Abstract
This study is an attempt to introduce the references in Old Tamil Caṅkam literature to the death of kings and heroes, to evaluate the data through a historical lens, and to discover the memorialising techniques in ancient South India. During our investigations we came to an important conclusion, as not just the erected memorial stones were the bearers of memory in these centuries, but the heroic poetry itself became a symbolic lieu de mémoire, which played the same role through the ages as other memorial monuments, and provided an opportunity to the people of Tamiḻakam to remember and be commemorated of the ancient heroic past.
I thank Alexander Dubyanskiy, Eva Wilden, Jean-Luc Chévillard, Csaba Dezső, Carmen Spiers, Julie Rocton, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on the drafts of this chapter.
In memoriam Prof. Alexander M. Dubyanskiy (1941–2020).
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Notes
- 1.
Jan Assmann, Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance and Political Imagination (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 19. On the following pages, the recent English translation of the original work [Jan Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen (München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 1997)] has been cited.
- 2.
Assmann, Cultural Memory and Early Civilization, 19.
- 3.
George L. Hart, The Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and their Sanskrit Counterparts (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1975), 13–21, 21–51, 82–86, 86–93.
- 4.
K. Rajan, “Life After Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” in Mapping the Chronology of Bhakti: Milestones, Stepping Stones, and Stumbling Stones: Proceedings of a workshop held in honour of Pandit R. Varadadesikan, ed. Valérie Gillet (Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondichéry/École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2014), 221–239; K. Rajan, South Indian memorial stones (Thanjavur: Manoo Pathippakam, 2000).
- 5.
K. Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968).
- 6.
For example, see N. Subrahmanian, Śaṅgam Polity: The Administration and Social Life of the Śaṅgam Tamils (Madurai: Ennes Publications, 1980), 321–322. Xavier S. Thani Nayagam, Landscape and Poetry: A Study of Nature in Classical Tamil Poetry (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966), 64. M. E. M. Pillai, Culture of the Ancient Cheras: A Treatise on Cultural Reconstruction (Kovilpatti: Vijayalakshmi Printers, 1970), 41; 94; 170–171.
- 7.
Eva Wilden, Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Caṅkam in Tamilnadu (Berlin/München/Boston: De Gruyter, 2014), 6. The dating of the Caṅkam literature is still the subject of disagreement; for example it might be enough to mention Herman Tieken’s much-debated theory, which dates Caṅkam literature to the Middle Ages (8th–9th c. A.D.). See Herman Tieken, “Old Tamil Caṅkam literature and the so-called Caṅkam period,” The Indian Economic & Social History Review 40 (2003): 247–278.
- 8.
Wilden, Manuscript, Print and Memory, 1.
- 9.
The Cēra, Cōḻa, and Pāṇṭiya rulers have been mentioned not just in literary works, but on Tamil inscriptions and also in other, non-Tamil sources, for example the fragments of Megasthenes, the edicts of Aśoka (II. and XIII.), the Mahābhārata, the Hāthigumphā inscription of Khāravela, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, the Periplus Maris Erythraei, and the geographical work of Ptolemy. For further details, see K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Foreign Notices of South India: From Megasthenes to Ma Huan (Madras: University of Madras, 1939).
- 10.
Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 73.
- 11.
Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 5.
- 12.
Tolkāppiyam is known as the ancient grammarly (ilakkaṇam) sister-tradition of the literary (ilakkiyam) corpus, which is divided into three books: (1) the phonology and the accidence (Eḻuttatikāram), (2) the morphology and the semantics (Collatikāram), (3) the literary compositions, their subject-matter, and the literary conventions regarding the form and the content (Poruḷatikāram). Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 49; Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram: An English Translation with Critical Notes, trans. L. Gloria Sundramathy and Indra Manuel. (Thiruvananthapuram: International School of Dravidian Linguistics, 2010); Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram Akattiṇaiyiyal cū. 57–58. (cited by Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 5).
- 13.
Alexander Dubiansky, “Royal Attributes as Reflected in “Caṅkam” Poetry,” Cracow Indological Studies 15 (2013): 308.
- 14.
Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 77.
- 15.
