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puram400Tamil enthusiasts in the Washington D.C. area get together twice a month to discuss PuranaanuuRu.At these meetings I discuss each poem in great detail. This blog contains the PuRanaanuuRupoems(70 and onwards), meanings for difficult words in those poems, commentaries on those poemsand other related information as presented in those meetings. My explanations for poems 1 through69 can be seen in my blog http://puram1to69.blogspot.com

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A brief Introduction toPuranaanuuru

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Po ste d b y ;.

A brief Introduction to PuranaanuuruDr. R. Prabhakaran

Tamil Civilizat ionThere is a general consensus among the historians that the

Tamil Civilization is one of the oldest civilizations of the world. Althoughthe archeological excavations, epigraphs and numismatic evidencesfound inside and outside of Tamil Nadu point to the antiquity of TamilCivilization, historians find it difficult to reconstruct the early history ofTamil people with any degree of certainty. However, In the case ofTamil people, in addition to the artifacts, the Tamil literature providesvaluable information to partially reconstruct their history of the past twomillennia, if not earlier. Therefore, in addition to its elegance andbeauty, the ancient Tamil literature is also an important source ofinformation for Tamil history.

Ant iquity of Tamil language Like the Tamil civilization, the Tamil language is also

considered as one of the oldest languages of the world. It iscomparable in its antiquity to languages such as Chinese, Arabic,Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit. It has an independent literarytradition. It has a vast collection of rich and robust literature. In view ofits antiquity, independent tradition and the vastness of its rich androbust literature, Tamil has been considered as one of the classicallanguages of the world. For example, Dr. George L. Hart, former TamilChair at the University of California, Berkeley, makes the followingstatement regarding the classical nature of Tamil:

The quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit tostand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin,Chinese, Persian and Arabic. The subtlety and profundity of itsworks, their varied scope, and their universality qualify Tamil tostand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures ofthe world.

In spite of the fact that scholars like Dr. George L. Hart hadlong ago realized the classical nature of Tamil, for political reasons,the government of India did not recognize Tamil as a classicallanguage until October 2004.

Ant iquity of Tamil lit eratureThe oldest literary work in Tamil is known as Tholkaappiyam

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(

The other subject matter that is suitable for poetry is known aspuram. The word puram means outside. It deals with such things aswar, fame, goals of life, expression of grief over the death of warriorsby his friends and family, charity, seeking gifts from kings andchieftains, poets providing advice to kings, and other similar subjectmatters which are suitable candidates for public discussion.

Sangam Literature: The term Sangam literature refers to tenlong poems varying in length from 183 to 850 lines and eightanthologies of poems varying in length from three to forty lines. The tenlong poems are known as paththuppaattu (5/80) and the eightanthologies of short poems are called ettuththokai (805 ).The poetry contained in the Sangam literature is the collective work ofapproximately 475 poets of whom approximately 30 of them werewomen.

The ten long poems are as follows: 1) thirumurukaarruppadai (2;) 2) porunaraarruppadai () 3) sirupaaNaarruppadai () 4) perumpaaNaarruppadai () 5) mullaippaattu(;80) 6) madhuraikkaanji(/) ?) 7) nedunalvaadai (0) 8) kurunjippaattu (4?80) 9) pattinappaalai(86)10) malaipadukadaam (0)

There is a four line poem which lists the ten poems ofpaththuppaattu. The poem is as follows:;4 @0 ;4 /) ? - "A 0 4?86 50 5/.

Of these ten poems, six of them belong to the category ofpuram. They are: thirumurukaarruppadai (2;) porunaraarruppadai () sirupaaNaarruppadai () perumpaaNaarruppadai () malaipadukadaam (0)maduraikkaanji(/) ?)

The following four of the ten poems belong to the akam category. They PDFmyURL.com

are:mullaippaattu(;80)kurunjippaattu (4?80)pattinappaalai(86)nedunalvaadai (0)

However there is a difference of opinion among scholars regardingnedunalvaadai as to which category it belongs to. Some of them are ofthe opinion that it belongs to akam whereas others argue that itbelongs to puram.

The eight anthologies are as follows:narriNai ()kurunthokai (4B)aingkurunuuru ((4D)pathitruppaththu (25/)paripaadal (,)kalithokai (5)akanaanuuru (D)puranaanuuru (D)

Like in the case of pathuppaattu, there is a poem which documents theeight anthologies. It is as follows:

4B (45 25/ (4 ,B 5/ 0 525 805 .

Of these eight anthologies, narrinai, kurunthokai,aingkurunuuru, kalithokai and akanaanuuru belong to the category ofakam; in other words their subject matter is love. pathirruppaththu andpuranaanuuru are of the puram variety; that is, they deal with mattersother than love. paripaatal is a combination akam and puram.

