Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 22

16
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JANUARY, 1924
From all these considerations the Professor points out that the Northern boundary of the Tamils ran from Pulicat on the East coast to the Kalyanpuri River, the Northern limit of Kanara on the West Coast, and that this is "just exactly the limit indicated in the Periplus. Beyond that lay what the Periplus calls Dachinabades, in Sanskrit Dakshinapatha, " for Dachinos in the language of the natives means 'South.'” This land is the modern Dakhan, and corresponds to what the Tamils called Daņdaranyam, beyond which was the great forest running across India, "the far famed Dandake of the Ramayana, and the MahakAntara perhaps of a later time," which stopped somewhere near Goa on the West Coast.
Comparatively lato Tamil Brahmanical tradition tells us that the reclamation of the forest was the work of Agastya, and among the tribes that came from the North with him were the Velir and the Asuvalar, "two well-known peoples of Tamil India." Traditionally, there was in fact an emigration from the North into the South, bringing with it the "Northern culture ospecially associated with the Brahman," and in the earliest extant Tamil literature & very high position is given to the Brahmans (Andanar). The early Chera kings followed their path of Dharma,' in which the Brahmans perform the six duties (roughly learning, teaching, sacrificing, receiving and making gifts). These kings, too, celebrated the ten Vedio sacrifices, while the earliest authors, Gautama and Kapilar, were themselves Brahmans. These same six duties are laid down for Brahmans in the classical Graiamar Tolkappiyam, in the Silappadhikaram of the Chôra princo-ascetic Llango, and in the Marimekkalai. These works are of the first century of the Christian Era, and they show that the Brahman immigration was long before their date and pre-Buddhistic.
The Buddhist tradition of the migration of Agastya is quite different, but it, too, gives the movement a pre-Buddhistic character. In the Akitla Jataka, Akitta took up his abode in Kåvêripattana, the capital of the Cholas at the mouth of the Kávêri. Akitta is generally identified with Agastya, though there is nothing in the Jalaka to warrant the identification except the likeness of the names, were it not that the Manimékkalai refers to Agastys at Kavêripattana. This time Agastya is in the Chola country, but here the Manimékkalai again helps us by stating that Agastya was “ an ascetic of rare authority in the Malaya,' making it clear that it is referring to the Agastya of the Brahmanical tradition associated with the Malaya or Podiyil hill in the Southern part of the Western Ghats." All this shows that the tradition of Agastya's immigration is pre-Buddhistic, which is evidenced also by the position which is then attached to the Brâhman " as the conductor of the sacrifice intended for the good of the community as a whole." This is the character given to Brahmanism in a poem by Mûlam-kilar of Avûr in the Purananúru collection. The author was not a Brahman himself, but he is fully supported by the Tolkappiyam. As faithful followers of the Brahmans, the early kings,-Pandya, Chola and Chera-Were great orthodox sacrificers; witness the works of Nettimaiyâr and Avvaiyar.
An even more important point is to be found in these early Tamil classics. "There are clear indications of the kind of theism, which would be generally described as Bhakti
Devotional Faith), where people could devote themselves to the service of the god of their heart with the assurance of salvation.” Four such gods are mentioned by Narkirår, the early Sangam poet: Siva, Baladêva, Krishna (Vishnu), and Subrahmanya. In the Tolkappiyam, Indra and Varuna are substituted for Siva and Baladeva, which makes the Professor postulate the implication of "the recognition of the six as distinct entities." In the Silappadhikdram again the first four are mentioned, with Indra as a fifth god.
(To be continued.)