Sangam literature
The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், caṅka ilakkiyam;) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ)[1] connotes the ancient Tamil literature and is the earliest known literature of South India. The Tamil tradition and legends link it to three literary gatherings around Madurai and Kapāṭapuram (Pandyan capitals): the first over 4,440 years, the second over 3,700 years, and the third over 1,850 years before the start of the common era.[2][3] Scholars consider this Tamil tradition-based chronology as ahistorical and mythical.[4]: 73 Most scholars suggest the historical Sangam literature era spanned from c. 300 BCE to 300 CE,[2][5][6] while others variously place this early classical Tamil literature period a bit later and more narrowly but all before 300 CE.[7][8][9] According to Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature and history scholar, the most acceptable range for the Sangam literature is 100 BCE to 250 CE, based on the linguistic, prosodic and quasi-historic allusions within the texts and the colophons.[10]
The Sangam literature had fallen into oblivion for much of the second millennium of the common era, but were preserved by and rediscovered in the monasteries of Hinduism, particularly those related to Shaivism near Kumbakonam, by colonial-era scholars in the late nineteenth century.[11][12] The rediscovered Sangam classical collection is largely a bardic corpus. It comprises an Urtext of oldest surviving Tamil grammar (Tolkappiyam), the Ettuttokai anthology (the "Eight Collections"), the Pattuppattu anthology (the "Ten Songs").[13] The Tamil literature that followed the Sangam period – that is, after c. 250 CE but before c. 600 CE – is generally called the "post-Sangam" literature.[8]
This collection contains 2381 poems in Tamil composed by 473 poets, some 102 anonymous.[13][14] Of these, 16 poets account for about 50% of the known Sangam literature,[13] with Kapilar – the most prolific poet – alone contributing just little less than 10% of the entire corpus.[15] These poems vary between 3 and 782 lines long.[12] The bardic poetry of the Sangam era is largely about love (akam) and war (puram), with the exception of the shorter poems such as in paripaatal which is more religious and praise Vishnu, Shiva, Durga and Murugan.[2][16][17]
On their significance, Zvelebil quotes A. K. Ramanujan, "In their antiquity and in their contemporaneity, there is not much else in any Indian literature equal to these quiet and dramatic Tamil poems. In their values and stances, they represent a mature classical poetry: passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuances of design, impersonality by vivid detail, austerity of line by richness of implication. These poems are not just the earliest evidence of the Tamil genius. The Tamils, in all their 2,000 years of literary effort, wrote nothing better."[18] The Sangam literature also includes Buddhism and Jainism epics.[19]
Nomenclature and tradition
Sangam literally means "gathering, meeting, fraternity, academy". According to David Shulman, a scholar of Tamil language and literature, the Tamil tradition believes that the Sangam literature arose in distant antiquity over three periods, each stretching over many millennia.[20] The first has roots in the Hindu deity Shiva, his son Murugan, Kubera as well as 545 sages including the famed Rigvedic poet Agastya. The first academy, states the legend, extended over four millennia and was located far to the south of modern city of Madurai, a location later "swallowed up by the sea", states Shulman.[20][21] The second academy, also chaired by a very long-lived Agastya, was near the eastern seaside Kapāṭapuram and lasted three millennia. This was swallowed by floods. From the second Sangam, states the legend, the Akattiyam and the Tolkāppiyam survived and guided the third Sangam scholars.[20][21]
A prose commentary by Nakkiranar – likely about the eighth century CE – describes this legend.[22] The earliest known mention of the Sangam legend, however, appears in Tirupputtur Tantakam by Appar in about the seventh century CE, while an extended version appears in the twelfth-century Tiruvilaiyatal puranam by Perumparrap Nampi.[3] The legend states that the third Sangam of 449 poet scholars worked over 1,850 years in northern Madurai (Pandyan kingdom). He lists six anthologies of Tamil poems (later a part of Ettuttokai):[22]
