Nannūl ( ta, நன்னூல்) is a work on

Tamil grammar Much of Tamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest available grammar book for Tamil, the ''Tolkāppiyam'' (dated between 300 BCE and 300 CE). Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th century grammar '' Naṉṉūl'', which rest ...

written by a

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

ascetic Pavananthi Munivar around 13th century CE. It is the most significant work on Tamil grammar after

Tolkāppiyam ''Tolkāppiyam'', also romanised as ''Tholkaappiyam'' ( ta, தொல்காப்பியம், ''lit.'' "ancient poem"), is the most ancient extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil literature. The surviving manus ...

. The work credits Western Ganga vassal king Seeya Gangan of

Kolar Kolar or Kolara is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar district. The city is known for its milk production and gold mines. It is also known for Someshwara temple and Kolaramma temple. History The Wes ...

with patronising it. About 20 commentaries have been written on Nannūl up to 19th century CE. Nannūl was divided into five sections:

written language A written language is the representation of a spoken or gestural language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will pick up spoken language or sign language by exposure eve ...

spoken language A spoken language is a language produced by articulate sounds or (depending on one's definition) manual gestures, as opposed to a written language. An oral language or vocal language is a language produced with the vocal tract in contrast with a si ...

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

, poetic language and

rhetorical device In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, ...

s. The latter three sections have been lost, so only the parts on written and spoken language are extant today. In Tamil, ''nūl'' means ''book'', and ''Nannūl'' means ''good book''.

References

External links

nannUl of pavaNanti munivar, edited by Dr. T. Malten, Inst. of Indology and Tamil Studies, Univ of Koeln, Germany
Tamil-language literature {{Dr-lang-stub Grammar books

See also

References

External links