Written by London Swaminathan
Post No. 16,130
Date uploaded in London – 26 August 2026
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Purananuru wonders-59;Tamil Encyclopaedia 99, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 99,
Let us take one more book from 2000 year old Sangam Tamil Literature and see some wonders; this is Perumpanatruppdai (perum paan aatruppadai) written by the same author of Pattinappalai; his name in Tamil is Uruththiran Kannnan of Kadiyalur. Meaning is Mr Rudraksha of Kadiyalur; he was a Brahmin.
In the last two posts we saw his description of the ancient port city Kaveri Poom Pattinam and the rule of Great Karikal Chozan; here in this book, he describes the great local ruler of Kanchipuram Thondaiman Ilanthiraiyan and food available from various castes living in different landscapes.
Meaning of the title of the book – Perum Paan Aatrupadai: giving guidance (aatruppadai) to a Panan (bard) who has a big (Perum) lute . The poem is a long string of pen pictures.
I am fallowing J V Chellaiah’s translation (year 1946).
***
Summary of the wonders:
73 similes; probably he imitated Kalidasa; he followed Kalidasa in many descriptions.
Yadava Woman’s Business plans- She sells butter and milk and never buys Gold; but reinvest the money in buying buffalos and cows!
Brahmin Food: throughout 500 lines in the poem , he portrays all caste men and women like pictures, even their houses and beds are portrayed! Their skin colour, face, hair style, their cooking, their business, particularly women doing business, etc are depicted.
What food is available from each caste is narrated in detail.
A Ghost told a riddle to Goddess Durga is a comparison used by the poet. No one knew what the riddle was!
Two Towns Mamallapuram (neer peyatru is the Tamil name) and Kanchipuram along with several small villages are in the poem.
***
Item 824 Tamil Thiraiyan = Greek Dorians
The patron to whom our Paanan (bard, minstrel) is directed is ILAN THIRAIYAN of Kanchipuram.
Ilam =Young; Thiraiyar= sea man; man from sea.
(In one of my research articles, I have linked them with Dorians of Greece)
Why is he called a man of sea?
Most famous commentator Nacchinarkiniar wrote 700 years ago that a Choza king descended into the lower world and espoused a Naga woman, and the child born of this union was cast adrift on the sea with Tondai creeper around its neck meant for identification. The child was washed ashore on this Choza land, and the king granted a portion of his kingdom.
Another far- fetched story is that this king was the child lost by that Choza king who ruled over Kaveri poompattinam.
Thiraiyar means Sea People like the Greek Dorians.
Whenever Hindus say one went to Patala loka or lower world, what they mean is the person travelled towards south. Whenever they say Naga women they mean women of Sri Lanka and South East Asian countries. They had mongoloid faces, not Dravidians. We have such stories in Brahmin Kaundinya, Brahmin Agastya marrying Naga woman in South East Asia.
***
Thiraiyars were a sea faring race and probably they went up to Greece.
Dorians = Used as a first name, meaning “of Doris” or “from the sea”.
Language: They spoke Doric, a distinct regional dialect of the ancient Greek language.
Society: Their expansion helped transition of Greece out of its “Dark Age” and into the era of independent city-states (poleis)
Before Homer (800 BCE), there were Mycenaean and Minoan Civilisations. Dorians are linked to those ancient civilisations of Greece.
Some scholars even think that they were the people from Lost Continent Atlantis of Plato.
***
Item 825 Natakam (Sanskrit Word)
Before Kalidasa of First century BCE, there was a famous playwright by name Bhasa of Second century BCE or earlier. Of his 13 dramas two have Nataka in the title itself. Here our poet Mr Rudraksha used Naatakam in both of his works:
Perumpanatruppadai – line 55;
Pattinappalai- line113.
Only two places in Sangam literature! Tolkapiar also used this Sanskrit word.
Tamil word for Naatakam is KOOTHTHU.
Unfortunately, Tamils lost all plays, whereas Sanskrit has 640 Dramas according to Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin with some knowledge in Sanskrit.
***
Item 826 Ilanthiraiyan a Poet too!
Ilanthiraiyan who is the patron in this book, was himself a poet. His poems are found in Sangam books Puranauru and Narrinai
It is interesting to note a number of Chera, Choza, Pandya kings were poets. We are fortunate to have their poems in Sangam books.
