{{Short description|Work of classical Tamil literature}} {{Sangam literature}} [[File:Lakshmana at Srivaikundam.jpg|thumb|150px|Man-size sculpture of [[Rama|Sri Rama]] in [[Srivaikuntanathan Perumal temple]] located in [[Tamil Nadu]].]] {{Italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}} The '''''Akananuru''''' ({{indic|lang=ta|indic=அகநானூறு|trans= Akanāṉūṟu}}, literally "four hundred [poems] in the akam genre"), sometimes called '''''Nedunthokai''''' (''lit.'' "anthology of long poems"), is a classical [[Tamil literature|Tamil poetic]] work and one of the [[Eight Anthologies]] (''Ettuthokai'') in the [[Sangam literature]].{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}} It is a collection of 400 love poems composed by 144 poets, except three poems which are by anonymous author(s).{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}} The poems range between 13 and 31 lines, and are long enough to include more details of the subject, episode and its context. According to [[Kamil Zvelebil]] – a Tamil literature and history scholar, they are "one of the most valuable collections" from ancient Tamil history perspective.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}}
The ''Akananuru'' anthology is notable for its mathematical arrangement: the odd number poems are dedicated to ''[[Sangam landscape#Poetic attributes of the landscapes|palai]]'' (arid landscape); poem number ten and its multiples (10, 20, 30, etc., up to 400) are ''[[Sangam landscape#Poetic attributes of the landscapes|neytal]]'' (coastal landscape); poems bearing number 2 and then in increments of 6 followed by 4 (that is number 8, 12, 18, 22, 28, etc.) belong to the ''[[Sangam landscape#Poetic attributes of the landscapes|kuṟiñci]]'' (mountainous landscape); poems bearing number 4 and then in increments of 10 (14, 24, 34, 44, etc.) are ''[[Sangam landscape#Poetic attributes of the landscapes|mullai]]'' (pastoral forests); poems with number 6 and then in increments of 10 (16, 26, 36, etc.) are ''[[Sangam landscape#Poetic attributes of the landscapes|marutam]]'' (riverine farmlands).{{sfn|Takanobu Takahashi|1995|pp=46–47}} The anthology was compiled by Uruttiracanman, the son of Maturai Uppurikuti Kilan under the patronage of the Pandyan king Ukkiraperuvaluti.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}}{{sfn|Takanobu Takahashi|1995|pp=46–47}} The ''Akananuru'' poems offer many valuable cultural insights as well as historically significant evidence and allusions.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} For example, poem 69, 281 and 375 mention the [[Maurya Empire]], poems 251 and 265 allude to the [[Nanda Empire|Nandas]], the poem 149<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-14 |title=Ettuthokai – Akanānūru 121 – 300 |url=https://sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com/ettuthokai-akananuru-121-300/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Sangam Poems Translated by Vaidehi |language=en}}</ref> mentions Greek-Romans (Yavanas) as trading gold for pepper through [[Muziris]] – an ancient Kerala port near [[Kochi]], and a number of poems echo the Hindu puranic legends about Parasurama, Rama, Krishna and others.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Raoul McLaughlin|title=Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzJf1KgqrWQC|year=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84725-235-7|pages=48–50}}</ref>
According to Kamil Zvelebil – a scholar of Tamil literature and history, a few poems in the ''Akananuru'' were probably composed sometime between 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE, the middle layer between 2nd and 4th century CE, while the last layers were completed sometime between 3rd and 5th century CE.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=41–43 with Chart 4}} Other names for ''Akananuru'' include ''Ahappattu'', ''Ahananuru'', and ''Agananuru''.<ref name="acharya_iitm">{{cite web|url= http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/mirrors/vv/literature/tlang.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040121215517/http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/mirrors/vv/literature/tlang.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-01-21 |title=The Tamil language: A brief history of the language and its literature |author=C. V. Narasimhan |publisher=[[Indian Institute of Technology Madras]] }}</ref>
==Authors== As many as 145 poets are said to have contributed to Akananuru collection.<ref name="acharya_iitm"/> Perunthevanaar, who translated the [[Mahabharata|Mahabharatham]] into Tamil, is one of the authors. Rudrasarman compiled this anthology<ref>Reddy 2003, p. A-240</ref> at the behest of the [[Pandya]] king Ukkiraperuvazhuthi.
