The Nālaṭiyār ( ta, நாலடியார்) is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

poetic work of didactic nature belonging to the Eighteen Lesser Texts (''Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku'') anthology of

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

. This belongs to the post Sangam period corresponding to between 100 and 500 CE. ''Nālaṭiyār'' contains 400 poems, each containing four lines. Every poem deals with morals and ethics, extolling righteous behaviour.

Etymology

The term ''Naladiyar'' is derived from the Tamil terms ''Naalu'', a colloquial form of ''Naangu'' meaning “four”, ''adi'' meaning metrical feet or poetic metre, and ''aar'' referring to a honorific suffix. Thus ''Naladiyar'' refers to the work that contains four-lined verse. The work is also termed ''Naaladi Naanooru'', sometimes spelled ''Naladi Nannurru'', meaning "four hundred quatrains," since it has 400 verses in total.

Didactic nature

''Nālaṭiyār'' was composed by Jain monks. It is an anthology in the

venba Venba may refer to: * Venpa or Venba, a form of Tamil poetry * Venba (actress), an Indian film actress in Tamil-language films, lead role in the 2017 film '' Kadhal Kasakuthaiya'' * ''Venba'' (video game), released in 2023 {{disambiguation ...

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

and is pessimistic in its outlook. It is divided into three sections, the first section focusing on the importance of virtuous life, second section on the governance and management of wealth, and the third smaller section on the pleasures. ''Nālaṭiyār'' is unique in the employment of similes, which help to teach the moral codes using simple examples from daily life. For example, one of the poems states that just like a calf placed in front of a vast herd of cows seeks out its mother unerringly and attaches itself, the deeds of the past home in on the doer and exact their price unfailingly.

Commentaries and translations

Naladiyar remains the highly praised ancient didactic text in Tamil next only to the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The tex ...

. Several commentaries have appeared on the text, which includes three ancient commentaries. The three ancient commentaries were those by Padumanar,

Dharumar Dharumar () was a Tamil poet, scholar, and commentator known for his commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was among the canon of Ten Medieval Commentators of the Kural text most highly esteemed by modern scholars. His work, however, has been l ...

(who has also written commentary on the Tirukkural), and an anonymous poet. The Nalidiyar was translated into English by

G. U. Pope George Uglow Pope (24 April 1820 – 11 February 1908), or G. U. Pope, was an Anglican Christian missionary and Tamil scholar who spent 40 years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations included t ...

, F. J. Leeper, and

Gnanou Diagou Gnanou Diagou (1877–1959) was a lawyer and professor of law in Pondicherry, India. He is known for translating the Tirukkural into French. Biography Gnanou Diagou hailed from a Catholic family from Pondicherry. He obtained his law degree fr ...

. Naladiyar was translated into Russian by N. Gordiychuk in 2016. Naladiyar was translated into Urdu by H. K. Ghazi, an Indian civil servant.

Reception

The Naladiyar is next only to the

in fame among the Tamil literary works. Along with the Tirukkural, it is one of the first books published in Tamil, when it came to print from palm leaf manuscripts for the first time in 1812. There is an old Tamil proverb praising the ''Nālaṭiyār'' that says "''Nālaṭiyār'' and the Tirukkural are very good in expressing human thoughts just as the twigs of the banyan and the neem trees are good in maintaining the teeth." :ஆலும் வேலும் பல்லுக்குறுதி; நாலும் இரண்டும் சொல்லுக்குறுதி. :(''Aalum vaelum pallukkuruthi; naalum irandum sollukkuruthi'') :Literal translation: "Banyan and neem maintain oral health; Four and Two maintain moral health." :(Here "Four" and "Two" refer to the quatrains and couplets of Nālaṭiyār and Tirukkuṛaḷ, respectively.) Naladiyar is often referred to as ''Vellalar Vēdham'' (the sacred scripture of the

Vellalar Vellalar is a generic Tamil term used primarily to refer to various castes who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Vellalar are members of sev ...

)

Notes

References

* * * * Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)

External links

Sangam literature Jain texts Tamil Jain literature {{India-lit-stub