Necessary Introduction to Tamil PoetryWe know of 2380 ancient poems from the Ettuttokai (Eight anthologies) and Pattuppatu (Ten Songs).Ettuttokai (Eight Anthologies):1. Narrinai 2. Kuruntokai 3. Ainkurunaru4. Pattirruppattu 5. Akanandru 6. Purananaru 7. Kalittokai 8. ParipatalPattuppatu (Ten Songs):1. Porunarar ruppatai 2. Cirupavarruppatai 3. Perumpatiarruppatai 4. Mullaippattu 5. Maturaikkanci 6. Netunalvatai 7. Kuricippattu 8. Pattinappalai 9. Malaipatukatam 10. Tirumurukarruppatai Akam and PuramThe subject matter of poetry is divided in two main categories akam and puram. Akam deals with love between man and woman. Puram deals with war, heroism, etc. Three quarters of the total corpus of classical Tamil poetry may be classified as akam.Chronology of the Ancient Tamil (akam) PoetryMost scholars agree that the chronology of the texts of classical Tamil poetry and poetics is as follows:1-3 C. A.D. The earliest corpus of akam poetry (compiled in Kur, Nar and Ak); the old layer of TP (Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5);4 C. A.D. Anthologization of Kur, Nar and Ak; the oldest body of the colophons; the composition of the poems in Ain;5 C. A.D. Composition of the poems in Kal; the new layer of TP and its final redaction5-6 C. A.D. Composition of IA; the main corpus of the colophons.8 C. A.D. Nakkirars commentary on IATHE SOURCES

