River Krishna

[Chandrasekaran, Periannan]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Venkatraman Iyer [mailto:venkatraman_iyer at HOTMAIL.COM]
r Telugu texts miss this meaning?
>
> porunai, as in taNporunai and Aan2porunai, seems to come from
> the verb 'poru' , like aaRu < aRu as pointed out by Prof. Selvakumar.
> Even a Sangam poet is named after a famous phrase he employs in
> a poem - "kal poru ciRu nurai".
>

More research in the pattuppATTu reveals that
in additon to the nromally expected sense of
"to fight or to slap against etc." the following sense is also
common in sangam era classical Tamil texts as shown
below mostly from the [ten long] poems from the anthology "pattuppATTu".

Ta. poru = to cut, to incise, to corrode,  to chisel
Ta. poRi = to mark as by  etching, impressing

This also goes well with the Ta. "ARu" < Ta. aRu = to cut theory
quoted by Prof.C.R.Sevakumar.
peNNai < porunai.




"vain nuti poruta vaTu Az vari nutal" (tirumurukARRuppaTai: 78)
-->"the  forehead [of the elephant vehicle of murukan2]
that has the spots with the impressions from the *cutting* of the sharp
pointed goad [aGkucam]"


Note: this is the translation of the commentator naccin2Arkkin2iyar.
taken page: 45 of "pattuppATTu mUlamum uraiyum" [the ten long poems:
source text and commentary] authored by UVS Iyer, thrid edition 1931;
photocopied reproduction/publication by Tamil University, Tanjore 1986.
I reproduce the original tamil text by n.in2iyar:
" kUrmaiyuTaittAkiya tOTTi veTTin2a vaTuvazuttin2a pukaraiyuTaiya
mattakattaittE"

here: veTTin2a < veTTu = to cut

"ayil uLi poruta ..." (ciRupANARRuppaTai: 52-3)
->"deeply cut by the sharp chisel ... "
again n.in2iyar's.

many  transformations similar to this are common and have become
idomatic in classical Tamil.
Ta. pANan2 < Ta. pATunan2;
Ta. cONATu < Ta. chOza  nATu. (auvaiyAR: "cONATu cORuTaittu")
Here the retroflex "N" replaces a sequence of sounds.

Ta. poRi = to imprint, to impress, to etch...
----------------------------------
"mAn2 aTi poRitta  mayaGku atar marGkin2" (perumpANARRuppaTai: 106)
->"the path with impressions of the feet of deer [or foot prints]"

"valampuri poRitta mA tAGku taTakk kai" (mullaippATTu: 2)
->"the long arms with finger prints of valampuri [conch with
clockwise turns] and embracing tirumakaL (or lakshmi)"

"viTar cilai poRitta viRalOn2 " (cilappatikAram: 28: 136)
-->"the valorous one who etched the cEra's royal insignia of bow
on the big mountain [himAlaya].."

Hope this helps the discussion even further.
Chandra