Lesson - 3 : A04143

HISTORY OF TAMIL LITERATURE
IN THE 18th CENTURY

���During the 18th century, religious literature continued to be produced as also translations of the Puraanas in Sanskrit. In addition to Christian works, Muslim works in the folk tradition also came to be written at this time. Verse plays, operas and other folk plays appeared. Seeraappuraanam, the first Islamic epic in Tamil, was written during this period.

��������Under the patronage of the Saivaite mutts and the rich, literary, grammatical, philosophical works and critiques appeared at this time. Among the Saivaite writers, �mention �may �be �made �of ����� ������, ������ �����, ������� �����, ������� ܮ���, ���� ����� ������� and ������. Significant among the Vaishnavaite writers were, ���� ������, ���� ܼ����� ������ and �����������.

���During this century, Pallu and Sadhagam / ���� and ���� became popular. Pallu refers to the songs of the agriculturists. Noteworthy among the Pallu works which we now have, is ����������; which is in the form of a play. Sadhagam was a popular literary form during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It contains information about a particular region. Thus, we have ������ ����� ����, ���������� �����, ��颰 ����� �����, �and ����� ������ �����. Similarly, ����� ���� gives us the life - history of the saivaite saints.

��������Veeramaa Munivar was the name given to constantius Joseph Besky, an Italian, who came to India to preach Christianity. Well versed in French, Italian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Persian and English, he learnt Tamil and wrote several works, including ������� ����, �the first satire in Tamil, and ������� ������, popularly called �좮��������.

���Similarly, �������� �composed �5027 �verses �containing �the life-history of Nabigal Naayagam, his teachings and service to Islam. These verses have been collected into a work, �������. It is one of the most important Islamic Tamil literary works.

��������Thus, in the 18th century, Tamil literature was enriched by the appearance of Islamic and Christian works, as well as Saivaite and Vaishnavaite literary works.