8th NETamil Workhop, 20-22 April 2017, CSMC Hamburg
Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas
Thursday, April 20
morning 10 a.m.: Colophons
10-10.30
10.30-11.30
11.30-12.0
12-1
1-2.30
Welcome
Marco Franceschini: “More on the Dates Found in the Colophons of Tamil
and Grantha Manuscripts”
Tea break
Sathyanarayanan: “South-Indian Śaiva Colophons”
Lunch break
afternoon 2.30 p.m.: Types of Satellite Stanzas I
2.30-3.30
3.30-4
4-5
5-6
Cristina Muru: “Packaging Text: Paratextual Elements in Christian
Manuscripts of Tamil (16th -18th Cent.)”
Coffee break
Giovanni Ciotti: “Remarks on the Stanzas Embedded in Potuppāyiram-s and
Commentaries on Ciṟappuppāyiram-s in Tamil ilakkaṇam Literature”
Victor D’Avella: “Introductory Stanzas to the Cēṉāvaraiyam”
Friday, April 21
morning 9.30 a.m.: Types of Satellite Stanzas II
9.30-10.30
10.30-11.30
11.30-12
12.30-1
1-2.30
Jean-Luc Chevillard: “Why Is Volume 16 of Ti. Vē. Kōpāl Aiyar's
Grammatical Encyclopedia (tamiḻ ilakkaṇap pērakarāti) Called ‘pāyiram,
pāṭṭiyal, marapiyal’? A bird's-eye view”
Eva Wilden: “Colophon Stanza – Taṉiyaṉ – Signature Verse”
Tea break
Sascha Ebeling: “Appeasing the Assembly – The History, Poetics and Social
Logic of the avaiyaṭakkam Stanza in Tamil Literature”
Lunch break
afternoon 2.30 p.m.: Types of Satellite Stanzas III; Taṉiyaṉ-s
2.30-3.30
3.30-4
4-5
5-6
Harunaga Isaacson: “Giving Praise, Asking for Pardon: Tropes in Sanskrit
Scribal Verses”
Coffee break
Jonas Buchholz: “Construing a Corpus: the Mnemonic Stanza on the
Kīḻkkaṇakku Works”
[Emmanuel Francis: “Supplementing Poetry and Devotion: The Additional
Stanzas to the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai”] read in absence
Saturday, April 22
morning 9 a.m.: Taṉiyaṉ-s and Taṉiyaṉ-based Literary Genres I
9-10
12-1
1-2 p.m.
Suganya Anandakichenin: “The Taṉiyaṉ: Its Role, Evolution and Importance
in the Śrīvaiṣṇava Tradition”
Tea break
Shubha Shanthamurthy: “Evolution of the Tamil Śaiva Hagiographical
Tradition from Marginalia to Mainstage; Its Export from Cōḻa Heartlands to
Other Parts of the Deccan”
K. Nachimuthu: “Tiruvalluvamālai: Prolegomena to Tirukkuṟaḷ?”
Lunch break
2-3.30
March for Science, Rathausmarkt
10.30-11
11-12
afternoon 4 p.m.: Taṉiyaṉ-s and Taṉiyaṉ-based Literary Genres II
3.30-4
4-5
5-5.30
Coffee break
Erin McCann: “A Note on the Rāmānujanūṟṟantāti”
Suganya Anandakichenin: “A Note on Maṇavāḷa Māmuni’s Upadeśarattiṉamālai”
Abstracts
Suganya Anandakichenin (EFEO Pondy): The taṉiyaṉ: its role, evolution and
importance in the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition
The taṉiyaṉ plays an unparalleled role in the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. Dedicated to both the
Āḻvārs and the Śrīvaiṣṇava ācāryas – both considered as venerable teachers -, the modestlooking “stray” verse will later lead to the development of a literary subgenre that is
dedicated to the praise of the acharya and will become part of the daily prayers meant to be
recited by the Śrīvaiṣṇavas. Composed both in Sanskrit and Tamil, it is also a visible sign of
the bilingual tradition that characterised the above-mentioned milieu, in which it thrived.
