Sri Lankan Tamil Literature
   HOME
*





Sri Lankan Tamil Literature
Sri Lankan Tamil literature or Ceylon Tamil literature refers to Tamil literature produced in the current day country of Sri Lanka by various Tamil speaking communities such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Muslims. The earliest extant records survived from the Sangam age academies and continued in the medieval era in the courts of the Jaffna kingdom until modern times. The destruction of the Saraswathy Mahal library of Nallur and the burning of Jaffna library led to the loss of a large tract of Sri Lankan Tamil literature, although much survives through oral traditions and the unearthing and preservation of palm-leaf manuscripts, copper plate inscriptions & stone inscriptions . Classical era The earliest extant Sri Lankan Tamil literature survives from the academies of the Sangam age dated from 200 BCE. Īḻattup pūtaṉtēvaṉār was one of the earliest known native classical Eelam Tamil poets from the Sangam period, hailing from Manthai, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tamil Language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora found in many countries, including Malaysia, Myanmar, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Mauritius. Tamil is also natively spoken by Sri Lankan Moors. One of 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India, Tamil was the first to be classified as a classical language of India. Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages of India.. "Tamil is one of the two longest-surviving classical languages in India" (p. 7). A. K. Ramanujan described it as "the on ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tamilakam
Tamiḻakam (Tamil: தமிழகம்; Malayalam: തമിഴകം), refers to the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people, covering the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Tamilakam covered today's Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Traditional accounts and the ''Tolkāppiyam'' referred to these territories as a single cultural area, where Tamil was the natural language and permeated the culture of all its inhabitants. The ancient Tamil country was divided into kingdoms. The best known among them were the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyans and Pallavas. During the Sangam period, Tamil culture began to spread outside Tamilakam. Ancient Tamil settlements were also established in Sri Lanka ( Sri Lankan Tamils) and the Maldives ( Giravarus). In contemporary India, Tamil politicians and orators often use the name ''Tamilakam'' to refer to Tamil Nadu alone. Etymology "Tamiḻakam" is a p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Singai Pararasasekaran
Singai Pararasasegaram ( ta, சிங்கைப் பரராசசேகரன்) (died 1519), was one of the most well known kings of the later Aryacakravarti kings of the Jaffna kingdom. He was the father of Cankili I. Biography Singai Pararajaseakaram was the first-born son of Kanakasooriya Singaiariyan who lost and then regained the Jaffna kingdom from the rival Kotte kingdom. Singai Pararajasekaram is also the first in line not to use the title Singaiariyan as part of the regnal name. After him all kings had the shorter version Singai as part of the regnal name. After regaining the kingdom, kings such as Singai Pararajasekaram concentrated in developing the core area of the kingdom rather than territorial expansion. Singai Pararajasekarm had two wives. One Rasaletchumi Ammal, Valliammai and a concubine named Mangathammal. He had eight children through the two wives and one concubine.Kunarasa K, ''The Jaffna Dynasty'' p.73-77Nadarajan V, ''History of Ceylon Tamils'' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan
Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan ( ta, குணவீர சிங்கையாரியன்) was an Aryacakravarti The Arya Chakravarti dynasty ( ta, ஆரியச் சக்கரவர்த்திகள் வம்சம், Sinhalese language, Sinhalese: ආර්ය චක්‍රවර්තී රාජවංශය) were kings of the Jaffna ... king of the Jaffna Kingdom. Local sources say that he ruled Jaffna from 1414 or 1417. After his reign, his son Kanakasooriya Cinkaiariyan ruled the Jaffna kingdomயாழ்ப்பாண வைபவமாலை Notes References Yalpana Vaipava Malai {{DEFAULTSORT:Cinkaiariyan, Gunaveera Kings of Jaffna Sri Lankan Tamil royalty ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial objects in astrology, celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in Calendrical calculation, calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindu astrology, Hindus, Chinese astrology, Chinese, and the Maya civilization, Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan
Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan ( ta, செயவீர சிங்கையாரியன்) was the Aryacakravarti king of the Jaffna Kingdom in modern-day northern Sri Lanka, who had a military confrontation with a southern chief known as Alagukonar al. According to traditional sources, Alagkkonara defeated Jeyaveera's naval and land forces and assumed royal power in the southern Gampola Kingdom. Later, King Harihara II's brother Yuvaraja Virupanna invaded Sri Lanka from Karnataka, defeated Alagkkonara and established a pillar of victory there. Until this defeat all southern kings were paying tribute to the Aryachakravartis. He or his successor is credited with having left behind an inscription in the South Indian Hindu temple Rameswaram about renovating its sanctum sanctorum. It indicated the stones for the renovations were shipped from the city of Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාම ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chola Empire
