20th century Valluvar portraits - Note on its art history

[N. Ganesan]

வள்ளுவர் குறளின் பொருள் என்ன? அவரின் உள்ளத்தின் அருகே
எவ்வாறு செல்லமுடியும், பரிமேலழகர் கூறுவது மட்டும்தானா
குறளுக்குப் பொருள் என்று ஆராய இடமுண்டு.
உதாரணமாக,
http://groups.google.com/group/mintamil/msg/2d3519e4c826eb98

ஆ பயன் குன்றும் அறுதொழிலோர் நூல்மறப்பர்
காவலன் காவான் எனின்

இதற்கு முந்தைய குறளில், காவலன் காவான் எனின்
என்ன நடக்கும் என்று வள்ளுவர் சொல்லியுள்ளார்:
”முறைகோடி மன்னவன் செய்யின் உறைகோடி
ஒல்லாது வானம் பெயல்”

அவ்வாறு, வானம் அறவே பொய்க்கிறபோது,
“ஆ பயன் குன்றும், அறு தொழிலோர் நூல் மறப்பர்
காவலன் காவான் எனின்”

If the King is unjust & does not protect the country (i.e., experts),
agriculture (for example, dairy products) will shrink, men of
expertise
will forget their discipline's technical books.

Please note that Valluvar does not use the term, antaNar here.
If he used "antaNar", we can surely say vedas - mantra & kalpam.
For each of the four varNas, there are six duties (Cf. Diwakara
NighaNTu).
Valluvar leaves it general, so "nuul" of six-fold duties means the
tech books
of each community group - the tech books are different for priests,
kings, traders and agriculturists depending on their jobs.

VaLLuvar kuRaL is general, covering all the community.

Please see my next post - an art historical note on the
20th century secularization of a Saiva Siddhar's statue
as Valluvar.

N. Ganesan

[N. Ganesan]

Here is a small note on the propagation of Valluvar image as a
Saivaite saint
in contemporary Tamil Nadu. The so called Mylapore temple being called
Tiruvalluvar temple is of recent origin (British colonial era urban
legends).

It was traditionally known as Nayinaar kOyil
by the local Jains and common people living in the area.
The main sculpture of worship was a "Sacred Feet",
"Nayinaar paadam" - it was removed and hidden, but due to
peoples' protest it was placed back in the walls of the
temple (1930s). It is common to call Thirthangkarars as Naiynaar/
Naayanar
in old Tamil literature. So, the sacred feet of Nayinaar
could well be a Jain Thiirthankarar (or Valluvar ~ but I doubt if it
was originally intended as a Sripadam of Valluvar at all).
There is a detailed article on all this by
Jeevabandhu Sripal, in 1940s, he explained all this
with evidence. Scholars like Tiru. Vi. Ka. Mudaliyar, T. P.
Meenakshisundaram,
Lakshimrathan Bharati, ... all attended the meeting, visited
the site & concluded he's right. People told Jeevabandhu that the
statue of
so-called Valluvar was brought to the site within about 100
to 120 years. Clearly, a colonial era cultural production
by Saivaites.

Later history: This about 200-year old statue of Tiruvalluvar
had a new life, thanks to Tamil Cinema industry.
As Dravidian movement leadership heavily is involved
with film world, Bharatidasan and others approached
a movie producer and an artist - Sri. K. Venugopla Sharma,
he secularised the Saiva image by removing rudrakasha beads,
and removed Tiruniru & drew a painting in the likeness
of Mylapore saiva saint image. And, in the Congress period
a Stamp on Valluvar was released by the Govt. of India.
Then in DMK government period, statues from
Sri. K. V. Sharma's painting were made and buses
started to sport the secularised Saiva Valluvar!
Now, in Valluvar Kottam, Bangalore and in the Cape Comorin,
thanks to Karunanidhi's personal interest in erecting Valluvar
monuments.
Around November- December 2008, there was an article
on K. Venugopala Sharma in Dinamani paper
(I've that article somewhere). Sharma's son living in Mylaopre
gave an interview on the memories about his father.
Still, Tirunelveli Saiva Siddhanta Book Publsihing Society has the
Mylapore
Saiva saint image with Tiruniru, Rudraksham etc.,

BTW, for the KuRaL, "mazittalum niiTTalum vENTaa ulakam ozittatu
pazittu viTin2"
The phrase "mazittalum niiTTalum" should be considered together
as an ummai-t-tokai. Vedic brahmins did not take to tonsuring like
Buddhist or Jaina monks. They always left a tuft of hair (at least a
few
strands) without removal - I think this is what is refered to in the
phrase "mazittalum niiTTalum". when writer Jeyamohan visited our
city, he said he believes Pazhani Murukan image may originally
be a Jaina image - he cites the Tiru-AvinankuDi as AaRRuppaTai
temple which is at the foothill of the mountain.

