Journal articles on the topic 'Tamil Folk songs'

Literatures have been studied orally before taking written form. History makes it clear that such songs were written during the Sanskrit period. These oral literatures shed light on the life and history of a country and its flaws and serve as a mirror that reveals the cultures, customs, and ancient thoughts of the people. Although the study of folk songs on the world stage has been in vogue for a long time, it came into practice in Tamil Nadu in the 19th century and then came into the study. However, it has not been advanced as a separate discipline in the University of Sri Lanka to date. Instead, the study of folk songs is being carried out in collaboration with the Tamil Department.In the case of Batticaloa Tamil Nadu, the close connection between India and Sri Lanka due to migration, migration and migration from ancient times can be seen from the identification of Tamils as the first and last king of Sri Lanka.Therefore, it is possible to realize that folk songs are widespread among the people of Batticaloa as there was not only Tamil Nadu connection but also Indian national connection. The songs are arranged in the form of Ritual, Rain and Famine, Lullaby, Game, love, Marriage, Family, Community, Relationship and Career, Obpari, Swing, Satire, Mother Songs.These songs explore love songs, present the feeling of love found in them, show how they fit in with the general characteristics found in the literature of Sangala Agathi and reveal aspects of the Batticaloa socio-cultural hierarchy. The gist of the song is not to give a direct meaning, but to explain its essence. They are classified as motherly songs, Fatherly songs, Leader songs, Leader songs, Friend songs, and General songs.

At first oral songs appeared in the archaic language. These oral songs are sung in different forms. Folk songs have no grammatical restrictions it is just sung. The song is very simple and it is easy to sing. Though the song is simple it has many meanings that are useful for life. This article shows up the emerging management ideas in the folk songs such as leadership characteristics, education, morals and human resources.

The folk songs have been well flourished in Malayalam Literature. The Malayalam folk songs entirely different from the Tamil folk songs. But it is fact that the structure of Malayalam Pattu has been adopted from the Tamil Literature and we could understand that the Tamil structure has been following even today. Folk songs have a special place in Malayalam Literature. Folk songs in Malayalam are categorized into community songs, Worship songs, Professional songs and celebration songs etc. This study has been analysis the Types and forms of folk songs which related to worshiped.

All Tamil literature is a gift given to us by our forefathers. All literature expresses the life values of the people. In this way, folk literature, which is unwritten literature, reflects human feelings. A man expresses his subconscious thoughts and beliefs through folk literature. In folk literature that includes folk songs, folk tales, fables, proverbs, etc., man expresses his life experiences from birth to death. Folk In literature, man expresses his life records from birth to death. In lullabies, events such as a mother's love for her child and making children realise the importance of relatives are important to human life. The way agriculture is expressed in special kummi songs, the subconscious impressions of man through faith in God, the subconscious impressions of man through themangu songs, the expression of male and female relationships through themangu songs, the characteristics of grooms who collect dowry from women through marriage, and indicate social disorders This review article is intended to reveal women lamenting the loss of their mothers in the metaphorical songs that express their characteristics at the end of human life, and women who have lost their husbands are marginalised in society due to their helpless condition.

There is a long tradition of folk song called Folk ballads (Kaddup padalkal) among the Sri Lankan Tamils. These songs, written by somewhat literate rural poets, are written on the paper or published as pamphlets, as small print copies. But, in their practical way, they are mostly handed over orally.When these Folk ballads (Kaddup padalkal) compose by the rural poets, they follow some rules and regulations. Linguistic regulations are the main one of them. These rules clearly distinguish oral literature from written literature. It has been generally followed that songs should be composed mainly on the basis of various verbal elements. Namely, different features follow the same repetitive methodology.Similarly, we can observe that there is more similarity in the rhythm of the songs. They have been singing their songs in certain rhythms. Thus, they have adopted the method of using oral song forms such as epic, ammānai, sinthu, kummi, thālāttu, oppāri, kavi according to the nature of the objects. Their form and music structures are mostly similar to folk songs.Moreover, a general structure has been followed to the theme of the songs.

In order to know the oral literary characteristics in Marutha thinai songs one must know the main characteristic features in oral. Plowing industry, planting industry, buffalo herding, ray cutting, fishing and other games such as paddy war, vallai song, silt removal, flower picking are the various kind of arts performed during the sangam period. The poets have recorded countless rituals, beliefs and customs in Marutha thinai songs. Through these songs one can know the culture, tradition and civilization of the ancient Tamil people. The article brings out the hidden folk elements in the Marutha thinai songs.

Literature is the mirror of life. Tamil literature portrays the background influences of human life. Folklore is a growing genre in Tamil literature. Folklore is the collection of incidents that occur in the life of the people from birth to death. Folk songs delight not only the singers and listeners but it also makes the poets and great peoples happier. Many poets are influenced by folk songs. Lullabies is a kind of folk songs. Lullaby is the first song that a child hears after his/her birth. Even the words are not understood by the child, the music of lullabies make child to fall asleep. Lullabies varies from region to region and from town to town. Although their purpose is the same, the theme, the situation, the mother's imagination and the words of the song vary according to their local dialect.

