The Decline of Panar and the Creation of Aatruppatai Literature

Abstract

The Aartruppatai got the name of the first minor literary genre. This literature talks about the excellence given by the King to the floating community like Panar. Meanwhile, the art of floating community and, thereby, that community are celebrated as special. Thus, this literature tends to construct masculine power and, thereby, the public centre of power. In the pursuit of masculine power, women are turned into consumers of men. In the hierarchy of power, through denigrating the floating community, the king is portrayed as highly exalted and fearsome. Although the Aatrupatai literature is based on the self-referential trend of the floating community, its creators are also poets. Therefore, they did not create "Pulavaratruppatai" (in praise of a king) as a separate literature found in Etthuthokai (Eight Anthologies). On the whole, Aatrppatai literature can be said to be an attempt to construct a power centre through depicting the infamy of the decaying floating community with literary flair.