Citation link:
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174
THE TAPROBANIAN.
[December, 1888.
foot so high, that before it fell down on the earth
a tank was made and water seen in it, and ye
kings, ye Ma Puthar rushing like Maruts, ye
Pappar (21) and others, stand ye along this
bund of this tank.” He, Kamalar Kannan
(Lotus-eyed) then ordered Par-thangu Pattini
(22) the Kannimar (Virgins), and Kali to re-
main on the bund.
He further ordered offerings of betel, milk-
rice, lamps and incense, and promised to grant
rain when green silk was offered, and sunshine
when red silk was offered (23).
The king then, “ for Mankala who dwelt
there (24), tying (Le. sacrificing) one hundred
and twenty great buffalos, joyfully offered a lak
of betel leaves, milk-rice, and lamps in a beau-
teous arched bower,” and ordered this festival to
be observed annually, with offering’s of milk-
rice, for the bestowal of good harvests by the
gods who guarded the bund.
The Manar-manan thus irrigated 2,700 amu-
nams of land, and greatly extended the flower
forests that yielded honey.
He duly worshipped “ Ambikai whose gait is
an elephant’s (25), and her forehead a crescent
moon, and him who holds the deer in his left
hand.” He then assembled the people, took
farewell of the chiefs, and gave his benediction
to the people, as they lay prostrate at his feet,
crying out “ 0 Sankara, Siva, Siva,” and then
embracing them, he warned them against
violence and injustice, and want of charity.
Remarks.
Here the original part of the puranam ends, and
it proceeds to give a summary of the offerings,
an allusion to the submission to Gajabahu, circ.
A.D. 106, and also later incidents, all written in
a prophetic form, including a prophecy of the
early termination of English rule; a list of
offerings is also given. Parts of this are quite
worthless, added within the last century, but
other parts are taken from old records now lost.
The original portion is mutilated and ends
abruptly; one set of traditions, doubtless with
truth, adds that after blessing the people,
Kulakottan returned to Chola, and ultimately
succeeded his father as king there. This is
here suppressed, because the Jaffna Tamils who
adopted the worship of Aran as that of Siva,
invented their usual fiction that the king who
first erected the temple, Kulakottan, was on its
completion miraculously absorbed in the Lin-
gam. This is an idle fiction that the Lingayats
who revived Saivism, have invented in similar
form for most of the celebrated Lingas of South
India. The remainder of the Kalvettu will be
noticed briefly in another chapter.
Notes.
1. Manan, and further down Manar-manan,
was a royal title affected for the Chola kings
in Tamil writings. It evidently comes from
Vman, in a sense of <f mens ” or mind. As
Manan, we may translate it the Man, as
Manar-manan, Man of Men. Man-an would
now usually be rendered Man-avan, the in-
flection in either case being that of male
personality. The title denotes a worshipper of
what is now Siva, as Minan, Minavanan, the
Pandian king, denotes a votary of what is now
Vishnu. Menan, which I have not met with,
must have been a title of the Cheran, though
replaced in general use by Peruman, or Perumal,
all of which denote a votary of what is now
Brahma. It is therefore ethnologically desir-
able the reader should observe Manan cannot be
indiscriminately applied as ce king,” but is
rightly reiterated here.
2. Paravi-kulam Kulakottu Iranian. The
pronunciation of what is written Raman is
Iraman, the r initial having an inherent prefixed
vowel understood. Iraman or Raman is a
Chaldean derivative, not necessarily connected
with its use by the Rama of the Indian epie
otherwise than by a common parentage. Kula-
kotta means “ horn of his race,” with which
compare a similar idiomatic use of horn in the
Jewish Scriptures, “ his horn shall be exalted,”
&c. It is not quite a translation of the Pandian
Kula-sekara, or “ crest of his race.” It is
possible the early Manans of the race wore a
born as a royal emblem, from the idea which led
to the depiction of Moses and others with a horned
head-dress, as well as to the f horns/ that
marked the sanctity of the Jewish altars. It is
distinctly a dynastic, and not a personal, title.
Paravi-kulam is equivalent to the Suriya
Wansa, or sun lineage.
3. The names Atthar, Aran, for the perso-
nification now called Siva, are carefully and
persistently used. Aran is.probably the same
in origin with the Aru-gan of the Jains, and the
Hara of Hara-Hari or Hari-Hara. I take it to be
a mixture of the attributes of Varuna and Rudhra,
which have become separate as Brahma and Siva.
It may, indeed, be compared with the Vedic Varuna -
Mithra, still a dual unity, and not distinct. In
no case does Hari or Vishnu enter into it.
