Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Ainkurunuru

by Martha Ann Selby (Translator)

Dating from the early decades of the third century C.E., the Ainkurunuru is believed to be the world's earliest anthology of classical Tamil love poetry. Commissioned by a Cera-dynasty king and composed by five masterful poets, the anthology illustrates the five landscapes of reciprocal love: jealous quarreling, anxious waiting and lamentation, clandestine love before marriage, elopement and love in separation, and patient waiting after marriage.

Despite its centrality to literary and intellectual traditions, the Ainkurunuru remains relatively unknown beyond specialists. Martha Ann Selby, well-known translator of classical Indian poetry and literature, takes the bold step of opening this anthology to all readers, presenting crystalline translations of 500 poems dense with natural imagery and early examples of South Indian culture. Because of their form's short length, the anthology's five authors rely on double entendre and sophisticated techniques of suggestion, giving their poems an almost haiku-like feel. Groups of verse center on one unique figure, in some cases an object or an animal, in others a line of direct address or a specific conversation or situation. Selby introduces each section with a biographical sketch of the poet and the conventions at work within the landscape. She then incorporates notes explaining shifting contexts.

Excerpt:

He has gone off all by himself beyond the wastes where tigers used to prowl and the toothbrush trees grow tall, their trunks parched, on the flinty mountains,

while the lovely folds of your loins, wide as a chariot's seat, vanish as your circlet worked from gold grows far too large for you.

Genres: Poetry

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2011

About the author

Martha Ann Selby is associate professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and an NEH Fellow at the National Humanities Center.

Reviews

[Karthick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating work. Though the poems are concerned with the 'interior landscape' of individuals - love, sex, the home, the family, separation, longing, ecstasy, frustration, contentment - they also throw light on the geography of the Tamil world 2 millennia back. Centered around the heterosexual couple, a key character in these poems is the "thozhi", or the female friend of the heroine, who not only acts as messenger between the couple in times of distress, but also functions as a sort of a marriage and relationship counselor. (The vulgar modern day equivalent of the thozhi of course is the "nanben da", the duffer-friend of the hero of modern Tamil cinema who takes on the role of the thozhi, with crude comedy and often blatant misogyny.) Selby has done a brilliant translation of the Ainkurunuru. Tamils should be eternally grateful to these 'westerners' who have taken our classics to the world, and have also opened windows to the aesthetics of the ancient Tamil world to Tamils who have lost touch with their language (I partially include myself in this list) but are keen to learn about their own culture. Anyone interested in Tamil history, anyone interested in poetry, and anyone interested in love must own a copy of this work.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic introduction to the ancient poetry of South India. The translations are beautifully wrought by Martha Ann Selby.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading early literature from non English traditions and to be able to read this south asian translation was great. I enjoyed the imagery used although I felt the recurring themes of infidelity, waiting for proposal, and traditional marriage I did not connect with. I do love the timelessness of poetry.

[Ćhâřmîé Surjith]

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