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Chapter IV HISTORICAL and CULTURAL ETHNCQRAPHY

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Chapter IV HISTORICAL and CULTURAL ETHNCQRAPHY 1 f i 7 j. • « Chapter IV HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ETHNCQRAPHY Introduction Having studied the place names in an earlier chapter, it is proposed to deal with personal names in the following pages. It can be pointed out that, as in the case of place names, there has been no study of names of histo» rical persons as against traditional figures. There­ fore, what is being attempted aspires to be the com­ prehensive study of the personal names from the South Indian historical records. It may be pointed out here that the stray articles of Nilakanta Sastry ’ titled* some Pallava Inscriptions' and ' Somaskanda in Pallava Sculptures based on the in- scriptional evidence also are such that they carve out the path that finally leads to the ethnographic study of the Pallavas. Statements in the first article such as * Saiva revival was in full stride by middle of the Pallava period of rule* and the ’ inscriptions which tell us more about kings and officials than about the common people* and that in second article like the ’ the several inscriptions of the Pallava dynasty throw much light on the abiding religious faith of the king* are amply justified in the Pallava records ethno- a • 1 ^' r t i; -graphically studied. The Pallava personal names reveal both what they mean by themselves and by their components. The character of the Pallava culture and, thereby, of the South Indian Culture is reflected in the personal names more than in place names. In fact, the Pallava religion and culture is best expressed in their personal names. As the epigraphs in which occur the Pallava per­ sonal names, vary in their languages such as Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, the names also, linguistic­ ally differ. But, our essential concern is only with the ethnographic traits of the names as viewed in the historical and cultural perspective. The South-Indian Svstwi of naming and names The South Indian system of naming and names are quite distinct and the distinction is more in the system of naming them in the names themselves. Even the system of names differs from the rest of India in the early Sangam age. From the later or the post Sangam age, though not the system of naming of the Sanskrit periods 1 Vedic Sutra, Smriti and Nibhanda, the Sanskrit names have come to influence the South Indian system of names. 1 Kane P.V ., Naming of a Child or a Person’ , IHQ. XIV (1936), pp. 224-U. G n How the system of South Indian naming is unique is clear in that it defies the order of prefix, proper name and the suffix except those names where are the Indo- Aryan linguistic elements. In fact, there are composite names both Indo>Aryan and Dravidian which allow only partial order of proper names and suffices. Only the Indo-Aryan names have a scope for demarcation of proper names and suffices. This disparity is found, even, today between the names of the South and of the non-South Indian region. While there is a regular system, according to which, the first name is the personal name, the second father’ s and the third the family’ s adopted by the non-South Indian region, what is adopted in the South defies uniformity and permits deviations. Thus the modern disparity can be traced back even to ancient South India, Thus, when there can be given an order of prefixes, proper names and suffices wherever there are Indo-Aryan linguistic elements in the name structures, the same order is not possible in the case of purely Dravidian names except those where cultural significance is Indo-Aryan in its origin namely the Dravidian names of the Brahmins. This establishes the influence of the Indo-Aryan system of naming on some sections of the Society with Dravidian names. While the Indo-Aryan and composite names are those '1 n of the Brahmins and of Royalty, it is true of the resi­ duary names too except those of the names of the indi­ genous tribal chiefs of the pre-Pallava times and the commoners which are, naturally, in a language, Dravidian and indigenous to South India - Tamilnad. The signifi­ cance of the pre-Brahmanical names of the Sangam litera­ ture is quite indigenous and has much in common with the Dravidian names. Thjts is the South Indian system of naming and names. The Pallava Inacriptlonal Personal Names From the point of the social order, as indicated earlier, the Pallava personal names fall broadly under three categories. They are the Brahmin names, the names of Royalty and the residuary names. Among the residuary names, there is more of reference to the indi­ genous tribal chiefs and the royal attendants than to