Kuṟuntokai
Classical, Sangam era, Tamil poetic anthology of short poems (4 to 8 lines) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kuṟuntokai (Tamil: குறுந்தொகை, meaning the short-collection[1]) is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the second of the Eight Anthologies (Ettuthokai) in the Sangam literature.[2] The collection belongs to the akam (love) category, and each poem consists of 4 to 8 lines each (except poem 307 and 391 which have 9 lines). The Sangam literature structure suggests that the original compilation had 400 poems, but the surviving Kuruntokai manuscripts have 402 poems.[2][3] According to Takanobu Takahashi – a Tamil literature scholar, these poems were likely composed between 100 CE and 300 CE based on the linguistics, style and dating of the authors.[4] Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil literature and history scholar, states that the majority of the poems in the Kuruntokai were likely composed between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE.[5] The Kuruntokai manuscript colophon states that it was compiled by Purikko (உரை), however nothing is known about this compiler or the patron.[3]
The Kuruntokai poems are credited to 205 ancient poets.[3] Of these, according to Kamil Zvelebil, about 30 poets names are of North Indian roots (Indo-Aryan) and rest are of Dravidian roots.[2] The poems include Sanskrit loan words, contain 27 allusions to historical events and there are 10 borrowings from this work into the two famed post-Sangam Tamil works: Tirukkural and Silappatikaram.[2]