Lesson - 5

A04125 HISTORY OF TAMIL LITERATURE IN THE 9 th CENTURY - Part II

    Although the 9 th century was marked by confusion arising out of sporadic battles between the various kings in Tamilnad, the Sanskrit language retained its prominence, and grammatical works and commentaries appeared. For the first time, a thesaurus was produced.

    King Nirupathungavarma Pallava ruled the land for thirty years from 850-880 A.D. His son, Aparaasithavarman (882 - 890) was the last Pallava king. It was he who built the temple at Tiruttani. After him, the Cholas began their rule.

    During the age of the Pallavas, society was divided into four classes -- Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vysyas and Sudras. We cannot say that all the Pallava kings followed the same religion. Some of them were Saivaites and some were Vaishnavaites. Hence, temples were built both for Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu.

    Several grammatical works were produced during this time. Some of them are கல்லாடம், அவிநயம், பாட்டியல், இறையனார் களவியல், தமிழ்நெறி விளக்கம் and பன்னிருபடலம். The first thesaurus in Tamil was compiled by Diwakarar. The word “Diwakaran” means ‘sun' or ‘one who makes daylight'. From various references available, it is believed that Diwakarar must have been a warrior and a Saivaite. It is to be noted that the first thesaurus in English was produced by Roget only in the 19 th Century. Following Diwakar's Thesaurus, however, about twenty different thesauruses appeared in Tamil, between the 9 th and 20 th centuries.

    From this lesson you can learn about the political, social and religious conditions prevailing during the 9 th century. You can also learn about the various dictionaries, grammatical works, commentaries and the first thesaurus that were produced at this time.