GREAT KING PANDYA PERUVALZUDHI

THE GREAT KING PERUVALZUDHI OF NUMEROUS SACRIFICES

Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:19:20 +0800

From: jay bee <jaybee011008@gmail.com>

Dear Agathiyarians,

    In the first madal on 'Coins', I mentioned about a very ancient Pandya king called 'PalYaagaSaalai MudhKudumi Peruvalzudhi'.

    Here is an old posting about him.....

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    The Pandya country was ruled by the Pandyas for a very long time.

    Legend says that the Tamils were in the Land of Kumari. Then in the present Tamilnadu.

    Tamil was nurtured, preserved and developed in academies called the Sangam.

    Among the early Pandyas of the Sangam Age is a very noteworthy figure.

    He is 'PalYaaga Saalai Mudhukudumi Peruvalzudhi'.

    He must have lived anytime around or before 600 BC.

    There are five poems composed in honour of him in the PuRanaanuuRu by Kaari Kilzaar, Nettimaiyaar, and NedumPalliyaththanaar.

    One of the poems celebrates the Yagams performed by him.

    He is said to have performed numerous yagams.

    Hence the epithet 'pal yaaga saalai'.

    The yagams were performed by Korkai Kilzan NarkoRRan who 'never left the path of the vedas'.

    The yagams were performed at a place in the Paaganuur KuuRRam of Pandiyanadu. It is still there in the Sivagangai District.

    The Chinnamanur copper grant says that an illustrious ancestor of the Pandyas performed one 

thousand yagams.

    The VELvikkudi grant praises him as

'kolyaanai palavOttik kuudaa mannar kulzaam dhavirththa -

palyaaga mudhukudumi peruvalzudhiyenum paaNdiyaadhi

raasan'.

    After the yaagams were done, he named the whole place where the yagams had taken place as 

'VELvikkudi' and with sacred libations of holy water, made them over to NarkoRRan.

    On the occasion of the Asvamedha Yagam, he issued a commemorative coin.

    On the obverse of the coin, there is the head of Peruvalzudhi.

    The reverse shows a sacrificial horse. And the name 'Peruvalzudhi' in Brahmi script.

    It would surprise most of you - rather shock you when you see a clean shaven face with a Roman hair style and a very prominent Roman Nose.

    He might pass for a Caesar any time.

    You see..., you have been primed and conditioned to see Tamil kings with girudha, moustache and baghavathar crop. So you'll get a shock to see the profile of Peruvalzudhi.

    Enjoy seeing a truely ancient Tamil king and I will take you to the next section.....

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Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:14:42 +0800

Subject: Re: VELvikkudi Grant(continued) - Re: [agathiyar] Re: Arunagirinathar and His Mission

On 6/16/05, JayBee <jaybee@tm.net.my> wrote:

Peruvalzudhi the Great had accomplished a superhuman task. He had completed one thousand yagams. Including an Asvamedha yagam. The prerequisite for an Asvamedha yaagam is an invincible all-round conquest.

Normally, a horse which belongs to a category which fulfills all the requisites according to the samudrika lakshana for horses, is chosen.

Samudrika Lakshana for horses???

Yes.

Why not?

This branch of science was known as Asva Lakshana Sastra. 

Horses were very valuable in those days. 

There was a later Pandya who spent millions of gold dinars every three years, just to import twenty thousand horses from Arabia. 

In those days, Arabia proper was the territory which is along the Gulf coast - Uniter Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Quattar, Oman, Muscat, Yemen, and Aden.

There were special classes of horses called Pancha Kalyani and Ashta Kalyani. 

No. Pancha Kalyani is NOT a horse suffering from a famine. It possesses five lakshanas. 

So this poor horse which had the luck to be born very perfect, was adorned with ornaments of all kinds and led from place to place. It would have the royal white parasol on its back - veN koRRa kudai. All the regal insignia would be also carried duly in procession. According to Sastras, the horse was allowed to go wherever it wished. A well-fitted elite army of fierce crack troops would follow. 

If it enters a king's territory, that king must bring tribute and submit himself.

Otherwise, a war will be waged. That sort of a war would be devastating in nature. The country would be totally destroyed and the barren land would be dedicated to the demons. 

