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Art. XVII.—The Pre-Sanskrit Element in Ancient Tamil Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
It has been the almost invariable remark of certain scholars who have devoted their attention to the study of the old Tamil literature, that it seems, to judge from its actual state and form, to have had no commencement. Unlike the languages and literatures of other peoples, which pass through various stages of natural development before arriving at maturity, the high dialect of the Tamil has apparently sprung up into full-grown manhood from the very instant of its birth, like the fabled offsprings of rishis, without traversing the intermediate states of infancy and youth. The philologist has before him a language which, to borrow the words of an eminent lexicographer, is “in its poetic form more polished and exact than the Greek, and in both dialects, with its borrowed treasures, more copious than the Latin;” but of the origin and growth of which he seeks in vain to catch a glimpse through the veil of impenetrable darkness which hangs over it. If we go back to the earliest source of existing literature, we find it to be a grammatical one. In fact, the author of Tolkâppiyam, perhaps the oldest grammatical work extant, is alleged to have been the immediate disciple of the mythical Agastya, the reputed author of the Tamil language itself. Beyond Agastya all is obscurity.
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References
page 558 note 1 Read in part before the meeting of 28th June, 1887.
page 558 note 2 Vide the remarks of Dr. Pope in a speech delivered before the Madras. University.
page 558 note 3 DrWinslow, 's English-Tamil Dictionary, Preface, p. vii.Google Scholar
page 558 note 4 See the Tamil Bhârata of Villipttûran.
page 559 note 1 Tolkâppiyam, chap, i., with the commentary of Natchinârkiniyâr, manuscript belonging to the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris.
page 559 note 2 Vîra-çôrîyam, introductory stanza, which runs as follows: “Âyum gunat' Avalokitan pakkal Agattiyan kêt'. Eyum puvanik' iyampiya tîm Tamil…” Dr. Burnell ascribes the composition of Vîra-çôrîyam to the eleventh century, apparently from the fact that a certain Vira Cḧola flourished at that period. According to an anecdote occurring in connection with the Skanda Purâṇa (Tamil), the work was in existence in the eighth century A.D.
page 560 note 1 See DrBurnell, 's South Indian Palæography, p. 142.Google Scholar
page 560 note 2 Dr. Burnell seems to confound Çentamil with Isai (poetic) Tamil. The poetic language was no doubt derived from Çentamil, but the terms are not synonymous. Çentamil words sometimes undergo in poetry certain modifications, which are caused by the exigencies of euphony and metre. These changes are called çeyuḷ vikâram (poetic changes), and the language is then technically called Isae' Tamil. But such abnormal variations are not of the essence of Çentamil itself. Çentamil was at first the dialect of a particular district of the Tamil country.
page 561 note 1 See a copy of it in Burnell, 's South Indian Palæography, p. 140.Google Scholar
page 561 note 2 See Caldwell's Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, Introduction.
page 562 note 1 South Indian Palæography, p. 142.Google Scholar
page 562 note 2 See Ândhraçabda-chintâmaṇi, , i. 14–18Google Scholar; Manu, , x. 43–44Google Scholar; Mahâbhârata Çântiparvan, etc.
page 563 note 1 Madura Sthala Purâṇa; Irayanâr Agapporul, etc.
page 563 note 2 See Turnour, 's Mahâvanso, pp. 55–57.Google Scholar
page 563 note 3 Vistâra, Lalita; Mahâvanso, pp. 59, 67, 73.Google Scholar
page 563 note 4 Schwanbeck's Megasthenes.
page 563 note 5 The Mahâbhâshya of Patanjali, Benares edition, p. 82.Google Scholar
page 563 note 6 Tablet II. of Asoka Inscriptions, “Evam api samantesu yathâ Choda, Pânda, Satiyaputo, Ketaliputo,” etc.
page 563 note 7 Strabo, Traduction française par La Porte du Theil.
page 564 note 1 Κηροβοθρος, whose capital was Καρο
ρα. The Sanskrit termination putra, added to the Dravidian Chêra, shows that Southern India was already brought under Brahmanical influence.
page 564 note 2 L'Histoire Naturelle de Pline, par Poinsinet de Sivry, Livre vi.
page 564 note 3 Table X of Ptolemy.
page 564 note 4 Strabo, , vol. v. bk. xv.Google Scholar
page 564 note 5 DrKern, 's Translation of Brihat Sanhitâ, Journ. Eoy. Asiat. Soc. Vol. VI.Google Scholar An inscription of the Châlukya dynasty dated 490 A.D. shows the existence of the Chera, Chola and Pâṇḍiya monarchies towards the close of the fifth century. See Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. Vol. V. p. 343.Google Scholar
page 564 note 6 Beal's Travels of Fa-Hian.
