Middle India Tuppa Tamil Tuppu And Region Of Origin Of Some Svetambara Jaina Texts

SR No.: 269432
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Herman Tiken
Publisher: Herman Tiken
Total Pages: 15
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

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Herman TIEKEN
relative chronology, if not of the texts then at least of the passages, in the sense that Dasaveyāliya-Nijjutti is later than Paṇhāvāgarana, and the latter must be later than Vivāgasuya.
6. If my findings concerning the meaning of tuppa are correct, the suggestions made so far for the etymology of the word, which all started from the meaning "ghee, oil", are no longer relevant. The derivation from trpra, suggested by Turner (CDIAL 5864), has lost its basis. Like Gujarāti tüp and Marāthi tupas, Tamil and Kannāda tuppa(m)"ghee” must be later literary borrowings.
However, starting from a red substance or a red colour (tuppa-red), another Dravidian word comes into consideration, namely Tamil tuppu and its cognates. Tamil tuppu is amply attested in Old Tamil literature. In Akanānüru 9, lines 8-10 it is taken to mean "coral".10
tuppin anna ceńkottiyavi neyttor mimicai niņattir parikku mattam nanniya vaňkațiccīrür, The little village on the jungle road, lying on an elevation (of earth red) like
coral, resembles a dead body lying in its own) blood. Another instance is found in Kalittokai 33, lines 3-4:
manipurai vayankalus tupperintavai polap piņivitu murukkital anikayattutirntuka, While the (red) petals of the murukku (Sk. palāśa), loosened from the buds, fall
on the beautiful tank, looking like corals strewn on a pearl-like mirror ... Clearly related to this meaning are the many instances in Old Tamil poetry of tuppu "enmity, hatred, fighting spirit”. Evidently, these qualities were associated with the colour red. An interesting example is Puranāņūru 380, lines 10-11, in which tuppu is found side by side with cēymai "redness, hatred":
tuppetirntorkkē yulļāc cēymaiyan natpetirntõrkkē yankai nanmaiyan, Those who approach him with feelings of hatred (tuppu) he treats with hatred (cēymaiyan), those who approach him with feelings of affection, he treats with
affection. Another instance is Kalittokai 104, lines 24-25, in which the anger of the red bull (cēey) is compared to "hot tuppu” (ventuppir):
vēyural mentol tuyilperum ventuppir
10. I have been unable to check the quotation given in TL (p. 1970) from Civakacintamani 550, namely tuppural tonțai cevvāy with a red mouth with lips resembling coral", which resembles tuppotha in Aņuogaddāra 22.