இந்தப் பாடம் என்ன சொல்கிறது?

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 சிவஞான முனிவர், கச்சியப்ப முனிவர், அம்பலவாண தேசிகர், சாந்தலிங்க அடிகள், திருப்போரூர் சிதம்பர சுவாமிகள் and குமாரதேவர். Significant among the Vaishnavaite writers were, வீரை ஆளவந்தார், சீகாழி அருணாசலக் கவிராயர் and நல்லாப்பிள்ளை.

During this century, Pallu and Sadhagam / பள்ளு and சதகம் became popular. Pallu refers to the songs of the agriculturists. Noteworthy among the Pallu works which we now have, is முக்கூடற்பள்ளு; 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 தொண்டை மண்டல சதகம், பாண்டிமண்டல சதகம், கொங்கு மண்டல சதகம், and சோழ மண்டல சதகம். Similarly, திருத்தொண்டர் சதகம் 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 பரமார்த்த குருகதை, the first satire in Tamil, and தொன்னூல் விளக்கம், popularly called குட்டித்தொல்காப்பியம்.

Similarly, உமறுப்புலவர் composed 5027 verses containing the life-history of Nabigal Naayagam, his teachings and service to Islam. These verses have been collected into a work, சீறாப்புராணம். 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.