There is an emphasis in recent years on the study of literary and cultural parallel between Tamil and Kannada. This kind of research would enable one to arrive at Proto- Dravidian common cultural core. Anyhow my attempt is humble. I Try to make a comparison of the Akam (Love) poems. Which are found in Tolkappiyam and Sangam literature with some Kannada folk songs. Tolgappiyam says that the Akam poems of five division of land (Kurinji, Mullai, Marudam, Naidal and Paalai) should not mention the proper name of the characters. If we take a simple look at the different folk songs collection of Kannada, we note that there are no proper names of characters of such love songs. According to Tolkappiyam, the first grammar of Tamil, the concept of love is divided into ‘compatible love’ (anbin inthinai) and ‘incompatible love’ (porundha Kamam). We also come across such concept in the Kannada folk songs, which is explained in the theme of the song. There is a song of a man who is sitting on the bank of a river asking the girl permission to lean on her shoulder. The mention of a shoulder of a girl is a special feature mentioned in many Sangam poems.

Bharathi is admired by the people as the National Poet, World Poet, and Mahakavi. Bharathi had many dimensions as a poet, writer, journalist, freedom fighter, and social reformer. Bharathiyar's songs contain many truths that endure across space and time. There are two types of songs. One is to pour out thoroughly with simplicity in the minds of the laity. Another thing is that the learned poets create slanderous words with sharp edges. There is no doubt that the poetry of the other poets is superior, but all his works are somehow indebted to folk literature. This is a fact known in all folk literature. There is evidence to show this in the history of Tamil literature. Bharathiyar, who wondered, 'there is no wonder like song in this world', loses himself whenever he listens to folk songs. The world should know them. The study aims to create awareness about Bharathi's works and folklore among the younger generation by studying the folk ideas in his works.

The oldest book we have in Tamil is the Tholkappiyam grammar book. The oldest literature is Sangam literature. Silappathikaram, which appeared during the Sangam Maruviya period (3rd Century–Dark period), was the first epic to appear in Tamil. There is evidence that there were countless books in Tamil before Tholkappiyam. The fact that literature sprang up before the Tolkappiyam and that they divided the lives of the people on the basis of a discipline testifies to the fact that grammar is written only from literature. Tolkappiyar also advocates life in that way. The Sangam literature that emerged after Tholkappiyam is also based on Thinai songs. After that, Silambam, the first epic in Tamil, puts before our eyes the theory of Thinai and the life of the Tamils who lived in it. This is a study of Silambam's Thinai theory as it established to the world the life of the Tamils in the full-length epic Silambam Thinaivazhi, which is a full-fledged epic, established to the world that the Sangam literature tradition, referred to by many as spare songs, oral songs, and folk songs is a figment of the imagination.

After the ruling of three kings Chera, Chola and Pandiya of the Chera dynasty, the people, small land kings, land lords and many other Political changes are happening. Due to various political interventions Kerala has been identified by various cultural, literature changes. When we search the literature works of ancient times in Kerala, it is noticeable that, they are flourished through the Sangham literature. When we explore the literary development of Kerala from north to south in every time period, various literature and literacy walks has been located. Among that, the effect of Tamil language had been seen directly or indirectly. When we try to investigate the history of Malayalam literature, the growth of poetic approach of literature has been identified into three major segments. They are: 1) Pattu (2) Manipravalam (3) Folk songs. The “Pattu” literature is the account of Tamil poem which are found in respective regional linquistics. Later on, in the 8th century A.D., “Manipravalam songs” that are assorted as a distinct language from the influence of absolutely different forms from both of them, “Folk songs” took place called Vadakkan Pattu and Thekkan Pattu. We can find Proto-Dravidian features in Sangam literature. After that this aspect focuses in folk literature now. The heroic poetry of Tamil folk literature is available in both Tamil Malayalam languages. They are detected in a way that reveal the specialties of the Malayalam and Tamil languages. Thus, the purpose of this article is to analyze the history of Pattu literature categorization in the Malayalam literature.

Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar was a great poet of the twentieth century. Mahakavi Bharathiyar's works are considered as great treasures for the Tamil community. Even at an early age, Bharathiyar had a great affection and knowledge of the Tamil language. He started writing poetry at the age of seven while still studying at school. At the age of eleven, he showed his talent for poetry and the King of Ettayapuram, who appreciated his poetry, gave him the title of "Bharathi". From that day he was known as "Subramania Bharathiyar". Bharathiyar is also very passionate about music. Mahakavi Bharathiyar has given many works to this world through his attachment to music, many songs and many social ideas through his songs. In this way, some of Bharathiyar's musical works and musical messages have been examined in this research paper. The sub-topics of the study of this research paper are the sub-topics Bharathiyar and Carnatic Music, Bharathiyar and Folk Music except the introduction and conclusion respectively. Bharathiyar's attachment to music and his musical knowledge are explained under the subheading Bharathiyar's Music. Bharathiyar's attachment to Carnatic music is explained in the subtitle Bharathiyar and Carnatic Music. Finally, under the title Bharathiyar and folk music, the folk music songs created by Bharathiyar in folk music depicting the life and environment of the rural people are highlighted under this title. Therefore, various musical messages found in Bharathiyar's work under these three sub-headings have been examined in this review. These respectively are seen as the theme of this research paper.

