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Five Great Epics

This article is aboutTamil literature.ForGreek literature,seeEpic cycle.ForMeitei literature,seeEpic cycles of incarnations.

TheFive Great Epics(Tamil:ஐம்பெரும்காப்பியங்கள்,romanized:Aimperumkāppiyaṅkaḷ) are fiveTamilepics according to later Tamil literary tradition. They areCilappatikāram,Manimekalai,Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi,ValayapathiandKundalakesi.[1]

Commentary on Silappathikaram
Topics inTamil literature
Sangam Literature
Five Great Epics
Silappatikaram Manimekalai
Civaka Cintamani Valayapathi
Kundalakesi
The Five Minor Epics
Neelakesi Culamani
Naga Kumara Kaviyam Udayana Kumara Kaviyam
Yashodhara Kaviyam
Bhakti Literature
Naalayira Divya Prabandham Kamba Ramayanam
Tevaram Tirumurai
Tamil people
Sangam Sangam landscape
Tamil history from Sangam literature Ancient Tamil music
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Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed toTamil Jains,while two are attributed toTamil Buddhists.Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi,Cilappathikāram,andValayapathiwere written byTamil Jains,while theManimekalaiandKundalakesiwere authored by Buddhists. The first mention of theAimperumkappiyam"five large epics" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary, theNannūl.However, Mayilainathar does not mention their titles. The titles are first mentioned in the late-18th-to-early-19th-century workThiruthanikaiula.Earlier works like the 17th-century poemTamil vidu thoothumention the great epics asPanchkavyams.[2][3]Among these, the last two,ValayapathiandKundalakesiare not extant.[4]

These five epics were written between the 5th to 10th centuries and act and provide historical information about the society, religions, culture and academic life ofTamil peopleover that period.Cīvaka Cintāmaṇiintroduced long verses calledvirutha pain Tamil literature,[5]whileCilappatikāramusedakavalmeter (monologue), a style adopted fromSangamliterature.

Collection

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No Name Author Date
1 Cilappatikāram Ilango Adigal(Tamil pulavar) 5th or 6th century CE[6][7][8]
2 Manimekalai Sīthalai Sāttanār(Tamil pulavar) afterCilappatikaram,6th or 7th century[9]
3 Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi Tirutakkatevar(Tamil pulavar) early 10th century[10]
4 Valayapathi An unknown pulavar 10th century[11]
5 Kundalakesi Nadakuthanar c. 10th century[12]

Theme and contents

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Ilango Adigalis the author ofSilappatikaram,one of the five great epics ofTamil literature.[6]

Cilappatikāram

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Cilappatikāramalso referred to as Silappathikaram or Silappatikaram, is the earliest Tamil epic. It is a poem of 5,730 lines in almost entirely akaval (aciriyam) meter and is a tragic love story of a wealthy couple, Kannaki and her husband Kovalan.[13]It is set inPoompuhara seaport city of theearly Cholakingdom. Kannaki and Kovalan are a newly married couple, blissfully in love.[14]Over time, Kovalan meets Madhavi – a courtesan and falls for her, leaves Kannaki and moves in with Madhavi. He spends lavishly on her. Kannaki is heartbroken, but as the chaste woman, she waits despite her husband's unfaithfulness. During the festival forIndra,the rain god, there is a poem recital competition.[14]Kovalan recites a poem about a woman who hurt her lover. Madhavi then recites a song about a man who betrayed his lover. Each debated on what is the chasity? and how a woman should be treating her husband. Each interprets the song as a message to the other. Kovalan feels Madhavi is unfaithful to him, leaves her, returns to Kannaki.[14]Kovalan is poor, they move to Madurai, and try to restart their life. Kannaki gives him one from her pair of jeweled anklets to sell and raise capital.[14]Kovalan sells it to a merchant who grows suspicious of the stranger and falsely accuses of theft of the queen' jeweled anklet which is also missing. The king orders his execution, hurrying the checks and processes of justice.[14][15]Kannaki learns what has happened. She protests the injustice and then proves Kovalan's innocence by breaking the remaining anklet of the pair in the court. The king accepts his mistake. Kannaki curses the king and the people of Madurai, tears off her left breast and throws it at the gathered public. The king dies of heartbreak and the city of Madurai is burnt to the ground.[14]In the third section of the epic, gods and goddesses meet Kannaki and she goes to heaven with godIndra.The royal family of the Chera kingdom learns about her, resolves to build a temple with Kannaki as the featured goddess. They go to the Himalayas, bring a stone, carve her image, call her goddessPattini,dedicate a temple, order daily prayers, and perform a royal sacrifice.[14]

Manimekalai

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Manimekalai,also spelled Manimekhalai or Manimegalai, Manimekalai, is a Tamil epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Cittalaic Cātaṉār probably around the 6th century. It is a Buddhist "anti-love" sequel to theCilappatikaram,with some characters from it and their next generation.[16]The epic consists of 4,861 lines in akaval meter, arranged in 30 cantos.Manimekalaiis the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, who follows in her mother's footsteps as a dancer and a Buddhist nun.[17]The epic tells her story. Her physical beauty and artistic achievements seduces the Chola prince Udhayakumara.[18]He pursues her. She, a nun of Mahayana Buddhism persuasion, is committed to free herself from human ties. She rejects his advances, yet finds herself drawn to him.[19]She hides, prays and seeks the help of her mother, her Buddhist teacher Aravana Adikal and angels. They teach her Buddhist mantras to free herself from fears. One angel helps her magically disappear to an island while the prince tries to chase her, grants her powers to change forms and appear as someone else. On the island, she receives a magic begging bowl. Later, she takes the form and dress of a married woman in the neighborhood, as the prince pursues her.[19]The husband sees the prince tease her, and protects "his wife" – Manimekalai-in-hiding – by killing the prince. The king and queen learn of their son's death, order the arrest of Manimekalai, arrange a henchman to kill her. Angels intervene and Manimekalai miraculously disappears as others approach her, again. The queen understands and repents. Manimekalai is set free. Manimekalai converts the prison into a hospice to help the needy, teaches the king the dharma of theBuddha.[18]In the final five cantos of the epic, Buddhist teachers recite main doctrines of Buddhism. She goes to goddessKannakitemple in Vanci (Chera kingdom), prays, listens to different religious scholars, and practices severe self-denial to attainNirvana(release from rebirths).[18][19]

Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi

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Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi,an epic of the 10th century CE was written by Thiruthakka Thevar, aJainmonk. The epic is organized into 13 cantos and contains 3,145 quatrains in viruttam poetic meter. It narrates a supernatural fantasy story of a prince who is the perfect master of all arts, perfect warrior and perfect lover with numerous wives.[10][20]The epic begins with the story of a treacherous coup, where the king helps his pregnant queen escape in a peacock-shaped air machine but is himself killed. The queen gives birth to a boy. She hands him over to a loyal servant to raise and becomes a nun herself.[10]The boy grows up into a super-human man perfect in every art, every skill, every field of knowledge. He excels in war and peace, kills his enemies, wins over and marries every pretty girl he meets, then regains the kingdom his father had lost. After enjoying power, sex and begetting many sons with his numerous wives, he renounces the world and becomes a Jain ascetic.[10][21]

Kundalakesi

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TheKundalakesiepic has partially survived into the modern age in fragments, such as in commentaries written centuries later. From these fragments, it appears to be a tragic love story about a Hindu[22]or Jain[23]girl of merchant caste named Kundalakesi who falls in love with Kalan – a Buddhist criminal on a death sentence.[24]The girl's rich merchant father gets the criminal pardoned and freed, the girl marries him. Over time, their love fades and they start irritating each other. During an argument, Kundalakesi reminds him of his criminal past which angers Kalan. A few days later, he invites her to a hike up a hill.[24]When they reach the top, he tells her that he will now kill her. The wife requests that he let circum-ambulate him – her husband – three times like a god, before her death and he agrees. When she is behind him, she pushes her husband over into the valley below and kills him. She feels remorse for her actions and pines for the boy she once fell in love with and married. She meets teachers of various religious traditions, adopts Buddhism, renounces and becomes a nun, then achieves Nirvana.[22][24]

