இன்னா நாற்பது

Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu

The Forty on the Unpleasant · Forty verses on what is painful

Forty quatrains in the venba metre — each one a catalogue of three painful things, building through comparison to a moral conclusion. Written by Kaḷḷāṭaṉār, compiled in the Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku, the classical anthology of eighteen minor Tamil works.

The companion piece to Iṉiyavai Nāṟpatu — Forty on the Pleasant. Where that work catalogues delight, this one catalogues harm. Together they form a moral diptych.

Quatrains

Venba

Metre

Kaḷḷāṭaṉār

Author

c. 1st–5th

Century CE

Each verse of Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu follows a characteristic triple structure: painful is X; painful too is Y; but most painful of all is Z. The third item is always the moral climax — a social or ethical failing that outweighs the physical or circumstantial discomforts that precede it. The word iṉṉā (இன்னா) means painful, harmful, undesirable, distressing — not merely unpleasant but genuinely damaging to persons and communities.

இன்னா நாற்பது

The Forty Verses