This sort of terrorising war was a deterant.

Any king would have second thoghts when such a war is about to be fought in his land. 

Better to submit. Live another day. Make preparations Screw the fellah up when the chance comes. 

So....this was the techinique and psychology behind such a war expedition.

I am thinking......

Could the horse be allowed to wander into the land of a mightier king? For example, Chenghiz Khan?

Probably some joker with a carrot tied to his back could run in front and into the lands of suckers. 

Or a mare in heat going in front.

So, after sufficient conquests, the horse comes back. There, it is sacrificed and the pieces thrown into the fire-pit.

Asvamedha yaagam and a Raajasuuya yaagam makes a king into a World Emperor.

This is the mechanism of Asvamedha. 

All these yagams would render the position of Indra -  Lordship of the Celestial Realms - to the king who performs it.

I don't know whether Peruvalzudhi attained that unenviable  post or not. 

Did I say, "That sort of a war would be devastating in nature. The country would be totally destroyed and the barren land would be  dedicated to the demons".

Yes I did.

This is precisely what our Great King of Palyaagasaalai did "In your enemies' countries, you ploughed up the good roads over which chariots used to run, with donkeys yoked to ploughs 

and devastated them. The famous beautiful agricultural fields which were filled with the sweet chirpings of birds; you drove your chariots driven by horses into them and destroyed all the crops"

Thus sings Nettimaiyaar.

Kaari Kilzar extols his valour thus..... 

"Your garland that adorns your head whithers with e smoke that arises from the land of your enemy which has been burnt". 

Yes.

Those were the times.

You kill and plunder and starve and make people homeless and destitute and desparate. You create orphans and carry off people into slavery and prostitution and concubinage.

And you perfrom a thousand yagams to satiate some unseen celestial gods up above - nobody knows where and donate lavishly to Brahmins.

Yes Sir.

Those were certainly the Golden Age.

One of the poets who have extolled him, blesses him, saying that 'May he live a lengthy period of as many years as the number of the sand grains in the River PahRuLi.

'ப·றுளி ஆற்றின் மணலினும் பலவே'

'pahRuLi aaRRin maNalinum palavE'

Now here is the real shocker.

Its that name 'PahRuLi River'.

That river is no more.

Even during the time of Third Sangam which was residing in Madurai, it was no more.

That river was one of the three known rivers which had flowed in the Land of Kumari.

Kumari was already submerged undersea at the time of the Third Sangam.

There are two possibilities here.

1. PalyagaSalai and Nettimaiyaar lived during the time that the Land of Kumari was still around and the River PahRuLi was still flowing.

Or...

2. Nettimaiyaar was drawing a reference from the memory of the existance of a River from the remote past. 

The river might have been a mighty river; the sands would then have been too numerous as compared to the Vaigai or TamraparNi which belong to the Pandyas also. 

During the Third Tamil Sangam Age, one of the most important Pandya kings was Thalai Aalanggaanaththu Cheru VenRa PaaNdiyan Nedunjelziyan.

The chief poet of this Nedunjelziyan was Maanggudi Marudhanaar. Incidentally, Maanggudi Marudhan was the president of the acedemy of the Third Sangam for which Nedunjelziyan was the Patron. 

Some of the pot shreds and the rock-cut beds, bear his name in inscriptions. The inscriptions are in the Brahmi script.

O.K.

Go to this URL.

There is a nice article on Tamil Brahmi script and some samples of Brahmi script.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2013/stories/20030704000207100.htm

Manggudi Marudhan has extolled Peruvalzudhi, the ancestor of Nedunjlziyan.

Whatever be it....

PalyagaSalai Mudhukudumi Peruvalzudhi certainly is a very ancient character. Most probably before the Third Tamil Sangam.

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:04:41 +0000

From: JayBee <jaybee@tm.net.my>

Subject: Re: VELvikkudi Grant(continued) - Re: [agathiyar] Re:  Arunagirinathar 

 and His Mission

It certainly would have been. 

Especially if your home happens to be in between two countries which are at loggerheads; or happens to be in the main thoroughfare.

My place of origin is a place called Singampunari. Its near Piranmalai - PaRambu Malai of Pari VaLLal. 

