SumeruTamils Dwaraka and Tolkaappiyam
Dr K.Loganathan 6-9-12
Friends
There is a problem of giving supporting evidences for the possible migration of Sumeru-Tamils into India especially Tamil Nadu. The available archaeological evidences do not seem to support the gradual development of the utterly sophisticated SaGkam Culture (the Third) with its massive grammatical treatise Tolkaappiyam and so forth, Certainly it must have taken millenniums of efforts of analyzing literary productions as well as analyzing languages and scripts. The Discourse Analysis of PoruLatikaram is something very unique and only in recent times we have such studies in the West
Now assuming the First SaGkam as that in Sumeria also called Kumari, the Second SaGkam can be the missing link which again, very unfortunately was swallowed by the sea, However the following description where I give the original account as available in the commentary to IRaiyanaar Akapporul with its translation into English, suggests a number of intriguing possibilities that call for major revisions about the antiquity of Tamil Linguistic Tradition. Especially about Tolkaappiyam
This commentary was probably composed by the famous Nakkiirar(c, 3rd Cent AD) but maintained only orally through a chain of teachers till it was committed to writing around the 9th cent AD. So we can expect some extrapolations, additions and subtractions till finally it was committed to writing. However this account of the Three SaGkams must be an ancient tale, a kind of historical memory not totally unreliable. The account of the Second SaGkam mentions Tolkaappiyam which is still with us perhaps in an extensively redacted form
The Date of Tolkaappiyam
Now the scholars ascribe the date of 300 BC or so as the date of Tol based perhaps on the contents of the books of the Third Academy that mention trade with the Greeks Romans as well as some archaeological findings that confirm some historical notes available in the SaGkam literature. However the present of account Nakkiirar places Tolkaappyam along with Akkatiyam and few others to the Second Academy and which can be dated to a period around 2000 BC to 500 BC though the account mentions the Academy lasting for 3700 years. This suggests that the UrText of Tolkaappiyam must be re-dated to around 1900 BC or so with continuous additions and modifications over time till it assumed the present shape perhaps around 300 BC or so. This must have been several centuries after the destruction of Kapadapuram perhaps by a tsunami the date of which is still uncertain but perhaps around 700 BC or so.
I tend to ascribe the date around 1900 BC for Ur Tolkaappiyam as the Academy has to have a reference Book even in its initial stages.
Perhaps a more detailed study of Tol as it stands and shifting out the different layers will disclose to us the Ur Text and which could be the text of the Second Academy. As examples of later additions we can mention the Eccaviyal that talks about Tamizakam being limited to the hills of Vengkadam in the North. Also Marabiyal is a separate text added to Tol proper as an appendix. The Payiram by Panampaaranaar must be also a later addition.
Now we must also remember that Sumerians were the earliest community in the world to develop a literary culture where they even had schools for children the e-dub-a (Ta. Il tubbu) As such there must have been instructional manuals on how to write as well as a list of basic sounds of the language and so forth. Such manuals could have developed into systematic grammatical treatises in time. In Sumerian times itself there were bilingual dictionaries – Sumerian and Akkadian, where there must have been also some linguistic notes.
Dwaraka and Kapadapuram
Now in the list of great scholars of the Second Academy it is interesting that we find the name Tuvarik Kiimaan i.e the Lord or King of Tuvarai or Dwaraka. This makes us think of the sunken Dwaraka off the coast of Cambay where archaeologists have uncovered a massive city. Now this sunken Dwaraka must have been a major city in the sunken Pandiya Country of the Second Academy where are also located many other cities. We have Kapadapuram with the -puram suffix and Iruntai-uur with Ur suffix both reminding us place names in Sumeria.
Now analyzing Kapadapuram as Ka-paadu-puram, we can see the city being on the estuaries of a river mouth (Su, ka, kaa: mouth. Kaa> vaay. See also Kaaviri: a river with branching mouth) of singing waters. Perhaps the city was located at the confluence of a river with the sea and hence also a city with a harbor and so forth something like Pumpukar of later times. The ‘ka’ is retained its original and Sumerian form even when the Tamils came to the deep south and named the river as Kaviri.
Literature and Culture in Dwaraka
We have in the account the names of many treatises now all lost except for a redacted version of Tolkaappiyam. Akkattiyam perhaps authored by Agastua is a grammatical treatise where some stray verses are said to exist. The Viyaza Maalai, as the name suggest must have been a treatise on Astronomy perhaps on the planets (viyaazan: Venus?). Mapuranam as the name suggests could have been a massive puraNa literature perhaps similar to Maabaratam and so forth. In Sumeria there were such great puraNas like the Gilgamesh Epic Lugal Banda Epics and so forth
The Isai Nunukkam is certainly a treatise of Music where we also see great developments in Musicology in Sumerian literature itself. The Butapuranam may be a treatise on the Natural World, the world of Panca Butas perhaps dealing with matters related to agriculture
Now the point is even if these treatises are lost except for Tolkaappiyam, we can see, by looking at the titles alone, a great sophistication in culture, a sophistication that suggests a continuity of culture from Sumerian times.