The traditional account of the Cankams (Academies) and their literary output is given in Iraiyanar Akapporul (I A), a later work, mentions all this literature as belonging to one or the other of the three Cankams it speaks, of. But the modern tendency is to apply the term Cankam Anthologies only to the following in each anthology.ETTUTTOKAI (Eight Anthologies):Narrinai (NT),Kuruntokai (Kur.), Aitikurunaru (A ink.), Pattirruppattu (PrP), Akanandru (AN),and Purananaru (-PN).Kalittokai (Kalit.) and Paripatal (Pari.) though traditionally considered part of this anthology are now considered, as seen earlier, late in origin.PATTUPPATU (Ten Songs):1. Porunarar ruppatai (P A),2. Cirupavarruppatai (CPA),3. Perumpatiarruppatai (PP A),4. Mullaippattu (MP), 5. Maturaikkanci (MK), 6. Netunalvatai (NNV), 7. Kuria* cippattu (KP), 8. PattinaPpalai (PP), 9. Malaipatukatam (MPK).10. Tirumurukarruppatai (TMA) listed first in the anthology in the traditional account is now considered to be of a relatively later date.The internal chronologies cited places ET (excepting Kalit. and Pari.) and Pattu. (excepting TMA) as the earliest of extant Tamil poetry. But the position of Tolkappiyam is not indicated in either list.Tolkappiyam (Tol.) is a grammatical workso called because of its author, Tolkappiyar (Tol), consisting of three sections. The first one deals with Orthography, second with Morphology and the third with Poetics; it is the third section that is vital to our study. Tol. has always been considered the ultimate authority on Tamil literary matters and held as the prescriptive authority for linguistic usage and fountainhead for literary forms. The place of Tol. in this internal chronology is a much disputed problem.Let us first see the composition of the section on Poetics. It has nine chapters.1. Akattinai Iyal (Akat.) on Mutual Love.2. Purattinai Iyal (Purat.) on Military & Non-Love Themes3. Kalaviyal (Kalay.) on Secret Pre-marital Love.4. Karpiyal (Karp.) on Love in Wedded State.5. Poruliyal (Porul.) on More aspects of Love Situations. 6. Meyppattiyal (Mey.) on Physical Manifestations of Emotions and Sentiments.7. Uvama Iyal (Uvam.) on Similes.8. Ceyyul Iyal (Cey.) on Prosody.9. Marapiyal (Marap.) on Li ngustic and Literary Conventions.Vaiyapuripillai, in his study of the author and his date' shows evidence for his contention that Tol. was a Jaina and that the entire book belongs to period anterior to Arthasastra and Natyasastra (NS) and therefore to about 5th c. A. D.Tol. consists perhaps of many layers, some of which may be later day developments. The examples he cites of later day accretions come from the third section of the book.Without going into the question of unitary or composite authorship, we have now to determine whether the third section belongs to a period before or after that of the Cankam poems.Chelvanayakam analysed the contents of Akat., Kalov. and Karp. in relation to the poems of the most celebrated contemporaries of the Catikam period, Kapilar and Paranar, and found that "many examples could be taken from these (sections of Tol.) to show that this work could not have been written either during or before the time of Kapilar and Paranar unless one is prepared to believe that politically and socially there was a decline in the early period of Tamil history. If we accept the position that the author has recorded the literary tradition of his time, then it cannot be placed before the time of Kapilar and Paranar for there is enough evidence in the work to show continuity and development in tradition from the time of Kapilar and Paranar to the days of Tor'In Mey. Tol. has drawn from Vatsydyana's Kamasatra, which is placed somewhere in fourth century A.D. Commenting an the manifestations of the sentiment 'love', Marr says, "they have a general resemblance to the symptoms of love exhibited by a girl according to ratsydyana."On the question of the metrical forms discussed in Tol. Chelvanayakam says this: "Akaval and Venpa, the two basic rhythms used in early Tamil poetry are considered to be the sources of all the other metric forms employed in Tamil poetry. Of these two basic rhythms, Akaval was widely used in the days of Kapilar and Paranar and no other rhythm was used except Vaaci which developed from Akaval and which was handled to some extent by Kapilar, Paranar and their contemporaries. Tol. gives the various intricate and rich forms of Kali and Paripatal from which most of the metric forms of the later period developed. It would have taken more than one or two centuries for the various forms of Kali to develop from Venpa which did not even exist during the time of Kapilar and Paranar."1" It is of interest to note that whereas the earliest poems on love are in Akaval metre, Tol. says that Kali and Paripatal are the most suitable rhythms for that theme (Akat: 53).The section on similes has been taken along with Mey. by Marr as indicative of being "wholly dependent on Skt. models in the respective fields of dramatic theory and rhetoric."'Manuel in the course of analysing the poetic conventions of early Tamil poetry from a standpoint of literary and aesthetic criticism says this: "Conventions become noticeable when the poems using them have nothing elsevigour, originality, imaginative and distinctive use of imageryto recommend them except the conventions. It is when the creative artist has either discarded them or is unable to make a genuinely poetic use of them that the critic takes them up. It is in this light we should regard the Poetics of Aristotle or Porulatikaram of Tolkappiyar. The creative age of the Carikam poetry preceded not followed nor was contemporoneous with Tolkappiyam."Kailasapathy sees the section on Poetics as an attempt "to classify and harmonize the entire bardic corpus," 'and characterises it as "a bardic grammar, an aid to the instruction of young bards."It could therefore said that the section on poetics belongs to a later and not earlier period than the catikam corpus.To these arguments may be added the fact that Tol. in his grammar was very clearly attempting to equate many of the Tamil conventions and traditions with Skt. concepts and that such an attempt could only be done With a mass of fully developed and organised material. Besides, an analysis of the.. poems would reveal that such 'equations would have been unthinkable in the earlier Tamil social milieu. An instance-could be seen in the way he.tries to relate Skt. views on the four fold division of caste and its maintenance in Purat. 20, in which he exclaims that victory for every individual lies in his effort to do the utmost in the profession of his caste. In a section on primitive military heroism this looks very far fetched. This is also seen in the way he relates the Skt. concept of Trivarga with Aintinai (kalav: 92).All those who object to a late date for Tol. point out to the linguistic features taken as current in Tol. but are not found in the Cankam songs." Meenakshisundaran himself bases his arguments for an early date on the linguistic features."' Those do not and cannot extend, to the third section. Such citations as we have seen to indicate, that the argument of "later layers" too cannot explain such fundamental features of metre and theme. This would of course raise the -problem-whether "the first two chapters were written by- one and the third by another at a later date and that the three were put together for convenience at a Still later period." This problem, though important in itself, does-not-concern us, and all that is clear is that the third section of Tol., is certainly of a later period than the earliest Cankam works.Thus the amended internal chronology would read as follows,1. ET (except Kalit. and Pari.) and Pattu. (except TMA),2. Tol.,3. Kural, Kalit., Pail. and TMA,4. Cil.Thematic Analysis of Cankam AnthologiesThis approach (thematic analysis) even if it cannot provide us with an exact dating, will help to group certain texts as exhibiting tendencies of same age. Such an analysis should start with the Catikam texts themselves. It would help us to establish its features and contrast it with the later texts.Each of the ET collection is itself an anthology of poems credited to various poets. There is an overall classification of the anthology according to the theme of the poems, whether on love situations or on military or non-love themes. The former is called Akam (lit. interior) and the latter Puram (lit. exterior). AN, NT, Kur. and Aink. are on akam themes and PN and PrP are on puram themes. The poem in the collections belong to different ages and were presumably collated later. The basis of the collection of the akam songs was the length of the poems.Aitik. 