It is in the Tiruchi-Madurai pathway. Most of the armies used to march through this area. 

Because of its position, the Ancient Pandyas had fortified the territory with jungles, chains of forts and castles. It was also populated with people belonging to various warror classes.

The netwoking is ingenius.

I'll come to it after I round-off Peruvalzudhi.

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THE EYES...

THE EYES....

        I wrote this piece, a few years ago.

It was part of an interesting discussion.
The incidence formed the crux of a small novel by Sandilyan - 'Kavarndha KaNkaL'.
But there is more to it than the novel.....


There was this wrestler called 'URangga Villi Dhaasan'. 'uRanggaa villi' is one of the titles of Lakshmanan. 
'Sundaravilli' is the elder brother.
Sundara Villi and URanggaa Villi are none other than SriRama, and his younger brother Lakshmana.
Sundara Villi got his name because of his incomparable beauty.
As Kamban puts it so succinctly, 


"ThOL kaNdaar thOLE kaNdaar, thodu kalzal kamalam anna 
thaaL kaNdaar thaaLE kaNdaar; thadakkai kaNdaarum ahthE
vaaL koNda kaNNaar yaarE, vadivinai mudiyak kaNdaar?
uulz koNda samayaththu annaan uruvu kaNdaarai oththaar"


" Those that saw the shoulders, saw only the shoulders; So were they who beheld the lotus-like feet which were adorned by the anklets. Similar were those that beheld the strong arms. 
Were there any of the ladies with sword-like eyes who could capture the wholeness of his appearance?"
Lakshmana followed his elder brother Rama and sister-in-law Sita to the forest in an exile which was to last for fourteen years.
During that time, he vowed not to eat nor sleep. But guard both of them. 
Since Lakshmana was the sleepless guardian bow-man, he was called the uRanggaa Villi - 'The Bowman who would not sleep'..
Now coming back to our uRanggaaVilli Dhaasan......
Our Dhaasan was obsessive and passionate about his wife to whom he was very very much attached.


One day, Ramanuja asked him why he was so much attached to his wife.


uRanggaavilli Daasan told him that it was her astounding beauty; especially those breath-taking eyes which were totally captivating.


So Ramanuja threw a challenge to him: 
"If I showed you a pair of eyes which are more captivating than your wife's eyes, would you discard that obsession?"


"If you can show them....", scoffed our friend.


Ramanuja asked him to follow and took him straight to the sanctum sanctorum of Thiruvarangganathan within the SriRangam Temple.


He pointed.


uRanggaavilli dhaasan saw....


Those eyes......


Beyond any description.


Nor comparison.


Thus URanggaaVilli Dhaasan lost himself and dissolved himself within VishNudom and became a monumental model of the prabhathi margam that Ramanuja was striving to show the world.


Well.....


Such were the eyes.

The eyes of SriRanganathan.


About which there is more to say....

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VENGENCE!!!

  VENGENCE!!!!!

    I was looking over a few of the old books that I have.
    It is one of the interesting and very relaxing of my pass-times. Especially when you have 5000 odd books and among them are rare and fantastic books.
    One of the books that I was browsing through was 'Reaping the Whirl Wind'.
    That is the caption of that book.
    There is a reason why it got that title and it has an interesting background.
    Vengence!
    This is one of the traits of the human being.

    Tit for Tat.
    Butter for Fat
    You kill my dog,
    I kill your cat.