page 564 note 7 Ptolemy's Table X.
page 564 note 8 Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. Vol. VI. p. 458.Google Scholar
page 564 note 9 See also Marco Polo, by Yule, Colonel, vol. ii. pp. 267–275.Google Scholar
page 564 note 10 According to Chabas, M., in the reign of Thothmes III. (seventeenth century B.C.) of Egypt, Phoenicians had commercial intercourse with India (Etudes Egyptiennes, p. 120).Google Scholar
page 565 note 1 Dr. Caldwell, Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Drâvidian Languages.
page 565 note 2 In the fourth century Fa-Hian found Brahmans and heretics in Java, and the old Kawi literature seems to contain Sanskrit words in a Drâvidianized form. See Fa-Hian, 's Travels by Beal, p 168Google Scholar, and South Indian Palæography, pp. 132–133.Google Scholar This would indicate that the old Javanese colonists were either Tamils or Telugus, and that Sanskrit influence and culture had spread through South India long before.
page 565 note 3 Asoka Inscriptions, Tablet II.
page 566 note 1 The Pali and Magadhi might have had some no very considerable influence on the Tamil. There are some words in Tamil which seem to be derived from Sanskrit through Pâli or Magadhi. Perhaps they were brought by Buddhist and Jaina missionaries.
page 566 note 2 Dr. Burnell seems to have arrived also at the conclusion that the Tamil alphabet was not derived from the Sanskrit. The process by which he infers it is somewhat different. He appears to have drawn the conclusion from the meagreness of the Tamil alphabet as compared with the fullness of that of the other Dravidian languages, which have modelled their alphabetical system on the Sanskrit. It may well be doubted whether it is an advantage to the Telugu for instance to have a theoretically complete system of alphabet, while in practice several of the letters are not used at all, or are all pronounced alike by the people.
page 567 note 1 See South Indian Palæography, p. 51.Google Scholar
page 567 note 2 Lalita Vistâra, Edition Foucaux, Annales du Musée Guimet, Adhyâya X.
page 567 note 3 The modern Tamil alphabet is, according to Dr. Burnell, an adaptation from the Grantha alphabet of the tenth century, which again is derived from the Chera alphabet of the third (see South Ind. Palæogr. p. 46).Google Scholar It seems to me, however, on a comparison of the Vatteluttu used in the Cochin Sâsana, with the Tanjore inscriptions of the tenth century, that the modern Tamil characters, allowances being made for the individual peculiarities of writers, might with more probability be said to be derived from the Vatteluttu by a natural process of development than to have been copied from the Grantha.
The-introduction of printing has effected considerable modification in Tamil characters. In a deed of the date of 1737, which belonged to my seventh paternal ancestor, Kuruli Kâvala Sénâthi Râja Mudaliyar, the characters employed seem to resemble those of the tenth century more than those of the present day. The same remark applies to all documents of the last century that I have met with in the north of Ceylon. What change, when compared with the eight centuries preceding!
page 568 note 1 See Brown's Telugu Grammar.
page 568 note 2 See Yâpparungalam and Karigue.
page 568 note 3 See Kittel's Canarese Prosody of Nâgavarma.
page 568 note 4 The hackneyed phrase in Tolkâppiyam is ‘enmanâr pulavar’ (so say the learned or poets).
page 568 note 5 I do not include maruḍpâ, which is not recognized as a separate and distinct metre by the oldest authorities. It is only a mixture of Veṇpa and Asiriam or Agaval.
page 568 note 6 See Yâpparungalam. (See Dr. Pope's Tamil Grammar, and his edition of the Kurral.)
page 568 note 7 According to Késava, in the first period of the Canarese poetry as it exists at the present day, each verse-line in its second letter bears an alliteration, this being the same for all the four lines. (See Kittel's Nâgavarma.) This alliteration is identical with the edugai of the Tamil poets. Compare also Yâpparungalam on mônai and edugai.
page 569 note 1 There were in ancient times thirteen Tamil nadu or countries, of which the one enclosed in the limits described was called Çentamil-nâdu. The other twelve Koduntamil-nâdu are the following: Tenpâṇḍi, Kuttam, Kuḍam, Kalkâ, Vêṇ, Pûḷi, Panri, Aruvâ, Aruvâvadatalai, Cîdam, Malâdu and Punnâḍu. (See Beschi's Çatur-Agarâdi.)
page 570 note 1 See Tolkâppiyam, chap. i.
page 570 note 2 Among the ancient Tamils dramatic representation was always accompanied by dance. The verses were first employed in a declamatory form, and immediately afterwards were sung in a chorus by the whole band of musicians, and the actor, who went round the stage dancing.
