d04126 LESSON - 6

Growth of Cirrilakkiyam

    This lesson traces the growth of minor literary forms. It analyses the
characteristic features of a few important minor literary forms such
as the ‘aatrupadai’, ‘barani’ , ‘kalambagam’ , ‘pallu’, ‘ula’, ‘kuravanji’ and
‘ madal.’ Minor literary forms or ‘sittrilakiyangal’ may be based on
themes concerning ‘agatinai’ , ‘puratinai’ , ‘bakti’ or devotion and folk
songs. ‘Sittrilakkiyangal’ such as ‘kovai’, ‘madal’, ‘kaikkilai’ and ‘thoothu’
are based on themes pertaining to ‘agattinai’ . ‘Kanji’ , ‘malai’,
‘ kaiyarunilai’ , ‘aatrupadai’ and ‘thirupalliezhuchi’ are based on ‘puratinai.’
‘Andadi’ and ‘malai’ celebrate ‘bakti’ or devotion. ‘Kummi’, ‘pallu’ and
‘ sindu’ are based on folk songs.

    The earliest extant minor literary forms may be traced to the ‘aatrupadai’
poems of ‘Pathupattu’ or The Ten idylls written during the Sangam age.
However, it was only from the 8th     century A.D. onwards that
‘ sittrilakkiyangal’ or minor literary forms flourished.

    This lesson defines 9 important minor literary forms and analyses
their salient features in detail.