maRai, its meaning; WHOSE VEDA? - Bhaashya

[jlc at ccr.jussieu.fr]

One additionnal information on the word maRai
as it is used in tolkAppiyam (T) and its commentaries.


1. in the preface of T, attributed to pan_ampAraz_Ar,
 we meet with the expression
   "... nAn_ maRai muRRiya
    ataGkOTTu AcaRku ..."

 {the expression is translated by Kamil Zvelebil [JTS-1, 1972]
  as:
    "...of the Teacher of AtaGkOTu
    ripe in the wisdom of the Four Vedas"   )

  He probably relies on the commentary of iLampUraNar (XII cent.),
  which says: "nAn_ku vEtattin_aiyum muRRavuNarnta ataGkOTu
  en_kin_Ra Urin_ Acan_ukku" }
    
      
2. in the first book of T (el_uttatikAram)
 we meet with (references given according to Rajam edition):

 a.  "... icaiyoTu civaNiya
     narampin_ maRaiya ..." (1, 33)

 b.  "... antaNar maRaittu" (3, 20)

 {Zvelebil (loc.cit.) translates
   a. "in books on vocal and instrumental music"
   b. "in the secret scriptures of the antaNar"

  iLampUraNar's commentary says
    a. "kural mutaliya El_icaiyOTu poruntiya narampin_aiyuTaiya
        yAl_in_atu icainURkaNNum"
    b. "pArppAr vEtattuk kaNNatu"

  naccin_Arkkin_iyar's commentary (XIV cent.) says:
    a. "yAl_ nUl iTattan_a"
    b. "pArppAratu vEtattu uLatE"  }
 
-- Jean-Luc Chevillard
   (CNRS, Universite' Paris7)

>What is the meaning of maRai in Tamil?
>
>maRai = concealment (puRanA.50); secret (kuRaL, 590); the vEdas, as secret
>(tol.ezhut.102). It would appear that the secrecy is the key attribute of
>the vedic
>tradition continued by the siddhas of Tamil alchemical lore. In Tamil vedi-iyal
>connotes alchemy.
>
>The links with veda and Tamil may also be found thru Malayalam.
>
>Dr. Kalyanaraman, Indus Sarasvati Research Centre, Madras.
>mdsaaa48 at giasmd01.VSNL.net.in

>>
>>An interesting related point is that the Tamil word used in this
>>connection is not vEda but *maRai*, which has been fittingly translated in
>>French by *Arcanes* (F. Gros). Whether the word was supposed to refer to
>>the veda itself, or was a generic term for important, esoteric texts is
>>not clear. 
>>
>>
>>                                Satyanad Kichenassamy
>>                                School of Mathematics
>>                                University of Minnesota
>