முல்லைப்பாட்டு ஆராய்ச்சியுரை
7
authentic and help much towards a true and clear under standing of the work taken to be scrutinized. From this critical point of view, I have given a historical account of the age that gave birth to such a splendid poem as Mullaippattu and of the indluence which that age had exerted on this poem. It must be remembered that the true nature of a work of art cannot be comprehended unless the nature and conditions of the times in which it had sprung are distinctly understood. I have also availed myself of the grand views expressed on poetry by such great masters as Milton and Ruskin and have even translated freely into Tamil one or two passage from their writings.
In my analysis of the poem I have adhered closely to the original idea conceived and expressed by the poet, rather than follow the mangled and distorted meanings given by the old commentator Nachinarkkiniar. The old commentator, discarding the simple and natural order and setting in which the subject matter or the idyll is disposed, has torn the excellently woven fabric of the poet to pieces and glues them again together with his own vapid thought is such a fantastic manner s to make the poem seem most unnatural and its structure highly ridiculous. And in elucidating the text I have, therefore, inserted, wherever necessary, short critical notes which would make the inaptitude of the commentators meaning at one intelligible to all reflective minds. Pandit V. Swamintha Aiyar of the Government College at Kumbakonam and pandit C. Tiruchitrambalam Pillai of coimbatore having been treaty misled by the commentary of Nachinarkkiniar, have in their editions, added notes which, without following the sense of the poem, simply mar the flow and natural setting of its poetic thoughts. But of the two I wish to recommend to students Mr. Tiruchitrambalam's edition, since his comments and critical introduction seem to me more valuable for a clear understanding