The Northern Presence Tamils
Now this suggests the presence of Sumeru Tamils with their sophisticated literary culture around Gujarat Maharastra areas and which have been traditionally considered Dravidian, included in the Panca Dravidias. Having lost the Pandy Nadu of Kapadapuram or Dwaraka and so forth to the sea, it is possible they migrated to the extreme South and initiated the culture of the Third Academy where Tolkkaappiyam also served as the major reference Book with some stray verses of Akattuyanm still available. Perhaps Tol was recast and updated somewhat but still going by the old name. Now this along with the possible Dravidian speakers of the IVC which was also a very sophisticated culture also might have migrated to the South creating a culture of many scripts. The presence of IVC scripts in some potsherds in the South is evidence for a such a migration.
Now the migration of SumeruTamils who still maintained their linguistic traditions very closely must be a parallel stream of SumeruTamils another group being the Rig Vedic Aryans who perhaps came by the land route suffering many changes in ethnic composition and language and culture on the way.
Now the most ancient layer of Third SaGkam literature mentions in many places the Himalayas with a nostalgia where all the three kings the Ceras PaNdiyas and the Cholas dream of recapturing the Himalayas and bringing it again under their control.
Now Rajan Menon has expressed some architectural similarities in the buildings between those in Kerala and Nepal. All these in addition to the above suggest that there was a strong presence of the Dravidian folks in the North of India from the West coast to the Himalayas before they migrated and consolidated their presence in the South perhaps from around 700 BC or so. I recall here a remark of the great Bengali scholar Sunitkumar Chatterji to the effect that the Bengali language is 75% Dravidian thereby implying it is essentially Dravidian. This may apply equally well to Oriya Gujarati Maratti and many other languages.
Concluding Remarks
I am throwing these ideas as a way of seeking out sufficient archaeological evidences for finding the MISSING LINK between SumeruTamils and Third SaGkam Tamils where the linguistic and cultural continuities are too numerous to dismiss as accidental, Since the various diggings in the South have not yielded anything commensurate with the cultural sophistications of the Second Academy certainly located in India, perhaps the future lies with Marine Archaeology to be conducted off the coasts of Gujarat and Maharastra. We may discover in such studies enough material evidences to confirm a continuity of language and culture from Sumerian times.
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The Passage from Commentary of IRaiyanar AkapporuL
இனி, இடைச்சங்கமிருந்தார் அகத்தியனாரும்
தொல்காப்பியனாரும், இருந்தையூர்க் கருங்கோழி மோசியும்,
வெள்ளூர்க்காப்பியனும், சிறுபாண்டரங்கனும், திரையன் மாறனும்,
துவரைக் கோமானும், கீரந்தையும் என இத்தொடக்கத்தார் ஐம்பத்தொன்பதின்மர் என்ப. அவருள்ளிட்டு மூவாயிரத்து எழுநூற்றுவர் பாடினார் என்ப. அவர்களாற் பாடப்பட்டன கலியும்,4குருகும், வெண்டாளியும், 5வியாழமாலை அகவலும்
என இத் தொடக்கத்தன என்ப. அவர்க்கு நூல் அகத்தியமும்,
தொல்காப்பியமும், மாபுராணமும், இசைநுணுக்கமும், பூதபுராணமும்
என இவை. அவர் மூவாயிரத்து எழுநூற்றியாண்டு சங்கமிருந்தார் என்ப.
அவரைச் சங்கம் இரீஇயினார் வெண்தேர்ச் செழியன் முதலாக
முடத்திருமாறன் ஈறாக ஐம்பத்தொன்பதின்மர் என்ப. அவருள்
கவியரங்கேறினார் ஐவர் என்ப. அவர் சங்கமிருந்து தமிழாராய்ந்தது
கபாடபுரத்து என்ப. அக்காலத்துப்போலும் பாண்டியனாட்டைக்
கடல்கொண்டது.
Translation(Loga)
Now the great scholars of the Second Academy are Akattiyar Tolkaappiyar Iruntaiyuur KaruGkoozi Moosi VeLLuurk Kaappiyan CiRupaaNdaraGkan Tiraiyan MaaRan Tuvaraik Kooman KiiRantai and so forth all totaling 59. The poet who sang including the above total around 3700.
As it goes the treatises sang by them include Kali Kuruku VeNdaaLi Viyaaza Maalai Akaval and so forth.
For these scholars the following were the reference books: Akattiyam, Tolkaappiyam MapuraaNam Isai NuNukkam PuutapiuraaNam and so forth.
The Second SaGkam existed for about 3700 years.
Those who supported the SaGkam include 51 kings beginning with VeNteerc Ceziyan and ending with Mudat TirumaaRan. Among them five ascended the Poetry Platform. They established the SaGkam and researched on Tamil language in Kapadapuram, Perhaps it was at that time the PaNdiya Country was swallowed by the sea.