() or poems connected by virtue of content that forms a unity. Cilappatikāram, the Tamil epic is defined by Atiyarkkunallar as Iyal icai nāṭaka poruḷ toṭar nilai ceyyuḷ (), poems connected by virtue of content that unites with elements of poetry, music and drama. Such stanzas are defined as and in Tamil. In Mayilainathar's commentary (14th century CE) on the grammar Nannūl, there is the first mention of , the five great epics of Tamil literature. Each one of these epics have long cantos, like in Cilappatikāram, which has 30 referred as monologues sung by any character in the story or by an outsider as his own monologue related to the dialogues he has known or witnessed. It has 25 cantos composed in akaval meter, used in most poems in Sangam literature. The alternative for this meter is called aicirucappu (verse of teachers) associated with verse composed in learned circles. Akaval is a derived form of verb which means "to call" or "beckon". Cilappatikāram is an example of the claim that folk songs institutionalised literary culture with the best-maintained cultures root back to folk origin. Manimekalai is an epic in ahaval metre and is noted for its simple and elegant style of description of natural scenery. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi is one of the earliest works of Tamil literature in long verses called virutha pa. Five minor Tamil epics Similar to the five great epics, Tamil literary tradition classifies five more works as Ainchirukappiyangal () or five minor epics. The five lesser Tamil epics are Neelakesi, Naga kumara kaviyam, Udhyana kumara Kaviyam, Yasodhara Kaviyam and Soolamani. Historiography U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855–1942 CE) resurrected the first three epics from neglect and wanton destruction of centuries. He reprinted the literature present in the palm leaf form to paper books. Ramaswami Mudaliar, a Tamil scholar first gave him the palm leaves of Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi to study. Swaminatha Iyer faced difficulties in interpretation, missing leaves, textual errors and unfamiliar terms. He set for journeys to remote villages in search of the manuscripts. After years of toil, he published Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi in book form in 1887 CE followed by Cilappatikāram in 1892 CE and Manimekalai in 1898 CE. Along with the text, he added much commentary and explanatory notes of terms, textual variations and context. Criticism and comparison "After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism," observes Iḷaṅkō in Cilappatikāram. The postscript