- Netuntokai nanuru (400 long poems)
- Kuruntokai anuru (400 short poems)
- Narrinai (400 Tinai landscape poems)
- Purananuru (400 Outer poems)
- Ainkurunuru (500 very short poems)
- Patirruppattu (Ten Tens)
These claims of the Sangams and the description of sunken land masses Kumari Kandam have been dismissed as frivolous by historiographers. Noted historians like Kamil Zvelebil have stressed that the use of 'Sangam literature' to describe this corpus of literature is a misnomer and Classical literature should be used instead.[3] According to Shulman, "there is not the slightest shred of evidence that any such [Sangam] literary academies ever existed", though there are many Pandya inscriptions that mention an academy of scholars. Of particular note, states Shulman, is the tenth-century CE Sinnamanur inscription that mentions a Pandyan king who sponsored the "translation of the Mahabharata into Tamil" and established a "Madhurapuri (Madurai) Sangam".[23][note 1]
According to Zvelebil, within the myth there is a kernel of reality, and all literary evidence leads one to conclude that "such an academy did exist in Madurai (Maturai) at the beginning of the Christian era". The homogeneity of the prosody, language and themes in these poems confirms that the Sangam literature was a community effort, a "group poetry".[25][note 2] The Sangam literature is also referred sometimes with terms such as caṅka ilakkiyam or "Sangam age poetry".[3]
Authors
The Sangam literature was composed by 473 poets, some 102 anonymous.[13] According to Nilakanta Sastri, the poets came from diverse backgrounds: some were from a royal family, some merchants, some farmers.[27] At least 27 of the poets were women. These poets emerged, states Nilakanta Sastri, in a milieu where the Tamil society had already interacted and inseparably amalgamated with north Indians (Indo-Aryan) and both sides had shared mythology, values and literary conventions.[27]
Compilations
The available literature from this period was categorised and compiled in the tenth century CE into two categories based roughly on chronology. The categories are the patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku ("the eighteen greater text series") comprising Ettuthogai (or Ettuttokai, "Eight Anthologies") and the Pattuppāṭṭu ("Ten Idylls"). According to Takanobu Takahashi, this compilation is as follows:[12]
| Name | Extant poems | Original poems | Lines in poems | Number of poets |
| Narrinai | 400 | 400 | 9–12 | 175 |
| Kuruntokai | 402 | 400 | 4–8 | 205 |
| Ainkurunuru | 499 | 500 | 3–6 | 5 |
| Patirruppattu | 86 | 10x10 | varies | 8 |
| Paripatal | 33 | 70 | varies | 13 |
| Kalittokai | 150 | 150 | varies | 5 |
| Akananuru | 401 | 400 | 12–31 | 145 |
| Purananuru | 398 | 400 | varies | 157 |
| Name | Lines | Author |
| Tirumurukarruppatai | 317 | Nakkirar |
| Porunararruppatai | 234 | Mutattamakkanniyar |
| Cirupanarruppatai | 296 | Nattattanar |
| Perumpanarruppatai | 500 | Uruttirankannaiyar |
| Mullaippattu | 103 | Napputanar |
| Maturaikkanci | 782 | Mankuti Marutanar |
| Netunalvatai | 188 | Nakkirar |
| Kurincippattu | 261 | Kapilar |
| Pattinappalai | 301 | Uruttirankannanar |
| Malaipatukatam | 583 | Perunkaucikanar |
Classification
Sangam literature is broadly classified into akam (அகம், inner), and puram (புறம், outer).[28] The akam poetry is about emotions and feelings in the context of romantic love, sexual union and eroticism. The puram poetry is about exploits and heroic deeds in the context of war and public life.[25][28] Approximately three-fourths of the Sangam poetry is akam themed, and about one fourth is puram.[29]
Sangam literature, both akam and puram, can be subclassified into seven minor genre called tiṇai (திணை). This minor genre is based on the location or landscape in which the poetry is set.[29] These are: kuṟiñci (குறிஞ்சி), mountainous regions; mullai (முல்லை), pastoral forests; marutam (மருதம்), riverine agricultural land; neytal (நெய்தல்) coastal regions; pālai (பாலை) arid.[29][30] In addition to the landscape based tiṇais, for akam poetry, ain-tinai (well matched, mutual love), kaikkilai (ill matched, one sided), and perunthinai (unsuited, big genre) categories are used.[29] The Ainkurunuru – 500 short poems anthology – is an example of mutual love poetry.[15]