Folk literature is in use from the early days itself. Folk literature is just the expression of the people’s mind. Folk literature studies the customs, traditions and beliefs of the people. It is the mirror that clearly shows the lifestyles of the people. These people had many entertainments in their life such as singing songs, telling stories and playing games. Just like the origin of human history cannot be ascertained, the origin of folk literature also cannot be ascertained. Folklore literature is about the people’s life style and their activities. Folklore literature is very famous and it captured people’s heart. People’s life is filled with games, stories, arts, songs and proverbs. When compared to other literary genre in Tamil, folklore literature is something different that is the absence of author. This literature especially tells about the games and how it entertains people and strengthen their body.

Folk literature is created by the common people and preserved by them. Vallikannan is a renowned writer, journalist and author of all kinds of literature, his novels Iruttu Raja, Ninaivu charam and Oruveetin Kathi describe the life of Saiva Velalar in Nellai district in a rustic form. Among these games children's games are swinging, playing Tayakkatam, playing by singing and dancing, playing pandi, and playing Kannambuchi. Other common games are folk songs, titling, calling women by their village names, proverbs, folk performances related to religion, celebrating festivals, paying tribute to the village temple during festivals, performing arts, naming, marriage, processions, performing arts programs at weddings. They use figure of speech in their speech. The folk songs, proverbs and local idioms used by the Nellai district people reveals the author's general knowledge and approach to the people. It can be seen that the folk elements found in lullabies, folk tales, songs, stories, fables, myths, proverbs etc are mixed with the character and sentiment of the Tamil people. The article is about the folklore elements found in Vallikannan novels.

Love is an expression of the inner feelings of the people who have been living continuously since the Sangam period and the purpose of philosophy is to express men's bravery and to live and prosper through them. The people of the Sangam period were divided into two groups as internal and external. The ancient Tamil suppressed the love life internally and divided the inner life into two types: theft and chastity. Tholkkappiyar and iraiyanar have explained the theft and chastity through poems. The excellence of Mens love the theft and womens love the chastity are explained thoroug it. The internal messages of folk songs are similar as the sangam poems. which are oral songs that have been performed in Tamil Nadu since time immemorial. Oral songs appeared long before writing. So it can be said that oral songs are the source of internal messages found in literature.

Folklore reflects biological facts and social customs. Lullabies reveal that childbearing is essential for a husband and wife. If it rains when the rainy sprouting festival and the horse-drawing ceremony are held, not only the plowman of God's grace will be happy that the world has got a pleasant life. It can be seen that the folk cults which were humble originated with causal things. Folk literature refers to the civilization, culture, customs, beliefs and cults of a tribe. Folk songs, stories and proverbs cannot be considered to have originated to please others. It can be seen as an expression of people's feelings of happiness and suffering. Folk literary research has grown into a major field today. In lullabies, the mother's consciousness is abundant. Childbirth is very important in domestic life in society. The man who worshipped nature later created an appearance and worshipped the deity in the mountains, trees and water bodies. The people of the country can see that they worship the gods and their ancestors who protect the town. Folklore can see that birth, marriage and death have rituals and beliefs.

Folk literature has many different genres. They are folktales, myths, worships, beliefs, rituals, proverbs, idioms and performing arts. They found that the ideas in the songs and stories presented in the folk literature are aimed at reconstructing the history and so they theorized them. The history of Folk literature helps to reconstruct the history of the grassroot people and to advance identity politics. Narrative songs also have such characteristics but mythological narratives can have an impact on social psychology. Various stories based on the Mahabharata are found in Tamil. They are Archuna's penance, Karnamagarajan's story, Pavalakodi's story, Alli Arasani's garland, Draupadi's story. A story related to this is called Aaravalli Sooravalli songs. In this story seven sisters like Aaravalli Sooravalli created a kingdom for themselves and ruled it. One who oppose their kingdom are enslaved with their magical tricks. Unable to defeat them, Kannan, who helps the Pandavas in the Mahabharata, decides to fight against them to quell the seven sister’s arrogance and the arrogance of Veeman, who says that there is no one to defeat him. Inorder to avoid the war Dharma says that beeman is going to defeat everyone. Here women are portrayed as arrogant and invincible. These types of portrayals appear to evoke male self-reliance in social psychology. This article highlights the stereotypes that make women feel oppressed.

Immigration is the basis for redefining the homeland. Nostalgia for the homeland, inherent in everyone, creates a state of comparison in the diaspora. In contrast to the native country, and the country of refuge. The detection of cultural differences continues. The experiences that immigrants record in their memories are shaped as Creative works. Initially the stories of the expatriate Tamils recorded as folk songs. And then formed into stories. Substantial numbers of Tamils migrated to the South East, but no novels were writtenin the early period. Both novels Kadalukkuappaal (1959) and PuyalileoruDhoni (1972) were written by novelist P. Singaram record the lives of immigrants. The novel Kadalukkuappaal is considered to be the first diaspora novel in Tamil. Experiences narrated by P. Singaram through the myth of how human searches are spread across two different lands, Tamil Nadu and South East Asia, lead to an endless world through reading. The absurdity of never-ending human existence makes everything subject to endless debate. Both novels, Kadalukkuappaaland Puyalileoru Dhoni, by P. Singaram, have documented the lives of expatriate Tamils internationally. They are also micro-inquiries into the lives of Tamils in the Diaspora.