the common man. Though, in number, the royal names are more than the non-royal names, in variety and significance, the Brahmin-names stand foremost as many royal names are repeated. It is so, because, there are Pallava kings of the different periods with the same names. It bas to be noted that, in the case of the Brahmin and imperial names, barring a few Tamil names, the linguistic differ­ ence among the names Sanskrit, and Telugu does not tTie 1 This/writer is able to state in the light of his consultation of the personal names of some of the works of the Sangam Literature already referred to in Introduction, affect the cultural significance of names much since, finally, the origin of the cultural significance of all the Dravidian names almost including most of the Tamil names has to be traced to that of Sanskrit names. But it is not true of the Early Sangam names. That there are a few Tamil names of the higher caste of the Society including the Brahmin-names which differ from the Sanskrit names both linguistically and culturally is due to the fact they retain the remnants of the indigenous culture of Tamil-Nad of the Sangam age, We find the same kind of indigenous Dravidian culture influencing the other Dravidian names Telngu in a less degree than in the case of Tamil names as they are found in records scattered over an area forming part and nearer to the empire of the Brahmanical powers of the Deccan like the Satavahanas. The Names of the Brahmins The names of the Brahmins dominate the entire group of Pallava personal names both in revelation and multiplicity. The author feels that the Brahmins should be studied separately. In ancient times, there was san­ ctity to the caste system and the Brahmins, as priests only, were held in honour in the society. Therefore, the Brahmins, who were esteemed by the royal patronages, through grants, should not normally be studied along with 1 7 the common people. The concept of *the common man’ is purely an economic and modern concept and it can be applied to the Brahmin community of to-day when the Society is conditioned essentially, by economic factors than by the other factors like caste and tribe. It is, perhaps, from this angle that Nilakanta Sastri, referring to his study of the Pallava records has made the observa­ tion that ’ the inscriptions tell us more about kings 1 and officials than about the common people*. Thus the study of the historical - cultural ethno­ graphic character of the Brahmins of the Pallava times itself will go a long way in deciding the historical and cultural ethnography of the Pallavas themselves. Before dealing with the cultural ethnography of the names proper both Aryans and non-Aryans, it can be said that, as in the case of cultural geography, the names proper and the suffices help a long way in knowing the ethnographic traits of the very people in whose names they are found. From the above classification of the names, it is clear that the Indo-Aryan names are more. The names of the most dominant community of the Brahmins are both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. A few are exclusively Indo-Aryan or Dravidian too and a few more are both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. The Indo-Aryan names 1 Sastri K.A.N,, ’ Some Pallava Inscriptions in the Hindu Weekly Magazine, July 23, 1961. For details see Sastri H .K ., S .I .I ., Vol. II, Pt. V, p. 531. 1 h 1-*^ L; U- Wv h , rv- rn are Sanskrit and Prakrit, while the Dravidian names are Tamil, and Telegu, The Indo-Aryan. Dravidian and Indo-Arvan Dravidian names of the Brahmins TondantPt^am Plates Of the names of the Brahmins, one third are found in the Tondantottam plates which is the most revealing of the Pallava records from the angle of the study of the Brahmins and what is found in the plates is the re­ flection of the social status of the Brahmins of Pallava times in its essence and the other records only supple­ ment, Therefore, the study of the Pallava personal names of the Brahmins found in the plates in all its aspects including their association with gotras and Sutras is essential before the other names found in the rest of the records are taken up. It is significant that there is fouhd no ’ Pravara* in any of the Pallava records, ^SkhS is an equivalent to * sutra* is found in two records \ ^ only ’ Pikira* and ^Vilavatti’ , The Pallava Personal name components Indo-Aryan Normally the names proper precede the suffix but 1V not always as In the case of the names like Su/yajRa where the name proper follows the prefix *Su* there being no suffix. Thus, at times there are all the three, , the prefix, name proper and suffix but at other times they remain as prefix and name proper or as name proper and suffix.
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