Onam in ancient Madurai
Radhakrishna Warrier
A link in a Facebook post led me to the article “City life in ancient Madurai as experienced by a Tamil Sangam poet” by one Cibiraj.
It was an interesting read.
From the description, Madurai seems to have been a splendorous city. The article provides the beautiful “bird’s eye view” description of the city said to be from the Sangam classic Paripāṭal by poet Kīrantaiyār.
The article has a description of the 7-day ōṇam festival of Madurai as provided by the ancient poet Kīrantaiyār. What was the name Kīrantaiyār used for ōṇam in Paripāṭal? Did he use the word ōṇam?
Interestingly, as per the article, Kīrantaiyār mentions śiva temple, Murukan temple and places of worship of the Buddhists and the Jainas in Madurai. What Tamil words did Kīrantaiyār use for the Bauddha and Jaina Dharmas and for the followers of these Dharmas? And for the places of worship? Did he use Kōvil for the śiva and Murukan temples and Paḷḷi for the places of worship of the Bauddhas and Jainas?
Old Malayalam poets used to call Mathura of north India as “Uttara Mathurāpuri” (northern city of Mathura) and Madurai of Tamil Nadu as “Dakṣiṇa Madhurāpuri”. I think in some versions of Prakrit, the name Mathurā (मथुरा) becomes “Madhurā” (मधुरा) which is more meaningful (“sweet”). In Malayalam, the name of the city in Tamil Nadu is written as Madhura (മധുര) and the name of the city in north India is written as Mathura (മഥുര). The change of intervocalic “th” to “dh” and then to “h” seems to have been common between Sanskrit and Prakrit. The change used to remain to the modern Indo-Aryan stage, like Hindi. But it seems “Madhurā” went back to “Mathurā” in modern Indo-Aryan like Hindi. It is said that the Tamil name Madurai (written Maturai மதுரை) is from the name of the north Indian city Mathurā. In Tamil, it wouldn’t make a difference if the name came from Sanskrit Mathurā or from Prakrit Madhurā.
Best regards,
Radhakrishna Warrier
Mathukumalli Vidyasagar
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Radhakrishna Warrier
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 12:39 PM
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Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Onam in ancient Madurai
kenp
Radhakrishna Warrier
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 2:48 PM
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Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Re: Onam in ancient Madurai
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'து' only in Tamil But still it is pronounced as "dh" that is "Madhurai" or "Madurai". In Tamil, there is a lot of importance given on how it is pronounced rather than how the word is spelt because of it does not contain many aksharas that are there in Indo-Aryan Period.
Thank You, Always Sincerely
Balaji R
Radhakrishna Warrier
Sent: Friday, September 1, 2023 8:34 PM