When we think of how the literature of Classic Tamil came into our hands across the river of time, we are amazed. Before the appearance of the script, Early Tamils would have verbally passed on to others what they had thought. One must have passed through the flood of time spreading from one person to another, from one to another, to another. All the thoughts, songs, and conversations of the people should have been expressed verbally until the palm leaf became available as stationery. This principle applies to all the language literature that originated in the world. We can see that when oral messages are transmitted from person to person, the repetition of the word or phrase, the elements of the repetition of stories and phrases that reflect the local culture and life, and the harmony and enrichment of the local culture and life, are constantly being studied. It would not be an exaggeration to say that those who saved it from spilling until it found a place in the palm leaves, the sharp memory of the people who converse, and the expression of the core, the peel, and the first objects of the circulating land. Thus, the folk elements found in the Sangam literature songs sung in the praise of Lord Muruga are matched with the folk tradition. The social context of folk songs, the characters of the storytellers, the time with the participation of the listening audience, the structure of the story events that take place in relation to the location, the identities of the storytellers, the relationships in which the narrator and the audience who listen to the story co-participate, the context in which the mythological elements can be told, the opportunity to perform, etc., are included in the Sangam literature as folk elements.

Proverbs is one of the literary forms. Like folk songs, folk tales, fairy tales etc., proverbs belong to the genre of oral literature. A proverb is a language that originates from primitive knowledge. Describing an object in one or two lines without directly describing it is called riddles. In Tamil it is called pisi or nodi. These riddles help in developing intellectual activities. Mothers use riddles to develop their child's intellectual power. Proverbs have appeared in all the languages and it is intertwined with people's lives. Proverbs have been used by the Tamil people since the ancient time itself. Proverbs is the shortest form of oral language-based folk idioms. It has a great impact on people. Even today riddles are most commonly used by all humans. Our forefathers have used to say proverbs to indicate certain actions in the rural areas, to make comments and create awareness. It is infused with experience and knowledge. It can be said that it is the experience of a society's long-term circulation. In particular, proverbs describe something succinctly, clearly and beautifully. This article is in a position to establish how these proverbs are learned and used by the people Vilavankodu region.

Folk literature also called oral literature is about the culture of lay people and about the pride of Tamil Nadu. Earlier people worshipped nature as goddess. After civilization they began to live separately as families and worshipped the village deities Mariyamman and Kaliyamman to protect themselves. Then they began worshipping goddess with the hope that goddess will shower rain and so agriculture and other industries would prosper and people can live without disease. In order to thank deities, they celebrated festivals once in a year. They fulfill their wishes during the festivals. Psychologically the mind is happy during the festive seasons. The people of different races come together and celebrate the festival happily. Folk arts such as therukoothu, karakaatam, folk songs and so on are performed during the festivals. Thus, the life of the folk artists shines brightly because of festivals. Festivals and liturgies enrich our culture and its ethos emotionally.

Kappiyam are one among the literary forms. It is divided into Perungappiyam and Sirukappiyam. Virtue, materiality, pleasure, home, and a familial life of a husband and wife are the most important in Perungappiyam. This expands into oral literature, self-conscious songs and public songs. Sirukappiyam is a book that rejects all those four subjects of Perungappiyam and it deals with materiality. As Kappiyam we always remember the Aiperum Kappiyam from Silapathikaram to Chintamani and the Ainchiru Kappiyam from Chulamani to Neelakesi. However, Periyapuranam, Kamparamayanam, Villibharathalam, Bharathidasan's Pandyan Parisu, Pulavar Kulanthai's Ravana Kaviyam, Kannadasan's Yaesu Kaviyam are considered as Kappiyam. Among these Tamil Kappiyam’s Silapathikaram, Manimekalai and Periyapuranam have been composed using Tamil folk narrative sensibilities. Other Kappiyam’s are the adaptations from other Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. Silappathikaram and Manimegalai are known as Irattai Kappiyam because they were created at the same time and their stories are also related to each other. Silapathikaram was composed by Ilangovadigal and Manimekalai by Seethalaichathanar. The characters in these kappiyams are called related to each other and so it is called Irattai Kappiyam. This article examines the moral painting theories in Irattai Kappiyam.

The culture of a community plays a major role in narrating the history and life of that particular community. This culture includes various aspects such as religion, ritual, faith, food, customs or practices as well as art and culture. Among these aspects, art is not only for entertainment; but it is also for exposing the social character and tradition of that particular community. The undeniable thing here is the factor that art forms in every country, and in every region are not only to create entertainment but also to preserve the antiquity of their existence up to now. In that respect, Vasanthan Kooththu, one of the Sri Lankan Tamil art forms, is a notable art form in that category. Even though this art form is found in Batticaloa and Jaffna areas, they have differences between each other. This study focuses on the songs of Vasanthan Kooththu performed in the Katuthavalai area of ​​Batticaloa. This type of Kooththu is an art form of tapping and dancing with two sticks in the hands; however, these sticks are also used to express the function of the meaning of the song with dance. Even though this type of Kooththu is a dance form, the greatness of the songs used in this Kooththu is significant. There are 62 types of Vasanthan poems have been in use in the Art Form performances. These have been compiled around the year 1940. These 62 genres of songs are divided into six genres and compiled, namely 'Kattiyam', 'Thoththiram', 'Sariththiram', 'Tholil', 'Vedikkai', 'Vilaiyaattu' and are still in the practice during Kooththu performance. As mentioned earlier, these Kooththu song systems emphasize the art expression of the culture of a community. The songs related to the professions or job involved in these Kooththu songs express the whole series of activities of the agricultural industry. The reason that these Kooththu songs to aim to explore only a specific industry is to be explored. It is vital to discover this factor; and this article explores about how these Kooththu songs are still in operation today as a popular form of folk music performance to describe a particular social professional life, beyond globalization trends, imposition and blends of colonization thinking. This article also explores the significance of these Kooththu songs hold, the importance they have gained in the life of people as well as the value that these Kooththu songs have even today.

