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bizarre form. He would transform his younger brother Vatapi into a male goat and offer his brothers
flesh to the Brahmins as food. After doing so he would suddenly recall Vatapi back to life, who
would rip open the flanks of the Brahmins as he emerged laughing. In this manner the two brothers
killed many Brahmins and, on the occasion of the visit of Agastyar and the three kings, Ilvala tried
to play the same game. He prepared the flesh of Vatapi to entertain them. The kings became
unhappy. Agastyar ate it all, and when Ilvala called for Vatapi to come back, only air came out of
Agastyar's stomach, because Vatapi had been digested. Then Ilvala, becoming unhappy, promised to
give wealth to Agastyar if the latter could tell him what he intended to give. Agastyar was able to
predict Ilvala's intention. The kings and Agastyar returned with the wealth they needed. Vatapi is the
name of the well known fortified city in the western Deccan which was the capital of the early
Chalukyas. This city is now called Badami. This story may be understood to mark the beginning of
Agastyar's connection with southern India. (Pillai, 1979, pg. 255)
The Mahabharata also records the story of Agastyar drinking up the waters of the ocean to enable
the gods (devas) to dispose of their enemies who were hiding under the sea; and of his journey to
southern India on some unspecified business when he prevailed upon the Vindhya mountains to stop
growing until he returned, which however, he never did. The pact with the Vindya mountains and
the drinking of the waters of the ocean have been generally accepted as allegorical representations
of the spread of Aryan culture first to India south of the Vindhyas, and then across the seas to the
islands of the archipelago and to Indo-China. It is supported by other accounts of the life of
Agastyar.
Agastyar and the Aryan Invasion of Southern India
It will be helpful to have some idea of the process and results of the aryanization of southern
India. The difference in language is by no means indicative of differences in race, but only in
culture. It must be borne in mind that what is known as the Aryan culture of northern India is a
composite culture to which significant contributions were made by the Dravidians in its formative
stages in ancient times. Keeping this in mind will solve many puzzles which are considered to be
either unsolvable or solved mistakenly.
With reference to the linguistic map of India today, the languages of northern India and
Maharashtra are clearly various dialects of Sanskrit, or some idiom closely akin to it. These dialects
were formed in the process of it being spoken by different classes of people whose original
language was not Sanskrit. Sounds and words unknown to Sanskrit are frequently found in these
popular dialects. These were undoubtedly derived from the original languages of the Dravidian and
pre-Aryan inhabitants.
But while this was the course of events in Northern India and the western Deccan, it was much
different on the eastern coast and farther south. Aryans had not penetrated in sufficient numbers to
communicate their own civilization to the local inhabitants. They were unable to assimilate them
thoroughly into their own society and to root out their languages and their peculiar civilization.
Most of the population in these parts retained their own speech and customs, and were enriched by
contact with the northern culture. The incoming aryans, in addition to cultivating their own Sanskrit
idiom, learned the language of the people of the southern and accepted local customs. A now
composite social order was evolved to find suitable places in their elastic pantheon for the many
gods and goddesses cherished by the Dravidian peoples. The exact details of the process may never
be known. A study of early Tamil literature to which we have access, produces the definite
impression that the now influences were widely welcomed and embraced. The changes were
effected peacefully and in an orderly manner. On the other hand, the Ramayana lays stress on the
hostility to the sacrificial religion of Aryan sages, by demons in their repeated assaults on the halls
of sacrifice where they created much confusion and disorder. To secure the safety and peace of
ashrams Lord Rama's intervention was needed to protect the Brahmins. If this part of the story has
any historical basis, it would provide some evidence of initial opposition on the part of at least some
of the older Dravidian inhabitants of the southern land to the incoming culture (Pillai, 1979, p.
257-258).
Agastyar and the Tamil language and grammar
Traditionally Agastyar is considered as the father of the Tamil language and grammar, and the
royal chaplain (kulaguru) of the divine line of Pandiyan rulers. These rulers were the descendants of
Shiva and Parvati who condescended to become the first king and queen of this celebrated line.
Kulasekhara Pandiyan founded the Pandiyan dynasty at South Madurai, the capital of the ancient
Tamilagam, lying far south of the present southernmost point of India.
His treatise on Tamil grammar is said to have contained no less than 12,000 sutras or aphorisms.