    This is a famous ditty which has been in use for the past several hundred years. Describes and defines 'Vengence' in very simple words.
    In the history of mankind, there are so many instances of vengence taken by one party against another.
    How and why the parties exacted revenge, make very good stories. Some of the revengers had cultivated it as an art.
    One of the early historical instances of revenge takes us 2500 years to the kingdom
of Magadha.
    At that time, it was ruled by the Nandha dynasty.
    They had actually usurped the kingdom from the Lineage of Chandragupta who was a
direct heir to the throne. His father and all his brothers were treacherously murdered. Chandragupta alone escaped.
    Kautilya alias Chanakya was a very learned Brahmin who was very poor. He was going through a forest and he was very hungry.
    There was a hunting lodge belonging to the Nandhas.
    Chanakya went in there and occupied a seat and started eating.
    At that time, the Nandhas came inside from a hunting expedition, They got angry at seeing a filthy scrawny emaciated Brahmin in dirty clothes, sitting in their seat and eating their food.
    One the Nandhas jerked him to his feet, dragged him outside and threw him into the dust.
    In the process of being chucked out, Chanakya's hair knot became unwound and his hair fell to his shoulders.
    Chanakya took a wrathful oath that he will not tie his hair knot until he had destroyed
the Nandhas.
    Then he went away in a gust.     But then a grass caught the web of his toes and tripped him.
    Chanakya flew into a frenzy of rage, bent down, plucked the grass with its root, crushed it with his palms and rubbed it over his body.
    All this happening was being carefully watched secretly by Chandragupta.
    Chandragupta befriended Chanakya and Chanakya drew out the blue-print for the destruction of the Nandhas and made use of Chandragupta. After accomplishing it, he made Chandragupta as emperor of the Magada and thus the Maurya dyansty came into being.
    Chanakya became his prime minister and raja guru and drew up the administration
of the Mauryan Empire and went on to write out a treatise about the Art of Politics, Administration, Jurisprudence, and King-craft.
    And that, my dear chaps, is.....
    The famous Artha Sastra of Kautilya or Kautilyam.

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HEALING AND PRAYER

HEALING AND PRAYER

Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 11:16:13


Written by me in the ForumHub


From: JayBee (@ sp-69-170.tm.net.my) on: Wed Feb 9 05:28:09 EST 2000 


      Q. I've been hearing more and more about using prayer for healing, in addition to the usual treatments. Is this medically accepted? What do you think of it? 
-- Anonymous 


Answer: You've picked up on one of the most fascinating developments in medicine. Praying for wellness is quickly proving to be a legitimate addition to conventional medical treatment -- even when the prayers are offered at a distance by people who don't know the patient. 


If you're interested in this subject, I recommend you read an excellent new book, "Reinventing Medicine: Beyond Mind-Body to a New Era of Healing," by Larry Dossey, M.D. (HarperSanFancisco, 1999). Dossey is a physician who has written other books about prayer and healing, including the 1993 best-seller "Healing Words." 


In his new book, Dossey explains that the practice of medicine can be divided into three distinct eras. The first is characterized by treatments which focused on high-tech interventions and other  forms of modern medicine, such as drugs, irradiation designed to  deal only with disease, and surgery. The second era recognized  that the mind can influence the body for good or ill. During this mind-body era, we learned about the profound effects of emotional stress on physical health -- and how by counteracting stress (via hypnosis, biofeedback, relaxation, visualization) we  can relieve or reduce symptoms. 


      Dossey writes that we have now entered the third era -- where the mind is viewed as a factor in healing "both within and between persons." In his book, he describes a growing body of scientific evidence attesting to the power of prayer in healing -- and not just  the prayers you make for yourself or that your friends or relatives may offer when you're ill. It seems the prayers of strangers -- people who know only a patient's first name and diagnosis, and live many miles away -- can also influence the medical outcome. 


      For example, Dossey reports on a study at Duke University Medical Center's VA hospital, where a doctor and nurse recruited prayer for patients undergoing cardiac catheterization and other cardiac procedures. Those patients who opted for the outside prayer offered by strangers had 50 percent to 100 percent fewer side effects than patients who rejected the offer. 


      "Reinventing Medicine" is filled with similar examples of the remarkable effects of prayer, intuition, and dreams on healing. Dr. Dossey has done a remarkable job of pulling together and describing the body of research that could revolutionize how medicine is practiced in the new millennium. I was excited by the possibilities he raises. I think you will be, too. 

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THE FIRST TAMIL NOVEL

THE FIRST TAMIL NOVEL

THE FIRST TAMIL NOVEL AS THE FIRST TAMIL PAPERBACK CHEAP EDITION


Here is a treat for you.
This is the first paper-back cheap edition to have been published in Tamil. 


The book contains two novels:


1.Pirathaaba Mudhaliyaar Chariththiram
2.KamalaambaaL Chariththiram


The 1st novel is at the front. 
You have to turn the book back and upside down. Then you will be opening the 2nd novel. 


It was priced at Rupee 1-00 only. 


