In the 17th century, there appeared a treatise on grammar Ilakkaṇa Viḷakkam which deals with the five aspects as outlined in Tolkāppiam. Beschi makes the following comments on Tolkāppiam “One ancient work written by a person called Tolkāppiaṉar (Ancient Author) is still to be met with, but from its conciseness it is so obscure and unintelligible that a devotee named Pavaṇanti was induced to write on the same subject”. From these remarks one may be led to think that Beschi does not follow Tolkāppiam. Perhaps he is indirectly indebted to him through other treatises in grammar which had been patterned on Tolkāppiam.

According to Tamil tradition, subjective poetry describes love before and after marriage, It portrays the very drama of love, the meeting of the lovers, their marriage, their separation and their pangs of separation – all this is reflected in love poetry. Time and place centre round the main theme of love. It is the unfolding of love in its varied aspects that constitutes the very soul of subjective poetry. Instead of stressing the main theme, Beschi confines himself to time, place and regional features. He interprets them not in the light of the traditional way of looking at love, but twists them to suit his own angle of vision. Though he calls his work Toṉṉūl Viḷakkam, his treatment goes against the grain of the Tamils. Being a monk, he has abstained from the treatement of it. Perhaps it is repugnant to his taste and revolting to his view of life.

It is true that the Caṅkam Classics mostly deal with war and love, but the other aspects of life are not absent from them. Beschi’s view does not hold water.³⁴⁰

His three-fold classifications Vaḻakku, Tēṟṟam, Tōṟṟam does not find a place either in Tamil or in Sanskrit. His five-fold division³⁴¹ of prologue, genesis, details, marshalling of details and epilogue is quite novel to Tamil. One finds with his classification, how a great piece of literature must be built step by step. It also shows how the parts must be knit into a whole

340. Ibid. S. 316, Commentary 322, 323

341. Ibid. S. 144