The above information is provided to impress upon the readerthat the Tamil language is ancient and has an extraordinary collectionof elegant literature dealing with various aspects of life. Regarding theexcellence of the Sangam literature, Dr. A. K. Ramanujam states: "Intheir antiquity and in their contemporaneity, there is not much else inany Indian literature equal to these quiet and dramatic Tamil poems. Intheir values and stances, they represent a mature classical poetry:passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuancesof design, impersonality by vivid detail, and austerity of lines byrichness of implication.

For more detailed information regarding these poems, the PDFmyURL.com

reader is referred to The Golden Anthology of Ancient TamilLiterature by Balakrishna Mudaliar.

PurananuuruGeneral characterist ics of Puranaanuuru: The themes of

the poems of Puranaanuuru include kingship, war, words of wisdom,elegy (poems written expressing sorrow or lamentations for one who isdead) for the valiant warriors, poets seeking gifts from the kings andchieftains, generosity of the kings and chieftains, goals of human life,celebration of the ferocity and glory of the kings, poverty of the poets,and other subjects suitable for public discussion. The poems ofPuranaanuuru provide detailed insight into the social, political andeconomic conditions of Tamil Nadu during the Sangam period alongwith valuable historic information. In the words of Dr. George L. Hart,Puranaanuuru is extremely important to the study and understanding ofthe development of much of South Asias history, culture, religion, andlinguistics. But, beyond this, the Puranaanuuru is a great work ofliterature, accurately and profoundly reflecting the life of Tamil Nadu2,000 years ago. Its appeal is universal: it has much to say aboutliving and dying, despair, poverty, love and the changing nature ofexistence. This important piece of Tamil literature was first publishedin the form of a book in 1894 by Dr. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer, who isaffectionately known as the Tamil Thaathaa ($%5 5), meaningthe grandfather of Tamil.

Puranaanuuru is a collection of 400 poems belonging to thepuram category. Out of the 400 poems only 398 are now available.The identity of the person who compiled this anthology as well as theidentity of the king under whose patronage it was compiled continuesto be a mystery. Out of the 398 poems, 384 were composed byapproximately 157 poets; the authors of the remaining 14 poems areunknown. Out of the 157 poets 14 were women.

The kings and the poets play the major roles in most of thepoems of Puranaanuuru. In the following sections, the role of kings andthe poets will be discussed first. Subsequent to that, generalinformation that one can glean from Puranaanuuru about the Tamilsociety will be discussed. Finally, the concept of life and the goals oflife as described in Puranaanuuru will be reviewed.

KingsThe political system during the Puranaanuuru period was

absolute monarchy. Ancient Tamil Nadu consisted of three majorkingdoms, known as the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms. Eachkingdom contained within it several small kingdoms ruled by chieftains.The chieftains paid taxes and royalties to the kings in whose kingdoms

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their countries were situated. The kings also collected revenue from thelandowners and merchants. The king was the person responsible forthe protection of his country from enemies from within or outside thecountry. Wars among the Kings and wars among the chieftains were notuncommon. Puranaanuuru mentions the glory of kings who fought majorwars and achieved victories in the battlefields. The goal of a king wasto rule their countries in a just manner and protect their citizens as amother would protect her children. Although they were interested inprotecting their citizens like a mother, they did not hesitate to inflicthardship on the citizens of other countries and make them suffer likeorphans.

The kings had absolute power over their country. It isinteresting to note that the Tamil word iraivan () means aking as well as God. Also, the word kOyil means the temple as wellas the kings residence. In spite of this power, the kings wanted to bejust in their actions, easily accessible to their citizens, poets,musicians and other artists. They were very generous in giving gifts tothe poets and musicians and others who came to them asking for help.

The king played a central and vital role in the country. Toemphasize this point, the poet Mosi Keeranaar says that the life of acountry depends not on food and water but on the king and it isimportant that he realizes his vital role.

I !; J !; !5 ;, ! $4 B4) . (Puranaanuuru - 186)

Rice is not the life of the world nor is the water! The king is thelife of this world with its wide expanses! And so it is incumbentupon a king who maintains an army wielding many spears toknow of himself I am this worlds life!

