Annanmar Kathai (Ponnar–Shankar)Kongu Tamil
The ballad of Ponnar and Shankar, twin brothers of a Kongu farming lineage, their sister Thangal, their cattle, their feuds and their deaths. It is the region's own epic — territorial, agrarian and specific, naming villages a listener can walk to.
Sung at: Eighteen consecutive nights, before the twin brothers' temples. Sung as villuppattu with a bow, a pot drum and a chorus, and performed as a vow rather than as entertainment. Attendance at the full cycle is an obligation for households under a family vow.
Thottil pattuTamil
Lullabies and blessing songs sung by women when a child is first put in the cradle.
Sung at: Cradle ceremonies and naming.
OppariTamil
Sung lament, improvised at the body by women of the household and by specialist mourners, listing the dead person's deeds and reproaching them for leaving. The form is improvised within a fixed metre.
Sung at: Death.
Kummi pattuTamil
Women's clapping-circle songs about work, marriage and in-laws, sung without instruments.
Sung at: Pongal, Aadi, weddings.
Ercha pattu and vandi pattuKongu Tamil
Work songs timed to the lift of a water bag from a well and to the pace of a cart on a long haul. Both genres died with the technologies they were timed to.
Sung at: At the well and on the bullock cart.
Kangayam maadu pattuKongu Tamil
Songs in praise of a named bull — its lineage, its horns, its temper — sung by the household that reared it. Cattle here are individually named and their pedigrees remembered.
Sung at: Pongal and cattle festivals.
Mariamman thalattuTamil
Lullaby-form songs addressed to the goddess of pox and heat, asking her to cool down, sung through the nights of the festival while the temple is kept wet.
Sung at: Village goddess festivals in the hot months.