Ainkurunuru

Ainkurunuru ( meaning "five hundred short poems") is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the third of the Eight Anthologies ("Ettuthokai") in the Sangam literature. It is divided into five groups of 100 short stanzas of 3 to 6 lines, each hundred subdivided into 10s, or "pattu". The five groups are based on "tinai" (landscapes): riverine, sea coast, mountain, arid and pastoral. According to Martha Selby, the love poems in "Ainkurunuru" are generally dated from about the late-2nd-to-3rd-century-CE (Sangam period). According to Takanobu Takahashi – a Tamil literature scholar, these poems were likely composed between 300 and 350 CE based on the linguistic evidence, while Kamil Zvelebil – another Tamil literature scholar – suggests the Ainkurunuru poems were composed by 210 CE, with some of the poems dated to 100 BCE.
The "Ainkurunuru" anthology manuscript includes a colophon which states it to be a Chera (Kerala) text, rather than the more common Pandyan kingdom-based. The poems in this book were written by five authors and were compiled by Kudalur Kilar at the behest of Chera King Yanaikkatcey Mantaran Ceral Irumporai.
Style and contents.
This book comes under the "Akam" (love and emotions) category of the Sangam literature. The poems of this anthology are in the "Akaval" meter. These poems deal with the various aspects of the courtship between the hero and the heroine. The poems are set in various landscapes ("Tinai" - திணை).
Each poem is subdivided and formatted into "pattu" or tens, a style found in much of Tamil literature such as "Tirukkural", Bhakti movement poetry and elsewhere. This may have been, according to Zvelebil, a Sanskrit literature ("sataka" style) influence on this work. However, the poetry shows relatively few loan words from Sanskrit. The "Ainkurunuru" has allusions to 17 historical events and offers some window into early Tamil society. For example, it mentions the "kutumi", or the "pigtail of Brahmin boys".
Sections and authors.
The work is divided into five sections by different authors:
The invocation song at the start of the anthology was written by Perunthevanaar, who translated the Mahabharatham into Tamil.
Publication and commentary.
The text was published by U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar, along with a detailed commentary. A short commentary on "Ainkurunuru" anthology was published in the medieval anonymously.
Example.
Original
Transliteration:
Translation:
– Translator: Martha Ann Selby