Q. avattam

[Vasudha Narayanan]

> For the meaning requested the Madras Tamil Lexicon has the following
> entrance:
>
> avattam2, n. prob ava-sthaa.  Evil, calamity; keeTu. avatta.nkaL
> viLaiyum (tiv. tiruvaay. 10, 3, 9).
>
> I guess the reference is maNavALamAmun_ikaL, tiruvAymol_i nURRantAti,
> cen_n_ai:  kaNEca accukkUTam, 1920.
>
The reference is to Nammalvar's Tiruvaymoli 10.3.9:
...akappaTil avarOTum ninnoTu AnkE avattankaL viLaiyum

The general meaning of avattam here is "awful things" will come to pass. For
a full translation of this set of verses and Pillan's (11th century)
manipravala commentary see my book (co authored with John Carman): The Tamil
Veda: Pillan's interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli (Univ. of Chicago press, 1989).
Vasudha Narayanan