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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s21: 4.18 Social organisation

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s21

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4.18 Social organisation

4.18.1 Clans

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(i) Iḷayar

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An inscription from Sittannavasal (No. *49*, ca. 1st century B.C.) refers to the gift of a stone bed made collectively by the *iḷayar* (*iḷaiyar*), an ancient martial clan of the Tamil country. In another inscription from Muttuppatti (No. *56*, ca. 1st century B.C.), a member of the clan described as an *eḷamakaṉ* (*iḷamakaṉ*; pl. *iḷamakkaḷ*) figures as a donor jointly with another person who was probably his master (to whom he rendered military service). This arrangement is frequently referred to in later herostone inscriptions where the *iḷamakaṉ* is described as the *cēvakaṉ* 'warrior- attendant'.³

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³ *Ceṅgam Naṭukarkaḷ*: Nos. 30, 33, 62, 86, 87 of 1971, all from ca. 6th century A.D.

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(ii) Īḻa-

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An inscription at Tirupparankunram (No. *55*, ca. 1st century A.D.) refers to an *īḻa-kuṭumpikaṉ* (read *īḻa-*) 'a member of a family (*kuṭumpikaṉ*) of toddy-drawers (*īḻa-*)'. The name of the clan (*Īḻavar*) is derived from *īḻam* 'toddy'.

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(iii) Kuṟavaṉ

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A silver seal from Karur has the Tamil-Brāhmī legend *ku ṟa vā ṉa* (*kuṟavaṉ*) 'a member of the hill tribe of Kuṟavar.'¹ A poetess belonging to this tribe, Kuṟamakaḷ Iḷaveyiṉi composed one of the Caṅkam poems in which she praises Ēṟai, chieftain of the Kuṟavar tribe.²

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¹ See No. 2, Table 1.7 and Fig. 1.23 A.

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² *Puṟa*. 157.

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(iv) Nākaṉ

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The Nākar were an ancient autochthonous race inhabiting South Asian countries. In popular mythology, the name is connected with *nāga* (Skt.) 'serpent (deity)'; the Nāgas are regarded as semi-divine beings. The personal name *nākaṉ* (No. *48*, with variant spellings in Nos. *37* and *72*) may be based on the ancient clan name or derived from Pkt. *nāga* .

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(v) Parataṉ

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A terracotta seal in the State Archaeological Museum at Dharmapuri ³ has the legend *pā rā ta ṉa* (*parataṉ*), 'a member of the clan of Paratar or Paratavar', an ancient community of fishermen and traders principally in pearls, chank and salt, inhabiting the coastal villages especially in the southern region of the Tamil country.⁴

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³ See No. 3, Table 1.7 and Fig. 1.23 B.

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⁴ C. Maloney 1969: pp. 224-240.

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An exceptionally interesting gold ring from Karur depicts the motif of a young prince battling a rearing lion.⁵ The prince can be identified as Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and Śakuntalā, who was famous for his prowess in subduing lions and other wild animals from a very young age. The ring has also an inscription in Tamil-Brāhmī characters of ca. 1st century B.C. consisting of the name *ti yā ṉa* (*tiyaṉ*), a personal name derived from the asterism *tishya*. Apparently a pictorial pun is depicted on the ring indicating that Tiyaṉ, the owner of the ring, belonged to the Bharata (Ta. *paratar*) clan. The glossary of inscriptional terms appended to the *South Indian Temple Inscriptions* has the entry 'bhāratavar: probably, *paratavar*, fishermen'.

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⁵ See No. 1, Table 1.8 and Fig. 1.23 C.

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It is significant that in the Early Sinhala-Brāhmī cave inscriptions of Sri Lanka, the name *tisa* (< Skt. *tishya*) and the title *barata* (< Skt. *bharata*) often appear together.⁶ A local lead coin found near Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka, has the legend *barata tiśaha* (< Skt. *bharata-tishyasya*) 'of Barata Tissa'.⁷

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⁶ Paranavitana 1970: pp. cxi-cxvi.

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⁷ O. Bopearachchi, H. Falk and R. Wickremesinhe 2000: No. 12.

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(vi) Pāṇ

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An Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscription at Paraiyanpattu (No. *115*, ca. 6th century A.D.) refers to *pāṇāṭu* 'the Pāṇ country'. The name is probably derived from *pāṇ* (pl. *pāṇar*) 'a community famous for its bards and minstrels; cf. *pāṇ* 'song'.