The kings realized that the welfare of the country depended on theirability to be skillful and talented in the art of ruling the country. There isa poem in Puranaanuuru written by a king by the name ThondaimaanIlanthiraiyan ( B2) emphasiz ing theimportance of skillful governance by the king. The poem is as follows:

5/ 5/ )4 0 @ M A/ 0;

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5 ! I )N% : 80 $ O 55 . (Puranaanuuru 185)

When a cart that is well guarded has a driver who is skilled, itwill move through the world, with wheels and shaft joined, and itwill roll on smoothly without meeting any obstacles! But if thedriver does not know how to handle it, then every single day,he will sink the cart into dense and hostile mud and it willcreate nothing but immense, fierce suffering over and over! (G.L. Hart)

The kings felt that it was important to be loved by their citizensand being praised by poets. In turn, as long as the king was just in hisactions and ruled the country with grace and magnanimity, he wasguaranteed of the loyalty of his citizens. In fact, during the Sangamperiod, the concept of patriotism for ones country was consideredsynonymous with loyalty towards the kings. The concept of a unifiedTamil country united by Tamil language and culture was absent. Instead, a country meant Chera, Chola, Pandya kingdom or a regionruled by a chieftain within the three kingdoms. When citizens foughtvaliantly and died in the battlefields, it was out of loyalty towards theirkings and not out of patriotic spirit towards their country. This lack ofunity among the kings who ruled Tamil Nadu led to the invasion ofTamil Nadu by KaLappirars during the third century AD.

PoetsDuring the Sangam age, the poets played a critical role in the

society. Obviously they were respected for their knowledge. Somewere very poor and wrote poetry praising the kings and patrons for thesake of receiving valuable gifts. Although they praised the kings andpatrons for gifts, they maintained their self respect. For example, thepoet Perunthalai Saathanaar (BP 5) goes to apatron seeking gifts. But, the patron delays seeing him and giving himgifts. In poem 205, the poet says, Even from the three kings (Chera,Chola and Pandya) with all their wealth, we want nothing unless it isgiven with love! The poets expected the kings and patrons to receivethem with due respect, listen to their poetry and give them appropriategifts with love and affection. The gifts were supposed to be given inappreciation of their knowledge and not as mere charity to one whocomes begging.

Another example to illustrate the respect and reverenceenjoyed by the poets can be seen from the story of Mosi Keeranaar

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( ) described in poem 50 of Puranaanuuru. The poetMosi Keeranaar went to see a Chera king. When he reached the kingspalace, he was very tired and he slept in a bed that was empty. Littledid he know that it was not a bed, but it was the sacred place to keepthe kingdoms royal drum. That day, the palace servants had taken theroyal drum from its place for the sake of cleaning it to get rid of thestain from the blood that fell on it from the recent war. So, the seat ofthe drum was empty. During the Sangam period, the seat of the royaldrum was considered sacred and was not supposed to be used as abed or a place to sit. Anyone who violated the sacrosanct nature of theseat of the drum was subject to capital punishment. When the king sawthe poet Mosi keeranaar sleeping on the seat of the drum, heimmediately understood that it was the poets honest mistake. Theking picked up a hand-held fan and waved it on the body of the poetto give him fresh air and comfort, just as the palace servants would dofor the king. When the poet woke up, he realized his mistake and themagnanimous gesture of the king. This shows that the poets werehighly respected by the kings for their knowledge and wisdom.

The poets have also served as wise and trusted advisors tothe kings. The poets did not hesitate to criticize the kings when thekings were wrong or cruel in their actions. Once the king NedungkiLLi(0(M:Q) was hiding in his palace when his city was besieged byhis cousin NalangkiLLli ((M:Q). This caused immense sufferingfor the people of the city, because they could not get supplies past thearmy waiting outside the city walls. The poet KOvuur kizhaar (RM) goes to NedugkiLLi and admonishes him for his lack of bravery.The poet says the following:

O lord of powerful horse whose strength can hardly beequaled! If you live by righteousness, open your gates and say, Thecity is yours! If you live by martial courage, open them and fight! But ifyou are without righteousness, without martial courage and all you dois to hide on your own grounds within your high walls while yourmassive gates stay closed and never open, do you realize how muchcause for shame is in this!

In another instance, the Chola king NedungkKiLLi mistakes theinnocent poet ILanthathan for a spy and was going to kill him. PoetKOvur Kizhaar goes to NedungkKiLLi and convinces him andsuccessfully spares the poets life.

When the chieftain Pekan was separated from his wife Kannakiand lived with another woman, the famous poets Paranar, Kapilar, Arisilkizhaar and Perungkunruur Kizhaar condemned Pekan for his conductand refused to accept gifts from him. They insisted that the only thing

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they wanted from him was that he should be reunited with his wife andmake her happy.

