. P. 235 Pilliozat, Jean 105, 185 formula 28-30, 29 ftn. 52 free verse 75 Ganeshalingam, S. 266 Gardner, A. G. 244 ghatikd 200 Gonda, J. 89 ftn. 6 Griffith 152 Gros, F. 89 Griindler, J. 235 Gunadhya 135 guru 137, 184, 214, 234, 249

icai 6, 49 Icai amutu 70 icaippd 106 ilakkanam 4, 6 IlakkaNaviJakkam 190, 217 ilakkiyam 4, 6 ilaku kavitai 75 ilampakam 129, 137, 138 ftn. 23 IJampuraNar 11, 30, 131 ftn. 9, 233 Ilankaiyarkon 266 IJankovatikaJ (IJanko) 132, 133, 140,. 141, 232 IJinkapuranam 191 Inaimanimalai 197, 216 Initunarpatu 124 Iniyatunarpatu 124 Iniyavainarpatu 124 Irmanarpatu 124 innicai 118 innicaivenpd 124, 199, 215 inpam 38, 129 instrumentovka 157 Iracakopalan 76

304

Index

Iracappak Kavirayar, Tirikuta, see also Rajappa Kavirayar 225 ftn. 78 Iracaracanula 129 I r a i y a n a r l l , 34, 34 ftn. 68, 232 Iraiyanar's Kajaviyal 118 ftn. 6 Irajakopalaccariyar, Cakkaravartti 245 Ira.jara.ja Colan 295 Irakavaiyankar, I. Mu. 58 Irakavaiyankar, Ka. 60 Iramaccantirak Kavirayar 218 Iramalinka Cuvamikal, see also Ramalinga Svami 113, 174 ftn. 115 Iramalinkam PiJJai, Ve. Namakkal, see also Namakkal Kavinar 68 Iramalinkar, see also Ramalinga Svami 108 Iramanatakam 221, 222 Iramanucanurrantati 195 Iramavataram 146-159 Ira.mavila.cam 218 irankal 37 Iratcaniya kural 114 Iratcaniya manokaram 114 Iratcaniya Yattirikam 114, 159, 161 irattaimanimdlai 97, 106, 197, 216 Irattaiyar (Irattaippulavar) 52, 54 ftn. 108, 143 ftn. 40, 144 ftn. 41, 200 Irattina Kavirayar 197 Iravanan kappiyam 159 ftn. 83 irupdvirupaktu 197 iruttal 37 Island of Women, The 274 Itaikkattuccittar 55 ItalkaJ 259 Itayanatam 291 itihdsa 128 Ittiyelupatu 198 iyal 6 iyal-icai-ndtaka-porul-totar-nilai-c-ceyyul 130 iyanmolivdlttu 197 Iyengar, R. Raghava 170 Iyer, Subbarayya 170 Jagannathan, K. V. 265 Jakannatan, Ki. Va. 72, 265 Janakiraman, T. 160, 258, 262, 288-9, 289 ftn. 159, 293, 295, 296, 296 ftn. 8 Janakiraman, Ti. 258 Janani 259 Janmapumi 62 jdtaka 204 Jeeva, see also Jiva, and Turaikkannan Narana 265

Jeeva, Dominik 266 Jegachirpian (Jegachirpiyan) 262, 266 Jesudasan, C. andH. 117, 121,136, 144, 145, 190 Jesudasan, Hephzibah 288 Jeyakantan, Ta., see also Jeyakanthan D. 255, 282 Jeyakanthan, D. 1, 251, 255, 262, 277 ftn. 135, 278, 282-3, 282 ftn. 146, 289-291, 289 ftn. 161, 293 Jiva, see also Turaikkannan, Narana 74, 265, 286 Kaccikkalampakam 200, 215 Kaccinanappirakacar 200 Kacciyappa Civacariyar, see also Kacciyappamunivar 185—186, 189 Kacciyappamunivar 186, 189, 190 Kadambavanapurana 177 kaikkijai 39, 41, 42ftn. 88, 48, 202 kaikkilaimdlai 202, 216 Kailasapathy, K. 29 kaiyarunilai 202 kalai 217 Kalaivanan 73 Kalakeci 139 kdlaksepam 227-228 kdlam 36, 38 Kajamekam (Kajamekappulavar) 5354, 75 ftn. 163, 143 ftn. 40, 186, 197, 219 kalampakam 143 ftn. 40, 195, 200, 200 ftn. 20, 213, 216 kalampakamdlai 200 ftn. 20 Kajantaikkumaran 191 Kalapriya 85 ftn. 178 kalavai 100 kalavali 118, 118 ftn. 5 kalavalinurpatu 117 Kajaviyal 34, 34 ftn. 68, 232 kalavu 36, 118, 118 ftn. 6 kalavu olukkam 189 ftn. 146 kali 33 ftn. 64, 47, 48 ftn. 93, 97, 100, 194 ftn. 4, 202 ftn. 24, 215 Kalikakhanda 190 Kalinkapparani 199 Kalinkattupparani 207-212 kalippd 100, 104, 216 kalittdlicai 100, 199 Kalittokai 8 ftn. 3, 9, 9 ftn. 14, 12, 26, 37, 42 ftn. 88, 89, 46, 47-48, 131, 200, 233 kalitturai 98, 106, 196, 199, 216, 217 kalivenpd 100,106,164,197,199,205,216

Index kaliviruttam 55, 100, 101 ftn. 27, 180 Kaliyanakatai 139 Kaliyuga 3 Kalki, see also Krishnamurti, R. 72, 245, 246, 263, 274-275, 296 Kallatam 178 Kallatar, see also Kallatatevar 216 Kallatatevar 106 Kalvanin katali 274 Kalyanacuntara Mutaliyar, Tiru. Vi., see also Kalyanasundaram, T. V. and Thiru. Vi. Ka. 60 Kalyanacuntaram, Pattukkottai 67, 73, 76 Kalyanasundaram, T. V. 284 kdma 38, 119 Kamalainanappirakacar 226 Kamalambal 269 kdmam 41, 57, 119 Kamaraeamancari 201 Kamaracan, Na. 74, 74 ftn. 157, 85 kdmaMstra 121 ftn. 22 Kampan 52, 53, 57, 74, 138, 143, 144, 145, 146, 146 ftn. 47, 48, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 153 ftn. 66, 67, 154, 154 ftn. 71, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 167, 172, 185, 203 ftn. 33, 222 ftn. 71, 223, 241, 246, 254 ftn. 71, 267 Kampatacan 73 Kanaceunai 278 Kanakasabhai Pillai, V. 8, 8 ftn. 6 Kanapati, Ke. Pi. 73 Kanapati PiUai, Ka. 296 kdnci 201 Kdncimdhdtmya 190 kdncimdlai 201 Kancipuranam 171, 172, 178 Kandasami, S. 292 Kanecalinkan, Ce. 266, 280 Kanimetaviyar 118, 124 Kanka, 259 Kankeyan piUaittamil 213 ftn. 52 Kannaki ~16, 132, 133", 134, 140, 168 Kannaki — Pattini 131, 133 Kannakipuratcikkappiyam 71, 169 Kannaki saga 134, 221 Kannafi Centanar 118 KanNan Kiittanar 118 Kannan, R. K.166 Kannanpattu 65 Kannappanayanar, see also Tinnan 94, 175, 175 ftn. 116, 216 Kannatacan 75 ftn. 162, 76, 83, 85 kanni 111, 112, 113, 217 ftn. 61,218,227