In the collection of Ten Idylls (Pattuppāṭṭu) there are certain texts called āṟṟuppaṭai songs, which have the literary program to guide poets, dancers, artists, and suppliants to the liberal donors of Tamiḻakam. Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 35–48.
- 16.
Ganapathy Subbiah, The Roots of Tamil Religious Thoughts. (Pondicherry: Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, 1991), 133.
- 17.
The noun cāṉṟōṉ can be derived from the verb cāl-tal, which means to be abundant, full, or extensive; to excel in moral worth; to be great or noble; to be suitable or fitting; or to be finished or exhausted. Tamil Lexicon, vol. 3, part 1 (Madras: University of Madras, 1928), 1389.
- 18.
Kamil Zvelebil, The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), 17.
- 19.
Tamil Lexicon, vol. 3, part 1, 1397.
- 20.
Not in the case of Iḷaveḷimāṉ, who was a famous tightwad, see Puṟanāṉūṟu, 162.
- 21.
For further details, see Subbiah, The Roots of Tamil Religious Thoughts, 133–158.
- 22.
Dubiansky, “Royal Attributes as Reflected in “Caṅkam” Poetry,” 308.
- 23.
‘… vīyātu/uṭampoṭu niṉṟa uyirum illai/maṭaṅkal uṇmai māyamō aṉṟē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 363: 7–9. Cf. the end of the 366th puṟam written by Kōtamaṉār: Puṟanāṉūṟu, 366: 23.
- 24.
The idea was probably the effect of certain Buddhist/Jaina tenets, propagating the instability (nillāmai) of life.
- 25.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 192: 4.
- 26.
‘narampu eḻuntu ulaṟiya nirampā meṉtōḷ/muḷari maruṅkiṉ mutiyōḷ ciṟuvaṉ/paṭai aḻintu māṟiṉaṉ eṉṟu palar kūṟa/maṇṭu/amarkku uṭaintaṉaṉ āyiṉ uṇṭa eṉ/mulai aṟuttiṭuveṉ yāṉ eṉa ciṉaii/koṇṭa vāḷoṭu paṭu piṇam peyarā/ceṅkaḷam tuḻavuvōḷ citaintu vēṟākiya/paṭumakaṉ kiṭakkai kāṇūu/īṉṟa ñāṉṟiṉum peritu uvantaṉaḷē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 278.
- 27.
‘uyir tiṟai peyara nal amar kaṭanta/taṟukaṇ āḷar taḻīi teṟuvara/cem cevi eruvai añcuvara irukkum/kal atar kavalai.’ Akanāṉūṟu, 77: 9–12.
- 28.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 253: 1–6.
- 29.
Eva Wilden, “Agricultural Metaphors in Sangam Literature,” in Pandanus ’06, Nature in Literature and Ritual, ed. Jaroslav Vacek (Prague: Triton, 2006), 191–209.
- 30.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 368: 1–18.
- 31.
‘neyttōr toṭṭa ceṅkai maṟavar/niṟam paṭu kuruti nilam paṭarnt’ ōṭi/maḻai nāḷ puṉaliṉ aval parant’ oḻuka/paṭu piṇam piṟaṅka pāḻ pala ceytu.’ Patiṟṟuppattu, 49: 10–13.
- 32.
‘maṭam perumaiyiṉ uṭaṉṟu mēl vanta/vēntu mey maṟanta vāḻcci/vīnt’ uku pōrkkaḷatt’ āṭum kōvē.’ Patiṟṟuppattu, 56: 6–8.
- 33.
‘aṟattiṉ maṇṭiya maṟappōr vēntar/tām māyntaṉarē kuṭai tuḷaṅkiṉavē/urai cāl ciṟappiṉ muraicu oḻintaṉavē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 62: 7–9. Although the literary theme of the simultaneous death of both kings can be found among the subdivisions of the tumpai tiṇai in the Tolkāppiyam (iruvar talaivar taputi pakkamum. Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram Puṟattiṇaiyiyal cū. 14: 5.), it is difficult to deal whether the description was a memory of a real event (as suggested by the proper names found in the probably later colophon) or just a part of literary program.
- 34.
‘… vantōr/tār tāṅkutalum āṟṟār veṭipaṭṭu/ōṭal marīiya pīṭu il maṉṉar.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 93: 2–3.
