Written by London Swaminathan
Post No. 16,068
Date uploaded in London – 8 August 2026
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
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Purananuru wonders-51, Tamil Encyclopedia-91, One Thousand Interesting Facts – Part 91
Item 742 zodiac / stars/Air plane shadow in Vaigai water
Paripatal verse 11 on River Vaigai, has astronomical references. One reference talk about the shadow of the aeroplane of Devas, dwellers of heaven. The poet says the river water was crystal clear that can reflect the plane of Devas. It means that they can see airplanes and their reflections in water (lines 62-71).
For the first time, we come across five planets with Tamil words:
Velli – Venus; Padimakan- Mars; Punthi- Mercury; Anthanan- Jupiter; Yama’s brother-Saturn;
We come across zodiac signs in Sanskrit words- Mithunam-Gemini; Makara-Capricorn;
Stars are also mentioned- Kartikai- Pleiades ; Arudra- Betelgeuse;
For the first time star Canopus= Agastya nakshathra is mentioned.
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Item 743 lunar eclipse
The day was Avani Avittam Day when the snake devoured Moon.
The meaning is on Sravana Purnima day there was a lunar eclipse.
Some scholars have used these to calculate the period or age of Paripatal.
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Item 744 Controversial dating
Based on the planetary configuration and horoscope data found in the opening lines of Paripāṭal Poem XI, astronomical calculations by scholars including Swamikannu Pillai and historian Roger Billard point to the date of July 17, 634 CE.
Astronomical Basis for the Dating
- Planetary Positions: The text outlines a specific alignment of celestial bodies, including references to Saturn moving into Capricorn (Makara) from Sagittarius (Dhanus).
- Backbone for Chronology: This explicit internal horoscope serves as a vital chronological anchor (sheet anchor) for evaluating the timeline of classical Sangam literature, which is otherwise heavily debated (traditionally ranging from 300 BCE to 300 CE or later compilation phases).
- Interpretative Nuance: While the planetary math matches the July 634 CE alignment, debates persist regarding specific textual interpretations, such as contextual mentions of the star Canopus (Agastya) and its heliacal rising relative to the horizon of Madurai.
If Paripatal is dated seventh century CE, then date of Sangam works will also be questioned. The author of this poem NALLANTHUVANAR is praised by Purananuru poet Maruthan Ilanagan! So date of Purananuru is also debateable.
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Item 745 Beautiful Descriptions of women
Women wore Mallikai, Kuvalai , Asoka, Neithal and other flowers. Nowadays Tamil women wear only fragrant flowers like Mallikai/Jasmine (Mullai, Pichi also belong to the same genus Jasminium).
One woman wore two flowers on her ears and another woman dubbed her as a woman with four eyes.
Another woman wore Tilak on her forehead and she looked like Goddess Durga with three eyes.
Tamils were well versed in all Puranas
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Item 746 sex maniac washed away
One man was swimming in the flooded river with the help of bundle of plantain tree stems; when he saw a beautiful woman on the banks, he lost his grip and washed away in the floods. The beauty was trying to follow him and her mother stopped her.
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Item 747 Ambavadal , Arudra festival
This poem is the longest one with 140 lines; since we lost majority of the Paripatal poems, we don’t know the length of other poems. Here we get full description of two festivals now celebrated partly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala
One of them is Ambavadal when women observe fasting in the name of Goddess Amba;
Another is Arudra festival in celebration of Lord Siva; we have all the ceremonies recounted; Brahmins going with golden pots; doing fire ceremonies (Yaga/Havan) on the banks; drying wet clothes etc.
This Arudra festival falls in the moth of Thai; and people do bathing on that day.
Part of these things can be seen in Mayuram and other places in Tamil Nadu, named Kadaimuka Snanam.
Thiruvathirai , that is Arudra Festival, is celebrated on a grand scale in Kerala today; women dress themselves with sandal colour saris, do flower decorations on the floor and sing and dance in groups. Special types of dishes are made.
Tamils in Tamil Nadu go to Siva temples on that day and make special dishes
Thiruvathirai in Kerala
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Item 747 Ashtami Moon/ Half Moon
Poet described the river Vaigai as Ashtami Chandra. It never reaches Amavasya/ no moon day. The meaning is water increase and decrease but never dried up.
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Item 748 husband was beaten
Paripatal verse 12 is also on River Vaigai ; we come across an interesting scene where the wife beats her husband; the reason is another beauty looked at him; her reason for beating was that he was a bad man and so the other woman had an amorous glance at him; but he argued that it was not his fault. Though these types of narrations may be poetic exaggerations, we understand human psychology; women were so jealous that they considered their husbands unsaleable property!
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Item 749
This verse gives us a list of flowers that were washed away by the River from the western ghats called Sahyadri.; also the names of musical instruments; one more historical information is that the Vaigai river water touched the fort walls of Madurai in those days. Now we can’t even guess where that Madurai was and what was the course of river 2000 years ago.
While I am writing this piece , I remember the good old days before the construction of so many dams on river Vaigai and its tributaries; a lot of buildings are erected blocking the real course of the river.
And I read in today’s British newspapers that due to the unprecedented heat wave in Europe 50,000 thousand ponds in Britain have dried up; and the environmentalists say most of them would never recover.
Now I can understand what happened to Vedic Sarsvati river, Indus valley Civilisation etc. Weather plays a big role in shaping the history of a country!
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Item 750 Rivers are Women
Throughout Tamil and Sanskrit literature, rivers are dubbed as women and the sea is compared with the handsome man; so all women are running after him. All the rivers except Brahmaputra have feminine names in India. In this verse also,
Mountain- birth place of a woman/river
River – daughter
Sea – hero/ husband of rivers (see verse 11).
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Item 751 Cacophony
All the people were talking at the same time; added to this was music from different instruments; so nothing was audible. Commentators added it was like people speaking in 18 languages. In literature India is described a s a land of 18 Bashas/languages
To be continued…………………..
Tags- Purananuru wonders-51, Tamil Encyclopedia-91, One Thousand Interesting Facts – Part 91. Item 751, Airplane shadow in Vaigai River 2000 years ago
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