Song of the Ankle Rings is a literary novel based on Silappatikaram, an ancient Tamil classic of a chaste woman, Kannagi, immortalised in statues and temples in India and Sri Lanka.
Societal norms smother Kannagi's verve. She miscarries several times and, beneath her calm, struggles with private demons. Her life shatters when Kovalan abandons her and consorts with Madhavi, an accomplished dancer but also a budding feminist.
Madhavi questions Kovalan's morals and infuriates him. But realising his errors he returns as a pauper to Kannagi, who takes him back and gives him her ankle rings to rebuild his wealth.
They travel to the Pandyan Kingdom. The Pandyans arrest him for stealing the queen's ankle ring and he faces the executioner's blade. An outraged Kannagi crosses her threshold unescorted, an unheard of conduct by a chaste woman.
But she is all alone in a foreign land, has to get past the palace guards, and confront their upright king. Kannagi races to Kovalan's rescue to fulfil her destiny, not knowing whether she will be late for his salvation or early for her vengeance. The second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Tamils contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography.
The dictionary section has over cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. Two prominent translators present the first complete English-language edition of one of India's greatest works of classical literature: the Purananuru. This anthology of four hundred poems by more than poets between the first and third centuries CE in old Tamil—the literary language of ancient Tamilnadu—was composed before Aryan influence had penetrated the south.
It is thus a unique testament to pre-Aryan India. Beyond its importance for understanding the development of South Asia's history, culture, religion, and linguistics, the Purananuru is a great work of literature, reflecting accurately and profoundly the life of southern India 2, years ago.
One of the few works of classical India that confronts life without the insulation of a philosophical facade and that makes no basic assumptions about karma and the afterlife, the Purananuru has universal appeal.
It faces the world as a great and unsolved mystery, delving into living and dying, despair, love, poverty, and the changing nature of existence. To this hidden gem of world literature George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz add a helpful appendix, an annotated bibliography, and an excellent introduction describing the work and placing it in its social and historical context.
All that we can say at present without any fear of contradiction is, that it is a pure Tamil word being current as the only name of the language of the Tamils, from the days that preceded the First Tamil Academy established at Thenmadurai on the river pahruli in the submerged continent.
The word 'Tamil' or 'Tamilan' successively changed into 'Dramila', 'Dramila', 'Dramida' and 'Dravida' in North India and at first denoted only the Tamil language, as all the other Dravidian dialects separated themselves from Tamil or came into prominence one by one only after the dawn of the Christian era.
That is why Sanskrit and Tamil came to be known as Vadamoi and Tenmoli respectively. This distinction could have arisen only when there were two languages standing side by side, one in the North and the other in the South, both coming in contact with each other.
This second volume of Gyllenbok's encyclopaedia of historical metrology comprises the first part of the compendium of measurement systems and currencies of all sovereign states of the modern World A-I. Units of measurement are of vital importance in every civilization through history.
Since the early ages, man has through necessity devised various measures to assist him in everyday life. They have enabled and continue to enable us to trade in commonly and equitably understood amounts, and to investigate, understand, and control the chemical, physical, and biological processes of the natural world.
The encyclopeadia will be of use not only to historians of science and technology, but also to economic and social historians and should be in every major academic and national library as standard reference work on the topic. Vaadivaasal, a novella published in , is considered as a modern literary classic in Tamil. It describes the events of an afternoon in Periyapatti, a village in southern Tamil Nadu, where a jallikattu-contest involving the traditional sport of bull taming-is under way. The novella opens with the arrival of bulls in the village from near and far, excitement and anticipation from the crowd of onlookers, and tales of past heroics being exchanged among the villagers.
Through the afternoon, Picchi, a young man from distant Usilanoor, displays his prowess at bull-taming, triumphing against several bulls. The highlight of the day is his encounter with the Kari bull, prize animal fielded by the Periyapatti zameendar, which he defeats in a show of great ingenuity and courage.
After being driven mad by the frenzy of defeat, the animal is shot dead by its owner as a means of salvaging the zameendar's pride. It is revealed gradually in the course of the novella that the Kari bull had killed Picchi's father, a legendary bull-tamer, in a jallikattu held many years ago and that Picchi has come to Periyapatti with the express intention of avenging his father's death through a contest where he will be risking his own life.