305

kanpatdinilai 200 Kantacami, Ca. 292 Kantacami, Es. 73 kantam 129, 134 ftn. 15, 143, 151, 159, 160, 162, 179, 186, 254 ftn. 71 Kantap PiUai 218 Kantapuranam 90, 172, 178, 185-190, 185 ftn. 144, 189 ftn. 147 Kantaralankaram 109, 196 Kantarantati 109 Kantaranuputi 109, 110, 196 Kantarkalivenpa 214 Kantarkatal 202 Kantaruvakanam 77 Kapilan, Kapilar 13, 17, 19, 29, 43, 44, 46, 119 ftn. 7, 124, 183, 184 Kapilarakaval 195 Kapparkovai 203 kdppiyam 129, 130, 170 kdppumdlai 202 Karaikkal Ammaiyar 91, 97, 98, 106 ftn. 41, 174 ftn. 115, 175, 195, 197 Karettu 105 Karittuntu 276 karma 3 Karmekakkavinar 204 karmic 133 Karnarpatu 118 karpu "36, 40, 41 ftn. 87, 134 karu strata 36, 38, 46 Karunanidhi, M. 278, 283, 266, 296 Kamnaniti, Mu. 266 Karuppaiya, Pavalar 204 katainilai 200 kd'tal 41, 201, 213, 218 ftn. 63 Katalmerkumilikal 169 Katal ninaivukaj 70 kdtalpirapantankal 201-202 Katamancari 238 Katampavanapuranam 177 katavul 91 Katavunmakamunivar 176 Katikaimuttu Pulavar 201 katikaivenpd 200 kattalaikicalitturai 100,109,114,194,197 katturai 267 kdvaticcintu 62, 63, 221, 223 Kavaticcintu 223, 254 ftn. 71 kavicakravarti 146 Kavikkalanciya Pulavar 217 Kavimani Tecikavinayakam PiUai 166167 Kaviraca (Kaviraja) PiJJai, Ceraik 197, 217, 217 ftn. 61

306

Index

kdvya 86, 128, 129, 130, 134, 138, 161 ftn. 91, 162, 164, 170 Kayattiirp Peruvayil MuHiyar 124 kecdtipdtam 202 ke£ddipdda 202 kilivitututu 112 Kingsbury, Francis 115 ftn. 56 Kiran, see also Nakkirar 181 ftn. 137 kirtana, kirtana 221 kirttanai 6, 110, 114, 115, 221, 222, 223, 227 : Mrttanam 221, 222 Kiruttinaeami PiJJai 296 koccakakkalippd 100 KokilampaJ katitankaj 276 kolu 28, 29 Komalam kumariyanatu 272 Koneriyappar 186 KonkumaNtalacatakam 204 Kohkuvelir' 135 Konraiventan 125, 125 ftn. 26 koto 7

Kotainayaki AmmaJ, V. M. 273 Kothainayaki Ammal, V. M. 273 Kotikkontan Periyan Aticcatevan 213 ftn. 52" " Kottamankalam Cuppu 72 kottu 7, 57 kovai 98, 105, 143 ftn. 40, 194, 202-203 Kovintan, Ve., see also Vintan 263 Koyilnanmanimalai 106 ftn. 40 Koyilpuranam 170 KSyil tiruppanniyar viruttam 105 Krishnamurthi, Lakshmi 278 Krishnamurti, R. see also Kalki 245, 246, 274-275 Krishnan, Rajam 278 ftn. 138, 279 Ksattracudamani 136 Ksetramahatmya 177 Ksettirattiruvenpa 105 Kucelamunivar 248 ftn. 149 Kulacekaralvar 102, 146 ftn. 48, 147 kulamakan 202 Kulankait Tampiran 114 ftn. 56 Kulantaip Pulavar ] 59 ftn. 83 Kuiappa Nayakkan. Katal 128, 201 Kulavanikan Cittalaic Cattanar 140 kulippu 160, 160 ftn. 88 Kulottunkacolan piJlaittamil 199 Kulottunkan kovai 203 Kumaracami, Ta. Na. 247 ftn. 52 Kumarakuruparar, see also Kumarakuruparataca Cuvamikal 200, 203, 214215

Kumarakuruparataca Cuvamikal 59 ftn. 120 kummi 43, 227, 228 KumpakoNapuranam 191 Kumutavalli 276 Kunankuti Mastan 115 Kunavirapantiyar 17 ftn. 30 Kuntalakeci 130, 139, 142 Kuppusami Mudaliar, Arani 273, 273 ftn. 128 Kural, see also Tirukkura], 121 ftn. 7, 123, 124 kuralvenpd 120 kuram, see also kuravanci, kurattippdttu 224 kurattippdttu 224 kuravanci"221, 224-226, 227, 294 ftn. 2 kurinci 13, 14, 20, 23, 38, 47, 118, 189 ftn. 146 Kurincippattu 9, 19-20, 44 Kurincitten 279-280 KiirmapuraNa 146 ftn. 47 Kurmapuranam 191 Kuruksetram 85 Kuruntirat'tu 52 Kurantokai 2, 8 ftn. 2, 7, 9, 15, 16, 30, 31, 38 ftn. 78, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 71, 81, 184, 205, 220, 233 Kuruparatattuvam 283 Ku talmahatmy a 177 Kutalpuranam 177, 177 ftn. 120 Kutampaiccittar 55 kuttar 25, 43 Kuttararruppatai 25 Kutumpavilakk'u 162, 169 Kuyilan 74 Kuyilpattu 162, 164-166, 165 ftn. 100 Lajpat Ray, L. 62 lambaka 137 landscape, and poetry 37-38 Lautmalerei 42 ftn. 90, 110, 211 Hid 177 Lirigapurana 146 ftn. 47 Lord of the Rings 154 ftn. 71 Maccapuranam 191, 197 Maccarakal Oittar 115 Madhaviah, A. 242-243, 269, 270 ftn. 118, 270 ftn. 119, 275 Mahabharata 130, 142, 143, 144, 147 ftn. 54, 162, 164, 246 ftn. 43 mahdkdvya 128 Makapakavatam 191