3 - 6 lines.Kur. 4 - 8NT 9 - 12AN 13 - 31Puram songs do not have such a grouping. PrP is exclusively on Cera Kings but PN contains, poems on the kings of all the three dynasties and on chieftains and individual heroes. It is of interest to note that tradition preserves the names of the compiler and of the patron of each of akam anthologies and that the puram anthologies do not have such names. On the basis of the information given about the king and the compiler of each collection and other factors like synchronisms, efforts have been made to place the works in the order of their collection and this chronological order as other matters relating to dates do, varies from scholar to scholar.The poems in Pattu. are longer in length. Unlike the ET poems these are individual poems sung on a particular theme; either love or praise. The names of the poets and patrons enable us to prepare a chronological chart of these poems too. The application of akam puram criterion, though possible, may not be helpful to ascertain the exact nature of the poems. PP though classified by Nac. as akam poem is really a praise that uses a love motif. It is generally accepted that these poems were collated much later. IA does not mention these works in its list of Cankam works. Marr challenges the inclusion of Pattu. among Cankam works. The only reason for considering it as a work of the Cankam would seem to be the fact that most of the patrons of the Pattu. and some of its poets figure in eight anthologies. It may be observed, however, that inclusion of Pattu. among Catikam works is no more sanctioned by tradition as embodied in IA commentary than is the inclusion of the epics or the minor works.The question of the admissibility of Pattu. need not deter us from using them as evidence for social, economic and political conditions. Accepted contemporaneity of kings and poets mentioned in ET and Pattu. is enough argument for our use. Yet this question reveals to us another dimension of the poetic art of the age.Because of their importance in the historical and literary traditions of Tamilnad, the history and linguistic characteristics of these poems have been well studied. Even though it has been held that "no other part of India can be said to provide such sober and realistic pictures of contemporary life and politics as these early Tamil classics furnish, the exact nature of these poems in terms of composition and character was not established fully. Kailasapathy, in his Tamil Heroic Poetry, by an application of the comparative method has shown that the poems belong to the heroic age and that they reveal all the characteristics of Heroic Poetry. The term 'Heroic' implies many things. It reveals that they are oral in composition with repetitive formulae and improvisation and substitution; that in the treatment of theme there is a well defined pattern; functionally such an age "fosters a whole generation which is usually equipped by nature for war and finds its, satisfaction and rewards in it; that its arises out of a society which is characterised by "an economic and social upheaval marked by the accumulation of wealth in the hands of an energetic military caste, which torn by internecine conflicts of succession and inheritance, breaks loose from its tribal bonds into a career of violent, self assertive individualisma career as brief as it is brilliant, because their gains have been won by the sword and not by any development of the productive force." The literary and the historical background of the poems are thus fairly clear: But a detailed internal analysis is essential to know and understand and peculiarities of the poems and their manner of revealing the poets' intentions.Nature of Akam and Puram PoetryThe significant characteristic of akam and puram division has already been noticed. Both akam and puram poems reveal that they have been composed within the bounds of a well established tradition. The conventional character of the akam poems, which are the expressions of persons in love or those associated with them, is best seen in the tradition which has preserved the names of the poets. Secondly the situations which the poems express are 'stock' ones; they could easily be grouped. Thirdly, they have been used as vehicles to express the power and prowess of the patrons. Some of the poems have long and elaborate descriptions that, though they are on akam theme, the aim of the poet was only to praise the achievements of their patrons and that the theme of love served as formula or means to serve this purpose. Puram poems too reveal such conventions. Guiding a needy minstrel (PN: 68-70, 138-141, 155, 180 etc.), pleading with the victorious monarch to heed to the suffering of the vanquished (PN: 2, 3, 5 etc.) are puram motifs.But here an important observation has to be made. Content analyses of the poems have been made by the commentators by applying the rules prescribed by Tol. The influence of Tol. both on the collation and on the explanations given by the commentators has been very great. Meenakshisundaran who assigns. Tol. to a pre-Carikam date himself admits that 'the theory of Poetry adjumberated in his (Tols) work implies the very kind of anthology, based on something like the Cankam tradition. Vaiyapuripillai holds that "the collections were all made after the first grammatical treatises were written or at least grammatical speculations had crystallised into conventional terms. Tol. frequently adopts the views of earlier authors, some of whom may have lived before some of the poets represented in the collection, and long before the time of the compilers of the collections themselves." Therefore, to know the true extent to which the conventions are followed, an examination of the texts becomes obligatory.AN has many poems which make full and conscious political use of akam situations, as for instance, 15, 55, 57, 65, 78, 83, 105, 122, 142, 143, 145, 208, 209, 211, 216, 217, 353, 356, and 359. Kailasapathy counts the total number of allusions to royal patrons in AN as 288. AN also reveals a consciousness of the poetic convention in which certain love activities are associated with certain ecological regions (216). This feature is seen in CPA, MP and NNV. Compared with Kur. and NT the chief feature of AN is that it has detailed description of the physical background to the love situation. Certain references in AN fully illustrate that Kalavu (premarital love) was more a poetic convention than a contemporary reality (150, 158, 221). Those poems which are classified as `Hero speaking to his heart' too shows the conventional character.Kur. forms in general a contrast to AN. It contains poems of 4-8 lines; thus direct political allusions are much less. Yet there are 27 allusions to royal persons. There is an absence of detailed description of the physical background. The songs become intelligible only when the context is well defined and without that they could be obscure (Kur.: 48, 187, 230, 255).NT, by virtue of the number of lines (9-12), falls between AN and Kur. The songs do not give an elaborate background. It has 59 political allusions."'The size of the poems and their corresponding crispness should not be taken as evidence for any theory of development, because we find many of the poets finding places in two or all the collections e.g., Ammavanar, Orampokiyar, Kapilar, Kayamandr, Kallatanar, Kutavdyir Kirattanar, Kovar Kila, Ciraikuti Antaiyar, Nakkannaiya, Nakkirar, Paranar, Palai Paiya Perunkatunko, Perunkunrar Kira, Mandlandr etc. Aink. differs from the other three anthologies. It contains five different sections of 100 stanzas each; each of the five sections deal with the love activity of each of the five ecological regions. Each section has ten decades of ten poems each; each decade deals with a particular theme or has some underlying unity like the refrain. Tradition has it that each section was composed by different poets and the anthology was collated later. The conventional character and treatment of the theme is amply seen and also a trend towards a schematic organisation of the convention is noticeable. The basic feature of the other collections, viz., that the poems are utterances of one character is not seen in this anthology. Of the ten in Tolikkuraittappattu (Decade on Telling the Companion) six are utterances of the heroine, four of the harlot. In Pulavippattu (Decade on Love Feud) seven are of the heroine, three by the Tali. Puoalattuppattu and Erumaippattu contain utterances of the harlot, the lover, and the companion. The consciousness of convention is also discernible in bringing under each Tinai (the love activity of each region) ideas which could only be brought in by grammatical technicalities e.g., 366, 379, 367, 369. In such decades as Marvaruvuppattu and Puravanippattu, we could see the stanzas being extended merely for conventional necessity. Some of the decades get their titles from the refrainsAnnaippattu, Ammavalippattu, Teyyoppattu. The differences between Aink. and other anthologies were so marked that Marr was prompted to suggest that Aink. was compiled by a school of writers different from those who figure in PN. or that it is a work of later period. It should be observed that the way the people of the hilly region are mentioned in Kunrakkuravaapattu, it is clear they belong to a different social milieu.If the argument that there is no linguistic difference between Aink. and other anthologies is to be accepted, it should necessarily follow that the period indicates trends towards changes in the poetic tradition. This is strengthened by the way the akam motif is handled in PP. PP praises Karikalan. Instead of directly doing so, the poet imagines a situation in which a husband 'tells to his heart' that he would not leave the cool embraces of his wife to go into the hot and cruel forest, even for all the riches. Karikalan's benign rule is brought as a simile to the 'coolness' of the shoulders; his valour and victory over enemies to the hot, arid forest; and the great wealth of Pukar as an index of the amount of wealth that he could earn. Lines 1-218 describe Pukar, 218-220 constitute the statement of the husband, 220-299, describe the valour of Karikalan and 299-301 conclude the akam motif.This reveals also the preference of the akam theme to the direct bardic eulogy. An examination of the number of poems credited to the better knownpoets of the period reveals this truth.POETAKAM SONGSPURAM VERSES

