Colonizing the Realm of Words: The Transformation of Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India

382 Pages·2010·164.966 MB·English

by  Ebeling, Sascha

Colonizing the Realm of Words
SUNY series in Hindu Studies
—————
Wendy Doniger, editor
Colonizing the Realm of Words
The Transformation of Tamil Literature
in Nineteenth-Century South India
SASCHA EBELING
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Meehan
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ebeling, Sascha.
Colonizing the realm of words : the transformation of Tamil literature in
nineteenth-century South India / Sascha Ebeling.
p. cm. — (Suny series in Hindu studies)
Based on the author’s thesis (doctoral)—Universität zu Köln, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3199-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Tamil literature—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Literature and
society—India, South—History—19th century. I. Title.
PL4758.E24 2010
894.8'1109004—dc22 2009052829
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Meinen Großeltern
Emmy Ebeling (1915–2001)
und
Aloys Heller (1918–2007)
in tiefempfundener Verehrung
und Dankbarkeit

Contents
List of Figures and Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
List of Abbreviations xix
Note on Transliteration, Pronunciation, and Translations
of Tamil Primary Sources xxi
1 Introduction 1
Colonizing the Realm of Words: Literature and Colonialism 4
Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India 12
How to Ignore a Century of Literary Production 15
A Century of Cultural Change 19
In Search of a Lost Literature: The Chapters of This Book 27
2 Mapping the Universe of the Pulavar: Ti. M¥Âå†cicuntaram
Pi¬¬ai (1815–1876) and the Field of Traditional
Literary Practices 33
Pulavar Education and Pre-Modern Tamil Poetics 37
The Pulavars’ Genres: Pirapantam Works and
Temple Myths (talapurå£am) 55
Scholarship in the Name of the Lord: Monasteries as Patrons 57
When One’s Fame Rises to the Heavens: The Pulavars’
Economy of Praise 62
“Addressing the Assembly of Poets” (avaiya†akkam) 74
The Public Premiere (ara‰kªrram) 76
¯¯
Occasional Poems (taÂippå†al) and Epistolary
Poems (c¥††ukkavi) 79
viii Contents
The Spoken and the Written Word: Composition,
Performance, and Transmission 84
Of Gods and Kings: Themes and Contents of
Pulavar Literature 87
The Uses of Akam Poetics in the Nineteenth Century:
The Ku¬att¶rkkøvai (1853) 90
Makåvittuvå Ti. M¥Âå†cicuntaram Pi¬¬ai: A Poets’ Poet 101
3 Pulavars and Potentates: Structures of Literary Patronage
at the Zamindars’ Courts and Beyond 103
Literature and Rituals of Courtly Representation 106
The System of Literary Patronage at the Zamindars’ Courts 111
A “Who Is Who” of Nineteenth-Century Royal Patrons
and Their Poets 116
Thanjavur 117
Pudukkottai 121
Ramnad and Sivagangai 122
Smaller Zamindaris 128
Of Beauty and Benevolence: Themes of Courtly Literature 132
Kåma’s Arrows Whizzing Past the King: Royal Panegyrics
and Eroticism in the Cªtupati viralivi†ut¶tu 144
¯
The Pulavar in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction:
Changes in Patronage 159
4 Toward the Modern Tamil Author: The Colonial Critique
of the “Vernacular” and Måy¨ram V´tanåyakam Pi¬¬ai
(1826–1889) as an Agent of Change 165
Måy¨ram V´tanåyakam Pi¬¬ai: A Biographical Reconstruction 171
Writing for “the moral improvement of the Natives of
India”: The N¥tin¶l (1859) 180
Law, Women’s Education and Devotional Poetry:
V´tanåyakam Pi¬¬ai’s Other Writings 193
Contents ix
5 The Emergence of the Tamil Novel 205
The History of Prathapa Mudaliar (1879): An “approximation
to a novel”? 208
The History of Suguna Sundari (1887): A “longwinded moral
tale, weary and unprofi table”? 225
The Fatal Rumor or The History of Kamalambal (1893–1895):
“Vedanta through fi ction”? 232
Further Comparisons 237
6 Epilogue 247
Appendices
1 The Dating of the Cªtupati viralivi†ut¶tu Revisited 253
¯
2 Chronological Table of the Earliest Tamil Novels
Published Before 1900 257
3 Original Tamil Texts Quoted and Annotations 263
Glossary 295
References 299
Index 341