Surupaak's NeRi-1 (English)

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Dear Friends,

 

The first few lines of this Sumerian Text , a written copy of which is dated

2500 B. C and hence much older is being posted to these groups because of the

tremendous importance it has in relation to origins of the Indic traditions.

 

Only the first 3 parts will be posted, the restwill be continued in

Akandabaratam.

 

Loga

 

Suruppak's NeRi

 

I believe that Sumerian language holds the key to unravel the mystery

surrounding the origins of Indic traditions including the Vedic. As I have

already indicated in many of my studies, Sumerian is definitely Archaic Tamil

and that Rig Vedic language is very closely related to this. Hence in general

Vedism and Sanskrit language are very likely to be evolutions of the Sumerian

and perhaps also the Indus which shows striking parallels with Sumerian. I

continue such studies to provide the necessary linguistic data by now

introducing The Instructions of Suruppak, transliterated and translated by Bendt

Alster and published by Akademisk Forlog, Copenhagen 1974.

 

This text is probably the Oldest Written TEXT dating back to 3000 B.C. for the

most ancient written version is dated to around 2500 B.C. the following comments

on the textual history given Alster in the introduction is worth recording here:

 

" The following versions of this composition are known: 1) A relatively well

preserved archaic one from Abuu Salaabiikh ( ca. 2500 B.C.) , 2) a small

fragment of an archaic one from Adab, nearly as old as the Abu Salabikh version

(ca. 2400 B.C) , 3) a large and relatively well preserved "classical: version

dating to the early Old Babylonian period (ca. 1800 B.C.) and finally 4) a small

fragment of a much later Akkadian translation of the classical version (ca. 1100

B.C.) "

 

The parallel of this text are the Nithi Sastras in Tamil , Sanskrit and other

Indian languages that are unmistakably similar and such literature is still

in production among the Tamils to this day. One of the most striking things

here is the word 'nari" used to mean 'moral instructions" and which exists in

Tamil as NeRi and which is also used as a name for such texts e.g., NanneRi .

Though the Sumeriologists call them a collection of proverbs but they are more

appropriately the Mutumozi of Tolkaappiyar, prescriptions of a kind backed by

REASON ( eetu nutaliya mutumozi)

 

I shall provide the original as as given by Alster followed with Tamil

reconstructs, revising the translations if necessary and then give , to the best

of my ability linguistic details that relate the text to Tamil language through

various kinds of linguistic discussions.

 

Loga

 

 

The NeRi of Suruppak

 

(Those who do not have TSCII Tamil fonts,, please ignore the Tamil version)

 

1. ri-a u sud-ra ri-a ( In those distant days, in those far remote days)

 

° ±Ã¢Â ° Ýò¾¢Ã ±Ã¢Â

 

uu eriya uu cuuttira eriya

 

2. gi ri-a gi bad-du ri-a ( In those nights, in those far-away nights)

 

¨Á «Ã¢Â ¨Á ÀñÎ «Ã¢Â

 

mai ariya mai paNdu ariya

 

3. mu ri-a mu sud-ra ri-a ( In those years, in those far remote years)

 

㯠«Ã¢Â 㯠Ýò¾¢Ã «Ã¢Â

 

mUu ariya mUu cuuttra ariya

 

4. u-ba gestu.tuku inim.galam inim.zu-a kalam-ma ti-la-am ( In those days, the

intelligent one, who made the elaborate words, who knew the (proper) words, and

was living in Sumer .

 

°À ¦¸ŠòЦ¾¡Ì ±Éõ¸Äõ ±Éõ ÝÅ ¸ÇõÁ ¾¢øÄ¡õ

 

uuba kestu.toku enam.kalam enimcuuva kaLamma tillaam

 

5.Suruppak gestu.tuku inim.galam inim.zu-a kalam-ma ti-la-am ( Suruppak - the

inelligent one, who made the elaborate words , who knew the (proper) words, and

was living in Sumer

 

5. ÝÕÀ¡ìÌ ¦¸ŠòЦ¾¡Ì ±Éõ¸Äõ ±Éõ ÝÅ ¸ÇõÁ ¾¢øÄ¡õ

 

Cuurupaakku kestu.toku enam.kalam enam cuuva kaLamma tillaam.

