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Dear Members :
 
Srimathy Saranathan is well versed in Tamil Literature
and VaishNavite Source books .
 
I always enjoy her well prepared essays on these subject areas .
I would like to share with you her recent mail with her permission .
 
I am sure you will enjoy  this posting for its insights .
 
V.Sadagopan  

SrI:
 
Dear Sri Dhivakar,
 
As I was going through different texts in connection with your mail, I chanced upon some interesting information which I will share here.Let me first convey  some specific obseravtion with reference to  'maalmagan' from Silappadhikaaram and the probable connection of this with maal marugan.
 
Maal magan is another name for manmadhan or Kaaman. He is also known as ThirumagaL  maindhan. As per Choodamani nigandu, manmadhan is 'maal magan' or 'maan magan' (la-gara, na-gara thiribu) born to Thirumal and Lakshmi. The reference to Kovalan as mall magan, is Kaaman (from madhavi's point of view -the reason is obvious). Nowhere manmadhan is associated with God of beauty. Instead he is god of kaamam / desire /  love. He is 'mohan' who is 'mayakkam seibhavan' or 'angasan' who  creates desires ( viruppam undaakkuvOn), as per choodamani nigandu.
 
But  beauty is associated with murugan. But here again murugan means ' the one having divine qualities' or 'the one who is youthful' and not beauty. Kuzhagan which is another name for murugan means beauty. (rememeber kuzhagar koil of Ponniyin selvan at Kodi-k-karai? This temple is still there today. The recent escavation of Murugan temple at Mahabalipuram exposed by tsunami, and temples for murugan at sea shore  like in Kodi-k-karai Kuzhagar temple  and at Thiruchchendur - he is Chenduuraan, that is why  he is also known as sEndhan - must be to do with hill tracks / eastern ghats and not about neidhal nilam ).
 
That murugan does not mean beauty can be vouchsafed by a reference from Purananooru. In verse 259, which is the only vesre in Purananooru where murugu is used ( at other palces there is reference to muruga-k-kadavul or murugan kOttam etc, with obvious reference to Murugan), the term murugu is ued to mean god (deivam). In this verse ( yErudai-p-peru nirai.. by kOdai paadiya Perum Bhoothanaar), is is said 'murugu mei-p-patta pulaiththi pOla' where murugu means god or deivam.
 
That murugan is not maal magan can be established in another way too. Murugan is alos known as 'aran magan' - a clear reference to Shivan. Where is he is 'maayOn marugan'. This term exists in the nigandu. Here again mayOn does not mean what we usually think in the present day awareness of of tamil language.
 
Verse 57 of Puranaanuru  begins with the definition of MaayOn as this:  'vallaar aayinum, vallunar aayinum, pughazhthal-uttrOrkku maayOn anna' (by kaari kannanaar). Dr Vu.VE. sA.'s explanation is two fold. He is mAyOn because He can not be known by (both types of people) people who are not capable of praising Him and who are capable of praising Him. He is mAyOn, because irrespective of whether they know Him or praise Him or not, He is one who treats them alike and blesses all of them. MAyOn is one such that and Murugan is one coming in his lineage, therefore capable of or extension of what mayOn does. That is why he is 'guhan' - ' who protects' like his maaman . (guhan means 'kaapavan'). He is a protector like Thirumaal. The blend of Kurunji (hill tracks) to which he is the Lord and Mullai (forest) to which Thirumaal is the Lord gives this dimension to their connection.
 
Thus Maalmagan is not Maal-marugan. Maal marugan is MaayOn marugan. ( many verses can be quoted to establish that marugn means marabin vazhiyil vandhavan. At another level, marugan and marugi mean son in law and daughter in law - the olden dictionaries do conatin these. The root of this to mean the son & daughter in law is in 'maruvuthal', connected with 'kalavi' or matrimonial connection, which is extended to marudha nilam whose aga vozhukkam is 'punarthal'.. In contrast maNaatti and maNaaLan are the bride and the groom.) 
 
As you said, 'maal' means mayakkam among the other meanings and in MaalE manivanna pasuram it is used in this meaning only (vyamOham).
 
The 'Thiru'maal' siir kELAtha sevi enna seviyE' in Silappadhikaaram coming under 'Aaichchiyar kuravai', in my opinion is not written by IllangO. He has just given the then existant kuravai -p-paattu in Silappadhikaaram. Reason (1) :-.The  specific scene in silappadhikaaram is that of what is happening in the street. Ilango captures aaichchiyar singing in the street. It is not possible to think that he composed those verses sung by aachchiyar.
 