Index Makaparatavilacam 218 mahdpurdna 139, 170, 170 ftn. 107 mdhdtmya 190 Makkalaipperra makaraci 296 Makkariyacan 124 Malabarische Moralia 125 ftn. 26 mdlai 51 ftn. 101, 58, 97, 105, 113, 194, 216 Malai 297-298 Malaipatukatam 9, 24-25 Malarka] 279 ftn. 138 Mali, V. 83 Mananul 137 ManapperumaJ Pulavar 224 Mani, C. 81 Mani, Ci. 67, 81 Mani, S. 250 Manikkam, Turai 74, 74 ftn. 158, 98 Manikkavacakar 91, 94,95, 98,98 ftn. 18, 19, 99, 103, 104, 106 ftn. 43, 108, 174 ftn. 115, 176, 184, 185, 194, 196, 199, 203, 220, 233 Manikkoti 245, 252 manimdlai 216 Mammekalai 16, 129, 130, 131 ftn. 11, 132, 140, 141 ftn. 33 Manimekalaivenpa 71, 169 manipravdla 170 ftn. 105, 191 Mankaiyarkkaraciym katal 241 mankalavellai 216 Mannacai 274 Mannil teriyutu vanam 285 Mandnmamyam 8 ftn. 5, 295 mantra 137 ftn. 21 Maraimalai Adigal 267, 276 maram 106, 216-217 Maran 73 Maran Poraiyanar 118 Marappacu 289~ftn. 160 marapukkavitai 75 Marimuttup PiJJai 222 Markkanteyavilacam 218 Marumkkiyar 95 marutpa 204 Mastan Sahab 115 marutam 13, 14, 23, 38, 45, 46, 47, 118 matal 41, 62, 106, 199, 216 Matanavittaramalai 201 Matavaiya, A. see also Madhaviah, A. 243, 269 Matiketta manaivi 272 mdtrd 7, 32, 60, 109, 220 mafro-oriented prosody 220, 220 ftn. 64

307

Matsyapur&Na 191 Mattan Cakippu, see Mastan Sahab 115 mdttirai 27 Maturaic Cokkanatarula 179 Maturai Arupattunanku Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam, see Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam 177 Maturaikkanci 9, 24 Maturakkavirayar 58 ftn. 118 mattu 25, 26 Mauni 242, 247 ftn. 52, 251, 251 ftn. 59, 255, 259 Mauni, see Mauni 250 mdyd 3 Mayattakam 279 ftn. 137 Mayavi 253 Mayilainatar 130, 233 Meenakshisundaram Pillai 8, 8 ftn. 4 Meenakshisundaram, T. P. 145, 148, 166, 189 Meera 85 Merumantarapuranam 170 ftn. 105, 191 Metlnantati 195 metre 31-33, 32 ftn. 63, 109 MeykaNtar 186 meykkirttimalai 217 meyppdtu 36 Mmatci'cuntaram PiJJai 59, 60, 200, 284 ftn'. 149 Mlnatciyammaikkuram 215 MlNatciyamman piUaittamil 215 Mlra *75, 76, 86 Mistar Vetantam 292 Mok'amul 288 Mokavataipparam 51 ftn. 101, 207 ftn. 44 moksa 10, 38, 119, 119 ftn. 11 monai 27, 33, 75, 76, 120, 217, 222, 223 motif 28-30, 29 ftn. 51 motive 29 ftn. 51 Moyititupuranam 191 MukkiitarpaUu 221, 226 Mukundamala 102 mullai 13, 14, 23, 38, 118 Mullaippattu 9, 27 mummanikkovai 105, £17 mummanimdlai 105, 216 Munruraiyaraiyan 124 Muracu 65 Murukaiyan 74 Murukatacar 191, 283 mutal strata 36, 46 Mutaliyar, Celvakecavaraya 238

308

Index

Muthumeenakshi 270, 275 Muthuswami, M. 266 Mutinta koyil 296 Mutiyaracan. 71, 77 Muttaiya 76 Muttaraiyarkovai 203 ftn. 30 Muttirujappa PiUaimitu Katal 201, 218 Muttollayiram 30 ftn. 53, 51, 76, 106 Muttukkumaracuvamippillaittamil 215 Muttucami, N. 297, 297 ftn. 9 Muttuttantavar 222 mutukanci 217 Mutumolikkafici 124 Mutumolimalai Muturai 125, 126 Muvarula, 198 Muvatiyar 118 Naccinarkkiniyar 15, 25, 41, 117, 137, 143~ftn. 37, 146, 233 Nagarajan, A. P. 296 Nagaswamy, R. 202 Naisadhacarita 145 Naitatam 145, 146 ftn. 47 Nakaikkalampakam, 200 Nakakumarakaviyam 130, 140 Nakamma] 278-279 Nakklrar 11, 21, 34, 43, 49, 50, 118 ftn. 6, 135, 183, 197, 216, 232 Nakklratevar, see also Nakklrar 105, 105 ftn. 38, 106, 199 Nakulan 293 Nalatinanuru, see Nalatiyar 123 Nalatiyar 14, 123, 135 NalaveNpa 143 Nalayirativyaprapantam 91 Nallamuttukkatai 169 Nallantuvanar 43, 48 Nalla PiJlai"l45 Nallaswami Pillai, J. M. 8, 8 ftn. 9 Nallatanar 124 NallatankaJ carittiram 221 Nallatankal katai 227 ftn. 65 Nalvali 125, 126 Namakkal Kavinar Ve. Iramalinkam Pillai, see also Ramalingam Pillai, Namakkal 284 ndmamdlai 206 Nammalvar 105, 107-108, 146 ftn. 48 Nampi Antar Nampi 91, 105, 106 ftn. 42, 109, 173, 174, 176, 195, 200 Nimacampantar, see also Campantar, Tirunanacampantar 178,178 ftn. 123, 185

