Critical Studies of the PattuppaaTTu (an ancient Tamil anthology)

我读了一本古代泰米尔语选集《PattuppaaTTu》（《十首歌》）的全文，并做了尝试性的日文翻译和注释。在阅读的基础上，我可以发现所谓的指南（aaRuppaTai）并不是传统意义上的吟游诗人，而是普通人，选集中的其他作品也具有相同的性质。在研究过程中，我对“口头”文化有了新的认识，对诗人吟游诗人如何作诗、如何吟诗、在何处吟诗有了清晰的认识。口语是一个与识字不可分割的问题。在这方面，我发现了可靠的证据，证明字母在古代泰米尔社会中被广泛使用，最迟在公元世纪。

I have read the full text of PattuppaaTTu ("Ten Songs"), an ancient Tamil anthology, and made a tentative Japanese translation and notes. On the basis of the reading, I could find that the so-called guidebooks (aaRRuppaTai) were not for bards, as traditionally maintained, but for ordinary people, and other works contained in the anthology also have the same nature. During the course of the study, I got a new idea as to "oral" culture, which leads me clear views on how poets-bards composed poems and how and where poems were recited. Orality is an inseparable issue from literacy. In this connection, I have found reliable evidence that letters were widely used in ancient Tamil society, at the latest, in the 3rd century CE.