The contest in a jallikattu is always between the bull tamer and a man of power, who is represented by the bull. Vaadivaasal is a masterful account not only of a traditional sport and the people who engaged in it, but also of the relations of power and how they played out in a bygone era. As a work that captures the tremors of a life-and-death battle between man and animal, it is an outstanding achievement in the annals of Tamil prose fiction.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity individual or corporate has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Going back to oral predecessors probably dating back to the beginning of the first millennium, it has had an extremely rich and variegated history. Collected into anthologies and endowed with literary theories and voluminous commentaries, it became the centre-piece of the Tamil literary canon, associated with the royal court of the Pandya dynasty in Madurai.
Its decline began in the late middle ages, and by the late 17th century it had fallen into near oblivion, before being rediscovered at the beginning of the print era. The present study traces the complex historical process of its transmission over some years, using and documenting a wide range of sources, in particular surviving manuscripts, the early prints, the commentaries of the literary and grammatical traditions and a vast range of later literature that creates a web of inter-textual references and quotations.
Parthasarathy, translator of the Cilappatikaram The Purananuru, one of the oldest extant Tamil anthologies, was compiled almost two thousand years ago, between the first and third centuries C.
One of the eight Sangam anthologies, it consists of four hundred poems, of more than poets. This translation is the first complete English-language edition of the anthology.
One of the few classical works that confronts life without a philosophical facade, making no basic assumptions about karma and the afterlife, The Purananuru has universal appeal. Unique for its freshness and directness of expression, its poems delve into the mysteries of living and dying, despair, love, poverty, and the changeable nature of existence, vividly depicting life in pre-Aryan southern India.
Authentic and accessible, this exceptional rendering by a distinguished Tamil scholar and a noted poet will delight scholars and lay readers alike. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. This is from adhyayam 31 where they discuss the sea route to Yavanam Greece. One of the ancient names of Karachi was Barbarikon. How to download pdf of this book? Viswanathan Lakshminarayanan i want toreadI aminterested in readinghistoric novels that shaped India and tamilnadu.
Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Aug 15, Prem rated it it was amazing. Feb 11, Arun A rated it it was amazing.
View all 3 comments. Like only winners make the history. This book contains ration fiction, I mean 40 percent of the book contains vast knowledge of truth and habitation of forest were my ancestors was lived. Even though the stories it contain fiction It was perfectly blended with so many meticulous surprising facts.
On Every aspect first part of the book is a masterpiece. Jul 05, Prasanna Kumar rated it it was amazing Shelves: thamizh. Oct 11, Gayathri Rajakumar rated it it was amazing. This is the best book I've ever read.
Apr 26, Subasreenee Muthupandi rated it it was amazing. Happy reading ….. Jun 01, Dinesh Sunder rated it it was amazing. View 2 comments. Waiting for my Paperback Oct 01, Chibi rated it it was amazing. One of the best books i have ever read. Authors style of narration and the story plot is amazing. Definitely heavy home work is required to create such story plot and the knowledge of the tribals and their life style is fantastic.
Your perception about the Kings and kingdom may tumble. Apr 13, Manigandan B rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorite. Jun 27, Ganapathy rated it it was amazing. Sep 27, Manju Senthil rated it it was amazing. Velpaari - a must read! I was really startled while reading this book! I am a great fan of historical novels. And all our historical novels I admire were written a generation before.
But even during these recent times, where the world is digitalised, can a book be so impressive that it outbeats the books from 's? Velpaari did it Amazing plot This book remains close to my heart that I have started longing for a life in Velpaari - a must read!
This book remains close to my heart that I have started longing for a life in the Parambu hills. This golden rule of Paari makes us realise how corrupted our present day society is. In short, it is a gift to read about one of the Kadai-Yelu-Valalgal! Though it is impossible to lead a great life like them, it inculcates some good values in us and thereby leaving a lasting impression in our hearts!
Sep 07, Prabhu R. Very well written and the imagination is very well narrated. Though a historical fiction, doesn't look like so, as many of the main characters are actually from literary references. The pace of the novel was different at different sections, but overall it was good. The characterizations, the plot and how the overall story unfolds. There are a lot of thought-provoking points raised through different characters at different points in time in the story.
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