The fronticepiece says 'the first novel to be written in Tamil'. 
Thats what it says.  


The cover has been torn and lost for more than 40 years. 
I bought it as a school boy in Penang with my pocket-money. 
The Malayan price was $2-00. 
At that time, 1 Rupee was equivalent to $0-64(64 cents). 
I stamped my initials on the book with a home-made rubber-stamp. 
Actually the 'rubber-stamp' was not made of rubber. It was made of card-board. The stamping ink was also home-made. Indian Ink mixed with paraffin or something like that. I forgot what I made it with. 


The book was kept stashed away in our house in Penang when I left for Medicine. 


Around 1990, when I went to our house, I looked for it and took it with me.  
Three years later, the house burned down and every other hundreds of books belonging to my father, my two brothers and me, went up in smoke. 
One of them was 'KarNaamirdha Saagaram' by Abirahaam Pandithar of Tanjaavuur. This book is almost 100 years old. It is not available any more.


This book is but a remnant of that vast old valuable collection. But my collection of Na.Cii.Kandhiah Pillai's works has disappeared. Can't get them nowadays. 


I will be writing out what the story is about in another blog.

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UNIQUENESS OF TAMIL

THE UNIQUENESS OF TAMIL -#1

(This article needs to be read slowly and carefully. To get full benefit, reread it.)

Tamil is a very ancient language with several uniquenesses.
Here is a synopsis on the matter.
First something about Tamil.
Tamil is one of the oldest living languages in the world. 
Its literature is very ancient. 
Tamils have been very conscious about their language for some unknown reason. Because nowhere in the world, is any other race is so very sensitive about its own language. 
Tamil is very special language. 
The structure of Tamil is such that, word formation, versification, sentence structure, etc are unequalled. 
One example, there is something known as 'palindrome'. A palindrome is a sentence which can be read backwards. 'Radar' is a palindrome. 'Able was I, ere I saw Elba' is another. 
In Tamil, Thiru GnanaSambandhar has composed a whole hymn of 11 verses in palindrome. Each verse has two lines. This hymn is known as the 'Maalai MaaRRu Padhikam'. And all this without departing from the strict grammatical rules of Tamil poesy.
There is another type called 'nirOttagam'. In this composition, you use the letters which do not let the lips touch each other or let the lips to become tubelike. Thus you cannot use the letters 'm', 'p', 'o', 'u' 'v' 'au'. It the case of vowels, you cannot use their long form either, such as 'uu' 'oo'. 
In another form called 'andhaadhi' the last word of the previous verse should be used to start the next verse. You have to compose 100 verses like that. It would be like a garland or chain. Abhiraami Andhaadhi is a famous one. 
There is another peculiar style, where the same line is repeated. But each line would give a different meaning. This type of verse has four lines. In each of the lines, the same letters or words are repeated. 
Let me give you a very simple example - take this phrase 'paNiyaaram thOsai'. These two are palakaarams that you eat. When combined, they become 'paNiyaarandhOsai'. 
This can be split like this: 
'paNi aaram thO saila...', 
'paNi, aar, andhu, Osai...' 
'paNiyaarandhOsai...'
'paNiyaar andho saivar..'. 
This is known as 'yamakam'. 


There is one class which is known as 'silEdai'. The same verse can be attributed to two or three different objects. The poet KaaLamEgam was very adept at this. 


Take this verse:


Odum irukkum uLvaay veLuththirukkum
naadum kulai thanukkE naaNaadhE.


This can mean either a coconut or a dog. 


Coconut has a hard shell - Odum irukkum
uLvaay veLuththu irukkum - when it is broken, the inside is white.
naadum kulai thanukku naaNaadhE - the much-demanded and liked coconut is available in bunches(kulai). And because of th weight of the coconut, the tree does not bend.


The dog:
Odum - sometimes it runs
irukkum - or sometimes it sits still
uLvaay veLuththirukkum - the lips of the dog are black; but the inside of the mouth is lighter in 
colour. 
naadum - it attaches itself to humans
kulai thanukku naaNaadhE - it is not ashamed of barking(kulai)


  The grammatical rules governing the composition of poetry give a computation for 14,700 different word combinations. 
 