***
(Lines are as seen in Tamil poem; not English Translation)
Item 827 Brahmins and Parrots; lines 297-310.
Very interesting thing about the Brahmins is their women raised parrots as pets. We see this in Mandana Mishra’s house with whom Adi Sankara argued and won. Those parrots recited Vedas. Here also poet mentioned it. And Thiru Gnana Sambandar (640 CE) also mentioned it in several Tevaram songs. It means Brahmins have been doing it for at least 1000 years. Dogs and hens cannot enter their streets.
***
Item 828 Brahmin Food ; Tamil Lines 297-310
This is the book which clearly said that one can get only Veggy items in the house of Brahmins,whereas in all other houses one can get Non Veggy items. In the previous poem, we saw that the poet described all the non vegetarian dishes. Even here he mentioned those dishes as well.
Take thou thy rest in the village where are sheds
Supported on short posts to which are tied
Fat calves. The houses are with cow dung smeared,
In which are idols. Fowls and dogs are banned
Here live the guardians of Veda truths
Who teach even bent billed parrots to utter them
Fair bangled brahmin dames that are as chaste
As the one whose name the northern star that bear
That lights the white bright sky, will serve to thee
At sunset well cooked rice that bears the name
Of a bird, with slices of pomegranate fruit
With fragrant curry leaves and pepper flavoured well
And boiled in butter taken from the milk
Of red skinned cows, and also pickles made
Of fragrant soft baby fruits of mango tree
(Even today Brahmin ladies keep jars of Vadu Maankai (little mangoes )
Chaste Brahmin women are compared to Arundhati star in the Ursa Major constellation.
We have references to Arundhati star in Purananuru, Ainkurunuru, Paripatal and Kalittokai as well.
Tamils were thorough with all Hindu scriptures.
***
Item 829 Ball Games and Knuckle
Tamils invented a kind of Volley Ball and Foot Ball. Here our poet describes a ball game and Kazangu (Knucklebones play). One keeps stones or seeds on the back of the fingers, throw them up and catch them in the mid air; alternatively, they pick up one coin or stone or seed from the floor, throw it up and takes another one before it comes down; but never allows any stone to fall on the floor or ground. It is a juggling act.
Even today village women play this Kazangu Seeds/Stones game.
***
Item 830
Other points of interest are:
Vamana/ Tri Vikrama Avatara of Vishnu -Lines29/30
Houses covered with grass and palm leaves;
Deerskin mats; Animal hide mats for cots; line 89.
Hounds kept in kennels for hunting;
Deer used as decoys; lines 95-105.
Grains stored in tall Pots/silos;
Rice pounded in mortars made in the ground;
Buying and selling by barter; salt sold for paddy; butter milk sold for money?
Beds with string bottoms;
Fire produced by rubbing sticks together;
And meals served on teak and palmyra leaves;line 105.
***
Item 831- Mahabharata in Sangam literature
In Purananuru, Kalittokai and Paripatal we have references to Mahabaharata episodes.
Here the poets give us an episode as a simile to Ilanthiraiyans heroic ventures:
Pandavas ………..
……………………….. overthrew
With shouts of joy their hated hundred foes
In the fray. The corpses of dark elephants
That floated on the rivers stained with blood
Looked like the clouds that roam the evening sky
In which the fair faced crescent moon doth shine
***
Item 832 Scenes from nature
Following lines will remind us of an animal fable- The Lark and the Farmer .
When the farmers reap their fields
The short-legged fowl whose neck is black, alarmed.
Escapes and takes with its growing brood
That it may in the forest make its home
***
Item 833 Bird stealing a pendant ; lines 311-319.
There is a vivid picture of a bird that steals a pendant, flies with it, and sits upon a Yupa post.
Yupa post is erected by Brahmin priests when they do Yagas (fire ceremony)
A crowd of bathing girls indulge in play
Where people drink. A fish shaped pendant is lost.
A sapphire hued king fisher seeking prey
Flies off with it, avoiding palms in which
Birds congregate, and sits on a yupa post
Where yogis wise perform their sacred rites
The jewel shine like a lamp shaped like a swan
That Yavanas burn on masts , and twinkles like
The morning star that ushers in the day
A pregnant monkey seizing the ghee mixed rice meant for the elephants;
***
Item 834 Clever Yadava Women who reinvest Money! Lines 147-168
Here is a beautiful description of woman’s business mind. Usually, women buy gold on every occasion available, but this cowherd woman reinvest the money for more cows and buffalos. Before her children become adults, she would have become a millionaire or Lakshatipati in Hindu terms!
