Post-Sangam period Tamil literature

1 post-sangam period

1.1 didactic age
1.2 hindu devotional period
1.3 narrative epics

post-sangam period
didactic age

the 3 centuries after sangam age witnessed increase in mutual interaction of sanskrit , tamil. number of words , concepts relating ethics, philosophy , religion mutually borrowed , exchanged between languages. around 300 ce, tamil land under influence of group of people known kalabhras. kalabhras buddhist , number of buddhist authors flourished during period. jainism , buddhism saw rapid growth. these authors, perhaps reflecting austere nature of faiths, created works on morality , ethics. number of jain , buddhist poets contributed creation of these didactic works grammar , lexicography. collection minor eighteen anthology of period.

the best known of these works on ethics tirukkural thiruvalluvar. book comprehensive manual of ethics, polity , love, containing 1,330 distichs or kural divided chapters of ten distichs each: first thirty-eight on ethics, next seventy on polity , remainder on love.

other famous works of period kaḷavaḻi nāṟpatu, nalatiyar, inna narpathu , iniyavai narpathu. jain texts nalatiyar , pazhamozhi nanuru each consist of 4 hundred poems, each of cites proverb , illustrates story.

hindu devotional period

the fall of kalabhras around 500 ce saw reaction far suppressed hindus. kalabhras replaced pandyas in south , pallavas in north. exit of kalabhras, jain , buddhist influence still remained in tamil nadu. pandya , pallava kings followers of these faiths. hindu reaction apparent decline of religion growing , reached peak during later part of 7th century. there widespread hindu revival during huge body of saiva , vaishnava literature created. many saiva nayanmars , vaishnava alvars provided great stimulus growth of popular devotional literature. karaikkal ammaiyar lived in 6th century ce earliest of these nayanmars. celebrated saiva hymnists sundaramoorthy, thirugnana sambanthar , thirunavukkarasar (also known appar) of period. of appar s verses 3066 have survived. sambandar sang 4,169 verses. these form first 6 books of saiva canon, collected nambi andar nambi in 10th century. sundarar wrote tiruttondartokai gives list of sixty-two nayanmars. later elaborated sekkilar in periyapuranam(4,272 verses). manikkavasagar, lived around 8th century ce minister in pandya court. tiruvasakam consisting of on 600 verses noted passionate devotion.. these saivite hymns collectively called thirumurai (திருமுறை) described sixth veda next bhagavath geetha in hindu tradition.

along saiva nayanmars, vaishnava alvars producing devotional hymns , songs collected later 4 thousand sacred hymns (naalayira divyap prabhandham). 3 earliest alvars poygai, pudam , pey. each of these wrote 1 hundred venpas. tirumalisai alwar contemporary of pallava mahendravarman wrote such works naanmugantiruvadiandadi. tirumangai alvar lived in 8th century ce more prolific writer , works constitute third of diyaprabhandam. periyalvar , adopted daughter andal contributed 650 hymns vaishnava canon. andal symbolised purity , love god , wrote hymns addressing vishnu lover. hymn of andal starts vaaranam aayiram (one thousand elephants) tells of dream wedding vishnu , sung today @ tamil vaishnava weddings. nammalvar, lived in 9th century, wrote tiruvaimoli. comprises 1,101 stanzas , held in great esteem elucidation of upanishads. corpus collected nathamuni, around 950 ce , formed classical , vernacular basis sri vaishnavism. these hymns naalayira divya-p-prabhandham respected @ par vedas sri vaishnavites in sanctity , holiness , hence referred dravida vedam (திராவிட வேதம்).

narrative epics

cilappatikaram 1 of outstanding works of general literature of period. authorship , exact date of classic cilappatikaram not known. ilango adigal, credited work reputed brother of sangam age chera king senguttuvan. have no information of such brother in numerous poems sung on chera king. cilappatikaram unique in vivid portrayal of ancient tamil land. unknown in other works of period. cilappatikaram , companion epic manimekalai buddhist in philosophy. manimekalai written sattanar contemporary of ilango adigal. manimekalai contains long exposition of fallacies of logic considered based on 5th century sanskrit work nyayapravesa dinnag. kongu velir, jain author wrote perunkathai based on sanskrit brihat-katha. valayapathi , kundalakesi names of 2 other narrative poems of period written jain , buddhist author respectively. these works have been lost , few poems of valayapathi have been found far.