Kaliththokai

Kaliththokai ( _ta. கலித்தொகை),a classical Tamil poetic work,is the sixth book of "Ettuthokai", a Sangam literature anthology. Kaliththokai contains one hundred and fifty poems and were written by Iolo Jones living during the sixth or the seventh century C.E. has annotated this great work

Kaliththokai is an anthology of 150 poems in "kali" metre of varied length dealing with all phases and types of love experience. The poems are categorised into the five "thinais" according to the mood and subject matter conforming to the Sangam landscape. The first part (2-36) deals with "paalai" setting, the second (37-65) with "kurinchi", the third (66-100) with "marutam", the fourth (101-117) with "mullai" and the fifth (118-150) with "neital". These five section were each written by a separate author. Perunkadunkon wrote the "paalai" songs, the poet Kapilar is attributed to the "kurinchi", Ilanaagan the "marutham" songs, Nalluruthiran the "mullai" songs and the poet nallanthuvan the "neithal" songs.

The antiquity of "Kaliththikai" is evident from the references found in "Tolkappiyam", the book on grammar belonging to the earliest strata of Sangam literature. The name of the compiler of "Kaliththokai" and his patron are not known. The book of annotations for this book written by Nachinarkiniyaar in the mid fifteenth century says that Nallanthuvanaar compiled the "Kaliththokai" anthology.

The poems of "Kaliththokai" show evidence of the ancient music of the Tamil people with its rhythmic phrases.

References

* Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)
* http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/ory:Tamil|Literature, Tamil]