page 571 note 1 See South Indian Palæography, pp. 140, 142.Google Scholar If the Çentamil had been an artificial style, it is difficult to conceive how Çentmnil words and forms could have been employed in Sâsanas. which are generally written in the plainest language possible.
page 572 note 1 By Agastya I do not of course mean the mythological personage who drank the ocean, and who is supposed by ignorant people to be still living in the Podiya mountain. I only speak of the historical predecessor of Tolkâppiyam, and the author of the grammatical treatise called Agattiyam, quotations from which are cited in old grammars. It has been the fate of all eminent men in India at all times to have their whole history overclouded by and lost in a host of absurd legends. The childish stories current of the great Panini, of his distinguished successor Patanjali, and indeed of all celebrated men of antiquity, are familiar to students of old Indian literature.
page 573 note 1 The theory of Dr. Caldwell that Jainism must have existed as an undeveloped esoteric faith in the eighth century, and as some considerable portion of the early Tamil literature which we possess is Jaina, the oldest Tamil work could not have been older than the eighth century, is no longer tenable at the present day. Such a hypothesis was no doubt in accord with what little was known of the Jaina sects at the time when the “Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages” was first written. Asoka inscriptions now clearly prove the existence of the Nirgrantha Jains in the third century B.C. Varaha-Mihira in the fifth century A.D. gives even the form and appearance of Jain idols (DrKern, 's Brihat-Sanhitâ, chap. 58, 45).Google Scholar Hiwen Thsang testifies that during his visit to India the Nirgranthas were more numerous in the South than elsewhere (see Voyages des Pelerins Bouddhists, par Stan. Julien, vol. vi. p. 119).Google Scholar See also Colonel Yule, 's “Marco Polo,” vol. li. p. 271Google Scholar, for an able discussion of the age of Sundara Pâṇḍiyan, in which the Colonel assigns that king to the eleventh century, and not to the fourteenth, as does Dr. Caldwell.
page 574 note 1 My materials relating to the subject of Poruḷ are drawn chiefly from Irayanar Agap'poruḷ and Nambi Agap'poruḷ, two works of classical authority. A manuscript copy of the former of these works I have been able to consult at the Bibliothèque Nationale by the kindness of M. Feer, and a copy of the latter belonging to the British Museum has been kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Bendall. According to Dr. Burnell, Nambi, the author of the Agap'poruḷ, probably lived before the eleventh century (South Indian Palaeography, 127, 2).
page 574 note 2 According to Irayanâr, Agap'poruḷ Purap'poruḷ Pannirupadalam is the name of an older work on the subject. I am not aware if copies of it exist at the present day. It is said to have been a production of the first Çangam of Madura, a literary body founded under the auspices of the old Pâṇḍiyas, and held in the same high esteem throughout all Tamil countries as is accorded in France to the distinguished and learned assembly called the Académie Française. There were three of these Çangams at different periods of the Pâṇḍiyan rule, and Agattiyan (or Agastya) is said to have been a member of the first Academy of Madura, which is alleged to have continued to exist during the reigns of 81 Pâṇḍiyas. No literary production was supposed to be of any merit unless it had first received the approbation of the Çangam.
page 575 note 1 Wearing long hair was an ancient Drâvidian custom, and warriors are described as wearing flowers on their kondai (knot of hair) after their victories over the enemy. The Singhalese, among whom the custom is in vogue at the present day, have evidently copied it from their neighbours, with many other customs, habits, and even elements of civilization. It was certainly not a Brahmanic custom, and could not be said to have been imported from Magadha. The imitation seems to have taken place very early, for Agathomerus, a Greek geographer of the third century A.D., describes the Singhalese as cherishing their hair like women. The Singhalese word itself kondai, signifying a knot of hair, is manifestly borrowed from the Tamil.
page 576 note 1 I venture to think that Dionysus, said by Megasthenes to have been worshipped by the inhabitants of the mountains, was not Çivâ, as is generally supposed, hut Skanda, and that Hercules, worshipped by the people of the plains, was not Vishnu, but Indra. This seems to result from the fact that the first northern colonists to the south identified the god of the Drâvidian mountaineers with Skanda, and the god of the agricultural tribes with Indra, designations which they must have given in conformity with the usage of the north.
page 576 note 2 The ancestors of parraiyar (Pariahs) of the present day, the beaters of parse (drum), which is still their occupation in remote country villages, were originally the slaves of the Veḷḷâḷar, and their chief occupation from the remotest time seems to have been beating the drum. In patriarchal and martial times they beat the war-drums of the agricultural tribes, and at the present day they discharge the same functions more peaceably on certain festive and other occasions.
