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Art. VIII.—Extracts from the Tamil “Purra-poruḷ Veṇbā-Mālai,” and the “Purra-nānnūrru.”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
The Purra-poruḷ Veṇbā-Mālai is a very ancient work, professing to be founded upon a still older composition called “The Twelve Chapters,” by one of the twelve disciples of Agastiyar. This points to a mythic origin, but we cannot historically go further than its Tamil author, or compiler, as he would represent himself. It is quite essential for a Tamil writer who would become a classic to cite his original, or the authoritative ‘first-work’ from which he draws (or professes to draw) his materials. (See Nannul, 4–10, and Pope's 3rd Grammar, p. 142.) Where there is no such ‘first-work’ (
, Muthanūl), he or his commentators must suppose or invent one, and ascribe it to some venerable personage. The real author here is Aiyanār-Ithan, of whom nothing is known but that he is said to have been a descendant of the old Çēra kings, and the compiler of this very interesting composition. It can hardly be less than ten centuries old.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1899
References
page 225 note 1 In the commentary on the Tol-Kāppyam by Nacchinārkkiniyār, Poruḷ-athi, ix, 94 (Ci. Vai Tāmotharam Piḷḷai's edition, p. 807, Madras, 1885), reference is made to this statement.
page 226 note 1 Tiṇai. This much used Tamil word-of-all-work really signifies ‘genus,’ and is applied to the main divisions of any subject. These are divided into sections (turrai = 
). This latter is equal to ‘species,’ and is used for the subdivisions of a subject. Here, each chapter is preceded by a small summary; and every quatrain has a curious little couplet giving the pith of the quatrain. This couplet is called Koḷu (= ‘substance, contents’: from 
).
page 228 note 1 He seems to have edited a series of works for the Madura literati.
page 230 note 1 They were not infrequently artificíal, composed of gold and gems.
page 230 note 1 Cf. P.N.N., 280.
page 231 note 1 Here 
= ‘stand,’ or ‘cowshed’; = 
‘toddy from the jar,’ or ‘large-eyed’; and for 
they heard 
= ‘cow’: so she seemed to say, ‘Bring the large-eyḙd cow from the fold.’ The sybil seemed involuntarily, by the mistake of a letter (āfor ī), to urge them to the raid.
page 237 note 1 “He will cover thy head in the day of battle.”
page 237 note 2 Vēlan = spearman.
page 237 note 3 Çivan.
page 242 note 1 The whole history of the myths connected with Durgā and many kindred subjects should be studied in Muir's “ Sanskrit Texts,” vol. iv, with references to the very complete index.
page 251 note 1 Now printing at the Oxford University Press.
page 257 note 1 He had a wreath, too, of the Strychnos flower.
page 261 note 1 A kind of Euphorbīum, abundant in desolate places.
page 261 note 2 Wild elephants serve the holy ascetic.
page 261 note 3 The Tāli, a convolvulus, sacred to Çivan. (See Tiruvāçagam, xix, 36.)
263 note 1 Borassus flabelliformis.
page 263 note 2 A range of hills in the Salem district, belonging to the Çera kingdom.
page 263 note 3 Gloriosa superba.
page 263 4 The ‘heavenly’: an epithet of Çēra kings.
page 263 note 5 The Nīm, Vēmbu: Melia Azadirachta (Lin.). In Portuguese ‘Amargozeira’ and corrupted into Margosa. See my Nālaḍiyār Lex. (in loc).
page 263 note 6 An epithet of the Pāṇḍiyans = ‘shining ’?
page 263 note 7 Ātti (Bauhinia racemosa), called also Ar. It is worn by Çivan.
page 265 note 1 The Skt. word Çakti (in Tamil Çatti) is the name of Çivan's ‘energy’ (see note 8 to life of Māṇikka Vāçagar), or bride, Umai, who is also called Çati, and hence the words are often confounded.
page 266 note 1 The white water-lily yields a kind of bitter grain, which in times of mourning is eaten instead of rice.
page 267 note 1 It ia curious that the title Ko = ‘king, chief,’ belongs also to potters.