Nanakkuttan 83, 84, 191 Nanal 74, 74 ftn. 159 NanappaUu, see also TiruvarurppaUu 226 Nanaratam 239 Nanavarotayar 186 Nanavula, see also Tirukkayilayananavula 197 Nancilnattu marumakkaj valimanmiyam 166-167 Nandakumar, Prema 166 Nanmanikkatikai 124 nanmanimalai 106, 206, 216 Nanniii 11, 34 ftn. 67, 130, 233 Nantanar carittirakkirttanai 227-230 Nantanar carittiram 221 Nantikkalampakam 200 Napinayakan piljaittamil 214 ftn. 56 Napiyavatara ammanai 217 ftn. 62 Nappinnai 103, 103 ftn. 32, 104 Narakam 81 Narayanaswamy Aiyar, P. A. 16 Narrinai 2, 9, 16, 28, 29, 30, 31, 45, 46, 71, 76, 131 ftn. 9, 189 ftn. 147 natakam 6, 227, 294 Natakametai ninaivukaj 284 Natakuttanar 142 Natamuni 91 Nataracan, Navarkuliyiir 74 Nataracarkirttanai 222 Nateca Castiri, C. M., see also Natesa Sastri 271 Natesa Sastri 271, 271 ftn. 121 Nathagupta 142 Nathamuni 91 Natoti 267 nature, in early poetry 39-40, 39 ftn. 79 Natutteru Narayanan 286 ftn. 154 Nau, H. 190 navamanimalai 206, 216 Navanitavirai antati 223 ftn. 73 ndyaka — ndyaki bhava 65, 65 ftn. 134 nayanappattu 206 ntiyanars, nayanmdrs 9, 105, 174 Naycciyartirumoli 103, 104 nayl kavitd 81 Neela 266 Nellaiyappa PiJJai 170 Neminatam 17 ftn. 30 Nencin alaika} 287 neracai 32—33 nericaivenpa 100, 143, 199, 200, 204, 215 Netunalvatai 9, 21, 50 Netuntokai 14

Index neytal 13, 14, 23, 38, 48, 118 Nilakantaperumanar 95 Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. 17, 141 Nilakantha Diksita 177 Nilakantha Sastri, K. A., see Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. and Sastri, K. A. N. 47 Nilakeci 130, 139, 142 nilam 36 Ninaivu alaikal 284 Ninaivuppatai 293 Nmta payanam 280 NiparaNyapuraNa 177 niraiyacai 32—33 nlti 117 Nitinerivijakkam 214 Nitinul 127 NitiveNpa 125 ftn. 26 Nivedita 62, 62 ftn. 128 de Nobili, Roberto 234, 234 ftn. 10 Noble, Margaret E. 62 ftn. 128 nocci 206 noccimdlai 206 nonticcintu 162, 223, 223, 228 nontindtakam 224, 294 ftn. 2 NoNt-inatakam 224 nurrantdti 206 ocai 110 Omar Khayyam 67, 68 Oppilamanippulavar 53 Oru manitan, oru vitu, oru ulakam 289 ftn. 61 orupdvorupaktu 194, 199 Oru pujiyamarattin katai 280 Oruturaikkovai 203 ftn. 33 Ottakkuttan, Ottakkuttar 52, 143 ftn. 40, 147, 197-199, 207, 212-213, 214 Pacavataipparam 207 ftn. 44 Paccaikkanavu 259-261 Paci 279 pdcuram 106 pddddiheia 213 Padmanabhan, Neela. 266, 280-281, 281 ftn. 142 padya 206 pahrotai venpd 131, 146 Pakafikkuttar 214 pdlai 13, 14, 22, 23, 28, 38, 40, 45, 47, 118, 155 palamoli 58, 125 Palamolinanuru 124 Palamolivijakkam 58 Palaniyappan, Cami 74

309

Palaniyappan, Cervai 179 ftn. 130 palcantamdlai 213 palldntu 52, 106 pallavi 222, 223, 230 PaJlikkontapuram 281 palliyelucci 51, 101, 106, 113, 205 pallu 63, 194, 199, 201, 221, 226-227, 294, 294 ftn. 2 Pampattic Cittar 55, 57 pan 109 pdnar 21, 43 Panavitututu 218 PaNcalaksaNa tirumukavilacam 218 PaNcali capatam 162 pancamahdkdvya 130 Pancatantra 74, 238 Pancum paciyum 282 Panini 3 panmanimdlai 213 Pannirupattiyal 129, 193 ftn. 3, 196, 199, 216, 217 Pantaramummanikkovai 215 PantikkSvai 178, 202-203, 203 ftn. 31 PaNtimantalacatakam 204 PaNtiya?pT,ricu 167 Pappappattu 127 Paramartta kuruvin katai 234 ParaNar 17, 29, 40," 43, 44, 45, 131 ftn. 11, 183, 184 Parancoti Munivar 43, 162, 172, 173, 177, 178, 179, 218 Parancoti—Cirutton tar 176, ftn. 118,176 parani 51 ftn. 10, 118, 143 ftn. 40, 194, 207-213, 207 ftn. 44 Paratam 128, 144, 145 Paratampatiya Peruntevanar 13, 130, 143 Paratavenpa 232 Parati, Cuppiramaniya, see Bharati, Subrahmanya, C. 1 Parati, Kopalakirusna, see Bharati, Gopalakrishna 227 ftn. 85 Paratiyar, KopalakirusNa 221 Parati, Ku. Cinnappa 85 ftn. 178 Paratitacan kavitaikaj 70 Paravai 129 pariccetam 129 Paricukkuppo 283 Parimejalakar 49 ftn. 96, 231, 233 paripdtal, paripdttu 33 ftn. 64, 49, 90 Paripa'tal 9 ftn.'l4, 12, 14, 20 ftn. 35, 26, 30 ftn. 53, 48-49, 50, 89, 90, 118 ftn. 6, 131, 189 ftn. 147, 196, 233, 294 ftn. 2

