________________
JULY, 1908.)
TAMIL HISTORICAL TEXTS.
193
TAMIL HISTORICAL TEXTC.
BY M. K. NARAYANASAMI AYYAR, B.A., B.L., AND T. A. GOPINATHA BAO, M.A. MADRAS.
('Continued from p. 173.)
No. II.-Iraiyagar=agapporul.
Nature of the work. This is a treatise on the subject of love (agapporul). It deals mainly with the analysis of the mind in lovo and incidentally also with courtship, elopement, marriage and such other topics. To give an exact idea of what is meant by agapporu! we shall take the dafinitions of poru! and agam as given in the commentary of Nachohinarkkiniyar on that classical Tamil grammar, Tolkappiyam. Porul is defined as the three purusharthas (dharma, artha and kdma or in Tamil aram, porul and inbam ), their transitoriness and (môksha), liberation from these three; and that division of rhetoric, which deals with porul, as defined above, is called porulzadigdram: thus we see that poruļ=adigáram is universal in its character and embraces every variety of subject bearing on human life. Porul - adig dram is divided into two classes, purapporul and agapporul. Of these purapporu! deals with the deeds of the warrior hero outside the family circle, -- mainly with war; agapporul has for its subject love, pure and simple, which is defined in Tolkáppiyam (p. 2); as "the happiness which is generated by the coming together or meeting of two lovers equally devoted in their love, which happiness continues even in their separation as an inner feeling towards the other, indescribable in its nature." Agapporul is further divided into kalaviyal and karpiyal. Kalaviyal is described both in Tolkdpiyam and Iraiyanar=agapporul as being the same as the gdndharva system of marriage described in the Sdstras of the Brahmanas,' while karpu is defined as the union in marriage of & woman and a man of proper lineage and with proper ceremonies. The essential distinction therefore between the two consists in that kalavyal analyses the sentiment of love as exhibited in secret courtship, whereas karpu deals with that sentiment in the married state. Iraiyapar - agapporul, in treating of agapport, comprehends within its scope both kalavu and karpu.
Description of the work : The work consists of sixty sútras and there is attached to it yery masterly commentary in tho finest Tamil prose. The commentary gives a very interesting tradition of the three Tamil Sangams, about which so many conflicting things havo been written. For faller information regarding the subject the reader is referred to Prof. M. Såsbagiri Satri's Essay on Tamil Literature, and to Mr. V. Kanakasabhai Pillai's Tamils Eighteen fundred Years Ago."
Authorship. Satras. The payiram portion of the Commentary attributes tho work to Somasundara, the Siva deity at Madura, and the story it gives as to its origin is shortly this: 3 - In the time of the last of the Forty-nine Kings, who patronised the third or the last Snigam, and went by the name of Ugra = pperu - Valudi, there was a severe famine, and the king, finding it impossible to support the learned men who were gathered round him, requested
In the former article insert the following errata. Page 170; Footnote 2. add :"(vide Trapdtaka 8, Anutaka 1, Section 14)."
Pago 171. For lambiyar = enam ollam rondellam. 1 See page 81 of Tolkappiyam-porudikdram, edited by Damodaram Pillai, Madras, 1885.
1 The references to the Traiyartrigapport in this work are to Mr. Damodaram Pillai's second edition printed at Madras, whiokoontains a long but very misleading introduotion, Soo for this soooont, pp. 6 to
