Ainkurunuru (ஐங்குறுநூறு)

Traditionally counted as one among the eight anthologies of classical Tamil verse, the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu (literally, “the Short Five Hundred,” by extension, “Five Hundred Short Poems”), is an anthology of akam (love) poems dating from the early decades of the third century C.E. The text consists of five sections, each containing one hundred poems. The individual poems range in length from three to six lines. Each section focuses on one of the five tiṇais (landscapes) of reciprocal love, a genre first described by the Tolkāppiyam, the earliest extant work on Tamil phonology, grammar, and poetics.

1 MARUTAM (100 Poems on Jealous Quarreling, by Ōrampōkiyār) (pp. 23-52)

A side from the one hundred poems included in the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, Ōrampōkiyār composed seven additional marutam poems (Akanāṉūṟu 286 and 316; Kuṟuntokai 10, 127, and 384; Naṟṟiṇai 20 and 360). His most likely dates are 150–200. He was clearly a master of the ironic voice. He is also the author of Kuṟuntokai 70 (kuṟiñci) and 122 (neytal), and one Puṟanāṉūṟu poem, number 284. His strategic use of uḷḷuṟai (implied simile, the technique of employing a natural scene to describe actions, emotions, and characters) is a feature of nearly every one of his poems in the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu.

2 NEYTAL (100 Poems on Lamenting the Lover’s Absence, by Ammūvaṉār) (pp. 53-84)

Like Ōrampōkiyār, Ammūvaṉār’s dates are most likely 150–200. It is clear that he favored the neytal landscape: aside from the one hundred poems in the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, he composed twenty-three additional neytal poems that appear in three other anthologies (five in the Akanāṉūṟu, ten in the Kuṟuntokai, and eight in the Naṟṟiṇai). He composed three pālai poems and only one in the kuṟiñci landscape. Neytal poems are set on the seacoast: in backwaters, brackish marshes, and on the sands of the beach. All seasons are appropriate for this landscape, and the poems are set at sunrise and sometimes at twilight

3 KUṞIÑCI (100 Poems on the Union of Lovers, by Kapilar) (pp. 85-122)

The most prolific of all the Tamil classical poets, Kapilar is the author of 206 poems in all. His work makes up a little under one tenth of the entire classical corpus. Based on internal evidence easily seen in the poems of the period, other poets held him in extremely high regard, and it is no wonder: his imagery and stunning similes are innovative, and his poems are full of unusual twists and turns that most other poets can only seem to mimic. Kapilar’s dates are most likely 140–200.

4 PĀLAI (100 Poems on Separation, by Ōtalāntaiyār) (pp. 123-156)

Ōtalāntaiyār, who, like the other poets of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, can be dated to around 150–200, wrote only pālai poems, and nothing is known about him. Aside from the one hundred here, only three other poems bear his name (Kuṟuntokai 12, 21, and 329).

Pālai poems are largely about the hardships of love and elopement and detail the grief caused by separation (pirital) from lovers, parents, friends, and eloping children. The pālai landscape has no conventionally assigned place per se, but it is described as an unbearably hot wasteland and as a place of transition between the kuṟiñci and mullai

5 MULLAI (100 Poems on Patient Waiting for the Lover’s Return, by Pēyaṉār) (pp. 157-186)

Pēyaṉār (whose name means “the demon”) can also be dated most likely to 150–200, and as with Ōtalāntaiyār, we know nothing about him. In addition to the one hundred mullai poems here, he composed two additional poems in the mullai landscape (Akanāṉūṟu 234 and Kuṟuntokai 400), one kuṟiñci poem (Kuṟuntokai 339), and one marutam poem (Kuṟuntokai 359). The main feature distinguishing Pēyaṉār’s poems from those of his fellow authors in the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu is that they contain hardly any uḷḷuṟais (implied similes).