Abstract The Kalevala, the national epic of the Finnish people, published in the 19th century and created by E. Lönnrot from songs collected in the Karelian countryside (Northwestern Russia), is the result of a long process of rewriting. This process has manifested itself through successive retranslations in various languages and through certain strategies favored by the epic’s translators. Recent translations reflect a tendency to appropriate the epic through the use of a vocabulary and poetic style that are specific to the culture of the translator. For example, verse translations in Tamil are structured in the manner of folk epics of Southern India; while in the French verse translation the translator has made abundant use of archaisms and neologisms.

Irulas are identified by their dark bodies (Black). The word ‘Erular’ is the oldest form of them. In this word changed in to ‘Irula’ in the medial period. They are live in the Coimbatore area and also the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu. Irulas worshipped nature and their ancestors lived as nomads. The people of Irula community had their own beliefs, traditional stories, festivals and rituals even now they observe their believes. Tell the stories celebrate the festivals and perform rituals. They have several gods according to their community as family deity. However, the festival of Kanniyamman of the Irular tribes is celebrated on the beach in the month of Masi (Feb) that is full moon day celebration or Masimaham worship. All the Irula People from various parts of South India gather in the Mamallapuram beach. They believe Kanniyamman angers every year for their wrongs and goes to Mamallaburam beach. On the day of Masimaham and full moon day they celebrate and invite Kanniyamman to their homes. The same day night they celebrate with traditional folk songs, dances and awareness programmes. Next day early morning, they build seven steps and a small tent for Kanniyamman. Then, the Irulas arrange marriages and other ceremonies on the beach. This research paper is to document the Kanniyamman Masimaham ceremony.

Cinema is an extensive platform for visualizing ideologies through entertainment and discussing issues artistically. Cinema plays a main role in human life like literature, painting, poetry, folk songs, etc. It is a tool to explore emotions created by filmmakers and stimulate them in the audience which is correspondingly a reflection of the society that speaks about massive issues like politics, history, relationships, adventure, etc. Over time cinema started to portray social injustices, especially by shedding light on marginalized communities. Cinemas mostly characterized Dalits as inferior neglecting their hardships but consequently started to represent their protest for identification and social equality. Contemporary young filmmakers in India are filling the space to speak caste politics honestly. This paper analyzes social inequality through select Tamil films, Pariyerum Perumal and Kanni Maadam, which articulated an extraordinary message by trying to picture the humanity and inhumanities displayed in the caste-practiced society. Humanity is one of the central elements that distinguish living from non-living. Exhibiting humanity in recent times is directly proportional to the necessities of the individual. In such a situation, an individual or community showing humanity to those who displayed inhumanity towards them is astounding. The select films explore the same by emphasizing how humanity displayed at the unexpected and undeserved moment can alter a person’s ego and change society virtuously. The paper also puts forth suggestions on how the marginalized can be uplifted and empowered by the theory of egalitarianism.

Various types of literature in Tamil have appeared and developed over time. Literature refines our lives. The literature that appeared in each period is able to reveal the living environment of the people of the respective period. Sangam Literature, Sangam Forgotten Literature, Devotional Literature, Folk Literature, Short Story, Novel, Renewal Poetry, Drama, Prose Literature. In this order his historical literature appears and develops. Her history is a collection of events that took place in a person's life. Traces of his historical literature can be found in the Sangam literature. When he and his friend Kopperuncholan, who was dying in the north, went to die in the north, many witnesses there asked why he had not lost his hair for so long. He has the best character wife in life, and people. He says that the Evelars who do not say what he thinks, and that the king is a good protector. And in our town live many learned, virtuous, well-meaning people with goals and principles. So I don't care. So he says I don't have gray hair. Through this, the news about Pichirantaiyar, his hometown, the witnesses in Avur, the people, the king and the evildoer are revealed. And he records through his songs that he lived a quiet contented life without any problems or interruptions. The above biographical notes are able to know the capital of his historical literature. Autobiography is written by a wide variety of writers, political leaders, scholars, and writers from all walks of life. One of the most significant of these biographies is considered to be that of the poet Ramalingam Pillai. The poet Ramalingam of this book is not only talking about the child's own life. Rather it speaks to the community as well. Because the poet Ramalingam Pillai has expressed in his works that he loved this community and what he experienced in his life. In particular, many of the events under the headings of Prayer, Thirukkural Pride, Gandhi, Nattukkummi, Feminism, Bharathidarshanam can be traced back to his works.