==Ramayana Reference== {{Main|Ramayana in Tamil literature}} The Akanāṉūṟu has a reference to the [[Ramayana]] in poem 70. The poem places a triumphant [[Rama]] at [[Dhanushkodi]], sitting under a [[Banyan tree]], involved in some secret discussions, when the birds are chirping away.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dakshinamurthy |first1=A |title=Akananuru: Neytal – Poem 70 |url=https://adakshinamurthy.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/akananuru-neythal-poem-70/ |website=Akananuru |access-date=22 July 2019|date=July 2015 }}</ref> This seems to indicate that the story of the Ramayana was familiar in the Tamil lands before the [[Ramavataram|Kamba Ramayanam]] of the 12th century.<ref name="MSPPillai">{{cite book |last1=Pillai |first1=M S Purnalingam |title=A Primer of Tamil Literature |date=1904 |publisher=The Ananda Press |location=Madras, British India |url=https://archive.org/details/APrimerOfTamilLiterature |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref name="KZvelebil">{{cite book |last1=Zvelebil |first1=Kamil |title=The Smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India |date=1973 |publisher=E J Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |url=https://archive.org/details/TheSmileOfMuruganOnTamilLiteratureOfSouthIndia |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref>
<poem> ''([[Rama|Sri Rama's]] Victory)'' Now, the dinsome village is wrapped up in silence Like unto the banyan tree of many a stilt root From the branches of which birds chirped ceaselessly And which the triumphant [[Rama]] stilled With a show of his hand, That he might discuss in peace secret matters. At the hoary Tanushkoti upon the shore — The town of the great Pandyas, The wielders of victorious spears –, A town where women would collect blooms of neytal With rounded stems Which would blossom amidst green foliage In the watery fields, hard by the shore, Where the fresh and golden blossoms of Nalal And punnai trees shed their pollen And make picturesque the sand —-, To adorn themselves on festival days. —''Akananuru: Palai 70'', Translated by [[A. Dakshinamurthy]] </poem>
==Krishna leela Reference==
The ''Akananuru'' mentions Various Vishnu avatharams such as [[Parasurama]], [[Rama]], [[Krishna]] and others.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Raoul McLaughlin|title=Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzJf1KgqrWQC|year=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84725-235-7|pages=48–50}}</ref> According to Alf Hiltebeitel – an Indian Religions and Sanskrit Epics scholar, the ''Akanaṉūṟu'' has the earliest known mentions of some stories such as "Krishna stealing sarees of Gopis" which is found later in north Indian literature, making it probable that some of the ideas from Tamil Hindu scholars inspired the Sanskrit scholars in the north and the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'', or vice versa.<ref name="Hiltebeitel1991p188">{{cite book|author=Alf Hiltebeitel|title=The Cult of Draupadī: Mythologies from Gingee to Kurukserta |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VncomfRVVhoC|year= 1988|publisher= University of Chicago Press (Motilal Banarsidass 1991 Reprint)|isbn= 978-81-208-1000-6|pages= 188–190}}</ref> However the text [[Harivamsa]] which is complex, containing layers that go back to the 1st or 2nd centuries BCE, Consists the parts of Krishna Playing with Gopis and stealing sarees.