310

Index

Parthasarathy, Indira (Indra) 262, 266, 293, 297-298 Parthasarathy, N. 262, 265, 278 Parttacarati, Na., see also Parthasarthy, N. 265, 292, 292 ftn. 164 Parttipan kanavu 275 paruvam 144 pataippor 194 pdtal 111 Pa'tal 56 paialam 129, 161, 190 pd'tdn 18, 93, 94 pdtdtikecam 213 patikam 17, 95, 97, 106, 194, 206, 206 ftn. 42 Patikkacu Pulavar 204 Patin-eN-kll-k-kanakku 117 patirrantdti 207 Patirruppattu 9, 9 ftn. 11, 16-18, 17 ftn7 29, 18 ftn. 31, 23, 33, 131, 196, 206 ftn. 42 patirruppantdti 207 patiyam 206 Patmanapan, Nila. 280 Patmavati carittiram 270 patti 88 Pattinappalai 9, 22-23 Patttnattar 55, 56, 109, 174 ftn. 115, 221 Pattinattatikal 106 ftn. 40, 199 Pattirakiri 55 pattiyal 193, 199 pa'itu 194, 206 pdttu 12, 21, 24, 25, 26, 33, 97, 231, 232 Pattuppattu 7, 9, 19, 23, 25, 33, 50, 89, 196, 233* Patumanar 123 Patuturai 51 pdvai 105 Pavaivilakku 287 Pavalar carittira tipakam 238 pavanikkdtal 213 payotarapattu 207 PeN 286 ftn. 155 Pen kural 279 ftn. 138 Penputtimalai 59 ftn. 120 Peraciriyar 11, 15, 49, 89, 117, 131, 143 ftn. 37, 233 Percival, Peter 114 ftn. 55, 235 Periyacamit Turan, Ma. P., see also Thooran 72, 265 Periyalvar 102, 103, 106 ftn. 44, 146 ftn. 48, 177 ftn. 120, 213 Periya Nayaki patikam 114

PeriyapuraNam 128, 172, 173-176, 176 ftn. 119, 178, 228, 238 Periyatirumoli 146 ftn. 48 Periyatiruvantati 105, 107 Periyavaccan Pillai 147 perumakilccimalai 216 perumankalam 216 PerumpaNarrv ppatai 9, 23 Perumparrappuliyur Nampi 177, 178, 179, 18~fftn. 137 Pemnkatai 135, 140, 205 Perunkurinci 19 Peruntevanar 14, 15, 18, 142, 143, 232 peruntiriai 39, 41, 42 ftn. 88, 48 Peruntirattu 52 Peruntokai 58, 143 ftn. 40 PerurppuraNam 190 Pey 91, 101, 105 peyarinnicai 215 peyarnericai 215 peymakalir 24 Piccamurtti Na., see also Pichamurti, N. 67, 67 ftn. 139, 78, 79, 243, 252 Pichamurti, N. 220 ftn. 64, 243, 252, 263 Picintaiyar (Picirantai) 205, 205 ftn. 39 Pillai, Henry Albert Krishna 74 ftn. 159, 114, 114 ftn. 56, 159, 161 pillaikkavi, see also pillaittamil 213—215 pillaippdttu, see also pillaittamil 213215 pillaittirundmam, see also pillaittamil 213-215 pillaittamil 51 ftn. 101, 102, 104, 200, 207, 213-215 PiJlai, Vetanayakam, see also Vedanayagam Pillai 74 ftn. 159 Pimpicarakatai 142 Pinkalakeci 139 Piralayam 283 pirapantam 97, 193-219 Piratapa Mutaliyar Carittiram 268 Pirativati AnnammaJ 296 pirital 37 Pitchamurti, N., see also Pichamurti, N. 252 Pjatigorskij, A. M. 88 ftn. 5, 174 ftn. 115 Poli 296 polutu 36 Ponniyin eel van 275 Ponnuccami PiJlai, T. M. 272 Ponnusami Pillai 272 Pope, G. U. 100 ftn. 22,122,137,235, 238

Index Popley, H. A. 120, 122 porkkeluvaUci 216 Porrittirukkalivenpa 105 porul 38, 57, 119,' 129 Porujatikaram 34, 34 ftn. 67, 36, 38, 44 Porujo poruj 296 porunar 23, 43 Porunararruppatai 21, 23-24 Poykai 91~ lul, 105, 117 Poyyamolippulavar 203 Poyttevu 280 prabandha 6, 39, 51, 51 ftn. 101, 52, 58, 59, 89, 97, 105, 193-219, 226 Prapannagayatri 195 prapatti 163 pratika 206 printing in Tamil, its beginnings 236238 prose-poetry 67, 67 ftn. 139, 75, 75 ftn. 162 proverbs 126, 126 ftn. 30 Pukaivant'ppirayaNappattu 59 ftn. 120 Pukaiyilaivitututu 205 pukal 18, 44, 231 pukalccimalai 215 Pukalenti 143, 144 ftn. 41, 145, 221 pulavar 43 Pulavararruppatai 197 Pulavarpuranam 191, 192 Pullankatanar 118 Pumpuliyur natakam 294 ftn. 2 punartal 20, 37 puram 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28 ftn. 47, 34, 35, 35 ftn. 75, 36, 38, 44, 47, 48, 71, 89, 93, 94, 117, 194, 199, 202, 205 purana 6, 129, 29 ftn. 4, 170, 172, 173, 173 ftn. 113, 177, 178, 180, 185, 190, 191, 194, 221, 225 ftn. 78, 228 Purananuru (Puram) 9, 9 ftn. 11, 18-19, 20, 23", 26, 29,~30, 90, 130, 131 ftn. 9, 196, 205, 205 ftn. 39, 231 Purana Tirumalainatar 179, 191, 197 Purappattu 18 purapporul 130 PurapporulveNpamalai 34 Puratcikkavi nan 167 Purattirattu 51~ 57-58, 138 ftn. 26, 1~42, 143 Purattirattuccurukkam 58 Piitam 91, 101, 105 Putaficentanar 124 Putiya Atticuti 127 Puthumaippittan, Putumaippitan 69,

311

75, 75 ftn. 163, 78, 242, 243, 247, 250, 250 ftn. 50, 255, 256, 259, 263, 282 ftn. 145, 295 Putiya oli 247 ftn. 50 Putra 292 Puttamvitu 288 PutukkuralkaJ 79 Putumaippittan kataikaj 247 ftn. 50 Putumaippittan katturaikaj 247 ftn. 52 Putuvellam 287 ftn. 158 Racentiran, Mi. 86 raga 105 Raghava Iyengar, M. 8, 8 ftn. 8 Raghava Iyengar, R. 8, 8 ftn. 7 Raghavan, A. Srinivasa 74 Raghavan, V. 48 Raghunathan, S. 81, 242, 248, 254, 256, 282 Rajagopalachari, C. 245 Rajagopalan, K. P. 69, 78, 79, 166, 246, 252 ftn. 61, 263 Rajaji 127, 245 Rajakopalan, Ku. Pa., see also Rajagopalan, K. P. 243, 246 Rajam, Aiyar B. R. 269, 269 ftn. 114 Rajamanickam, S. 234 Rajam Krishnan 266 Rajan, T. S. S. 284 Rajappa Kavirayar 221, 225-226 Rajarajesvara natakam 294 ftn. 2 Rajentiran, M. 75, 75 ftn. 162 Raji 276 raksasa 150, 152, 153, 156 Rakunatan, Citampara, To. Mu., see also Raghunathan, S. 67, 67 ftn. 139, 75, 75 ftn. 163, 254, 282 Ram, Shankar 274, 292 Ramacami, Cuntara, see also Ramaswami, S. 242, 257 Ramacami, Va., see also Ramaswami, V. 243 Ramaiya, Pi. Es., see also Ramiah, B. S. 243, 251 Ramakrishnan 262 Ramalinga Pillai, Namakkal 284 Ramalinga Svami 63? 65, 72, 74 ftn. 195, 108, 113, 157, 228 Ramalinkacuvami, see also Ramalinga Svami 191 Ramamirtham, L. S. 76, 242, 255, 259, 263, 292, 293 Ramamirtam, Lalkuti Ca., see Ramamirtham, L. S. 259

