meenakshi ammai pillaitamil

MEENAKSHI AMMAI PILLAI TAMIL

    Pillai Tamil or the "Tamil of Childhood" is one of the ninety-six forms of minor poetical compositions(º¢üÈ¢Ä츢Âí¸û).   It is one of the most popular type of literature.  This is in praise of childhood in all its varying stages whether the child be a male or a female.  "It starts singing of the child from the third month, when we have usually, the prayer offered for the child's welfare.  Then follow the songs of the wavy movements of the body of the child, forwards and backwards or sideways, the lullaby, the song of clapping hands, the song of kisses, the welcome song and the song of the moon.  These seven sections are common to both sexes.  But if the child is male, there are in addition the song of the kettledrum, the song of the childish pranks of brushing aside the toy-houses built of sand by the female children and the song of the toy cart.  If the child is a female, we have any three of the following: the song of the swing, the song of the bath, the song of toy-houses, the song of throwing up and catching seeds or other such things"  These are the general characteristics of this kind of popular literature.

    Love towards a child is the innocent joy of selflessness.  In that mood, poetry becomes sincere and moving and it captivates any heart.  Sivagnana Swamigal states in Amuthaambigai Pillai Tamil, that "even when singing of the omnipotent divinity, it is more charming and enchanting to sing of it as a child."  It is the natural outpouring of the heart of the mother that finds expression in these types of songs.  Dr. T. P. Meenakshisundarar observes that St. Kumaraguruparar has sung of god with love and reverence and with an incomparable joy, worshipping him in the form of the divine child Murukan and in the form of the divine mother in her childhood, Meenakshi.  Dr. M. Varadarajanar,  Vice-Chancellor of the Madurai University declares that Meenakshi Ammai Pillai Tamil is the master piece among this kind of literature and in full of devotion, literary brilliance and sweet rhythmic diction.