Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,093

Date uploaded in London –  16 October 2025

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 Oldest Tamil Historian Mamular

Part Twenty Two

129.

பிராயோபவேசம் ,வடக்கிருத்தல், யாழ்முறிநாதர்,, மாமூலனார், கதவில் பல் சின்னம் , யாழை முறித்த பாணன், மூல நட்சத்திரம்

Mamular (mahaa moolar) is the oldest Tamil Historian. He is the only poet who sang about Nandas and Mauryas of fifth and fourth centuries BCE.

Though another great Brahmin poet Paranar from Kerala region mentioned about eighty historical anecdotes, the highest number, he was junior to Mamular.

Mahaa moola must have been born on Moola star/nakshatra day like another great Tamil poet Tiru Moolar. He was from Kashmir who gave us 3000 Tamil verses on Yoga etc lived 1000 years after the great Sangam poet Maamoolar.

Sangam Tamil poets Paranar, Mamular and many others give us the history of Tamil Land, what is now called Tamil Nadu in India.

Maamoolar (hereafterwards MM) gives some interesting details about golden treasure of Nandas as well. MM contributed at least 27 verses in Akananuru (naanooru=400).

His name is a Sanskrit name like Paranar and Kapilar. Lord Shiva in the famous Kanchipuram temple is also called Maamoolar. There they attribute the name to the mango tree (Maa Maram in Tamil).

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130

MM gives us following details about Kings:

a) Pulli of Venkatam Hills (the Balaji or Venkata Achala Pathi temple at Venkata Hills is the richest temple in the world and that was the northern border of Tamil speaking world in ancient times.)

b) Nannan of Ezil Hills.

c) Badaga/ Vaduka chief Katti is one of them. Vaduka now stands for Telugu speaking people (B=V are interchangeable through out India from Sangam days (Rig Vedic saBhaa was changed as aVai in Sangam poems)

d) Other names in his poems: Kannan Ezini, Paanan and Anji)

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131

Important note about Great Choza emperor Karikaalan

One of the greatest Tamil emperors is Karaikaal Chozan. He went up to the Himalaya and engraved his Tiger emblem there. He defeated another great king of Chera/ Kerala country named Nedun Cheralaathan. Chera king died by fast unto death called Praayopavesa.

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132

Fast unto death

Hindus , when they wanted to die, sit facing Holy North and starve themselves to death. This is seen in Valmiki Ramayana, Bhagavata etc and they called it Praayopavesa.

Parikshit is described to have observed the prayopavesa when the Bhagavata Purana was narrated to him by the sage Shuka, son of Vyasa.

In 1982, Acharya Vinoba Bhave (spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi) died by prayopavesa.

On 11 January 1997 Swami Nirmalananda subjected himself to prayopavesa.

In October 2001, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami subjected himself to prayopavesa. Subramuniyaswami was diagnosed to be suffering from terminal intestinal cancer. He later died on the 32nd day of his fast on November 12.

Kopperun choza also starved to death; his friends including great Tamil poet Pisir Aaanthaiyaar joined him.

Sanskrit dictionary

[«previous (P) next»] — Prayopavesha in Sanskrit glossary

Prāyopaveśa (प्रायोपवेश).—sitting down and abstaining from food and thus preparing oneself for death, fasting oneself to death; मया प्रायोपवेशनं कृतं विद्धि (mayā prāyopaveśanaṃ kṛtaṃ viddhi) Pañcatantra (Bombay) 4; प्रायोपवेशनमति- र्नृपतिर्बभूव (prāyopaveśanamati- rnṛpatirbabhūva) R.8.94; प्रायोपवेशसदृशं व्रतमास्थितस्य (prāyopaveśasadṛśaṃ vratamāsthitasya) Ve.3.1.

Derivable forms: prāyopaveśaḥ (प्रायोपवेशः).

Prāyopaveśa is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms prāya and upaveśa (उपवेश). See also (synonyms): prāyopagamana, prāyopaveśana, prāyopaveśanikā.

(Above is from wisdomlib.org)

Pancha Pandavas along with Draupadi walked up the Himalayas in the holy north and died.

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133

Chera’s sea expedition

MM also sang about Cheralathan’s sea expedition where he cut the Kadampa tree (Totem symbol) of his enemy in the middle of the sea. He also won several countries in the north and brought the treasure to his town Manththai

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134.

Tooth Relic

We read lot about Buddha’s Tooth Relic which is holy. But here in MM’s poems we read about enemy’s teeth embedded on the door of the victorious one. Ezini was defeated by Maththi. Chera won Maththi and brought his teeth buried them on the door.

(Z= special L of Tamil language)

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135

Controversial Information

MM said that Uthiyan Cheral, a Chera/Kerala king, fed the Mahabharata warriors. If we believe that literally that Chera should have lived in about 3100 BCE! which is impossible.

The word used in MM poem is Perum Soru meaning great food. It is actually a great feast to commemorate the dead people. That is food in memory of the war heroes. Bhagavad Gita, Sangam book Purananuru and books from Non Hindu religions say that war heroes reach heaven. They have Visa free direct flight to heaven! So, they are remembered, and feast is organised.

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136

Lyre Broken in Disappointment

Another interesting detail added by MM is a singer breaking his Yaaz (Veena/ lyre) when Evvy died in the battle field. This may be compared to another incident that happened 1400 years ago in Dharmapuram. That was the birth place of great musician named Thiru Neelakanta Yaazpaanar. He was a great Yaaz/ Lyre instrumentalist. He accompanied the Boy Saint Tiru Gnana Sambandar with his wife Mathanka Choolaamani. When he became very proud of his skill, Lord Shiva wanted to teach him a lesson. When Sambandar came to his town he could not cope up with Sambandar’s singing. When he was about to break his lyre, Shiva himself played on his instrument and so even today Shiva appears in a rare form here. He holds a lyre in his hand in this temple. Musicians also break their instruments when they get disappointed. That was reported to us by MM two thousand years ago.

Now let us go into details of Nadas and Mauryas.

To be continued………………

 Tags -பிராயோபவேசம் வடக்கிருத்தல் யாழ்முறிநாதர், மாமூலனார், கதவில் பல் சின்னம் , யாழை முறித்த பாணன், மூல நட்சத்திரம், Ancient Tamil Encyclopaedia- Part 2, One Thousand Interesting Facts! -Part 22, Oldest Tamil Historian Mamular