Five Great Epics in the context of Ilango Adigal


Five Great Epics in the context of Ilango Adigal

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⭐ Core Definition: Five Great Epics

The Five Great Epics (Tamil: ஐம்பெரும்காப்பியங்கள், romanized: Aimperumkāppiyaṅkaḷ) are five Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition. They are Cilappatikāram, Manimekalai, Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi.

Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed to Tamil Jains, while two are attributed to Tamil Buddhists. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Cilappathikāram, and Valayapathi were written by Tamil Jains, while the Manimekalai and Kundalakesi were authored by Buddhists. The first mention of the Aimperumkappiyam "five large epics" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary, the Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention their titles. The titles are first mentioned in the late-18th-to-early-19th-century work Thiruthanikaiula. Earlier works like the 17th-century poem Tamil vidu thoothu mention the great epics as Panchkavyams. Among these, the last two, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi are not extant.

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👉 Five Great Epics in the context of Ilango Adigal

Ilango Adigal (a title, literally "prince ascetic", fl. c. 4th-6th century CE) was a Jain monk, belonging to the Chera royal family, from the city of Vanci in southern India. He is traditionally credited as the author of the epic poem Cilappatikaram (the Song of the Anklet), one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature.

In the patikam (the prologue) to Cilappatikaram, Ilango Adigal identifies himself as the brother of the Chera king Cenguttuvan (c. late 2nd century CE). However, it is generally assumed that the Adigal was a member of the Chera family who lived much later than Cenguttuvan and composed the poem based on a reliable version of the historical tradition concerning Cenguttuvan and Kannagi, the central figure of the epic.

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Five Great Epics in the context of Hindu epics

Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya (IAST: Kāvyá). The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were originally composed in Sanskrit and later translated into many other Indian languages, and the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature and Sangam literature are some of the oldest surviving epic poems ever written.

View the full Wikipedia page for Hindu epics
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