THE BOOK under review consists of two ancient Tamil epics. Cilappathikaram was composed by Ilangovadigal, the Chera prince and Manimekalai by the saint-poet known as Chathanar. The stories of these two epics are closely connected with each other and are therefore called twin epics.
Manikkam, a renowned professor and eminent scholar of Tamilology, had editedthe twin epics in a novel way. In the history of Tamil literature, for the first time, he published the above two epics in a single volume with valuable prefatory notes and useful appendices.
The texts have been critically analysed and appropriate subtitles are given. At the outset we find six articles, which are the outcome of serious research relating to the twin epics. To elaborate a little further, they include stories of the twin epics, critical assessments of the epics, literary parallels found in the epics and a valuable note on Sandhi. The five appendices are quite useful as ready reference.
It is one of the most important and welcome contributions to the Tamil literature.
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