Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 16,005

Date uploaded in London – 22 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

xxxx 

Item 643

In countries like Vietnam, village youths travelling on the back of buffaloes are common. In Tamil Nadu it has become rare. But in Akam 206 we have a description of a buffalo ride. The young boys sitting over the hairy back of a buffalo resemble the monkeys on a huge block of stone.

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Item 644

The lotus flower is compared to the face of a beautiful lady and the pakandrai blossom just approaching it, is compared to the white vessel from which she drinks honey – Kalittokai 73

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Item 645

Parrots as pets

In Tamil Nadu, women had parrots and myna birds as pets. Here is a scene in Kali- 72.

A tender mango fruit drops down from the tree on the lotus bud adjacent to an ampal flower and this scene is compared to a lady trying to please her angry parrot bringing to it a white cup full of milk.

Here we can see more; birds also get angry and the humans feel it and show sympathy

Throughout Sambandar Teveram devotional songs, we see Brahmin women raising parrots as pets and they recite Vedas.

This is not only in the south but also was in the vogue in the north; when the great philosopher Adi Sankara asked the village girls taking bath in the river Narmada the way to another great scholar Mandanamishra’s house, the girls relied in Sanskrit sloka asking him to find a house where the parrots are reciting Vedas.

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Item 646

Vayanthakam ornament of a dancing girl

The Vayantakam is an ancient Tamil ornament traditionally worn on the head, often adorning the hair or forehead of women and classical dancers.

Here is a scene from Kalittokai 79,

The paddy ear bending and falling upon the petals of the lotus flower is compared to the ornament called vayantakam on the forehead of a dancing girl.

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Item 647

Tamil Poet name- Mr Fishing Rod!

In the Rig Veda we see many poets are named after the phrases they use or the cliché, they used. In Sangam literature also we see a score of poets with strange names; if the name of the poet is not known then the compilers used this method.

Mineri tuntil means fishing rod in Tamil .

In Kuruntokai 54 we come across the poet Mineri tuntil aar ; the AAR suffix is a honorific .

There the poet compares the sudden rise of the bamboo to the fishing rod that rises up as soon as the fish is caught.

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Item 648

Tamil Poet name – Mr Galloping Horse

Another strange name found in Sangam literature is about galloping Horse.

The poet’s name in Tamil is Vitta Kuthiraiyaar. Kuru. 74

While describing the tall bamboos soaring high towards the sky, the poet compares them to the horse seen leaping at a gallop with great speed which is denoted by the phrase Vitta Kuthirai. The poet is known by the phrase which makes the comparison effective and aids in picturing the bamboos. It is in Kuruntokai 74.

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Item 649

Hindu Geography

Hindus knew the earth is round and surrounded by 70 % water. Sanskrit and Tamil verses always portrayed earth as clothed by water or surrounded by water.

Following verses described the earth this way:

Perumpan- lines 409-410

Puram.3; Nar.130;

Tolkappiam- Patu Tirai Vaiyam. (Tirai=sea; Vaiyam=earth)

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Item 650

20 lines for Waterfalls

Kalidasa and Valmiki described nature in most beautiful words. Both used hundreds of flowers in their slokas..Not only women’s body parts but also men’s body parts are compared with flowers. They praised the mountains in many verses. Kalidasa’s first ten verses in his Kumarasambhava, describing the Himalayas is used by many Tamil poets.

The longest description of the mountain waterfall is in Sangam book Tirumurukatruppadai (Murugu. In short)

Murugu. Lines 295 to 316 done by Nakkirar described the waterfall. Nakkirar must have watched with interest and feelings of wonder the waterfall rushing and leaping in sheets resembling waving banners varied in size, sweeping away the products of the mountain, making monkeys and elephants and peacocks shiver with cold and scaring and driving bears and boars to take refuge in caves.

TO BE CONTINUED……………………

TAGS-Purananuru wonders-42, Tamil Encyclopedia-82, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 82, waterfalls, buffalo ride, parrots, pets, item 650.