The episode of the poet Perunjcithiranaar (?52)is very interesting and clearly illustrates the poets pride and self-respect. The poet was in dire poverty. His elderly mother, his wife andchild were without food and were suffering from pangs of hunger. Thepoet went to the king VeLimaan seeking gifts. When the poet arrived,unfortunately the king was about to die. The king told his youngerbrother ILaveLimaan (Q) to take care of the poet. But, theyounger brother was not capable of appreciating the poets knowledgeand insulted the poet by giving him a trivial gift. The poet refused toaccept that, left the palace and went to king Kumanan who was knownfor his philanthropy. King Kumanan gave elephants, chariots and othervaluable items as gifts to poet Perunjcithiranaar. The poet, instead ofgoing home to his wife, went to ILaveLimaan and embarrassed him bygifting him an elephant. He then went home to his wife and told her tobe very generous in giving away his new found wealth to all theirrelatives, friends and creditors without even consulting him.

Informat ion about the Tamil society during the Puranaanuuruperiod

Aryan Inf luence: Most historians consider that the Aryansmigrated from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent during the period2000BCE 500BCE. According to K. A. Nilakanta Sasthri, a notedhistorian of South India, although the initial migration was to the northernpart of India, starting somewhere about 1000 BCE the movement of theAryans into the south India and in particular to Tamil Nadu has wascomplete. Therefore, the Aryan migration into Tamil Nadu took placebefore the Sangam period. In Puranaanuuru, there are severalreferences to Brahmins (Aryans), the Vedas, Vedic culture, the epicRamayana, the Vedic gods such as Shiva (@$), Vishnu(), Balaraman (). In addition to the Vedic gods, theTamil god Murugan (;) is also mentioned. Whenever these godsare referenced, their attributes are mentioned. Although there are a fewpoems in Puranaanuuru where it is mentioned that the kings hadfollowed the Vedic tradition and participated in special prayers knownas :", there is no mention of people praying to gods for anyanticipated benefits. No religion is advocated in any of the poems ofPuranaanuuru. On the contrary there are several references to theworship of tombstones (0) of dead war heroes in order to payhomage to them. So, in spite of the knowledge of the mythology of theVedic gods, the tradition of praying to them has not been the commonpractice as it is in the modern day Tamil Nadu. So, Puranaanuuru istotally secular in nature.

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The caste system: One of the key components of the Vedicreligion is the varunasirama dharma which stipulates that people canbe classified into four categories; the Brahmins, the Kshthriyas, theVysias and the Sudhras. The Brahmins are the priestly class, theKshthrias are the ruling class, the Vysias are the business class andlastly the Sudhras belong to the working class who serve the otherthree classes of people. The Vedic system of classification is basedon birth. One belongs to the class of ones birth and it cannot bechanged. The Vedic classification also included a fifth category ofpeople who were considered to be outcastes and untouchables. Thisclass system later gave rise to hundreds of castes in the Tamil societyand thus created a graded inequality based upon peoples birth.Puranaanuuru also makes references to the four classes of people.But, there is no mention of other castes in Puranaanuuru. However, thepeople who worked in the graveyards and involved in cremation ofdead bodies were considered to be of lower in status and evenreferred to as S

I @I ; I // ; % A/ M%B ; ;A", 5 I $0 /Q , / / (4 JS T , ! ;S T / 2 10 8! QB 8! , "5I ; % AU . (Purananuru 192)

All towns are ours. Everyone is our kin. Evil and goodness donot come to usbecause they are given by others. Nor do suffering and the ending ofsuffering.Death is nothing new. We do not rejoice when living is sweet. When wesuffer, we do not say that living is miserable. Through the vision ofthose who have understood, we know that precious life makes its waylike a raft riding a powerful huge river that roars endlessly, fed by coldrains with bolts of lightning as it crashes against rocks. So, we are notawed by those who are great; much less we do not despise those whoare weak. (Translation by Mrs. Vaidehi Herbert)

It is remarkable that it was even possible for KaNiyanPuungkunranaar to come up with this type of universal outlook sometwo thousand years ago. It is interesting to note that the elitistdocument, the Declaration of Independence adopted by theContinental Congress of USA in 1776 only stated that All men areequal. It took a civil war to emancipate the blacks from slavery andgive them partial rights and pseudo equality. The acceptance thatwomen were equal to men came only in 1920 after considerablestruggle, and protest by women. So, in this context, KaNiyanPuungkunranaars declaration that All towns are ours. Everyone is ourkin. is truly amaz ing.

Literacy: As stated above, although the majority of the poetsof Puranaanuuru were men, there was also significant number offemale poets. The poets came from various walks of life. For example,the poets included kings, Brahmins, business people, dealers in goldcoins, hunters, medical practitioners, landlords, teachers, housewivesand so on. They constructed the poems of Puranaanuuru according tostrict grammatical rules enunciated in Tholkaappiyam. Therefore, thosewho wrote these poems must have had reasonably high level ofeducation and proficiency in Tamil language and grammar. Since they

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were from different walks of life and from different social status, it isclear that the educational opportunities were generally available tomen and women of all strata of the society. Also, people haveunderstood the value and importance of education. This is evident fromthe following poem by Ariyappadai Kadantha Nedunjsezhian(, B 0?S), a Pandya king.

