Muthollaayiram (, literally "triple nine-hundred") is an ancient

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

anthology, composed around the 5th century CE. The work consists of three sets of 900 verses each, making a total of 2,700 verses in all, sung in praise of the three ancient Tamil rulers of the

Cheras The Chera dynasty ( or Cēra, ), also known as Keralaputra, from the early historic or the Sangam period in Tamil-speaking southern India, ruled over parts of present-day states Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Cheras, known as one of the mu-ventar ...

, the

Cholas The Chola dynasty () was a Tamil dynasty originating from Southern India. At its height, it ruled over the Chola Empire, an expansive maritime empire. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd cen ...

, and the

Pandyas The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

. This is in line with an ancient Tamil custom of writing 900 verses to complete a work, as in several other works such as ''Vaccha Thollaayiram'' and ''Arumbai Thollaayiram''. It tells about various characteristics of these ancient rulers, namely, land, fortification, army, fighting spirit, valour, generosity, and so forth. The author of the work is not known. Much of it has been lost, with only a small portion available. Out of the 2,700 verses, only 109 verses have been found.

Publication of the work

M. Raghava Iyengar first published Muthollaayiram verses in 1905 in the magazine ''Senthamil''. In 1938, S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, head of the Tamil research department at the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

, published a book containing the verse collections of Muthollaayiram.Muthollaayiram, இரட்டையர்கள்
Marumalarcchi (Tamil Magazine)
April 1948, Yalpanam, Sri Lanka. In 1943, S. Vaiyaapuri Pillai wrote in a journal opining that there could only be 300 songs on each rulers, making only 900 songs in total.

Commentary

T. K. Chidhambaranadhar wrote a simple commentary to the verses of the Muthollaayiram. In the commentary, he indicated that the meaning of 9 verses remains murky and included those verses without any elaboration as an appendix in his commentary.

References

{{Authority control Literature, Tamil Sangam literature Tamil philosophy Partially lost Tamil literary works

Publication of the work

Commentary

See also

References