Are the gods literate?

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

Tamil ziva is indeed literate.

There are some other stories regarding ziva in the Tamil zaivism
demonstrating ziva's literacy. For instance, the episode of ziva preventing
cuntarar's wedding involves ziva producing a document showing that cuntarar
was his slave.

Even more interesting is the story involving ziva at tiruvoRRiyUr. He is
called ezuttaRiyum perumAn2, the Lord who is literate. A brief sketch of the
story is this. A king who wanted to die asked his accountant to reduce
endowments to all ziva temples. The accountant revised all the accounts to
reflect that. But the next day, when they looked at the ledger, they were
surprised to find that there was an insertion to the effect " excepting the
temple at tiruvoRRiyUr". Of course, the endowment to tiruvoRRiyUr was not
reduced!

The following verses in periyapurANam (12th century) allude to this story.

maruL koTum tozil man2n2avan2 iRakkiya variyai
nerukki mun2 tiruvoRRiyUr nIgka en2Ru ezutum
oruttar tam perum kOyilin2 oru puRam cUznta
tirup parappaiyum uTaiya at tiraik kaTal varaippu             (per. 1116)

ezutAta maRai aLitta ezuttu aRiyum perumAn2ait
tozuta Arvam uRa nilattil tOyntu ezuntE agkam ellAm
muzutu Aya paravacattin2 mukiztta mayirkkAl mUzka
vizutArai kaN poziya vitirppu uRRu vimmin2Ar                 (per. 1600)

ETTu variyil oRRiyUr nIgkal en2n2a ezuttu aRiyum
nATTa malarum tiru nutalAr naRum pon2 kamalac cEvaTiyil
kUTTum uNarvu koNTu ezuntu kOtu il icai kUTap
pATTum pATi paravi en2um patikam eTuttup pATin2Ar     (per. 3358)

Compared to the oral/aural orthodox Sanskrit tradition, the Tamil tradition
has always emphasized literacy w.r.t reading and writing. Texts also
pointedly contrast the unwritten Sanskrit Vedas and written Tamil Vedas
(tamizAl ezutu maRai, i.e., the tEvAram hymns). Obviously, their ziva has to
be literate! Note the description in the second verse which refers to the
Lord who is literate (ezuttu aRiyum perumAn2) who bestowed the unwritten
Vedas (ezuTata maRai).

Regards
S. Palaniappan