Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature.

• Superior document: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 2 South Asia Series ; v.5
• Author: Zvelebil, K. V.
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : BRILL,, 1991.; ©1991.
• Year of Publication: 1991
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 2 South Asia Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (319 pages)

The book addresses problems and topics which have so far been largely ignored, in spite of being of fundamental importance for successful teaching and correct understanding of Tamil literary heritage which spans some 2000 years of development.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Avant-propos: The term "tamiḻ" -- Preface -- Bibliographies and Catalogues of Tamil Material -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Periodisation of the development of Tamil literature -- Chapter 2: Prehistory and protohistory of Tamil literate civilization -- Oral and written traditions-the case of Tamil -- The problems of transmission -- Chapter 3: Problems of integrity, authenticity, attribution and authorship -- Interpolations, additions, revisions, forgeries -- Lost literature -- Chapter 4: Problems of dating -- Absolute and relative chronology -- Chapter 5: The dichotomy of norm (ilakkaṇam) and application (ilakkiyam) -- The dichotomy of mārga and deśī -- The dichotomy of centamiḻ and koṭuntamiḻ -- The dichotomy of taṉi and toṭar -- The concept of muttamiḻ -- Chapter 6: The rediscovery of ancient Tamil literature -- Appendix 1: List of lost works -- Appendix 2: The Tamil conception of "book" -- Appendix 3: The case of Akattiyam -- Tamil and Sanskrit -- the Academies -- Scholarly lineages of 19th and 20th centuries -- Blueprint for a history of Tamil literature -- Illustrations -- Index.