UPSC Tamil Literature - Areas to concentrate

Freshers are please noted to refer to UPSC Tamil syllabus side-by-side to make use of this blog better.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/syllabus/part-b-main-examination-syllabus-tamil

Paper-1

Section-A
Part-1
· Fully fact based, remember the names of various languages in dravidian family with a brief note on specialty of each language.
· Sangam tamil and pallava tamil- prepare clear notes showing variations of both the periods.
· Grammar- be strong on the classification of noun, verb, tense and case markers; find creative examples rather than the ones that are usually given in guides.
· Borrowed words- find words that are easy to remember and restrict examples to less than five; do not interchange examples in an attempt to furnish many examples.
· Only short notes have so far been asked in this part
Part-2
· Make thorough analysis of tolkappiam, silambu and megalai ; their core ideas, need for development of ethical literature, sangam literary works and one catchy poetry from each book of ettuthogai and pathupaatu.
· Secular sangam literature is a favourite essay question for paper-setters.
Part-3
· Find catchy and easy-to-remember and explain poetry lines of nayanmars and alwars. Andal requires special attention.
· Nayaga-nayagi baavanai is a prime area.
· Sitrilakkiya vagaigal is another scoring area in short notes. Parani and kuravanji need more focus.
·Social factors in modern Tamil literature- deal novel, short story and new poetry separately. Be thorough in two among these three. Remember names of trendsetters.
· For impact of political ideologies on modern writing, take opinions on the same lines as given by faculty and search for interesting poetry and prose examples.

Section-B
Part-1
· Literary criticism and comparative literature are possible essay questions. Prepare after full comprehension. Names of scholars who introduced certain methods of criticism are to be remembered and used.
· For literary techniques, illustrate your answer with interesting examples. If they are from parts that are not covered in syllabus of second paper (quote pugaar kandam, arathupaal, inbathupaal, new poetry, haiku, poems of bharathiyar and dasan, namakkal kavignar and kavimani), it will impress on the mind of the evaluator that the candidate has a wide grasp of subject.
Part-2
· Have extensive reading on folklore and do not miss out a question from this area. It can be very creatively dealt with; a high scoring area. Quote examples from film songs to add charm to your answer, but do not overuse them.
· Translation- uses and list of translated works are usually covered exhaustively in guides.
· Journalism timeline- start with the pioneers and end your answer with latest new magazines (like puthiyathalaimurai), remember names of trendsetters.
Part-3
· Another area not to miss out is cultural fusion by Jainism and Buddhism. How these religions influenced on Tamil society, culture and literature needs concentration.
· Pallava, chola and nayaks arts, architecture- fact based, remember names of temples and literary works of their respective periods, do not overlap examples.
· Role of mass media- write in an innovative way, give your ideas rather than going by material. This would fetch you more marks.

Paper-2

· Understand the meaning of the poetry or prose, interpret in various ways, collect similar quotes (oppeedu) of other poets and authors; spot those areas usually asked in previous years and frame answers to it.
· You need not mug up the whole vazhakkurai kaathai (silambu), but important key lines that are easy to remember at least have to be quoted. Intersperse your answer with quotes; do not overuse them.
· You must have enough idea to write about individual poetry as well as the overall chapter of poetry (e.g. whole porunmozhikaanjithurai as well as pisiraandhaiyar’s song alone).
· Identify literary techniques used in the poetry (uvamai, nayam, ethugai-monai, uruvagam, padimam, kuriyeedu, etc). It helps both in descriptive answer as well as ilakkiya nayam paarattal-type of questions.
· Read chittirappavai full text at least twice, the first time to know the story and further to know the features of every character in the novel. Same applies to gurupeedam, yarukkum vetkamillai and muthupattan kathai. Usually the clash between idealistic and realistic views of authors will be asked. Find few positive points to appreciate even the villain character of the book. Similarly, find few negative points about the main hero character of the book.

ALL THE BEST