Sources & notes
- Project Madurai (projectmadurai.org): free Unicode HTML and PDF e-texts. Links use its file pattern pm_etexts/pdf/pmNNNN.pdf and pm_etexts/utf8/pmuniNNNN.html. Where a work is split across several Project Madurai numbers, the first is linked and all are listed in the "Project Madurai no(s)." column. English translations and modern studies were not counted as text sources.
- Thiruvasagam parts link to Project Madurai no. 3 (the full Thiruvasagam); Nayanar puranams link to the Periya Puranam volumes.
- "Search Tamil Wikisource" opens a Wikisource search for the title; it is a search link, not a confirmed copy.
- Column U: Tamil commentary editions in Project Madurai (old urai such as Parimelazhagar or Nachinarkiniyar, and modern vilakkavurai). The link opens the PDF of the first edition listed; the Unicode text is at pm_etexts/utf8/pmuniNNNN.html with the same number.
- Columns V–W: commentary editions found in the Internet Archive (archive.org), mostly scans from the Tamil Digital Library / Tamil Virtual Academy (identifiers starting tdl. or with TVA_BOK), Koviloor Andavar library (acc.no., kmm-, vtn-) and other Tamil libraries. Each link opens the item page, which offers the PDF and the full OCR text (choose "PDF" or "FULL TEXT" under Download options). The label gives the kind of commentary (உரை, விளக்கவுரை, தெளிவுரை, பொழிப்புரை, பதவுரை, குறிப்புரை, வியாக்கியானம்), the commentator or editor when the catalogue names one, and the year.
- These matches were found automatically by searching archive.org titles for each Tamil title (searched 31 Oct 2026) and checked only lightly. A few may be a different work with a similar name, or a commentary on only part of the work; open the item to confirm. Column AB searches archive.org for further உரை editions of the title.
- Column X: a Tamil text edition of the work on archive.org (title match, not checked by hand).
- Columns Y–AA: English translations. Y = Project Madurai English editions (PDF link). Z = free scans on archive.org. AA = published translations with no free copy found, given as a book reference; for the Sangam works it also links Vaidehi Herbert's free online English translations of all eighteen Sangam books.
- Most works after the Sangam, didactic, epic and main bhakti canons have no published English translation; for those rows the English columns are empty.
- M. Govindasamy, தமிழ் இலக்கிய வரலாறு (இலக்கியத் தோற்றம்), Annamalai University, 2nd ed. 1969 — read from the Internet Archive OCR text (archive.org/details/dli.jZY9lup2kZl6TuXGlZQdjZIel0My).
- Tamil Wikipedia: தமிழ் இலக்கியப் பட்டியல்; தமிழில் சிற்றிலக்கியங்கள்.
- Project Madurai: list of works (pmworks.html), read 31 Oct 2026.
- English Wikipedia: Tamil literature; Tamil Jain; Umaru Pulavar. Indianetzone: Tamil Islamic Literature. TNPSC Group 4 study notes on Sangam literature.
- Rows marked "Standard histories of Tamil literature" come from general knowledge of the standard histories and should be checked against a printed source.
- tamil.wiki century lists (10th–18th centuries), compiled from M. Arunachalam's multi-volume Tamil Ilakkiya Varalaru: works not already in the list were added (read 31 Oct 2026).
- Dates marked "c." are scholarly estimates and many are disputed. Verse counts vary between editions.
- Level shows whether a row is a whole work or a section of a larger work (Thiruvasagam parts, Nayanar puranams, notable Thevaram patikams, Divya Prabandham parts).
- Status is "Lost" when only the name survives, "Fragmentary / partial" when only parts survive.
- Names taken from the Govindasamy OCR text may have small spelling errors.
- Transliterations and author names marked with * were generated automatically from the Tamil and follow a simple scheme; the Tamil title is the authoritative form.
- Rows from the tamil.wiki century lists follow M. Arunachalam's century placement, which sometimes differs from other histories. Their category and tradition were assigned from the title and author and should be treated as a first classification.
- Thalapuranams, sathakams and pillaitamil number in the hundreds; this list includes those named in the sources above, not every manuscript.
- Included: all works in its sections on the three Sangams, Ettuthokai, Pathupattu, Pathinenkilkanakku, other Sangam-era and later works, neethi works, epics, the 12 Thirumurai (including all 40 works of the 11th and the 9th Thirumurai authors), Divya Prabandham, the 14 Siddhanta sastras, Pandara sastras, Ula, Parani, Kambar and Avvaiyar works, puranams, grammars, nigandus and dictionaries, and its Islamic literature list up to the 19th century and undated works.
- Left out on purpose: the Meivazhi works (20th century), 20th- and 21st-century Islamic works, modern encyclopaedias (Abithana Chinthamani and later), the English-language grammar, and Kriya's modern dictionary.
- Where Tamil Wikipedia lists a work without a date, the row says "date uncertain (listed undated by Tamil Wikipedia)" and is placed in the 18th-century period as a placeholder.
Data file
All data lives in data/works.json (UTF-8). Each work has its metadata plus project_madurai, tamil_text_archive, commentaries and english blocks. Edit that file to correct or add works; the site reads it on every request.