page 577 note 1 Ki
a=paṇḍu = old. The word ki avan seems to contain a vast lore of ancient history in itself. Thus in Centamil, ki avan ‘an old man,’ comes gradually to signify ‘a chief,’ perhaps with the evolution of society from a nomadic to a settled state. Then it comes to mean ‘a proprietor,’ implying appropriation of land by the lords of the tribes. The word pûṇḍiyan, anciently the synonym of ki avan, had advanced in parallel lines with the latter until it came to signify ‘a chief,’ and then has become fixed by becoming the designation of a particular dynasty of kings. The word ki avan, less fortunate than its rival pâṇḍiyan, came latterly to signify a mere village chief (see Periya Purâna). In its third stage, meaning ‘a proprietor,’ ki avan has found a synonym in Uḍaiyân (lit. ‘proprietor’), a term which still continues to designate ‘a village head man’ among the Tamils. The latter word (Uḍaiyân) has itself been luckier than ki avan, for after the fall of the Pâṇḍiya dynasty a succession of Uḍaiyâr reigned for a time at Madura.
page 578 note 1 It is curious that the worship of Skanda, so far as we now know, seems to have preceded other forms of Çivaism in the South. Even in the Vedas the name of Skanda appears to have been more ancient than that of Siva. See Chándogya Upanishad, Prapâthaka 8, Khanda 1: “They call Sanatkumâra Skanda, yea Skanda they call him.”
page 578 note 2 The peacock, represented as the vehicle of Skanda, was perhaps of Drâvidian origin, and was not improbably first in usage among the mountaineers of Southern India. The god and the vehicle both seem to have belonged to the mountain tribes in a peculiar manner, and were perhaps first associated together by them. Varaha-Mihira in the fifth century represents Skanda as mounted on a peacock (see Brihat Sanhitâ, chap. 58). The idols of Çiva and Skanda are also mentioned in Patanjali, who lived in the second century B.C. See Weber, , Ind. Stud. siii. p. 344.Google Scholar
page 578 note 3 The worship of Krishna seems to have been very ancient in India. His oldest Drâvidian counterpart was probably a local deity, perhaps Karuppan (the dark one), who is even now worshipped among low castes. (See an interesting discussion on Christianity and Krishnaism by Weber, , Ind. Stud. vol. i. p. 400, 168Google Scholar, and a masterly refutation of it by Barth, , The Religions of India, pp. 218–223.Google Scholar Also see Williams, Monier, Indian Wisdom, p. 153.)Google Scholar From the occurrence of the name of Krishna in connection with pastoral tribes, even among the Drâvidians, we are led to infer that he was considered as patron of the pastoral tribes in Northern India, and was so identified by the colonists from the north. The omission of his name in the Vedas was perhaps owing to the fact that he was not an Aryan god in the earliest times, and was only worshipped by the surrounding aborigines in the North. The name of Krishṇa occurs however as early as the time of Pânini, fourth century B.C. (Pânini, , iv. 3, 87).Google Scholar
page 580 note 1 See Ptolemy, Table X.
page 580 note 2 See Viramandulavan-Nigandu, Makkal-pêrt’ togudi.
page 580 note 3 According to Ptolemy the river 〈Χαβηρος (Kâvêri) flowed through the land of the Σωραι (Sôrai), and Αρκατον (Arcot) was their capital. They had an emporium called 〈Χαβηρις at the mouth of the Kâvêri river.
page 581 note 1 This is borne out by the fact that no express mention is made of any caste. No allusion is made to Brahmans, Kshattriyas, Vaisyas, or Sudras. The only distinction is between the high (Uyarntôr) and the low (Iintôr). So there were only patricians and plebeians, lords and slaves, as we find in all primitive communities, and no caste.
page 581 note 2 Papers on Mirasi Rights, Ellis. Also Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. Vol. I. p. 296.Google Scholar Tondaimandalam is said to have been colonized by Veḷḷâḷar, among whom the land was divided in Kâniyâḍchi (absolute ownership), with eighteen Kuḍi-makkaḷ as their servants.
page 582 note 1 The Singhalese, who had borrowed most of their social and political institutions, laws, arts, and sciences from the Tamils, have adopted the distinction of caste also on the same model as the Tamils. A Their castes too have nothing in common with the fourfold division of the Âryans of Northern India. Even the word Veḷḷâḷa, which designates the highest caste among them, is undoubtedly no other than the Tamil Veḷḷâḷar. They are equally indebted to the same source for the word mudaliyâr, much prized among them as a title of honour.