Porunar Arruppatai

Porunar Arruppatai, also known as Porunar Aatruppadai, is a poetic work in Tamil language which belongs to the Patinenmelkanakku anthology of Tamil Literature. Patinenmelkanakku (Pathinenmelkanaku) is a collection of eighteen major poetic works in Tamil that comprises of literary works like Ettuttokai, the Eight Anthologies and Pattupattu, the Ten Idylls, which were composed in the Sangam age during the period between 100 BCE and 200 CE. Porunar Arruppatai was composed in the Sangam age equivalent to between 100 BCE - 100 CE. The Tamil poetic work contains two hundred and fifty lines of poems that are written in the Achiriyappa meter. The poems in Porunar Arruppatai or Porunar Aatruppadai were written by the much revered poet Mutatta Makkaniyar (Mutathaamakkanniyaar) in praise and laudation of the king Karikala Chola, the Chola king.

The poetic work of Porunar Arruppatai is comprised in the Pattupattu compilation series. It follows the Aatruppadai or Arruppatai style in Tamil literature. The Arruppatai form is mainly used as a device by the several books in the Pattupattu poetic collection, according to the Tamil literary traditions. The poetic work of Tamil literature is much admired and accepted for its composition and its eloquence; lucid, graceful and simple presentation.

The verses written in the Arruppatai style of Tamil literature, such as the poems in Porunar Arruppatai or Porunar Aatruppadai are usually read like a vividly narrated illustration on travel. The Tamil authors and poets, who came back to their home land with offerings and gifts from an emperor or a noble patron, received as rewards for eulogizing them through the several verses, motivated other local poets as well, to write poems by praising and describing in glowing terms about the ruler and his land.

This act of composing laudatory verses about the kings and their country resulted in providing occasions to the Tamil authors of that period, to describe in elaborate details the natural beauty, fertility and resources of the region, amongst various other subject matters that comprised the main plot of the poems. The poets wrote about every detail which they encountered while they traversed through the territory in order to reach the palace of the patron or the ruler. The poems are thus abundant with the abundance of natural flora fauna as well as the livelihood of the common mass.