Page:Gleaning Of Tamil Literature.pdf/19

 Development of Literature 19

Conflicts were too many between these two oppos- ing personages: yet virtue wins in the end. The only fault that we can find in the Ramayana is that it contains in itself an element of conflict between two religious creeds. Many scholars are not in favour of this idea, But we can see even now in Tamilnad that some of the Veera Saivites are not willing to touch the Ramayana, Some of the staunch Vaishnavites hate Peria- puranam or anything smacking of saivism. But both are invaluable in Tamil language. If we project our sympathetic imagination and consider the personages in the Ramayana as representaiives of absolute principles or virtues, then the epic is freed from the apparent fault that we attribute to it. However as a piece of art, it is the masterly ‘creation of a master mind. The whole epic is inwardly conceived.

In the middle ages after the 10th and 11th centuries, apart from poetry the form of Prose also developed. Inscriptions belong to the later Chola period. These inscriptions reveal the great reigns of the Chola Kings, their charity, patron- age, and their heroism, valour and most of all their love of Tamil. These inscriptions are chiefly found in stone slabs in ancient Temples. They clearly show the fame of the king in exquisite prose. Then we come to know the purpose, the person to whom it was dedicated etc., in the latter half of the bulk. We-are grateful to the Indian �