Auvaiyar2633

Kapilar6628

Paranar6313

Mamalanar30

Nakkirar21

Ul-occanar283

Kuivur Kilar215

Falai Patiya Perunkattiiiko321

Manickam observes that "of the two great divisions Akattinai and Purattipai in Tamil, the former enjoyed a high position, as it offered immense scope for 'the display of one's intellect and fancy."If the popularity of the akam theme is indicative of its importance in the poetic traditions, its basic characteristic viz., that it is an 'utterance' of a character, is explained and analysed in such a manner as to make it absolutely important for the student of ancient Tamil drama. Referring to akam poems Meille said:"In the presence of theatrical qualities of this sort of isolated talks, we cannot help raising the question of the theatre. We know through ancient commentaries that performances were given which brought into play the triad speech, music and dance. We can ask ourselves whether compositions of this sort were not either preparatory exercises or imitations of the theatrical' works of which we have no trace."Commenting on the tradition of the 'isolated or occasional verse' seen in Cankam literature Meenakshisundaran said "these verses are all dramatic monologues." He suggests that it was this concept of poetic situations, which stood in the way of the development of literary drama. He says, "It is to be noted that the dances described in the Cankam Age or rather in CiL represent only isolated poses rather than a connected story or event. This is probably the reason why we do not have any drama or epic in that age at least in learned literature though it is not possible to say anything about the folk-songs or folk-stories of those times." Earlier in his essay on "The Theory of Poetry in Tolkappiyam" he said:"There is no drama in that age; there are the actors, Porunars and the dancers; and the Cankam poems speak of Puranic or mythological scenes painted on the walls. Their folk dramas, however, have not developed any literary form. Dramatic moments and verses do not add upto drama. That is why there is not a single drama coming from any Cankam poet. It may be that their theory of poetry stood in their way of handling the folk dramas in a poetic way."Varadarasan in his "Treatment of Nature in Sangam Poetry" made this observation."The poems classified as akam or dealing with love in Cankam literature constitute dramatic poetry, since they present actions objectively in the words, through the emotional experiences, of the interlocutors, the hero, the heroine, the lady companion and others."These comments impose the necessity to go into the concept of akam and puram poetry and examine whether it has anything to do with drama.The word akam means, "inside, house, place, agricultural tract, breast, mind" (DED: 8); puram means, "outside, exterior, that which is foreign, aspersion, calumny" (DED: 3554). The terms used in the schematization of Tol. are akattinai and purattinai. He does not define akam and tinai, but uses them singly and in compound form. He speaks of what constitutes akattinai, who are to be treated in it, etc., but never defines them. For a definition, we have to turn to the glossators. Ilamptiranar (Ilam.) of c. 9th C., A.D., explained it thus:"What constitutes the akam theme is the experience of pleasure. Since the effect of that experience is known only to it (the heart), he (Tol.) called it Akam. That which constitutes puram relates to acts of bravery and of merit. Since the effects of these could be known by others, it is called puram."Nac. (c. 16 th C. A.D.) defines akam as follows:"The great happiness that arises in the union of a male and female of equal love, and realised by them after separation (from each other) 'could only be 'felt' by them and not described. Akam is so called because that happiness is always felt, realised, and cherished in their hearts. Pleasures beside this, could be expressed by all, even if they are not of equal love; these other pleasures could also be expressed to others. Therefore, these are called puram, those of the exterior."95Because of the uniqueness of akam poetry, the term `Tamil' itself was used to denote it. The commentator of IA on the question of the theme of the work says, "It speaks of Tamil," meaning thereby that it deals with akattinai."But these are not true explanations; these are just cleverly formulated prescriptive expositions. Filliozat points to the danger of accepting the explanations given by the commentators as true meanings of the terms. "The interpretation given by the commentaries although adopted in modern dictionaries and even before them in Nikantus do not always give the real significances of the words. The commentator does not always aim at giving the precise equivalent of the sense of the word as it must have been current at the time of the composition of the text. He often indicates the idea evoked by the word in that particular context where it is found, and which itself depends on the context (not to mention the spirit of the whole poem), as much as and sometimes more than on the primary and the ordinary meaning of the word in question." Manuel explains this feature of the commentators as follows. "It must be said that the commentators of Tol. had only an imperfect understanding of the origin, nature, and function of poetic conventions. They tried to explain their use not on artistic ground or by reference to the theory of art underlying their use but on grounds of reason and logic.""Let us turn to the important modern explanations of the Tinai concept Meenakshisundaran says this:"Akam and puram, the interior and the exterior, are two aspects of life like the two sides of a coin. Akam is love, the secret of life, the fundamental inner principle. Akam poetry is the poetry of noumenon, the poetry of inner inspiration of love, something to be felt and realised but only to be hinted at those who have had similar experiences... akam expresses not ' something to be dated with reference to any particular person. It is something universal, common to all men and thus seen and revealed in the ideal situations of a man... Puram is the outer aspect of this life of love. Puram is the poetry of phenomenon, the life of heroism, the life of self sacrifice, the life of munificence, the life of glory, the life of simplicity and also the tragedy of life from birth to death, all inspire by love. This can be described..." Manickam, in the work mentioned, says "the fundamental human element on which Akattinai is based is love. By `love', I mean 'sexual love'. It is rather comforting to see Manickam accepting in unmistakeable terms what the commentators and Meenakshisundaran were fighting shy of to admit and were wrapping up in ideological abstractions. In analysing the origins of this concept Manickam comes to the conclusion that "the motive for creating a special literature with love as its theme by the Tamil genius was to educate both sexes in the art of love." Here we are slipping again into another type of idealism which cannot, as we shall soon see, be associated with the origins of poetry.We shall, therefore, have to return to the literary corpus and determine the features of those poems.The important feature of akam songs is that they express the emotions of a person in love or someone 'associated with the affair. It is the character who 'utters'. Commentators have categorised the poems as "utterances" kurru (DED: 1600). Tol. in Akat., Purat., Kalav., and Karp. prescribes in detail who should utter what, when and where. Cut. 1-6 in Porul. should be taken as an effort to categorise these, though not complete.These utterances are not conversations or dialogues. The dialogues seen in Kalit. should not be taken here because Kalit. is a later anthology. The utterances can imply a question from somebody or could be to 'inform' 'someone of something, but the utterance of the other person never comes into the poem, making it a dialogue. Thus none of the earliest akam poems are dialogues or conversations.The way these utterances are expressed is also of great importance. Those utterances which embody a wish, or a request or an information do not openly tell that. It is expressed in an 'inlaid simile' i.e., the descriptions made of the ecology of the region, by association of ideas reveal the desire of the person who makes the utterance. This feature is called Ullurai Uvamam (lit. the in-lying simile). For example, the desire for marriage without postponement has been expressed in the following mannerTo the companion, who is telling her that the lover (hero) after all is only going to earn wealth for their marriage and therefore she should consent to his departure the heroine says: "Not that I do not agree with him. I do. Yet, I shall not, for one reason agree with him who comes from the country where, stampeded by elephants, venkai trees lie low enough to enable maidens of the hill to pluck their flowers, just by standing." (Kur.: 208).Weddings are usually held during the flowering season of the venkai (Pterocarptis) tree. By saying that the maidens could pluck the venkai flowers just by standing, she implies that there is every chance of some other girl getting (married to) him, without much effort.Ullurai is a feature seen mostly in the utterances of the heroine and her companion when they refer to the necessity of an early marriage, to gossip etc. Thus the utterance made to one another can be very obscure and enigmatic. There is also an allied, form of implied speech called Iraicci (Porul.: 35, 36).Another important feature is that the personal names of the characters should not be mentioned (Akat.: 54, 55). They could be referred to by the region whence they come but never by their personal names. Personal names are mentioned only in puram poetry (Purat.: 1).Another feature of these verses, 'concentration' on theme with economy of words and precision, is seen better in relation to the poetry of later ages.With the featured thus delineated, let us see to what extent are these dramatic monologues; and whether they provide an insight into the theatrical activities of the time.Such an analysis should start with the question, whether the 'situations' were considered 'dramatic or the 'utterances', `monologic' by the poets of the age. Characterising a situation or an event or a feature as dramatic does not make it part of drama. If we are to prove that it was dramatic in the sense it was part of a drama, we must prove that the utterance was conceived as something integral to an 'action' or an enactment.The prescriptive theory which Tol. postulates for akam poetry reveals that it was not conceived as drama. Drama implies not just utterances but utterances in a sequence leading to or relating to some definite event or happening; the characters are identified by names. Even in the most repetitive of themes and motifs there is difference in the names of characters. In the entire akam poetry we do not have any evidence to show that there had been involvement of named characters leading to or relating to some action. The idea of treating the entire love experience from premarital affair to wedded life or describing the different activities in the premarital state itself (from falling in love to getting married) is a feature seen in the later Kavais and Malais. Such treatment was the result of grammatical codification. It could sometimes be said that KP might form an example. It is no doubt an imaginary recounting of the different 'situations' in the kalavu theme, but it should be remembered that it is not a tabulation of the episodes. It is in the form of an utterance of the Toll made to the Cevili (nurse/matron). There is no episodic treatment of the different love situations. Tog tells Cevili of the condition of the girl and what led to it. This is in perfect harmony with other akam poems. Therefore it cannot be held that it is dramatic in the sense they are part of one drama. It may reveal a quality which reminds us of drama. But that is something different.Kur. 31, taken as the song of Atimanti, who was searching for her husband lost Kaviri floods, is no dialogue at all; it is a plaintive cry of a lover.But there is one association made of akam poetry with drama and that is by Tol himself. In the course of defining poetic conventions of akam and the metre to be employed in such poems, he says (Akat: 53):nataka valakkinum ulakiyal vajakkiniim patal canra pulaneri valakkamkaliye paripattu ayiru parikinumuriyatakum enmanar pulavar