312

Index

Raman, S. K. 253 Ramanatakam 222 Ramanathan, Aru. 295 Ramanuja Kavirayar 238 Ramanujalu Naidu 243 Ramanuja &ri 163 ftn. 94, 177, 177 ftn. 120, 195, 296 Ramanujacharya, M. V. 145 Ramanujan, A. K. 32, 47, 153 Ramappayyan ammanai 196 Ramasubramaniam, V. 171 Ramasvami 245 ftn. 38 Ramasvami Ayyankar, Va., see also Ramaswamy, V. and Ramaswami, V. 243 Raraaswami Pillai 177 Ramaswami, S. 83, 278, 280 Ramaswami, V., see also Ramaswamy, V. 221, 273, 286 Ramaswamy, V., see also Ramaswami, V. 69 Ramayana 9, 128, 131, 146-159, 246

Selvaraj, T. 255 Serippu, Ka. Mu. 73 Seshaiyangar, D. V. 267 setting, in classical poetry 30 sex, in classical poetry 41—42 Shakespeare 270 Shankar Ram, see also Ram, Shankar 253 Shanmugasundaram, R. 263, 278, 279 ftn. 137, 292 Sherifu (Sharif) 73 Siddhas 54-57, 55 ftn. 109, 220 situation, in classical poetry 30 &ivalllarnava 177 Sivarahasyakhanda 185-186 Sivaramu, Dharmu 82 Skandapurana 146 ftn. 47, 179 ftn. 133, 185, 190 Mesa 53, 200, 211, 216 Moka 140 Somasundara Pillai 201 Somasundara Pulavar 115 Somu 72, 264 ftn. 43' Ramiah, B. S. 243, 247 ftn. 52, 250, Spruche 125 irl 97 251, 286, 295, 296 ftn. 8 Ranganathan, T. J. 69,244, 253,259,286 SViharsa 145 Rangaraju, T. R. 273, 273 ftn. 128 SVl mami koluvirukkai 272 Rankanatan, Ti. Ja., see Ranganathan Srinivasan, Hari 83 Srinivasan, K. 243, 244 253 Srinivasa Raghavan, A. 267 rapdti 221 !§iipuranam 170 ftn. 105 rasa'36, 212, 241 Rettiyar, Annamalai, see also Annamalai ^riskandamahapurana 186 i§rlvarddhadeva 139 Reddiyar' 221, 223, 254 ftn. 71 sthalapurana 170, 171, 172, 177, 190, Rgveda 66, 107 Rhenius 235, 238 192 Subbiah, Kokilam 280 &aiva Siddhanta 3, 8 ftn. 9, 110, 166, Subbiah, Shanmugam 85-86 Subramaniam, Ka. Naa, see also Subrah176, 186, 187, 190 saktism 62, 62 ftn. 128, 63, 64, 65 manyam, K. N. 253, 263 Sakuntala Bharati 127 ftn. 32 Subramaniam, N. Chidambara 285 Sambanda Mudaliar, P. 284, 295 Subrahmanya Aiyar 195 Sanatkumarasamhita 190 Subrahmanya Dikshitar 190 Sangam 7, 10, 10 ftn. 18, 11, 47 Subrahmanyam K. N. 82, 250, 251, 253, ^ankara 3 263, 277, 278, 279, 280 Sankarasamhita 186 Subrahmanya Siva 239 Sankardas Svami 295 Subrahmanyam, Suki 296 sanmdrga 113 Subramoniam, V. I. 162 Sarasamuccaya 177 Sujatha 262, 266 sarga 162, 174 Sundarapandya 177 Rostra 121 ftn. 22 Sundara, Ramaswamy, see also Ramastataka 97, 194, 204 wami, S. 257 8athakopa 177 ftn. 120 Sundaram, P. M. 166 Savitri 270 Sundaram Pillai, P. 8, 8 ftn. 5, 295 Schultze, B. 235, 235 ftn. 13 suta 101

Index svarga 150 Svami Vivekananda 269 ftn. 114 svayamvara 143 Swaminatha Aiyar, Dr. U. V. 8, 8 ftn. 2, 4, 14, 15, 17, 51, 59, 60, 72, 140, 284, 284 ftn. 149 Swaminatha Desikar 190 tacdnkam 204, 204 ftn. 34, 219 tacdnkapattu 204 tacdnkattiyal 204 Takaturyattirai 131, 143, 143 ftn. 37 Takkayakapparani 198, 207 ftn. 44, 212 tola 105 Talaimuraikal 280-281 Talaiyanai mantiropatecam 272 talam 105 talapurdnam see also sthalapurdna 170 talicai 212, 216 Tamayantinatakam 296 Tamilacciyin katti 167-168 Tamilalakan 74, 85 ftn. 178 Tamil Encyclopaedia 72, 278 Tamiliyakkam 70, 169 ftn. 102 Tamiioli 73 The Tamil Plutarch 179, 238 Tamotaran Pillai, Ci. Vai. 59, 115 ftn. 56, 284 ftn. 149 tdnaimdlai 204 Tancaivanankovai 203, 203 ftn. 31 TancaivellaippiJlaiyar kuravanci 225 tanicceyyul 58, 130 Tanicceyyutcintamani 58 Tanikaippuranam 190 tanippdtal 7, 13, 39, 67, 89, 93, 194 tanippattu 7, 19, 39 taniyan'93, 104 ftn. 33 Tankavelu, Je. 73 tdntakam 101 ftn. 28, 204 tdntakamdlai 204 Tantalaiyarcatakam 58 Tantapanicuvami 191 Tantavaraya, Mutaliyar 238 Tanti 203 ftn. 33 TaNtiyalankaram 129, 203 ftn. 33 tapas 154 tdrakaimdlai 204, 216 Tarmu Arup Civaram, see also Sivaramu, Dharmu 82 Tarukka Cankirakam 191 Tarumu Civaramu, see also Sivaramu, Dharmu 251 Tattuvarayar 51-52, 197, 200, 207 ftn. 44, 221

