SV: creation of human kind

[Narayan S. Raja]

On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, N. Ganesan wrote:

>  The Alvar's words: "pArttan2 tan2 tEr mun2 nin2RAn2ai" -
> It means "the guy who stood in front of Arjuna's chariot".
> It simply means Krishna as Arjuna's Charioteer.


Two comments/questions:

1.  As you mentioned,

    "pArttan2 tan2 tEr mun2 nin2RAn2ai" simply means:
    "the person who stood in front of Arjuna's chariot"

    But this can mean two things -- standing (on the ground)
    in front of the chariot; or, standing on the chariot
    at the front.

    In modern Tamil, the more natural interpretation
    would be standing on the ground in front of the
    chariot.  E.g., if I said "Bus mun nirpavan" it would
    be a lot more natural to interpret it as "the person standing
    (in the road) in front of the bus" rather than "the person
    standing in the front part of the bus".  But possibly,
    the Tamil of the Alvars has to be interpreted
    differently since it isn't modern Tamil.


2.  Is there a special significance to "nin2RAn2", i.e.,
    "stood"?  Did charioteers usually stand or sit?

    If charioteers usually sat while driving, "nin2RAn2",
    i.e., "stood", seems significant.  It would seem to
    indicate an activity other than driving the chariot.
    E.g., talking to Arjuna.

Regards,


Raja.