There are many other such linguistic wizardry. So it is no jingoism or exaggeration when we say that. You have to know the literature to understand it. 


Its not only mere words wizardry. The words are impregnated with deep meanings. These people have touched almost every prevalent subject. The truths and philosophies of life, down-to-the-earth type of realistic practical things..... everything has been treated.
The number of literary pieces that are still around now, are countless. 
Whatever is available is just a minute fraction of what was produced earlier.
Much has been lost. Very little is remaining. 
But that 'very little' amounts to hundreds of thousands.

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THE DANGEROUS SONG

THE DANGEROUS SONG

Hero worship is an individualistic trait among the Tamils. It has been there for many centuries already. 
Two thousand years ago, there were temples called 'paLLi padai' and marker stones dedicated to heroes called 'veerakkal' or 'hero stones'.

VEERAKKAL HERO STONE OF A WARRIOR HERO

There are many dead heroes who have been deified and worshipped as deities like Madurai Veeran.
In later times, there were ballads which were dedicated to dead heroes. These became a particular genre of literature. Kummi and Ammanai pirabanthams have been used for this purpose. Sivagangai Seemai Kummi and Ammanai relate the war waged by the Marudhu Servais of Sivagangai against the British.
There were many such ballads extolling the heroes of yore.
But now they have become scarce.


It took the British, the better part of 50 years subdue the Tamils during the 18th century. There were times when the British were almost defeated. 
But the Tamils were finally defeated.
Several factors had contributed to this ignominous defeat. 
But the main factor was the betrayal by the Drohi Tamils.
A small country like the Sethu Naadu of the Sethupathis could defeat the big armies of the Mysoreans and the armies and navies of the Dutch and the Portuguese during the late part of the 17th century. 
If not for the Drohi Tamils, the alliance of the freedom fighters would have won and driven out the British in 1801. 
That initial defeat of the British would have off-set the grand plan of the British and altered the history of India.
But during the wars and after the defeat of the Tamils, a large number of ballads were composed by lay poets. These ballads dealt with the heroes and heroic deeds and the 
matyrdom of the heroes. 
Always the Arcot Nawab and the British were the villains. From Raja Tej Singh and the Arcot Nawab Anwaruddin Khan to the Kummandhaan Khan Saheb and Colonel Heron to KattaBomman and Major Bannerman to Umai Durai/Periya Marudhu/Chinna Marudhu Servais and Colonel Agnew, the 
pattern is similar.
The people came to look at the British as universal villains.
During the early years of the 19th century, the British really cracked down on the Tamils very harshly. 
Their freedom of speech and thought was gone. 
They were exlied as convicts to far away islands. 
They were made to forget their greatness.
They were made to fear and become under-dogs.
Fear and subdued humbleness became the inherent natures of the Tamils.
They lost their self esteem.
And they were sent to far away islands as indentured labourers. 
Thus they bacame an cooley labourer class.
And they were conditioned to beleive that they were adimai underclass.
Many communities were branded as criminal communities and were made to report at local police stations or outposts and to sleep there. Even to sleep with their wives, they had to get the permission of the police or the thaanaak kaarar.
At that time, these ballads were giving solace to the people.
But the British cracked down and destroyed almost all the songs and put an embargo on such literature.
Anyone singing such songs were punished.
Why did this come about?
There is a place called SeevalapEri in the Pandya country.
The market of SeevalapEri is very famous.
One day an Englishman went to buy goats in the sandhai or market.
But all the goat-sellers refused to sell goats to the White Man.
One of the goat-herders was a boy. And he sang a song. The Englishman who lnew Tamil well, copied the song and took it back with him. He translated the song and sent it to the district collector. The song was discussed at the level of the high commitee of the East India Company.
It was then decided that such songs and literature should be destroyed and the singing of such songs should be banned. Because such songs were threats to the governance of the British.
Hence all the suvadis were collected and destroyed. Those who sang or kept such songs were severely punished.


