Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies ISSN 2581-7574

UNKNOWN CIVILIZATION OF PAZHAYARU

By

Vel Murgan. P

Research Scholar, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, , , India

Abstract

Civilizations have risen on the banks of rivers. Rivers provide people with the necessaries of life. Though early life of people started in and around caves and thickly wooded jungles, it advanced to become cultured only on banks of rivers. In Tamilnadu, the small but perennial rivers have been the centres of some famous Civilizations. But the Civilization of a river bed in the extreme south, i.e, the Pazhayaru river valley civilization is not much known to the people. The Pazhayaru river, the remaining part of the lost Paghruli river system, though small in length, is high in civilization. It had created some of the best known cities, towns, trading centres, centres of worship and cultural integration and harmony.

Keywords: pazhayaru, paghruli, kumari continent, lemurian continent

Introduction Kumari Continent

In the First Tamil Sangam, according to Kumari Continent was a part of the Lost Nakkirar’s Commentary on Iraiyanar Lemurian continent which went under the Ahapporul, a galaxy of poets existed at Then sea, millions of years ago, when mankind Madurai perhaps in the Lost Lemuria. After did not exist on earth. But there is a the first deluge, the Sangam and its capital possibility of the origin of man and his were shifted to Kapadapuram which finds civilization in the Kumari Continent. This mention in Ramayana and Arthasastra. A view is supported by scholars like Scott second deluge submerged Kapadapuram Eliot, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hackel, Sir John also and thereafter the Sangam was moved Evans, V.R.R. Dikshitar, N. Mahalingam and to Manalur. A third deluge submerged K. Appadurai. It is also refuted by scholars Manalur also and thereafter the Pandyan like K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and K.K. Pillay. king shifted his capital to the present But, on the basis of the Sangam and Post- Madurai, which became the seat of the , we can deduce that the . The poets of the Third Kumari Continent was a reality and was Sangam collected the poems that escaped one of the cradles of the first man and the destruction, along with those sung during earliest civilization which later on spread their period and delivered them to the to North India, Iran, Egypt, etc. and helped world in the form of the present Sangam the creation of civilization there. It has literature, which depicts the Tamil Culture been argued that the Tamil culture was the of the Third Sangam (3rd century B.C. to 3rd basis of the Indus Valley Civilization and centuray A.D.)1. the Mediterranean Civilization. According to S.K. Chatterjee, 75% of the present

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Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies ISSN 2581-7574 is Dravidian (Tamil.) Therefore, one can capital shifted to Kapatapuram of safely assert that the Tamil Culture which Ramayana fame and cut canals of the lost originated in the submerged Kumari river. Geologists tell us that the vast stretch Continent was the earliest, which in course of land that lay beyond the present Cape of time, spread all over India and the Kumari was submerged under the roaring Mediterranean region and became the sea owing to huge tidal waves and tectonic basis and bedrock of all ancient changes. An oral tradition supported by civilizations of the world such as Egyptian some Tamil works refers to three deluges and Sumerian. This fact has been further which submerged the Kumari Continent attested to by linguistic archaeology lying between river Paghruli and River undertaken by Sathur Sekaran and others Kumari emanating from Mount Kumari. Sir who have found out Tamil roots in many of J.E. Tennent a Ceylonese scholar is of the the world languages.2 opinion that all these deluges happened in historic times, the first one before 2000 River Valley Civilization B.C., and second before 600 B.C., and the It is a well-known historical fact that the third before 400 B.C., and thus the Tamil – great civilizations of the ancient world such speaking continent went under the sea as Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian, etc. some 4300 years ago. originated and flourished on the fertile , as in Silappadikaram, says basins of the perennial rivers like Nile, that the river Paghruli and the Mount Tigris and the Euphrates, etc. In India also Kumari were swallowed up by the first two great ancient civilizations originated deluge. The Kumari Continent lying and flourished on the banks of river Indus between river Paghruli and river Kumari in North India and the Tamil Civilization on was 700 kathams in length and was the banks of river Paghruli in the far south divided into fortynine Nadus (divisions).3 of India. Strangely enough, both the rivers It was ruled by Pandyan king are not in existence now. The Indus River Nilamtharutiruvin Nediyon. He had his now not in India but in Pakistan, has dried capital at Then Madurai which was situated up and gone underground and river on the banks of river Paghruli.4 Paghruli was swallowed up by the sea. Details about the first could be collected Legends about the River from archaeological remains and the other According to Sthalapurana of Sucindram, from myths, legends, oral traditions and some literary reminiscences. Indra commenced a severe penance at Gnanaranya in order to secure redemption River Paghruli for his misbehaviour towards Ahalya, the devoted wife of sage Gautama. To get water River Paghruli is mentioned in Sangam in the place Indra directed his elephant literature such as Purananuru, and post- Airavatha to form a river to flow from sangam works such as Silappadikaram and Malaya Mountain. The elephant proceeded Kalithogai. Silappadikaram declares that to the mountain and gorging by its tusk since the Paghruli River and Kumari caused a river to flow towards Gnanaranya. mountains were swallowed up by the cruel This episode let to the river being called sea, the Pandyan king Nediyon made his A Quarterly Peer Reviewed / Refereed Multidisciplinary Journal Vol.1, Issue.1, October - December 2018 10

Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies ISSN 2581-7574

Dantanadi or Kottaru. The town on the Paghruli – Significance bank of river also came to be known by the Another derivation seens to be interesting: same name. The place where Indra All rivers are formed by the merger of attained purity is called Sucindram. A later drops of water (gy; + Jsp = g/Wsp), and this interpretation brought to bear upon the river is one among them.9 Rain water, name of Kottaru, i.e., it is derived from the Tamil words Kodu and Aru which denote ground water and ice water lead to the flow of rivers. It is a river which takes its mountain and river respectively.5 This, it course in the Malaya malai – Pothiyil or appears is strengthened by the location of Agastya hills, named after the disciple of Kottaru which is on the bank of the river Lord Siva in the south. Since it is the oldest Pazhayaru, surrounded by beautiful hills river in the south, it is called Pazhayaru and dales.6 (Paghruli). River – a Symbol of Prosperity Archaeological site on the banks of the The name ‘Nanchil’, is the corruption of the river Pazhayaru pure Tamil term Nancei (cultivable, th prosperous) land. It is made prosperous by Excavations carried out in the 18 century A.D. by the then Travancore Archaeological the river. The ancient river, that rendered Department led to the discovery of rare richness to the soil is ‘Pazhayaru’ known as earthern and stone articles from Paghruli river in early antiquity. Paghruli Karuppukkottai. Vases, urns, pots, plates, may in the long run have been corrupted into Paraliaru, which, in turn, could be pans and jars made of mud, and idols, boundary stones and inscriptions on stone corrupted into Pazhayaru: Paghruli =Parali = Pazhayaru, which means ‘the ancient were some of the items unearthed. On the stone idols were engraved figures of naga, river’. Since the original Paghruli was lost yakshi, Krishna, etc. There is a magnificent to the sea, the Pandyan king made it Parali figure of a soldier with a bow and a in memory of the old river. boundary stone with beautifully carved Many Tamil scholars of Nanchilnadu letters on one side and a cobra’s head on believe that Pazhayaru is the corruption of the other. Paghruli. The Tamil scholar K.N. Sivaraja Karuppukkottai, the village gets its name Pillai in his book Nanchil Venba published in 1935, has referred to the same through from Karuppukkatti. Preparation of Karuppatti (Karuppukatti jiggery) was one his verses.7 of the earliest occupations of the people of In the last two thousand years many this region. Karuppukatti can not be called changes have taken place on the face of Karumbukatti (sugarkandi). A stone press earth. When probed further and deeper, of one king Karumbu is still lying in a the hidden history of this river of paddy field in Pathiyara. The area was Kanyakumari could be traced. The known as ‘Pattalathoppu’. Relics of an significance of Pazhayaru is referred to by ancient culture and civilization have been the poet Adhimoola Perumal.8 excavated from this area which extended to about two acres.