313

Tavarana ennam 296 Tayumanavar 63, 108, 111-112, 113, 114, 115, 157, 174 ftn. 115, 197, 221 Tecikavinayakam Pillai, Kavimam 67-68 Tecinkurajan katai 221 Tempavani 114, 159-161, 162 Tenaruvi 70 terukkuttu 294 Tevamata antati 114 Tevan 292 Tevaram 95, 114, 197 Therigatha 142 ftn. 36 Thillai Govindan 269 ftn. 116 Thiru. Vi. Ka., see Kalyanasundaram, T. V. 284 Thooran, M. P. Periyaswami 265, 278, 295, 296 Tikkarra iru kulantaikal 272 Tilak,~B. G. 62" Tillaikkalampakam 52 ftn. 102 tinai 23, 27, 28, 28 ftn. 47, 36, 37, 45, 71, 117, 118 Tinaimalainur raimpatu 118 tinaimayakkam, tinaimayakku 27, 38, 38 ftn. 78 Tinaimoliyaimpatu 118 Tinnan, see also Kannapanayanar 175 ftn."ll6, 216 Tmatayahi 271 tirattu 57 Tiravita Mapatiyam 190 Tirikatukam 124 tiru 97 Tiruccantaviruttam 101, 105, 109 Tiruccenturpparani 205, 207 ftn. 44 TiruccentuippiUaittamil 214 Tiruccirrampalak Kavirayar 75 Tirukkalampakam 200 Tirukkajattinatarula 217 ftn. 61 Tirukkanappeippuranam 191 Tirukkannappatevar tirumaram 106 Tirukkavailur kalampakam 200 Tirukkayilainanavula 197 Tirukkovaiyar 91, 98, 203 Tirukkural, see also KuraJ 16, 71, 119, 119 ftn. 10, 123, 124," 135, 141, 169, 233, 241, 238, 276 Tirukkurralakkuravarici 221 Tirumalicai Alvar 101, 105, 109 Tirumalai 101 Tirumankai Alvar 105 ftn. 38, 106, 109 Tirumantiram 55-56, 91 Tirumoli 102, 104, 146 ftn. 48 Tirumukappacuram 106 ftn. 45

314

Index

Tirumular 55, 56, 91, 247 ftn. 52 Tirumurai 50, 91, 96, 97, 113, 113 ftn. 53, 199, 216 Timmurtti, Ve. Na. 75 Tirumurukarrv.ppatai 9, 9 ftn. 15, 21, 26, 30, 49-51, 89, 90, 181 ftn. 137, 189 ftn. 147, 196 ftn. 8, 197, 233 Tirunanacampantarnurtti 175 Tirunanacampantar 95, 200, 205 Tirunavukkaracu 96, 175 Tirunavukkaracutevar tiruvekatacamalai 106 ftn. 42 Tiruppallantu 102, 102 ftn. 31, 106 ftn. 44 tiruppalliyelucci 106 ftn. 43 TiruppaJUyelucci 101 TiruppaNalvar 101 Tiruppatirippuliyurkkalampakam 200 Tiruppavai 103, 104 ftn. 33, 34 Tirupporiir Murukan pijjaittamil 214 ftn. 55 tiruppukal 221 Tiruppukal 108, 109, 110, 191 Tiruttakkatevar 137, 138, 145 Tiruttajritakam 204 TiruttoNtarantati 195 TiruttoN tarupuraNarn 170, 173 Tiruttontar tiruvantati 91 Tiruttontarvirutti 173 Tiruttontattokai 173 Tiru Uccatana Nanmamanimalai 179 ftn. 130 Tiruvacakam 91, 98, 98 ftn. 18, 99, 101 ftn. 27, 104, 106 ftn. 43, 108, 194, 197, 199 Tiruvaciriyam 105, 107 Tiruvakuppu 109 Tiruvalavayutaiyar 106 ftn. 45 Tiruvalavayutaiyar Tiruvi}aiyatarpuranam 177, 178 Tiruvajhivamalai 121 ftn. 17 Tiruvajluvar 119, 119 ftn. 10, 11, 121 ftn. 22, 122, 147 ftn. 55 Tiruvanaikkavula 197 TiruvaftcippuraNam 191 Tiruvannamalaiyar vannam 217 Tiru varankattamutanar 195 Tiruvarul antati 114 Tiruvarulmalai 114 Truvarulpa, Tiruvarutpa. 113 ftn. 53 Tiruvarurnanmanimalai 113, 206 Tiruvarunaikkalampakam 200 Tiruvarurppallu 226 Tiruvatavurarpuranam 176

Tiruvaymoli 107, 146 ftn. 48, 205 Tiruvelukurrirukkai 199 Tiruvempavai 104 Tiruvicaippa 106 Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam 43, 162, 171, 172, 177,178, 218, 238 Tiruvinkoymalaiyelupatu 105 Tiruvirattaimanimalai 106 ftn. 41, 197 Tiruvir i ncaipuranam 191 Tiruviruttam 105, 107 Tiruvorriyur orupavorupaktu 199 Tiyakapumi 274 Tiyakaraca Cettiyar, Ci. 59 T. K. S. Brothers 295, 296 ftn. 6 tokai 6, 7, 12, 19. 26 tolcainilai 6, 130, 193 Tolamolittevar 139 Tolkappiyam 9, 10, 11, 30, 33 ftn. 64, 34, 34 ftn. 67, 35 ftn. 70, 75, 36, 41, 49, 89, 101, 116, 117,146 Tolkappiyam Porulatikaram 128, 131 ftn. 9, 143 ftn. 37, 202 Tolkappiyattevar 200 Tolkien, J. R. R. 154 ftn. 71 tonmai 128 Tonniil 193 TontaimaNtalacatakam 204 Tontaratippotiyalvar 101 totarnilai 6, 130 totarnilaicceyyul 129, 193 Triloka Sitaram 157 tulasl 103 tumpai 205 tumpaimdlai 205 turai 18, 28, 28 ftn. 47, 37, 71, 216 Turaicami, T. K. 83 Turaicami, Vi. 74 Turaikkannan, Narana, see also Jeeva 265, 286," 286 ftn. 154 turaihkovai 205 Turairacu, Ke. Es. 73 Turai van 73 Tiirattuppaccai 280 tutu 201, 205-206, 218 tuyiletainilai 101, 205 ucal 199 via 51 ftn. 101, 62, 106, 143 ftn. 40, 197-199, 207 Ulakaniti 125 ftn. 26 ulamatal 199, 216 ulattippdttu 199 ulinai 199 ulinaimalai 199