Similar tiṇais pertain to puram poems as well, categories are sometimes based on activity: vetchi (cattle raid), vanchi (invasion, preparation for war), kanchi (tragedy), ulinai (siege), tumpai (battle), vakai (victory), paataan (elegy and praise), karanthai , and pothuviyal.[29] The akam poetry uses metaphors and imagery to set the mood, never uses names of person or places, often leaves the context as well that the community will fill in and understand given their oral tradition. The puram poetry is more direct, uses names and places, states Takanobu Takahashi.[31]
Style and prosody
The early Sangam poetry diligently follows two meters, while the later Sangam poetry is a bit more diverse.[32][33] The two meters found in the early poetry are akaval and vanci.[34] The fundamental metrical unit in these is the acai (metreme[35]), itself of two types – ner and nirai. The ner is the stressed/long syllable in European prosody tradition, while the nirai is the unstressed/short syllable combination (pyrrhic (dibrach) and iambic) metrical feet, with similar equivalents in the Sanskrit prosody tradition.[34] The acai in the Sangam poems are combined to form a cir (foot), while the cir are connected to form a talai, while the line is referred to as the ati.[36] The sutras of the Tolkappiyam – particularly after sutra 315 – state the prosody rules, enumerating the 34 component parts of ancient Tamil poetry.[36]
The prosody of an example early Sangam poem is illustrated by Kuruntokai:[37]
ciṟuveḷ ḷaravi ṉavvarik kuruḷai
kāṉa yāṉai aṇaṅki yāaṅ
kiḷaiyaṇ muḷaivā ḷeyiṟṟaḷ
vaḷaiyuṭaik kaiyaḷem maṇaṅki yōḷē
– Kuruntokai 119, Author: Catti Nataanr
The prosodic pattern in this poem follows the 4-4-3-4 feet per line, according to akaval, also called aciriyam, Sangam meter rule:[37]
= – / = – / – = / = –
– – / – – / = – / – –
= – / = – / = –
= = / – = / = – / – –
Note: "=" is a ner, while "–" is a nirai in Tamil terminology.
A literal translation of Kuruntokai 119:[37]
little-white-snake of lovely-striped young-body
jungle elephant troubling like
the young-girl sprouts-brightness toothed-female
bangle(s) possessing hand(s)-female"
– Translator: Kamil Zvelebil
English interpretation and translation of Kuruntokai 119:[37]
As a little white snake
with lovely stripes on its young body
troubles the jungle elephant
this slip of a girl
her teeth like sprouts of new rice
her wrists stacked with bangles
troubles me.
– Creative translator: A.K. Ramanujan (1967)
This metrical pattern, states Zvelebil, gives the Sangam poetry a "wonderful conciseness, terseness, pithiness", then an inner tension that is resolved at the end of the stanza.[38] The metrical patterns within the akaval meter in early Sangam poetry has minor variations.[39] The later Sangam era poems follow the same general meter rules, but sometimes feature 5 lines (4-4-4-3-4).[40][35][41] The later Sangam age texts employ other meters as well, such as the Kali meter in Kalittokai and the mixed Paripatal meter in Paripatal.[42]
Preservation and rediscovery
The works of Sangam literature were lost and forgotten for most of the 2nd millennium. They were rediscovered by colonial-era scholars such as Arumuka Navalar (1822-1879), C.W. Damodaram Pillai (1832-1901) and U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar (1855-1942).[45]
Arumuka Navalar from Jaffna first inaugurated the modern editions of Tamil classics, publishing a fine edition of Tirukkuṟaḷ by 1860.[46] Navalar – who translated the Bible into Tamil while working as an assistant to a Methodist Christian missionary, chose to defend and popularize Shaiva Hinduism against missionary polemics, in part by bringing ancient Tamil and Shaiva literature to wider attention.[47] He brought the first Sangam text into print in 1851 (Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai, one of the Ten Idylls). In 1868, Navalar published an early commentary on Tolkappiyam.[48]
C.W. Damodaram Pillai, also from Jaffna, was the earliest scholar to systematically hunt for long-lost manuscripts and publish them using modern tools of textual criticism.[49] These included:
- Viracoliyam (1881)
- Iraiyanar Akapporul (1883)
- Tolkappiyam-Porulatikaram (1885)
- Kalittokai (1887) - the first of the Eight Anthologies (Eṭṭuttokai).
