Ciṟupañcamūlam (Siruppanchamulam) (Tamil: சிறுபஞ்சமூலம்) is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Pathinenkilkanakku'') anthology of

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

. This belongs to the 'post

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. ...

' corresponding to between 100 – 500 CE. ''Siruppanchamulam'' contains 100 poems written by the poet Kariyaasaan. He was probably a

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

by religious persuasion. This and the fact that he was a student of one Makkayanaar is known from the introductory poem of this book. The poems of ''Siruppanchamulam'' are written in the

Venpa Venpa or Venba ('' வெண்பா'' in Tamil) is a form of classical Tamil poetry. Classical Tamil poetry has been classified based upon the rules of metric prosody. Such rules form a context-free grammar. Every venba consists of between two ...

meter. Siruppanchamulam uses the analogy of the traditional herbal medicine, which uses the roots of the five herbs ''kandankatthiri'' (a plant of the nightshade family – ''

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

xanthocarpum''), ''siruvzhuthunai'', ''sirumalli'', ''perumalli'', and ''nerunji'' (a thorny prostrate plant – ''

Tribulus terrestris ''Tribulus terrestris'' is an annual plant in the caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae) widely distributed around the world. It is adapted to thrive in dry climate locations in which few other plants can survive. It is native to warm temperate and t ...

'') to cure certain maladies. ''Siruppanchamulam'' similarly uses five different maxims to illustrate correct behaviour. The following poem lists the five things, namely, a chaste girl, the humility of the learned, friendly neighbouring countries, benevolent kings under whose reign there are timely rains and loyal assistants as sweet as ambrosia. : கற்புடைய பெண் அமிர்து, கற்று அடங்கினான் அமிர்து : நற்புடைய நாடுஅமிர்து - நற்புடைய : மேகமே சேர்கொடி வேந்து அமிர்து, சேவகனும் : ஆகவே செய்யின் அமிர்து.

References

* Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983) * http://tamilnation.org/literature/ * http://tamilnation.org/literature/pathinen/pm0029.pdf ''Siruppanchamulam'' eText at Project madurai Sangam literature Jain texts {{Jainism-book-stub

See also

References