Silapathikaram is considered the best epic in Tamil literature. This epic is about the three kings who has been called Moovaendars and the three modes of entertainment such as literature, music and drama. The ancient people’s life style, social structure, standard of living of the people, caste discrimination, and folk song system have been highlighted in this text. Varuna (division of people based on caste) plays a major role in people's lives. Author IIangovadigal points out that this situation came from Silapathikaram period. The people are divided into four categories as priests, kings, merchants and servants. Though the text speaks well about merchants, it gave importance to priests. The protagonist Kovalan is highlighted in the text through the priests. Through this, we can feel their primacy in the society. Even though the kings and servants have material possessions, they are next to the Antananars (priests). In Silapathikaram, you can see a society where caste discrimination is established. It is not known whether this was the case at that time or whether the Ilangovadigal was trying to record such racial discrimination. Thus, the purpose of this article is to highlight the caste discrimination in Silapathikaram

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The Batticaloa district is home to many folk music traditions. They were seen interwoven with all aspects of life, like worldliness, worship, entertainment, and business. Due to migration, urbanization, development of modern technology, continuous war, colonial rule, etc., the rich traditions of folk music such as kombumuri songs, dance drama songs, and midwifery songs have disappeared from the learning level and become obsolete. Some of these musical traditions, like dance drama songs, are being revived through universities. Also, due to the change of time, Western music, melodies (film songs), and Carnatic music gradually entered Batticaloa, Tamil Nadu. As a result, many of the main classical folk music traditions have become obsolete. The purpose of writing this research paper is that there are many musical traditions found in Batticaloa, Tamil Nadu, and its current status is to inform the youth and the world about the old musical traditions.

Campaign songs have long been utilized to communicate political parties’ ideas and promote unity, particularly in the political landscape of Tamil Nadu. However, recent election campaigns have leveraged advancements in technology and innovative multimedia marketing techniques, giving campaign songs a distinct significance for shaping public opinion and swaying voters. This study examines the campaign song “Thodarattum Vetrinadai Endrendrum Eratailai” (May the success continue forever for two leaves) released by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party during the 2021 Tamil Nadu state legislative election. Employing multimodal discourse analysis and Kress and Van Leeuwen’s visual grammar, the research analyzes the song’s content to identify the presence of propaganda techniques. The study reveals that Bandwagon, Plain Folk, and Card Stacking are prominent propaganda tools employed in the song. Furthermore, the visual grammar analysis unveils the strategic use of visual elements in the video that synchronously aligns with the party’s campaign objectives.

