Puram

Classic poetry genre

Puram (Tamil: புறம், puṟam, Lit. exterior) is one of two genres of Classical Tamil poetry. The concept of the lifestyle of human beings falls in two categories: personal and public. The genre dealing with poems about love affairs is called Akam (அகம்), while Puram concerns many subjects including wars, kings, poets and personal virtues.[1]

Tolkāppiyam, the earliest work of Tamil grammar and literature available in Tamil, divides each genre into seven strands (Thinai), comparing and connecting the two categories of lifestyle.[2]

Works in the Puram genre reflect on different people's lifestyles, especially that of kings. The works identify personal names, unlike in the Akam genre.[3] Because they include the names of kings, poets, and places, Tamil literary scholars consider them a historical record.[4]

## See also

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* Sangam literature

## References

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1. ^ ""South Asian arts"". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
2. ^ "The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom: An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, the Purananuru". Columbia University Press. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
3. ^ Howes, Jennifer (2002). The Courts of Pre-colonial South India: Material Culture and Kingship. Routledge. p. 111\. ISBN 978-0-7007-1585-5.
4. ^ Cutler, Norman (1987). Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion. Indiana University Press. p. 72\. ISBN 978-0-253-35334-4.

## Further reading

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* Peterson, Indira Viswanathan (1991), Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120807846

## External links

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* Eight Anthologies: 'Puram' Poetry

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Tamil language

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