Day is night in Dravidian?

[Periannan Chandrasekaran]

--- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD <jlc at CCR.JUSSIEU.FR> wrote:

> A3. it is used inside tolkaappiyam to refer to some "special
> days/dates"
>   like the nakSatra paraNi (=bharaNI, T.Lex) according to iLampUraNar
>   but this does not mean it was its main use
>
For the other cUttiram, maka [magha] naks2atra was cited as an example.
Note here that nAL here more specifically means daily lunar asterism.
nAL mIn2 [astral body] vs. kOL mIn2 [planetary body].

> A4. There is at least one place where it can refer (with a specifier)
>   to night time (according to UVS): it is Kuruntokai 332-1
>   vanta vATaic cil peyaR kaTai nAL
>    "late at night, when cold winds blow, and drizzling rain falls"
>     (transl. Ludden & Shanmugam Pillai, 1976)
>    [= ... nALin2 kaTaiyAmattil (U.V.S.)]
>
In addition to the places I have quotes already, the following very
unambiguously indicates the usage of nAL in the sense of night:
kuRuntokai: 145.3-5
"... pAn2AL
tuJcAtu uRainaroTu ucAvAt
tuyil kaN mAkkaLoTu neTTirA uTaittE".

"[this town] ...has long nights that are full of beings with sleepy
eyes that do not care to enquire [about the welfare of] those who are
sleepless at midnight" [rA.Raghava Iyengar]

pAn2AL = pAl nAL = divided night  = mid night
neTTirA = neTTu irA = long night

Chandra

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