[INDOLOGY] Re: aruvi āmpal

Wed Mar 3 08:13:13 UTC 2021

Yesterday I did not have time to search for other instances of the phrase aruvi āmpal. This morning I had, and found the same combination in Akanāṉūṟu  96:

.... ammul̥ neṭunkoṭi

aruvi āmpal akal aṭai tuṭakki

which Hart translates as follows:

"their fine thorns <    > twine around the wide leaves of āṃpal growing in the water."

("water" translates aruvi, "waterfall". Better: "wild water". The point, as in Patiṟṟupattu 63, is its destructive character)

So my interpretation of āmpal as loud noise was premature, and in my translation of aṭaiyaṭuppaṟiyā I had better followed the (modern) commentator)of the edition I used, who translates aṭai with ilai, "leaf".

All this does not affect my intention, which was to show that āmpal is not used in the meaning "high number", but in one of its (most) regular meanings.

I feel have more reasons than others to be ashamed for not having searched for parallel passages before posting the message. One of the main points in my recent review article on the way Old Tamil Caṅkam poetry is approached, and translated, (Orientalistische Literatur Zeitung 115/4-5 (2020), pp. 287-305) is that the available indexes to this poetic corpus are hardly ever consulted, which results in many inimitable ad hoc solutions. So yesterday I added one of my own

Herman

Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>
________________________________
Van: Jean-Luc Chevillard <jean-luc.chevillard at univ-paris-diderot.fr>
Verzonden: dinsdag 2 maart 2021 17:20:02
Aan: indology at list.indology.info
Onderwerp: [INDOLOGY] Re: aruvi āmpal

Dear Herman,

in Piṅkalam 3133, we obtain some (incomplete) information concerning the
polysemy of āmpal.

இசையின் குழலுங் கள்ளு மூங்கிலு
மல்லியும் யானையு மாம்ப லாகும்.

icaiyiṉ kuḻaluṅ kaḷḷu mūṅkilu
malliyum yāṉaiyu māmpa lākum.

Modern editors extract these items,
as representing 5 meanings of āmpal

icaiyiṉ kuḻal --> icaikkuḻal
kaḷ
mūṅkil
alli
yāṉai

The need for the specifier icai in icaiyiṉ kuḻal (replaced by icaikkuḻal
in the modern gloss) comes from the fact that kuḻal itself is polysemic,
as explained by Piṅkalam 3407

இருபான் மயிரு மிசையின் கருவியுந்
தொளையுடைப் பொருளுங் குழலென் றாகும்.

irupāṉ mayiru micaiyiṉ karuviyun
toḷaiyuṭaip poruḷuṅ kuḻaleṉ ṟākum.

Modern editors extract these items,
as representing 4 meanings of kuḻal

irupāṉ mayir --> āṇ mayir & peṇ mayir
icaiyiṉ karuvi --> icaik karuvi
toḷaiyuṭaip poruḷ

On the basis of this, I would understand that Piṅkalam 3133 (if
completed by Piṅkalam 3407) enumerates 5 meanings for āmpal
-- musical instrument
-- toddy (if MTL interpretes Piṅ. correctly)
-- bamboo
-- Water-lily, nymphaea lotus; (if MTL interpretes Piṅ. correctly)
-- elephant

That leaves out 6 of the meanings given by the MTL (on p. 233)

ஆம்பல் āmpal , n. 1. [K. ābal, M. Tu. āmbal.] Water-lily, nymphaea lotus;
அல்லி. (பிங்.) 2. Musical pipe. See ஆம்பற்குழல். ஆம்பலந் தீங் குழற் றெள்விளி பயிற்ற
(குறிஞ்சிப். 222). 3. A melody-type played on a pipe; பண்வகை. (சீவக. 1314.)
4. Bamboo; மூங்கில். (பிங்.) 5. Blow-horn; ஊதுகொம்பு. (திவா.) 6. Elephant;
யானை. ஆம்பன்முக வரக்கன் (கல்லா. கணபதிகாப்பு). 7. Toddy; கள். (பிங்.) 8. A very
high number; ஒரு பே ரெண். (தொல். எழுத். 393.) 9. Affliction; துன்பம். (சூடா.)
10. Arrangement, order; அடைவு. (திவா.) 11. Moon; சந்திரன். (அக. நி.)

As for the 2nd meaning in MTL, namely "Musical pipe",
another MTL entry gives more details

ஆம்பற்குழல் āmpaṟ-kuḻal , n. < ஆம்பல் +. Musical pipe of bell-metal with a
handle in the shape of a water-lily; குமுரவடிவாக அணைசு பண்ணிச்செறித்த
ஓரிசைக்குழல். (சிலப். 17, பாட்டு, 2, உரை.)

The meanings left out are

3. a melody-type played on a pipe
5.
8. A very high number;
9.
10.
11.

In Piṅkalam 3024, THREE synonyms are given for kumutam.

They are:
-- āmpal
-- neytal
-- alli

kumutam is mentionned in the Piṅkalam section on Big numbers,
and more precisely it appears in Piṅkalam 1655 & 1656

Regarding meaning 3.
in his 2010 Tamiḻicaip Pērakarāti,
Nā. Mammatu has written that
the melody-type which is intended is
a pentatonic paṇ also called cutta taṉyāci

Therefore,
maybe your interpretation
« (floods) which make a loud noise (āmpal) produced by waterfalls
([v]aruvi) »
  can be slightly modified
and become

"the pentatonic melody produced by the cascade which has been tuned in
śuddhadhanyāsi"

According to Walther Kaufmann 1976, page 311,

The ascending sequence is: Do, Mi bémol, Fa, Sol, Si bémol, Sol, Do
The descending sequence is: Do, Si bémol, Sol, Fa, Mi bémol, Do

In Paris, near the Porte de la Villette, inside a park, there is a
spherical cinema theater called La Géode

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Géode

If you walk near it at night, you can probably still hear a (random)
music of a similar nature. I have not verified whether it is pentatonic
but it is partly linked with the sound of water

Of course one can also visit more than one sphere and listen to big
numbers in that manner and perceive "La musique des sphères"
:-)

with my best wishes

-- Jean-Luc (in Müssen)

https://twitter.com/JLC1956

On 02/03/2021 16:06, Tieken, H.J.H. wrote:
> About aruvi āmpal in Patiṟṟuppattu 63, line 19:
>
>
> aṭaiyaṭuppaṟiyā varuvi yāmpal
>
> āyita vel̥l̥a vūḻi
>
> vāḻiyāta vāḻiya palavē.
>
>
> O Vāḻiyātaṉ, may you live long, living through the great floods
> of thousand Kalpas (ūḻi), (floods) which make a loud noise (āmpal)
> produced by waterfalls ([v]aruvi) and which (the floods, of else the
> waterfalls, in which case "and" is to be deleted) are unstoppable (aṭai
> aṭuppa aṟiyā)__
>
>
> One of the meanings of āmpal is the music (noise) produced by blowing
> through a pipe. It is not exactly the type of noise produced by a waterfall.
>
>
> I had already removed the mails by Palaniappan and Jean-Luc. Therefore
> this reaction is not attached to their exchange, which took place under
> the wrong heading anyhow (The date of ...), a topic, which, as you will
> know, is otherwise close to my heart.
>
>
> With kind regards
>
> Herman
>
>
>
> Herman Tieken
> Stationsweg 58
> 2515 BP Den Haag
> The Netherlands
> 00 31 (0)70 2208127
> website: hermantieken.com <http://hermantieken.com/>
>
> _______________________________________________
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