Tempavani - Tamil Christian literature

The work of Tempavani is an epic in Tamil Christian literature which was composed by the poet Viramamunivar in Tamil language. The work vividly describes the various tales that are related to the life of Lord Jesus Christ together with other traditional accounts, composed in three thousand six hundred and fifteen verses. Viramamunivar, the author of the work, was a Tamil Christian poet named Joseph Beschi who came to Tamil Nadu from Italy and modernized prose in Tamil literature. He followed the tradition of epics in Tamil literature like the Kambaramayanam and the Periya Puranam while narrating Jerusalem and Palestine Jerusalem in nakarappatalam and nattuppatalam respectively in Tempavani. Similarly the Tamil literary tradition was followed while categorising the landscape into five regions. In his epic works, Viramamunivar described about the birds like the cuckoo and swan, animals like the elephant and trees like the acoka (Uvaria longifolia) that are commonly found in the Tamil country, instead of describing the recognisable landscape which is expected in Palestine such as camels and date-palms. To be precise, the elaborate narrations available in the works of nakarappatalam and nattuppatalam bear resemblance more to a Tamil city and the Tamil country than Jerusalem and Palestine respectively.

As the literary work was an epic aimed at the Tamil people, Viramamunivar preferred to describe those only scenes which were familiar to the Tamils. Moreover, the author gave Tamil names to the protagonist and other important characters in the epic work of Tempavani so that the Tamil population could relate to the characters and to make it an epic of the Tamil land. In several places, The Tempavani consists of lines and phrases which are found in the works of Kambaramayanam and Tirukkural.

The work of Tempavani eulogises the life of ascetics. The epic work in Tamil language equally praises the family life led by Cucaiyappar and Mary. Tempavani comprises of only brief descriptions of love and romantic scenes which is a distinctive feature of the work and in contrast to other epics in Tamil literature. This was probably in consonance with the ascetic and devotional life that was led by the author Viramamunivar.