Cultural Memory, Constructs of History and Moments of Being
M.D.Muthukumaraswamy
Contested as folklore, presented and promoted as the classics, the aesthetic ecologies of
Sangam Tamil literature continue to inspire musicians, artists, composers, dancers and
theologians in many parts of the world through the English translations done by
A.K.Ramanujan. The corpus of Tamil literature and grammatical texts discovered in the
nineteenth century has altered the political history of Tamil Nadu in the twentieth
century, and has formed the basis of Dravidian movement and the construction of Tamil
identity. If the Tamil example illustrates how cultural records (hence folklore) constitute,
shape, and determine both the cultural memory and forces of history and calls for
parallels in other languages and landscapes, the aesthetic ecologies contained there in
present themselves as the most complete system of ethnopoetics. Seemingly, a project a
la Dell Hymes is already available distanced by space, time and tongues. If Tamil poetics
intimately links up the landscape, emotion and expression through an elaborate taxonomy
of relations both real and imaginary, it also subverts the entire taxonomy by according
primacy to human emotion. As a consequence, the moments of being seem to be ever
emergent, forever unpredictable and free. The liberating moments lend themselves to the
creation of versions, alterations in the rules of genres and the formation of several public
spheres that are best understood through the works of Dan Ben Amos and Roger
Abrahams. If the concepts of Akam (interior) and Puram (exterior) enunciated by the
ancient Tamil grammarians find parallels in the metaphors of hearth and marketplace
once Roger Abrahams proposed, the following sentence reminds one of Dan Ben Amos
who destroyed the time depth behind the concept of 'tradition'. Following the footsteps of
ancient Tamil grammarians one must add a cautionary final clause that one may discuss
all these themes and concepts without any reference to Tamil poetics.
What the Tamil example illustrates is that folklorists have changed the world by
constantly paying attention to the versions of the same texts and by offering meticulous
sociological accounts for their existence. The philosophical premise of
acknowledging versions lends itself to a vision of a multitude of public
spheres in a civil society. Thus the construction of a
pluralist civil society is primarily a contribution of folklorists irrespective of whether
they are recognized as folklorists or not in various countries. This is not to subscribe to
any of nationalistic agendas but also to think through evolving critical regionalisms that
follow aesthetic ecologies. The discovery of a corpus of literature engraved in the palm
leaf manuscripts has completely changed the course of the history and should have
lessons for archives of other media as well.
Appendix: Aesthetic Ecologies of Sangam Literature
Source: Molly Daniels Ramanujan (ed). 2004. The Oxford India: Ramanujan. New Delhi:
Oxford, p. 242, 252.
Lovers’
Union
Patient
Waiting,
Lover’s
Unfaithfulness,
Anxiety in
Love,
Elopement,
Hardship,
Domesticity “Sulking
Scenes”
Separation
Separation
from Lover
or Parents
palai (desert
tree)
Characteristic
flower (name
of region and
poetic genre)
Landscape
kurinci
mullai
(jasmine)
marutam
(queen’sflower)
neytal (blue
lily)
mountains
Forest,
pasture
countryside,
agricultural
lowland
Seashore
Time Season
night,
cool season
season of
morning
dew
peacock,
parrot
monkey,
elephant,
horse, bull
Late
evening
Rainy
season
morning
All seasons
Nightfall
All seasons
Sparrow,
Jungle hen
Deer
stork, heron
Seagull
dove, eagle
buffalo,
fresh water fish
Crocodile
Shark
jackfruit,
bamboo,
venkai
(kino)
waterfall
waterfall
Konrai
(cassia)
mango
Punnai
(laurel)
fatigued
elephant,
tiger, or wolf,
lizard
omai
(toothbrush
tree) cactus
Rivers
pool
Wells
hill tribes,
guarding
millet
harvest,
gathering
honey
Plowman
pastoral
occupations
selling fish
and salt,
fisherfolk
Bird
Beast
(including
fish, reptile,
etc.)
Tree or plant
Water
Occupation or
people
wasteland
(mountain or
forest
parched by
summer)
midday
season of
evening dew,
summer
waterless
wells,
stagnant
water
wayfarers,
bandits
“This is not an exhaustive list, only a few of the elements that appear frequently in the
poems are given here. The Tamil names of gods, heroes, clans, musical instruments, and
kinds of food have been omitted.” (A.K.Ramanujan’s comment)
The chart first appeared in The Interior Landscape (Ramanujan 1967). For a more
complete table, see Singaravelu (1966:22), or Zvelebil (1973:100).
Puram/Akam (Exterior and interior)Correspondences
Akam
Situation/Theme Puram
kurinci, a
mountain
flower
mullai,
jasmine
First union
vetci,scarlet
ixora
Separation
(patience)
vanci, a
creeper
3.
marutam,
queen’s flower
Infidelity
(conflict)
ulinai, a
cotton shrub
4.
neytal, water
lily
Separation
(anxiety)
tumpai,
white dead
nettle
5.
palai, desert
tree
vatai,
sirissa tree
6.
peruntinai,*
“major type”
Elopement,
search for
wealth, fame,
etc.
Mismatched
love
7.
kaikilai*
“base relation”
Unrequited love
patan,*
“praise”
1.
2.

Not a name of a tree or a flower
kanci,
portia tree
Situation/Theme Common
Features
cattle-lifting,
night,
prelude to war
hillside;
clandestine
preparation for
forest, rainy
war, invasion
season;
separation
from loved
ones
seige
fertile area
(city, etc.),
dawn;
refusing
entry
battle
seashore,
open
battleground,
no season;
evening;
grief
ideals of
no particular
achievement,
landscape;
victory
praise
Struggle for
excellence;
endurance
elegy, praise for
heroes, asking
for gifts,
invective
no particular
landscape;
struggle
no particular
landscape; a
one-sided
relationship