Lost Love Poetry from the Caṅkam Age
An annoted translation and critical edition of the Tamiḻneṟi Viḷakkam
Leo Nelson-Jones
The aim of this project is to create an annotated English translation and critical edition of the Tamiḻneṟi Viḷakkam, a text on poetic theory from around the 9th century CE, and its commentary. The Tamiḻneṟi Viḷakkam has not received any in-depth academic study since its original publication in 1937 and neither it nor its commentary have been translated into English before. We unfortunately only have 25 of the original 60 verses from the base text, with the last 35 having been lost. These verses enumerate the different characteristics of Tamil love (akam) poetry and the various speech situations that can occur. In this genre, the poems are always framed as part of a conversation between two of a stable and well-defined group of characters about a certain situation, for example the heroine speaking to her best friend about her lover's impending separation. As for the commentary, the form it takes when explaining the speech situations is poetic quotation. It quotes 194 illustrative stanzas in all, of which 173 come from unknown sources. Roughly a third of these appear as quotations in other commentaries so, when editing, in addition to consulting the two available manuscripts we have and the printed editions of the text, these parallel quotations will also be taken into account. These have also never been translated so as part of our larger lexicographical project, these new extensively annotated translations will provide valuable data.