"Learned men say that the poetic usage (of akam), that is based on dramatic usage and real-life usage, belongs to the metres kali. and paripattu."Here Tol. explains how poetic usage or convention emerges. According to him it arises out of dramatic (theatrical?) convention and events in real life. What does the term Nataka valakkudramatic conventionmean here? I have explained it as the convention of composing (or stringing) together all things of interest as though they had occurred in one place. Nac. takes Nataka to mean fictitious. Vaiyapuripillai, on the assumption that Tol. uses these terms Nataka valakku and Ulakiyal valakku as translations of hatyadharmi (conventional practice) and lokadharmi (realistic practice) of Bharata (NS: XIV :61-177), interprets them as 'art and reality.10 2 Whether Tol. meant the theatrical convention or not shall engage our attention later. What is clear here is that poetic usagepulanen valakkuis different from both Nataka valakku and Ulakiyal valakku. It may draw from the conventions to drama; but it is not drama itself. Tol's definition makes it clear that theatrical convention, day to day events and poetic conventions, though related to each other are different things. Thus in the opinion of Tol. akam poems are not monologues in a drama but creations of poetic convention.What could be said with some degree of certainty about akam poems, may be said of puram poems too only after a full discussion of the character of certain poem found in PN.There are in PN certain verses which look like extracts from longer poems .(PN: 45, 63, 74, 223, 43, 113, 236, 151). Narayanan who collected these found that most of the pieces of the collection are extracts from one long poem or another dealing with the following among other topics.1. An internecine struggle between Kopperuncolan and his sons culminating in the king's vatakkiruttal along with his friends and supporters.2. Another internecine'struggle between Netufikilli on one side and Nalankilli and his brother Mavalattan' on the other.3. The war which ended with the .battle of TalaiRlarikanam.4. Colan Cenkanan's war. with the , C8ra king.5. Pdri and his daughters and Kapilar,6. Perunarkilli's war with the successful performance by him of the Rajasuya.7. Kumanan. He suggested that "in those early days drama has not developed into a distinct literary form; in Nataka-Kuttu (dramatic performances) the speeches of the characters were extracted from narrative poems or epics and recited by the actors, who assumed the garb of those characters to the accompaniment of music and dance. And the poets wrote narrative poetry probably with an eye to the dialogues being used for such dramatic representation." He felt that the available extracts from tonmai works are sufficient evidence of the dramatic quality....' and as further evidence of long narrative poems which would have been used as texts for such enactments he indicated the possibility of the longer poems, and cited the PN poems as example.Kailasapathy's work enables us to see the whole question in proper perspective. He discusses the question of the existence of long narrative poems raised by Narayanan and says that "the comments of Per. and Nac, not only indicate the prevalence of long narrative poems in the early period but also throw some light on the nature of such poems, which from the context seem to have been epic -in character.... That some at least of the poems in PN might have been culled from worU now lost has also been suggested by Vaiyapuripillai. The suggestion of Narayanan receives additional support from the fact that early bardic poems were in fact composed on the basis of themes."10Now the question arises why these longer narratives were sliced into monologic pieces. The theory of puram poetry formulated by Tol. does not differ much from the one he prescribed for akam poetry. In Purattinai Iyal he gives in detail the different types of military campaigns and prescribes for each of them certain poetic themes. Purapporul Venpamdlai (PPVM), a work of 7th C., reveals that such a tradition existed and that there were variations to the categorisation made by Tol. In these circumstances "it is more than probable that from these earlier bardic corpora the Catikam scholars selected a certain number of poems illustrating a variety of themes and arranged them in the form of anthologies."' Narayanan seems to be the forerunner to Else who thinks that Homeric recitations were the model for tragedy writers. The arguments that had .been used in Else's case are valid here too. From what source did the actors get the tradition of assuming the garb of characters? Were these modelled on some other performance? In the Greek case, Else argues that it was the adoption of the Homeric recitation that gave rise to drama. In the Tamil case, Narayanan argues that the text itself was acted. If heroic poetry is oral how is this possible? The poet could himself recite. He has not become a writer of plays.If the poets had anything to do with such 'acting', tradition would have mentioned at least something of it. We do not have any such traditions about any of the poets mentioned in those PN songs or even of those Tonmai authors. A break in the continuity of traditions which characterises the history of Greek drama is not fortunately seen in the Tamil case. In spite of the process of Sanskritization, which in itself has only given new myths and functions to pre-Sanskritic institutions, there are yet surviving folk traditions in Tamilnad which reveal the tradition of narrating long epic poems to the delight of rural audiences. The art of Villuppattu (Bow song) is a very popular one. In this a troupe of artistes led by the chief vocalist who plays on the villu (bow) sing the glories of a temple or a hero. "The texts of the songs are simple and flowing and are invariably in ballad style." Anyone who has witnessed a performance of Villuppattu would know how, in the course of narration, the chief vocalist declaims the dialogues of the different characters of the ballad with great theatrical force. For all that Villuppattu is not krittu (drama). We have also the Katakalaksepam tradition in which the performer narrates a religious story. A Classical scholar watching katakalaksepam performances would be reminded of Plato's Ion. Comparative studies of Heroic Poetry has brought to light many singers of tales. Bards narrating an epic story is an art by itself and should not be confused with drama.Thus Narayanan's argument that some of the puram songs should be part of a drama cannot be accepted.The discussion of both akam and puram poems show that this character of the poems, described as 'dramatic', arises more from the underlying theory of poetry than from its connections with drama.Mere rejection of the characterisation is not enough. For a fuller understanding of the nature of the poems and thus indirectly for some light on what Tamil drama was probably not, we should inquire into the true nature of akam poems which seem to have provided Tol. the basis of typologising all poetry.Akat. cu 3 gives a content analysis of akam poetry.Mutal karu uripporul enra miinrenuvalwi kalai mural eirantanavepatalut payinravai natuti kalai"When one analyses the content of the songs, [one could see that] Mutalporul (primary matter), Karupporul (that which is germane to it) and Uripporul (that which belongs to it) are the three [that constitute the contents]. In composition the second is considered more important than the first and third more important she second.,"According to this, the three features of akam poetry, in ascending order of importance are Mutalporul, Karupporul and Uripporul. These are explained as follows:Mutalporul Land (the geographical unit whether hill, pastureland, littoral or arable land) and Time (season of the year and hour of the day or night).Karupporul refers to those objects of the-region that relate to the religious, economic and social life of the region like deity, food, flora and fauna etc.Uripporul is that particular love activitywhich is considered as 'belonging' to that region, like 'union and copulation and conditions that enable it as belonging to hilly district, wife patiently waiting and conditions that enable it as belonging to pastoral area, etc.This explanation of the components of a poem reveals that the basis of this theory of Poetry indicates a stage when human life was determined and controlled by nature. It does not depict a situation where human ability has a control over Nature's forces.There is a tendancy among Tamil scholars to treat this relationship of Nature and Poetry as the one that could be seen in the poems of Wordsworth and Tennyson and even Goldsmith. As Manuel observes "those who feel the need to establish the world stature of our poets could more effectively do it by focussing attention on the real affinities, not between Cankam poets and Western Romantic poets, but between the Cankam and Western poets who have written in the classical tradition."111,Even a cursory glance of the history of the pre-Tol. period of Tamilnad will show that the social conditions of the age were generally 'primitive' in character. In that milieu Nature was not something which the uprooted, urbanised man turns to and idealises, but one which determined every aspect of human existence like economic pursuit, religious belief, and social organisation. Though Tol. takes, Mutal, Karu and Uri in an ascending order of importance it also shows that uri was rooted in karu and the karu in mutal i.e. the emotional experience and sex activity were rooted in the social, religious and economic organisation of the region, which in turn was decided by the primacy of ecology. It is no doubt true that in the period of Tol., the stage has come when there could be a Tinai mayakkam (an activity peculiar to a region taking place in another region) (Akat: 12). This reveals the inevitable social development. What is important to note is that this development was not considered that much significant to upset the basis of the theory.We must now see the character of poetry that could arise in such a social condition.Bowra in his Primitive Song has analysed the origins and development of songs. He shows how "Primitive song, which is born from an elemental dramatic rite is (at its original level) a communal activity." It is largely choral in character and in that collective stage "there is no question of song being confined to a clique or a class; for such do not exist and the performers and the audience represent both more and less than themselves more because they speak confidently for their social unit; less because they merge their private, individual feelings into a 'general mood which they share with other.The choral song, soon develops into a solo song or song of the individual. Bowra explains it thus,"Choral song develops its own characteristics just because it is sung by a company and has to be adapted to suit it its members' capacities and requirements. The same is not true of solo song, which is hardly less common among primitive peoples. Such songs come into existence when someone, moved by sudden inspiration, bursts into a song, or when an occasion, which is essentially personal, calls for an individual interpretation. They cover a wide range and include almost any subject which excites the emotions and calls for an outlet in musical words., They deal with the more intimate matters of family life, with affections and hatreds, with casting spells and breaking them, with instructions to children and cautionary tales, with all the accidents and incidents which primitive man, and primitive woman meet in their daily struggle. They too have their full share of formulaic phrases, but unlike choral songs, they have much less formality.This brings us to a stage close to the one postulated in Tol.'s Theory.Bowra then proceeds to discuss sacred and secular songs. In discussing the manner and method of the composition of secular song (for sacred ones have to be ritually repetitive) he says this :"Since primitive song sets to work in this way and rises from a compelling urgency, it maintains the individual qualities of a single occasion. Like Croce, and unlike Aristotle the song-man composes as if poetry were concerned not with the universal but with the particular. He lacks general ideas and even generalized experience. His concern is to catch the unique air of a situation and to show precisely what it is. This is to be expected in peoples whose attention seldom reaches beyond the immediate moment or the thought of something just done or about to be done. Though this is forced upon them by having to live from hand to mouth, it brings compensation in their songs which. have the freshness of something newly and vividly apprehended. Though their range, if we view it abstractedly, is necessarily very limited, this does not matter since what counts is the particular presentation of particular sensations, and for this reason singers display their originality by their unexpected angles of approach or moments of vision ." In this we could see the archetype of the situational character and of the economy and precision which have become very stylized features in early Tamil literature.The basic characteristics of the primitive social order which was shaped and determined by the ecological and environmental factors is given by Thomson as follows:"It would be a mistake to say that the natural order was modelled on the social order, because that implies some degree of conscious differentiation between the two. Nature and society were one. There was no society apart from nature and nature was only known to the extent that it had been drawn into the orbit of social relations through the labour of production."This reveals to us the relationship between the social and economic organisation in that stage of development.This absence of differentiation between nature and society is, according to Bowra, the explanation of another important characteristic of the primitive song."Primitive man hardly ever sings of nature simply from delight in its own sake. He does not need it as a relief from strain of urban routine, nor does he find it a haven for battered nerves. It is always around him, ineluctable and insistent. So, when he sings of it, there is no need for him to make an apology or introduction, and he can go straight to whatever point is his immediate concern. In most of his songs he implies an ulterior purpose or assumption which is so well known to him and his audience that it is a waste of breath to state it explicity, and yet it may provide his central point. He may well find an incidental pleasure in the aspect of nature and pay tributes to it, but these tributes are informed by other considerations which it suggests or illustrates. This gives a striking depth to his songs of it. Superficially they may do no more than portray a visible scene, but we must always suspect that in fact they do more than this and cherish some latent intention. This in no way interferes with their skill in evoking natural sight; indeed just because the singer has something, purposeful in his mind, he takes care with his word and allows his sense to work at full stretch."'This brings us straight to Ullurai' and Iraicci' mentioned in Tol. Bowra clearly illustrates how the description of nature itself can have an 'inlaid' latent intention. In this connection it is important to note that Tol. mentions Ulturai uvamam in Akat. and Porul. and does not discuss them in Uvamai Iyal the section on similes. Commentators have argued a lot about this. In the light of the above discussion it could be said that in the opinion of Tol., and very rightly so, this manner of handling an 'inlaid imagery' is confined only to those themes which depict nature-ordered life and not to those which order nature.Tol.'s classification of Ullurai quite clearly shows the similarity it bears to what Bowra says (Porul: 229-30 and 242-44).This leaves us in a situation in which we see Ancient Tamil poetry having unmistakeable affinities with features seen in the early stages in the development of poetry as an art. That is, in other words, it has affinities with that type of poetry which could rise in the tribal stage of social development. The similarity akam poems have with love poems of Todas, the tribe from the Nilgiris, will demonstrate the validity of this argument. We have already seen, that akam poetry is characterised by the absence of personal names, the purposive obscurity in meaning, and the occasional or situational the character of the 'utterance'. Let us see what Emaneau says of Toda love poetry:However, even though the external observer will find that all Toda singing is an exercise in the enigmatic, the Todas themselves recognise a sub-class of poems as being particularly enigmatic. These are the love songs. The occasions of these are, in general not a matter of public knowledge, the persons not identified even by their clan membership and in the outcome no one but the composer, his or her beloved, and perhaps their most intimate friends who assist in furthering the affair, know what it is all, about. These songs are indentified by a pair of song units... as "riddling words."The real identity of the akam poems is now slowly emerging. Those characteristics of akam poetry which reveal its primitive character and the similarity it has with the oral poetry of the Todas, clearly establish it as a 'folic' idiom of the region. This view is strengthened by an observation made by Basham. Commenting on Saptasataka of Hala, a large-collection of self-contained stanzas of `charm and beauty in the Arya meter,' he says,"they are notable for their conciseness; like Amaru, their authors were able to suggest a whole story in four short lines. This great economy of words and masterly use of suggestion would indicate that the verses were written for a highly educated literary audience; but they contain simple, and natural descriptions and references to the lives of peasants and lower classes, which point to popular influence. The treatment of the love affairs of the country folk reminds us of early Tamil poetry and suggests that may have tapped a widely diffused source in South Indian folksong.It could, therefore, be held with reasonable certainty that the origins of akam poetry lie in the primitive songs of ancient South India and the evidences for the antiquity and the continuity of it are seen in Hala's Saptasataka and Toda oral poetry.In this connection it is relevant to note Alexander Krappe's categorisations of folksongs. "The oldest genre is unquestionably the love song which, as is well known is not peculiar to man but is shared with higher animals. With the communal life well developed but natural that certain patterns should arise which would in turn dominate this type of, song so as to create certain very definite subtypes. The subtypes he gives are, song of the night visit, farewell song of the lover at dawn, pastourelle. The subdivisions he gives are applicable only to European folksongs, yet the category of the song of night visit is an important one in Tamil akam songs.More remarkable is the continuity of some of the features of akam poetry in Tamil folksongs on love theme, even today. As in akam tradition, the folksongs on love theme do not mention names at all and the inlaid imagery is very conspicuously seen. Kandiah, in his Mattakkalapputtamilakam has shown how the folksongs of Batticalo in Eastern Sri Lanka, reveal akam characteristics and how they fit into the categorisations of love songs made by grammarians. Ullurai is clearly noticeable in the second song Kandiah cites as an example for 'fixing the place of meeting.'Katappatiyil vantuninpu kalai kanaikkurnenraletikiiuntapiiturn neiku eluntuvara mattata.

