Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,983

Date uploaded in London – 15 July 2026

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

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Small Shrimps attack Big Tamil Ships! Purananuru wonders-41, Tamil Encyclopedia-81, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 81

item 634

Flower wonders

Tamil poets are great in describing nature; they enjoy looking at flowers and make others also enjoy them; their imagination is fluttering sky high; here are some example ,

 Lotus is a water flower and their leaves are large; a poet saw them on a windy day and says “ the wind blows and causes those leaves to wave like the ears of the elephant”—Akam 186. If you have watched the ears of elephant you will enjoy this simile.

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Item 635

There is a beautiful pen picture in Narrinai 300,

The wind bends the ampal flowers and makes them stretch towards the adjacent lotus flower when they look like the maids of a royal princes bowing before her and with raised hands begging her pardon when she gets angry with them.

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Item 636

Another description is about a crane catching fish; the poet says in Akam 276,

The crane walks cunningly and silently to catch the valai fish like a thief entering with great care into a house under watch and ward.

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Item 637

We are always interested in the life of great or famous people. If I write what that person does from morning till night, no reader will skip that item. But if I write about a pig, will you read? But a poets make us read it because he wrote it 2000 years ago! A poet gives us a complete description of a wild pig in Akam 178,

The wild pig drinks water of a rocky pool, eats the sempu roots, comes down on a rock that appears like a sleeping she-elephant, treads on brushing on its way the bunches of the kutalam flowers and has its back smeared with their pollen so as to look like a touchstone with dust of gold, eats the tinai ears and sleeps there in a happy mood!

The poet must have watched from a hiding place, because the boars are very aggressive and violent!

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Item 638

Shrimps attack marine vessels

A group of shrimp fish is said to attack the vessel sailing in the sea according to Akam 152!

lord of Pāram
town with winning victorious spears, who
crushed in battle Pindan with might and great
enmity, like how schools of small white
shrimp attacked and shattered ships that
bring wealth to the wide port in Kānalam

—(translation by Vaidehi Herbert;thanks)

One may wonder whether shrimps can attack a big boat or a ship. If any such doubt arises in your mind here is the answer:

Yes, certain species of shrimp can technically attack or damage boats, but they do so defensively or accidentally rather than maliciously. While a shrimp will not sink a boat or harm passengers, specialized species can disrupt vessel equipment or crack glass.

• Mantis Shrimp: These aggressive crustaceans are famous for punching with the force of a 0.22-caliber bullet. Their strikes create cavitation bubbles that generate intense heat and shockwaves, which are known to chip or shatter the glass of thick aquarium tanks. If a mantis shrimp is cornered or strikes the hull of a boat in shallow water, a large individual could potentially crack a thin fiberglass hull or a boat’s glass viewing port.

• Pistol (Snapping) Shrimp: These tiny predators have an oversized claw that snaps shut so fast it creates a literal sonic boom and a flash of light. While they do not physically damage a boat, they snap their claws in massive numbers around the world, creating a “snap, crackle, and pop” sound that can completely interfere with a boat’s sonar systems. During World War II, the U.S. Navy had to study them because their noise frequently hid enemy submarines from ship sonar.
•  

While they don’t attack physically, certain invasive species like the “Killer Shrimp” (Dikerogammarus villosus) can cling to the hulls of kayaks, canoes, and boats. Because they can survive for days out of water in damp conditions, boats inadvertently help transport these highly aggressive predators across waterways, forcing boaters to follow strict “Check, Clean, Dry” biosecurity measures.

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Item 639

About peacock/ hair of women

Akanānūru 152, Paranar, Kurinji Thinai – What the hero said to his heart

She is returning to her small village next
to the mountains, after ending the great
sorrow that made my heart tremble.

Her wavy, curled, five-part hair, as lovely
as the feathers of the joyous peacocks on
the slopes of Pāzhi in the Ēzhil mountains

Other poems where peacock feathers and women’s hair are compared:

Cirupan.line262; Perum.line 25;

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Item 640

Desert (arid land) scenes -Angry elephant

A poet sees the wind blown iruppai tree flowers and compared them to the dice called

kazanku carved out of the tusks of the elephants.  Nowadays Ivory products are banned to save the elephants from the poachers. but in Sangam literature lot of ivory products including ivory throne, ivory cot, ivory pestle etc.

Akam. 135

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Item 641

An elephant hears the blended notes of the musical instruments of the musicians and mistakes it for the roar of a tiger, gets angry, and attacks a blossomed venkai tree, tears off one off its branches and wearing it on its  head makes a roar that echoes in the mountain rocks .

Pathitru. 41

Here is a pun on the word venkai. It means venkai tree and a tiger. When the yellow flowers of the tree falls on rocks or heaps of sand or stones, it looks like a tiger.

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Item 642

Cobra that lost its nagaratna jewel

A pining woman used nagaratna – cobra jewel as a simile.

The heroine pining in the  absence of her lover consoles herself and says that her mind has suffered much like the cobra that has lost its gem.

Akam .372.

It shows the strong belief in the existence of light emitting cobra gems on the head of snakes. Common folk said that the snakes used its gem- Nagaratna- in the night to catch its prey. Nowadays we know that the cobra has infra red eyes. It shows the moving creatures as red objects. Soldiers use such infra red binoculars to see enemy movements. All warm blooded living beings look like red colour objects in cobras’ eyes. Cobra jewel is also red in colour according to ancient descriptions.

To be continued…………………..

Tags – Small Shrimps , attack , Big Tamil Ships, Purananuru wonders-41, Tamil Encyclopedia-81, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 81, item 642