Ainkurunuru ( meaning ''five hundred short poems'') is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the third of the

Eight Anthologies The Eight Anthologies, known as Eṭṭuttokai ( ta, எட்டுத்தொகை) or "Eight Collections" in the literature, is a classical Tamil poetic work that forms part of the Eighteen Greater Texts (''Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku'') anthol ...

(''Ettuthokai'') in the

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...

. It is divided into five groups of 100 short stanzas of 3 to 6 lines, each hundred subdivided into 10s, or ''pattu''. The five groups are based on ''tinai'' (landscapes): riverine, sea coast, mountain, arid and pastoral. According to Martha Selby, the love poems in ''Ainkurunuru'' are generally dated from about the late-2nd-to-3rd-century-CE (

Sangam period The Sangam period or age (, ), particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka (then known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 6th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. ...

).Selby, Martha Ann. Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, 2011. . pp. 1-6 According to

Takanobu Takahashi is a Japanese Indologist, who is currently associate professor of Indian literature at International Buddhist University at Osaka, Japan. He is the second translator of the Kural into Japanese. Biography Takanobu Takahashi was born in 1951 ...

– a Tamil literature scholar, these poems were likely composed between 300 and 350 CE based on the linguistic evidence, while

Kamil Zvelebil Kamil Václav Zvelebil (November 17, 1927 – January 17, 2009) was a Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Tamil, Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology. Life and career Zvelebil studied at the Cha ...

– another Tamil literature scholar – suggests the Ainkurunuru poems were composed by 210 CE, with some of the poems dated to 100 BCE. The ''Ainkurunuru'' anthology manuscript includes a colophon which states it to be a Chera (

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

) text, rather than the more common Pandyan kingdom-based. The poems in this book were written by five authors and were compiled by Kudalur Kilar at the behest of Chera King Yanaikkatcey Mantaran Ceral Irumporai.

Style and contents

This book comes under the ''Akam'' (love and emotions) category of the Sangam literature. The poems of this anthology are in the ''Akaval'' meter. These poems deal with the various aspects of the courtship between the hero and the heroine. The poems are set in various

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

(''Tinai'' - திணை). Each poem is subdivided and formatted into ''pattu'' or tens, a style found in much of Tamil literature such as ''

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The tex ...

'',

Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th cent ...

poetry and elsewhere. This may have been, according to Zvelebil, a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

literature (''sataka'' style) influence on this work. However, the poetry shows relatively few loan words from Sanskrit. The ''Ainkurunuru'' has allusions to 17 historical events and offers some window into early Tamil society. For example, it mentions the ''kutumi'', or the "pigtail of Brahmin boys".

Sections and authors

The work is divided into five sections by different authors:Selby, Martha Ann. Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, 2011. . p. ''vii'' # ''Marutam'' - 100 poems on jealous quarrelling, by Ōrampōkiyār # ''Neytal'' - 100 poems on lamenting the lover's absence, by Ammuvaṉār # ''Kuṟiñci'' - 100 poems on union of lovers, by

Kapilar Kapilar or Kabilar (Tamil: கபிலர்) was the most prolific Tamil poet of the Sangam period (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE). He alone contributed some 206 poems, or a little less than 10% of the entire Sangam-era classical corpus ...

# ''Pālai'' - 100 poems on separation, by Otalānraiyār # ''Mullai'' - 100 poems on patient waiting for the lover's return, by Pēyaṉār The invocation song at the start of the anthology was written by Perunthevanaar, who translated the

Mahabharatham The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...

into Tamil.

Publication and commentary

The text was published by U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar, along with a detailed commentary. A short commentary on ''Ainkurunuru'' anthology was published in the medieval anonymously.

Example

:Poem 255: Original :குன்றக் குறவன் காதல் மடமகள் :வரையர மகளிர்ப் புரையுஞ் சாயலள் :ஐயள் அரும்பிய முலையள் :செய்ய வாயினள் மார்பினள் சுணங்கே. Transliteration: :Kuṉṟak kuṟavaṉ kātal maṭamakaḷ :Varaiyara makaḷirp puraiyuñ cāyalaḷ :Aiyaḷ arumpiya mulaiyaḷ :Ceyya vāyiṉaḷ mārpiṉaḷ cuṇaṅkē Translation: :The loving young daughter :of the hill man :is as beautiful :as a mountain goddess. :She is gorgeous :with her sprouting breasts, :her reddened lips, :and her mottled chest. – Translator: Martha Ann SelbySelby, Martha Ann. Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, 2011. . pp 105-106

Notes

References

* Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983) * *

External links

*
Aingurunuru of kudalur kizhar
', Project Madurai {{Tamil language Literature, Tamil Sangam literature Tamil philosophy Ancient Indian poems