Globalization in India

11

In Print, On the Net: Tamil Literary Canon in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds

A. R. Venkatachalapathy

Some texts are born literary, some achieve literariness, and some have literariness thrust upon them.

 

Terry Eagleton (1996: 7)

Today, when we speak of the Tamil literary canon, we generally tend to think of such texts as the whole corpus of Sangam literature: the post-Sangam didactic literature (with pride of place being accorded to Tirukkural), the twin epics of Silappadikaram and Manimekalai, the Saivite thirumurais, the Vaishnavite Nalayira Divya Prabandam, Kambar's Ramayanam and a selection of what is referred to as chittrilakkiyam or minor literature. A wide spectrum of overlapping institutional practices—extensive preservation ...