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Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies ISSN 2581-7574

The boundaries of Karuppukkottai are production of commodities and their use, Theroor, also known as Azhakianallur on sale and expert are all evidences to the the east, Oottuvazhmadam seri on the west, prevalence of an age old civilization on the Raja Narayana Sathurvedhi mangalam also banks of this river. known as Puthukramam on the north and Conclusion Sabaiyarkulam seri on the south. Stone inscriptions reveal that the village existed The land of the Tamils in the extreme south as “Karumpazhur” in the ancient days in with its capital first at Then Madurai, and the midst of villages like Uthirampatti,10 then at Kapatapuram was lost to the Erumaiarai, Manali, Nambiarkulam, generations. However, though there are Kadaneri and Therkulam. It had fertile very scanty records to prove the paddy fields and tanks and lakes for authenticity of the survival of such a irrigation. In the records of the Travancore civilization, it cannot be summarily Archaeological Department, the name of dismissed as a legend or a myth or hearsay the village has been entered as story. Tradition, finding recollection in Karithurai.11 some Tamil Classical Works and post- classical literature, are preserved in the The stone inscriptions in the Elaya Nainar minds of the succeeding generations of Temple at Theroor engraved by King those who met with great deluges. This Rajendra Chola (A.D. 1013 – 1045) in the tradition of the deluges and loss of land is early part of the eleventh century A.D. further corroborated by European bears the name of the village. Further, the geologists, geographers, critics of classical fact that “Gangai Konda Chola works, paleographers and others. What is Valluvanadan”, who lived in the twelfth needed, in the light of these is an in depth century A.D. donated large areas to the Kailasanathar Temple in the village for study of this lost civilization. Unearthing the area, its specialty and its characteristics conducting rituals is engraved on a monument in the wall on the southern side. could be possible only if underwater archaeological surveys, explorations and Inscriptions on one of the stone pillars excavations are conducted. If Governments, record of a donation of paddy fields by one both at the Centre and State come forward, Kaliyugatha Meyyan to the Brahmins of the leaving aside all kinds of parochial village in A.D. 1462.12 These archaeological evidences make us believe that an ancient inhibitions, to undertake this task, it will certainly result in the unraveling of one of civilization existed on the river Pazhayaru. the oldest civilizations of humanity. The villages, their occupants, their profession, temples, plains of worship and References

(1) K.R. Hanumanthan, “The Paghruli River (3) Tenga nadu seven, Madurai nadu seven, Civilization” (article), ISIAC & BISS, Munpalai nadu seven, Pinpalai nadu Tamilnadu, 1995, p.26. seven, Kunra nadu seven, Kuna karai nadu seven, and Kurumporai nadu (2) Ibid, p. 27 seven.

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(4) K.R. Hanumanthan, op. cit., p. 26 (9) K. Patchaimal, Nanchil Valluvan (T1.), Samithoppu, 1999, p.16. (5) Kotu or Kottu has various meanings: i) ‘ line’, ‘peak’, ‘curve’, ii) a straight line of (10) Uthirampatti is the only village situated mountain or peak in the mountain as the on the banks of the river Pazhayaru top most spot, the geographic curve, the having the surname ‘Patti’. All the river and the location of the township Harijans of this village are living in huts may reflect these. It is generally and they are immersed into object accepted that the river takes a curvature poverty. The families of the people in so as to create the township of Kottaru public service who happen to die while (Kottu + aru). they were rendering service, were provided with sufficient lands in (6) S. Padmanabhan, Nagacult and Nagaraja memory of their death. This land is Temple, Nagercoil, 1980, p. 17. called Uthirampatti.

(7) rq;fE}y; nra;Ak; jdpg; g/Wsp ahNw (11)P.Ramachandran, “The Pazhayar Jq;kpfj; jq;Fk; g/Wspaha;g; – nghq;Fk; Experience” (article), The Hindu, gioahwhk; te;J gue;jnjd;g. ehd;Q;rpy; ntz;gh> 67 Trivandrum, 22 March 1992.

(8)“ehl;Lf;Fg; Nguofha; eye;jiof;Fk; tpj;jha; (12)P.Ramachandran, Pazhayattankarai eQ;irnahL GQ;irf;Fk; ew;gyd; je;J mwpQu; Nagarigam (T1.), Unpublished work, ghl;Lf;Fk; xspje;J gha;e;NjhLk; MW Nagercoil, p.51. g/WspahW vdg;gfUk; gioahW jhNd”

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