தமிழ் இலக்கிய வரலாறு - பத்தொன்பதாம் நூற்றாண்டு
அடிக்குறிப்புகள்
1. Its Prose - Style is yet in a forming state, and will well repay the labour of accurate scholars in moulding properly. Many Natives, who write poetry readily, cannot write a page of correct prose.
- Preface. winslow's Tamil - English Dictionary. 1862.
115
2. Nearly the whole of Tamil Literature, including works on medicine, Arithmetic, grammar and even Dictionaries, is in poetry but the exception of the commentar- ies on poetical works. Prose composition may almost be said to owe its origin to European influence.
3.
- Preface. Classified catalogue of Tamil Printed Books. by John Murdoch. Madras - 1865.
Grammars, Dictionaries, Biographies, Prefaces, Inscriptions, treatises on Medi- cine, Astrology, Astronomy, Metaphysical and moral questions were invariably written in metre, so that there was practically no purpose. The only branch of literature where we see the prose style much employed has been that of the learned commentaries on ancient works. Prose holds good in Tamil literature too. Tamil poetry has been in existence from the very beginning of the Christian era; wheras Tamil prose puts in its appearance only from the time of Constantius Beschi at least (1740 A.D.).
The absence of paper and printing also accounts for the dearth of Prose writ- ings. To write long prose works on palmyra leaves would be very tedious and it is no wonder that our forefathers did not think it worth while to waste their time in writing stories or tales in prose. The difficulty of the writing materials neces- sitated them to seek after compression of expression; and this they founal in poetry. This same difficulty accounts for the brevity and terseness of Commen- taries on the poetical works. Adiyarkku Nallar, after writing an elaborate annota- tion on the first two lines of the Padhigam of Silappatikaram says, "Lest the Commentary should get too long, I refrain from annotating the whole book in this elaborate fashion." If our ancient authors had the same Conveniences that we have now, surely, we would now be in possession of elaborate Commentaries and a good number of Prose works.
My object in writing this work of fiction is to supply the want of prose works in Tamil a want which is admitted and lamented by all.
- S. Vedanayagam Pillai. Preface to the
4. Rev. N. Samuel
5. The Madras School Book Society.
first Edition, 1885.
