Beef in sangam texts

[Guest guest]

Univ. of Delhi prof. D. N. Jha's recent book:

The myth of the Holy cow, Verso, 2002. It can be ordered

from http://www.amazon.com

Prof. Jha mentions my name in p. 126 refering to discussions

in old Indology list. While thanking him, I learnt so much

and will read useful ref.s on beef in Sanskrit sources.

Also have a few queries, and some data from Tamil.

 

For example, on page 94, The myth of the holy cow,

"Beef and fish were usual items of dietary menu in south India

as is evident in the sangam texts. One of them, in fact, refers

to the brAhmaNa priest Kapilar speaking with relish and without

fear of social ostracism about consuming liquor and meat.[32]

 

[32] K. T. Acharya, A historical dictionary of Indian food, OUP, 1999,

p. 146; K. K. Pillay, A social history of Tamils, vol. I, U. of

Madras, 1975, pp. 291-2."

 

>From reading his books, I understand that Acharya reads no Tamil.

Don't have prof. K. K. Pillay's book here, but in another

book, K. K. Pillay writes about sangam era meats,

"veLLATu, cemmaRiyATu, mAn2, muyal, AmA, mIn2 vakaikaL,

naNTu, Iyal, kOzi, kATTukkOzi, kATai, uTumpu mutaliyavaRRin2

iRaicciyait tan2iyAkavO, pAlum, ariciyum kUTTiyO camaippArkaL"

(p.143, K. K. Pillay, tamizaka varalARu: makkaLum paNpATum,

Int. inst. of tamil research, Madras, 2000). Please note

that in this wide assortion of meats mentioned by

prof. KKP, there is no beef mentioned at all. It's only poultry,

mutton, fish, wild animals, but no cow or buffalo meat.

 

About "the brAhmaNa priest Kapilar" two points are worth noting:

a) the word brAhmaNa is not used by him or anyone else in sangam

texts. The word "antaNan2" (= am + taNan2) need not refer to

Veda-chanting brahmins in all of their CT occurences. "antaNan2" in

CT in certain places clearly refers to the native bards. See some

examples:

CTamil/message/632

b) Brahmins are usually described as vegetarians in sangam

Tamil. It is also possible that Kapilar is just

imitating the meat-eating habits of oral bards.

In any case, what Kapilar tells is about eating

of 'pulavu', which just means a cockerel or a goat.

 

The mention of beef in sangam tamil is indeed very rare

compared to "clean" meats like poultry. The mentioning

of cow slaughter comes in the "desert landscape" (pAlai-t-tiNai).

In the desolate desert landscape, waylayer folks snatch cows.

In another instance of classical sangam texts, only in NaRRiNai 310, a

bard is also said to get a calf. The implication is that the calf is

for consumption. "kan2Ru" (=calf) in NaRRiNai 310 is published in the

original editions of NaRRiNai both by Pin2n2attUr NaaraayaNacaami

Ayyar and U. VE. Caaminaataiyar after examining all available Olai

manuscripts. Elsewhere in Kalittokai, a bard is said to be a pulaiyan2

dalit. Beef meats in CT are not associated with high castes.

 

High castes' diet, such as brahmins', is described vegetarian

in CT. The agricultural landlords, often called vEL, vELir in

CT are never described eating beef. The vellalas of Kaveri

and Tamraparni riverine deltas, the heartlands of Chola

and Pandya polities, are renowned for their vegetarianism.

So much so, they are called Saiva Vellalas. Saivam in Tamil

does a double duty - 1) denoting vegetarians, and 2) worshippers

of Shiva. vELLakAl P. Subramania Mudaliyar is a renowned Tamil

scholar and an early veterinarian. (For instance, He and U.V.

Saminathaiyar are the only two who have written that they have seen

the now lost kAyva, vaLaiyApati, in palm leaves.) Dr. V. P. S.

Mudaliar's almost a century-old analysis about the food hierarchy

among Tamil castes (from a post done 5+ years ago):

http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9703&L=indology&P=R423

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan