Agananuru
| Sangam literature |
|---|
|
Ettuttogai ("eight anthologies") |
|
Pattuppattu ("ten chants") |
The Agananuru ( Tamil : அகநானூறு Akanāṉūṟu [ ˈaɦən̪aːnuːrɯ ] "four hundred [poems] about agam (love)") is a work of Old Tamil Sangam literature . It is an anthology of 400 long love poems. Within the Sangam literature it belongs to the group of the "eight anthologies" ( Ettuttogai ).
Formal aspects
Of the two genres of Sangam literature (love and hero poetry), the Agananuru represents the genre of love poetry ( agam ). The 400 poems of the Agananuru are, like most of the Sangam corpus, written in Agaval metrum and have a length of 13 to 31 lines. Traditionally, the text is divided into three books: The poems 1–120 under the title Kalitriyanainirai ( களிற்றியானைநிரை Kaḷiṟṟiyāṉainirai, "herd of bull elephants"), 121–300 as Manimidaipavalam ( மணிமிடைபவளம் Maṇimiṭaipavaḷam, “corals with inserted precious stones”) and 301–400 as Nittilakkovai ( நித்திலக்கோவை Nittilakkōvai, "pearl necklace"). The poems are arranged according to a complicated principle according to the old Tamil concept of the five tinais - love situations that are each associated with a certain type of landscape. All poems with odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7 etc.) deal with the desert ( palai ), poems with the numbers 2, 8, 12, 18 etc. the mountain landscape ( kurinji ), poems with the numbers 4, 14, 24, 34 etc. the pasture land ( mullai ), poems with the numbers 6, 16, 26, 36 etc. the arable land ( marudam ) and poems with the numbers 10, 20, 30, 40 etc. the coast ( neydal ). The poems of akanaṉūṟu be attributed to 145 different poets, three poems are anonymous. The work is preceded by an introductory verse with an invocation of the god Shiva .
Within the eight anthologies, the Agananuru, together with the Kurundogai and the Natrinai, form a group of love anthologies with 400 poems each. In the Agananuru long poems are collected, while the Kurundogai contains short and the Natrinai medium-length poems.
Dating
The poems of Agananuru are counted among the oldest layer of Sangam literature based on content and linguistic criteria. The absolute chronology of the texts is not certain, but it is suggested that most of the Agananuru poems were written between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The Agananuru also contains many poems that apparently were written later. A few centuries after their creation, the original orally transmitted individual poems were combined into an anthology.
Text example
„ஆடமைக் குயின்ற வவிர்துளை மருங்கில்
கோடை யவ்வளி குழலிசை யாகப்
பாடி னருவிப் பனிநீ ரின்னிசைத்
தோடமை முழவின் துதைகுர லாகக்
கணக்கலை யிகுக்கும கடுங்குரல் தூம்பொடு
மலைப்பூஞ் சாரல் வண்டியா ழாக
இன்ப லிமிழிசை லிமிழிசை கேட்டுக்
கலிசிறந்து மந்தி நல்லவை மருள்வன
நோக்கக் கழைவள ரடுக்கத் தியலியா
டும்மயில் நனவுப்புகு விறலியில் தோன்றும்
நாடன் உருவ வல்வில் பற்றி
யம்புதெரிந்து செருச்செய் புலர்குர சென்னெறி
சென்னெறி சென்னெறி வினாஅய் வினாஅய் வினாஅய் வினாஅய் சென்னெறி சென்னெறி சென்னெறி லேனற் புழையுடை யொருசிறை
மலர்தார் மார்பன் நின்றோற் கண்டோர்
பலர்தில் வாழி தோழி யவருள்
ஆரிருட் கங்குல் அணையொடு பொருந்தி
ஓரியா னாகுவ தெவன்கொல்
நீர்வார் கண்ணொடு கண்ணொடு நெகிழ்தோ. "
" Āṭ 'amai kuyiṉṟa avir tuḷai maruṅkil
kōṭai av aḷi kuḻal icai āka
pāṭ' iṉ aruvi paṉi nīr iṉ icai
tōṭ 'amai muḻaviṉ tutai kural āka
kaṇūa kalai mpāu cantica kaump
kali āka kaūūa kalai mpāu
cantica āka kaḻūḻ ṉ kali u
cantica kauñ kali cu cantica kaū kali u cantica kaḻūuṉ kaliu cantica nāu cantica kaḻūal avai maruḷvaṉa Nokka
Kalai valar aṭukkatt 'iyali ATUM Mayil
naṉavu puku viṟaliyil tōṉṟum Natan
uruva val vil PARRI AMPU terintu
ceruc ey Yanai cel Neri viṉāay
Pular kural enal puḻaiyuṭai oru ciṟai
malar tar Marpan niṉṟōṟ Kantor
palar til Vali TOLI avaruḷ
Ār iruḷ kaṅkul aṇaiyoṭu porunti
OR Yan ākuvat 'evaṉkol
nīr vār kaṇṇoṭu nekiḻ toḷēṉē. "
“In his country the west wind plays the flute
in the holes of blowing bamboo tubes.
The cool water of the thundering waterfall
sounds like the deep sound of drums.
The roar of the herds of deer serves as an oboe
and the bees of the flowering mountain slopes are the lute.
Excited
by these many sounds
, a horde of monkeys looks on in amazement,
while a dancing peacock
steps onto the stage like a dancer in the bamboo-covered mountains .
- He, with the wreath of flowers on his chest,
had taken his strong bow and chosen an arrow,
and standing at the gate of the millet field with the ripe stalks he
asked for the way of the elephant he was hunting.
Many saw him doing it. But why,
oh friend, is it just me among you who
lies in bed in the dead of night,
eyes full of tears, arms getting thinner and thinner? "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kamil Zvelebil: Tamil Literature, Leiden, Cologne: EJ Brill, 1975, pp. 92-93.
- ^ Eva Wilden: Manuscript, Print and Memory. Relics of the Caṅkam in Tamilnadu, Berlin, Munich, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014, p. 8.
- ↑ Wilden 2014, p. 12.
- ↑ Wilden 2014, pp. 413–414.
literature
- Text output
- Akanāṉūṟu. Edited by R. Raghava Iyengar. Mylapore: Kambar Vilas Book Depot, 1918. ( first edition )
- A Critical Edition and an Annotated Translation of the Akanāṉūṟu (Part 1 - Kaḷiṟṟiyāṉainirai). Edited and translated by Eva Wilden. 3 volumes. Pondicherry: École française d'Extrême-Orient / Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2018. ( Critical edition of the first 120 poems with annotated translation into English)
- Translations
- George L. Hart: The Four Hundred Songs of Love. An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil. The Akanāṉūṟu. Pondicherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2015. (Complete translation into English)
- AK Ramanujan : Poems of Love and War. From the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil . New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. (Translation of selected poems from the Agananuru into English.)
- George L. Hart: Poets of the Tamil Anthologies . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. (Translation of selected poems from the Agananuru into English.)
- Secondary literature
- Eva Wilden: Manuscript, Print and Memory. Relics of the Caṅkam in Tamilnadu . Berlin, Munich, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014.
- Kamil V. Zvelebil: Tamil Literature. Leiden, Cologne: EJ Brill, 1975.