Thus Spake the Divine - Vedic Religion And Tamil

Thus Spake the Divine

Vedic Religion And Tamil

In this chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava highlights the deep-rooted association between Vedas and Tamil Nadu as well as the Tamil language.

The renowned kings, who ruled Tamil Nadu, had passionately fostered the Vedic religion. The best example is Karikal Chola, who reigned all over Southern India. While Karikalan means “man with burnt legs”, he calls himself as “Ari Kalan” (Ari in Tamil means enemy), which means he is the enemy of those who do not adhere to the Shastras prescribed under the Vedic philosophy. This reflects the passionate interest of Karikalan in protecting those who walked the path of Vedic rules. There were kings, who had titled lands to scholars of Vedas free of tax. Even now, there are villages called as Chathur Vedi Mangalam, which were given as charity for fostering the four forms of Veda.

There are certain English words such as Telephone, Bus, Radio etc. These are used in Tamil verbatim. There are no equivalent synonyms for them in Tamil. However, we are trying out to translate some of them in Tamil. But they are not really very comfortable for our usage.

But if you look at the term Vedas or Yagas, which are claimed by some to have emerged after early civilisation of Tamils, then there can never be equivalent Tamil synonyms for these terms. But they can be seen in the oldest forms of Tamil literatures, where there are great accolades for Vedas and Yagas. They call a Veda as “Marai” and Yaga as “Velvi”. Both the scholars of Tamil and Sanskrit would agree that these terms are pregnant with meaningful connotations. The term “marai” means “hidden”. The term Veda, which is the fundamental root of entire Dharma, should be cherished by only those who are staunch followers of the Codes of Dharma and should not be visible to all others.

This elucidates the Tamil equivalent term “Marai” to mean ‘hidden”. As the root is hidden below the ground, Vedas should be accessible only to those who are strictly adhering to the Codes of Dharma. Unlike the Vedic culture, Yogic observance was not really prevalent in Tamil Nadu. There can never be such beautiful synonyms in Tamil for these Sanskrit terms. Vedas are also called “Ezhudha Kilavi” which means “unwritten scripts”. As we have already seen in the earlier chapter, Vedas can be chanted only by listening to the oral recitation and not by reading or writing from books. Vedas are termed “Shruti” to mean that one memorises Vedas only by listening to them. To be frank, there is not even an equivalent term in Sanskrit for Vedas, as beautifully called “marai’ in Tamil!

The six aspects of Vedas are called “Shadangangal”. Only from that the term “Sadangu” in Tamil has been inferred. “Sadangu” refers to rituals and activities related to religious practices. So, it becomes apparent that Tamil Nadu is well-known for adherence to all codes of Vedas and Dharma.

My earnest view is that Tirukkural, the Tamil couplet, is full and full a Vedic interpretation alone. In our Vedic religion, top importance is given to Pitru, our ancestors. Only then comes the Vedic Yagna. Only after performing ‘Tarpanam’ and ‘divasam’ (offering of water and food to ancestors who have passed away) to ancestors, should worship of Vedas follow. This is well recited in the Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar.

The significance comes in this order: Ancestors, God, Guests, Relatives and then Self. All these five have to be treated well. First, Tiruvalluvar speaks about ancestors and only then comes God. We share our possessions with all these five at our own will.

All our wealth and other belongings should be shared among these five only after paying one sixth of tax on our earnings to the King. The balance five parts should be shared within the above- mentioned five parties. The self can retain only 1/5 th of the total earnings. On behalf of ancestors (Pitrus), one portion would be distributed in the form of food to others. For God, one part would go to temples. Then, one portion to guests, one portion to relatives who are poor, and the last portion would go to self. This is the distribution of wealth as prescribed under the rules of Vedas.

Tiruvalluvar also travels along the same lines. Can there be a better socialistic pattern of distribution other than the one prescribed by Vedas and Tiruvalluvar? The fundamental cornerstone of Vedic religion is that one should live a life for betterment of the society than making it revolve around his own self. Hence, Tirukkural and other Tamil scriptures are only the descendants of Vedic philosophies.

While Tiruvalluvar narrated his couplets on Vedic philosophies, Avvaiyar was passionately fostering Vedic practices. When she pens her “Aathichoodi”, she mentions in the first verse itself “Don’t ever leave one day without reading anything”. Here, she means “reading” is reciting the Vedas. Alwars and Nayanmars worship their respective Gods by addressing them as personification of Vedas.

There are now a number of schools for teaching Vedas. Help rendered for this purpose by people, who don’t belong to the Brahmin community, is immense. They have given free land and huge amounts of monetary assistance for fostering the Vedic schools.

My view is that though there is an outbreak of atheism among some people for some political reasons, as a whole, the Tamil- speaking people still adhere to the Shastras prescribed in Vedas. I am confident that if the Brahmin community puts little more efforts in adhering to the Vedic Dharma, then Vedas can be successfully preserved for long times to come.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

GIRI is Also the Humble Recipient of "The BEST TOURIST FRIENDLY SHOPPING CENTER in Tamil Nadu" Award For The Year 2019.