Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.-1

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

Considering its length, I am splitting the posting into multiple parts.

In a message dated 1/5/99 1:02:49 PM Central Standard Time,
chris_fernand90 at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

> But "in the language of the dAkSiNAtyas",
>  with the use of the definite article, means that the Classical
>   authors  were using the term dAkSiNAtyas to refer to the
>  speakers of one particular language.

I agree. While theoretically dAkSiNAtyas could mean southerners in general,
the references given by Aklujkar lead to the conclusion that for this group of
Classical authors cited, the dAkSiNAtyas were Tamil speakers. If one were to
wonder why specifically Tamil speakers were indicated by the term dAkSiNAtyas,
a valid reason can be given.

In the inscription South Indian Inscriptions Volume 14, No. 87, I cited
earlier, the name of the officer who was well-versed in mahAbhASya was
"ten2n2avan2 tamizavEL". The first word in his name "ten2n2avan2" means "the
southern one" and could be described in Sanskrit as "dAkSiNAtya". The second
word in the name "tamiza" is an adjectival form of Tamil or "drAviDa". (If a
dot is implied orthographically over "za", then it could be the nominal form
tamiz.)

Is it a coincidence that we have a person (well-versed in mahAbhASya) named
the equivalent of dAkSiNAtya dRAviDa? No. SII vol.14, is a collection of
Pandiyan inscriptions. From ancient times, the Pandiyan kings were known as
"ten2n2avar" or "ten2n2ar" (southern ones)  the singular form being
"ten2n2avan". And Pandiyan royal officials had the pre-fix title "ten2n2avan"
conferred on them. For instance, the zaivite saint mANikkavAcakar who was said
to be a minister of the Pandiyan king bore the title "ten2n2avan
piramarAyan2". The land ruled by them was called "ten2 pulam" (southern
land/region) or "ten2 nATu" (southern country). The "potiyil" mountain
(potalaka) is in the Pandiyan country. In fact Pandiyan king was called
"ten2n2am poruppan2" or the one of  southern mountain. potiyil was also called
"ten2 malai" or southern mountain. Compare this with the  usages in Sanskrit.
According to Monier Wiiliams, dakSiNAcala is the malaya mountain which is
another name for potiyil.

Regards
S. Palaniappan