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(vii) Malai Vaṇṇakkaṉ

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Tēvaṉ Cāttaṉ, who composed the musical inscriptions at Arachalur, is described as a *malai vaṇṇakkaṉ*, a member of the Vaṇṇakkar clan of the hills (Arachalur, No. **85**, ca. 4th century A.D.). The Vaṇṇakkar clan still survives as a *gōtra* within the larger caste group of Koṅku Veḷḷāḷar.

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(viii) Vēḷ

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In an inscription at Mettuppatti (No. **32**, ca. 2nd century B.C.), the donor is described as a *vēḷ*, 'a member of a class of ancient chiefs in the Tamil country' (pl. *vēḷir*). The clan name *vēḷ* also occurs in pottery inscriptions from Arikamedu¹ and Kodumanal.² It is interesting that *vēḷ* occurs as a title in the Early Sinhala-Brāhmī inscriptions, where it is a loanword from Tamil.³

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¹ I. Mahadevan 1996a: pp. 302-303, Fig. 5.9. The inscription is fragmentary and reads [*vē*][*ḷ*] *ātaṉ*.

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² Y. Subbarayalu, Catalogue of Pottery Inscriptions from Kodumanal 1996 (unpublished): No. 115.

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³ S. Paranavitana 1970: pp. xxiv-xxv. His reading of *vēḷ* as *vēlu* is not generally accepted.

4.18.2 Kinship

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The following kinship terms are attested in the inscriptions (*vide* Inscriptional Glossary for references):

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| (i) | *tantai* | : 'father' |
| (ii) | *tāyiyaru* | : 'mother' (honorific singular) |
| (iii) | *makaṉ* | : 'son' |
| (iv) | *makaḷ*, *kuṟummakaḷ* | : 'daughter' |
| (v) | *piṉ-aṉ* (*piṇṇaṉ*) | : 'younger brother' |
| (vi) | *sālakaṉ* | : 'sister-in-law's husband' |

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The term *tāyiyaru* does not occur in Tamil and seems to be an early loanword from Kannada; *piṇṇaṉ* occurs not in the literal sense of the term, but as a personal name. The word *sālakaṉ* is derived from Prakrit where, however, it has a different sense; cf. Pkt. *sālaka* < Skt. *syālaka* 'wife's brother'. The term has the same meaning in the inscription as Ta. *cakalaṉ* 'sister-in-law's husband'.

4.18.3 Honorifics

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Members of social groups (like family or clan) are referred to with the addition of various honorifics to personal names to indicate their status or seniority within the group.

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**(i) *aṉtai***

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A frequent honorific affix (masc.). It can occur as an independent word either before a personal name as in *aṉtai pikaṉ* (No. **20**) or after as in *kuvira-aṉtai* (No. **32**) or as a bound suffix as in *korṟantai* (No. **67**). The honorific signifies the seniority or status of the member of a family or group. It is to be noted especially that *-antai* as a bound suffix also serves as an honorific and does not mean 'father of' as interpreted in Tamil grammatical tradition. The variant *atai* (for *antai* or *attai*) occurs in a couple of inscriptions (Nos. *30* & *56*).

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(ii) *-a(p)pa*

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An honorific suffix (masc.) as in *o(p)paṉ=a(p)pa* (No. *79*) for an elder person.

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(iii) *-a(y)yaṉ*/*-aiyaṉ*

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Honorific suffixes (masc.), both occurring in the same inscription (No. *55*) with the same significance as the honorific noted above.

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(iv) *-aṇṇi*

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An honorific suffix (fem.). Though the literal meaning of the word is 'elder brother's wife', it occurs in the inscription (No. *83*) as a term of respect for an elder woman.

4.18.4 Attributes

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Certain attributes are prefixed to personal names to indicate relative seniority within the family, as between father and son or elder and younger brothers having the same name.

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(a) *neṭu-* as in *neṭuñceḻiyaṉ* (No. *1*) and *peru-* (*pēr-* before vowels) as in *peruṅkūṟṟaṉ* (No. *88*) indicate elder members of the family;

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(b) *iḷa-* (variant, *eḷa-*) as in *iḷañcaṭikaṉ* (No. *2*), *kuṟu-* as in *kuṟummakaḷ* 'young(er) daughter' (No. *65*), and *ciṟu-* (variant, *ceṟ-* before a vowel) as in *ciṟuceṇṇaṉ* (No. *106*) indicate younger members of the family.

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Elsewhere, that is, outside the social groups like the family, these prefixed attributes have more generalised meanings like 'great/large' for (a) and 'small/little' for (b) above.

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