Kuṟiñcippāṭṭu

Kurincippattu (Tamil: குறிஞ்சிப்பாட்டு) is a Tamil poetic work in the Pathinenmaelkanakku anthology of Tamil literature, belonging to the Sangam period corresponding to between 100 BCE – 100 CE. "Kurincippattu" contains 261 lines of poems in the Achiriyappa meter. Kurincippattu tells the story about the love affair between the hero and the heroine. The poems were written by the poet Kapilar. An ancient note at the end of this poem notes that Kapilar wrote this to explain the beauty of Tamil poetry to a north Indian king names Brhadatta.

"Kurincippattu" describes the kurinchi landscape of the mountainous terrain and mentions almost 100 different plant names. Some of these are Atumpu (Ipomoea pes-caprae), Aati (Lablab bean), pinti (Saraca indica), tumpai (Leucas aspera) and nanti (Ervatamia divaricata)

Story

The hero and the heroine fall in love. They do not want their parents to know of this relationship. Perhaps they fear their disapproval. Perhaps they are attracted by the forbidden! The hero and the heroine try to arrange frequent clandestine trysts, but sometimes it is impossible. Whenever she cannot meet with her dear lover, she pines for him and wastes away. Her parents are at a loss to the reasons for her apparent sickness. They try various remedies but the heroine shows no sign of recovery. Such state of affair lasts for a while and one day a friend of the heroine come to her parents and divulges the reason for heroine's 'sickness'. She reveals the clandestine affair of the hero and the heroine, but in a manner that makes the parents feel favourable towards the love affair.

References

• Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)
• Kurincippattu eText at Project madurai
• Chennai Museum