Re. dakSiNAmUrti -2

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

That "pin2n2ar" in maturaikkAJci refers to disciples/followers is the right
interpretation can be seen from the following kantapurANam lines.

muntai vEtam muzutum uNarttiyE
entai Eka iru nilam pOntu tam
cintai on2Rum tiRan2 aritu Atalin2
nontu pin2n2arum nERRalai mEyin2Ar  (kantapurANam 471)

Thus the presence of the zaivite followers of the dakSiNAmUrti cult at potiyil
mountain must have been a significant and well-known aspect of the Tamil
region from very early times. The name kuRRAlam, the location of the famous
waterfalls in potiyil, means "a short banyan tree". As we all know, the banyan
tree is an integral part of the dakSiNAmUrti motif. The other name of the
mountain at kuRRAlam is tirikUTamalai (=Skt. trikUTa)

It is this mythical/cult motif of dakSiNAmUrti as a teacher teaching his
students/followers at potiyil, along with the real world existence of
grammarians such as tolkAppiyan2 and the teacher of ataGkOTu in the nearby
area which must have given birth to the myth of ziva teaching Tamil to agastya
towards the end of the Classical Tamil period.

On the potiyil mountain, there must have been some sculptural representation
of this motif which was interpreted as avalokitezvara by Buddhists. The
similarities between some dakSiNAmUrti and avalokitezvara forms are striking.
This is probably the basis for Hieun Tsang's statement regarding Potalaka.
Further implications of this will be discussed later in the thread, "Kashmir,
Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc."

Regards
S. Palaniappan