potters, brahmins, and RSis (contd.)

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 97-10-05 17:42:17 EDT, mahadevasiva at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

<<I believe that this has been discussed by the sociologist M.N.Srinivas
 in his "Sanskritization" process but I'd be surprised if we found this
 phenomenon as early as the period that is refered to as "Ancient
 History"(<800 C.E.)...

 As far as I can tell, around the time that the word "angIras" came into
 play(think this word is mentioned in texts belonging to the "manusmr~ti"
 *period*), was there this kind of urge/tendency for caste mobility? and
 consequently were all these derivations for high sounding caste names
 valid in this historical period?.....

 According to the Tamil lexicon( the six volume behemoth published by U
 MAdras in 1936), the word "aggi" is mentioned as occuring in the
 "tiruviLai"( abbreviated form) which I take to be
 tiruviLaiyATArpurANam(I saw no explanation in the preface for the
 abbreviations of specific texts)...this is traced(atleast in parts) by
 Dr William Harman as belonging to the literary period of the
 CilappatikAram, whose date he accepts as the fifth century C.E. Even
 allowing for this, I believe it can be shown that the word does occur in
 Samskrt before that(can't give you a reference off hand other than my
 memory of seeing it in some part of the manusmrti), which would mean
 that the word occured in samskrt before it occured in Tamil......

 I also would like to know as to what significance fire had( if any)
 in the rituals of the ancient Tamils? I see a parallel between
 Palaniappans trying to trace the etymology of angirasa from tamil aggi
 and the tracing of the names of certain kinds of flowers in Sanskrit to
 Tamil by Hart( as an example, we have Tamil kuvaLai-sanskrit kuvalaya);
 here Hart proves that flowers were very important and a must in the
 ancient rituals of the Tamils and were absent in the corresponding vedic
 texts. You have mentioned something about Harappa
 but did fire ( or pottery, related to the fire in terms of manufacture)
 play an important part in ancient Tamil worship ritual?  >>

One of the standard themes of Chola inscriptions is to link the kings to
solar race and the famous Sibi who is said to have given refuge to a dove and
gave his own flesh instead to the eagle pursuing the dove. This story is
found in PuRanAn2URu 43. The interesting story in the poem relates an
incident when the author, a brahmin by name tAmappalkaNNan2Ar and a Chola
prince mAvaLattAn2 were playing a game. In the poem, the poet praises the
prince as a descendant of Sibi without mentioning the name Sibi.  If Cholas
really did not have anything to do with Sibi, then here we have evidence of
linking them to Sanskritic myths very early on. Another poem is even more
interesting.

PuRam 201 describes the poet kapilar calling himself an 'antaNan2' (usually
interpreted as brahmin)  taking the daughters of pAri after pAri's death to
the chieftain iruGkOvEL of erumaiyUr or present Mysore region. Kapilar
praises him as belonging to the 49th generation descendant of a king who was
born in the sacrificial pit of a northern muni and ruled in Tuvarai (dvArakA)
with a fort made with copper. The western portion of peninsular India
especially Karnataka and Maharashtra was called "vEL pulam" in Tamil (or the
land of the vELs). The etymology of "vEL" is very important to the study of
Indian pre-history. vEL occurs in the following contexts:

vEL - to desire, sacrifice
vEL - chieftain
vELvi - sacrifice
vEL kO - potter
iruGkOvEL - name of a chieftain
vENTu - to pray, request
vELANmai - agriculture
vELALar - agriculturists, a caste
vETTam - hunt
vETTal - sacrificing
vETTal -desiring
vETTuvar - hunter
kO - king
kO - poTTer

vEL is involved with all the primary activities associated with early
cultures. We have to figure out why potters are called 'kO' which also means
king/chieftain. In a poem, PuR. 228, the poet asks a potter who is making the
burial urn to inter the Chola king, "O potter (kO) who makes the pot  in the
tall kiln with spreading dark smoke, you are to be pitied...". Here the Chola
king is described as a descendant of "cempiyar" another name of Cholas.

In short, attempts by poets to link Tamil kings with northern mythical beings
has started very early. A Chola king was called the perunaRkiLLi who
performed rAjasUya. A Pandya king was described as having many yAgazAlAs. So
the beginnings of Sanskritization goes back a long time.

As for the word "aGki" (G as in aGgiras)  pronounced as "aGgi", as I said
earlier, it occurs in CT text paTTin2ppAlai line which reads

avircaTai munivar aGki vETkum
Avuti naRumpukai munaiik kuyiltam        (paT.54-55)

This form "aGki" also occurs in paripATal, and cilappatikAram and so on. I am
not saying "aGki" is Dravidian. I am saying it was a borrowing of IA "agni".

As for your question of evidence of fire in worship rituals of native Tamils,
I do not see any evidence. The potters are associated with firing pots in
kilns as shown above and sacrificing as mentioned in earlier posting, but the
worship rituals are silent about the presence of any fires. The name
"kuyavan2" (potter) and "kuy" (adding seasoning (?) during cooking with
accompanying smoke) seem to be based on a root kuy- which might have a basic
meaning of heating/causing to smoke. In this sense, the name kuyavan2 potter
might have some connection with fire.

Some of the hierarchical relationships existing in pre-historic times has
been discussed by D. D. Kosambi in "The Autochthonous Element in the
MahAbhArata, in an article in the Journal of the American Oriental Society
vol.84, p.31-44. He says in p.41, "The Brahmins as a caste have no special
function in the Rgvedic hymns which they preempted later as their own special
property. The Kazyapas have clear connection with aborigines through the
prajApati myths and also the tortoise totem which their name indicates. It is
very well known that agood many of the spurious Brahmins claim the Kazyapa
gotra. The interdict which HiraNyakesin-satyASADha (H. zrauta-sUtra 10.4)
places upon the Kazyapas and kaNvas at feasts to the manes is no longer
observed; but it cannot have been accidental. There is a clear-cut rule that
if the child's gotra be unknown, the Kazyapa gotra may unhesitatingly be
ascribed. Lastly, if a child be born of a marriage between forbidden degrees,
one rule would make it an outcaste CaNDAla while the other, seemingly more
generous , says that it should be assigned to the gens Kazyapa. This
discrepancy is not so great as it seems, for the CaNDAlas were a tribe (or
several tribes) that became a low caste, due to stubborn persistence in
breaking tabus kept by good Aryan; the Kazyapas on the other hand rose slowly
from their ambiguous position." Thus the pressure to Aryanize to gain upward
social mobility must have existed long back.

Prof. Alf Hiltebeitel has pointed out Madeleine Biardeau's article where she
discusses the incongruity of the PaNDavas staying in a potter's house in
PAJcAla while they are disguised as brahmins (in light of the presence of
potter-priests in South India) and the possibility of some basic
compatibility between the two groups.

Regards

S. Palaniappan