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'''''Akam''''' ({{indic|lang=ta|indic=அகம்|trans=akam}}) is one of two genres of [[Sangam literature|Classical Tamil poetry]] which concerns with the subject of love, the other ([[puram|puṟam]]) concerns the subject of war. It can also be translated as love and heroism. It is further subdivided into the five [[thinai]]. The type of love was divided into seven ranging from unrequited love to mismatched love.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Landscape !! தினை !! Concept
|-
| kuṟiñci || குறிஞ்சி || Sexual union
|-
| Mullai || முல்லை || Yearning
|-
| marutam || மருதம் || Sulking
|-
| neital || நெய்தல் || Pining
|-
| pālai || பாலை || Separation
|}

== History ==
Initially an oral tradition, 400 early Akam dating to the 1st century BCE to 2nd century CE were first compiled in the third century into an anthology known as [[Akanaṉūṟu|Akananuru]].<ref name="rajesh">{{Cite journal|last=Rajesh|first=V|date=2006|title=The making of the ancient Tamil literary canon|jstor=44147932|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=67|pages=154}}</ref> Each poem was in aciriyam meter consisting of 13 to 31 lines.<ref name="rajesh" /> Some of the poems were contemporary for the time, and historians have suggested the poems were written as a means of preserving the tradition in the face of rising literacy among the elite,<ref name="rajesh" /> and the simultaneous decline of power among tribal leaders.<ref name="Subbiah">{{cite journal|last1=Subbiah|first1=G.|title=King, Kingship and King-poets in early Tamilakam|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|date=1983|volume=44|pages=86–100|jstor=44139825}}</ref>

As power shifted away from Jain and Buddhist chieftains to Hindu ones, poems began to be contextualized and appropriated, including Akam poetry, which increasingly included the names of Hindu gods and even began to cast Buddhist and Jain saints negatively, or included commentaries that recontextualized their presence.<ref name="rajesh" />

==Themes==
=== Natural world ===
Akam poetry typically explains the background of the lovers' story around three concepts: time and place (mudal), natural setting (karu) and their actions (uri). The poems often rely on these natural settings as metaphors for the lovers' actions, blending seasonal changes, the external natural features, and interior states.<ref name="Murali1">{{cite journal|last1=Murali|first1=S.|title=Environmental Aesthetics Interpretation of Nature in "Akam" and "Puram" Poetry|journal=Indian Literature|date=1998|volume=42|issue=3 (185)|pages=155–162|jstor=23338503}}</ref> The concept of place and emotion were also connected, with poets drawing on a set of symbols from a specific regions' "gods, food, fauna, flora, music" and other local landmarks or symbols of the region.<ref name="Murali1" /><ref name="Nayagam">{{cite book|last1=Nayagam|first1=Thani|last2=S.|first2=Xavier|title=Landscape and Poetry: A Study of Nature in Classical Tamil Poetry.|date=1966|location=Bombay:Asia|page=86|edition=2nd}}</ref> Murali has suggested that this is can be interpreted as an early poetic for the "[[ecosystem]]" concept.<ref name="Murali1" />

=== The playmate ===
As poems concerning courtship, they often relied on an intermediary figure, "the playmate," to cultivate the relationship or serve as an early go-between amongst the woman and her suitor. Often a maid or servant of the love interest, the playmate's role grants her greater freedom of movement, which she uses to arrange trysts between lovers and to advance their relationship toward marriage.<ref name="Chellappan">{{cite journal|last1=Chellappan|first1=K.|last2=Prabakaran|first2=M.S.|title=The 'Playmate' in Tamil Akam Poetry|journal=Indian Literature|date=1980|volume=23|issue=5|pages=76–85|jstor=23339419}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sangam Literature]]
* [[Sangam period|Sangam]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Citation | last=Ilakkuvanar | first=S. | title=Tolkappiyam in English with Critical Studies | publisher=Kural Neri Publishing | place=Madurai | year=1963 }}
*{{Citation | last=Zvelebil | first=Kamil | author-link=Kamil Zvelebil | title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India | publisher=E.J. Brill | place=Leiden | year=1973b | isbn=90-04-03591-5}}
*{{Citation | last=Zvelebil | first=Kamil | author-link=Kamil Zvelebil | title=Tamil literature, Volume 10, Part 1 | publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag | place=Leiden | year=1974 | isbn=978-3-447-01582-0}}

==References==

[[Category:Tamil poetics]]
[[Category:Sangam literature]]

{{Tamil-stub}}

Akam poetry - Revision history

UpdateBot at 03:52, 14 March 2022