In this talk, I will give an introduction to the taṉiyaṉ, which seeks to examine its evolution
and its (still) growing popularity among the Śrīvaiṣṇavas, and read a few samples so as to
present the variety of verses that this appellation incorporates.
Suganya Anandakichenin (EFEO Pondy): A note on Maṇavāḷa Māmuni’s Upadeśarattiṉamālai
Maṇavāḷa Māmuni’s Upadeśa-rattiṉamālai (15th c.?) is a garland of verses dedicated to the
āḻvārs and the ācāryas. Besides giving “biographical” information about them, it also praises
their glories, as well as their compositions’s, the one receiving the most attention being Piḷḷai
Lokācārya’s Śrīvacanabhūṣaṇam. In this short presentation, I will try to give a general survey
of the work, and also read a few representative verses.
Jonas Buchholz (CSMC): Construing a corpus: the mnemonic stanza on the
Kīḻkkaṇakku works
Classical Tamil literary works are often surrounded by free-floating verses, the so-called
“satellite stanzas”, which include additional information about the works to which they
pertain. A particularly important example is a set of three mnemonic stanzas which list the
constituent works of the Pattuppāṭṭu, Eṭṭuttokai, and Kīḻkkaṇakku corpora, respectively.
These anonymous stanzas of unknown origin have come to form the basis for modern literary
histories about the aforementioned corpora. Whereas the mnemonic stanzas on the
Pattuppāṭṭu and Eṭṭuttokai do not pose any major problems, the identification of the works
listed in the Kīḻkkaṇakku mnemonic stanza has been contested. Starting with the contribution
of Ti. Vai. Tāmōtaram Piḷḷai (1887), a debate on the interpretation of the mnemonic stanza
and the identification of the eighteen Kīḻkkaṇakku works ensued. In particular, the identity of
the eighteenth work was disputed. Two texts, both of which were printed during the early 20th
century—the Iṉṉilai and the Kainnilai—laid claim to being the final Kīḻkkaṇakku work. Later
scholars have identified the Iṉṉilai as spurious, but the matter is still not entirely settled.
In my presentation, I will discuss the debate about the identity of the Kīḻkkaṇakku works,
with particular reference to the Iṉṉilai and the Kainnilai. I will then present an additional
piece of evidence, which has so far gone largely unnoticed, namely the manuscript
representations of the Kīḻkkaṇakku corpus. As I will show, the manuscripts betray that the
Kīḻkkaṇakku works were transmitted as a corpus, and that the mnemonic stanza was
instrumental for organizing this corpus already at the time of manuscript transmission.
Moreover, the manuscript evidence clearly settles the question of the Iṉṉilai and the
Kainnilai in favour of the Kainnilai. Furthermore, I will discuss the available manuscript
representations of the Kīḻkkaṇakku mnemonic stanza. As we will see, the form of the stanza
found in the manuscripts differs considerably from the accepted version, which was defined
by Tāmōtaram Piḷḷai. Taking into account the manuscript evidence, I will finally attempt a
close reading of the mnemonic stanza.
Jean-Luc Chevillard (CNRS): Why is volume 16 of Ti. Vē. Kōpāl Aiyar's Grammatical
Encyclopedia (Tamiḻ Ilakkaṇap Pērakarāti) called “pāyiram, pāṭṭiyal, marapiyal? A
bird's-eye view”
The 16th volume of the grammatical encyclopedia called Tamiḻ Ilakkaṇap Pērakarāti and
composed by the late Ti. Vē. Kōpāl Aiyar [[1926-2007] is divided into two sections called
respectively "poruḷ – pāṭṭiyal" and "poruḷ – pāyiram, marapiyal", which contain respectively
819 entries (in 187 pages) and 610 entries (in 184 pages). The present communication will
attempt to give a bird's-eye view of the content of that volume, and of the corpus of ancient
Tamil śāstric sources on which it is based.
