The Colas c12.60

c12.60

Of the life of the common folk, literature furnishes fewer details. The *Paṭṭinappālai* gives a vivid account of the life⁶⁵ of the *Paradavar*, the deep-sea fishermen of Puhār, including some of their holiday amusements. On the wide dune of black sand, the large clan of rough working *Paradavar* were seen eating the cooked flesh of the sea-fish and the boiled field-turtle. Wearing flowers of the *aḍumbu* (Ipomaea bilboa) and the water-lily, they gathered in the spacious *manṟam* like the stars and planets revolving in the blue sky. The stronger ones among them entered the wide arena and, without turning back, they fought fierce duels hurting one another with their fists and their weapons. Birds flew from the mottled palms, frightened by stones shot from slings. In the outer streets, pigs were wallowing in puddles with their young ones, together with many kinds of fowl, and rams and quails were seen fighting. Their huts with low thatched roofs in which were stuck the long handles of fishing rods resembled the little enclosures round hero stones made of rows of shields and spears. In the midst of these huts, fishing nets were drying on sandy thresholds, like patches of darkness in bright moonlight. Wearing the garlands of the cool white convolvulus growing at the foot of the screw pine (with aerial roots) they planted a branching jaw-bone of the sword fish and invoked a mighty god to dwell in it. Decked in the long-petalled *tāḻai* (pandanus) flowers, the big red-haired fishermen drank the toddy of the rustling palm in the company of their dark women clad in garments of green leaves. Refraining from going afishing on the wide blue water, they ate and sported on the sandy beach reeking of the smell of fish. Like the ruddy cloud embracing the high mountain, like the baby clinging to its mother’s breast, the red waters of the Kāviri mingled with the clear sea water roaring at its mouth; there, the *Paradavar* washed their sins in the sea and the salt of the sea in the water of the river. They played with the crabs and, amidst the spreading waves of the sea, made dolls of sand and, feasting their senses in other ways, they spent the whole day in games. In the night, they heard music and witnessed the play acted in pillared mansions; lovers, changing silks for lighter robes and drinking wine without limit, slept on the sands in the last watch of night.