- 35.
‘maṟam kant’ āka nal amar vīḻnta/nīḷ kaḻal maṟavar celvuḻi celka.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 93: 9–10.
- 36.
‘prehi prehi pathibhiḥ pūrvyebhir yatrā naḥ pūrve pitaraḥ pareyuḥ.’ Ṛgveda, X.14.7. The Rigveda: the earliest religious poetry of India, trans. Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 1392.
- 37.
“This strewn grass here, Yama—just sit here on it, in concord with the Aṅgirases, our forefathers. Let mantras pronounced by poets convey you hither. Become exhilarated on this oblation, o king.” ‘(imaṃ yama prastaramā hi sīdāṅghirobhiḥ pitṛbhiḥsaṃvidānaḥ/ā tvā mantrāḥ kaviśastā vahantvenā rājanhaviṣā mādayasva).’ Rgveda, X.14. 4. The Rigveda, 1391.
- 38.
‘tiṟam puri pacum pul parappiṉar kiṭappi.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 93: 8.
- 39.
Hart suggests that the costume of laying the bodies on grass is similar to Indo-Aryan rituals (Hart, The Poems of Ancient Tamil, 85), but since he refers only the above-cited poem from the Caṅkam corpus and we cannot find other reference on this rite, we believe that the poem refers to a custom performed by Vedic priests of South India.
- 40.
Akanāṉūṟu, 115. Cf. Puṟanāṉūṟu, 233, on the death of Evvi.
- 41.
Akanāṉūṟu, 208.
- 42.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 112, 113.
- 43.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 235.
- 44.
For example, Patiṟṟuppattu 3. patikam: 10.
- 45.
Akanāṉūṟu, 55; Puṟanāṉūṟu, 66.
- 46.
The “tutelary tree” (kaṭimaram) was an important symbol of royalty at the time of Caṅkam literature, which tree had a deeper connection with the king’s life, “presumably the tree itself was believed to contain and to protect the king’s life energy.” Dubiansky, “Royal Attributes as Reflected in “Caṅkam” Poetry,” 318.
- 47.
Hart uses the word “Valhalla” as a quasi-synonym and an attempt to define the general function of the ancient Tamil heaven-conception (Hart, The Poems of Ancient Tamil, 41), although we consider it as an odd simplification.
- 48.
‘māṟā maintiṉ tuṟakkam eytiya toyyā nal icai mutiyar.’ Akanāṉūṟu, 233: 6–7.
- 49.
Patiṟṟuppattu, 52: 8–9; Akanāṉūṟu, 338: 16–17.
- 50.
“Except those, who possess fame here [on earth], there is no abode [for others] in the higher world.” (ivaṇ icai uṭaiyōrkku allatu avaṇ atu uyar nilai ulakattu uṟaiyuḷ iṉmai). Puṟanāṉūṟu, 50:14–15.
- 51.
‘āhaveṣu mitho’nyonyaṁ jighāṁsanto mahīkṣitaḥ/yudhyamānāḥ paraṁ śaktyā svargaṁ yāntyaparāṅmukhāḥ.’ Mānavadharmaśāstra, VII. 89. Manu’s code of law: a critical edition and translation of the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra, ed. and trans. Patrick Olivelle. (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 159.
- 52.
Cf. Patiṟṟuppattu, 63: 13–14.
- 53.
Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram Puṟattiṇaiyiyal, cū. 63: 9–10.
- 54.
Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 74.
- 55.
‘pulavar pāṭum pukaḻ uṭaiyōr vicumpiṉ/valavaṉ ēvā vāṉa ūrti/eytupa eṉpa tam cey viṉai muṭittu.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 27: 7–9.
- 56.
‘kaścidviṣatkhaḍgahṛtottamāṅgaḥ/sadyo vimānaprabhutāmupetya/vāmāṅgasaṁsaktasurāṅganaḥ svam/nṛtyatkabandham samare dadarśa …’ The Raghuvamśa of Kālidāsa with the commentary (the Sañjīvanī) of Mallinātha. Cantos I—X, ed. and trans. M. R. Kale (Bombay: Gopal Narayen & Co., 1922), VII, 51, 58.
