kai 'woman'

[Guest guest]

"kai" = woman in Dravidian is interesting. It does not

seem to be related only with 'smallness'. Because, not only

'taGkai' is younger sister, but 'akkai'(akkA) in 'tamakkai'

means *elder* sister. Also, naGkai, maGkai = woman.

 

I think the origins of the word, 'kai' becomes clear

when we consider the other word for woman, 'peN'.

In 100s of inscriptions, the chAmara-fanning women

are called 'kavari-p-piNAkkaL'. peN/piNA 'woman'

is related to the verb "piLa" ('to split open').

piLa(vu) > Skt. bila 'cave'. Woman's capacity

of giving birth to children may have led to the words, 'peN/piNA'.

 

Now consider the Dravidian word for hand: kai/cey, ...

It is a noun formed from the verb, "cey-tal"

(to do, to make). Hand (kai) is the human tool.

While hasta (Hindi hAth) is IE, the word pANi

(=hand in old Tamil, which means 'hand')

is a loan into skt, and kara (< kR- 'to do')

is plausibly a loan translation of the Dravidian

idea (unless, of course, if it is not IIr/IE).

 

Hydronymy:

----------

The river names vENA/vENI in Punjab, krushNavENI in AP

(kaNhapeNNA in Prakrit = 'black' peNNA, 'black' because

mountain where this river starts is black mountain,

'nallamala' range), peNNA rivers in TN and AP seek attention

here. They are related with female palm trees.

According to Dr. Palaniappan, peNNai refers to

female palm tree. In the local stalapurANam

of a Shaivaite temple on the peNNai river,

"peNNai" clearly refers to female palm tree.

veNNey-nallUr, connected with Cuntarar of Tevaram,

is situated on the river peNNai also.

Contrary to stalapurANam legends, veNNey-nallUr

has nothing to do with 'butter'!, same is true

for veNNey mountain near karUr.

 

 

virumpu mEn2mait tiruk kaTaik kAppu atan2il vimalar aruLAlE

kurumpai ANpan2ai In2um en2n2um vAymai kulavu talAl

nerugkum ERRup pan2ai ellAm niRainta kulaikaLAyk kurumpai

arumpu peNNai Aki iTak kaNTOr ellAm aticayittAr

- periyapurANam 2878

 

F. Southworth has argued that Sind is related to

Drav. word for date palm 'kIndu/sIndu' etc.

Just listed some peNNA rivers in South India.

The tamil word for Sri Lanka is "iizham"

which means 'palm toddy' in Tamil. The Kerala

caste Iizhavar means 'toddy-tappers'. Zeylon/Ceylon

appear related with the word "©iizham" of

sangam times. Equivalent to peNNaiyARu, the

river near Kanchi is called "ceyyARu".

Prof. Witzel asked once why palm tree is considered

important in tamil. 1) The first Tamil kings in the traditional

order, the Cheras' emblem is palm tree 2) Balarama,

the god of agriculture, has palm tree as his symbol, and

this is mentioned in TolkAppiyam grammar

3) BalarAma-sankaRSaNa has a plough plus a tAla-dhvaja.

And a goblet with palm-toddy.

Parpola connects pal 'tooth' with bala-rAma. pan2Ri 'pig' is so

called because its plough-like tooth 'pal'.

Both tooth and plough are related to marriage.

"tAli" from the palm tree is the *symbol* tied

around the neck for married women.

 

-------------------------

 

 

Compare 1) peN/piNA 2) kai, both meaning 'woman' with

river names, 'peNNai-ARu' and 'cey-ARu'.

 

I think "kai" = woman has to do with her ability of

giving birth to kids. "kai" = 'to make' (babies

in this case of women). It has parallels to

words 'piNA/peN' ('to cleave open') in tamil.

 

(Cf. Sumerian 'buru' = woman and river).

 

Kind regards,

N. Ganesan

 

LS>Similarly, we have the basic word, "kai" to indicate

LS>a 'girl', 'woman' etc but again it is seen more in bound

LS>forms like 'taGkai', 'naGkai', 'maGkai' but the word

LS>'kaimpeN' also exists.

 

NG

<<<

I also read that 'kai' is woman. Is it because of this

bangles are considered the symbols of marriage in sangam

texts? In recent decades many early memorial stones, commonly

called maasati-kal(lu) (< mahAsatI) have been found. The thatch

sheds are called "tI pAyntAL (or 'pAJcamman') kOvil". In the

memorial stones dedicated to those committed satI, the

symbol is hand with many bangles. This recalls the

hands carved on the walls of palaces etc. in Rajasthan

in memory of women who died along with their husbands.

 

kai as women is seen in CT words like kaimmai 'widowhood',

kai-aRu-nilai, kai-kiLai, etc. We have poems refering to satI

custom in sangam corpus. Contrary to 19th century British

collectors saying that satI came from North, I think

satI is one of the important substratum effects from

Dravidians who went thru' a language shift in first

millennium BCE.

 

Like Caste (see my next message), satI is basically Drav. custom.

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