This article proposes that the growing popularity of reality television in the southernmost state of India, Kerala – disseminated locally and throughout the Indian diaspora – is not the product of an innocuous nostalgia for a fast-disappearing regional identity but rather a spectacular example of an emergent ideology that displaces cultural memory, collective identity, and secular nationalism with new, globalised forms of public sentiment. Further, it is arguable that this g/local media culture also displaces hard-won secular feminist constructions of gender and the contemporary modern “Indian woman.” Shows like Idea Star Singer (hereafter ISS) (Malayalam [the language spoken in Kerala] television’s most popular reality television series), based closely on American Idol, is broadcast worldwide to dozens of nations including the US, the UK, China, Russia, Sri Lanka, and several nations in the Middle East and the discussion that follows attempts both to account for this g/local phenomenon and to problematise it. ISS concentrates on staging the diversity and talent of Malayalee youth and, in particular, their ability to sing ‘pitch-perfect’, by inviting them to perform the vast catalogue of traditional Malayalam songs. However, inasmuch as it is aimed at both a regional and diasporic audience, ISS also allows for a diversity of singing styles displayed through the inclusion of a variety of other songs: some sung in Tamil, some Hindi, and some even English. This leads us to ask a number of questions: in what ways are performers who subscribe to regional or global models of televisual style rewarded or punished? In what ways are performers who exemplify differences in terms of gender, sexuality, religion, class, or ability punished? Further, it is arguable that this show—packaged as the “must-see” spectacle for the Indian diaspora—re-imagines a traditional past and translates it (under the rubric of “reality” television) into a vulgar commodification of both “classical” and “folk” India: an India excised of radical reform, feminists, activists, and any voices of multiplicity clamouring for change. Indeed, it is my contention that, although such shows claim to promote women’s liberation by encouraging women to realise their talents and ambitions, the commodification of the “stars” as televisual celebrities points rather to an anti-feminist imperial agenda of control and domination. Normalising Art: Presenting the Juridical as Natural Following Foucault, we can, indeed, read ISS as an apparatus of “normalisation.” While ISS purports to be “about” music, celebration, and art—an encouragement of art for art’s sake—it nevertheless advocates the practice of teaching as critiqued by Foucault: “the acquisition and knowledge by the very practice of the pedagogical activity and a reciprocal, hierarchised observation” (176), so that self-surveillance is built into the process. What appears on the screen is, in effect, the presentation of a juridically governed body as natural: the capitalist production of art through intense practice, performance, and corrective measures that valorise discipline and, at the end, produce ‘good’ and ‘bad’ subjects. The Foucauldian isomorphism of punishment with obligation, exercise with repetition, and enactment of the law is magnified in the traditional practice of music, especially Carnatic, or the occasional Hindustani refrain that separates those who come out of years of training in the Gury–Shishya mode (teacher–student mode, primarily Hindu and privileged) from those who do not (Muslims, working-class, and perhaps disabled students). In the context of a reality television show sponsored by Idea Cellular Ltd (a phone company with global outposts), the systems of discipline are strictly in line with the capitalist economy. Since this show depends upon the vast back-catalogue of film songs sung by playback singers from the era of big studio film-making, it may be seen to advocate a mimetic rigidity that ossifies artistic production, rather than offering encouragement to a new generation of artists who might wish to take the songs and make them their own. ISS, indeed, compares and differentiates the participants’ talents through an “opaque” system of evaluations which the show presents as transparent, merit-based and “fair”: as Foucault observes, “the perpetual penalty that traverses all points and supervises every instant in the disciplinary institutions compares, differentiates, hierarchizes, homogenizes, excludes. In short, it normalizes” (183). On ISS, this evaluation process (a panel of judges who are renowned singers and composers, along with a rotating guest star, such as an actor) may be seen as a scopophilic institution where training and knowledge are brought together, transforming “the economy of visibility into the exercise of power” (187). The contestants, largely insignificant as individuals but seen together, at times, upon the stage, dancing and singing and performing practised routines, represent a socius constituting the body politic. The judges, enthroned on prominent and lush seats above the young contestants, the studio audience and, in effect, the show’s televised transnational audience, deliver judgements that “normalise” these artists into submissive subjectivity. In fact, despite the incoherence of the average judgement, audiences are so engrossed in the narrative of “marks” (a clear vestige of the education and civilising mission of the colonial subject under British rule) that, even in the glamorous setting of vibrating music, artificial lights, and corporate capital, Indians can still be found disciplining themselves according to the values of the West. Enacting Keraleeyatham for Malayalee Diaspora Ritty Lukose’s study on youth and gender in Kerala frames identity formations under colonialism, nationalism, and capitalism as she teases out ideas of resistance and agency by addressing the complex mediations of consumption or consumptive practices. Lukose reads “consumer culture as a complex site of female participation and constraint, enjoyment and objectification” (917), and finds the young, westernised female as a particular site of consumer agency. According to this theory, the performers on ISS and the show’s MC, Renjini Haridas, embody this body politic. The young performers all dress in the garb of “authentic identity”, sporting saris, pawaadu-blouse, mundum-neertha, salwaar-kameez, lehenga-choli, skirts, pants, and so on. This sartorial diversity is deeply gendered and discursively rich; the men have one of two options: kurta-mundu or some such variation and the pant–shirt combination. The women, especially Renjini (educated at St Theresa’s College in Kochi and former winner of Ms Kerala beauty contest) evoke the MTV DJs of the mid-1990s and affect a pidgin-Malayalam spliced with English: Renjini’s cool “touching” of the contestants and airy gestures remove her from the regional masses; and yet, for Onam (festival of Kerala), she dresses in the traditional cream and gold sari; for Id (high holy day for Muslims), she dresses in some glittery salwaar-kameez with a wrap on her head; and for Christmas, she wears a long dress. This is clearly meant to show her ability to embody different socio-religious spheres simultaneously. Yet, both she and all the young female contestants speak proudly about their authentic Kerala identity. Ritty Lukose spells this out as “Keraleeyatham.” In the vein of beauty pageants, and the first-world practice of indoctrinating all bodies into one model of beauty, the youngsters engage in exuberant performances yet, once their act is over, revert back to the coy, submissive docility that is the face of the student in the traditional educational apparatus. Both left-wing feminists and BJP activists write their ballads on the surface of women’s bodies; however, in enacting the chethu or, to be more accurate, “ash-push” (colloquialism akin to “hip”) lifestyle advocated by the show (interrupted at least half a dozen times by lengthy sequences of commercials for jewellery, clothing, toilet cleaners, nutritious chocolate bars, hair oil, and home products), the participants in this show become the unwitting sites of a large number of competing