- 57.
‘ambarīṣo hi nābhāgaḥ svargaṃ gatvā sudurlabham/dadarśa suralokasthaṃ śakreṇa sacivaṃ saha/sarvatejomayaṃ divyaṃ vimānavaram āsthitam/upary upari gacchantaṃ svaṃ vai senāpatiṃ prabhum/sa dṛṣṭvopari gacchantaṃ senāpatim udāradhīḥ/ṛddhiṃ dṛṣṭvā sudevasya vismitaḥ prāha vāsavam.’ Mahābhārata, XII. 98. 3–5.
- 58.
George L. Hart, “The Theory of Reincarnation among the Tamils,” in Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, ed. Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty (Berkeley; Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1980), 116.
- 59.
‘cātal añcēṉ añcuval cāviṉ/piṟappu piṟitu ākuvatu āyiṉ/maṟakkuveṉkol eṉ kātalaṉ eṉavē.’ Naṟṟiṇai. A Critical Edition and an Annotated Translation of the Naṟṟiṇai., ed. and trans. Eva Wilden, 3 vols. (Pondichéry: École française d’Extrême/Chennai: Tamiḻmaṇ Patippakam, 2008), 2: 852, 397: 7–9.
- 60.
‘immai ceytatu maṟumaikku ām eṉum/aṟavilai vaṇikaṉ āay allaṉ/piṟarum cāṉṟōr ceṉṟa neṟiyeṉa/āṅku paṭṭaṉṟu avaṉ kaivaṇmaiyē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 34. To add to this that in the Caṅkam literature references to karma are encountered; for instance the term ‘nal-viṉai’ in Naṟṟiṇai, 107: 8 can be interpreted as karma.
- 61.
The primary meaning of peru-ṅ-kāṭu is “great wilderness,” but here it refers to the burning-ground as a synonym of cuṭukāṭu. Tamil Lexicon, vol. 5. 2871.
- 62.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 364: 11–13.
- 63.
‘eṟi puṉa kuṟavaṉ kuṟaiyal aṉṉa/kari puṟa viṟakiṉ īmam oḷ aḻal/kuṟukiṉum kuṟukuka kuṟukātu ceṉṟu/vicumpuṟa nīḷiṉum nīḷka pacuṅkatir/tiṅkaḷ aṉṉa veṇkuṭai/oḷ ñāyiṟu aṉṉōṉ pukaḻ māyalavē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 231.
- 64.
‘iṭuka oṉṟō cuṭuka oṉṟō/paṭu vaḻi paṭuka ippukaḻ veyyōṉ talaiyē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 239: 20–21.
- 65.
According to Tamil Lexicon, which refers to Piṅkalam: peru-malai is equivalent to Mount Meru, the centre of the created world in the Hindu cosmogony. Tamil Lexicon, vol. 5., 2881.
- 66.
‘iru nilam tikiriyā perumalai/maṇṇā vaṉaital ollumō niṉakkē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 228: 14–15. On urn-burial, see Rajan, South Indian memorial stones, 9–23.
- 67.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 221, 231, 245, 246, 247, 250, 363.
- 68.
Rajan, “Life after Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” 223.
- 69.
Rajan, “Life after Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” 225.
- 70.
Rajan, “Life after Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” 226.
- 71.
The stones were found at Pulimāṉkompai in Āṇṭipaṭṭi taluk, Tēṉi district of Tamil Nadu. The most complete inscribed stone has three lines: kal pēṭu tīyaṉ antavaṉ kūṭal ūr ākōḷ, which means according to K. Rajan’s interpretation: “this hero stone [is raised to] a man called tīyaṉ antavaṉ of pēṭu [village who died in] cattle raid of kūṭal ūr.” Rajan, “Life after Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” 228.
- 72.
Rajan, “Life after Death: From Mortal Remains to Monuments,” 221–222.
- 73.
The term maṟavar can either mean the inhabitants and hunters of hilly tracts or warriors. Tamil Lexicon, vol. 5, 3119.
- 74.
