நாட்டுப்புறக்கதையும் சிலப்பதிகாரக்கதையும் ஓர் ஒப்பாய்வு / A Comparative Analysis of Folklore and Silappathikaram

Abstract

Literary research has been conducted every minuite in the name of 'Literary Criticism' and is now growing rapidly all over the world. Many books on literary criticism have been written in Western languages such as English, Russian, German, French, and Italian. Tho.Mu. Ragunathan wrote the first book on Literary Criticism in Tamil. Following this, many books and researches began to appear. Today, many studies are conducted using multiple analytical approaches and using one or the other approach. Folklore is the collective language of the people and the people wish to hear and watch them. They are enacted or sung to give knowledge in a simple way to the laymen in any society. Tamil Literature has rich evidence in folk literature. They are mostly ballads. In many areas of Tamil Nadu, folkloristic features are in vogue and people enjoy it. Most probably, ancient myths, legends, epics, and other regional incidents or calamities are the main themes of folklore. Among them, the greatest epic “Silappathikaram” is one of the major plots of folklore. It evinces the morals in society and strengthens the mind with goodness. Very limited research has been conducted in this area. Hence, this article will conduct a comparative analysis of folklore and “Silappathikaram”.

Keywords

• comparative analysis
• tamil literature
• folklore
• silappathikaram.