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE during the reign of Ashoka of the Maurya Empire. As one of the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam, along with the Chera and Pandya, the dynasty continued to govern over varying territories until the 13th century CE. The Chola Empire was at its peak under the Medieval Cholas in the mid-9th century CE. The heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valley of the Kaveri River. They ruled a significantly larger area at the height of their power from the later half of the 9th century till the beginning of the 13th century. They unified peninsular India south of the Tungabhadra River, and held the territory as one state for three centuries between 907 and 1215 CE.K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, ''A History of South India'', p 157 Under Rajaraja I and his ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition. However, verse has come to represent any grouping of lines in a poetic composition, with groupings traditionally having been referred to as stanzas. Verse in the uncountable ( mass noun) sense refers to poetry in contrast to prose. Where the common unit of verse is based on meter or rhyme, the common unit of prose is purely grammatical, such as a sentence or paragraph. Verse in the second sense is also used pejoratively in contrast to poetry to suggest work that is too pedestrian or too incompetent to be classed as poetry. Types of verse Rhymed verse Rhymed verse is historically the most commonly used form of verse in English. It generally has a discernible meter and an end rhyme. I felt a Cleaving in my Mind – As if my Brain had split – I tried to match it – Seam by Seam – But could not make them fit. The thought behind, I strove to join Unto the thought before – But S ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ilanaga Of Anuradhapura
Ilanaga, also known as Elunna, was King of Anuradhapura in the 1st century, whose reign lasted from 38 to 44. He overthrew and succeeded his aunt Sivali as King of Anuradhapura and was succeeded by his son Chandamukha. Conflicts with the Lambakarnas Shortly after Ilanaga's coronation, he and his entourage went to Lake Tissa to bathe. The king's servants, who belonged to the Lambakarna dynasty (an ancient clan of Sri Lanka), were very arrogant. They waited until the king went down into the water, and then left the king alone. The king was very angry and tried to break their pride. The Mahavamsa states that he built a dagoba near the Tissa Lake and used Lambakarnas to dig stones and tread clay for it, and deployed Chandalas as their acting officers. Infuriated by this, the Lambakannas revolted against the king and captured him. The chronicle states that when the queen of King Ilanaga heard of this, she placed her son, prince Chandmukha near the elephant, and said to the kin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Naga People (Lanka)
The Naga people are believed by some to be an ancient tribe who once inhabited Sri Lanka and various parts of Southern India. There are references to Nagas in several ancient texts such as Mahavamsa, Manimekalai, Mahabharata and also in other Sanskrit and Pali literature. They were generally represented as a class of super-humans taking the form of serpents who inhabit a subterranean world. Certain places such as Nagadeepa in Jaffna and Kalyani in Gampaha are mentioned as their abodes. The names of some Naga kings in Sri Lankan legends such as Mani Akkhitha (Mani Naga) and Mahodara are also found in Sanskrit literature among superhuman Nagas, and the cult of Mani Naga prevailed in India up to medieval times. The Jaffna Peninsula was mentioned in Tamil literature as ''Naka Nadu'', in Pali literature as ''Nagadeepa'' and in Greek gazetteer as ''Nagadiba''. The name ''Nagabhumi'' was also found on a Brahmi-inscribed coin from Uduthurai, Jaffna and in a Tamil inscription from Pu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Kuṟuntokai
Kuṟuntokai ( ta, குறுந்தொகை, meaning ''the short-collection'') is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the second of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam literature. The collection belongs to the ''akam'' (love) category, and each poem consists of 4 to 8 lines each (except poem 307 and 391 which have 9 lines). The Sangam literature structure suggests that the original compilation had 400 poems, but the surviving ''Kuruntokai'' manuscripts have 402 poems. According to Takanobu Takahashi – a Tamil literature scholar, these poems were likely composed between 100 CE and 300 CE based on the linguistics, style and dating of the authors. Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil literature and history scholar, states that the majority of the poems in the ''Kuruntokai'' were likely composed between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE. The ''Kuruntokai'' manuscript colophon states that it was compiled by Purikko (உரை), however nothing is known ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Naṟṟiṇai
''Naṟṟiṇai'' ( ta, நற்றிணை meaning ''excellent tinai''), is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the first of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam literature. The collection – sometimes spelled as Natrinai or Narrinai – contains both ''akam'' (love) and ''puram'' (war, public life) category of poems. The ''Naṟṟiṇai'' anthology contains 400 poems, mainly of 9 to 12 lines, but a few with 8 to 13 lines each. According to Takanobu Takahashi – a Tamil literature scholar, the ''Naṟṟiṇai'' poems were likely composed between 100–300 CE based on the linguistics, style and dating of the authors. While Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature and history scholar , dates some poems to the 1st century BCE. The ''Naṟṟiṇai'' manuscript colophon states that it was compiled under the patronage of the Pandyan king named ''Pannatu Tanta Pantiyan Maran Valuti'', but the compiler remained anonymous. The ''Naṟṟiṇai'' poems ar ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]