 

Comments

 

1. u . Ta. u, uu : a deictic/referential that denotes something beyond as in

up-paal " yonder" .this 'u' remains the one of the deitics the others being ''a'

(that)" and "i" (this) also of frequent occurrence in Sumerian as it is Tamil.

The use of 'u' is obsolete now though I understand that it is still in use in

Sri Lankan Tamil.

 

ri-a> eriya (that which burns), uriya (that which becomes) ariya (that which is

rare). The root

appears to be. u, uu : to become, to shine forth etc. uu, u> ur, uru: shape

form, to become.

 

ri-a > raa > to come forth (Telugu); ba-ra, ma-ra> marabu : that which comes,

tradition.

 

raa-sag> raasan . arasan, arayan, raayan : king ( Sk: raajah; sag> jah)

 

Also Su.ri-si > Sk rishi: the illuminated. The 'si' here is cikaaram: to

radiate, to shine forth

 

eri> eli> Ak. ellu. Ta. ellu, el: daylight, brightness

 

sud-ra> cuuttira : ancient , distant. Possibly derived from Su. su-du/ Ta. cuudu

; the peak, the top extremity, the highest point in general. Perhaps from the

initial notion of very high at the top, the notion of 'distant' has been

derived.

 

Some of the derivative meanings possible are : ancient people, the natives, the

long lived, the highly developed and so forth. It is noteworthy that all the

Dravidian folks are called sudras in SK literature but which has suffered a

semantic twist has come to mean low castes.

 

2. gi=mi > Ta. mai, kai: black, dark. Here the cosmic times of utter darkness,

state of world before creation and the onset of light. Perhaps the root is 'ngi'

and transliterated both as 'mi' and 'gi' in Su. itself

 

bad-du> ta. paddu, paNdu : ancient. It is possible the root is Ta. padu: to show

up, to become present. padu ( to become present)> paddu (the time the world

became present> paNdu ( the ancinet or primordial times)

 

3. mu> Ta. mUu> muLai : to emerge ; here the time the world emerged. It is also

used in Su. as a term for the year.

 

4. gestu> kestu. Ta. akattu, akattiyam: sacred wisdom, deep metaphysical

illuminations. gestu(ears)> kaatu (ears). Perhaps the meaning of gestu is the

same as Sruti ( <Ta. cuur-uti : illuminations that arise within but now the

scriptural wisdom, that which heard and transmitted)

 

gestu ---< kastiyar, akattiyar: the foremost Sage of the Tamils and a great

archetypal Siddha. In Su. we have Gestin-Anna ; the one skillful in

interpreting dreams and such matters of transductive perceptions.

 

gestu.tu-ku> Ta. kesttutoku: One who has assembled or collected immense Wisdom.

The word 'toku' can also be related to Malay taaku: to understand. Also Ta.

takavu : greatness

 

inim.galam Ta. enam.kalam. The word Su. inim. enim exust in Ta. as the verb

"en. enRu' to tell , to relate, enal: speaking, telling.

 

galam> Ta. kalam: the precious. Also Ta. kal-vi: education, kal : to learn. Su.

ga-la: ritual singer, Ta, kalai: the arts ,Ta. kalainjan: the artist

 

zu-a=ju-a> Ta. cuuva: cuu: deep illuminations , a varian of Ta. cii/ Su. si.

cuu> ta. cuuzl to reflect deeply. cuu-t-tiram: that which has within itself deep

knowledge. Su.til-la, tila> Ta. tilam > tiram to exist

 

5. surupaak> Ta. cuurupaakku. cuuru> cuulam: the spear. paku ( to cut and

divide) --> paakku: that which cuts and hence derivatively perhaps 'sharp" .

Hence suruppak Ta. cuurupaakku: a sharp spear or cuulam.

 

( to continue) 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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