Purananuru

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Sangam literature
Ettuttogai
("eight anthologies")
Pattuppattu
("ten chants")

The Purananuru ( Tamil : புறநானூறு Puṟanāṉūṟu [ ˈpurən̪aːnuːrɯ ] "four hundred [poems] about puram (heroism)") is a work of ancient Tamil sangam literature . It is an anthology of 400 poems from the genre of hero poetry. 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 Purananuru represents the genre of hero poetry ( puram ). It contains 400 poems which, like most of the Sangam corpus, are written in Agaval and Vanchi . The length of the poems ranges from 4 to 40 lines. The poems of Purananuru are attributed to 157 different poets, 14 poems are anonymous. Two poems (266 and 268) have not survived, some others have survived in fragments. The work is preceded by an introductory verse with an invocation of the god Shiva . An anonymous old comment exists for the first 266 poems.

Most of the Purananuru's poems are for the praise of a ruler. In Purananuru 43 different kings from the three great dynasties of the Chera , Chola and Pandya as well as 48 minor chiefs are sung about. Then there are elegiac and gnomish poems.

Dating

The poems of Purananuru are counted on the basis of content and linguistic criteria to the oldest layer of Sangam literature. The absolute chronology of the texts is not certain, but a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD is suggested for most of the Purananuru's poems . But the Purananuru also contains many poems that apparently came into being later. A few centuries after their creation, the original orally transmitted individual poems were combined into an anthology.

Text example

„அளிதோ தானே பாரியது பறம்பே
நளிகொண் முரசின் மூவிரு முற்றினும்
உழவ ருழாதன நான்குபய னுடைத்தே
ஒன்றே சிறியிலை வெதிரி னெல்விளை யும்மே
இரண்டே தீஞ்சுளைப் பலவின் பழமூழ்க் கும்மே
மூன்றே கொழுங்கொடி வள்ளிக் கிழங்குவீழ்க் கும்மே
நான்கே அணிநிற வோரி பாய்தலின் பாய்தலின்
மீதழிந்து திணிநெடுங் குன்றந் தேன்சொரி
யும்மே வான்க ணற்றவன் மலையே
வானத்து மீன்க ணற்றதன் சுனையே
யாங்கு மரந்தொறும் புலந்தொறும் களிற்றினி
ராயினும் ராயினும் ராயினும் ராயினும் ராயினும் ராயினும் களிற்றினி களிற்றினி களிற்றினி பரப்பிய தேரினி ராயினும்
தாளிற் கொள்ளலிர் வாளிற் றாரலன்
யானறி குவனது கொள்ளு மாறே
சுகிர்புரி நரம்பின் சீறியாழ் பண்ணி
விரையொலி கூந்தனும் விறலியர் பின்வர
ஆடினிர் பாடினிர் செலினே
நாடுங் குன்று மொருங்கீ யும்மே. "

" Alito tane pāriyatu paṟampē
NALI KOL muraciṉ mūvirum muṟṟiṉum
uḻavar uḻātaṉa Ñanku Payan uṭaittē
Onre Ciru ilai vetiriṉ nel viḷaiyummē
Irante Tim Culai palaviṉ Palam ūḻkkummē
mūṉṟē Kolum Kóti velli kiḻaṅku vīḻkkummē
Nanke ANI NIRA ORI pāytaliṉ With 'aḻintu
TiNi Netum kuṉṟam Ten coriyummē
van Kan arr' Avan malaiyē vāṉattu
min Kan arr 'atan cuṉaiyē Anku
marantoṟum piṇitta kaḷiṟṟiṉir āyiṉum
pulantoṟum parappiya tēriṉir āyiṉum
Talin koḷḷalir valine tāralaṉ
Yan aṟikuvaṉ atu kollum ARE
cukir puri narampiṉ Ciru YAL panni
virai oli Kuntal num viṟaliyar piṉvara
āṭiṉir patinir Celine
natum kuṉṟum oruṅk' īyummē. "

“Des Pari Parambu hill is full of favor.
Even if you three kings lay siege to him with the big drums, he
brings four kinds of yields that no farmer needs to grow:
First, the grain of the bamboo with the small leaves thrives.
Second, the jackfruit ripens with the sweet pulp.
Third, the sweet potato grows with the thick tendrils.
Fourth, honey pours from the solid high hill.
This mountain is like the sky,
and the ponds there are like stars in the sky.
Even if your elephants are tied to all trees,
even if your chariots are spread over all fields,
you will not take it. You will not get it with the sword.
But I know how you can take it:
If you play on the little lute with the open sides
and come
dancing and singing accompanied by dancers with fragrant hair
, it will give you the whole country and the hill. "

- Purananuru 109

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kamil Zvelebil: Tamil Literature, Leiden, Cologne: EJ Brill, 1975, p. 93.
  2. ^ Eva Wilden: Manuscript, Print and Memory. Relics of the Caṅkam in Tamilnadu, Berlin, Munich, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014, p. 8.
  3. ↑ Wilden 2014, p. 12.
  4. ↑ Wilden 2014, pp. 413–414.

literature

Text output
  • Puṟanāṉūṟu mūlamum uraiyum. Edited by UV Swaminatha Iyer . 1st edition Ceṉṉai: Vē. Tā. Jūbili Accukkūṭam, 1894. [2. Edition 1923, 3rd edition 1935, numerous reprints.]
Translations
  • George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz: The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom. An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, the Puṟanāṉūṟu . New York, Chichester: Columbia University Press, 1999. [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 a. A. from the Purananuru into English.]
Secondary literature
  • K. Kailasapathy: Tamil Heroic Poetry . London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
  • 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.

Web links