Tevaram readings (was Re: madhura subhASiNI of mAyUram)

[N. Ganesan]

Thanks, Dr. J-L. Chevillard for checking with Sri TVG.

Checking Tevaram, The Goddess Umai is called aJcolaaL
in 4 places. In spite of the old print editions,
TVG has made the correction 'aJcolaaL' into 'aJcalaaL'.
Perhaps, the current name 'abhayAmbA' may have played a role in this.
It will be good to see what the Chola inscriptions say.

The four places where aJcalaaL occurs in Tevaram are:

1)  majncar tAm malarkoTu vAn2avar vaNagkiTa
    vejncolAr vETarOTu ATavar virumpavE
    aJcolAL umaiyoTum amarvu iTam aNi kalaic
    ^^^^^^^
    cejn colAr payiltarum tiru mutukun2RamE.

2) nejncin2ait tUymai ceytu nin2aikkumA nin2aippiyAtE
   vajncamE ceytiyAlO vAn2avar talaivan2E nI;
   majncu aTai cOlait tillai malku ciRRampalattE
   aJcolAL kANa nin2Ru azaka nI ATum ARE
   ^^^^^^^
3) vejncin2a veLUrti uTaiyAy pORRi viricaTaimEl veLLam paTaittAy pORRi
   tujncAp palitErum tOn2RAl pORRi tozutakai tun2pam tuTaippAy pORRi
 najncu oTugkum kaNTattu nAtA pORRi nAlmaRaiyOTu ARu agkam An2Ay pORRi
   aJcolAL pAkam amarntAy pORRi alai keTila vIraTTattu ALvAy pORRi
   ^^^^^^^
4)  veJcin2ak kaTum kAlan2 viraikilAn2;
    aJcu iRappum piRappum aRukkalAm; -
    maJcan2, mA mayilADu tuRaiyuRai
    aJcolAL umai paGkan2 aruLilE!
    ^^^^^^^
In all the above places, Uma is said to have 'sweet speech'.
madhura vacanAmbikA/subhASiNI would be more literal rendering.

I was going through the epithets used by Tevaram authors
to describe Parvati. In about 140 places, Uma's feminine
qualities, similies to her body parts are used and Nowhere,
Tevaram speaks of Uma bestowing 'abhaya'. For example,
the 'madhura vacana' aspect of Parvati can be seen in the
following phrases from Tevaram:

Goddess - Temple site:
----------------------
karumpu amaru mozi maTavAL - kOyil (Chidambaram)
kuyil Arum men2 moziyAL - maNaJcEri
karumpoTu paTum colin2 maTantai - puRampayam
maTa mozi maGkai - vEtikuTi
paNNin2 nEr moziyAL - karukAvUr
paN taTavu colli - tEvUr
yAzan2a mozi umai - viLamar
tEn2 mozip pAvai - kOTTUr
pAlin2 moziyAL - vAymUr
yAzaip pazittan2n2a mozi maGkai - maRaikkATu
aJcol aNiyizai - paraGkun2Ru
tEn2il poli moziyAL - koTumkun2Ram
tEn2 amarum mozi mAtu - koTumuTi
iLamkiLLai arivai - acciRupAkkam(Whose speech is as sweet as a parrot).

>Because of so many parallels, I submit that 'aJcolAL' is the
>old, original name of the Goddess at Maayuuram.
>Mistaking it as 'aJcalAL', it was translated as
>'abhayAmbA'. Note that Goddess is never described
>in Tevaram with the function of giving abhaya/anjal.
>
>In the French Institute of Pondichery, Tevaram edition
>T. V. Gopal Iyer has corrected this to be 'aJcalAL".
>But old Tevaram editions call this term 'aJcolAL'.
>May be the underlying assumption is Sanskrit name ought
>to be correct.

>>Comparing the Tamil originals to Sanskrit renderings
>>will yield interesting data.

With kind regards,
N. Ganesan




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