S " : 05/

period, the poet ILango adikaL (( 6:) makes extensivereferences to a variety of dances performed by individual dancers aswell as group of dancers. Like in the case of music, the Tamil style ofdances has been influenced by other cultures and has evolved intoBharathanatyam.

Economic condit ion: Agriculture was the occupation of themajority of people. There were also other tradesmen like, blacksmiths,goldsmiths, carpenters, hunters and others who earned their livelihoodby providing goods and services to the society. The national economydepended upon the taxes from landowners and other taxes like theexcise taxes. The kings also amassed wealth from their enemieswhom they defeated. The king controlled the wealth of the nation. Hewas responsible for the production and distribution of wealth. Heprovided financial support to poets and artists. It looks like those whoowned land and those who had skills were financially well off whereasthe poets and the artists were totally dependent on the kings andchieftains and other wealthy men for their livelihood.

Marriages: Although the akam literature glorifies love andportrays marriage after courtship, in reality, the arranged marriageswere not uncommon. In fact, there are 22 poems in Puranaanuurudealing with the altercations and even wars between the suitors and thefamilies of the prospective brides. In all cases the suitors are willing topay huge amounts of dowry in order to marry the girl of their choice.But, the parents refuse to give their daughters in marriage to the suitorsunless they are known for their bravery and martial skills. So, itappears that both love marriages as well as arranged marriageswere in vogue during the Sangam period.

Roles of men and women: The female poet Ponmudiyaardescribes the role of a mother, father, young man and the king in herwell known poem (312).

B ) ; )4 B)4) ;65/) 05 4) ; B4) ;Q: ? ;)M) 5QB/ )4) .

It is my earnest duty to bear him and raise him. It is his fathers duty tomake him into a noble man. It is the duty of the blacksmith to forge hima spear. It is the duty of the king to show him how to behave rightly andthe duty of a young man is to fight indomitably with his shining sword,kill elephants, and come back home. (G.L. Hart)

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Men during Sangam period: The kings had a regular armyconsisting of cavalry, fleet of elephants, fleet of chariots and infantrysoldiers. Some of the kings also had a naval force. During times ofwar, all eligible men were conscripted to participate in the war. The menconsidered it as an honor to fight in a war on behalf of their kings. Itwas believed that a man should never turn his back on his enemies.The right thing to do was to encounter the enemies bravely and evenbe prepared to sustain fatal injuries. Being injured on the chest anddying because of such injuries was considered as the most honorablething for a man. In fact, if a man died without war injuries, his chest wascut open by a sword and then buried or cremated. In one of the poems(74), the king KaNaikkaal Irumporai mentions that even if a child isstillborn, inflicting a wound on the chest before the burial or cremationwas the practice. This might appear rather cruel and even barbaric.But, the emphasis is on bravery and courage to sustain injuries andencounter death in war.

Women during Sangam period: As mentioned previously,Puranaanuuru includes poems written by 14 poets who were women. Among the female poets, Avvaiyaar seems to have been very popular.She enjoyed the patronage of the chieftain Adhiyamaan Nedumaan Anji(2 0 ?). She had a very close relationship withAdhiyamaan who seemed to have been very fond of her. In addition tobeing a poet, she was also his confidante and emissary. On oneoccasion, a king by the name Thondaiman Ilandhiraiyan( B2) was planning to wage a war againstAdhiyamaan. Adhiyamaan sent Avvaiyaar as his emissary toThondaimaan for the purpose of persuading him not to start a war.Avvaiyaar went to Thondaimaans court. He showed his arsenal ofswords, spears and shields to her. He was very proud of his armory.Avvaiyaar said that his weapons looked new and they were shining.She also said that Adhiyamaans weapons were broken because theypierced the enemies and are always in blacksmiths shed.Thondaimaan understood that Adhiyamaan has used his weaponsoften in wars and therefore they are damaged and also Adhiyamaanand his army were well trained and experienced with their weaponry.They might use the same weapons against his army very effectively.So, he dropped the idea of waging a war against Adhiyamaan. Thisincidence shows the diplomatic, clever and subtle way in whichAvvaiyaar praised Adhiyamaan indirectly and averted the war betweenAdhiyamaan and Thondaimaan.