Except for some fragments which have been preserved in quotations by Tolkappiyanar in his work
on the same subject, Tolkappiyam, it has not survived. (Pillai, 1979, p. 264)
At what period Agastyar established himself in southern India is not known. It will remain so
until the real date of the existence of the king Kulasekhara Pandiyan, who patronized Agastyar, is
ascertained. All accounts concur in assigning the foundation of the
Pandiyan kingdom at Madurai to Kulasekhara Pandiyan; but they are at considerable variance
with regard to the time when that event happened.
When Agastyar left the court of Kulasekhara Pandiyan, he is stated to have assumed the ascetic
life, and to have retired to the Pothigai Hills, where he is commonly believed to be still living in
anonymity.
There is no clear and specific reference to Agastyar and or his exploits, in any of the early Tamil
works now known. Only some indirect ones are made in the anthologies of the Sangam Age. The
phrase "sage of Pothigai" (Pothigal being the southernmost section of the western Ghats) is an
indication that the legends relating to Agastyar were not unknown in the land at the time. Vasishtha,
the author of the poem Manimckalai, a Buddhist epic, know of his miraculous birth. The same
author also says that Agastyar was a friend of the Chola king, Kanta. At the request of Kanta he
released the Cauvery river from his water pot. Agastyar's abode was in the Pothigai mountains.
Naccinarkkiniyar (1400 A.D.) a commentator of the Middle Ages, narrates (on the authority of a
more ancient writer) that when Havana, the king of the asuras in the Ramayana, came to the
Pothigai Hills, and was tyrannizing the inhabitants of the extreme southern, he was persuaded by
Agastyar to leave that land alone and go to the island of Sri Lanka. (Pillai, 1979, p. 258; Zvolebil,
1973, p. 136)
References to Agastyar's work on Tamil grammar appear rather late. The first occurs in the
legend of the three Sangams, the ancient Tamil literary academies, narrated in the
Iraiyanar-Agapporul Urai, a work of the ninth century A.D. Here Agastyar is mentioned as a leader
of the first and second Sangams, which lasted for 4,400 years and 3,700 year respectively. His work
Agastyam miss aid to have been the grammar of the first Sangam, while that work, together with
the Tolkappiyam and three other works, formed the basis for the second Sangam. According to
fraiyanar-Agapporul Urai, the third Sangam lasted for 1,850 Years. (Pillai, 1979, p. 258-259) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
bizarre form. He would transform his younger brother Vatapi into a male goat and offer his brothers
flesh to the Brahmins as food. After doing so he would suddenly recall Vatapi back to life, who
would rip open the flanks of the Brahmins as he emerged laughing. In this manner the two brothers
killed many Brahmins and, on the occasion of the visit of Agastyar and the three kings, Ilvala tried
to play the same game. He prepared the flesh of Vatapi to entertain them. The kings became
unhappy. Agastyar ate it all, and when Ilvala called for Vatapi to come back, only air came out of
Agastyar's stomach, because Vatapi had been digested. Then Ilvala, becoming unhappy, promised to
give wealth to Agastyar if the latter could tell him what he intended to give. Agastyar was able to
predict Ilvala's intention. The kings and Agastyar returned with the wealth they needed. Vatapi is the
name of the well known fortified city in the western Deccan which was the capital of the early
Chalukyas. This city is now called Badami. This story may be understood to mark the beginning of
Agastyar's connection with southern India. (Pillai, 1979, pg. 255)
The Mahabharata also records the story of Agastyar drinking up the waters of the ocean to enable
the gods (devas) to dispose of their enemies who were hiding under the sea; and of his journey to
southern India on some unspecified business when he prevailed upon the Vindhya mountains to stop
growing until he returned, which however, he never did. The pact with the Vindya mountains and
the drinking of the waters of the ocean have been generally accepted as allegorical representations
of the spread of Aryan culture first to India south of the Vindhyas, and then across the seas to the
islands of the archipelago and to Indo-China. It is supported by other accounts of the life of
Agastyar.
Agastyar and the Aryan Invasion of Southern India
It will be helpful to have some idea of the process and results of the aryanization of southern
India. The difference in language is by no means indicative of differences in race, but only in
culture. It must be borne in mind that what is known as the Aryan culture of northern India is a
composite culture to which significant contributions were made by the Dravidians in its formative
stages in ancient times. Keeping this in mind will solve many puzzles which are considered to be
either unsolvable or solved mistakenly.
