The red goddess on the dark hued chest

Remembering the Goddesses from classical tamizh corpus.

“The red goddess on the dark hued chest”, the line taken from collection of songs called Paripaadal, from classical tamizh corpus.

We are only familiar with Murugan or Maalon, when it comes to the various deities mentioned in the old tamizl literature. But it’s actually the goddess who makes frequent appearances in these ancient tamizl landscapes. Tholkaapiyam, the oldest extant tamizh grammar available to us, only mentiones Kottravai, solely as the presiding deity of the paalai (dry / desertified) region and not associated with any other region, which seems contrary to the verses mentioning “Oongu pugazl Kaan Amar Chelvi” (The famous goddess Selvi that recites in the forest of ezlilkundram) or “Kudavarai ezluthiya venaimaan Paavai” (Beautifully sculpted Paavai goddess on the mountains) in the ancient layers of Sangam poetry.

In the mountain of Ezlilkundram ruled by Nannan, where the famous goddess Chelvi resides and protects that country, cites Aganaanooru (song 345). Pathuppatu talks about the goddess called Parayi protecting the mountains of Ayirai. Nattrinai (song 185) mentions that in the famous Kolli ranges of Poraiyan, where the Paavai goddess resides, so beautiful that seems it’s been sculpted by a non-human entity. In the same kolli ranges, Nattrinai also mentioned another Paavai, which it again says has been sculpted by a non-human entity (pootham) in a unknown or new sculpting method or technique (Pootham Punarntha puthithu eeyal Paavai). Kurunthogai (song 218) beautifully mentions the scene where the talaivi(heroin) is not approving of her lover traveling far away, for purpose of trade and lashes out at him, saying “let’s not make any vows of maintaining a stable relationship before the ever-victorious Goddess Sooli, she who resides on the mountain clefts”. Nattrinai again mentions a Paavai goddess, but this time “It’s so striking, that it could have been sculpted by a black-eyed God”. Another reference to a Paavai in the Kolli mountains of Valvil Ori. Yet another uniquely described Paavai, where the verses mention it as “Mayaeyarkai Paavai” (This Paavai of ever natural beauty). But in almost all those instances, where the Paavai goddesses or the Magalir goddesses (a group of goddesses) are mentioned, the verses are in the voice of men who have traveled so far, for trade or in search of wealth, crossing these mountains, clefts and forests, find these huge Paavai goddesses, so beautifully sculpted, which reminds them of their lovers.

The notable thing about these verses, for that matter even all other verses of the tamizl classical corpus, particularly the agam poems is that how emotions and people are central to the theme and that the natural landscape, where even the deities are only a part of that landscape, is as a metaphor to heighten the experience of those emotions, which A K Ramanujan eloquently calls it the Interior landscape. The landscape of outside (natural landscape) acts as a metaphor for the landscape of inside (mind).