Although we encounter a few female poets in Puranaanuuru,the majority of the women were housewives. They were highlyrespected in the society as long as they were married. Once a woman

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became a widow, her life became miserable. This was partly due totradition and partly due to self imposed misery to lament the death oftheir husbands. It was not uncommon for widowed women to immolatethemselves by entering the funeral pyre of her husband (246). Widowre-marriage was unheard of in Tamil Nadu during Sangam period andeven now it is not common. Generally, widows shaved their heads,slept on uncomfortable bed of stones and ate nothing but unsalteddishes made out of leaves and coarse grains.

The most essential quality of women was considered to bechastity (). In the case of unmarried girls and women, chastitymeant total abstinence from sex (or not falling in love with more thanone man) and in the case of a married woman, it meant completefidelity to her husband and not entertaining the idea of an adulterousrelationship even in her mind.

Courage of men and women: It is clear from Puranaanuuruthat there were incessant wars among the Tamil kings. Taking part in awar and getting killed was considered to be a courageous act for men.Courage and valor were the hallmarks of men. When a soldier was hurton his back it was considered as a mark of cowardice and discredit tohis valiant nature and to his entire family, because it indicated that hehad turned his back to the enemy to run away. Suffering injuries on thechest and dying was considered to be an act of bravery for a soldier.

Even women had shown abundant courage and were happy tosee their sons and husbands take part in wars. There are a few poemsin Puranaanuuru which shows the extraordinary bravery of women andtheir sacrifice for the sake of war in support of their country and king.

The following poem depicts the courageous nature of asoldiers mother. When she learnt that her son died with wounds on hischest and encountered a valiant death she felt happier than when shegave birth to him.

[ )M \" ) NB ;2: QB/ 8 U U ,; ], / 25/ 5 5 \(M ,U .

When she learned that her son had fallen slaying an elephant,the old woman whose hair was as white as the feathers of a fish-eatingheron felt even more joy than the time she gave birth to him. And the

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tears that she shed then were more than the drops that hang fromsturdy bamboo trees after they had collected water from the rain. (G. L.Hart).

There is a poem by the female poet Okkuur Maasaaththiyaar()N 52) who portrays a woman who had lost her fatherand husband in a war, summons her young son and gets him ready togo to the war.

; (+& + ; O ; & > & , + 4+ ; > > &", 5 > 5 C ; , > C > 5 4+ +4+ h : > + 10 >' 6 . (Puranaanuuru 279) May her will be broken! What she has decided on is so cruelbut yet it is fitting for a woman descended from an ancient line! Herfather, the day before yesterday in battle, brought down an elephantand then fell dead on the field! Yesterday her husband drove back along rank of warriors and then was cut down in the fight! And today sheheard the sound of the war drum and she was overwhelmed withdesire! Her mind whirling, she put a spear into the hand of her only sonand she wound a white garment around his body and smeared oilupon the dry topknot of his hair and having nothing but him said Gonow! and sent him off into the battle! (G. L. Hart)

This poem may sound like an exaggeration by the poet toillustrate the womans family tradition of involvement in battles, herexemplary courage, her sacrifice and her desire to secure victory forher king. One may even be tempted to dismiss this poem as a mereimagination of the poet and the scenario described in the poem astotally unbelievable. To convince ourselves that the content of the

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above poem might not be pure imagination of the poet, all we have todo is to remind ourselves of the sacrifices made by thousands of Tamilwomen in Sri Lanka in the recent years to secure Tamil Ezham. Tens ofthousands of Tamil women of Sri Lanka sacrificed the lives of theirfathers, husbands, sons and daughters and they too were directlyengaged in the war against the Sri Lankan government to secure TamilEzham. Hopefully their sacrifices will not go in vain and Tamil Ezhamwill become a reality in the not too distant future.

Omens: Throughout the ages, the people in every societyhave had inexplicable fears about certain events and thought thatsomehow those events would cause misfortunes and tragedies in theirpersonal life or might result in adverse conditions for their country. TheTamil society of the Sangam period was no exception. They had theirown share of superstitious beliefs. The Tamils of the Sangam periodconsidered that when certain birds crossed their path it would bringthem bad luck. When a comet appeared in the sky it was believed thatit would bring bad luck to the king and may even cause the death ofthe king. When the planet Venus moves in the southern direction,seasonal rains would fail, agriculture might not be possible and the netresult would be severe drought and famine. Certain dreams werebelieved to be harbingers of tragedy.