Index ullurai 44, 46 Umapati Civacariyar 170, 173, 176 Umaruppulavar 45, 162, 191, 217 Unnaippol oruvan 283 Upanisads 77 urai 231, 231 ftn. 1, 232 uri strata 37, 46 urinnicai 199 .urnericai 199 urvenpd 199 urpavamdlai 199 utal 37 Utayaciiriyan 296 Utayanakumarakaviyam 130 Utayanancaritam 140 Utayanilal 84 Utlcittevar 200 Uttarapurana 130 Uyiroviyam 286 vacai 143 ftn. 40 vacanakkavitai 67, 67 ftn. 139 vacantamdlai 217 Vaccanantimalai 129 ftn. 4 Vacutevakatai 191 Vadibhasimha 136 Vadiraja 140 Vaiciyapuranam 139, 170 ftn. 104 Vaidheeswaran, S. 84-85 Vaidyalingam, S. 266 Vaidyanatha Desikar 190 Vaitisvaran, Es., see Vaidheeswaran 84 Vaiyapuri "Pillai, S. 58, 136, 139, 167, 276 Vaittiyanata Tecikar 207 ftn. 44 vakaimalai 217 Vakkum vakkum 295 ftn. 5 vakuppu 216, 221 Vajaiyapati 130, 138 valamatal 216 valinataiccintu 223 Valkkai alaikkiratu 283 Valkkaikkurippukkal 284 vallabha 119 vallal 20 Vallikkannan 286 ftn. 154 VaJJiyammainatakam 189 ftn. 147 VaUiyappa, Ala. 67, 72 VaUuvar, see TiruvaJJuvar 121 Valmlki 147, 147 ftn. 54, 149, 151, 152, 153, 153 ftn. 66, 172 Vamanamunivar 191 vand 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 32-33, 80, 89, 194 ftn. 4, 196, 202 ftn. 24, 215

315

vancippd 206, 216 Vancinetumpattu 22 vannam 111, 217 Vanitacan 71, 77 vantoNtar 106, 175 Varadarajan, M. 205, 266, 276-277, 278 Varakaneri Venkateca Cuppiramaniya Aiyar, see also Aiyar, V. V. S. 241 varaldru 204, 217 varaldrruvafici 217 Varanamayiram 104 Varataraca Aiyankar 191 Varataracan, Mu. see Varadarajan, M. 276-277 " varga 125 vargamdld 217 varna 217 varukkakovai 217 varukkam 125 varukkamdlai 216, 217 Vatamalaiyappa Piljaiyan, Iracai 191, 197 Vataviirar, see also Mamkkavacakar 185 Vativacal 253 Vatsyayana 121 ftn. 22 vdyuraivdlttu 217 Veda 107", 118 ftn. 6, 121 ftn. 17, 184 Vedanayagam Pillai, Samuel 4, 268, 274 Vedanta 51 ftn. 101, 65 Vedic hymns 94 Velan Cirmattampi 226 veliviruttam 195 Velvitti 281-282 veninmdlai 219 Venkalappa Nayakkar kuravafici 225 Venkatacami, Nattar, N. 179 Venkatarama Upattiyayar 218 Venkataraman, K. S. 278 Venkatram, Em. Vi. 281 Venkatraman, Em. 267 venpd 34, 51 ftn. 101, 52, 57, 58, 80, 97, 98, 101, 105, 106, 118, 119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 143 ftn. 40, 194 ftn. 4, 195, 196, 197, 199, 204, 216, 217 venpdpuli 143 ftn. 40 Venrimalaik Kavirayar* 222 ventalai 97, 195 Ventan 38 ventotai 120 Venugopalan, T. S. 84 Vermkopalan, Ti. Co. 84 verrikkarantaimancari 219 Verriverkai 146 ftn. 47

316

Index

vers libre 75, 76 Verukkunir 279 ftn. 138 Verum velutum 293 Vetanayakam Cattiri, Taftcavur 235 Vetanayakam PiJJai, Mayavaram (Mayuram), see also Vedanayagam Pillai, Samuel 59, 114, 127, 268 Vetaraniyapuranam 191 Vetatottiramalai 114 Vicalaksi AmmaJ 273 Vicuvarupam 296 Vijayam 274 Vijayamarttantam 270 vildcam 218, 227 vilaiydtu, vilaiydtal 108, 177 Vijampinakanar 124 vilasa 218, 227 Villiputtur Alvar 142, 144, 144 ftn. 41 Villiyappa Pillai 218 vilpattu 221 Vlmanatapantitar 177 Vinayakapurana 190 Vinayakatirumukavilacam 218 Vindan 263 Vinotaracamancari 238 Vintan, see Vindan 263 Vintupakavatam 191 Vipulananta AtikaJ 69 Vlracami Cettiyar, A. 238 Viracoliyam 117 virali 23, 33 viralivitututu 201, 218-219, 224 Vlramamunivar 160 ftn. 86 Virapattirar 202 Viravetcimalai 219 Virayi 73

Viruttacalam, Co. 247 Viruttacalapuranam 191 viruttam 97, 100, 105, 137, 138, 139, 143 ftn. 40, 144, 145, 147, 160, 171, 174, 186, 191, 195, 196, 202, 216, 222, 228, 283 viruttavilakkanam 217 Visistadvaita 103 Visnucitta 177 ftn. 120 VisnupuraNa 170 Visswanathan, E. Sa. 248 vitu 10, 38, 119, 129 vitututu 218, 218 ftn. 63 Vivekananda, Swami 62 ftn. 128 vrtta 97 Vyasa 164, 177 ftn. 120 Warren 88 Wellek 88 Wilson. H. H. 179 Winslow 238 Yacotarakaviyam 130, 140 yal 24, 33 yamaka 53, 62, 211-212 Yamakantam 53 Yapparunkalam 131, 131 ftn. 9, 139, 146 Yoceppuranam 115 ftn. 56 Yogi, S. D.'S. 68-69, 157 Yoki, Ca. Tu. Cuppiramaniya 68 yuga 3 Ziegenbalg, Bartholonaaeus 2, 235, 235 ftn. 13