Carnatic Music in Tamil Literature - Page 3

Written by K.S.S.Raghavan. Published in Nadasurabhi Souvenir 2006

There are many later year composers, whose main focus was the musical content of the compositions . Although the value of these compositions to carnatic music is indisputable, it may be difficult for experts to accept them as part of “Tamil Literature”.

Tamil literature also gives details of various musical instruments used at that time. The most important one is the Yazh (similar to today’s veena) .Four types of Yazh are detailed in the Sangam classic. The Makara Yazh with the head of an alligator and canine body and limbs, the Senkottu Yazh shaped like a boat as also the Sagoda Yazh, and the Periyazh also known as Paravai Yazh. The Vil Yazh in the form of a bow points to the origins of the instrument as it was born from the twang of the arrow from the hunter's bow. Paanars (Singers) who could play the yazh were called Yazhppanars. Even today there is a place in Srilanka by name Yazhppanam.

Carnatic music was also widely used in Drama (Naatakam) from olden days till recent times. It is also interesting to note that, when the Movies/ Talkies emerged as an independent entertainment medium, they had borrowed many of their methods from the stage. This resulted in some of the earliest Talkies like Nandanaar and Sivakavi, where it was proudly announced that it contained some 40 or 50 songs, most of which were chaste carnatic compositions!!

The amount of information on carnatic music in Tamil literature is a vast treasure and it needs deep research to bring it out completely. This article is only an attempt to show an outline of the possibilities that exist in this direction.

Some of the ragas of today and their (near) parallel in Tamil Pann-s are also listed below -

*All dates are rough estimates, as different studies contradict each other as to the exact period of the particular literary work.

Courtesy World Wide Web