Page:Introduction to Tamil Poetry.pdf/8

 7 to their wars and conquests and finally pays a tribute to Karuņākara Tondaimán, who as the Commandar-in-Chief of Kulõttunga's army, defeated the Telugus at the battle of Kalingam. The poem is exquisite in its descriptions of the march, the battle, the victory of the Tamils and the retreat of the defeated Telugus. One can see for oneself how the artist Jayankonòär has used his tools of similies, meta- phors, hyperboles, personification etc., in this masterpiece. It is in this period again that Sekkilär and Kambar, the authors of Periapurāņam and Kamba Rāmāyaṇam respec- tively lived. Periapurāņam mentioning the deeds of 63 Saiva Saints is a Tamil epic which can stand comparison with any other classical poem or epic of other countries. It is not the stories contained in this work that are so remark- able as the way in which they have been told. Again, it is not the matter contained in Kamba Ramayanam that has the foremost appeal but the manner in which the story has been told. Kamban has not translated Ramayanam from the original, but the story of Rama contained in his Rama- yanam is a new creation. Kamban was a master-mind who understood the psychology of the characters he was depict- ing, Ottakuthar, Kālamēkam and other poets of this age have given valuable poems which are worth a study even today. Their poems In the next period (1300 to 1700) appeared Villiputhur Aļwār and Aruņagirināthar, two great exponents of the Vaishnavite and Saivite cults respectively. have a great appeal to the ear and consequently to the mind and to the heart. They were preceded by a host of eminent writers who expounded the principles of Saivite religion and Vaishnavite religion. It is in this period that Sivagnāņa Bötham by Meikanda Têvar and Sivagnāna Siddhiär by Umāpathi Sivam, which represent the quint- essence of Dravidian religious thought, were given. Robert de Nobili arrived in Goa round about 1610 A.D. and assumed the name of Tattuva Bödha Swami and con-