Ullurai (

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 ...

உள்ளுறை ''uḷḷuṟai'' literally, "inner meaning") is a type of extended

allusion Allusion, or alluding, is a figure of speech that makes a reference to someone or something by name (a person, object, location, etc.) without explaining how it relates to the given context, so that the audience must realize the connection in the ...

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

used in classical Tamil poetry. Five types of ullurai are described in the Tolkappiyam, an early treatise on

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

and

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

. These are uṭaṉuṟai, uvamam, cuṭṭu, nakai and cirappu. The first two of these, the treatise says, were in use in the classical period. The other three had been used in earlier periods, but were no longer in use in his time. Few examples of their use survive outside texts on

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...

. Ilampuranar, an early mediaeval commentator, describes the constituents of each of the five types of ullurai. *'' uṭaṉuṟai'' consists of describing a

phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

, object or happening, which suggests something different from what is directly described. The thing, feeling or happening suggested is not evident in the words of the poem, but is inferred from what is described. In akam poetry, the words that create the utanurai are usually spoken by the heroine of the poem, or by her friend, though there are exceptions. The hidden meaning of the words is frequently something which the person to whom they are addressed - the hero of the poem, or his friend - will understand, or is intended to understand. It may be generated using associations specific to the poem's tiṇai - the geographical landscape in which its action is set - but, unlike other types of ullurai, utanurai may also be rooted in associations that have no connection with the poem's thinai. *''uvamam'', or '' uḷḷuṟai uvamam'' is the main literary device used in akam poetry. In this device, the objects of nature described in the poem symbolise the characters in the situation described in the poem. Each of these objects is associated with the specific geographical

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

(tiṇai) in which the poem is set, and the characters they symbolise are based on conventional meanings which the objects in question have. For example, a description of a buffalo treading on a lotus as he feeds on small flowers symbolises an unfaithful man (the buffalo) who makes his lover suffer (the act of treading on the lotus) by visiting

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

s (the small flowers). Ilakkuvanar, a modern commentator on Tamil literary theory, distinguishes between uḷḷuṟai uvamam, which operates by way of suggestion, and ēṉai uvamam, which involves a more explicit comparison, but not all modern commentators make this distinction. *Ilampuranar deals with the other three forms of ullurai more perfunctorily. ''cuttu'' occurs when a poem points to a particular object whilst, in reality, aiming at a different object. ''nakai'' occurs when the description of situation, on the face of it, is

humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

ous or provokes laughter, but, in actuality, indicates something more serious. ''cirappu'' consists of stating that one thing is greater than, or superior to, another thing and, through the comparison, indicating a third thing not named. Ilampuranar states that the key characteristic of ullurai is it functions as a literary device which causes the reader to perceive or understand something - a person, object or feeling - that is different from what the words of the poem describe. According to Nachchinarkkiniyar, a late mediaeval commentator, elaborates further. The essence of ullurai - which distinguishes it from other types of similes (uvamai) - is, he says, the absence from the

simile A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit c ...

not only of express terms of comparison, but also of the thing or emotion that is the subject of the comparison. He gives the example of the phrase: "

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

-like

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

s". In order to be ullurai, the poem must not only not use the word "like", it should make no mention of "lips" at all. If it does, the literary device it uses is not considered "ullurai", but is classified as some other type of simile (''uvamai''). Modern commentators are divided on the nature of the relationship between ullurai and other literary techniques described in traditional treatises on Tamil poetics. Selby treats the purpose of ullurai as being the creation of iraicchi - a sense of recognition in readers, which leads them to understand the inner meaning of the poem. Other modern commentators treat iraicchi as being a type of ullurai, usually treating it as being a synonym for, or closely related to, uṭaṉuṟai.See e.g.

References

Sources

* * * * * *{{Citation , last=Zvelebil , first=Kamil , author-link=Kamil Zvelebil , title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India , publisher=E.J. Brill , place=Leiden , year=1973 , isbn=90-04-03591-5 Tamil poetics