Kalladar
Kalladar
Poet of the Sangam period
Kalladar (Tamil: கல்லாடர்), also known as Kalladanar (Tamil: கல்லாடனார்), was a poet of the Sangam period, known for authoring 14 verses of the Sangam literature, besides verse 9 of the Tiruvalluva Maalai.[1]
Kalladar hailed from a town called Kalladam (hence the name 'Kalladar'), which is in the modern-day Kerala.[2][3] Rulers sung by Kalladar include Ambarkilan Aruvandhai, Mullur king Kari, Ori, Akdhai, Pandiyan Thalaiyalangaanatthu Seruvendra Neduncheliyan, Venkatamalai ruler Kalvar Koman Pulli, Poraiyatru Kilan Periyan, Nannan, and Kalangaai Kanni Narmudicheral.[4] Other poets who also sung about the Pandiyan King Thalaiyalangaanatthu Seruvendra Neduncheliyan, including Kudapulaviyanar, Mangudi Kilar, and Mangudi Marudhanar, were thus his contemporaries.[3] With his friendship with Mamulanar, he formed part of the Kallada–Mamulanar dyad.[4]
Kalladar has written verses in Kurunthogai (verses 260 and 269), Agananuru (verses 9, 63, 113, 171, 199, 209, 333), and Purananuru (verses 23, 25, 371, 385, 391). The chief themes that Kalladar handled in his verses include battlefield, consequences of battles, and the plights of widows of the slain soldiers.[2] He has also composed verse 9 of the Tiruvalluva Maalai. But this Kalladar is likely to be a namesake who wrote these verses in venba meter, centuries after the Sangam period. He is also believed to have written a commentary on the Tolkappiyam.[3][4]
A later work of Kallaadam, unlike one would guess, was not authored by Kalladar.[3] The Tamil land must have seen at least three Kalladars, if not four.[citation needed]
Views on Valluvar and the Kural
Kalladar opines about Valluvar and the Kural text thus:[5]
Of the six sects, one will condemn the system of the other; but none of them will condemn the system propounded by Valluvar in his Cural: it has the merit of harmonizing the opinions of them all, so that each sect would admit it to be its own. [Emphasis in original]
- Vedanayagam 2017, pp. 20–21.
- Kowmareeshwari 2012a, p. 430.
- Gopalan 1957, p. 49.
- Kowmareeshwari 2012b, pp. 237–238.
- Robinson 2001, pp. 22–23.
- Robinson, Edward Jewitt (2001). Tamil Wisdom: Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages and Selections from Their Writings. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
- Vedanayagam, Rama (2017). Tiruvalluva Maalai: Moolamum Eliya Urai Vilakkamum (in Tamil) (1 ed.). Chennai: Manimekalai Prasuram. pp. 20–21.
- Gopalan, P. V. (1957). புலவர் அகராதி [Dictionary of Poets] (in Tamil) (1 ed.). Chennai: M. Duraisami Mudaliyar and Company. p. 49.
- Kowmareeshwari, S., ed. (August 2012a). Kurunthogai, Paripaadal, Kalitthogai. Sanga Ilakkiyam (in Tamil). Vol. 2 (1 ed.). Chennai: Saradha Pathippagam. p. 430.
- Kowmareeshwari, S., ed. (August 2012b). Agananuru, Purananuru. Sanga Ilakkiyam (in Tamil). Vol. 3 (1 ed.). Chennai: Saradha Pathippagam. pp. 237–238.