Some Aspects of Kerala and Tamil Literature


Book Description

On the life and culture of the people of Kerala as reflected in Tamil literature.




Lexicon of Tamil Literature


Book Description

Lexicon of Tamil Literature is a reference-dictionary of Tamil literature of South India from its early beginnings more than 2000 years ago until the present time (ca. 1980). It includes in the order of Roman alphabet names and short biographies of authors, lists of their works, anonymous literary works and most important matters of Tamil prosody, rhetoric and poetics. Whenever available, bibliographic data are given with individual entries in selection. Brief contents and evaluative statements are given with literary works of greater importance, whether ancient or modern. An introduction is included. The work is the first of its kind in a non-Indian language. It is an indispensable source of data and work of reference for Tamil literature in particular, and for the totality of Indic literatures in general.




Tamil Literature


Book Description




The Cilappatikāram


Book Description

Men And Women Of Maturai Of The Four Temples! I Curse This City. Its King Erred In Killing The Man I Loved One Of The World'S Masterpieces, The Cilappatikaram (5Th Century Ce) By Ilanko Atikal Is India'S Finest Epic In A Language Other Than Sanskrit. It Spells Out In Unforgettable Verse The Problems That Humanity Has Been Wrestling With For A Long Time: Love, War, Evil, Fate And Death. The Tale Of An Anklet Is The Love Story Of Kovalan And Kannaki. Originating In Tamil Mythology, The Compelling Tale Of Kannaki Her Love, Her Feats And Triumphs, And Her Ultimate Transformation To Goddess Follows The Conventions Of Tamil Poetry And Is Told In Three Phases: The Erotic, The Heroic And The Mythic. This Epic Ranks With The Ramayana And The Mahabharata As One Of The Great Classics Of Indian Literature And Is Presented For The First Time In A Landmark English Verse Translation By The Eminent Poet R. Parthasarathy, Making It Accessible To A Wider Audience. Winner Of The 1995 Sahitya Akademi Prize For Translation (English), The 1994 Pen/ Book-Of-The-Month Club Translation Citation Of The Pen American Centre, And The 1996 Association For Asian Studies A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize For Translation.




Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature


Book Description

There is a number of problems connected with the study and teaching of any Oriental literature in general and of Tamil literature specifically which have to date been mostly ignored, although they are indispensable for solid knowledge and correct interpretation and understanding of the literature in question. These include problems of authenticity and authorship, of transmission and tradition, writing tools and materials, of relationship of orality to literacy, of Sanskrit to Tamil, the prehistory of Tamil written literature, the numerous texts that have been lost, scholarly lineages and the rediscovery of ancient Tamil literature etc. The book deals with all these problems as well as with some specific Tamil cultural phenomena such as the concept of "threefold Tamil" or the relationship of literature ('marked') to grammar ('marker'), with the derivation of the term "Tamil" and with the history of Tamil literary historiography. It will be indispensable as an introduction to the study of the more than 2000 years of Tamil literary history. By addressing questions which have thus far been almost completely neglected, it has also decisive impact on the interpretative comprehension of Tamil literature and on the teaching of this very rich heritage of verbal art.




Ritual and Mythological Sources of the Early Tamil Poetry


Book Description

This volume focuses on the origin of the early Tamil poetical canon, which constitutes a set of specific subjects, images, principles of arrangement of basic poetical themes which are called tiṇai. The author proceeds from the idea of a Russian scholar O. Freidenberg that literary forms ‘originate from anti-literary material rather than their own archetypes’. An outline of mythological concepts, prevalent in ancient Tamil culture, is presented, alongside main mythological figures - Murukaṉ, Māl, Cūr, Koṟṟavai, Vaḷḷi. A controversial notion of aṉanku, especially in its aspect of an inner female energy, is analyzed. In addition, the author explores the panegyric art of the Tamil kings’ singers, describing such singers and performers while discussing the idea of ritual character. The elements of five canonical tiṇai-themes of the akam poetry are examined, where the use of ethnological data suggests that the themes are based on some behaviour patterns which are meant to ensure a reliable control over the female energy. Finally, the text raises the problem of earlier poetic forms that consolidated the tiṇai system.




The Tale of an Anklet


Book Description

Originating in Tamil mythology, Cilappatikaram is the love story of Kannaki and Kovalan. Kannaki wears a circular anklet representing the power, strength and dignity of the goddess Pattini. Goddess status is bestowed upon Kannaki as her life undergoes the same fate as the anklet that is stolen and used as a weapon.




Of Death and Birth


Book Description

Scholars of popular Hindu religion in India have always been fascinated by oral texts and rituals, but surprisingly only few attempts have as yet been made to analyse the relationship between rituals and texts systematically. This book contributes to the filling of this gap. Focusing on the dynamics of a local (non-Brahmanical) ritual, its modular organisation and inner logic, the interaction between narrative text and ritual, and the significance of the local versus translocal nature of the text in the ritual context, the study provides a broad range of issues for comparison. It demonstrates that examining texts in their context helps to understand better the complexity of religious traditions and the way in which ritual and text are programmatically employed. The author offers a vivid description of a hitherto unnoticed ritual system, along with the first translation of a text called the Icakkiyamman-Katai (IK). Composed in the Tamil language, the IK represents a substantially longer and embellished form of a core versio which probably goes as far back as the seventh century C.E. Unlike the classical source, this text has been incorporated into a living tradition, and is being constantly refashioned. A range of text versions have been encapsulated in the form of a conspectus, which will shed light on the text's variability or fixity and will add to our knowledge of bardic creativity. Includes a film by the author on DVD.




Handbook of Oriental Studies


Book Description




Women and Miracle Stories


Book Description

This book contains a multidisciplinary collection of studies on women in miracle stories found in texts ranging from religious classics to contemporary literary fiction. Miracle stories are a genre of great importance for the study of women's religious inheritance and for the historical and cultural understanding of women as 'makers of faith'. Miracle stories are very generally speaking more open to popular religion and culture than, for instance, doctrinal and official ecclesiastical texts, and as such, they can be of special interest to the study of women's lives and religious aspirations. Remarkably, up till now this genre has not been looked at from this point of view. This book aims to open this field for further research by presenting case studies from diverse angles and disciplines. Some of the questions this book tries to answer are: What do miracle stories specifically tell us about women? Are there some (types of) miracles that are in particular related to (certain groups of) women? What do these stories tell us about women as performers and/or subjects of miracles? What can be said about the social function and religious meaning of miracles by specifically looking at the way certain groups of women are practising and experiencing miracles? By including research on miracle stories in contemporary fiction written by women this book also wants to acknowledge and research the disputed status of 'miracles' as well of 'women' in our present society which is moving from modernity to post-modernity. Please note that Women and Miracle Stories is previously published by Brill in hardback (ISBN 90 04 16681 8, still available).