Reason(2) :- Every line of that kuravai is impregnated with high philosophical import and even depicting the progression of manvanthras and avatharas and more strikingly the comparison of 'moondradi'  of Vaamanan with ''nadai' in vana vaasam of  Raman  and 'Thoodu nadai' of  Krishna,  that they must have only been conceived by wise people in their deep contemplatory mood. It must have  been regularly recited or sung by people of Mullai (aayarpaadi of Tamil Mullai nilam) and become common place song of aachchiyar. A Buddhist like IllangO could not have captured the nuances  of Thirumaal avathaars as depicted in the song.
 
Next let me take up Iyer or aiyya.
 
The root word is 'I' or 'Ai'
 In Tamil texts of yore, this word is found at places to refer to leader or chief in II person (munnilai). That is when they call their leader or chief standing in front of them, they used to say 'Ai' or en ai, meaning ' en thalaiva'  or 'oh, my chief'. You will find this in verses 78 and 262 in Puranaanuru.
 
Aiyan means 'poojaikka-th-thagundhavan' or 'vaNanga-th-thagundhavan'. (the one who deserves to be worshipped).
The common usage in times of yore had been to refer to Aiyyappan originally known as Aiyyan or Harihara kumaran (born to Vishnu as Mohini and Shivan).
Then anyone who deserves to be worshipped by their potential, came to be addressed as Aiyyan or Aiyyar. (Note that this term was not used for Kings, but only to those who rose to respectable positions by virtue of their actions and knowledge)
Therefore, the Vediks or Brahmins or paarpanaas (paarpaar is one 'vedangalai-p-paarpavar') came to be called as ( also note that the usage is while addressing as in 'ai' in olden days) aiyyar or Iyer.
 
As per choodamani nigandu, the eldest brother is also known as Aaiyan, in his being the most resepcted person of the family.
The others called as Aaiyyan by Choodamani nigandu are God (swami, EEshan, iRai, pathi), father, royals (kOmaan), adigaL, kuravan etc.
 
In common usage all brahmins were addressed to as iyer only.
The formation of Iyengar, in my opinion, is when Telugus came to be associated with these iyers of Tamilnadu. This could have happened when Ramanuja migrated to Hoysala region though a kannada populated area, came to have association with many Telugus only. The addition of term of respect, kaaru, to Iyer could have resulted in Iyeru kaaru and Iyengar. The explanation of 5 attributes to Iyengar is intelelctual and can not have evolved in colloquial usage. Whereas Ai, Aiyyan and Iyer had been in vogue from time immemorial, as an address to respectable, worshippable and learned people. It is possible to think that usage came first and additional attributes came be added later by intelligentia.
 
Another reason to justify is that it is customary in Madayam iyengar families to call their father as Aiyya. These families, settled in Melkote region during Ramanuja's times must have continued the usage of Aiyya (for father or for the vediks). Aaiyya or iyer must have  been in usage when Ramanuja settled there and they must have  been addressed as such. The habit could have continued in calling the father as aiyya and for commoners / public to call them as iyeru kaaru.
 
Madhavi's address to Kovalan in 'vandhir Aaiyya' is in the meaning of 'kOmaganE' or 'kOmaanE'  --'vandhIr KOmaanE' (komaan is called as Aaiyya or Aaiyyan or Iyer)
 
Any corrections to this mail are welcome.
 
Jayasree saranathan
 
 
 ----- Original Message ---
From: venkataraman dhivakar
To: jayasartn
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 11:19 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Maattu-p-peN again

Dear Jayasree Saranathan avargaL:
 
Your explanation on 'NAttuppeN' is quite agreeable and also very interesting. I would like to add some notes for the meaning of 'Maalmaruga' which I have traced it from the great 'Silappathigaaram'.
 
'Thiru'maal' siir kELAtha sevi enna seviyO? ILangO wrote.
 
The same ILango wrote in 'kaanal vari' where maadhavi was praising Kaaviri (nadanthaai vaazhi kAviri songs) in one such song, she mentioned kovalan as 'maalmagan pOla varudhir Ayya'. ILango mention this 'maal' as manmadhan
(God of Beauty) (as per meaning of eminent Tamil vidhwaans like Durai Rajaram and others).
 
Marugan means 'marabu vazhi vandhavan' has to be accepted.
 
Murugu means azhagu - beauty and every one knows this
 
maalmarugan means manmadhan marabu vazhi vandhavan means azhagan means murugan
 
One more interesting note from Silappathigaaram
Ayyar or Iyer means Elder Brother or Thamaiyan.
 
Thank you for making us to think really in different way.
 
V. Dhivakar.
 
I am copying this to Sri Sampath for explaining more on 'mallmarugan'.
 
 
 


jayasartn <jayasree_saranathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sri:
Dear sir,
Please find here the further correspondance by me on Nattupenn posted
in Oppiliappan list.

