Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai () is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

poetic work of

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

nature belonging to the

Eighteen Lesser Texts The Eighteen Lesser Texts, known as the Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku () in the literature, is a collection of eighteen poetic works mostly created during the 'post Sangam period' (between 100 and 500 CE). The poems of this collection differ from t ...

(''Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku'') anthology of

Tamil literature Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a 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 T ...

. This belongs to the 'post Sangam period corresponding to between 100 and 500 CE. ''Nanmanikkatigai'' contains one hundred songs written by the poet Vilambi Naganaar. This poetic work is famous for its clarity and easy readability and is often a prescribed text for schools in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The poems of ''Nanmanikkatigai'' 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 tw ...

meter. The poems of ''Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai'' each contain four different ideas. The name ''Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai'' denotes this fact comparing the four ideas to four well-chosen gems adorning each poem. The following poem describes four different groups of people who cannot sleep well at night, namely, a thief, a lovelorn person, someone who hankers after money and a person who wishes to guard his wealth: கள்வம்என் பார்க்குந் துயில் இல்லை, காதலிமாட்டு
உள்ளம்வைப்பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, ஒண்பொருள்
செய்வம்என் பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, அப்பொருள்
காப்பார்க்கும் இல்லை துயில்.

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/pm0047.pdf ''Nanmanikkatigai'' eText at Project madurai Sangam literature {{India-lit-stub