Elements of Poetic Technique in old Tamil Poetry

• Authors: Dubyanskii A.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper is devoted to an analysis of several poems belonging to the 'puram' division which represents the heroic theme in Tamil poetry. K. Kailasapathy (1968) convincingly demonstrated its formulaic character and suggested its oral origin. He was not correct, however, in identifying this poetry with epic tradition. The major generative factor of the 'puram' poetry was a kind of ritual, its main part consisting in the performance of panegyric songs praising patrons. This practice, outlined in the paper, presupposed the existence of a formula in the songs and at the same time gave place to individual poetic initiative. The paper shows the elements of oral technique and gives examples of when such elements were used and developed by poets to create rather complex poetic compositions.

Keywords

EN

'PURAM' POETRY; TAMIL POETRY

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Rocznik Orientalistyczny
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 98-105
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Dubyanskii A.

• A. Dubyanskii, Moscow State University, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Departmwnt of Indian Philology, Mokhovaya ul. 11, 103 009 Moscow K-9, Russian Federation

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA04118026