பதிற்றுப்பத்து
Patiṟṟuppattu — The Ten Tens
Sangam Anthology · c. 1st–5th century CE · One of the Eight Anthologies
Eight decades of pure heroic panegyric — eight poets, eight Cēra kings, eight portraits of royal generosity and military glory. The Patiṟṟuppattu is the only Sangam anthology devoted entirely to praise of specific historical rulers: each decade a monument in words, more enduring than stone. The gifts were gold and elephants; the currency of return was poetry that has outlasted them both by two thousand years.
80
Surviving Poems
8
Decades
8
Cēra Kings
8
Poets
The Eight Surviving Decades
எட்டு பத்துக்கள்
Eight kings, eight poets, eight monuments of gold
The first and tenth decades are lost. The eight surviving decades (II–IX) are presented here, each with its king, its poet, and its ten poems.