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86
Study of Civakacintamani
sthāyībhāva (dominant state).1 Some divisions are not similar to the divisions in the Nāțyaśāstra and these may be the original thoughts of Tolkāppiyar expressed to suit the Tamil literary tradition.
Apart from the thirty-two divisions of meyppäţus (i.e. the eight meyppātus with four divisions in each) mentioned above, Tolkāppiyar also mentions another set of thirty-two meyppātus, which he thinks can be considered as a different set of meyppātus when they do not come under the category of these thirty-two meyppātus. Among these later meyppatus some are based on the vyabhicāribhāvas (transitory states) and a few on the sāttvikabhāvas 3 (temperamental states), and the rest do not have any equivalent in Bharata's Nātyaśāstra.
In considering the relevance of these two chapters in the Tolkappiyam to an analysis of ancient and later Tamil literature, one should bear in mind the fact that in spite of the resemblance to Sanskrit works of dramaturgy and rhetoric, the treatment of the subjects has the distinct chacteristics of Tamil literature in view.
Besides these literary theories, Tolkappiyar also mentions eight kinds of poetic compositions in the section Ceyyuliyal. This chapter, which is mainly a treatise on prosody, mentions eight kinds of compositions viz. Ammai, Alaku, Tonmai, Tol, Viruntu, Iyaipu, Pulan and Ilaipu. 5 Ammai is a composition which does not exceed five lines, and is made with sweet words but as few as possible. A composition which cotains no dialect (i.e. in standard Tamil) and is full of poetic cbarm is called Alaku.' A composition which deals with popular legends with prose explanations in it is called Tonmai.8 A composition which deals with aram (duty), poru! (wealth), inpam (pleasure, and viţu (salvation), in an attractive style or that which deals with a topic in detail in more than five lines is called Töl. Viruntulo is a composition composed in a novel way, and lyaipuil is a composition in which the last line ends with any
1 P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri in his commentary to meyppättiyal points out the vibhāvas used
by Tolkappiyam in his fourfold division of each ingy ppatu, P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri,
Comnentary on Meyppati iyal, Madras, pp. 2-5. 2 "ivaiyum ulavē avaiyatankalaiy ē"--Tolkappiyam, Por., Mey., cut. 260. 3 Ns. sveda
perspiration
perspiration Tol. viyarttal
Toi. Tol. natukkam/
chun) trembling 4 J. R. Marr, op. cit., pp. 77, 78. 5 Tolkappiyam, Por., Cey., cut. 340. 6 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 517. Par icir yad in his c) a natury 01 Cuttica n 547 explaia 'ați ninirpa
as not exceeding five lines. 7 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 548. 8 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 549. 9 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 550. Perāciriyar in his commentary on cûttiram 550 explains viļumiyatu
nuvalutal' as explaining aram, porul, inpam, and vitu. 10 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 551. 11 Ibid, loc. cit. cut. 552.
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