Ullurai


Ullurai is a type of extended allusion or metaphor used in classical Tamil poetry.
Five types of ullurai are described in the Tolkappiyam, an early treatise on grammar and poetics. These are uṭaṉuṟai, uvamam, cuṭṭu, nakai and cirappu. The first two of these, the treatise says, were in use in the classical period. The other three had been used in earlier periods, but were no longer in use in his time. Few examples of their use survive outside texts on literary theory.
Ilampuranar, an early mediaeval commentator, describes the constituents of each of the five types of ullurai.
Ilampuranar states that the key characteristic of ullurai is it functions as a literary device which causes the reader to perceive or understand something - a person, object or feeling - that is different from what the words of the poem describe. According to Nachchinarkkiniyar, a late mediaeval commentator, elaborates further. The essence of ullurai - which distinguishes it from other types of similes - is, he says, the absence from the simile not only of express terms of comparison, but also of the thing or emotion that is the subject of the comparison. He gives the example of the phrase: "coral-like lips". In order to be ullurai, the poem must not only not use the word "like", it should make no mention of "lips" at all. If it does, the literary device it uses is not considered "ullurai", but is classified as some other type of simile.
Modern commentators are divided on the nature of the relationship between ullurai and other literary techniques described in traditional treatises on Tamil poetics. Selby treats the purpose of ullurai as being the creation of iraicchi - a sense of recognition in readers, which leads them to understand the inner meaning of the poem. Other modern commentators treat iraicchi as being a type of ullurai, usually treating it as being a synonym for, or closely related to, uṭaṉuṟai.