Five Great Epics

The Five Great Epics (Tamil: ஐம்பெரும்காப்பியங்கள், romanized: Aimperumkāppiyaṅkaḷ) are five Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition. They are Cilappatikāram, Manimekalai, Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi.^[1]

Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed to Tamil Jains, while two are attributed to Tamil Buddhists. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Cilappathikāram, and Valayapathi were written by Tamil Jains, while the Manimekalai and Kundalakesi were authored by Buddhists. The first mention of the Aimperumkappiyam "five large epics" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary, the Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention their titles. The titles are first mentioned in the late-18th-to-early-19th-century work Thiruthanikaiula. Earlier works like the 17th-century poem Tamil vidu thoothu mention the great epics as Panchkavyams.^[2][3] Among these, the last two, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi are not extant.^[4]

These five epics were written between the 5th to 10th centuries and act and provide historical information about the society, religions, culture and academic life of Tamil people over that period. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi introduced long verses called virutha pa in Tamil literature,^[5] while Cilappatikāram used akaval meter (monologue), a style adopted from Sangam literature.