A History Of Indian Literature, Volume X: Dravidian Literature, Part 2: The Relation Between Tamil And Classical Sanskrit Literature

A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE GEORGE LUZERNE HART THE RELATION BETWEEN TAMIL AND CLASSICAL SANSKRIT LITERATURE OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE EDITED BY JAN GONDA VOLUME X Fasc. 2 1976 OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN GEORGE LUZERNE HART THE RELATION BETWEEN TAMIL AND CLASSICAL SANSKRIT LITERATURE 1976 OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE Contents of Vol. X Vol. X: Dravidian Literature Fasc. 1: Fasc. 2: Tamil Literature The Relation between Tamil and Classical Sanskrit Literature R. E. Asher Malayalam Literature Telugu Literature K. Mahadeva Sastri Kannada Literature H. M. Nayak Scientific Literatures in DravidS. Agesthialingom, ian Languages J. Filliozat, F . Gros, J. R. Marr and others K. Zvelebil G. L. Hart CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen BibJiothek A history of Indian literature / ed. by Jan Gonda. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz. NE: Oonda , Jan [Hrsg.] Vol. 10. Dravidian literature. Fasc. 2. •+• Hart , George Luzerne : The relation between Tamil and classical Sanskrit literature Hart, George Lnzerne The relation between Tamil and classical Sanskrit literature. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1976. (A history of Indian literature : Vol. 10, Dravidian literature : Fasc. 2) ISBN 3-447-01785-6 © Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1976. Alie Eechte vorbehalten. Photographische und photomechanische Wiedergabe nur mit ausdriieklicher Genehmigung des Verlages. Gesamtherstellung: Allgauer Zeitungsverlag GmbH, Kempten. Printed in Germany George Luzerne Hart THE BELATION BETWEEN TAMIL AND CLASSICAL SANSKRIT LITERATURE A COMMON SOURCE FOR TAMIL AND SANSKRIT LITERATURE Any scholar who is familiar with Sanskrit literature knows at once upon seeing the poems of ancient Tamil "Sangam" literature of the first through the third centuries A.D. that they are related to Sanskrit literature of classical times. And if he is at all well acquainted with Tamil, he is certain to feel that there must be some important meaning to the resemblance between the two literatures, for the two languages in which they are written are quite unrelated, and the earliest of Tamil literature does not seem to be much influenced by Sanskrit—the similarities are not close enough to be copying by one literature of another. In the past, most have simply assumed that Tamil must have borrowed from Sanskrit, but no careful analysis has been made. This relationship is investigated in detail by me in The Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and Their Sanskrit Counterparts to be published by the University of California Press. The purpose of this chapter is to point out the general character of the relationship between Sanskrit and Tamil, to discover reasons for it, and to suggest some of the consequences of the relationship. It will not be possible to give here all of the evidence that I have assembled, or to go into each aspect in detail; the book does that. Indeed, I have endeavoured here to cover areas not investigated in my book. I hope that the interested reader will find the references to the book sufficient to fill in the gaps which must necessarily occur in this short investigation of a very large subject. At first glance, the most striking similarity between the two literary traditions is the use of the same or similar conventions. Examples are the messenger poem, the motif of separation of lovers during the monsoon, and the comparison of the sound of the wind blowing in a hole in bamboo to the noise of a flute. The messenger poem does not occur in Sanskrit before Kalidasa, but it is found in 318 G. L. Hart • Tamil and Classical Sanskrit Literature Tamil in the Sangam poems. An example is Akananuru 170, in which a woman speaks to a sandcrab of her lover: The grove will not te