A Bard's Compass: Charting the Course to Nalliyakkōṭaṉ's Bounty via Coastal, Forest and Agricultural Delights
Critical Edition and Annotated Translation with Glossary of the Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Maanasa Visweswaran
The Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai, which translates to “the Guide for Small-[lute] Bards,” is regarded as the third, not in terms of chronology, but in the traditional sequence of the list of Pattuppāṭṭu songs. It is a 269-line poem belonging to an older genre known as Āṟṟuppaṭai derived from the root āṟṟuppaṭu-ttal, meaning “to direct onto the path.” The colophons in the manuscript attribute the authorship of the poem to Iṭaikkaḻināṭṭu Nallūr Nattattaṉār.
Similar to other Āṟṟuppaṭai poems, an incoming bard encounters an impoverished bard and guides him to a generous patron who would alleviate his poverty. In this poem, the suffering bard, accompanied by his extensive clan (irum pēr okkal), is guided by the more experienced bard towards Nalliyakkōṭaṉ, described as the king of the hilly landscape (kuṟiñcikkōmāṉ). The bard vividly describes the landscapes, the communities they would encounter, and the hospitality they would receive, ultimately leading them to the hero Nalliyakkōṭaṉ, who would provide them with food, clothes, wealth, and a chariot. Nalliyakkōṭaṉ is portrayed as a great man of the Ōviyar clan among all the kings of the good, great Ilaṅkai (nal mā ilaṅkai) named after the ancient great Ilaṅkai (tol mā ilaṅkai) The colophon in UVSL 166 indicates that Nalliyakkōṭaṉ belongs to a place called Ōymānāṭu. Like other Pattuppāṭṭu songs, the Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai too received a commentary by Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar.
An annotated translation and critical edition of the Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai is currently undertaken by Maanasa Visweswaran as part of her Ph.D research. The critical edition is based on an examination of 10 manuscripts, comprising 8 palm-leaf manuscripts and 2 paper copies. In addition to these manuscripts, the critical edition draws upon the first two print editions of the Pattuppāṭṭu edited by U. Vē. Cāminātaiyār, and the 1940 Caṅka Ilakkiyam edited by Vaiyāpurip Piḷḷai. Furthermore, a special apparatus is being prepared, documenting variants found in Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar’s commentary across the surviving manuscripts.