Nanmanikkatigai
Encyclopedia
Nanmanikkatigai is a Tamil
poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Pathinenkilkanakku
anthology of Tamil literature
. This belongs to the 'post Sangam period corresponding to between 100 – 500 CE. Nanmanikkatigai contains one hundred songs written by the poet Vilambi Naganaar. This poetic work is famous for its clarity and easy readability and is often a prescribed text for schools in Tamil Nadu
. The poems of Nanmanikkatigai are written in the Venpa
meter.
The poems of Nanmanikkatigai each contain four different ideas. The name Nanmanikkatigai denotes this fact comparing the four ideas to four well-chosen gems adorning each poem. The following poem describes four different groups of people who cannot sleep well at night, namely, a thief, a lovelorn person, someone who hankers after money and a miser who worries about losing his money:
கள்வம்என் பார்க்கு துயில் இல்லை, காதலிமாட்டு
உள்ளம்வைப்பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, ஒண்பொருள்
செய்வம்என் பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, அப்பொருள்
காப்பார்க்கும் இல்லை துயில்.
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Pathinenkilkanakku
Pathinenkilkanakku
Pathinenkilkanakku is a collection of eighteen poetic works created during the 'post Sangam period' . The poems of this collection differ from the earlier works under the Pathinenmaelkanakku collection , which are the oldest surviving Tamil Poetry. The poems are written in the Venpa meter and are...
anthology of Tamil literature
Tamil literature
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
. This belongs to the 'post Sangam period corresponding to between 100 – 500 CE. Nanmanikkatigai contains one hundred songs written by the poet Vilambi Naganaar. This poetic work is famous for its clarity and easy readability and is often a prescribed text for schools in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. The poems of Nanmanikkatigai are written in the Venpa
Venpa
Venpa is a form of classical Tamil poetry. Classical Tamil poetry has been classified based upon the rules of metric prosody. Such rules form a context-free grammar. Every Venpa consists of between two to twelve lines....
meter.
The poems of Nanmanikkatigai each contain four different ideas. The name Nanmanikkatigai denotes this fact comparing the four ideas to four well-chosen gems adorning each poem. The following poem describes four different groups of people who cannot sleep well at night, namely, a thief, a lovelorn person, someone who hankers after money and a miser who worries about losing his money:
கள்வம்என் பார்க்கு துயில் இல்லை, காதலிமாட்டு
உள்ளம்வைப்பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, ஒண்பொருள்
செய்வம்என் பார்க்கும் துயில் இல்லை, அப்பொருள்
காப்பார்க்கும் இல்லை துயில்.