Giovanni Ciotti (CSMC): Remarks on the stanzas embedded in potuppāyirams and
commentaries on ciṟappuppāyirams in Tamil ilakkaṇam literature
Several Tamil treatises (nūls) and their commentaries (urais) contain introductions
(pāyirams) that are at the same time a gamut of introductory remarks and a reflection on the
importance of having such remarks. The structure of these introductions is constituted by
conventional modules, the order of which may vary, but which always include a general
presentation on the people involved in the fruition of the treatise, a laudatory poem
(ciṟappuppāyiram) written by an appreciator of the treatise, and a discussion of what this
poem should be about.
The exposition of these themes is aided by or sometimes fully entrusted to a number of
stanzas that elegantly pack up the relevant topics. Some of these stanzas are found across the
whole corpus, some occur with minor variants, some are unique to a specific text albeit akin
in content to those found in other works.
The structure of the introductions and the presence of the stanzas are a characterising feature
of the Tamil “scientific” literature that, with a few notable exceptions, has lasted for at least
ten centuries (from Nakkiraṉ's commentary to the Iraiyaṉār Akapporuḷ to the Ilakkaṇa
Viḷakkam) and seems to have not been affected by its Sanskritic śāstric counterpart.
Victor D’Avella (CSMC): Introductory Stanzas to the Cēṉāvaraiyam
Beginning with the first printed edition of the Cēṉāvaraiyam in 1886 by Āṟumukanāvalar and
Tāmōtaram Piḷḷai, four stanzas have accompanied this Tolkāppiyam commentary just before
the initial cūttiram. The sources for these verses, however, have never been investigated nor
has it been established whether they in fact form an integral part of the manuscript tradition
of the Cēṉāvaraiyam. Based on a select number palm leaf witnesses, I will present a more
complete picture of these stanzas in the manuscript tradition along with new material that did
not make it into the printed editions.
Sascha Ebeling (Chicago): Appeasing the Assembly – The history, poetics and social
logic of the avaiyaṭakkam stanza in Tamil literature
The present paper examines the avaiyaṭakkam stanza or apologetic preface in classical Tamil
literature, a trope of humility or captatio benevolentiae in which the author of a work
denigrates his own capability vis-à-vis other poets and asks his audience for indulgence. I
will discuss the history of this particular type of paratext, its poetics and structuring principles
and its social functions within the wider premodern Tamil literary sphere.
Marco Franceschini (Bologna): More on the dates found in the colophons of Tamil and
Grantha manuscripts
In the frame of the NETamil Project, over the last three years I have been carrying out a
research – in collaboration with Giovanni Ciotti – on the colophons found in Tamil and
Tamilian Grantha manuscripts. We presented the first outcomes of our research in a long
article published in 2016: however, our work has advanced since then. In the present paper I
will illustrate some later results of our joint research, focusing especially on the portions of
the colophons dealing with the dates, which is the part of our research I am particularly
interested in. Among other topics, the paper will deal with the dates which seem to have no
exact correspondence in the Gregorian calendar, and will also touch upon the few dates
found so far which are reckoned in the Kali, Śaka and Christian eras. A (hopefully) complete
set of symbols and abbreviations used in Tamil and Grantha colophons to mark the years, the
months and the days will be presented as well.
Emmanuel FRANCIS (CNRS/CEIAS): Supplementing poetry and devotion: The
additional stanzas to the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai
This presentation is a preliminary study of the rich corpus of additional stanzas to the
Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai, a devotional hymn to the god Murukaṉ, possibly dated to the 7th c. To
date, 44 different additional stanzas have been collected in the available manuscripts. Among
these, 11 are found in printed editions of the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai, while 14 have been
identified as borrowed from other works. The manuscript search thus yielded 19 new stanzas,
provided that further investigations do not reveal that some are in fact borrowed. I will
present preliminary observations about the frequency, date, authorship, placement, layingout, typology and function of the additional stanzas to the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai.
Harunaga Isaacson (AAI): Giving praise, asking for pardon: Tropes in Sanskrit scribal
verses
This paper will present and discuss some examples of 'scribal' verses found in the
transmission of Sanskrit texts. I will focus on the two tropes of giving praise to the work
copied or its author and asking for pardon for shortcomings in the act of copying.
