500+ Words Essay on Tamil Literature
Tamil is one of the four dominant Dravidian languages in South India. The other three are Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. Contributions to Tamil literature come mainly from Tamil people in South India, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Sri Lankan Tamils, and the Tamil diaspora.
Sangam Age
The early Sangam literature, starting from the 5th century BC, contains anthologies of various poets dealing with many aspects of life, including love, war, social values, and religion. This was followed by early epics and moral literature composed by Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist authors. From the 6th to 12th centuries AD, Tamil devotional poems heralded the great Bhakti movement throughout the country. In fact, the Sangam Age is considered by the Tamil people to be the golden era of the Tamil language.
Post-Sangam Period
The three centuries after the Sangam Age are notable for an increase in the interaction between Sanskrit and Tamil. Buddhist and Jain authors flourished during this period. The best-known of these works is Tirukkural by Thiruvalluvar.
Cilappatikaram is one of the outstanding works of general literature from this period. Its companion epic, Manimekala, is Buddhist in philosophy. Jivaka Chintamani is the most noteworthy work of the Jain tradition.
Hindu Devotional Period
After the fall of the Buddhist Kalabhras around 500 AD, a reaction rose from the suppressed Hindus. The Kalabhras were replaced by the Pandyas in the south and the Pallavas in the north. During this Hindu revival, a vast body of Shaiva and Vaishnava literature was created.
Medieval Literature
The medieval period was the era of the Imperial Cholas when the entirety of South India was under a single administration between the 11th and 13th centuries. The religious canons of the Shaiva and Vaishnava sects began to be systematically collected and categorized.
The period from 1300 to 1650, marked by the Vijayanagara and Nayak periods, witnessed constant political changes in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil region was invaded by the armies of the Delhi Sultanate, which defeated the Pandya kingdom. The collapse of the Delhi Sultanate prompted the rise of the Bahmani Sultans in the Deccan. Eventually, the Vijayanagara Empire rose from the remnants of the Hoysala and Chalukya kingdoms and conquered all of South India. During this period, there was a significant output of philosophical and religious works, such as Sivanandabodham by Meykandar. The 17th century also saw the first literary works by Muslim and Christian authors.
Modern Era
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Tamil Nadu underwent a deep cultural transformation due to the imposition of Western influences. Hindu religious establishments attempted to resist these changes to preserve Tamil cultural values. Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai (1815–1876) wrote more than eighty books. His most famous work, Nandan Charitam, recounts the life of Nandanar, who, born into a lower caste, overcame social obstacles to achieve his dream of visiting the Chidambaram Temple. Another great Tamil poet of this period was Subramanya Bharathi. His works were progressive, addressing themes like freedom and feminism. He also introduced a new poetic style, breaking away from the somewhat rigid structure of traditional Tamil poetry.
List of 500+ Essay Writing Topics and Ideas
The novel as a literary genre emerged in Tamil in the third quarter of the 19th century, likely influenced by the increasing number of Tamils receiving Western education and their exposure to English fiction. Madhaviah, a notable writer from this period, portrayed society with a critical eye, especially highlighting the sexual exploitation of girls by older men. Jayakanthan, a trendsetter in modern Tamil literature, not only enriched Tamil’s high literary traditions but also made significant contributions to shaping Indian literature. Since the 1990s, postmodern writers such as Jayamohan, S. Ramakrishnan, and Charu Nivedita have emerged as major literary figures.
Tamil Periodicals and Journals
The increasing demand from the literate public led to the publication of numerous periodicals and journals, providing a platform for authors to publish their works. The first Tamil periodical was published by the Christian Religious Tract Society in 1831. In 1942, Dina Thanthi (Daily Telegraph) was started in Madurai with simultaneous editions in Madras, Salem, and Tiruchirapalli. It became one of the largest-circulating Tamil dailies within a few years and has remained a leading publication since the 1960s.
Popular Fiction
Detective fiction has enjoyed widespread popularity in Tamil Nadu since the 1930s. In the 1950s and 60s, Tamilvanan’s detective novels featured a variety of themes and styles, appealing to a broad audience. From the 1980s to the present, leading authors in this genre have included Subha, Pattukottai Prabhakar, and Rajesh Kumar.
Aruna Nandhini is a contemporary Tamil novelist who has won the hearts of many readers with stories that cover family topics, romance, and realism, with added humour for leisure reading. However, sales of Tamil pulp fiction have declined since the mid-1990s, as many writers have shifted their focus to the more lucrative TV serial market, which continues to thrive.