viRaliyar (Musicians in the Near East)

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 2/2/2001 4:21:40 PM Central Standard Time,
naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

> In Tamil sangam poetry, the viRaliyar, the female minstresses
>  are often described in erotic terms, and they are said to be
>  scantily clad.

Is "minstresses" a Freudian slip? :-)

In any case, for the sake of members like Prof. Roebuck, it will be good if
Dr. Ganesan can provide translations of the texts quoted below and
demonstrate the eroticism he talks of. Of course, he can give his thesis some
logical basis, if he can show that descriptions similar to the following are
not used in case of women other than viRaliyar. And let the discussion be
confined to CT please.

>
>       entu kOTTu alkul mukiz nakai maTavaral
>       kUntal viRaliyar vazagkuka aTuppu E
>                                           - pati. 18:5-6
>
>       pANTil viLakku parUu cuTar azala
>       nal nutal viRaliyar ATum
>
>                                           - pati. 47:6-7
>
>       aTi varunta neTitu ERiya
>       koTi marugkul viRaliyar um E
>                                           - puRa. 139:3-4
>
>       vIgku iRai taTaIya amai maruL paNai tOL
>       Entu ezil mazai kaN van2aintu varal iLa mulai
>       pU tukil alkul tEm pAy kUntal
>       min2 izai viRaliyar nin2 maRam pATa
>
>                                            - pati. 54:3-6
>
>       izai aNi polinta Entu kOTTu alkul
>       maTavaral uN kaN vAL nutal viRali
>
>                                            - puRa. 89:1-2
>

Regards
S. Palaniappan