Purananuru
[1] It is a collection of 400 heroic poems about kings, wars and public life, of which two are lost and a few have survived into the modern age in fragments.
[1] Some of the poems are gnomic in nature, which have attracted unrealistic attempts to read an ethical message, states Zvelebil.
[2] The life of the Tamils of this era revolved around the king, emphasized the purity of women and placed limitations on the rights of widows.
The anthology is almost entirely a secular treatise on the ancient Tamil thought on kingship, the constant state of wars within old Tamil-speaking regions, the bravery of heroes and the ferocious nature of this violence.
[10][11] According to Amritha Shenoy, the Purananuru poems eulogize war and describe "loyalty, courage, honor" as the virtues of warriors.
[13] The Purananuru poems use words, phrases, and metaphors, including references to the Himalayas of "immeasurable heights", Shiva, Vishnu, the four Vedas, the Ramayana, rivers, and other aspects.
[14] Among the eight Sangam anthologies, Purananuru and Pathitrupathu are concerned with life outside family – kings, wars, greatness, generosity, ethics and philosophy.
The Purananuru poems deal with the puram aspect of the Sangam literature, that is war, politics and public life.
Purananuru is notable for three features: the king and his believed powers over the climate and environment (rains, sunshine, successful crops), the ancient Tamil belief in the power of women's purity, namely karpu (chastity), Belief in establishing righteousness by performing Yagams and considering Brahmins pure cause they recite the holy Four Vedas[18] and the ancient system of caste (kuti, kudi)[19] that existed in Tamil kingdoms.
The poems at the beginning of the book deal with the three major kings Chola, Chera and Pandya of ancient Tamil Nadu.
From the subject matter of the poems they accompany, each can be said to represent the following themes:[24] The Kaikkilai and Perunthinai are traditionally associated with akam poetry.
Similarly, songs 143 to 147 are classified as perunthinai or perunkilai thinai, which denotes unsuitable love, and deal with King Pekan's abandonment of his wife.
[24] Pothuviyal is described in commentaries as a general thinai used for poems that cannot be classified in any other manner but, in the context of Purananuru, is used almost exclusively for didactic verse and elegies or laments for dead heroes.
[citation needed] Purananuru songs exhibit a unique realism and immediacy not frequently found in classical literature.
The poet Kovur Kizhaar addresses the Chola king Killivalavan to save the lives of the children of a defeated enemy who are about to be executed by being trampled under an elephant.
[26] Such mentions make scholars debate that Cholas have claimed them selfs as the descendants of King Shibi Chakravarthy – a legendary hero who self-sacrifices his body for saving a dove's life.
[27] The second poem by Mudinagarayar addresses the Chera king Uthayan Cheralaathan and praises him for his feeding the armies at the Kurukshetra war.
[28] This is an obvious anachronism suggesting a king of the early common era Tamil country had a role to play in the battle of the Mahabharata epic.
You who are descended from men renowned for their superb learning, men who performed to perfection all twenty-one kinds of sacrifice, who confirmed the truth, never thinking it false, who understood lies that resembled truth, thus defeating those who would contend with the one ancient work of six sections and four divisions, focused on Righteousness, never swerving from the well-chosen words of the Primal Being with his long, matted hair!
You glow in your black antelope skin from dry forest land, needed for the ritual, worn over the thread around your shoulder!
Your beloved wives, worthy of your high station, flawlessly faithful, free of harshness, renowned for their virtue, donning the sacred ornaments, their foreheads small, their hips and thighs large and wide, of few words and rich abundant hair, request their ritual responsibilities!
According to several poems mention that people were commonly burnt in the cremation ground,[41][42] Tamils also believed in re-birth and only good deeds would lead them to a better life in their next birth.
[43][44][45] It also claims that Indra who holds the Vajrayudam welcomes the soul of a Great king Ay Andiran as he did good deeds.
[52] Avvaiyar in poem 232 describes the Naṭukal of Athiyamān Nedumān Añci, it is decorated with peacock feathers and toddy is kept nearby.
Hot, white ashes on the earth littered with bones are quenched by tears of lovers, weeping, their hearts full of longing.
[54][55] U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855-1942) resurrected the first three epics and Sangam literature from the appalling neglect and wanton destruction of centuries.
[56][58] Along with the text, he added abundant commentary and explanatory notes of terms, textual variations and approaches to explaining the context.
When grieved, we patient suffer; for, we deem This much-praised life of ours a fragile raft Borne down the waters of some mountain stream That o'er huge boulders roaring seeks the plain Tho' storms with lightning's flash from darkened skies.
