Chapter Three

LITERATURE

The literature of the Ancient Period consists of anthologies of poems on love and war, composed after the Toḷkaapiyam, and before the end of the second century A.D. To this literature which consists of about 34,000 lines, one should add also the Cillapatikaram (The Epic of the Anklet) and the Manimeekalai, a long poem, Buddhist in origin and doctrine. Ancient Tamil Literature offers a surprisingly great deal of information concerning the social life of the Tamils.

I. The Tolkaapiyam

The Tolkaapiyam, the earliest work extant in Tamil, belongs to the pre-Christian era and antedates the classical poetry or Cankam (written also Sangam) poetry. M. VARADARAJAN, Professor of Tamil, University of Madras, has written about the Tolkaapiyam in his study on Tamil Literature contained in the collection of studies on Indian Literature edited by Dr. Nagendra, Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, Agra, 1959. The reading is from pages 11 to 13.

LITERARY CONVENTIONS ARE found in Tholkappiyam, the earliest extant treatise on grammar. It is dated back to 1000 B.C. It contains 1,276 sutras. Its first part is on Orthography, the second on Morphology and the third on Literary conventions and usages. It is evident that this work was preceded by centuries of literary culture, for it lays down rules for different kinds of compositions deduced from literary works of the best authors whose works had been in existence then and also refers to other grammatical works which are now extinct. We have only names of certain works known to us through the references to them in later works and hence to attempt an account of the pre-Tholkappiyam works, is equal to grouping in the dark. But