Aintiṇai Eḻupatu: Text, Transliteration and Translations in English Verse and Prose

Of the famed Patineṇkīlkkaṇakku writings, Aintiṇai Eḻupatu is included in this volume consisting of the Tamil text, its transliteration and three English translations. Though the Aintiṇai Eḻupatu is believed to belong to the post-Caṅkam period, it is in no way inferior to the better known Caṅkam literature called Eṭṭuttokai and Pattuppāṭṭu. They contain love poems that conform to the age-old akam tradition, unique to ancient Tamil literature. In each of these verses dealing with the five-fold divisions of reciprocal love between man and woman, an emotional situation is realistically recaptured and poetically presented against a setting best suited to the theme. The chief merit of these pieces is the psychological realism which will attract the attention of any modern reader. Aintiṇai Eḻupatu by Mūvātiyār deals with the five regional themes of kuriñci, mullai, marutam, neytal and pālai with ten verses to each tiṇai. The oft-quoted observation about this poem is that those who do not know it may not know the sweetness of the Tamil language.