The Peruṅkuṟiñci ("The Great Poem of Kuṟiñci"), better known under the title Kuṟiñcippāṭṭu, is traditionally counted among the "Ten Songs" (Pattuppāṭṭu), one of the two main subdivisions of the old Tamil Caṅkam corpus. Taking the form of a long monologue in which the female character's confidante addresses the foster mother, it deals at the same time with all aspects of the Akam theme of kuṟiñci, the hilly landscape that provides a backdrop for the lovers' union. The text, newly edited on the basis of all surviving manuscripts, is published here along with its classical commentary by the great 14th-century scholiast Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar. An introduction presents the standards for the critical edition, and a complete word-index follows the presentation of the texts. Another special feature of this book is the extensive discussion and illustration of the ninety-nine species of flowers mentioned in the poem, which appear so pervasively in ancient Tamil literature but are often difficult to identify.


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