Knowledge, Perception, Language:
Tamil Literature and the Connected Histories of South Asia
Jennifer Clare, San Francisco, CA

Over its 2000-year history, Tamil literary and intellectual culture has always been deeply connected to other South Asian linguistic and literary traditions. Despite this long history of shared ideas and cultural practices, modern scholarship on both Tamil and South Asia has largely treated Tamil literature as distinct from, or marginal to, South Asian cultural history. This talk challenges that vision of the field, arguing...

The Provocative Poet: Tirumaḻicai Āḻvār and his cheeky voice
Suganya Anandakichenin, University of Hamburg

Tirumaḻicai Āḻvār (ca. 7th CE), one of the early Āḻvārs, was radically different from his older contemporaries, as well as most of his successors: he did not mince his words, whether to berate the followers of other faiths; to categorically state his values; or to question God, even as he swears undying loyalty to Him. Attributed (but contested) with two poetic compositions, namely, the Tiruccantaviruttam and the Nāṉmukaṉ Tiruvantāti...