Tamil prosody

Tamil prosody defines several metres in six basic elements^[1] covering the various aspects of rhythm.

Most classical works and many modern works are written in these metres.

Tolkappiyam represents the older tradition in Tamil prosody while yapparungalam and yapparungalakkarigai represent the later tradition.

The prosodic structure of literary works from the Sangam era need to be analysed according to the Tolkappiyam.

The rules given in Yapparungalakkarigai are used to scansion the later works.

Basic elements

1. ezutu
2. acai
3. cir
4. taLai
5. adi
6. todai

Metres

• Venpa
• Aciriyappa
• Kalippa

References