THE TAPROBANIAN.
[December, 1888.
foot so high, that before it fell down on the earth
a tank was made and water seen in it, and ye
kings, ye Ma Puthar rushing like Maruts, ye
Pappar (21) and others, stand ye along this
bund of this tank.” He, Kamalar Kannan
(Lotus-eyed) then ordered Par-thangu Pattini
(22) the Kannimar (Virgins), and Kali to re-
main on the bund.
He further ordered offerings of betel, milk-
rice, lamps and incense, and promised to grant
rain when green silk was offered, and sunshine
when red silk was offered (23).
The king then, “ for Mankala who dwelt
there (24), tying (Le. sacrificing) one hundred
and twenty great buffalos, joyfully offered a lak
of betel leaves, milk-rice, and lamps in a beau-
teous arched bower,” and ordered this festival to
be observed annually, with offering’s of milk-
rice, for the bestowal of good harvests by the
gods who guarded the bund.
The Manar-manan thus irrigated 2,700 amu-
nams of land, and greatly extended the flower
forests that yielded honey.
He duly worshipped “ Ambikai whose gait is
an elephant’s (25), and her forehead a crescent
moon, and him who holds the deer in his left
hand.” He then assembled the people, took
farewell of the chiefs, and gave his benediction
to the people, as they lay prostrate at his feet,
crying out “ 0 Sankara, Siva, Siva,” and then
embracing them, he warned them against
violence and injustice, and want of charity.
Remarks.
Here the original part of the puranam ends, and
it proceeds to give a summary of the offerings,
an allusion to the submission to Gajabahu, circ.
A.D. 106, and also later incidents, all written in
a prophetic form, including a prophecy of the
early termination of English rule; a list of
offerings is also given. Parts of this are quite
worthless, added within the last century, but
other parts are taken from old records now lost.
The original portion is mutilated and ends
abruptly; one set of traditions, doubtless with
truth, adds that after blessing the people,
Kulakottan returned to Chola, and ultimately
succeeded his father as king there. This is
here suppressed, because the Jaffna Tamils who
adopted the worship of Aran as that of Siva,
invented their usual fiction that the king who
first erected the temple, Kulakottan, was on its
completion miraculously absorbed in the Lin-
gam. This is an idle fiction that the Lingayats
who revived Saivism, have invented in similar
form for most of the celebrated Lingas of South
India. The remainder of the Kalvettu will be
noticed briefly in another chapter.
Notes.
1. Manan, and further down Manar-manan,
was a royal title affected for the Chola kings
in Tamil writings. It evidently comes from
Vman, in a sense of <f mens ” or mind. As
Manan, we may translate it the Man, as
Manar-manan, Man of Men. Man-an would
now usually be rendered Man-avan, the in-
flection in either case being that of male
personality. The title denotes a worshipper of
what is now Siva, as Minan, Minavanan, the
Pandian king, denotes a votary of what is now
Vishnu. Menan, which I have not met with,
must have been a title of the Cheran, though
replaced in general use by Peruman, or Perumal,
all of which denote a votary of what is now
Brahma. It is therefore ethnologically desir-
able the reader should observe Manan cannot be
indiscriminately applied as ce king,” but is
rightly reiterated here.
2. Paravi-kulam Kulakottu Iranian. The
pronunciation of what is written Raman is
Iraman, the r initial having an inherent prefixed
vowel understood. Iraman or Raman is a
Chaldean derivative, not necessarily connected
with its use by the Rama of the Indian epie
otherwise than by a common parentage. Kula-
kotta means “ horn of his race,” with which
compare a similar idiomatic use of horn in the
Jewish Scriptures, “ his horn shall be exalted,”
&c. It is not quite a translation of the Pandian
Kula-sekara, or “ crest of his race.” It is
possible the early Manans of the race wore a
born as a royal emblem, from the idea which led
to the depiction of Moses and others with a horned
head-dress, as well as to the f horns/ that
marked the sanctity of the Jewish altars. It is
distinctly a dynastic, and not a personal, title.
Paravi-kulam is equivalent to the Suriya
Wansa, or sun lineage.
3. The names Atthar, Aran, for the perso-
nification now called Siva, are carefully and
persistently used. Aran is.probably the same
in origin with the Aru-gan of the Jains, and the
Hara of Hara-Hari or Hari-Hara. I take it to be
a mixture of the attributes of Varuna and Rudhra,
which have become separate as Brahma and Siva.
It may, indeed, be compared with the Vedic Varuna -
Mithra, still a dual unity, and not distinct. In
no case does Hari or Vishnu enter into it.