cence and old age; liberality and ethical goodness are indulged in without motives of expiation and penance or mercenary recompense; rebirth is seldom spoken of in the earlier poems but the life after death is represented as an abode of permanent happiness for the good, and permanent suffering for the wicked; happiness in the future world is conceded only to those who by their bravery and altruism have established their glory in this world; love and courtship, marriage and children are considered necessary modes of human fulfilment and perfection of personality; and the norms and ideals of statecraft, ethics, truth, justice, equity, gratitude and love, which run through the anthologies and the Tirukkural, seem to make by comparison Kautilya, Manu and Vatsyāyana5 limited and exclusive in the ideals and concepts they teach of moral and ethical goodness. The following poem tersely expresses certain dynamic and creative thoughts concerning the ideals fostered by panegyric poetry: Does this world really exist If it does, it is because therein live persons who if they came by even Indra's nectar would not consume it selfishly alone; they bear ill-will towards none; they fear not nor quail before what others fear; they waver not. With ideals of striving not for their own good but for the good of the rest of men they live; hence, one may believe the world exists. (Puram, 203) |
III. Nature Poetry and the Regional Division The division of the earth into five types of land or regions was fundamental to the development of Tamil Culture. Any study of Tamil Culture and Civilization has to take note of this environmental or regional concept. This basic division also accounts for the Cankam outlook regarding Nature and the Nature Poetry which was the result. The following reading is also taken from Eastern Horizon, Hong Kong, Nos. 7 and 8, 1966, Ancient Tamil Poetry by X. S. THANI NAYAGAM. THE CONCEPT OF Nature and the poetry which resulted from this concept offer an interesting area of comparative study of the ancient world. The Chinese, the Indians, the Greeks and the Romans had each characteristic aspects of outlook regarding Nature which affected their poetry. Very often, such poetry was conditioned by the landscape within which it originated, and Nature poetry in Tamil ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Sanskrit law and moral books compiled before 2nd century A.D. |