Written by London swaminathan

Research Article No.1549; dated 5th January 2015.

Sangam Tamil litearture has 18 books and one of them is Mullaippattu. It has one finite verb in the whole poem.

Nedunal vadai,one of the Ten Long Poems, has got one subject proper that too in the last line –181st line.

Kalingathu Parani is one of the famous books in the Parani (Barani) genre. if someone has to be the hero of a Parani poem, he must have killed at least one thousand elephants. The hero of the poem Kalingathu Parani is Karunakara Tondaiman. He led an army against Anantavarman, the King of Kalinga. It happened during the reign of Kulottunga Chola (1070-1120 CE). Jayamkondar was the court poet who composed this Kalingathu Parani.

Pallu is another type of composition in Tamil.  It describes the life of farmers and the status of agricultural community. Mukkudal Pallu is the most famous Pallu litearature. No one knows the name of the author. it was written in the later part of 17th century. The town Mukkudal is in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. the poet lists thirty varieties of paddy, twenty five kinds of bulls and 25 varieties of fish.

Tamil is a ‘faceless’ and a ‘heartless’ language. Tamil hasn’t got any word for heart or face in its vocabulary. The words that are  used for face and heart (muham and irudhayam) are of Sanskrit language (Mukam, Hruthaya).

Lord Shiva was not mentioned by the word ‘Shiva’ anywhere in ancient Tamil books. Only devotional books of post Sangam literature use the word ‘Shiva’. But references like ‘ the one with blue throat’, the one with Bull flag, ‘the one who burnt the three forts’ are abound in ancient Tamil books.

Tamils consider ‘Tirukkural’ as their greatest book. It consists of 1330 couplets giving moral advice to everyone. The beauty of the book is anyone can follow it irrespective of one’s faith. If anyone wants to understand the meaning of the saying ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ one must read this book. This is the Tamil book that is translated in more number of languages than any other Tamil work.

The strange thing about Tirukural is that the early Christian scholars who translated it into European languages refused to translate the third chapter because it talks about sex. Sex was a taboo for European scholars but not for Indians. Indians praise Vatsyayana, who wrote the oldest book on sex ‘Kama Sutra ‘ in Sanskrit, as a Rishi (sage).

Oldest Tamil inscriptions exist from third century BC and there are more than 80,000 inscriptions are in Tamil. A lot of research is awaited in to these historical treasure.

An epigraph with musical notes is in Arachalur near Erode in Tamilnadu. It is dated to 2nd century AD. Vannakkan Thevan Sathan is the author of this piece. Whatever way you read it, it will be same. The matter found in the epigraph is used in dance and music.

Tamils were the first to use white colour wigs in the court of justice. British judges and barristers follow this custom even today. Young Karikal Cholzan, the most famous Tamil king, wore this wig to satisfy two old men. The king did it to pretend like an old judge. Cankam poem :Porunar Atruppadai lines 187-188; also in Manimekalai and Pazamozi refer to this anecdote.

Tamil race is very old. The poet Kapila who lived around first century AD mentions in his poem that one of the Tamil kings is 49th king in his dynasty. It takes his ancestors to 1000 or 1500 BC. Irunkovel  is the king and this reference is found in poem 201 of Pura Nanuru.

Lord Shiva’s Poems!

Lord Shiva is considered  the first one to preside over the first Tamil Academy called ‘Sangam’. His poem is still there in one of the books. Kurunthokai poem No 1 (by Iraiyanar).

Lord Shiva was the first one to give a recommendation letter to a Tamil poet known as Bana Bhadran who went to see a king called Seraman Perumal Nayanar for funds. This poem is still available in Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam (Mathi mali purisai mada kudal——)

Proof Reader Skanda

Lord Skanda (Murugan) worked as a proof reader for Kachiappa Sivacharyar who translated Skanda Purana from Sanskrit. He got the first poem from Lord Murugan himself. He composed 10,342 poems during a long period. Every night he used to put the poems he wrote for the day at the temple near the god. When he came the next day poems were corrected and kept ready at the same place. When he was ready to launch the book, scholars objected to the very first poem saying it was not according to the grammar book Tolkappiyam.

He was very upset and went home saying that he would come back the next day with proof. That night Lord Muruga appeared in his dream and told him not to worry and someone came next day to the assembly of poets and showed a proof from another Tamil grammar book called Veerasoziyam.

20,000 Proverbs !

Tamil is so rich that 20,000 proverbs are listed in three books. The foreigners who came to preach Christianity compiled all of them and translated them in to English. One may not see that many proverbs in any other language in the world. Rev P .Percival published 6156 proverbs and Danish Missionary John Lazarus and Rev. Herman Jensen 9417 and 3644 proverbs respectively.

There is a Tamil book  called ,’Paza Mozi’ with 400 ethical poems each ending with one proverb. No where in the world we can find such a book.

One of the great four Saivaite poets known as Appar alias Thirunavukkarasar sang one pathikam (10 poems)  on Shiva with proverbs.

22,000 Devotional Poems !

22000 devotional poems were written, thousand years ago by a number of Saivaite  and 12 Vaishnavaite (Azvars) devotees.

Lord Shiva’s play ground was the famous city Madurai which has the architectural wonder of the world -Meenakshi Temple. Shiva’s 64 divine acts were listed in the book called ‘Thiruvilayadal Puranam.’ It was translated in to Sanskrit by a poet under the title ‘Siva Leelarnavam’.

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