Puranaanooru 201 – An heir of the great

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‘இவர் யார்?’ என்குவைஆயின், இவரே,
ஊருடன் இரவலர்க்கு அருளி, தேருடன்
முல்லைக்கு ஈத்த செல்லா நல் இசை,
படு மணி யானை, பறம்பின் கோமான்
நெடு மாப் பாரி மகளிர்; யானே
தந்தை தோழன்; இவர் என் மகளிர்;
அந்தணன், புலவன், கொண்டு வந்தனனே.

நீயே, வடபால் முனிவன் தடவினுள் தோன்றி,
செம்பு புனைந்து இயற்றிய சேண் நெடும் புரிசை,
உவரா ஈகை, துவரை ஆண்டு,
நாற்பத்தொன்பது வழிமுறை வந்த
வேளிருள் வேளே! விறல் போர் அண்ணல்!
தார் அணி யானைச் சேட்டு இருங் கோவே!
ஆண் கடன் உடைமையின், பாண் கடன் ஆற்றிய
ஒலியற் கண்ணிப் புலிகடி மாஅல்!

யான் தர, இவரைக் கொண்மதி! வான் கவித்து
இருங் கடல் உடுத்த இவ் வையகத்து, அருந் திறல்
பொன் படு மால் வரைக் கிழவ! வென் வேல்
உடலுநர் உட்கும் தானை,
கெடல் அருங்குரைய நாடு கிழவோயே!

We left Puranaanooru 200 with a question as to whether King Vichiko accepted the poet’s request that he marry Paari’s daughters, and in this subsequent verse, we have an indirect answer to that question. The poet’s words to another Velir King Irungkovel can be translated as follows:

“In answer to your question, ‘Who are they?’, they are the daughters of the great King Paari, who has the unfading fame of rendering towns entire to supplicants, and giving away his chariot to a wild jasmine vine, the one who owns elephants resounding with bells, the lord of Parambu hill;

As for me, I’m the friend of their father and so they are my daughters too; In the role of a scholar and a bard, I brought them here;

As for you, you are the spear-like descendant of the Velirs, who before 49 generations, appeared from the pitcher of the sage from the North, and with compassionate charity, ruled over the city of Tuvarai, from tall forts, whose long and winding walls were fortified with a mixture of copper; An esteemed leader with valour in the battlefield; O renowned king Irungko, the possessor of garlanded war elephants! O lord with many manly responsibilities of rule and the one who has fulfilled his duty to bards, the one wearing a radiant garland, O Pulikadimaal, the mighty one, who saved the people from the wrath of a tiger!

I offer them to thee, please accept. In this huge land that is covered by skies above and dark seas around, you are the lord of the mountains, where rare gold is to be found! O king of a country, which knows no ruin and possesses an army of white spears that enemies fear!”

Time to delve deeper into these words. The poet Kabilar starts by telling the King who his companions were. To talk about them, the poet sketches the famous generosity of a king, who gave towns to his supplicants, and in another instance, donated his chariot to a stray jasmine vine. The one whom anyone who has read even a little of Sangam Literature would be familiar with, known by the name ‘Paari’. Adding that this king was the ruler of the soaring peaks of Parambu, the poet recollects how the king used to possess elephants resounding with bells. 

After those fond recollections of King Paari, the poet informs this king who he is, telling him that he was a friend of the girls’ father, and so, they were like his daughters too. The term ‘godfather’ from a Western tradition comes to mind. Returning, we see the poet adding his other qualifications such as being a respected scholar and a poet, and as sanctioned by these lofty roles, he has brought the girls to this king’s court, the poet adds. 

As if saying ‘enough about us’, the poet now turns to sing the praises of this king he stands before. To do that, he mentions the ancestors of this king by wading into the territory of myth, quite uncharacteristic of Sangam realism. The myth in question is about how the ancestors of this king originated from the drinking pot of a Northern sage, some 49 generations ago. Many would relate this to the myth of Sage Akathiyar and the belief of how he lead 18 kings from the North to the South of India. Could we try to see where this myth could have possibly originated from? Considering the point about 49 generations and assuming a generation lasted 30 years, this could be roughly about 1500 years ago, which would take us back from the Sangam period to that of the Indus Valley civilisation. Could a group of kings from there migrated south under the wise counsel of a scholarly priest, who then came to be called as Akathiyaar? Is Kabilar talking about this migration that must have no doubt become embellished as a myth over time?

Reverting back to the other mention of these ancestors, we see how the poet adds that those kings ruled over a town called ‘Tuvarai’ in the North from forts with walls fortified with copper. This led me to learn about the usage of copper in ancient times and turns out it’s one of the first metals to be tamed and used by humans. It has been found in Egypt, Middle East and Near East. The Indus valley artefacts reveal the usage of copper and this seems to have come from the mountains of Afghanistan and Balochistan then. Could this ‘Tuvarai’ be an Indus valley town? While literature can only make us wonder, it’s for the science of archaeology and ancient DNA to reveal the objective truth.

Now, the poet turns from describing the ancestors to praising this king, talking about his garlanded elephants, the sense of responsibility the king has to his country and to the bards who arrive at his court. A subtle way of nudging the king to accept whatever the poet is going to ask and that we learn, is the same gift this poet sought from King Vichiko – the gift of this king marrying King Paari’s girls. So we now that previous king had denied his request. The poet then ends by praising the powerful army of the king that enemies fear and the mountains of this king’s country where gold abound. This makes us wonder if this king from the past ruled over the region known today as Kolar in the state of Karnataka? A verse that has made questions many rise in our minds about the mystery of what was and how it connects with what is!