The dark Ayar woman then
With moving pendants on her ears, who has smooth shoulders like bamboo-like and waving hair
Turns hard the churning rod with a rope and make
A noise like tiger’s roar. She butter makes
From tasty curds on which are bulging drops
That look like mushroom buds. Upon her head
She carries butter milk on a flower decked pad
In a pot whose mouth is marked with drops of curds
And sells them in the morning time. She feeds her kin
With food bought by its sale and buys
NOT gold nuggets bright but buys milk buffalos, good cows
***
Item 835
Seventy three similes
In the opening lines nine similes are used. My feeling is that he imitated Kalidasa. Kalidasa usually use indirect way of describing an object. If he wants to say Chakravaka bird, he will say “the bird with the name of a wheel “(Chakra in Sanskrit; English word circle is derived from it!)
Here our poet used this technique in many places. When he wanted to say that the Brahmin woman cooked tasty Basmati rice, he said she cooked the rice names with Swan. Raja annam !
Many such definitions are in this poem.
***
Item 836 Non Vegetarian Items
Though the poet was a Brahmin, he mentioned,
Iguana (monitor Lizard) dish;
Fish curry;
Chicken with rice;
Boar and Bull Meat (Pork and Beef)
Hare hunted by hounds.
it shows Tamils, apart from Brahmins, were non vegetarians.
***
Item 837 Bandits
Like Kalidasa he has drawn a picture of country where there were no thieves, no way laying robbers, enmity free animal kingdom etc.
Sanskrit literature says that both tiger and deer drink water from the same lake! No natural enmity! Because the king ruled the country justly.
Here the poet described such a country but added what Bandits do to merchants who load their goods on donkeys and travel via forest. To avoid the bandits attack they take all sorts of weapons (Lines 66-82)
There is a vivid description of bandit’s attack in Mahabharata while Damayanthi was travelling with a merchant’s caravan!
***
Item 838 Temples and Worship
Our poet Mr Rudraksha did not miss religion. He compared hero Ilanthiraiyan with Lord Muruga/Skanda.
He mentioned the beautiful Vishnu temple in Kanchi which is one of the 108 Viashnava Shrines.
He also mentioned another Vishnu shrine at Mamallapuram.
He also compared Vamana/Trivikrama and at the end Goddess Durga.
Sages performing Yagas is mentioned in more than one place.
Holy Ganges and Holy Northern Mountain (Meru or Kailash or Himalayas) also mentined.
In Purananuru we saw Golden Himalayas!
Jambhudwipa is also referred to.
***
Item 839 Durga and Ghost’s Puzzle
There is a very interesting line at the far end of the poem!
துணங்கை அம் செல்விக்கு அணங்கு நொடித்தாங்கு, Line 479
The bard who praised Ilanthiraiyan used a simile
I will sing high praises to thy famous name
………………….
As a goblin maid once praised in riddling terms
The beauteous queen that treads the devil dance
whose great womb bore the red god well adorned
With jewels, who the cruel demon killed
In the sea’s white foam. Long live You!
Here the Red God is Muruga/Skanda who killed Tarakasura and Sura Padman, well known stories.
But what is the riddle that the ghosts told Goddess Durga is not explained by any one.
Probably we lost for ever the Ghost Riddle to Durga.
***
Item 840
King’s munificence, heroic acts, description of animals and plants are usual things.
And the poet finishes the book with these beautiful lines:
This is hilly tract where birds do chant
Sweet songs, and it is here that gods reside.
In wooded forests young the peacock makes
A screeching noise. The leaping ape doth pluck
And scatter forest blooms. The monkey scrapes
Its body, and the beasts repose in in yards
In front of house. Here the rishis tend
Their fires unquenched, and do their rites with logs
Which white trunked elephants do bring to them.
These are the hills where all things are found
In plenty. From these flow down shining streams.
He is the lord of these high hills.
In Purananuru (247) also we see animals helping Yaga performers.
—Subham—
Tags- Brahmins, pure Vegetarians! 73 Similes! Yadava Lady’s Investment Plan! Ghost’s riddle to Goddess! Purananuru wonders-59;Tamil Encyclopaedia 99, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 99, item 840
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