Karnataka, Kannada

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

 The 'kuRinci' landscape in Sangam texts and its relationship to> naming places
  has been dealt with reference to Poona by Dr. S. Palaniappan
 before.

> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997
> Subject: Re: Translations of Tamil names into Sanskrit
>
> In a message dated 97-04-28 07:36:34 EDT, you write:
>
> <<      Indeed I come from Pu.yapattana or Pu.nyanagarii (= Pune, pu.ne in
>  Marathi). I don't know how old this usage is, but it is commonly seen not
>  only in modern Sanskrit publications from Pune, but often also in Marathi.
>  The old pre-urbanization name of this place was punava.dii.
>   >>
> This is very very interesting. In an article entitled, "Etymology of
> Place-Names PaTTi-HaTTi", in Annals of Bhandarkar Oriental Research
> Institute, S.B. Joshi gives a Dravidian origin for words like, paTTi,
> paTTaNa, haTTi, pADa, vADa, vADi, etc.
>
> As for the first portion, 'puna', DED 3558 lists " puJca" Tamil 'punam'
> upland
> fit for dry cultivation; 'punakkATu' shifting cultivation on the hills;
> 'puncey' land fit for dry cultivation only, dry crop; Malayalam 'punam'  a
> jungle, chiefly highland overrun with underwood and capable of irregular
> cultivation; 'punakkaNTam' as hill-tract; 'puJca' dry crop; 'puJca-kkaNTam'
> field under irrigation, yielding even three harvests. Kannada 'puNaji'
> dust-like dry soil in which a kind of paddy is grown. Tulu 'puJca-kaNDa a
> very good rice-field. Telugu 'punja' land cultivated without artificial
> irrigation, high land."
>
> In Classical Tamil literature one of the important landscape division is
> the
> mountain/hill region (kuRinci) where the girls (heroines) are depicted as
> going to 'punam' or millet-fields to protect them from birds like parrots
> that would otherwise eat the grains. This 'punam' is the place where the
> hero
> meets the heroine and falls in love in the hill-country.
>
> Thus the old name for 'Pune' seems to have meant 'village of uncultivated
> fields in the hills'.
>
> Regards
> S. Palaniappan
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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