Food: It is evident that from Puranaanuuru poems that almosteveryone ate meat and the concept of vegetarianism seems to havebeen totally absent. They ate mutton, birds, fish, pork, venison, rabbitsetc. In poem 14, the Brahmin poet Kabilar mentions that his hands wereso soft because he never had to do any hard work with his handsexcept eating meat mixed with rice. So, it appears that the practice ofvegetarianism was introduced later than Sangam period by theinfluence of Jains whose religion strongly insists upon total non-violence towards all living beings. At first, the Brahmins began to followthe vegetarian diet and some others emulated them because theBrahmins were considered as the superior class. In addition to havingnon-vegetarian diet, drinking liquor was also very popular. It appearsthat both men and women drank toddy, a popular form of liquorbrewed locally. There is also a mention of imported wine from Romeand Greece.

Concept of lif e and its goalsFilmily lif e versus Ascet ic Life: Tamil literature makes

references to two distinct life styles: the family life and the ascetic wayof life. In the family life, a man and a woman get married and havechildren. They take care of their children, their parents and lead theirlife as useful members of the society by being hospitable andgenerous to those who are in need. In this way of life, the focus was on

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living life fully and contributing to the society. Life was considered to besomething positive and to be experienced in its full measure. In theascetic way of life one tries to control his five senses and focuses hisattention on what will benefit him in his next birth and in eventuallyseeking liberation from the seemingly unending cycle of birth anddeath. In Puranaanuuru poems, the poets advocate the family life.Except in one poem (358) where the poet makes confusing statementsabout the virtue of ascetic way of life, in all other poems ofPuranaanuuru, the emphasis is on leading a family life and enjoying thepleasures of life and being generous and helpful to others.

Death and af ter lif e: The Tamil people of the Sangamperiod were well aware that life is transient, and that all living beingswould sooner or later die. There is no escaping death. They believedthat at the time of death, yama the demigod takes the life away fromthe dying person. It was customary to bury or cremate the dead body. Itwas believed that after death, the soul (life) of the individual goes tothe next world. After spending sometime in the next world the soul isbeing born again in this world. The quality of life in the next world aswell as in the next birth depended upon the good deeds done whileliving in this world. Those who do good deeds and live a righteous lifewill enjoy bliss and happiness in the next world and next life. In fact, thegood deeds done in this life are like a boat that takes one from oneshore to the other (357).

Goals of Life: The question regarding the goals of life wasaddressed by the Tamil people of the Sangam period in a mannerconsistent with the beliefs of the three religions that were prevalentduring that period with some exceptions. Although the three religions,the Vedic religion (forerunner of the later day Hinduism), Buddhism andJainism were prevalent in the Indian subcontinent during the Sangamperiod, they did not have a strong foothold in the Tamil society.According to those three religions, the basic goals of life are four fold:in Sanskrit they are called dharma, artha, kaama and moksha. In Tamilthey are called aram, poruL, inpam and veedu. Moksha or veedu meansthe salvation of the soul or the soul reaching a state of perfection andnot being born again. The idea of moksha or veedu has not beenemphasized in Puranaanuuru. There is a casual reference to veedu inonly one poem (214). The other three goals are emphasized in manypoems.

The term aram cannot be accurately translated in English. Itdenotes righteous conduct and ethical way of life. Among other things,it includes the following: love, hospitality, fame, munificence, patience,lack of jealousy, speaking kind words, non-violence, achieving fameetc. Of these qualities, hospitality, generosity and achieving fame are

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emphasized over and over again in Puranaanuuru.

Tamil society has always placed great emphasis on hospitality.In poem 333, where the poet describes the hospitality of a housewife,he says that although she has no food grains left in the house, shewould not hesitate to serve food cooked with the seeds she has savedin storage for sowing in the next season. This shows that people wouldgo to any extent of personal sacrifice to make sure that their guestsare well fed and taken care of in the proper manner. Puranaanuurupoems 380 through 400 describe how the kings welcomed thePorunans, gave them abundant food, toddy, new clothes and othervaluable gifts to eliminate their poverty. The poems dealing withhospitality are too many and it is difficult to discuss all of them in thisshort essay.

Like hospitality, generosity, philanthropy and sharing oneswealth with others are themes that one finds repeatedly mentioned inPuranaanuuru. In this connection, it is worth mentioning a remarkablepoem by the king kadaluL maayntha iLam peruvazuthi (I: B =2). In this poem he wonders how this world continuesto exist and concludes that this world exists because of good naturedmen who work hard for the welfare of others. The poem and itstranslation are given below:

1! B2 $% !U, A/5 $ I ; ;A"; /?I ;

philanthropist should be without expecting anything in return. Helpingothers and giving generous gifts were done because they were theright things to do and not for any anticipated gain either in this life orthe next life. In a poem where ParaNaar describes the philanthropicnature of Ay Andiran, he makes the following remark: )M

Puranaanuuru are hospitality, generosity, philanthropy without expectinganything in return and acquiring fame by doing good deeds.