With reference to the linguistic map of India today, the languages of northern India and
Maharashtra are clearly various dialects of Sanskrit, or some idiom closely akin to it. These dialects
were formed in the process of it being spoken by different classes of people whose original
language was not Sanskrit. Sounds and words unknown to Sanskrit are frequently found in these
popular dialects. These were undoubtedly derived from the original languages of the Dravidian and
pre-Aryan inhabitants.
But while this was the course of events in Northern India and the western Deccan, it was much
different on the eastern coast and farther south. Aryans had not penetrated in sufficient numbers to
communicate their own civilization to the local inhabitants. They were unable to assimilate them
thoroughly into their own society and to root out their languages and their peculiar civilization.
Most of the population in these parts retained their own speech and customs, and were enriched by
contact with the northern culture. The incoming aryans, in addition to cultivating their own Sanskrit
idiom, learned the language of the people of the southern and accepted local customs. A now
composite social order was evolved to find suitable places in their elastic pantheon for the many
gods and goddesses cherished by the Dravidian peoples. The exact details of the process may never
be known. A study of early Tamil literature to which we have access, produces the definite
impression that the now influences were widely welcomed and embraced. The changes were
effected peacefully and in an orderly manner. On the other hand, the Ramayana lays stress on the
hostility to the sacrificial religion of Aryan sages, by demons in their repeated assaults on the halls
of sacrifice where they created much confusion and disorder. To secure the safety and peace of
ashrams Lord Rama's intervention was needed to protect the Brahmins. If this part of the story has
any historical basis, it would provide some evidence of initial opposition on the part of at least some
of the older Dravidian inhabitants of the southern land to the incoming culture (Pillai, 1979, p.
257-258).
Agastyar and the Tamil language and grammar
Traditionally Agastyar is considered as the father of the Tamil language and grammar, and the
royal chaplain (kulaguru) of the divine line of Pandiyan rulers. These rulers were the descendants of
Shiva and Parvati who condescended to become the first king and queen of this celebrated line.
Kulasekhara Pandiyan founded the Pandiyan dynasty at South Madurai, the capital of the ancient
Tamilagam, lying far south of the present southernmost point of India.
His treatise on Tamil grammar is said to have contained no less than 12,000 sutras or aphorisms.
Except for some fragments which have been preserved in quotations by Tolkappiyanar in his work
on the same subject, Tolkappiyam, it has not survived. (Pillai, 1979, p. 264)
At what period Agastyar established himself in southern India is not known. It will remain so
until the real date of the existence of the king Kulasekhara Pandiyan, who patronized Agastyar, is
ascertained. All accounts concur in assigning the foundation of the
Pandiyan kingdom at Madurai to Kulasekhara Pandiyan; but they are at considerable variance
with regard to the time when that event happened.
When Agastyar left the court of Kulasekhara Pandiyan, he is stated to have assumed the ascetic
life, and to have retired to the Pothigai Hills, where he is commonly believed to be still living in
anonymity.
There is no clear and specific reference to Agastyar and or his exploits, in any of the early Tamil
works now known. Only some indirect ones are made in the anthologies of the Sangam Age. The
phrase "sage of Pothigai" (Pothigal being the southernmost section of the western Ghats) is an
indication that the legends relating to Agastyar were not unknown in the land at the time. Vasishtha,
the author of the poem Manimckalai, a Buddhist epic, know of his miraculous birth. The same
author also says that Agastyar was a friend of the Chola king, Kanta. At the request of Kanta he
released the Cauvery river from his water pot. Agastyar's abode was in the Pothigai mountains.
Naccinarkkiniyar (1400 A.D.) a commentator of the Middle Ages, narrates (on the authority of a
more ancient writer) that when Havana, the king of the asuras in the Ramayana, came to the
Pothigai Hills, and was tyrannizing the inhabitants of the extreme southern, he was persuaded by
Agastyar to leave that land alone and go to the island of Sri Lanka. (Pillai, 1979, p. 258; Zvolebil,
1973, p. 136)
References to Agastyar's work on Tamil grammar appear rather late. The first occurs in the
legend of the three Sangams, the ancient Tamil literary academies, narrated in the
Iraiyanar-Agapporul Urai, a work of the ninth century A.D. Here Agastyar is mentioned as a leader
of the first and second Sangams, which lasted for 4,400 years and 3,700 year respectively. His work
Agastyam miss aid to have been the grammar of the first Sangam, while that work, together with
the Tolkappiyam and three other works, formed the basis for the second Sangam. According to
fraiyanar-Agapporul Urai, the third Sangam lasted for 1,850 Years. (Pillai, 1979, p. 258-259) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]