Vaḷaiyāpati

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Vaḷaiyāpatiis another lost work, that has survived in fragments as quoted in other Tamil texts. There is no actual story forVaḷaiyāpati orValayapathi. The story that is popularly spread in books and internet has no connection with the poem or its core moral. Through some misinterpreted oral and written traditionsVaḷaiyāpatipoem got a story and no one has challenged it yet. According, to the mytical story - It is a story of a father known as Navakodi Narayanan who has two wives, abandons his second wife from lower caste who gives birth to their son, and the son grows up and seeks his real father.[25]The available content and the commentaries that mentionValayapathi,suggest that it was partly ajaintext that disputed and criticized other Indian religions,[26]that it supported the ideologies found in earlyJainism,such as asceticism, horrors at meat consumption, and monastic aversion to women.[11]It is therefore "almost certain" to be a Jain epic, written by a Jain ascetic, states Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature scholar.[11]However, the substantial sections on Shaivism have led to uncertainty.[11]

Style

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The great Tamil commentator Atiyarkkunallar (12th–13th century CE) wrote that poems were of two kinds –Col thodar nilai ceyyuḷ(சொல் தொடர் நிலை செய்யுள்) or poems connected by their formal properties andPoruḷ toṭar nilai ceyyuḷ(பொருள் தொடர் நிலை செய்யுள்) or poems connected by content that forms a unity.[27]Cilappatikāram,the Tamil epic is defined by Atiyarkkunallar asIyal icai nāṭaka poruḷ toṭar nilai ceyyuḷ(இயல் இசை நாடக பொருள் தொடர் நிலை செய்யுள்), poems connected by content that unites with elements of poetry, music and drama.[27][28]Such stanzas are defined askāvyaandkappiyamin Tamil. In Mayilainathar's commentary (14th century CE) on the grammarNaṉṉūl,there is the first mention ofaimperumkappiyam,the five great epics of Tamil literature.[27]

Each of these epics have long cantos, like inCilappatikāram,which has 30 referred as monologues sung by any character in the story or by an outsider as his monologue related to the dialogues he has known or witnessed.[29]It has 25 cantos composed inakavalmeter, used in most poems in Sangam literature. The alternative for this meter is calledaicirucappu(verse of teachers) associated with verse composed in learned circles.[30]Akavalis a derived form of verbakavuwhich means "to call" or "beckon".Cilappatikāramis an example of the claim that folk songs institutionalised literary culture with the best-maintained cultures rooted in folk origin.[30]Manimekalaiis an epic inahavalmetre and is noted for its simple and elegant description of natural scenery.[31]Cīvaka Cintāmaṇiis one of the earliest works of Tamil literature in long verses calledvirutha pa.[5]

Five minor Tamil epics

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Similar to the five great epics, Tamil literary tradition classifies five more works asAinchirukappiyangal(Tamil:ஐஞ்சிறுகாப்பியங்கள்) or five minor epics. The five lesser Tamil epics areNeelakesi,Naga Kumara Kaviyam,Udhyana kumara Kaviyam,Yashodhara KaviyamandCulamani.[1][32]

Historiography

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U. V. Swaminatha Iyer(1855–1942 CE) resurrected the first three epics from neglect and wanton destruction of centuries.[33]He reprinted the literature present in the palm leaf form to paper books.[34]Ramaswami Mudaliar, a Tamil scholar first gave him the palm leaves ofCīvaka Cintāmaṇito study.[33]Swaminatha Iyer faced difficulties in interpretation, missing leaves, textual errors and unfamiliar terms.[33]He set for journeys to remote villages in search of the manuscripts. After years of toil, he publishedCīvaka Cintāmaṇiin book form in 1887 CE followed byCilappatikāramin 1892 CE andManimekalaiin 1898 CE.[33]Along with the text, he added much commentary and explanatory notes of terms, textual variations and context.[33]

Criticism and comparison

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Statue ofKannagiatChennaiMarina Beach.

