Haiku, a Japanese genre ,has now become a universal literary trend, by its deep impact in many languages.Subramania Bharati,the morning star of modern Tamil poetry, had appreciated this and had published some translations of Japanese Haiku in Tamil.Bharatidasan,had also appreciated this genre. But these great poets did not venture to follow this Haiku in Tamil.M.K.Thayumanavar whose pen-names are Amuthabarathy and Amuthon (1939), a modern poet who belongs to
He has brought four volumes of Haiku poetry in Tamil. His Haiku poems
were, first published in literary journals and later were compiled.
Pullip pookkal (1984) is the first and foremost volume of Haiku poems in Tamil.
The title’Pullip pookkal’ literally means ‘Flowers in dots’ but the genuine translation for the title is” Miniature flowers.” an apt name to denote Haikus. Amuthabarathy created an awareness about Haiku in Tamilnadu as he is the pioneer in popularizing the Japanese genre in Tamilnadu.
Amuthabarathy is a renowned artist in Tamilnadu and he is very famous for his wrapper design and drawings. For more than four decades he is known for his amazing wrapper artwork. His talents in poetry as well as in design-work helped him in attempting new techniques in poetic composition.
He attempted a fusion of Japanese Haiku and Tamil prosody. This fusion can be seen in his Haiku Anthaathi (1989).
Anthaathi is a sub-genre in Tamil poetry. In anthaathi, one hundred poems have to be composed. The last line/word/letter of the first poem will be the first line/word/letter of the second poem. Then it repeats till the hundredth poem. The last line/word/letter of the hundredth poem will be the first line/word/letter of the first poem. He composed one hundred Haikus and has attempted the anthaathi technique in the hundred Haikus. This is his invention and a gift to the Tamil poetry.
Kaatrin kaikal (Hands of the Wind) published in 1990 and Aiku aruvikal (Haiku fountains)published in 1998,and Aiku vidhaikal(Haiku seeds), published in the year 2000, are his other works in Haiku.
Apart from this he is a renowned poet in both traditional verse as well as New poetry The following volumes of his poems show his poetic genius in a fine manner.
Uthaya kaalangal (Times of Dawn)-1982
Inai thedum ithayam(A heart which is in search of a companion)-1982
Manmatha raagangal (Melodies of the cupid)-1983
Nigazhkaala megankal (Clouds of the present day)-1983
Nooru nilaa (One hundred Moons)-1999
