Earliest Reference to muttamiz or "threefold tamiz"

[Guest guest]

Earliest Available Reference to muttamiz or "threefold tamiz"

 

Zvelebil in his treatise "Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature"

(1992, E.J.Brill, Leiden, Handbuch Der Orientalisk, ISBN 90-04-09365-6) says on

page 140 in the interesting section dealing philologically and metaphysically

with the deeper significance of the concept of muttamiz or triple tamiz:

"How old is the concept of 'threefold Tamil'?

…if it was an ancient concept, we have no trace of its left. Neither

pre-Pallava texts nor any ancient inscriptions refer to muttamiz. It seems that

chronologically the earliest reference to the "three fold Tamil" is to be found

in muttoLLAyiram, a fragmentary text mostly in veNpA quatrains, which it is

extremely difficult to date: the end of the sixth century was suggested as well

as the tenth century…."

 

But we do find that the cangkam texts paripATal indeed has a reference to

muttamiz. It occurs in the fragmentary lines obtained from commentaries. It has

not been identified with a particular song in the anthology which originally

had 70 songs but only 22 of which have survived in full and we have others

available only in fragments gleaned from commentaries of other books. These

lines, not having the original song number to be associated with, are

categorized under the heading "paripATal tiraTTu". The relevant line referring

to muttamiz was obtained from the commentary to tirukkuRaL by parimElazakar.

Not incidentally, he is also the author of the sole commentary on paripATal

available.

 

The lines are from the Cologne Digital Tamil Thesaurus :

 

Qpariti4x01 \BT teri mAN tamiz mummai ten2n2am poruppan2 \et

Qpariti4x02 \BT pari mA niraiyin2 parantan2Ru vaiyai \et

 

Let us focus on the first line that has the triple tamil reference:

 

teri = choice; mAN = glorious; mummai = triad; ten2n2am = southern;

Poruppan2 < poruppu = the ruler of the Potiyil hills i.e., pANTIyan2.

 

[translation mine; there are no commentaries available for this]

"The ruler of the southern mountain (Potiyil) associated with the choice and

glorious tamil triad…"

 

Note the phrase "tamiz mummai" or "the Tamil triad" associated with the Potiyil

hills ruled by PanTiyan2s.

 

Looks like Zvelebil has missed this critical reference to muttamiz in his

discussion on muttamiz' historicity.

Another important point is that this triple tamiz is associated the Potiyil

hills which is invariably connected with sage Akattiyar (Agastya) who is said

to have resided there and composed Akattiyam, a treatise dealing with muttamiz.

 

As Zvelebil himself in the same section and elsewhere in the same book and his

earlier work "Tamil Literature" (1975, E.J. Brill, page 60) , asserts that a

treatise like Akattiyam, composed by a semi-mythical figure Akattiyar (Agastya)

must have been extant in hoary antiquity.

This paripATal line further strengthens his assertion.

 

Regards

P.Chandrasekaran.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

>INDOLOGY, Periannan Chandrasekaran <perichandra>

>wrote:

>Earliest Available Reference to muttamiz or "threefold tamiz"

>

>But we do find that the cangkam texts paripATal

>indeed has a reference to

>muttamiz. It occurs in the fragmentary lines obtained from

>commentaries. It has

>not been identified with a particular song

>in the anthology which originally

>had 70 songs but only 22 of which have survived in full

> and we have others

>available only in fragments gleaned from commentaries of other books.

>These lines, not having the original song number

>to be associated with, are

>categorized under the heading "paripATal tiraTTu".

>The relevant line referring

>to muttamiz was obtained from the commentary

>to tirukkuRaL by parimElazakar.

>Not incidentally, he is also the author of the sole commentary on

>paripATal

>available.

 

Dear Chandra,

as noted by professor François GROS in 1968,

in his French translation of paripATAl

(published by the French Institute of Pondicherry)

it should be added that,

the identification of the fragment as belonging

to one of the lost paripATal-s

is not given by parimElaZakar himself,

who is simply happy to explain, under kuRaL 23

the word irumai ("the two")

by comparing it to mummai ("the three")

 

As prof. Gros remarks, the elucidation

of the fragment is given by the

nuN poruL mAlai, a book that elucidates

the subtleties of P.'s commentary of the K.

 

This fragment of paripATal tiraTTu does not appear

in U.V.S. 's edition of paripATal

but only in the Murray edition (which was later republished

by N.C.B.H.

 

Here is prof. Gros 's 1968 translation of the fragment:

 

"La Vaiyai s'est répandue comme les rangs des chevaux

"Du Montagnard du Sud, dont les trois tamouls excellent et se distinguent"

(p. 159, op.cit.)

 

His notes (on p. 294 and p. 305) explain that

"Montagnard du Sud" refers to the Pandya king

and that "trois tamouls" refers to:

"Littérature, musique, théatre ou danse".

 

I hope this is useful

 

Warm regards

 

-- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD (Paris)

 

 

>The lines are from the Cologne Digital Tamil Thesaurus :

>

>Qpariti4x01 \BT teri mAN tamiz mummai ten2n2am poruppan2 \et

>Qpariti4x02 \BT pari mA niraiyin2 parantan2Ru vaiyai \et

>

>Let us focus on the first line that has the triple tamil reference:

>

> teri = choice; mAN = glorious; mummai = triad; ten2n2am = southern;

>Poruppan2 < poruppu = the ruler of the Potiyil hills i.e., pANTIyan2.

>

>[translation mine; there are no commentaries available for this]

>"The ruler of the southern mountain (Potiyil) associated with the

>choice and

>glorious tamil triad…"

>

>Note the phrase "tamiz mummai" or "the Tamil triad" associated with

>the Potiyil

>hills ruled by PanTiyan2s.

>

>Regards

>P.Chandrasekaran.

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, Jean-Luc Chevillard <JLC@C...> wrote:

>

....

>

> Dear Chandra,

....

 

>

> As prof. Gros remarks, the elucidation

> of the fragment is given by the

> nuN poruL mAlai, a book that elucidates

> the subtleties of P.'s commentary of the K.

>

> This fragment of paripATal tiraTTu does not appear

> in U.V.S. 's edition of paripATal

> but only in the Murray edition (which was later republished

> by N.C.B.H.

>

 

Dear Jean-Luc,

Thanks for the info.

Yes the absence of this fragment in UVS eidtion is what has

caused my taking this long to pose this query. Finally it struck

me to check the Cologne Database which did have it.

 

Even though the preface by UVS quotes those lines

and says they were found in parimElazakar's commentary,

UVS has not somehow printed them in the tiraTTu at the end of the

book. Was it just an accident?

 

> Here is prof. Gros 's 1968 translation of the fragment:

>

> "La Vaiyai s'est répandue comme les rangs des chevaux

> "Du Montagnard du Sud, dont les trois tamouls excellent et se

distinguent"

> (p. 159, op.cit.)

>

> His notes (on p. 294 and p. 305) explain that

> "Montagnard du Sud" refers to the Pandya king

> and that "trois tamouls" refers to:

> "Littérature, musique, théatre ou danse".

 

Thanks for confirming the interpretation independently.

 

>

> I hope this is useful

>

> Warm regards

>

> -- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD (Paris)

>

Regards

P.Chandrasekaran.