ideologies. Lukose observes the remarkable development from the peasant labor-centered Kerala of the 1970s to today’s simulacrum: “Keraleeyatham.” When discussing the beauty contests staged in Kerala in the 1990s, she discovers (through analysis of the dress and Sanskrit-centred questions) that: “Miss Kerala must be a naden pennu [a girl of the native/rural land] in her dress, comportment, and knowledge. Written onto the female bodies of a proliferation of Miss Keralas, the nadu, locality itself, becomes transportable and transposable” (929). Lukose observes that these women have room to enact their passions and artistry only within the metadiegetic space of the “song and dance” spectacle; once they leave it, they return to a modest, Kerala-gendered space in which the young female performers are quiet to the point of inarticulate, stuttering silence (930). However, while Lukose’s term, Keraleeyatham, is useful as a sociological compass, I contend that it has even more complex connotations. Its ethos of “Nair-ism” (Nayar was the dominant caste identity in Kerala), which could have been a site of resistance and identity formation, instead becomes a site of nationalist, regional linguistic supremacy arising out of Hindu imaginary. Second, this ideology could not have been developed in the era of pre-globalised state-run television but now, in the wake of globalisation and satellite television, we see this spectacle of “discipline and punish” enacted on the world stage. Thus, although I do see a possibility for a more positive Keraleeyatham that is organic, inclusive, and radical, for the moment we have a hegemonic, exclusive, and hierarchical statist approach to regional identity that needs to be re-evaluated. Articulating the Authentic via the Simulacrum Welcome to the Malayalee matrix. Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum is our entry point into visualising the code of reality television. In a state noted for its distinctly left-leaning politics and Communist Party history which underwent radical reversal in the 1990s, the political front in Kerala is still dominated by the LDF (Left Democratic Front), and resistance to the state is an institutionalised and satirised daily event, as marked by the marchers who gather and stop traffic at Palayam in the capital city daily at noon. Issues of poverty and corporate disenfranchisement plague the farming and fishing communities while people suffer transportation tragedies, failures of road development and ferry upkeep on a daily basis. Writers and activists rail against imminent aerial bombing of Maoists insurgent groups, reading in such statist violence repression of the Adivasi (indigenous) peoples scattered across many states of eastern and southern India. Alongside energy and ration supply issues, politics light up the average Keralaite, and yet the most popular “reality” television show reflects none of it. Other than paying faux multicultural tribute to all the festivals that come and go (such as Id, Diwaali, Christmas, and Kerala Piravi [Kerala Day on 1 November]), mainly through Renjini’s dress and chatter, ISS does all it can to remove itself from the turmoil of the everyday. Much in the same way that Bollywood cinema has allowed the masses to escape the oppressions of “the everyday,” reality television promises speculative pleasure produced on the backs of young performers who do not even have to be paid for their labour. Unlike Malayalam cinema’s penchant for hard-hitting politics and narratives of unaccounted for, everyday lives in neo-realist style, today’s reality television—with its excessive sound and light effects, glittering stages and bejewelled participants, repeat zooms, frontal shots, and artificial enhancements—exploits the paradox of hyper-authenticity (Rose and Wood 295). In her useful account of America’s top reality show, American Idol, Katherine Meizel investigates the fascination with the show’s winners and the losers, and the drama of an American “ideal” of diligence and ambition that is seen to be at the heart of the show. She writes, “It is about selling the Dream—regardless of whether it results in success or failure—and about the enactment of ideology that hovers at the edges of any discourse about American morality. It is the potential of great ambition, rather than of great talent, that drives these hopefuls and inspires their fans” (486). In enacting the global via the site of the local (Malayalam and Tamil songs primarily), ISS assumes the mantle of Americanism through the plain-spoken, direct commentaries of the singers who, like their US counterparts, routinely tell us how all of it has changed their lives. In other words, this retrospective meta-narrative becomes more important than the show itself. True to Baudrillard’s theory, ISS blurs the line between actual need and the “need” fabricated by the media and multinational corporations like Idea Cellular and Confident Group (which builds luxury homes, primarily for the new bourgeoisie and nostalgic “returnees” from the diaspora). The “New Kerala” is marked, for the locals, by extravagant (mostly unoccupied) constructions of photogenic homes in garish colours, located in the middle of chaos: the traditional nattumparathu (countryside) wooden homes, and traffic congestion. The homes, promised at the end of these shows, have a “value” based on the hyper-real economy of the show rather than an actual utility value. Yet those who move from the “old” world to the “new” do not always fare well. In local papers, the young artists are often criticised for their new-found haughtiness and disinclination to visit ill relatives in hospital: a veritable sin in a culture that places the nadu and kin above all narratives of progress. In other words, nothing quite adds up: the language and ideologies of the show, espoused most succinctly by its inarticulate host, is a language that obscures its distance from reality. ISS maps onto its audience the emblematic difference between “citizen” and “population”. Through the chaotic, state-sanctioned paralegal devices that allow the slum-dwellers and other property-less people to dwell in the cities, the voices of the labourers (such as the unions) have been silenced. It is a nation ever more geographically divided between the middle-classes which retreat into their gated neighbourhoods, and the shanty-town denizens who are represented by the rising class of religio-fundamentalist leaders. While the poor vote in the Hindu hegemony, the middle classes text in their votes to reality shows like ISS. Partha Chatterjee speaks of the “new segregated and exclusive spaces for the managerial and technocratic elite” (143) which is obsessed by media images, international travel, suburbanisation, and high technology. I wish to add to this list the artificially created community of ISS performers and stars; these are, indeed, the virtual and global extension of Chatterjee’s exclusive, elite communities, decrying the new bourgeois order of Indian urbanity, repackaged as Malayalee, moneyed, and Nayar. Meanwhile, the Hindu Right flexes its muscle under the show’s glittery surface: neither menacing nor fundamentalist, it is now “hip” to be Hindu. Thus while, on the surface, ISS operates according to the cliché, musicinu mathamilla (“music has no religion”), I would contend that it perpetuates a colonising space of Hindu-nationalist hegemony which standardises music appreciation, flattens music performance into an “art” developed solely to serve commercial cinema, and produces a dialectic of Keraleeyatham that erases the multiplicities of its “real.” This ideology, meanwhile, colonises from within. The public performance plays out in the private sphere where the show is consumed; at the same time, the private is inserted into the public with SMS calls that ultimately help seal the juridicality of the show and give the impression of “democracy.” Like the many networks that bring the sentiments of melody and melancholy to our dinner table, I would like to offer you this alternative account of ISS as part of a bid for a more vociferous, and critical, engagement with reality television and its modes of production. 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