"After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism," observes Iḷaṅkō inCilappatikāram.The postscript invites readers to review the work. the five poems are criticized for being unfamiliar and difficult to understand. To some critics,Maṇimēkalaiis more interesting thanCilappatikāram,but in literary evaluation, it seems inferior.[19]The story ofMaṇimēkalaiwith all its superficial elements seems to be of lesser interest to the author whose aim was pointed toward spread of Buddhism.[19]In the former, ethics and religious are artistic, while in the latter reverse is the case.Maṇimēkalaicriticizes Jainism and preaches the ideals of Buddhism, and human interest is diluted in supernatural features. The narration inakavalmeter moves on inMaṇimēkalaiwithout the relief of any lyric, which are the main features ofCilappatikāram.[24]Maṇimēkalaiin puritan terms is not an epic poem, but a grave disquisition on philosophy.[35]

There are effusions inCilappatikāramin the form of a song or a dance, which does not go well with the Western audience as they are assessed to be inspired on the spur of the moment.[36]Calcutta review claims that the three works on a whole have no plot and insufficient length characterization for an epic genre.[35]They believe plot ofCīvaka Cintāmaṇiis monotonous and deficient in variety in strength and character and does not stand the quality of an epic.[35]

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There have been multiple movies based onSilappathikaram.The most famous is the portrayal of Kannagi by actress Kannamba in the 1942 Tamil movieKannagiwith P.U. Chinnappa as Kovalan. The movie faithfully follows the story ofSilappathikaramand was a hit when it was released. The moviePoompuhar,penned byM. Karunanidhi,is also based onSilapathikaram.[37]There are multiple dance dramas as well by some of the exponents ofBharatanatyam(a South Indian dance form) in Tamil as most of the verses ofSilappathikaramcan be set to music.[citation needed]

Maṇimēkalaihas been shot as a teleserial inDoordarshan.[citation needed]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^abMukherjee 1999,p. 277.
  2. ^Zvelebil 1992,p. 73.
  3. ^Purnalingam Pillai 1994,p. 115.
  4. ^Das 2005,p. 80.
  5. ^abDatta 2004,p. 720.
  6. ^abRosen, Elizabeth S. (1975). "Prince Ilango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The Ankle Bracelet), translated by Alain Damelou. Review".Artibus Asiae.37(1/2): 148–150.doi:10.2307/3250226.JSTOR3250226.
  7. ^Zvelebil 1973,pp. 174–176.
  8. ^Parthasarathy 1993,pp. 5–6.
  9. ^Zvelebil 1974,pp. 140–142.
  10. ^abcdZvelebil 1974,pp. 136–137.
  11. ^abcdZvelebil 1992,pp. 73–75.
  12. ^Zvelebil 1992,pp. 69–70.
  13. ^Parthasarathy 1993,pp. 1–6, backpage.
  14. ^abcdefgParthasarathy 1993,pp. 2–5.
  15. ^E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K Ishwaran (ed.).Contributions to Asian Studies: 1977.Brill Academic. pp. 56–59.ISBN90-04-04926-6.
  16. ^Zvelebil 1974,pp. 140–141.
  17. ^Alain Danielou (Translator) 1993.
  18. ^abcAlain Danielou (Translator) 1993,pp. xxi–xxiv.
  19. ^abcdeZvelebil 1974,p. 141.
  20. ^David Shulman 2016,pp. 176–182.
  21. ^David Shulman 2016,pp. 176–178.
  22. ^abZvelebil 1992,p. 71.
  23. ^Zvelebil 1992,p. 70.
  24. ^abcdZvelebil 1974,p. 142.
  25. ^Zvelebil 1992,pp. 73–74.
  26. ^Purnalingam Pillai 1994,pp. 132–134.
  27. ^abcZvelebil 1974,p. 130.
  28. ^Purnalingam Pillai 1904,p. 69.
  29. ^Zvelebil 1974,p. 131.
  30. ^abPollock 2003,p. 295.
  31. ^Purnalingam Pillai 1904,p. 68.
  32. ^Parmeshwaranand 2001,p. 1151.
  33. ^abcdeLal 2001,pp. 4255–4256.
  34. ^Purnalingam Pillai 1994,p. 194.
  35. ^abcUniversity of Calcutta 1906, pp. 426–427
  36. ^Panicker 2003,p. 7.
  37. ^"Kannagi (1942) – Overview – MSN Movies".Archived fromthe originalon 22 March 2012.Retrieved17 December2011.

References

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