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Pattuppāṭṭu — The Ten Songs

Sangam Collection · c. 100 BCE – 250 CE · The Ten Long Poems

The other great pillar of the Sangam canon, alongside the Eṭṭutokai. Ten long poems — ranging from 103 to 782 lines — the grand canvases of ancient Tamil poetry. Where the Eight Anthologies are concentrated lyric gems, these are vast landscapes: a devotee guided to Murukaṉ's six sacred hills; a seaport alive with foreign trade; the city of Madurai in all its impermanent glory; a mountain catalogued flower by flower; a woman waiting through winter for her warrior-husband's return. Ten poems, ten worlds.