Would not the young cow come there, from wherever it was Were the steer 'made noise' at the passage point.

It is interesting to note that even the idealistic interpretations of Cankam poetry could not avoid noticing the similarity it has with folk poetry. Meenakshisundaran, said this in his paper on Theory of Cankam Poetry: "the folk songs and proverbs of an age, with their authors unknown, form a unity as the very expression of the national personality and the language. Cankam poetry, though too cultured to be called folksong, consciously creates this universal personality and that is why it has been classified as a separate group in Tamil literature the really great national poetry, not in the sense of national popularity but in the sense of being the voice of the nation of its origion. Relationship to folk poetry reveals the vitality of the poetic tradition.The popularity of this poetry with the poets of the Cankam age shows that this was taken over as a literary genre. Such literary use of folksong is seen in the use Manikkavacakar made of Ammanai, Calal, and Vallaippattu and the use of Pallu and Kuram by the poets of the 16th-17th centuries.This explanation of the origins of akam poetry raises the possibility that akam and puram songs could have been considered two separate poetic genres -- akam would have been based on the traditional love motif and puram constituting the typical bardic poetry of praise. We should recall here how akam theme had already become a poetic convention. Both puram and akam anthologies give us enough evidence to believe that political marriages and marriages arranged by relatives were the order of the day (PN: 336-43; AN: 221: Kur: 351: NT: 165, 235, 375, 386, 393). The absence of any information, relating to the compilation of puram songs but the mention of it for akam songs may possibly indicate a consciousness of the contemporary poetic value of akam theme.In spite of the stylized conventions, akam poems throw much light on the social life of the period. The most important part of such information is the light it throws on the journey husbands made to earn wealth. Porulvayirpirivu (Separation for earning) is an important aspect of akam poetry (AN: 3, 21, 23, 27, 29, 43, 51, 53, 57, 59, 69, 83, 91, 93, etc.; Kur.: 6, 11, 63, 76, 94, 104, 135, 137, 173, 180, etc.; NT: 16, 24, 46, 69, 71, 86, 103, 126, 130, 148, 164, 189, 212, etc.). The significance of this in relation to the economic history of the period has not yet been inquired into.Akam songs reveal that in the agrarian regions marriages were patrilocal (Kur.: 354-379). They also reveal the role of Panars as procurers (AN: 50, 244; Kur.: 85, 127, 359; NT: 127, 150, 167, 250 etc.). Puram songs depict him as a respected bard.An examination of the term akam and puram in the Cankam texts and Tol. should enable us to learn what this concept meant to the poets of the period.In Tol., Col. the terms akam and puram are given as suffixes indicating the locative case the seventh one (Col.21).The term akam comes as a locative post-position in many places in literature. Usages like, vitarakam, cilampakam, varaippakam are seen in all texts (e.g., PN: 190:8,198:12; AN: 8:12, 63:12,89:4, 218:12; NT: 16:7, 134:3, 318:8; Kur. :42 :3). Usages like mellakam and nallakam (AN: 258: 9, 353: 20, 367: 14; NT: 297:9, 398: 8; Kur. : 346: 7,. 370:5) indicate that it denoted 'breast' too. Akam was used to denote 'heart' too (AN: 86, 28; NT: 166: 5). The significant usages of akam and its cognates in Cankam literature are1. the house (e.g., AN: 66:15; MP: 44.)2. fortified region of a countryakanatu (MP: 149.)3. people living in fortified regionakattar (PN: 28:11; PA 220).The term akatton is used almost as a technical term in Tol. (Purat.: 12,13) to refer to the attacked king, who stays within the fort.The use of the term Puram and its cognates too should now be examined. As akam, this is also used as a locative (AN: 101:8, 207:5, 306:6; PN: 158:23, 231:2, 352:7). It also means 'exterior' (PN:238:1; NT:305:7; AN:335:11). One of the cognates Puravu, which should literally mean "that which lies outside" is used to denote the pastoral region and jungle (PN:328 :1, 386:12; AN:74:8, 114:3, 133:5, 134:6, 184:7, etc. ;NT: 21:9, 59:9,142:8, 246:7 etc.). If Pura is taken as the base the semantic implication of this term Puravu is rather interesting. The immediate question will be, to which was it the exterior? Was it the exterior to a fortified region? The terms Puram tarutal and Puram kiatal, meaning "looking after protecting" too are interesting (PN: 312: 1, 35:32, 122:31). Literally they mean 'giving the exterior' and 'guarding the exterior'. The term Puram without the suffix Tarutal is also used in PN to mean `protect' (PN: 35:33, 42:10, 42:11, 377:5). Do these imply that guarding the settlement was the main act in safeguarding the people of a region? -In Tol.Purat. 12 and 13 the term Puratton (one on the outside) is used to mean the attacking king.The realisation that these poetic conventions were regularised and schematised in Tol. tempts one to raise the question of the influence of those usages, which denoted 'interior' and 'exterior in a physical and geographical sense in Tol. itself. The terms used by Tol. to refer to these traditions are Akattinai and Purattinai...The term Tinai evidently means 'code of conduct or behaviour, custom'. This is only a secondary meaning of that term, but, the apt one here. The terms would then mean code of conduct custom in or of akam and in or of puram .Manickam states quite categorically, "the term akam simply means, in my opinion, `home'." 128He continues to say, "the birth of love gives birth to the rise of this institution." But the very notion of 'love' giving birth to 'home' itself is abstract. It might be suggested, therefore that the poetic concepts of Akam, and Purarn, as dealing with love and war would have emerged from the initial characteristic of those as activities within the settlement and outside it. In the tribal state of social organisation this is very much the case.These terms with their basic meanings of a physical interior and exterior, are indicative also of the areas of activity (division of labour) of women and men in tribal life. In hunting and cattle raising stages men are always outside the settlement both for economic and military pursuits and women stay in the settlements. The Tamil evidence clearly shows that the time the girls got out of the settlement on any assignment was to guard the ripe fields (cultivated by the slash and burn method) and this is the occasion when they fall in love. The incidents that are described relating to subsequent meetings like fixing a place for meeting, the fear of the girl's brothers, dogs barking at the movement of the hero etc., reveal how 'interior' in the settlement were the akam activities done. The corresponding puram (military) activity for this region is the stealing of the cattle and keeping watch on those who make an attempt to do it. Both these are done outside the settlement. The guarding of the settlement is done from a jungle area away from the settlement. This area is called the Kavarkatu (Guard post jungle). For the cattle raising stage (Mullai) the love activity ascribed is Iruttal, which really means the woman staying in the settlement looking after the growing agriculture and managing domestic affairs. The men are away for cattle raising or for guarding the settlement. In this stage and the agrarian (Marutam) one, the wife is referred to Manaivi and Illal (she of the house).It is, therefore, possible that the concept of akam and puram could have arisen from the economic and social realities of tribal living.The highly abstract meaning given by the commentators is possible only in a highly developed intellectual and social milieu, which is not possible in a tribal set-up. The transformation of the meaning attached to the Greek word moira could be cited as a comparative parallel. Moira which orginally meant "portions of wealth or divisions of labour later came to denote man's divinely appointed lot in life. The change of meaning and the social factors behind it have been well explained by Thomson.Kalittokai and ParipatalKalit. is a collection of 150 poems in the Kali metre. As already noticed this metre is a later development. Its rhythm has been described as a leaping onetullal by Tol. (Cey.83), The traditional view is that the poems on each of the five finals had been sung by different poets. The compiler Nallantuvan himself composed those on Neytal. The question of the authorship has been much discussed and the general trend now is not to accept the traditional view. Linguistic and literary factors which reveal its late date have been well furnished by the different scholars. The most important of it all is the dominance of Sanskrit in both linguistic and cultural aspects.A notable feature of this work is that it speaks only of the Pantiya region. The earlier poems, though some of them deal principally with cities do not fail to give descriptions of surrounding regions and the people living in those regions. MPK, PP are examples of this. But in Kalit. in spite of the fact that it has poems on the love activities of all the 'regions' it reveals a major urban biasMullaikkali which could be considered is the exception to this feature, has eulogies on the Pantiyans (103, 104, 105). The treatment of the characters in Falai, Kurilici and Neytal show that the conative aspect of the regions is more important than the description of life in those regions. In Kuriaeikkali the hero is one who 'owns the forest' in his dominion (48). In the case of Neytal the hero is not from that region. Marutam is the most realistic of all the sections. The urban centred character of the poem is very well brought in poems like 26, 27, 30, 31, 36 etc.The hero of Kalit. differs from his counterpart in the earlier texts. The hero now is a warrior, king or an aristocrat of high rank (8, 12, 26, 31). The hero described in Marutakkali has at his command an array of retainers like the charioteer and the minstrel (69, 70, 72, 81, 85 etc.). Descriptions of harlotry depict it as a highly developed organisation. Kalit. 70 refers to separate houses where the harlots were 'entertained'. Poem 81 refers to Rnatipatiyam (Commander's settlement) a settlement of harlots started by a holder of the title Enati.The difficulties Nac. has had to 'fit' many of the poems to the rules of Tol. (3,18,120 etc.) indicate the changing methods of composition.The most important feature of Kalit. is that many of the Kalit. songs are in dialogue form (10,39,40,41,43,60,62,etc.). This is in direct contrast to what we have seen in the Carikam texts. Dialogue structure of the poem and their very metre have great importance in the study of drama. The dialogue, the metre and the structure and content of many of the dialogue-songs, all taken together seem to indicate a form of dramatic entertainment peculiar to that aristocratic society. The whole question will be dealt with in detail later; what is important to note at this stage is that by its very chraracteristic it demands a method of approach quite different to the one we have adopted to find out the character of the earlier texts.Paripatal is the other anthology. Like Kalit. this work is known by the metre -- Paripattu. The musical character of the work is shown by the colophons appended to the text mentioning the name of the poet and that of the person who set it to music.The flowing rhythm of the lines indicates the music, how it was sung but the content has been the chief concern of the commentators. According to Per. Paripatal as a literary form deals with `Enjoyment' one of the four main objects of living (Purusartas). Per. takes this anthology as the standard for the genre and says that it deals with 'praising the diety', 'sports in the hill', 'water sports,' etc., exactly the ones which are dealt with in this work (Cey.121). Nac. too reiterates the same thing by saying that this genre depicts the 'ways of the world' with special emphasis on sexual love. It will include praise of the gods (Akat.53). Musical character of the metre is mentioned by Per. in his gloss on Cey.112. Paripattu is so called because it is a song that 'flows'. This explanation confirms its flowing rhythm. Parim. in his commentary on the first lyric refers to its musical character. All these go to show t hat these poems were sung.For a content analysis we should go to the text. It is held that Pari. orginally was a collection of 70 lyrics, with 8 on Tirumal, 31 on Cevvel, 1 on Korravai (Katukiial) 26 on Vaiyai and 4 on Maturai. But the extant lyrics are 22 in numberOn Tirumal (6) 1,2,3,4,13,15.On Cevvel (8) -- 5,8,9,14,17,18,19,21.On Vaiyai (8) 6,7,10,11,12,16,20,22.Two, almost full lyrics have been recovered through citations in grammatical works. Besides these major ones there are fragmentary quotations culled from other sources.Of the extant poems, those on Tirumal and Cevvel are classed as on 'Praising the gods' because they are in the form of address to the gods. The poems on Vaiyai (the river) have been termed as the ones which speak of sexual enjoyment. Descriptions of water sports and activities depicting sexual enjoyment are many in these poems and this might have led the later day commentators to conclude that poems on Vaiyai deal only with sexual enjoyment. But the poems on Vaiyai mostly end with an invocatory address to Vaiyai. Except poem 22 which has a defective text and 20, all other poems on Vaiyai have that invocatory passage (6:105-6,7:846, 10:126-9, 11:137-140, 12:99-102, 16: 50-55). This makes it probable that Vaiyai was addressed. We must now look into the reason for bathing in Vaiyai and the ritual observances made before and during the bath. Pari. 6:11-3 clearly states that women who go for bathing take aviaratanai (offerings) besides the cosmetics they need to make themselves up after the bath. Aviaratanai is explained by Parim. as "those offerings made to Vaiyai' such as avi and fish made of gold." Lines 84 to 86 of the 7th lyric imply that the people were bathing, extolling the benefits they receive from Vaiyai and praying that Vaiyai's benefits shall flow to them always. 10:80-5 mentions that people threw snails, prawns and fish made of gold into the river and also gave donations to people. 16:50-5 says that people had donated things and are bathing to get benefits of the charity. The 'presents' they give to Vaiyai are those like the fish made of gold. These make it clear that the bathing was not just a sport but had its ritual aspects.The prayers made and the reasons given for it at the end the bath also reveal the cultic character of the bath. In 10:126-129 a request is made, that Vaiyai should not cease its function of spreading gold in the field. This implies a request for better harvest. 16:50-5 implore that there should be more offerings and that there should always be rainfall and that Vaiyai should never be without its freshets. These suggest that the bathing had something to do with rain or fertility cult. It could be said that the throwing of the fish was intended to induce 'growth' of more fish. This would agree with the Ritual theory of Myth.Besides the direct prayer for the continued flooding of the river, on which depended the fertility of the surrounding area, there is also evidence that this ritual bathing had sexual significance. 8th lyric refers to girls who had gone to the Parankunru hill and prayed that there should be floods in Vaiyai so that they could do what they had dreamt of, viz., embracing their lovers. 10:45-74 describes swimming in the river and reveals that sexual enjoyment was a predominant feature of this bath. These could be taken as incidental to the water sports but 11th lyric refers to girls performing Tainiratal there. Earlier texts refer to Tainiratal but do not associate it exclusively with Vaikai. Tainiratal by its nature is a fertility cult. It could therefore be said that the songs on Vaiyai are not poems dealing with sexual enjoyment but revealing a cult built around Vaiyai. 11:137 indicates that there was a tradition of singing the glories of Vaiyai. It should be noted, at this Juncture, that river cults are not something alien to Tamil tradition. The tradition of celebrating Kavari's Patinettam Perukku is still a living one. In places like Mayuram, even today festivals are conducted the day the waters of Kaveri are let through the anicut.Associated with the Vaiyai cult is the Parankunru cult which looks more openly sexual than the ones mentioned about Vaiyai Parankunru is worshipped as the hill where Murukan resides. Lyric 8 refers to the different people bathing in the pond at the hill. They include,Kanavirrottatu kaipilaiyakatunanavir ceeppa nin nalipunal Vaiyaivaru punalanikena varankolvarumkaruvayiru uruka enak katampatuvarumceyporul vaykka ena cevi carttuvorumaiyamar atuka ena arucciparum... (103-8). "Those supplices who request that they could in real life have the embraces they had with their lovers in dreams. Those who pledge in prayer that they shall make offerings if they conceive (a child).Those who pray that the undertakings (of their husbands) should succeed.Those who pray that their husbands should have admirable fights."

