Tolkappiyam is the earliest extant grammar in Tamil. It is supposed to have been written by Tolkappiyar, after whom it is named. There are different views about its authorship. Some attribute it to a single author while there are others who suggest a multiple authorship.
There are different views about the date of Tolkappiyam also. While some prefer to fix it in a period few centuries before Christ, some prefer to take it to a few centuries after Christ. Its date in relation to Carikam literature is also not fixed. Some tend to place it before Cankam literature, while some others tend to place it after carikam literature. Certain linguistic features such as the occurrence of initial 'ya' in cankam literature, as against in Tolkappiyam which allows only 'ya' in the initial position, the occurrence of optatives in the first person and second person finite verbs as against the Tolkappiyam rules which allows its occurrence in the third person finite verbs alone favour the first view.
Tolkappiyam consists of three parts: the first part, Eluttu, deals with the phonological aspects of language, the second part, Col, deals with the morphological aspects of language and the third part, which is titled Porul and glossed as content, deals with the formulation and study of the principles of literary production. Thus Porulatikaram, the third part of Tolkappiyam, provides the first model of literary theory in Tamil criticism. Hence, Tolkappiyam places 'poetics' or literary theory side by side with grammar. Tradition all along, as attested in the commentary of Iraiyanar Akapporul, has held that it is Porul that is most important and Eluttu and Col only complement it or are instrumental to it.
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