That particular song which was the cause of all this trouble is this - 


vaaraaNdaa vaaraaNdaa veLLaikkaaran
varattum murattu thoppikkaaran
thoppikkaaran kuNdu sellaadhu - avan 
thuppukketta guNam pollaadhu - ini 
veLLaikkaaran padai vellaadhu - naam 
edhuththu verattinaa nillaadhu


He comes, he comes - the White Man
Let the barbaric hat-wearer come
The bullets(and cannon balls) of the Hat-wearer will not go!
His fickle-minded nature is very dangerous 
Hereafter the army of the White Man will not win. 
If we repulse it and chase it, it wont stand(before us)


This song must have been in some ammanai or kummi.
But whatever book it was, that book of verses is lost. It had been destroyed. 
This song alone remains.
The book of verses in which this song that caused this type of literature to be destroyed, was itself destroyed. But the song is still there, standing in immortality.

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DURBAR TEA

DURBAR TEA

Prepared with cow's milk. 
1 unit volume of milk should be boiled until 40 % evaporates. The fire has to be low. Allow cream to form. Collect the cream and keep aside. 


Cloves - 
Cardomam 
Cinnamon Bark


are taken in equal amounts and powdered. 


The milk is heated and brought to a boil again.
1 or 2 tea bag/s is immersed into the milk and quickly covered with a lid. 
Leave for three minutes. 
Remove tea bags. 
Add sugar to taste. 
Take a pinch of the Cardomam powder and put inside.
Stir.
Add a drop of Rose water. This is different from rose essence or attar.
Add three strands of Saffron stigma. Get the original stuff. Its from Spain. Costs RM35 for 5 grams. 
Add half a spoon of butter.
Top up with cream.


Drink it in slow sips.


Doseage of Cardamum powder etc., have to adjusted according to taste.

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EKAKSHARA POEM

EKAAKSHARA POEM 

A RARE TYPE OF POETRY

        In Tamil poetic literature, there are many hundreds of formations. 
Some of them follow very stiff grammatical rules. And many are most difficult to form. And many are impossible to be composed within the sope of other languages. 
Palindrome is a word or sentence which can be read forwards and backwards and still it will read the same. Like Rotor; Madam I'm Adam, etc. But ThiruGnyanaSambandhar has sung eleven verses of Palindrome poetry.


There is a rare form of poetry called Ekaakshara Poetry. 
This is possible in some other Indian languages following the same type alphabetical system - the Siddha Matruka System.
In Tamil they are commonly known as 'Kakara vargga Paadal' or 'Thakara Varga Paadal', etc. 
In other words, the whole poem will be formed just with the letter ka, kaa, etc., or tha, thaa, etc.
Lets us see one poem. This was composed by the great aasuKavi KaaLamEgam.
I will write a biographical sketch of KaaLamEgam one of these days.


The poem -  


kaakkaikkaakaakuukai kuukaikkaakaakaakkai
kOkkukkuu kaakkaikkuk kokkokka - kaikkaikkuk
kaakkaikkuk kaikkaikaa kaa


So......
Let us split up the whole thing - 


kaakkaikkaakaakuukai - kaakkaikku aakaa kuukai - 
kuukaikkaakaakaakkai - kuukaikku aakaa kaakkai


Kuukai is a type of brown owl. It cannot see during the day. But it sees well during the night. It is a night prowler and hunts during the night.
The crow can only see during the day and sleeps during the night. 
The crow and the brown owl are natural enemies. They kill each other on sight. 
They also raid the nests of each other during the time when they can see and their enemy cannot see.


kOkkukkuu kaakkaikkuk kokkokka 
kOkku kuu kaakkaikku kokku okka


kOkku - For the king; kO - king
kuu kaakkaikku - in order to protect the world; 'kuu' is the world.
kokku okka - just like the crane bird (he must abide and wait for 
the most opportune moment and then strike at his enemies).
kaikkaikku - in order to confront enmities 
kaakkaikku - and thus protect (his realm)
kaikku aikku aakaa - even the most able leader will not be able to(win)
(if he loses the opportuniy of the correct time)


KaaLamEgam says, that we must wait for the correct opportunity and without losing the opportunity, we must make use of it and act promptly.

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KING KONG

KING-KONG THE GREAT

        Fifty years ago, there were two entertainment parks in Penang - Great World Park and New World Park. There will be daily carnivals. It is in these parks that the wrestling matches would take place.

On one occassion, I and my elder brother went with my friends who were older than me. They were Tamil scholars - Kalaidasan and Kalaimani.  