This clearly reveals that there was a pond on the hill, formed by the flowing stream, which had a ritual significance. Parankunru cult is intertwined with the bathing in Vaiyai because the latter flows along that area. In fact the verse quoted above refers to the girls who pray at the hill that they should be blessed with the chance of embracing their lovers in Vaiyai. 17th lyric which is on Murukan shows how close these two cults too are.It seems, therefore, that dismissing the songs on Vaiyai as those on sexual enjoyment alone would not help to establish the true nature of those songs. For Nac. (16th C.) and Parim. (13th C.) it might have been difficult to consider fertility cults with sexual overtones as religious, but it should not deter us from examining these poems in greater detail to ascertain their true nature.Taking the songs on Vaiyai as those on sexual enjoyment, efforts have been made to fit them into the grammatical categorisations on akam theme. The colophon to 6th lyric says that it is heroine's utterance to Virali. If it is so, there is no need for the final exhortation to Vaiyai. It is not the tradition in akam poems to use a dialogue form. That is a later tradition, but it is seen in lyric 8. The colophons added to lyrics 7, 10, 11, 12, 16, do not explain or take into count the final exhortations made. Thus the effort to make them look as typical akam poem remains a failure.As it stands, Pari. definitely belongs to a later age than Catikam texts. Descriptions of Tirumal and Cevvel are evidence of the religious syncretism that was taking place.On linguistic grounds, Kalit. and Pari. are taken together. Descriptions of the harlotry indicate a similarity with Kalit. Pari. too, is Maturai based. It does not speak of the other regions. Thus these two works could be taken as belonging to the same period.Vaiyapurippillai takes these as 'later Caiikam works' and says that the compilation was done by about the 8th century. At this point a flaw in his periodisation should be pointed out. His scheme is as follows :1. Early Catikam period -- 100-350 A.D. (ET & some of Pattu.).2. Period of Collation -- 450-500 A.D. (Anthologising earlier poems).3. Late Carikam period -- 600-750 A.D. (Kalit. and Pari.).In this, he has taken 400-600 A.D. as a period without any literary activity. It need not be so; in fact it cannot be so. Tol. which he assigns to the second period mentions the currency of Paripeittu and Kali as metres for akam poems. The internal linguistic evidence of these works point only to post-Carikam date. The problem could greatly be minimised if it could be accepted that the crystallisation of poetic conventions as grammatical rules, and the digression in content and deviations in form in emerging creative literature can each be the cause and effect of the other. That could make them binary expressions of a single social phenomenon.It should also be mentioned that the 7th century date suggested by Swamikkannuppillai for the composition of Pari. which Vaiyapurippillai quotes with approval, is not accepted, and on the same data, a fourth century date has been given to the work."' It is, therefore, possible to argue for Kalit. and Pari. a date earlier than the one Vaiyapurippillai is prepared to grant. But what is important to this study is that they are post-Catikam and have common characteristics which indicate same date.TirumurukarruppataiTaking TMA as a post-Catikam work is not objected too much. The significance of this work lies in that it shows the syncretism of the Skanda cult of North India with the Muruka cult of Tamilnad. In the description of the various centres of Muruka worship, we find the fusion of the indigenous cults with the incoming forms of worship. The dance of the Peymakal in the battle ground in praise of the victor, a militaristic cult to which we find references in PN (26, 62, 359, 371) and PrP (35, 36) is brought in TMA (47-56) is an act of rejoicing of the Pey at the victory of Murukan over the Avunar. The forms of worship and religious practices given in the description of Tirudvinankuti (126-176) and in that of the local hills (190-216) reveals the peculiarities in the concepts or divinity in puranic and non-Skt. Tamilian thought. But TMA takes them as the different manifestations of the same god.It could be said that TMA throws light on the process of Sanskritization that was taking place in religion in the post-Catikam period as Kalit. and Pari. are reflecting the same process taking place within an urban framework, especially in relation to the aristocratic society of Maturai.TolkappiyamThis process of increasing Sanskritization and growing social differences is seen very clearly in Tol. If Tol.'s effort had been just to codify the poetic practices of the previous period it could have been done without resorting to Sktic standards. But we have instances in Tol. where an effort has been made to understand conventions in terms of Sktic ones. The more obvious ones are as follows:Akat. 26, which speaks of the occasions for separation from wife, says, "Departing for learning and on missions (as messengers of kings) is for the High people." The word used for learning is otal, the one which is even today used, to the study of the Vedas (ream otutal). Learning as a special discipline is something alien to the mores of the type of society depicted in early Tamil literature. Speaking about the separation for earning Tol. says (Akat. 30), "the aforesaid (forms of separation) are for all the four." This is clear reference to the Caturvarna. When dealing with the theme of victory he speaks of (Purat. 19) Brahmins first, kings second, an order seen in the Skt. tradition.In one instance, the application of a Sktic criterion has had no validity at all. While defining kalavu (Kalay. 1) he says that .it has the characteristics of the Gandharva form of marriage. The apparent mistake is that in Skt. tradition Gandharva is a form of marriage whereas kalavu is no marriage at all. It is only premarital love affair. Married life, according to his own definition. starts in the Karpu stage (Karp. 1).Tol. also gives grammatical sanction to clear cut social divisions, which, though certainly seen in Cankam period, were not allowed to become fundamental principles in literary composition. In Kalay. 2 he prescribes the type of characters for treatment in pre-marital love. He describes them asOtta kilavanum kilattiyum. mikkonayinum kativaraivinre."Hero and heroine of equal rank. Hero of a superior rank need not be ruled out."Here the terms for hero and heroine, Kilavan and kilatti, are important. Kilavan means an 'owner' and kilatti 'proprietress' (DED: 1647). When prescribing the nature of utterances for Tog (Kalay. 23) he says that she should check on the 'country, village, house, family, birth and greatness' of the lover. The Cevili is expected to look into the wealth of both the families (Karp. 24). It is also said that servants and employees are not fit subjects for `mutual love' and that they could be treated in situations of one sided love and excessive love (Akat. 23). Porul. 44 says that the ownerhero should not be depicted as disregarding the auspiciousness of the hours and days (i.e., he should respect the notion of muhurta) even during the time of his secret love.Marainta ojukkattu oraiyum naltim turanta olukkam kilavorkuTol.'s hero when contrasted with 'hero' depicted in KP, which in itself is highly stylised, reveals the class character of the former. The hero in KP is a hunter, a son of the soil (107-135).The concept of family life given in Tol. also reveals an ethos completely different to that found in a heroic society (Karp. 51). It says that the "aim and function of family life should be for the kilavan and kilatti at the close of their sex life to live in happiness with their children and relations who perform the righteous deed and do illustrious things."The ultimate didactic role Tol. prescribes for literature is revealed in Porul. 24.Arakkalivutaiyana porut payam patavarinValakkena valatikalum palittanru enpa."It is not forbidden to treat those items devoid of righteousness if they are relevant to akam (or of interest to it) It could be taken as usage."But Ilam.'s reading of the cuttiram is as follows,"It is forbidden to treat those items devoid of righteousness on the ground that they are in usage, even if they have a relevance or lend interest to the description."'"We should take along with these Tol.'s concept of Standard TamilCentamil. Vaiyapuripillai says this:"For the first time in the history of Tamil language this term is used by Tol. It is not found anywhere in the entire Cankam collections.'" .... It is only the language of the upper class ordinarily imitated and spread. In the case of Centamil also such must have been the case. Tol.'s Cattiram defining vajakku or usage (Marap. 89) supports this view fully."'"And the cratiram referred to isValakku enappatuvatu uyarntor metre nikalcci avarkattakalana."Usage means that of the High People. Because the 'events' are always about them."The word nikalcci (event) is interpreted by Ijam. as events (actions) in a literary work. Per. takes it as 'all the events in the world.' Both the explanations reveal the class character of the usage.These features found in the work reveal the criteria it had adopted. But it is not only the social implications of the grammatical rules that concern the student of drama. Tol. as we have already seen, establishes some connections between theatrical/dramatic conventions and poetic conventions. He refers to dramatists/ dancers in a more distinctive manner and assigns them a social role by making them to be mediators between couples (Karp: 27 & 28). The social role of the artist and the clues these references provide to the nature of performances will be discussed in detail when we deal with that particular phase,'"In an assessment of the exact nature of the work more attention should be paid to Meyppattiyal the chapter on Physical Manifestations of Sentiments. In this chapter he speaks primarily of the sentiments, the different states of mind associated with each of these sentiments and their relation to poetry. It is generally agreed that Tol. follows in this chapter Bharata's Natya Sastra, the Skt. treatise on Dramaturgy. Bharata speaks of sentiments in the context of drama only. In fact his discussion on sentiments starts thus:"The Eight sentiments recognised in drama are as follows .... (NS: VI: 15)It is therefore important to determine what use Tol. makes of them in his work.The outline structure of the chapter is as follows:I.cu.1-3Enumeration of the Cuvai (feelings, sentiments). Starting from 32, works down to 8 as the basic ones.