Erin McCann (CSMC): A note on the Rāmānuja Nūṟṟantāti
The Rāmānuja Nūṟṟantāti is a text of one hundred and eight verses composed in the kaṭṭaḷaik
kalit tuṟai metre by Tiruvaraṅkattamutaṉār. The primary topic, as the title indicates, is
Rāmānuja. He is praised for such deeds as destroying false practices, protecting the earth in
the Kaliyuga, teaching for the salvation of all living beings, being the incarnation of the
Lord’s weapons, removing the poet’s karma, etc., etc. The work also, however, praises
Rāmānuja for his connection to other figures counted among the lineage of Śrīvaiṣṇava
teachers (guruparampara). This presentation will focus on the twenty-four verses that contain
references to the Āḻvārs, Rāmānuja’s predecessors, and one of his disciples. We will look at
the structure, themes, and distribution of these verses. We will also consider how Rāmānuja’s
relationship to these other figures is depicted therein and how this connects to the formulation
the guruparampara.
Cristina Muru (U. of Tuscia): Packaging text: paratextual elements in Christian
manuscripts of Tamil (16th-18th cent.)
Old manuscripts encode intents and aims of writers who existed in a nearer or more remote
past. While dealing with manuscripts, attention focuses not only on the main texts but also on
those paratextual elements which constitute their framework. The observation of these
elements, such as colophons, preface, table of contents, and visual elements (i.e. seals), which
surround the ‘main text’ within Christian manuscripts dealing with ‘other non-European
languages’, may help to understand not only the transmission history of the manuscript itself,
but also the symbolic, cultural and pragmatic value assumed by the written signs used for
encoding these paratextual elements. Indeed, the linguistic choices adopted by writers and
copyists, who operated in multilingual settings, seem to suggest how the selection of a
language instead of another, the dynamic of alternation of languages within the same written
context as well as the organisation and distribution of the paratextual elements, could be
observed from a pragmatic perspective and considered as “strategies” adopted in order to
adapt the texts to the addressees as well as to define the typology of the text. Consequently,
paratextual elements not only encode information about who, when and where a text was
produced, rather become a way of communicating, through writing, other information among
individuals or communities. Within this perspective, where writing is not only considered as
a means to conduct language and fix it on a support, and through the comparison of
paratextual elements of two main typologies of Christian manuscripts - texts about the Tamil
language written in an European language and texts about an European matter (i.e. Christian
religion topics) written in the Tamil language, this presentation seeks to discuss how the
consideration of paratext may increase our understanding of the communicative functions
that underlie the ‘packaging’ of the text.
K. Nachimuthu (Central University of Tamilnadu,Tiruvarur): Tiruvalluvamālai:
Prolegomena to Tirukkuṟaḷ?
Tiruvalluvamālai is a work consisting of about 55 (or 52 or 49) verses praising the genius of
the author Tiruvalluvar and his work Tirukkuṟaḷ (A.D.1-2). According to the legends
associated with the work this is purported to have been sung by well-known poets of the
Sangam age (A.D 1-3) when it was first released in the Tamil Sangam by Tiruvalluvar
amidst opposition and critical comments. It is an assorted Anthology of Critical Comments
on Tirukkuṟaḷ and abstracted statements on its content and organisation.
The date of the work is not well established but the opinion on it vary fixing the date
of its composition from Tiruvalluvar’s time and between 7th century A.D. to 16th A.D. It
shares a milieu with the Cirappuppāyiram tradition (introduction to a book, giving particulars
of the author, title of the work, subject-matter, etc., opp. to potu-p-pāyiram) of grammatical
works and Taṉiyaṉ tradition (Stray verse in praise of an author or a work or Stray verse in
salutation to a guru) of Vaisnava scholasticism.
The opinion on the nature of the work is highly divided. Some scholars having faith in
the legend associated with it treat it as the anthology of critical comments and as a precursor
to the development the native critical traditions. Many other scholars assert that it is a work
by a single author who composed it with fictitious old vintage names for giving credibility. It
could be unplanned or it could be otherwise to appropriate the work for sectarian acceptance
and allegiance. A sophisticated Vaiṣṇava perspective is evident in the text.