Regards
Jayasree saranathan

--- In Oppiliappan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, saranathan
wrote:
Sri:



>>>I am attaching a Word file showing that a daughter-in-law was refd
to by Kamban as Marugi. In the Home Page
(http://www.tamilnation.org/index.htm..<<<<





Respected Sri Krishnaswamy swamin and fellow devotees,



Pranams.



Sir, you have given a very valuable information.

This helps us to go further into the usage of other words too.



As I wrote in an earlier mail, the word marugan is a derivative
of 'marabil vandavan' - the one who has come in one's lineage (as
given by Dr Vu-vE-sa, in his urai to Pura nAnooru)

And the words, marumaan, marumaaL, marumaatti, marumagan, marumagaL
and maru makkaL (all these denote one's brother's and sister's son or
daughter, as we use today) also are derived from 'marabu vazhi',
according to dictionary meaning.



But somewhere down the generations, the marugan -marugi terminology
seems to have been replaced by marumaan - marumaaL / marumaatti (in
Brahmin families) and marumagan -marumagaL with others.



Looking at the possibility of marumaan -marumaaL, another explanation
also seems plausible. This explanation appears as a result of looking
at another term for daughter-in-law, namely 'naattu-p-peN'



There is enough scope to believe that in those days of joint family
system and seeking alliances within close family circles, the
marumaaL or marumaan living within close quarters of uncle's house or
atthai's children too living with close proximity with other
relatives, this marumaan, marumaaL bonding with uncles and aunties
must have been very strong and this explains how they too have been
considered as 'marabil vandavar', though by gothra they may belong to
another lineage. (Murugan is maal marugan, (in the lineage of
Thirumaal) though he belonged to the lineage of Shiva.)



When the same marumaaL or marumaan was bonded with the family as
daughter-in-law or son-in-law, they would have been continued to be
called as marumaaL and marumaan only. This could have happened as
marumagaL and marumagan in other sects.



But when the daughter-in-law was received from other places (normally
the same family groups of daayathis and pangaLis lived in closer
proximity in the same / close-by village), say, from outside the
family circle, which could have happened with people belonging to
other 'naadu' like chOzha naadu, malai naadu, Thondai naadu ( the
divya desaas belong to 6 such naadus and all the Brahmin families
were settled in any one of these divya desams only), the girl so
received might have been called as naattu-p-pen, like malai nattu-p-
pen, vada nattu-p-pen (note this usage is usually heard soon after
the marriage " enna, naattu-p-pen vandhaachchaa')



We find the _expression_ 'naattu-p-pen' in the early translations done
a 100 years ago, of Valmiki Ramayana into Tamil. In Sundhara khandam,
Sita introduces herself as Dhasharatha's naattu-p-peN (not as maattu-
p-peN) to Hanuman in the translations. This shows that this term had
been in popular usage at that time (or until) though the elders on
our families still use the term naattu-p-pen.



And the above reasoning on naattu -p-peN on the basis of her place of
origin being some naadu and also in her being from outside the
family, may be one explanation for naattu-p-peN.



Whereas it is possible to think that 'maNaattu-p-peN' transformed
into maattu-p-peN, it could have also transformed into 'naattu-p-peN.



But I think maaRRu-p-peN can not be the main (root) term, for one
reason -which I am sure of. If we observe the way words have
undergone transformation, we find that 'Ra'-gara edugai has generally
transformed into 'tha'-gara edugai and not 'ta'-gara edugai.



Like

Ø ChiRRam chirukaale into - chiththam chirukaale -but not
chiTTam chirukaale

Ø KuRRam into kuththam - but not kuTTam

Ø PeRRu into peththu -but not peTTu

Ø KaRRu-k-kodu into kaththu-k-kodu -but not kaTTu-k-kodu

Ø VettRRu vEttu into veththu vEttu- but not veTTu vEttu

Ø VettRilai into veththalai - but not veTTalai

Ø MaaRRu into maaththu -but not maaTTu

And so on.





I stand to be corrected for mistakes and mis-interpretations.



Regards to all,



Jayasree saranathan















Mandayam Kumar Krishnaswamy wrote:

I am attaching a Word file showing that a daughter-in-law was refd to
by Kamban as Marugi.



In the Home Page (http://www.tamilnation.org/index.htm ) of the same
web-site, I found the following quote which is quite apt for the
occasion:



"...The problem with telling the truth is that much of what happens
in the world is made possible by lies. We might respond to this with
the great 'So what!' of modern culture: maybe the world doesn't need
truth , maybe the world is just fine as it is.... (But) It is not
even amoral, to remain silent while terrible crimes are perpetrated
in our name - sometimes to be silent is to lie .." David Edwards on
The Difficult Art of Telling the Truth



How strange that I happened on this quote just by chance to support
your affirmation on Truth! When we need assistance in thinking, it
just seems to appear from nowhere!

krishnaswamy m k
--- End forwarded message ---




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