Are the gods literate?

[N. Ganesan]

Tamil Saiva tradition values three poems as 'Siva's letters;
a) Kuruntokai no. 2 to a Pandya king (a thiruviLaiyADal episode)
b) A recommendation letter on behalf of a PaNan(bard) to a
Chera king and c) A poem in the brief veNpA meter to Umaapati
Sivaachariyar asking him to give dhiiksha to an Untouchable saint.

In Tamil literature, Chitraguptan is the assistant to Yama
(ta. iyaman). He maintains the database of the deeds of
all beings. Chitraguptan has an annual festival dedicated to him,
and, that day is special to the caste of accountants (karuNIkar).
Initially, potters (ta. vELAr) developing writing, and branches
of them transforming to Accountants(kAyasth/kulkarNi/karuNikar) and
bhRgu/bhaargava brahmins can be found in the archives from the
writings of Dr. Palaniappan. Also, he has given the etymology of
gaNaka, gaNi, karNi, ... to be from Dravidian. Thousand year old
commentaries on TolkAppiyam has stories of tensions between
potters and accountants.

OTOH, Sangam texts describe Vedas as "ezutAk kiLavi" (Unwritten Word).

Yrs,
N. Ganesan



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