As stated before, poruL was considered as another importantgoal of life. Just like the term aram, poruL cannot be translatedexactly in English. It is often translated in English as wealth. Althoughthis translation is by no means comprehensive to convey the meaningof the word poruL, it is sufficient for our purpose. Since family life wasrecommended as the normal way of life, gathering wealth was definitelyconsidered important. But, the question of what to do with ones wealthis remarkably handled by the famous poet Nakkeeranaar. He saysthat since both a mighty emperor as well as a hunter can only eat alimited amount of food and can wear only two pieces of clothing, it isbetter to share ones wealth with others.

/ 4 . )4, 0: 5/ I /? 0 )4 4, / S; 0 ; 5

are provided below:

, B % 5/ B2 V 6 Q 0 M%B/ (MA/ =42, (4: ! (Puranaanuuru 56)

Every day you take your pleasure as women wearing theirshining bangles bring you the cool and fragrant wine carried here intheir excellent ships by the Greek and the women pour it for you out ofpitchers made of gold that have been fashioned with high artistry.

BB2 ) B/S Q I (Puranaanuuru 161)

Your women with their fine ornaments may feel delight eachtime they embrace your broad massive chest smeared with sandalpaste and marked with the numerous signs of good fortune.

In both instances the poets go on to wish their patrons long lifeas well. These are indicative of the importance that was placed on theconjugal love for happiness in life. So, kaamam was also another goalof life for the Tamils of the Sangam period. The fact that almost 70%of the Sangam poetry deals with matters pertaining to love reiteratesthat kaamam was certainly one of the goals of life.Conclusion

From the above discussions, it is clear that the poems ofPuranaanuuru cover many different aspects of the life of Tamil peopleas it prevailed during the Sangam period. Each poem in Puranaanuurumay be considered as a short video presentation about some aspectof the Tamil society of the Sangam period. It is important to readPuranaanuuru for its poetic excellence and also for the historicalanecdotes it provides. In addition to reading for the poetic excellenceand historical anecdotes, we should also read Puranaanuuru to learnthe lessons it offers. After all, the purpose of reading history is tocorrect the mistakes of the past and continue to improve upon the bestpractices and traditions.

The kings we encounter in Puranaanuuru were courageous andexcelled in the art of war. But, unfortunately, they fought amongstthemselves for various reasons. That is, the three major kings of Tamil

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nadu and the chieftains under them were incessantly at war amongthemselves. The concept of a united Tamil land was totally absentduring that time. Neither the citizens nor the kings had the concept ofuniting themselves under one banner and establishing a strong Tamilempire. This lack of unity resulted in the successful invasion byKalapirars who ruled Tamil Nadu from 300 AD to 600 AD andsubsequently by Pallavas, Nayakkars, Maharashtras, Muslims and theBritish. Even today, we do not find unity among the Tamil people. Wedivide ourselves by political affiliations and castes. The majority ofTamil people do not seem to have concern and care for their fellowTamil people. This has been evident during the recent struggle forTamil Ezham. No matter where we are, in India, North America or in anycorner of the world, first and foremost we should consider ourselves asTamilians and develop a strong sense of unity and true love for thefellow Tamilians. When someone inflicts harm on a Tamil society weshould join together and raise our voices and fight for our fellowTamilians. It is because of this lack of unity and lack of self- respect asTamilians, the Tamil people are at the mercy of others in this world. Ifwe do not learn these valuable lessons, then reading Puranaanuuruand singing the glorious poem of Kaniyan Puungunranaar is nothingbut an exercise in futility.

BibliographyThe Golden Anthology of Tamil Literaure: R. Balakrishna Mudaliar, Thesouth India

Saiva Siddhantha Works Publishing Society, Tinnelvely Ltd.,2004

Social And Cultural History of Tamilnad (to A. D. 1630): N.Subramaniyan, Ennes

Publications, 1998A History of South India (From Prehistoric Times to the fall ofVijayanagar): K. A.

Nilakanta Sasthri, Oxford University Press 2002The four hundred songs of war and wisdom; an anthology of poemsfrom classical

Tamil; the purananuru/ translated by George L. Hart and HankHeifetz , Columbia University Press, 1999.

Poems of Love and war: A. K. Ramanujan, Columbia University Press,1985On the Unintended Influence of Jainism on the Development of Castein Post - Classical

Tamil Society: Dr. S. Palaniappan, International of Journal ofJaina Studies, Vol.4, No. 2 (2008), 1-65

http://puram1to69.blogspot.com (Blog by Dr. R. Prabhakaran) PDFmyURL.com

http://puram400.blogspot.com (Blog by Dr. R. Prabhakaran)

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