பக்கம்:தமிழியல் கட்டுரைகள்.pdf/93

விக்கிமூலம் இலிருந்து
இப்பக்கம் மெய்ப்பு பார்க்கப்படவில்லை

86 (Sanskrit) word for sun or mirror.” It is intriguing indeed that the ancient Chera (modern Kerala)* poet refers to the name of Dirutharāstra in such a circumambulated way. It may be either due to the poetic convention that was vogue in Sangam age to refer to proper nouns in such a round-about manner. e.g. the Chera capital Vacăhi is referred as that of the Wañchi not fading” since there is a creaper of the same name that fades. (2) The Krouncha hill is referred as the hill that is named after a bird Kuruku (which is Krouncha in Sanskrit)* or it may be due to the tendency of the ancient Tamil poets to avoid the use of Sanskrit proper nouns (i.e. sounds). This can be attested from the rare usage of Sanskrit names in Sangam poetry. As a forerunnar to Kambar, of whom we have referred earlier, the Chera prince-monk-poet slaňkö speak about Wārruvar Kannar who are identifid as Sathakarnis” [Nüru (Tamil) = Satham (Sanskrit)]. It is important to note here, that in the whole of Sangam literature nowhere the name Dirutharāstra occurs, though some incidents from Mahābāratha are mentioned.* (3) In Silappatikāram, there is a reference to Watamoli Wicakam” (a text in northern language). Here, the significance is of a different and deeper nature. The context in which this reference occurs is that, the hero of the epic, Kövalan a big merchant, so rich next only to the king of his country is shown a letter written in Watamāli (Sanskrit) by a forsaken Brahmin woman for perusal. Although in the opinion of the author of this paper, Kövalan who is said to be a Jain (Sāvaka Nönbi) did not read the Sanskrit text presented to him (probably because, he too did not know that language) and that is why according to the author of Silappatikāram, Kövalan without reading the text asks the Brahmin woman (who was abandoned by her Brahmin husband for the ‘crime’ she has committed by killing a mangoose, little realising that it actually saved her child from a snake) to tell him what was her woe and after hearing her, makes many efforts to mitigate her misery. - The important aspect of this passage is that, it clearly reveals that Sanskrit was the language of the Brahmins and they were habituated to express even their worldly problems in Sanskrit unmindful of the fact that many did not know that language 35 evidenced in this earliest Tamil epic itself.