Mullaippāṭṭu

Mullaipaattu (Tamil: முல்லைப்பாட்டு) is a Tamil poetic work in the Ettuthokai anthology of Sangam literature, belonging to the Sangam period corresponding to between 100 BCE – 100 CE. "Mullaippattu" contains 103 lines of poetry in the Akaval meter. The poems were written by the poet Nappoothanaar.

The subject matter of "Mullaippattu" is classified as akam, the Sangam literature's classification of the subjective matters such as love and human relationship. "Mullaippattu" is a pure love poem, and talks about the heroine longing for the hero who had left her to fight a war. In the olden days, the soldiers use to come back to their home country during the rainy season to look after their primary profession of agriculture. The heroine laments that although the rainy season had already started, that her lover had not returned from battle. The description of the country in the rainy season is particularly enjoyable in this book.

References

• Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)
• http://tamilnation.co/literature/