Theorising emotions : an enquiry into the emotion knowledge of premodern Tamil treatises

Emotions are an integral part of human history. But what do we know about theoretical knowledge of emotions and what importance do South Indian Tamil-speaking thinkers attach to it? This book systematically and for the first time looks at pre-modern knowledge about emotions in Tamil treatises and commentaries from various theoretical strands and time periods (11th-17th centuries). The results provide information about the questions of the various theorists, their agenda, their definition of emotion, but also about change, linearity, breaks and historical marginal knowledge, and last but not least about the disappearance of emotion words. That Tamil culture did not produce any systematic thinking on emotions, other than emotions in poetics, may be surprising. "It is impossible to imagine human history without emotions. But what is known about theoretical emotion knowledge in premodern South India? This volume offers a first systematic examination of emotion knowledge as found in Tamil treatises and commentaries written from the 11th to 17th century. By following different theoretical strands, it sheds light on the questions that were raised by various emotion theorists, as well as their agenda and theorising practices. It points out changes, linearity, and disruptions in their ideas, as well as historically marginal knowledge. Perhaps surprisingly, the only systematic works on emotion produced by medieval and early modern Tamil thinkers were on emotion in poetics." --Page 4 of cover Cover Preliminaries Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1 1 What Tamil thinkers did not engage with 2 Tamil thinkers, their interest in emotions, and premodern shifts inTamil emotion knowledge 3 Problems in translating Tamil technical writings into English Chapter 2 1 The state of research on meyppāṭu 2 Meyppāṭu source readings References