Does KuRaL 550 indicate capital punishment at all?
See Namakkal Kavignar's take on KuRaL 550:
http://groups.google.com/group/mintamil/msg/59b5d8ebfd3b1415

-----------

If the Valluvar as a Saivaite saint (e.g., Karuvuurc Chittar) is not
older
than 150 years, is there any portrait that is older than this image?
Yes, there is.

Francis Whyte Ellis (1777 - 1819) was a collector of Madras,
who formulated the theory of Dravidian languages first.
He died at Ramanathapuram town due to food poisoning
at an early age. He released Tiruvalluvar coins in *gold*, made at
Madras
Mint. The coins were mislabeled as those of Vishnu
by a curator in Indian Museum, Calcutta. Iravatham Mahadevan
correctly identified them as Valluvar's coins.
In the Valluvar gold coins released by the Govt. of Madras,
the great poet Valluvar is shown as a Jaina monk, fully
tonsured, under tri-umbrella (mukkuDai, a Jaina symbol)
He is bare chested (this Tamil style adopted by Gandhiji after
visiting Madurai
in Tamil Nadu, I think Sindhu era people might have had the same dress
habits, made of cotton, too.) and does not wear the yajnopaviitham.
there is an oil lamp kuttu-viLakku and a OlaiccuvaTi -holder made of
wood in front. A nice portrait should be made of Ellis' gold coin of
Valluvar
with the choice - "piRappokkum ellaa uyirkkum" phrase on the KuRaL
OlaccuvaTi as done in Sharma's portrait of Valluvar.
Once developed, the VaLLuvar portrait deriving from Ellis' gold coin
can be made as alternative portrait - this is more authentic old
portait than the Saiva siddhar portait (Cf. Jeevabandhu T. S. Sripal's
research articles).

Giving all these original research material, and Iravatham's English
and
Tamil articles on Ellis' Valluvar coins, I wll explain all this later.
May be in 2010. Now busy with INFITT 2009 conference in Koeln, Germany
work.

anbudan,
N. Ganesan
http://nganesan.blogspot.com

Cc: R. Banukumar, Chennai

2009/9/25 Nandu V <nand...@yahoo.com>
>
>
>
>
> From http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/temples-within-chennai/
>
> "Located very near to the Mundakkanni amman temple, this is the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar and little known even to the locals. A more than 2000 years old Iluppai tree under which Thiruvalluvar is said to have born got damaged in 1935 and the base of the tree is being protected with a cover. There is a famous incident in Thiruvalluvar-Vasuki life in which, while Vasuki was fetching water in a pot from a well, Thiruvalluvar called her and she went leaving the pot as it was but incidentally the pot remained half way as it was. This historical well can be seen here.
> Ekambareswarar and Kamatchi are the main deities along with Vinayahar, Murugar, Navagrahas and Saneeswarar shrines. The Ekambareswarar shrine is considered as the birth place of Thiruvalluvar by some researchers and as the Samadhi by others.
> While Thiruvalluvar is considered as the Tamil God, it is surprising that his original birth place is being maintained so poorly. What’s the point in installing a 133 feet Thiruvalluvar status at Kanyakumari keeping this place so badly? How many Tamils know that there is a temple for Thiruvalluvar right at the heart of the city? This being a temple is the only reason for this neglect by both the Dravidian parties?"

[amachu]

On Tue, 2009-10-06 at 04:58 -0700, N. Ganesan wrote:
> VaLLuvar kuRaL is general, covering all the community.
>

So he is not a Jain?

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ஆமாச்சு

[N. Ganesan]

Dear Amachu,

I've a suggestion. Pl. read some relevant books that talk on this
issue.
For example, S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, Ka. Naa. Subramaniyam, ...

I think prof. K. R. Srinivasa Aiyangar, father of Prema Nandakumar
also has mentioned it in his KuRaL translation.

N. Ganesan



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> ஆமாச்சு