Naṉṉūl

Nannul approached

Naṉṉūl (Tamil: நன்னூல்) is a work on Tamil grammar written by a Jain ascetic Pavananthi Munivar between 1178–1216. It is the most significant work on Tamil grammar after Tolkāppiyam. The work credits Western Ganga vassal king Seeya Gangan of Kolar with patronising it.

About 20 commentaries have been written on Nannūl up to 19th century CE. Nannūl was divided into five sections: written language, spoken language, semantics, poetic language and rhetorical devices. The latter three sections have been lost, so only the parts on written and spoken language are extant today.

In Tamil, nal means good and nūl means book, so Nannūl means good book.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Paniker, K. Ayyappa (1997). Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections. Sahitya Akademi. p. 527. ISBN 9788126003655. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sadasivan, M. P. (13 January 2011). "Nannūl" (in Malayalam). State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Govindasamy, Muthusamy (1977). A Survey of the Sources for the History of Tamil Literature. Annamalai University. p. 189. OCLC 5334976. ...he was a resident of Janajapuram (of Kancivaram) and [...] was patronised by Seeyangagan of Kolar (Mysore). Since Seeyangagan ruled in 1178–1216 the period of the work is evident.
  4. ↑ "Nannūl". Bulletin of the Institute of Traditional Cultures. University of Madras: 181. January–June 1978. ISSN 0541-7562. OCLC 1714048. One of the Ganga kings, Seeya Gangan, a contemporary of Kulōttunga III got Bhavananti to compose present Tamil standard grammar Nannūl.