II.cu.4-11Conditions and situations which give rise to sentiments.

III.cu.12Certain other situations and feelings which do not come within the earlier ones.

IV.cu.13-20The symptoms seen in the different stages of love (Avastas).

V.Cu.21-25Situations in the case of Kaikkilai and Peruntizzai.

VI.cu.26Emotional suitability of the couple.

VII.cu.27Qualities not in consonance with 'love.'

VIII.cu.28Description of those who could understand the finer sensibility of emotion.

It is clear that Tol. does not treat sentiments in the way Bharata had treated; for Tol. their relevance to akam poetry has been the only concern. In spite of his preoccupation with the theme of poetry he throws a valuable clue relating to dramatic activity in the very first cattiram wherein he says,Pannaittanriya entjanku porulum kanniya purane nanatikenpa,"These 32 sentiments seen the: Pannai could really be taken as 16."Per. explains it thus:"These thirtytwo (sentiments) are in seen in the activities of (sexual) pleasure that the kings of the Established Monarchies and rulers of principalities 'enjoy by seeing the dances and listening ' to songs of the natakamakalir dancing women."This is no doubt an important piece of information on the types of performances. This also helps (though not solely) to take Tol. along with Kalit. and Part. which as we have seen already describe such places of entertainment.Tol. in spite of his main concern only for akam and puram poetry reveals that there had been other literary genres. In the chapter on prosody Ceyyuliyal --Tol. speaks of those poems which have a limited length and those which do not have it (Cey.163). He discusses in detail the constituent units of poetry, the different metres -- akaral, rand, veripa and kaliand the themes which could be sung in those metres. Most Of the extant corpus of Catikam literature could be brought within those. In that discussion he mentions satirical verses (Cey..124,12'5). In the available literature we do not have many instances of -satire.. It is of great interest to note that Per. mention_s vacaikkattu satirical drama, as the example for satirical verses in Kali metre (Cey.126). Today we have no trace' of that dfama" either- for Tol.'S period or for the period of the commentators. 'Bill the obvious contrast of satire, both invective and veiled attack, 'to the eulogistic poems of akam and puram reveal that there could have been a . selection for purpose of preservation. -.Thus -Tol. -reveals the significance not only of the -lost ones but also of the preserved ones.-More important is the names of the ,genres he gives as 'those which have no limit of length (Cey,163). They are (Cey.166-179)a) Nul Treatisesb) Urai Prosec) Pici Riddlesd) MutumoliProverbs.e) Mantiram Magical utterancesf) Kurippua form which does not intend to mean what the words in the composition denote.149 Further down, he mentions (Cey.180)g) Pannattithat which is sung to a tune.Ilam. takes it as musical composition and Per. takes them as songs in dramatic performances.Later, when he speaks of the aesthetic qualities that could emanate from the different metrical forms (235-242) Tol. mentions certain literary forms for which we have no examples either from Tol.'s period or the earlier one. Of the eight, one is Tonmai (mythical narrative) to which we have already referred to ; another is pulan (Cey. 241), which uses regional or local dialect. Per. cites Vilakkattar kratu, a work which apparently has something to do with drama, as the example. But here again we have no traces of the work.Tol., by its revealing analyses and cryptic silences, furnishes 'much material for a student of Ancient Tamil Drama.KuralNo social study of pre-Cil. Tamilnad would be complete without a study of Kural. The ethical and moralistic approach of Valluvai to the study of man as a member of the family and the state, and to the study of the monarchy and those that help in the preservation of its authority and the great difference between this approach to those of the North Indian writers on polity, from whom Valluvar is said to have drawn the raw 'material,' have all been studied by many scholars.But the problem that faces a student, who has to use the work as a source for the study of a social institution as drama, is one of determining the social foundations of the work. This work written in a metrical form called Kuralyevpa (distich), has 133 sections of ten couplets each. The first 38 are on AramRighteous living, the next 70 on PorulPolitical Economy and the rest on KamamSexual love. The present name of the workTirukkural does not seem to have been the original name of the work. The original name of the work is believed to be Muppal -- Three sections. The personal name of the author is not known. The name Valluvar indicates only the caste or profession.Some have taken what is said in Kural as truly reflecting the conditions of Valluvar's time. The idealistic character of the work is implied in the many writings on this work? Aiyangar takes the section on politics as an ideal presentation of what an actual state really was.Political and social theories and thoughts have by implication always a relevance to the period of their origin. Works from Plato's Republic onwards amply illustrate this. It is therefore essential to see the social framework which forms the sheet-anchor of Valluvar's family and state.But, at the outset, one should notice the literary characteristic of the distichs. The couplets are in the forms of statements of facts with great precision and economy of words. Each problem or topic is treated as a thing in itself but their general interrelationship is clear.The first Book, Arattuppal, has two divisionsIllaraviyal on family and Turavaraviyalon Renunciation. The first section deals with the General significance of a family and a householder, the Characteristics of a good wife, Begetting children (with duties of both father and son), Love, Hospitality to visitors, Pleasing speech, Gratitude, Impartiality, Restraint in words and action, Correct conduct, Evils of adultery, Tolerance, Evils of jealousy, Non-covetousness, Evils of back-biting, Evils of purposeless talk, Fear of bad action, Following the norms of society, Munificence and Glory or Fame.The section on Asceticism deals with Being gracious, Avoidance of flesh eating, Penance, Avoidance of bad conduct, of stealth, Truthfulness, Avoidance of Anger, Avoidance of committing unbecoming acts Impermanence, Renunciation, Realisation of truth, Annihilation of desire and Fate.Valluvar's family operates in a society based on caste and class (133, 134, 221). It is a heterogenous one with traders forming a substantial section (118, 120). Women occupy a lower position than men (225, 226). It is one which is beset with problems like adultery. Liberality is urged upon the rich (231).The book on Polity is divided into the following sections.a) on King requisite characteristics of a king;b) on Ministers;c) on State and its security (economic and military);d) on Friendly Relationships;e) on Things that should be avoided in a proper administration;f) on Citizenship.It is generally agreed that Valluvar takes the Saptangas of the Arthashastra as the basis but the emphasis is on the ruler as an individual. Some have given an idealistic interpretation for this. Aiyangar comments, "It suited Thiruvalluvar's purpose and perhaps served better in his immediate milieu to treat of the king and the kingdom as it obtained in the Tamil country. It may be suggested that this emphasis on the personality of the king was a historical necessity at a time when Tamilnad was emerging from a heroic society in which individual bravery and heroism were the cornerstone of political power to a more settled structure, both in terms of society and economy. The picture we get of the state and polity from Tol. is vastly different from that in Kural. As Srinivas Iyengar commented "there is little in the early Tamil odes or in the Porulatikaram to indicate that the art of government was developed or followed any kind of political science, theoretical or practical. And Kural provides a concise socio-political philosophy. It is significant that in Kural we do not hear much about the administrative organisation of the cities about which we have detailed information in PP and MK.The transition from heroic militarism to a more settled landowning system could also be deduced from the principles Valluvar lays down for Citizenship. He takes those qualities which are considered virtues in a heroic milieu, like Honour, Pride, Glory and Munificence, and gives them a ne