The content and opinions found in Tiruvalluvamālai show that it could be an work by a
scholar having allegiance to Vedic philosophy especially of the Vaiṣṇava sect. The nature of
style and language also have parallels with Vaiṣṇava Taṉiyaṉs. There is a belief that it is a
Cirappuppāyiram, a kind of prolegomena to the text which is highly contested.
The textual tradition of the work needs further enquiry. It seems the work composed
later seems to have existed as a separate work. Later in the print culture in the early
nineteenth century it was added to the main text of Tirukkuṟaḷ to make it look like a
Cirappuppāyiram or prolegomena.
Tiruvalluvamālai attracts the attention of the scholars for mapping the reception of
Tirukkuṟaḷ in different periods. Apart from studying it from literary and sociological
perspectives, a fresh look at it from the point of view of textual tradition is also needed.
R. Sathyanarayanan (EFEO Pondy): South-Indian Śaiva colophons
Usually manuscripts will have an end note which is termed as colophon. In some instances,
manuscripts without colophon were also seen. A colophon may be as simple as to mention
only title of the work or may provide information about the poet/author, his titles, patronage
etc. Usually colophons are seen in the end of sections/cantos also. These intermediately
colophons are simple and will give the details like the name of the work and section. The
colophon at the end of last section will give more details than others.
In the same fashion there are some conventions used within the text to avoid repeated
writing, assuming that the reader's familiarity regarding those conventions. But, when the
time passes those conventions are not able to recognise or properly understandable. Here,
now some effort has been taken to understand such conventions especially related to the
South Indian manuscripts.
Shubha Shanthamurthy (SOAS): “Evolution of the Tamil Śaiva hagiographical
tradition from marginalia to mainstage; its export from Cōḻa heartlands to other parts
of the Deccan”
The Tamil Śivabhakti tradition may be said to have begun with the devotional outpourings of
the itinerant mūvar on the 6-9cCE, but as it attained the status of canon in
progressive stages, the composers of the initial hymnal corpus, their attendants and exemplars
moved from the edges to centre-stage of the bhakti tradition. Thus, while there is only an
occasional reference to named śivabhaktas in the early patikams of Campantar and Appar,
Cuntarar devotes an entire patikam to recalling them. The first stage of canonization of Tamil
Śivabhakti, in the 10cCE efforts of Nampi Āṇṭār Nampi to
anthologize the hymns of the mūvar, occasions his composition of Tiruttoṇṭar Tiruvantāti, a
cycle of 90 verses extolling the nāyaṉmār named by Cuntarar, as well as Cuntarar himself.
The antāti makes, at times cryptic, references to the ‘deeds of devotion’ that make that
particular bhakta standout as an exemplar of bhakti. Further evolution of the character of the
bhakta continues in the 12cCE Periya Purāṇam of Cēkkiḻār and later beyond the Cōḻa
heartland to the Kannada ragaḷes of Harihara composed in early 13cCE Hampi, the Telugu
Basavapurāṇamu of Pālkuriki Sōmanātha composed in mid-late 13cCE Śrīśailam, the mid14cCE Kannada Basavapurāṇa of Bīmakavi and the 16cCE editions of the Kannada
Śūnyasaṃpādane anthologies.
This paper will present the evolution from Cuntarar’s patikam to Nampi Āṇṭār Nampi’s
Tiruttoṇṭar Tiruvantāti and will discuss the development of the hagiographical traditionas the
main force in the śivabhakti tradition of 12-15cCE Deccan.
Eva Wilden (EFEO/CSMC): Colophon Stanza – Taṉiyaṉ – Signature Verse
In the Tamil literary tradition there exist syntactic matrices for mnemonic stanzas in Veṇpā
metre that serve various, partly overlapping purposes. They come, as such verses do, from the
anynomous, oral tradition and are perhaps first to be observed in colophon stanzas naming
the author and/or title of a work. Moreover, they are taken up by several semi-literary and
literary traditions that develop types such as the taṉiyaṉ (a solitary verse in praise of an
author or work) and the signature verse of bhakti, for which no Tamil term seems available,
except for the Śaiva tirukkaṭaikkāppu (“sacred protection of the end”). This article explores
the syntactic patterns and tries to relate early occurrences in different traditions.