தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்
(Tamil Heritage
Trust)
presents
PURANANURU
A critical introduction to the
gem of Sangam Literature
by
Prof C Jambunathan
at 5.30pm on Saturday, April
6th, 2013
at Vinobha Hall, Thakkar Bapa
Vidyalaya, T Nagar.
About the topic:
Sangam Literature refers to
the Tamil poetry written between 3rd century BCE and 3rd century ACE.
George Hart, Professor
Emeritus, University of California, says that Sangam Literature is on par with,
or slightly more significant than the best classical literatures of the world,
since it is unique, very original and not modelled on any other
traditions/genres. Sangam Literature is broadly classified into Pathinen
Melkkanakku (18 books-upper) and Pathinen Kilkkanakku (18 books-lower). The
former is further subdivided into Pathuppattu and Ettuthokai, which are 10 long
poems by individual poets and 8 anthologies (collection of poems by
different poets), respectively.
Purananuru is considered to be
the most significant among the 8 anthologies. Though the title is 400 poems,
two are missing and the first is an invocation poem to Lord shiva, and this one
seems to have been written much later than all the other poems. So actually
Purananuru is a collection of 397 poems and several lines are missing from many
of these poems. More than 170 poets' names are attributed to these 397
poems/songs.
Several commentators in
Tamilnadu, from the ancient times to the modern, have written
copious explanations/interpretations/commentaries. George Hart, has
translated Purananuru into English and that too in the verse form (with the
help of his friend).
Several features make
PURANANURU, one of the greatest literary works of the world. A few poems
here try to answer almost successfully, the eternal question, "What
is the sanction for morality?" (Why should we act rightly and not
wrongly?) The answer is given without any refernce to God, Heaven, Hell,
Rebirth and so on. The following poem, which deals with the reason for charity,
is a good example-
Aay, is no ethical business-man trading in virtue
for his own profit,
Thinking what he does in this birth will serve him in his
next,
But because before him other noble men
Have followed this right path, his generosity is what it
is.
Aay Andiran was one among the
seven ancient philanthropist kings (Kadai Ezhu Vallalkal).
A careful and detailed analysis of at least a few poems
of PURANANURU will make us revise our ideas about EHICS, drastically.
About the speaker:
The speaker, C. Jambunathan, is currently working as
Principal of Vidyaa Vikas College of Education at Tiruchengode in Namakkal
district.
Formerly he was a Professor and Principal
of Government College of Education, Pudukkottai, from 1975 to 2005. His
profession is Teaching of English as a second/foreign language and teaching of
philosophy and psychology of education. His varied interests include
mathematics, archaeology, Tamil literature- especially Sangam literature.
He has published several
articles in The Hindu and most of the Tamil Dailies.
He is the author of 2 books in
Tamil, one being a translation of Oliver Goldsmith's, "THE DESERTED
VILLAGE" and the other one is about re-conditioning the Indian rivers and
providing jobs to 40 crores of our people without much expenditure to the
governments.
RSVP:
