THIRUKKURALH

vaLLuvar condemned vedic practices (yaaga):

avichorinthu aayiram vEttalin onRan
uyir sekuththu uNNaamai nanRu.

Quite clearly, ancient tamils called it "avichEgam" Both avi and chegu (sekuththu ) can be found in the kuRaL.

avi + seku + am = avichEgam (tamil ) > abishekam (sanskrit).

As animal sacrifices came to an end or the group practising it gave it up, avichEgam (abishegam) also changed its character and reached its present connotation.

Both the root words are well preserved in kuRaL.

puuvum niirum kondu iRaivanai vazipaduvathu tamizar paNbu.

puu sei > puusai (tamil) > puja (sanskrit).

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Originally Posted by mahadevan

Idiyappam wrote: So paarpaan is one who looks after the temple. Nothing specifically to do with any of the vEdas!! Vedas have nothing whatsoever to do with the etymology of the word paarppaan, with which we are here concerned and as it is used in kuRaL.

Well said Idiyappam, infact vedas did not know temple worship at all. Worship in vedas meant having a bonfire and butchering helpless animals. People call it a great a civilization!, such barbarism is nothing but a shame on entire humanity. Fortunatley these vedics had the natives of India (Tamils) to learn some culture from.

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Bis Mala said that, Mr Mahadevan -- not me! And she got it right!

solomon wrote: Parpanarkal means Forseers, With Panchangam a part of Sruthi, they forsee Rain etc., and Guide what crop is better, whether You can undertake Travel etc., Also they see the Dharma- Aram and tell you.

solomon please consult somebody who knows astrology/astronomy, they would tell you how different Tamil panchagam is from its equivalent in other indian languages. Infact it resembles Mayan calander than anything that is north Indian. Mayan history talks about how dark skinned people from east clothed in plain white visited their land and taught them culture, astrnomy and science. Panchagam was a product of tamil genius, though sanskrit fanatics translated most of the technical terminology in it (as always). Do not say that it was used exclusively by a certain caste to such an extent that they beacame to called as fortune tellers(parpanar). Even today in TN fortune telling is not limited by any caste considerations.

Now let's deal with what Ancheneya wrote:

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I AM quoting verbatim from Mu.Varatharasanar- .......................

Marappinum Ooththu Kolalam Parpan
Pirappu Olukkam Kundrak Kedum Kural No 134.

Mu.Va: "Karra MARAI Porulai Maranthalam Mindum athanai Oothik Karruk kolla mudium; Anal Marai Oothuvanudaiya Kudipirappu, Oolukkam kunrinal kedum.

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Here, "marai Othuvaarudaiya" does not refer to the (possible ancestors of ) present group who are claiming that Varatharaasanaar had adverted to them. In fact many temples have "Othuvaars" who are of the vaLLuvar group. During Sangam period, any person paid or required to do the job was the "maRai othuvaar". Mu Vaa does not refer to any caste.

Therefore, this point raised by the writer and supported by Solo is in utter collapse!!

MaRai does not refer to any veda foreign to TN. MaRai can refer to any written or unwritten learning of TN itself.

Is the word marai related to Marabu ?

marabu is related to maruvu - maruvuthal. (to embrace or adopt what has been done before ).

maRu ( + ai (suffix) gives (1) maRai, refutation, denial.
The word ethirmaRai contains this derivative. [ ai vikuthi peRRa thoziRpeyar in grammar ].

The above maRai (n) is unrelated to the following maRai (vb)

(2) maRai [ vb] - maRaiththal (= to hide) [ thoziRpeyar ]

maRai [ vb] > maRai [ noun ] ( ithu vikuthi peRaamal pakuthiyE ninRu peyarch chollaai varukiRathu ) [ muthanilaith thoziRpeyar in grammar ] This last is the one we are considering.

Thus, maRai and marabu are not related.


thanks.

nalla villakam, Bis_mala. Intha mathiri technical grammer tamil words ellam, ippathaan konchan ketkiren. vikuthi peramal, muthanilaith thozir peyar.... super.

Thanks uththappam sir!

Now, we shall turn to another urai cited by Anchaneya:

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Namkkal Kavignar Urai:
(Paarpan Vuyarnhtha Kulathan enpathu Avan Vetham Oothuvathal antru) Vetham Oothuvathai Maranthuvittalum Kutramillai; Brahmanan Thannudaiya Olukkathil Kurainthal Avan Vuyar Kulathan enpathu Alinthu Pogum.

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KuRaL is a book that has the distinction of receiving many commentaries from numerous outstanding scholars from the days of the great PARIMELAZAGAR. Even between old commentators, you would see differences in interpretation. It is the common feature in all these interpretations that they are “enriched” by the personal beliefs, religious persuasions, individual scholarship, knowledge of other literature – tamil as well as foreign and so forth.

There are many types of commentaries and in saying so, I am not referring to traditional classifications of commentaries that Tamil scholars refer to. One type would move closely with the history of the time. Another would try its best to interpret a stanza in such a way that it can be explained and adapted to present circumstances. Yet another would merely give the meanings of words which are not in common use today, helping you to understand by yourself what the stanza means. If you are science student, you would know that are such things as APPLIED MECHANICS, WORKSHOP MATHS, PRACTICAL MATHS.

Well, in commentaries too, there are species such as : “ applied commentaries”, “practical commentaries” and so forth. Namakkal Kavingar's commentary is one such commentary which looks at kuRaL from the present standpoint. You may call it “puthu urai”. It has its merits. Much of KuRaL’s commentaries were made at a time when raja and rani were ruling. Now they are gone. Many kuRaLs written with regard to the king should be brought down to the present circumstances, reinterpreted and applied!! They have to be applied to democratic institutions even though the author lived at a time when there were no such institutions. It is not wrong and it is one way of skinning the cat, so to speak.

With due deference to Namakkal, on its surface his puthu urai appears to have read caste into kuRaL. But his strategy is to apply the present to the past. Kulam is not the exact equivalent of caste. Kulam is then a collection of family units that are affiliated to one another over a period of time with a common genetic pool. Kulam is a collection of several “kudi”s. [ note: kul > kulai (vaazaikkulai); kul > kulam. Means from the same stem ] By now, people looking after temple have become a closed collection of kudis. They are supposed to have high social distinction. This distinction is an achievement owing to good conduct over a period of long time. Ozukkam determines this distinction. To adopt kuRaL to the present day situation, Namakkal wrote such a commentary. Namakkal intends to tell us that if not for the ozukkam, paarppan has no other distinction. One who commits theft of temple funds or who lusts after women who frequent the temple loses his distinction and is no better than any other ordinary person. This practical commentary is purposefully adapted to the present social conditions as they are now and do not in any manner show vaLLuvar to be a caste supporter. If any, vaLLuvar is shown as a upholder of ozukkam for the modern times.

In my view, this kuRaL can be further expanded in its scope of application. We should say that any person charged with duties in any place of worship (be it a Hindu Temple, synagogue, church or mosque) should be a person of exemplary conduct, If he fails, he brings shame to his entire family and its affiliates. (=kulam) . Parppaan should mean koyilaip paarppavan, church paarppavan, mosque paarpavan and so on. Such an interpretation befits the rank of vaLLuvar who has been given by us to the world at large (ulaginuukE thanthu vaanpukaz konda thamiznaadu…)

Note: There is a basic difference between the words "saathi" (jathi) and kulam.

saar > saarbu , saar > saarnthavar. saar> saarbinar.
saar > (saarthi) > saathi (tamil), > jati (skrt).
The underlying theme of this derivation is : "division".

kul> kulai, kul >kulam (As pointed out above, this word is about a common stem joining various things or persons. )
The underlying theme here is "joining".

Namakkal deserves our appreciation for using the word "kulam" in his commentary instead of saathi (jati).

The last urai quoted by Ancheneya:-

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Mayilai Sivamuthu:
Parppan than katra MaraiPorulai maranthuponalum avan marupadiyum athaik Katru kolla mudium. Anal antha Parppan Nal Oolukkathil irunthu Thavari viduvane anal Mindum avan Nalla Kudip Pirappu Vudaiavanaka Evaralum Karuthap pada Mattan.
Dictionary: Oothu- Marai allathu Vetham; Pirappozhukkam-Nalla Kudumbathil Piranthathanal vundaya Nalla Olukkam .

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Mayilai Sivamuthu’ s commentary repeats the word “paarppaan” found in kuRaL but unlike Namakkal, he does not give the word “brahmaNan” to explain it or as a 'synonym' to it. Like Mu.Va, it is clear that Sivamuthu did not want to apply its present synonym as also a synonym of the word in the bygone era. As I have said in earlier post, the word BrahmaNa itself had undergone changes in meaning. In other words, what may appear to be “equal” in meaning now was not “equal” during the age of vaLLuvar. The same conclusion as for other urais apply here: that paarppan was not a name of a closed group during vaLLuvar’s era.

Let’s now deal with the meaning of Oththu: It is derived in the following way.

Othu (verb) > Oththu (noun).

The following words are formed in similar manner:

Paadu (vb) > paattu (n).
Kuudu (vb) > kuuttu (n). [ e.g., kuuttuk kudumbam ]

Some words in addition receive an “-am” suffix, as

Aadu (v) > aattu > aattam,
Naadu (vb) > naattu > naattam.

When you meet with other examples, please take note. [ grammar: vikuthi peRRO perAmalO, vallezuththu iraddiththup peyarAvathu .]

Ancheneya said that Oththu = vEtham. This word has many meanings given in any dictionary.

Meanings: 1. Othuvathu. 2. maRai. 3. vEtham. 4. iyal. 5. vithi. 6. nuul.

Thus it is not special word meaning vEtham. One cannot insist that the word referred to arya vEtham exclusively.


Othaamal oru naaLum irukkavEndAm.
Othuvathu oziyEl.

Clearly, these old sayings do not mean you must recite the vEdAs.

Othi uNarthal = padiththuth therinthukoLLuthal.


A vEtham may be an "oththu" but not every oththu is vEtham. Every time the word vEtham is mentioned, it does not necessarily mean the Arya vEtham.[/i]

Remember please that as others did, "Brahmanas" too joined and were among Buddhists and Jains.

PS.- I have assumed that Ancheneya had accurately reproduced the commentaries he cited. I have not checked them.

I shall also cover this point more elaborately - the word : "MARAI" though I have mentioned something about it in my earlier post.
There are Tamil exponents who are firm that MARAI refers to thamiz nuul.

We shall now see what a leading Tamil pulavar thought about the word maRai. Kavi Bharathithaasan sang as follows:

"Á¨È¦ÂÉô ÀÎÅÐ ¾Á¢ú¾¡ý Á¨Èáø;
Áü¨È Á¨Èáø À¢ýÅó¾ ̨Èáø!!
Өȡö þ¨Å¸ðÌî º¡ýÚ¸û ¸¡ðÊ
ÓÆì¸ï ¦ºö....."

Thus he was quite clear that when the word maRai occurs in ancient texts, it refers to maRais or nuuls (arts, philosophies and other learnings or expositions) originating in Tamil itself.


I shall now illustrate - it would be wrong to conclude that whenever the word maRai is used, it invariably refers to aRya vEtham.

maRaimozi does not mean vEtham.

n-iRaimozi mAn-thar perumai n-ilaththu
maRaipozi kAddi vidum. (kuRaL.)

¿¢¨È¦Á¡Æ¢ Á¡ó¾÷ ¦ÀÕ¨Á ¿¢ÄòÐ
Á¨È¦Á¡Æ¢ ¸¡ðÊ Å¢Îõ.