Few questions (vEL pAri)

[N. Ganesan]

9/30/97
                Re: Few Questions
               *******************

I thought the word maTTam in maTTakkaLappu denotes "flat/of the
same level". Is the town, maTTakkaLappu (Batticola) in plain
fields? May be, Prof. A. Veluppillai can tell us.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

>>Once AthisEshan and vAyu bahavAn wanted to test who the strongest; Then,
>>AthisEshan wrapped the mERu mountain by his body, and by his force vAyu
>>hurled three pieces; one is tirukkONamalai (aka tadshaNakailAyam), the other
>>two are thiruvaNNAmalai and thiruvAnaikkA (not sure of the third).


>        Actually, Thiru KodungunRam @ PaRambu Malai of Pari VEL: is
>        one of the places that claim to have this sort of origin, i.e.,
>        the contest of strength betweem Aadi SEshan and Vaayu.
>        This story is found in the sthalapuraanam called "ThirukkodungunRa
>        Maanmiyam".
>        That is why it is also called "PrachaNda Giri" and "ChaNdaadri".
>        Vaayu is also known as ChaNda and PrachaNda.
>        There is an inscription which is in part Sanskrit,  belonging to
>        Jatavarman Sundara Paandiya ThEvar (1257 A.D.). It starts  "Samastha
>        jagadh aadhaara sOma kula thilaka etc". It mentions that the
>        Paandiyan Emperor built a lofty tower which stopped the sun
>        and the moon on their tracks. This tower, he built for the temple
>        dedicated to  "Chandaadhri Pathi" which is one of the names
>        for the Lord Mangai Baagar of the temple.
>        At present, the place is called Piranmalai and is situated in the
>        Sivagangai District of Tamilnadu.

In  tamizt talapurANam  genre, it is not unusual to find the same legend
being repeated for a few places. The same story is told for atleast 5 or 6
hill temples.


  vEL pAri
  ********
I have read that the attribution of paRampu malai to
KodunkunRam is wrong. Tevaram saints don't call
the Siva there as "paariiccurattaanE". They always call the hill
as KondungkunRam. (Steep hill?) and not as paRampu malai at all.
That region is very arid and dry. It does not fit the
descriptions found in Sangam literature. It is piraan malai,
the hill of Sivaperumaan.

There is a saying that none can beat the poems of Kapilar,
a good friend of vEL Paari, in extolling Nature, the forests
of mountains. May be because Kapilar knows well the tropical forests
of Pari. (karutum kuRinji kapilar)

puRam 109 song starting as "aLitO taanE pAriyatu paRampE",
says "vaan kaNaRRavan malaiyE,  vaanattu mInkaNaRRavan cunaiyE"
The hills must be high, acc. to the above song.

puRam 105 says that Pari's hills have many waterfalls, even when
rains fail for years together. There are bamboo thickets, sandalwood
forests etc.,

"pAri paRampil paniccuvait taNNIr"  kuRum. 196

"kaivaN pAri tImperum painjcunai" akam. 78

"pEricai uRumoTu mAri muRRiya palkuTaik kaLLin
vaNmakiz pAri palavuRu kunRam" naRRiNai 253

Ramnad district is a dry place unfit for the above expressions.

Kapilar has sung paRampu, kolli, muLLUrk kaanam, all nearby places.
There is a small town, Paariyuur near Sathyamangalam.
The tropical forests of the region Gobichetti Palayam,
Bannari and Sathyamangalam fit the description of sangam poets
very well. Additionally, we have Paariyuur too. The mountains
go upto 4000 feet! So, many say that this is the paRampu hills.

On the other hand, there are two 13th century inscriptions
saying the region near Piranmalai is "tenpaRampa n^aaTu".
They have to be studied carefully. There is Atiyarkku Nallar
commentary claiming TiruccengOTu as the place where Kannaki
spent her last days. On the contrary, it looks a hill in the
Theni, Kambam area has been proved to be Kannaki's temple.
It may be like this.

Seems like, despite the early 20th century writings of Sriman M. Raghavaiyangar
in his book vELir varalaaRu, paRampu malai of Paari
is at the intersection of Karnataka & Tamil Naadu,
rather than Piranmalai.

Can Dr. Jayabarathi tell me some references which claim
Pari lived in Piranmalai?

Regards,
N. Ganesan
ganesans at uhcl2.cl.uh.edu