Takanobu Takahashi
Takanobu Takahashi - Japanese Tamil and Sanskrit scholar, professor of Indian Literature at the Buddhist University, Osaka, Japan
Book – 1. Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics
Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics (excerpts from this book)
Book Chapters
1. Introduction
1.1. Classical Tamil Literature (Cangam Literature)
1.2. Conventionality of Classical Literature
1.2.1. Akam and Puram
1.2.2. Dramatis Personae of Akam poetry
1.2.3. Aintinai or the Five Landscapes
1.3 Aim of this book
1.4 Methodology
1.5 Synopsis of this book
2. Erudite Works
2.1 Tolkāppiyam Porulatikāram
2.1.1 Date of Tolkāppiyam
2.1.2 Internal structure of Tolkāppiyam Porulatikāram
2.1.4 Author of Tolkāppiyam
2.1.5 Name of Tolkāppiyam
2.2 Iraiyanār Akapporul
2.2.1 Story concerning the origin of IA
2.2.2 Date of IA
2.2.3 Nakkirar’s commentary
2.3 Akapporul Vilakkam
2.3.1 Contents and characteristics of AV
3. Turai (colophon)
3.1 Definition
3.2 Origin of turai
3.3 Date of turai
3.4 Conclusions
4. Texts of Akam poetry
4.1 Date of the texts
4.2 Peculiarity of Ainkurunuru
4.3 Chronological oder of the anthologies
4.4 Conclusion to Chapters 2,3 and 4
5. Brief analysis of mutal and karu
5.1 Mutal
5.2 Karu
5.3 Classification of the tinais
6. Analysis of Uri; thematic investigations based on Akkaporul Vilakkam’s model of the description of akam poetry
Kalavu, Varaivu, Karpu
7. Conclusion
7.1 Development of love themes
7.2 High conventionality of Cangam poetry
7.3 Tolkāppiyam, not a normative grammar for Cangam poetry
7.4 Erudite works after Tolkāppiyam
7.5 Ainkurunuru, a later anthology
7.6 Relative and absolute chronology
Book – 1. Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics
Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics (excerpts from this book)
Book Chapters
1. Introduction
1.1. Classical Tamil Literature (Cangam Literature)
1.2. Conventionality of Classical Literature
1.2.1. Akam and Puram
1.2.2. Dramatis Personae of Akam poetry
1.2.3. Aintinai or the Five Landscapes
1.3 Aim of this book
1.4 Methodology
1.5 Synopsis of this book
2. Erudite Works
2.1 Tolkāppiyam Porulatikāram
2.1.1 Date of Tolkāppiyam
2.1.2 Internal structure of Tolkāppiyam Porulatikāram
2.1.4 Author of Tolkāppiyam
2.1.5 Name of Tolkāppiyam
2.2 Iraiyanār Akapporul
2.2.1 Story concerning the origin of IA
2.2.2 Date of IA
2.2.3 Nakkirar’s commentary
2.3 Akapporul Vilakkam
2.3.1 Contents and characteristics of AV
3. Turai (colophon)
3.1 Definition
3.2 Origin of turai
3.3 Date of turai
3.4 Conclusions
4. Texts of Akam poetry
4.1 Date of the texts
4.2 Peculiarity of Ainkurunuru
4.3 Chronological oder of the anthologies
4.4 Conclusion to Chapters 2,3 and 4
5. Brief analysis of mutal and karu
5.1 Mutal
5.2 Karu
5.3 Classification of the tinais
6. Analysis of Uri; thematic investigations based on Akkaporul Vilakkam’s model of the description of akam poetry
Kalavu, Varaivu, Karpu
7. Conclusion
7.1 Development of love themes
7.2 High conventionality of Cangam poetry
7.3 Tolkāppiyam, not a normative grammar for Cangam poetry
7.4 Erudite works after Tolkāppiyam
7.5 Ainkurunuru, a later anthology
7.6 Relative and absolute chronology
Tamil, a major Dravidian language of South India, is “one of the classical languages of India”. It’s earliest literary works of about two millenia ago consist of a ‘grammar’, in a wide sense of the term, containing poetics and rhetoric, called Tolkāppiyam and the two anthologies (Ettuthokai and Pattuppattu) of poems of love and war.
It is generally believed in India that works of art are made on the basis of ‘normative’ works. In Tamil, the ‘grammar’ has been called ilakkanam (<Skt. laksana – ‘accurate definition’), and the ‘literary text’ has been designated ilakkiyam (<Skt. laksya “the thing defined”). As evident from the terminology, the literary texts have been traditionally considered to be composed on the basis of the norms of the grammars. Especially the case between the grammar Tolkāppiyam and the poems of the classical (Cangam, pronounced Sangam) period has been believed so. This book is aimed at the investigation of that relationship, including models such asilakkanam-ilakkiyam, between the literary theories and the actual literature, with special focus on love poetry of the classical period. The guiding principle of the investigation is the critical, philological and historical, analysis of the subject. It is hoped that it marks an exiguous but definite forward step in the progress of Tamil studies.