Colonizing the Realm of Words: The Transformation of Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India(SUNY series in Hindu Studies)

Details the transformation of Tamil literary culture that came with colonialism and the encounter with Western modernity. A true tour de force, this book documents the transformation of one Indian literature, Tamil, under the impact of colonialism and Western modernity. While Tamil is a living language, it is also India's second oldest classical language next to Sanskrit, and has a literary history that goes back over two thousand years. On the basis of extensive archival research, Sascha Ebeling tackles a host of issues pertinent to Tamil elite literary production and consumption during the nineteenth century. These include the functioning and decline of traditional systems in which poet-scholars were patronized by religious institutions, landowners, and local kings; the anatomy of changes in textual practices, genres, styles, poetics, themes, tastes, and audiences; and the role of literature in the politics of social reform, gender, and incipient nationalism. The work concludes with a discussion of the most striking literary development of the time-the emergence of the Tamil novel.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration, Pronunciation, and Translations of Tamil Primary Sources Chapter 1 Introduction Colonizing the Realm of Words: Literature and Colonialism Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India How to Ignore a Century of Literary Production A Century of Cultural Change In Search of a Lost Literature: The Chapters of This Book Chapter 2 Mapping the Universe of the Pulavar: Ti. Mīnātcicuntaram Pillai (1815–1876) and the Field of Traditional Literary Practices Pulavar Education and Pre-Modern Tamil Poetics The Pulavars’ Genres: Pirapantam Works and Temple Myths (talapurānam) Scholarship in the Name of the Lord: Monasteries as Patrons When One’s Fame Rises to the Heavens: The Pulavars’ Economy of Praise "Addressing the Assembly of Poets" (avaiyatakkam) The Public Premiere (arankērram) Occasional Poems (tanippātal) and Epistolary Poems (cīttukkavi) The Spoken and the Written Word: Composition, Performance, and Transmission Of Gods and Kings: Themes and Contents of Pulavar Literature  The Uses of Akam Poetics in the Nineteenth Century: The Kulattūrkkōvai (1853) Makāvittuvān Ti. Mīnātcicuntaram Pillai: A Poets’ Poet Chapter 3 Pulavars and Potentates: Structures of Literary Patronage at the Zamindars’ Courts and Beyond Literature and Rituals of Courtly Representation The System of Literary Patronage at the Zamindars’ Courts A "Who Is Who" of Nineteenth-Century Royal Patrons and Their Poets Thanjavur Pudukkottai Ramnad and Sivagangai Smaller Zamindaris Of Beauty and Benevolence: Themes of Courtly Literature Kāmas's Arrows Whizzing Past the King: Royal Panegyrics and Eroticism in the Cētupati viralivitutūtu The Pulavar in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Changes in Patronage Chapter 4 Toward the Modern Tamil Author: The Colonial Critique of the "Vernacular" and Māyūram Vētanāyakam Pillai (1826–1889) as an Agent of Change Māyūram Vētanāyakam Pillai: A Biographical Reconstruction Writing for "the moral improvement of the Natives of India": The Nītinūl (1859) Law, Women’s Education and Devotional Poetry: Vētanāyakam Pillai's Other Writings Chapter 5 The Emergence of the Tamil Novel The History of Prathapa Mudaliar (1879): An "approximation to a novel"? The History of Suguna Sundari (1887): A "longwinded moral tale, weary and unprofitable"? The Fatal Rumor or The History of Kamalambal (1893–1895): "Vedanta through fiction"? Further Comparisons Chapter 6 Epilogue Appendices The Dating of the Cētupati viralivitutūtu Revisited Chronological Table of the Earliest Tamil Novels Published Before 1900 Original Tamil Texts Quoted and Annotations Glossary References Index

About the Author :
Sascha Ebeling is Assistant Professor of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.

Review :
"Colonizing the Realm of Words is a major contribution to the study of Tamil literature … The book gives a wonderful, detailed picture of the biographies, writings and contexts of some of the most important authors in Tamil of the nineteenth century." — Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception "…[Ebeling] provides a detailed philological study of the Tamil texts, especially the poetics of Minatcicundaram Pillai and the Pulavars and the emergence of the Tamil novel. The transliterated Tamil texts following the epilogue make this book valuable indeed." — CHOICE "This is a pathbreaking study of textual materials that have not been examined before in an English-language publication. It fills a major gap in our understanding of nineteenth-century literary culture in South India specifically and in India generally." —Srilata Raman, author of Self-Surrender (Prapatti)to God in Śrīvaiṣṇavism: Tamil Cats and Sanskrit Monkeys "This book is impeccably grounded in philological expertise, and the author displays mastery of the language and the complex texts that he discusses. The entire book is conceived with great elegance." — Indira Viswanathan Peterson, coeditor of Tamil Geographies: Cultural Constructions of Space and Place in South India