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Topics in Sangam literature
Sangam literature
Agattiyam	Tolkāppiyam
Eighteen Greater Texts
Eight Anthologies
Aiṅkurunūṟu	Akanāṉūṟu
Puṟanāṉūṟu	Kalittokai
Kuṟuntokai	Natṟiṇai
Paripāṭal	Patiṟṟuppattu
Ten Idylls
Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai	Kuṟiñcippāṭṭu
Malaipaṭukaṭām	Maturaikkāñci
Mullaippāṭṭu	Neṭunalvāṭai
Paṭṭiṉappālai	Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai	Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Related topics
Sangam	Sangam landscape
Tamil history from Sangam literature	Ancient Tamil music
Eighteen Lesser Texts
Nālaṭiyār	Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai
Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu	Iṉiyavai Nāṟpatu
Kār Nāṟpatu	Kaḷavaḻi Nāṟpatu
Aintiṇai Aimpatu	Tiṉaimoḻi Aimpatu
Aintinai Eḻupatu	Tiṇaimālai Nūṟṟaimpatu
Tirukkuṟaḷ	Tirikaṭukam
Ācārakkōvai	Paḻamoḻi Nāṉūṟu
Ciṟupañcamūlam	Mutumoḻikkānci
Elāti	Kainnilai
Bhakti Literature
Naalayira Divya Prabandham	Ramavataram
Tevaram	Tirumuṟai
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Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai (Tamil: சிறுபாணாற்றுப்படை, lit. "guide for bards with the small lute") is an ancient Tamil poem, likely the last composed in the Pattuppattu anthology of the Sangam literature.^[1] It contains 296 lines in the akaval meter.^[2]^{[note 1]} It is one of five arruppatai genre poems and was a guide to other bards seeking a patron for their art. The main hero honored in the poem is Nalliyakkotan, but the poem reverentially mentions an additional seven minor chieftains and three kings. The poem is dated to sometime between the late 3rd century CE and 5th century CE by Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature scholar.^[4]^[5]

The Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai poem, also referred to as Sirupanattrupadai,^[6] is named after sirupanar – a class of minstrels who sang their bards while playing a small yal (yazh, lute).^[2] The poem's subject is a band of bards and their womenfolk who meet the author, and he guides them in the form of this poem.^[7] The guidance mentions a series of cities and villages the troupe must pass through on their journey to the Nalliyakkotan's palace. In this list are included Maturai – the capital of Pandyas, Uranthai – the capital of Cholas, and Vanci – the capital of Cheras.^[7] Other coastal and inland towns are also mentioned, including Eyilpattinam and Velur.^[8]

Content

The relatively short poem is a condensed guide and source of information about society and culture of several ancient kingdoms and different rulers.^[2]^[7] The poem's vivid description of a bard's poverty before he found a patron is "rather powerful", states Zvelebil:^[9]

In the ruined kitchen lay the barking bitch
That whelped of late with bent cared brood too young
To open their eyes, that suck not the milkless teats
Upon the earth piled up by ants that swarm
On the walls, on which the roof had fallen down,
Sprout mushrooms hollow. There that day the wife
Of the drummer with a lean and slender waist
And bangled wrists whom cruel hunger gnawed
Did saltless cook the herb her sharp nails plucked
From refuse heaps, and made a meal of it
With poor relations, having closed the door
Ashamed to be so seen by prying folk
Such poverty was then by him removed

— Cirupanarruppatai 175–187, Translator: JV Cheliah^[10]

Similarly striking is the poet's detailed painting of a woman's body with words in lines 14–40, with antati phrases some of which are also found in earlier Sangam poems.^[9]^[7]

This poem uses "the sun being orbited by planets" as an analogy in the lines below displaying the heliocentric understanding of the planetary system by Tamil people circa. 3rd century CE.

Figuring what you like, he will
serve you unlimited quantities
of desired foods with hospitality,
in golden bowls that shine in a
way that disrespects the blazing,
tender-rayed sun surrounded by
planets, in the shining, bright sky.

— Cirupanarruppatai 242–245, Translator: Vaidehi Herbert^[11]

The poem mentions a treatise on food named after Bhima, one of the Pandava brothers in the epic Mahabharata.^[12] The description that follows includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.^[12] Brahmin villages are mentioned, as is the worship of Murugan.^[13] The Sirupanattrupadai deploys a garland of similes, a Tamil poetic technique called malaiyuvamai.^[14] The poem is an important guide to ancient music traditions among Tamil people, states Venkata Subramanyam.^[15]

Notes

^ According to other scholars such as Chelliah, the poem has 352 lines.^[3]

References

^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 29, 61–64.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 61–64.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, pp. 161.
^ Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 20.
^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 42–43 Chart 4.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, p. 141.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d JV Chelliah 1946, pp. 141–142.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, p. 142.
^ ^a ^b Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 64.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, p. 155.
^ Herbert, Vaidehi (2 December 2010). "Sirupaanatrupadai". Learn Sangam Tamil.
^ ^a ^b JV Chelliah 1946, pp. 142–143.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, pp. 142–144.
^ JV Chelliah 1946, pp. 143–144.
^ T.K. Venkata Subramanyam (1998). "Rational and Social Foundations of Music and Dance of Early Tamils First to Fourth C.". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 59: 186–199. JSTOR 44146990.

Bibliography

JV Chelliah (1946). Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation). Tamil University (1985 print).
U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar (1950). Pattuppattu with a commentary by Naccinarkkiniyar (4th ed.). UV Swaminathaiyer Library.
Shu HikoSaka (2000). Tamil poetry through the ages, 2. Pattuppattu: Ten idylls. Institute of Asian Studies. OCLC 633702288.
Edward Jewitt Robinson (2001). Tamil Wisdom: Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages and Selections from Their Writings. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)
Pillai, M. S. Purnalingam (1994). Tamil Literature. Asian Educational Services. p. 115. ISBN 81-206-0955-7.
Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2003). The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. ISBN 9780521011099.
Selby, Martha Ann (2011) Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, ISBN 9780231150651
Takanobu Takahashi (1995). Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics. BRILL Academic. ISBN 90-04-10042-3.
Eva Maria Wilden (2014). Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Cankam in Tamilnadu. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-035276-4.
Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-03591-5.
Kamil Zvelebil (1974). Tamil Literature. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-01582-0.
Zvelebil, Kamil (1992). Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature. BRILL. p. 73. ISBN 90-04-09365-6.