==Date== The ''Akananuru'' poems were likely composed later in the Sangam period than other akam poetry based on the linguistic evidence, the introduction of mathematical arrangement, and given the mention of overseas trade and north Indian dynasties. According to [[Takanobu Takahashi]], the ''Akananuru'' poems were composed over several centuries, likely from 1st to 3rd century CE.{{sfn|Takanobu Takahashi|1995|pp=51–53}} Other scholars such as Vaiyapuri Pillai chronologically place the ''Akanaṉūṟu'' after the ''Narrinai'' and ''Kuṟuntokai'' anthologies.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=53-54}} According to Kamil Zvelebil, except for a few ''Akananuru'' poems such as 10, 35, 140 which were probably completed between 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE, while few poems are believed to be composed around the late 2nd century BCE based on the mentions of the Maurya and the Nanda empire.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nadarajah|first=Devapoopathy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ7b6msS3kgC&q=info:Q1h0NSIwwIEJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PR9|title=Love in Sanskrit and Tamil Literature: A Study of Characters and Nature, 200 B.C.-A.D. 500|date=1994|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-1215-4|language=en}}</ref> Most of the ''Akananuru'' was likely composed sometime between the 2nd and 5th century CE.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=41–43 with Chart 4}}
==Poetic characteristics== Aganaṉūṟu book comes under the ''Agam'' category in its subject matter. The poems of this anthology are of the ''Akaval'' [[meter (poetry)|meter]]. Akananuru contains 401 stanzas and is divided into three sections<ref name="acharya_iitm"/> # ''Kalintruyanainirai'' (களிற்றுயானைநிறை), 121 stanzas # ''Manimidaipavalam'' (மணிமிடைபவளம்), 180 stanzas # ''Nittilakkovai'' (நித்திலக்கோவை), 100 stanzas
==English Translations== [[Bharathidasan University]] has published a full translation of all the 400 songs by [[A. Dakshinamurthy]] in 3 volumes in 1999:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bdu.ac.in/publication/cankam1.php |title=Publication Division {{pipe}} Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India |access-date=2013-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317045400/http://www.bdu.ac.in/publication/cankam1.php |archive-date=2014-03-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{Quote| <poem> ''(The heroine's companion consoles her friend at the advent of the rainy season)''
The rumbling clouds winged with lightning Poured amain big drops of rain and augured the rainy season; Buds with pointed tips have sprouted in the jasmine vines; The buds of Illam and the green trunk Kondrai have unfolded soft; The stags, their black and big horns like twisted iron Rushed up toward the pebbled pits filled with water And leap out jubilantly having slaked their thirst; The wide expansive Earth is now free From all agonies of the summer heat And the forest looks exceedingly sweet; Behold there O friend of choicest bangles! Our hero of the hilly track will be coming eftsoon, Driving fast his ornate chariot drawn by the steeds With waving plumes and trimmed manes When the stiffly tugged reins Will sound like the strumming of Yal. As he drives, he has the chariot bells tied up So as not to disturb the union of bees That live on the pollen of the blossoms in the bushes. He rushes onward thinking all along of your great beauty. O friend whose fragrance is like unto the blossoming Kantal On the mountain, tall and huge, east of Urantai of dinsome festivity! —''Akananuru: Mullai 4'', Translated by [[A. Dakshinamurthy]] </poem> }}
==See also== * [[Eight Anthologies]] * [[Eighteen Greater Texts]] * [[Sangam literature]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
;Bibliography {{Refbegin|}} * Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983) * {{cite book|title=Tamil Literature|last=Pillai|first=M. S. Purnalingam|year=1994|pages=115|publisher=Asian Educational Services|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIeqvcai5XQC&pg=PA115|isbn=81-206-0955-7}} * {{cite book|title=The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia|last=Ray|first=Himanshu Prabha |year=2003|publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location=Cambridge|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iHHzP4uVpn4C |isbn=9780521011099}} * Selby, Martha Ann (2011) Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|9780231150651}} *{{cite book|author=Takanobu Takahashi|title=Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgCHuVGyZoEC|year=1995|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-10042-3}} * {{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ|year=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-03591-5}} * {{cite book|title=Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|author-link=Kamil Zvelebil|year=1992|pages=73|publisher=BRILL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC&pg=PA73|isbn=90-04-09365-6}} {{Refend}}
{{Tamil language}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akananuru}} [[Category:Sangam literature]] [[Category:Ancient Indian poems]]