I was in the secondary school at that time.

At that time, a main feature in the wrestling matches were the fights between King Kong and Dara Singh. 

King Kong was actually a Hungarian who had emigrated to Australia. His real name was something else. But he adopted the name - King Kong. Dara Singh and his younger brother Randawa were Punjabis. Dara Singh later on, had a successful film career. His favourite role was, as Beema Senan in stories derived from MahaBharatha.

When the 'King Kong-Dara Singh' match was on, King Kong played foul so many times. The crowd was wild.

My friend Kalaimani lost control of himself. He took off his chappal and pelted King Kong with it. It hit squarely smack on King Kong's chest.

At that very moment, King Kong turned and caught a glimpse of Kalaimani.

After that match, Randawa was fighting with a Pakistani wrestler - forgot his name. Clean fight that.

After the matches were over, we joined the throng of crowd which was jostling through the only entrance out of the wrestling ring.

At the entrance was King Kong.

And he had Kalaimani's chappal in his right hand.

There was no running away anywhere.

Meekly Kalaimani went through the entrance, hoping that King Kong would not notice him.

But notice him, he did.

King Kong nodded at him and said very politely,

"Excuse me! This is yours".

He grabbed Kalaimani's palm and put the chappal within it. Then he smiled, waved his hand and went off.

I was just two feet away from King Kong.

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WHERE GODS?

O YE GODS! WHERE HAVE YE GONE!!

There were thousands of pulavars or poets among the Tamils. Although they were feted and feasted in the times of yore, they reached their dogdays by the 14th century. 

Most of them composed small pieces of literary work called prabanthams while others 

composed puranams dedicated to the various pilgrimage centres. 

Life was hard for them. 

Many of them found it hard to make a living because, all they knew was Tamil literature, and as poets, they were always living in a world of their own. 

Most of the time, they would be jolted into reality by the abject poverty and the naked reality of the dire circumstances. 

There are many single verses which were sung on various types of occasions.

These are available as the 'Thani Paadal's.

As it is, there are a few thousand verses at the present. A small portion of them have been collected and published. But for the most part, they remain hidden and are rapidly being destroyed by the ravages of time.

Among the famous pulavars, were a duo called the 'irattaiyar' or 'irattai pulavar'.

One of them was blind and the other was lame.

The lame poet would ride on the shoulders of the blind one. He would guild the blind one and the blind one walks.

Thus they made a perfect team.

They are a standing monument for team-work.

Their modus operandi was thus:

One of them would sing the first two lines of a veNba. The other one would then complete the veNba without a pause in between.

Only once did they pause because of hunger pangs.

However, that song was completed by the great KaaLamEgam.

One day they were passing through a difficult terrain and came across a delapidated temple. 

The idols were lying helter-skelter. It was very evident that no pujais had been done for many years. 

The First of the irattaiyar addressing the idols, sang -

"kEtta varam aLikkum kIIrththi migu theyvanggaaL 

kuuttOdu kudi enggE pOnIIr?........"

"O Deities of great fame! Who granted whatever boons and blessing were asked! Where have you migrated lock, stock and barrel?"

The second poet finished the next two lines as if the idols were answering the query.

".........Paataay kEL!

selkaalamellaam seluththinOm; al kaalam 

kallaanOm sempaanOm kaaN!"

"...................- O Poet who sang thus! Listen Ye!

As long as our days were glorious, we extended our blessing and influence. 

When the times became nought, we changed into stone and copper (of which we are made)".

Let us combine the lines and form the complete song.

kEtta varam aLikkum kIIrththi migu theyvanggaaL 

kuuttOdu kudi enggE pOnIIr? - Paataay kEL!

selkaalam ellaam seluththinOm; al kaalam 

kallaanOm sembaanOm kaaN!"

"O Deities of great fame! Who granted whatever boons and blessing were asked! Where have you migrated lock, stock and barrel?"

"O Poet who sang thus! Listen Ye! As long as our days were glorious, we extended our 

blessing and influence. When the times became nought, we changed into stone and copper(of which we are made)".

Its a beautiful piece of literature depicting the gross reality of the world that we see to day.

Even gods turn into stone and copper!

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