Aiyar – a Tamil scholar and a Shaiva pundit, in particular, is credited with his discovery of major collections of the Sangam literature in 1883. During his personal visit to the Thiruvavaduthurai Adhinam – a Shaiva matha about twenty kilometers northeast of Kumbhakonam, he reached out to the monastery head Subrahmanya Desikar for access to its large library of preserved manuscripts. Desikar granted Aiyar permission to study and publish any manuscripts he wanted.[12] There, Aiyar discovered a major source of preserved palm-leaf manuscripts of Sangam literature.[12][50] Aiyar published his first print of the Ten Idylls in 1889.
Together, these scholars printed and published Kalittokai (1887), Tholkappiyam, Nachinarkiniyar Urai (1895), Tholkappiyam Senavariyar urai (1868), Manimekalai (1898), Silappatikaram (1889), Pattuppāṭṭu (1889), Patiṟṟuppattu (1889). Puṟanāṉūṟu (1894), Aiṅkurunūṟu (1903), Kuṟuntokai (1915), Naṟṟiṇai (1915), Paripāṭal (1918) and Akanāṉūṟu (1923) all with scholarly commentaries. They published more than 100 works in all, including minor poems.
Significance
The Sangam literature is the historic evidence of indigenous literary developments in South India in parallel to Sanskrit, and the classical status of the Tamil language. While there is no evidence for the first and second mythical Sangams, the surviving literature attests to a group of scholars centered around the ancient Madurai (Maturai) that shaped the "literary, academic, cultural and linguistic life of ancient Tamil Nadu", states Zvelebil.[51]
The Sangam literature offers a window into some aspects of the ancient Tamil culture, secular and religious beliefs, and the people. For example, in the Sangam era Ainkurunuru poem 202 is one of the earliest mentions of "pigtail of Brahmin boys".[52] These poems also allude to historical incidents, ancient Tamil kings, the effect of war on loved ones and households.[53] The Pattinappalai poem in the Ten Idylls group, for example, paints a description of the Chola capital, the king Karikal, the life in a harbor city with ships and merchandise for seafaring trade, the dance troupes, the bards and artists, the worship of the Hindu god Murugan and the monasteries of Buddhism and Jainism. This Sangam era poem remained in the active memory and was significant to the Tamil people centuries later, as evidenced by its mention nearly 1,000 years later in the 11th- and 12th-century inscriptions and literary work.[54]
The Sangam literature embeds evidence of loan words from Sanskrit, suggesting on-going linguistic and literary collaboration between ancient Tamil Nadu and other parts of the Indian subcontinent.[55][note 4] One of the early loan words, for example, is acarya– from Sanskrit for a "spiritual guide or teacher", which in Sangam literature appears as aciriyan (priest, teacher, scholar), aciriyam or akavar or akaval or akavu (a poetic meter).[59][note 5]
The Sangam poetry focuses on the culture and people. It is almost entirely non-religious, except for the occasional mentions of the Hindu gods and more substantial mentions of various gods in the shorter poems. The 33 surviving poems of Paripaatal in the "Eight Anthologies" group praises Vishnu, Shiva, Durga and Murugan.[2][17][note 6] Similarly, the 150 poems of Kalittokai – also from the Eight Anthologies group – mention Shiva, Murugan, various Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata, Kama, Krishna, goddesses such as Ganga, divine characters from classical love stories of India.[63] One of the poems also mentions the "merciful men of Benares", an evidence of interaction between the northern holy city of the Hindus with the Sangam poets.[63] Some of the Paripaatal love poems are set in the context of bathing festivals (Magh Mela) and various Hindu gods. They mention temples and shrines, confirming the significance of such cultural festivals and architectural practices to the Tamil culture.[63]
Further, the colophons of the Paripaatal poems mention music and tune, signifying the development and the importance of musical arts in ancient Tamil Nadu. According to Zvelebil, these poems were likely from the late Sangam era (2nd or 3rd century CE) and attest to a sophisticated and prosperous ancient civilization.[63]
Modern musical renditions
The first music album on Tamil Sangam poetry titled Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil by Composer Rajan Somasundaram in collaboration with Durham Symphony, featured in Amazon's Top#10 'International Music albums' category in July 2020 and was called a "A Major event in the world of Music" by The Hindu Music review.[64]
