The Tamil Poets and Poetry from Medieval Religious to Social Modern Literature

The book examines how the Tamil poets gradually began to turn their attention away from praising kings, chieftains, ruling elites besides on gods and goddesses. It explores how the bards composed ulaa, pillaithamizh, maalai, sathagam, agaval, kalampagam, kovai and toothu poetry in the early modern age. New genres like virali vidu thoothu emerged and laid social focus on depicting the lives of the Brahmins, dancers and prostitutes. Puranams and thalapuranams came to grow into prominence and popularity by encouraging the pilgrims. The study also examines how Tamil Christian poetical religious works composed saw the light of printing. This volume covering wide ranging aspects is an invaluable guide for understanding the radical and manifold changes in the Tamil poetical scene after the advent of the Europeans and beyond.