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

' (between 100 and 500 CE). The poems of this collection differ from the earlier works of the

Eighteen Greater Texts The Eighteen Greater Texts, known as Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku () in the literature, is the collection of the oldest surviving Tamil poetry. This collection is considered part of the Sangam Literature and dated approximately between 100 BCE and ...

(''Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku''), which are the oldest surviving

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 ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, in that the poems 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 and are relatively short in length. Naladiyar, having sung by 400 poets, is the only anthology in this collection. Each of the remaining works of the Eighteen Lesser Texts is sung by a single poet. Unlike the works of the Eighteen Greater Texts, most of the books of the Eighteen Lesser Texts deal with morals and ethics.

Works of the "Eighteen lesser books" collection

The Eighteen Lesser Texts contains the following books: * ''

Nālaṭiyār The Nālaṭiyār () is a Tamil poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku'') anthology of Tamil literature. This belongs to the post Sangam period corresponding to between 100 and 500 ...

'' * '' Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai'' * '' Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu'' * '' Iṉiyavai Nāṟpatu'' * '' Kār Nāṟpatu'' * '' Kaḷavaḻi Nāṟpatu'' * '' Aintiṇai Aimpatu'' * '' Tiṉaimoḻi Aimpatu'' * ''

Aintinai Eḻupatu Aintinai Eḻupatu (), is a Tamil poetic work belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku'') anthology of Tamil literature, belonging to the post- Sangam period corresponding to between 100–500 CE. ''Aintinai Eḻupa ...

'' * '' Tiṉaimalai Nūṟṟu Aimpatu'' * ''

Tirukkuṛaḷ The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

'' * '' Tirikaṭukam'' * '' Ācārakkōvai'' * '' Paḻamoḻi Nāṉūṟu'' * ''

Ciṟupañcamūlam Ciṟupañcamūlam (Siruppanchamulam) (Tamil: சிறுபஞ்சமூலம்) is a Tamil poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Pathinenkilkanakku'') anthology of Tamil literature. This belongs to the ...

'' * '' Mutumoḻikkānci'' * ''

Elāti Elathi is a Tamil poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Pathinenkilkanakku'') anthology of Tamil literature. This belongs to the 'post Sangam period' corresponding to between 100 and 500 CE. ''Elathi'' contai ...

'' * '' Kainnilai''

References

External links

Patinenkilkkanakku – Works on Akam theme, a translation of seven works by Prof. A. Dakshinamurthy (Thiruchirapalli: Bharathidasan University, 2010)
Tamil-language literature {{India-lit-stub

Works of the "Eighteen lesser books" collection

See also

References

Further reading

External links