Lilatilakam (IAST: Līlā-tilakam, "diadem of poetry") is a 14th-century Sanskrit-language treatise on the grammar and poetics of the Manipravalam language form, a precursor of the modern Malayalam language spoken in the Kerala state of India.
Date and authorship edit
Lilatilakam is an anonymous work, and is generally dated to the late 14th century.[1] It is attested by two (possibly three) manuscripts, and is not referred to by any other surviving pre-modern source.[2]
Contents edit
Lilatilakam (literally "diadem of poetry"[3]) calls itself the only disciplinary treatise (shastra) on Manipravalam, which it describes as the "union" of Sanskrit and Kerala-bhasha (the regional language spoken in Kerala).[4]
The text is written in Sanskrit language, in form of a series of verses with commentary; it also features examples of Manipravalam-language verses.[4]
References edit
- ^ Eva Maria Wilden 2014, p. 347.
- ^ Rich Freeman 2003, p. 443.
- ^ Rich Freeman 2003, p. 442.
- ^ a b Rich Freeman 2003, p. 448.
Bibliography edit
- Eva Maria Wilden (2014). Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Cankam in Tamilnadu. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-035276-4.
- Rich Freeman (2003). "The Literary Culture of Premodern Kerala". In Sheldon Pollock; Arvind Raghunathan (eds.). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22821-4.
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