‘nal amar kaṭanta nāṇuṭai maṟavar/peyarum pīṭum eḻuti atartoṟum/pīli cūṭṭiya piṟaṅku nilai naṭukal/vēl ūṉṟu palakai vēṟṟu muṉai kaṭukkum.’ Akanāṉūṟu, 67: 8–11. Cf. Akanāṉūṟu, 131: 10–13.
- 75.
Akanāṉūṟu, 179: 7–8.
- 76.
Akanāṉūṟu, 211: 15.
- 77.
Akanāṉūṟu, 297: 7–8.
- 78.
‘naṭṭa pōlum naṭāa neṭuṅkal/akal iṭam kuyiṉṟa pal peyar ….’ Akanāṉūṟu, 269: 7–8.
- 79.
‘puṉtalai citaitta vaṉtalai naṭukal/kaṇṇi vāṭiya maṇṇā maruṅkul/kūr uḷi kuyiṉṟa kōṭumāy eḻuttu ….’ Akanāṉūṟu, 343: 5–7.
- 80.
‘… aruñcamam tataiya nūṟi/nal icai niṟutta nāṇ uṭai maṟavar.’ Akanāṉūṟu, 387: 13–14.
- 81.
Akanāṉūṟu, 365: 4–5.
- 82.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 232: 3–4.
- 83.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 260: 25–28.
- 84.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 263: 3; 5.
- 85.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 264: 1–4.
- 86.
‘… kaṉṟoṭu/kaṟavai tantu pakaivar ōṭṭiya.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 264: 4–5.
- 87.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 206: 3–4.
- 88.
Malaipaṭukaṭām, 387–395.
- 89.
‘oṉṉā tevvar muṉṉiṉṟu vilaṅki/oḷiṟu ēntu maruppiṉ kaḷiṟu eṟintu vīḻnteṉa/kallē paraviṉ allatu/nel ukuttu paravum kaṭavuḷum ilavē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 335: 9–12.
- 90.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 314: 3.
- 91.
‘kiṭuku niraittu eḥku ūṉṟi/naṭukalliṉ araṇ pōla.’ Paṭṭiṉappālai, 78–79.
- 92.
According to the translation of L. Gloria Sundramathy and Indra Manuel, the line “cīrttaku marapiṉ perumpaṭai” means “making the stone worthy of great offering by building a temple,” but also “engraving the merits of the hero on the stone or deifying the stone,” explanations which are based on Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar’s medieval commentaries; Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram Puṟattiṇaiyiyal, 66–70.
- 93.
Tolkāppiyam Poruḷatikāram Puṟattiṇaiyiyal, cū. 63: 19–20.
- 94.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 221: 1–13.
- 95.
Akanāṉūṟu, 44. cf. Puṟanāṉūṟu, 66.
- 96.
Cf. Puṟanāṉūṟu, 219.
- 97.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 261.
- 98.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 265: 5.
- 99.
Kailasapathy, Tamil Heroic Poetry, 237.
- 100.
‘pal cāṉṟīrē pal cāṉṟīrē/celkeṉa collātu oḻikeṉa vilakkum/pollā cūḻcci pal cāṉṟīrē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 246: 1–3.
- 101.
‘peruṅkāṭṭu paṇṇiya karuṅkōṭṭu īmam/numakku aritu ākuka tilla emakku em/peruntōḷ kaṇavaṉ māynteṉa … /(…)/ … poykaiyum tīyum ōraṟṟē.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 246: 11–15.
- 102.
We cannot be sure that the text is talking about one wife, several wives, or other female attendants of the king, since the honorific plural was regularly used for singular and plural subject as well.
- 103.
Puṟanāṉūṟu, 240: 4–6.
- 104.
‘puli cērntu pōkiya kal aḷai pōla īṉṟa vayiṟō.’ Puṟanāṉūṟu, 86: 4–5.
- 105.
Pierre Nora, “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire,” Representations 26 (1989): 18–19.
- 106.
The term “panegyric ritual” was suggested by Alexander Dubyanskiy during our conversations.
- 107.
Puṟanāṉūṟu 282: 10–11.
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Ferenczi, R. (2022). The Heroes Who Turned Into Stones and Songs: The Memory of the Monarch Reflected in the Old Tamil Caṅkam Literature. In: Storey, G. (eds) Memorialising Premodern Monarchs. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84130-0_7
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