Classical Tamil text the Puṟanāṉūṟu (117.1) refers to Saturn as Maimmīṉ and says that it was considered a bad omen if Saturn appeared to be smoky or if a comet appeared. Post-Classical Tamil epic, the Cilappatikāram (10.102-103), refers to Saturn as Kariyavan and has the same information regarding the bad omen.
There is a circuit of nine temples for worshipping the navagrahas between the Kumbakonam area and Tirunallaru. See https://www.dinamani.com/religion/2017/oct/11/how-to-darshan-navagraha-temple-for-one-day-2788475.html.
Regards,
Palaniappan
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Reply-To: Asko Parpola <aparpola@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, July 24, 2020 at 2:47 AM
To: Rolf Heinrich Koch <rolfheiner.koch@gmail.com>
Cc: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Navagraha worship in Tamil literature
Early Tamil texts have preserved planetary names which go back to the Dravidian language of the Indus Civilization, for they can be verifiably read in the Indus inscriptions. See
Parpola, Asko, 1994. Deciphering the Indus script, Cambridge University Press, p. 179ff.
Parpola, Asko, 2015. The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press, p. 266ff.
For Śani/Saturn in particular, see 1994 p. 197 and 2015 p. 276, and for Saturn’s (and the night-sun’s) connection with the tortoise, p. 206-208.
With best wishes, Asko