Naiṇai
Naiṇai is an early anthology of poetry in Tamil, an ancient language of South India, and holds significant cultural and literary value as part of the classical Tamil literature, known as Cakam. The collection features 400 love poems composed by 192 poets, with a majority of them identified by name. The anthology was patronized by the Pāṇḍyan king Paādu Tanda Māan Vaudi and showcases verses primarily written in the akaval meter, characterized by four-foot lines and varied rhymes.
The poems explore the complexities of love, capturing a wide range of emotions experienced by lovers, enriched by vivid imagery of natural landscapes such as mountains, forests, and rivers. These works reflect a shared human experience, depicting both the joy of romance and the pain of separation, with mutual feelings between partners emphasized throughout the poems. Notably, the anthology demonstrates a sense of gender equality in the realm of love, as it features contributions from both male and female poets. Overall, Naiṇai serves as a vital source for understanding the cultural expressions and literary traditions of ancient South Asian societies.
On this Page
Naiṇai
Related civilization: South India.
Date: first-fourth century c.e.
Locale: South India
Authorship: 192 early Tamil poets
Naiṇai
The Naṛṛiṇai (nah-RIH-nahi; English translation in Poets of the Tamil Anthologies, 1979) is an early poetical anthology in Tamil, the language of south India; it is the most ancient literary source for recovering the culture of a people speaking a non-Aryan language in South Asia. The work is regarded as having major importance in the field of Cakam (also Śagam or Cankam), or classical Tamil, literature. It consists of four hundred love poems written by 192 poets of whom 174 are known by name. The Pāṇḍyan king Paādu Tanda Māan Vaudi was the patron of the anthology. The poems consist of nine to twelve lines in the akaval meter, four-foot lines with a difference in rhyme.
The central theme of all the verses is love. Each of the writers evokes the experience of love and passes it on to the reader. The poems weave a tapestry of human emotions against rich descriptions of mountains, forests, meadows, riverbanks, and seashores. In language that is at times sensuous and full of subtle suggestion, lovers at all times of the day and night and in all seasons meet in joy or languish because of separation. In most of the poems, the course of love does not run smoothly, and the lovers suffer the travail and anguish of love. In all cases, the lovers’ feelings are mutual; convention forbade exploration of unrequited love. Both men and women, many of whom are named, contributed the poems. The poems also demonstrate that there was equality between the sexes, at least in the sphere of love.
Bibliography
Subramanian, A. V., trans. Narrinai (An Anthology of Amour). Thanjavur, Tamil Nādu, India: Government of Tamil Nadu, 1989.