Sangam poems are often quoted and paraphrased in modern Tamil cinema.[65][66]
See also
- Project Madurai: open access Tamil literature repository
- List of historic Indian texts
- Tamiḻakam
- First Sangam
- Second Sangam
- Tamil Sangams
- List of Sangam poets
Notes
- ^ This is, however, not the first inscription to support the sangam legend. According to Eva Wilden, the first inscription to hint the existence of a "sangam" legend is found in the Erukkankuti plates of 829 CE. A part of this inscription says, "the lord of excellent Alankuti that is praised in the worlds, on the firm big bench of stone in Kutal [Maturai] with cool Tamil great in words". While the context and the last part about Kutal echoes the existence of a Tamil scholar academy in Madurai, it does not presuppose or confirm the existence of a full-fledged three sangam periods legend by the ninth century CE, states Wilden.[24]
- ^ According to Zvelebil, the hypothesis proposed by some that the first and second academy may have referred to the Buddhist and Jaina monk assemblies can "hardly" be true. Rather, states Zvelebil, it is more likely that the first academy of poets existed sometime about 400–300 BCE – which he adds, is also a "purely speculative" conjecture. The persistence of three gods – Siva, Murukavel [Murugan] and Kubera – in the legendary account and the classical Tamil literature, states Zvelebil, suggests that the beginnings of Tamil literature and civilization were "closely connected with the cults" of these three gods in ancient Tamil Nadu.[26]
- ^ The private U.V. Swaminatha Aiyar library preserves the largest collection of Sangam era-related manuscripts. Other notable collections of Sangam literature manuscripts are found in the Saraswati Mahal library and the Tamil University manuscript library in Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscript library of Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), as well as the private collections in old Hindu temples and monasteries. Less than 50% of all preserved palm leaf manuscripts, copied over the centuries over nearly 2,000 years, are in the Tamil language; the majority of these manuscripts preserved in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are in Sanskrit and Telugu (some Malayalam). Sangam literature manuscript collections typically include all three languages.[44] A few thousand of the Sangam and post-Sangam era manuscripts in Tamil language are now preserved in various European and American collections.[44]
- ^ This collaboration was two way, and evidence for this is found in the earliest known Hindu scripture, the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE). About 300 words in the Rigveda are neither Indo-Aryan nor Indo-European, states the Sanskrit and Vedic literature scholar Frits Staal.[56] Of these 300, many – such as kapardin, kumara, kumari, kikata – come from Munda or proto-Munda languages found in the eastern and northeastern (Assamese) region of India, with roots in Austro-Asiatic languages. The others in the list of 300 – such as mleccha and nir – have Dravidian (Tamil, Telugu) roots found in the southern region of India, or are of Tibeto-Burman origins.[56][57] The linguistic sharing provide clear indications, states Michael Witzel, that the people who spoke Rigvedic Sanskrit already knew and interacted with Munda and Dravidian speakers.[58]
- ^ According to George Hart, other than loan words, it is obvious to any scholar who has studied both classical Sanskrit and classical Tamil that the mid to late Sangam literature (1st to 3rd century CE) and ancient Sanskrit literature are related. However, adds Hart, the earliest layer of the Sangam literature "does not seem to be much influenced by Sanskrit".[60]
- ^ Other Sangam poems mention gods and goddesses. For example, Purananuru 23, Akananuru 22, Tirumurukarruppatai 83–103 and others mention god Murugan, his wife Valli, the iconographic peacock, and the Vedas; Murugan's mother – goddess Korravai (Amma, Uma, Parvati, Durga) is mentioned in Akananuru 345, Kalittokai 89, Perumpanarruppatai 459 and elsewhere. She is both a mother goddess and the goddess of war and victory in Sangam poetry.[61][62]
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- ^ Wilden 2014, pp. 13–15 with footnotes.
