Rethinking the Legacy of a Medieval Hindu Commentator

Abstract

Parimēlaḻakar was a commentator and scholar who lived around the late thirteenth century CE and wrote commentaries on two major works of Tamil literature: the Paripāṭal and Tirukkuṟaḷ. While Parimēlaḻakar has been regarded as both a hero and a villain in Tamil literary history, this article argues that he is neither hero nor villain, but a capacious thinker who sought to harmonise the Sanskrit and Tamil literary traditions. First, the article shows that Parimēlaḻakar’s Tirukkuṟaḷ commentary is a natural outgrowth of and response to the broad intellectual currents of his time, in which Tamil literary culture was deeply informed by Sanskrit. Second, the article examines Parimēlaḻakar alongside Paripperumāḷ, another Tirukkuṟaḷ commentator, to highlight the range of choices made by commentators in bridging the worlds of Sanskrit and Tamil during the first half of the second millennium. Ultimately, the article advocates on behalf of a more nuanced portrait of Parimēlaḻakar’s legacy.