Smearing the Drums

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

The manuscript-based reasons for choosing the reading 'kaLiRu peRu valci'
in naR.310 have been stated already in the earlier post.

In a message dated 1/21/2001 10:45:20 AM Central Standard Time,
naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

> There are many examples of gifts of cow-calf 'kaRRA' pair
>  to brahmins, poets, ...

These are irrelevant to the present discussion involving the bards. Or
according to Ganesan, were the life and status of CT bards equivalent to that
of the post-CT brahmins and poets?

> Let me just cite two exapmples:
>
>  a) Gifting calf-cow pair to brahmins is
>  mentioned in an ancient poem cited in the
>  TolkAppiyam commentary (tol. poruL. 90. nac.)
>
>  vELvinilai
>
>  pon2n2iRainta poRkOTTup poRkuLampiR *kaRRA*tan
>  tin2makizA n2antaNarai yin2puRuppar - cen2n2itan2
>  mAnilamE yAn2ulakam pOn2Ratu vAn2RukaLpOrt
>  tAn2ulaka maNNulakA man2Ru.

This is most likely a post-CT poem. What is being offered to the brahmins
here is a gold cow with a gold calf and not a single real live calf.  Clearly this looks like a hiraNyagarbha ceremony. Is this brahminic ceremony a justifiable evidence for building the case for the bard receiving a calf, skinning it, and using the leather for making a drum? In any case, we are not
seeking the justification for the reading "kaRRA peRu valci"  but rather
"kan2Ru peRu valci".

>
>  b) In medieval times, a bard seeking kaRRA pair
>  from Vallaik kALatti MutaliyAr:
>
>    peRRA LorupiLLai yen2man2ai yATTiyap piLLaikkuppAl
>    paRRAtu kaJci kuTikkun taraman2Ru pAlirakkac
>    ciRRALu millaiyiv vellA varuttamun tIravoru
>    *kaRRA* taravallai yOvallai mAnakark kALattiyE!
>
>  The poet describing his wife giving birth, and the
>  pitiable poverty description of his homefront etc.,
>  are highly reminiscent of Sangam poems of the
>  wandering minstrels. In this poem he seeks explicitly
>  a cow-calf pair to feed the infant.

Apart from the objections raised earlier, this kind of justification is anachronistic.  Also, there is no evidence of a bard requesting a calf as a gift. But I have already given examples of bards seeking elephants as gifts. Even by this logic, kan2Ru  is not a winner, but kaLiRu is.

Regards
S. Palaniappan