- ^ Jonas Buchholz and Giovanni Ciotti (2017), What a Multiple-text Manuscript Can Tell Us about the Tamil Scholarly Tradition: The Case of UVSL 589, Manuscri[pt Cultures, Vol. 10, Editors: Michael Friedrich and Jorg Quenzer, Universitat Hamburg, pages 129–142
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- ^ Michael Witzel (2012). George Erdosy (ed.). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 98–110 with footnotes. ISBN 978-3-11-081643-3., Quote (p. 99): "Although the Middle/Late Vedic periods are the earliest for which we can reconstruct a linguistic map, the situation even at the time of the Indus Civilisation and certainly during the time of the earliest texts of the Rigveda, cannot have been very different. There are clear indications that the speakers of Rigvedic Sanskrit knew, and interacted with, Dravidian and Munda speakers."
- ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 13–14.
- ^ George L. Hart (1976). The Relation Between Tamil and Classical Sanskrit Literature. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 317–326. ISBN 978-3-447-01785-5.
- ^ Ronald Ferenczi (2019). Róbert Válóczi (ed.). Goddess Woman. Museum of Fine Art Budapest, Hungarian National Gallery. pp. 108–111. ISBN 978-615-5304-84-2.
- ^ Hart III, George L. (1973). "Woman and the Sacred in Ancient Tamilnad". The Journal of Asian Studies. Cambridge University Press. 32 (2): 233–250. doi:10.2307/2052342. JSTOR 2052342.
- ^ a b c d Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 123–128.
- ^ "A Major event in the world of Music- The Hindu Music Review". The Hindu Tamil. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ Sangam poems in contemporary songs https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil/2017/mar/26/sangam-poems-in-contemporary-songs-1586219.html
- ^ Narumugaiye - A.R.Rahman - Mirchi Unplugged Season 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QatLrdzalew
Bibliography
- JV Chelliah (1946). Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation). Tamil University (1985 print).
- Thomas Lehmann; Thomas Malten (1992). A Word Index of Old Tamil Caṅkam Literature. F. Steiner. ISBN 978-3-515-05814-8.
- V. S. Rajam (1992). A Reference Grammar of Classical Tamil Poetry. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-199-6.
- Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2003). The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521011099.
- Selby, Martha Ann (2011) Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, ISBN 9780231150651
- Shulman, David (2016). Tamil. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-97465-4.
- Takanobu Takahashi (1995). Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics. BRILL Academic. ISBN 90-04-10042-3.
- Herman Tieken (2001). Kāvya in South India: Old Tamil Caṅkam Poetry. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-6980-134-6.
- Wilden, Eva Maria (2014). Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Cankam in Tamilnadu. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-035276-4.
- Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-03591-5.
- Kamil Zvelebil (1974). Tamil Literature. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-01582-0.
- Kamil Zvelebil (1975). Tamil Literature. Handbook of Oriental Studies. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-04190-7.
- P. Meenakshi Sundaram (1965). History of Tamil Literature. Annamalai University.
External links
- sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com Sangam poetry with translation in English, Vaidehi Herbert