Maturaikkāñci

2021-08-26T06:31:23Z

182.65.106.6:

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{{Sangam literature}}
{{italic}}
'''''Maduraikanchi''''' ({{Lang-ta|மதுரைக் காஞ்சி}}), mispronounced as '''''Maturaikanchi''''',{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|p=221}} is an ancient [[Tamil language|Tamil]] poem in the [[Sangam literature]].{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1974|pp=60–61}} It is a didactic poem and its title connotes the "poetic counsel addressed to the king of Madurai".{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=58–59}} Composed by [[Mangudi Marudhanar|Mankuti Marutanar]] – probably the chief court poet of the [[Pandya]] king [[Nedunjeliyan II]], the ''Maduraikkāñci'' is the sixth poem in the ''[[Pattuppāṭṭu]]'' anthology.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1973|pp=29, 58}} The poem is generally dated to the late classical period (2nd to 4th century CE).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR9&dq=info:3mNeiVqlnhoJ:scholar.google.com/|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India|date=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-03591-1|language=en}}</ref>

''Maduraikkanci'' is the longest poem in the ''Pattuppāṭṭu'' collection with 782 lines of poetry. Many of the verses are in ''akaval'' meter and others in ''vanci'' meter.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1974|pp=60–61}} It is a detailed description of life and bustle in the ancient city of Madurai.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1974|pp=60–61}} The poem praises the king for all his accomplishments and strengths. Embedded indirectly within the poem is the poet's counsel to the king on justice, the impermanence of everything in life, and the proper rule of the kingdom.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}}

In addition to Madurai, the poem is another source of historic information about the Tamil region. It mentions seaports in the ''neithal'' coastline, the prosperous ''marutham'' farms, the hilly ''kurinchi'' region, the ''palai'' arid area.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}} Madurai is described as the capital city with fortified gates, broad streets, mansions and big markets. The ''Maduraikkanci'' presents the social and economic life of the city in five sections, under the following subheadings: morning, evening, dusk, night, and dawn.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}} The morning market is described as busy with throngs of people of various creed, race and languages. Elephant- and horse-pulled chariots carry the elite and the soldiers through the streets.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}}

The city has many temples, families buy and carry votive offerings to the gods in these temples, and inside these temples are musicians playing various styles of music, according to ''Maduraikkanci''. Newly married women pray inside the temple, light lamps and make offerings to the goddesses, to be blessed with children.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}} Women wear flowers in their hair and jewelry when they visit the temples and markets. The temples are officiated by priestesses. Men dance inside [[Murugan]] temples. The Brahmins chant the [[Veda]]s.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}} The bards sing in the street about wars and victories, people listen and make donations. Mahouts host elephants and feed them fodder. The shopkeepers stock their shops and clean their floors, then smear them with a coating of cow dung.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=221–225}} Watchmen announce the hour. The city has a zoo, while from the trees the birds sing and invite their mates.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=224–226}} Women participate in agricultural and economic activity.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Ramaswamy | first=Vijaya | title=Aspects of women and work in early South India | journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=26 | issue=1 | year=1989 | doi=10.1177/001946468902600104 | pages=81–99| s2cid=143766297 }}</ref>

The ''Maduraikkanci'' describes a well-structured administration in Madurai. The king had ministers, officials and judges, who wore turbans. Patrolmen and soldiers watched the streets, collected tolls and protected the traders from acts of theft.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=224–226}}<ref name="Jaishankar2019">{{cite book|author1=P Madhava Soma Sundaram|author2=K Jaishankar|author3=E Enanalap Periyar|editor=K. Jaishankar|title=Routledge Handbook of South Asian Criminology|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27qmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT177|year=2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-00-030088-8|pages=175–181|chapter=11. Crime and Justice in Ancient South India (Sangam Age)}}</ref> The city is described largely in terms of its markets and temples. Lines 497 to 511 allude to gods and goddesses in these temples with iconographic items of Hinduism. [[Vishnu]] is called the ruler of the three worlds and it identifies [[Rama]] and [[Krishna]] as his incarnations, [[Shiva]] (Rudra) is alluded to with "god who wields the battle-ax", while Vishnu is alluded to with "god who protects the world". City gates had symbols of [[Lakshmi]], the goddess of wealth and Vishnu's wife.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=226–227}} A bathing festival with ritual dip in the waters to "cleanse their sins" is mentioned in the poem. Chanting of the Vedas is mentioned in lines 512–518,{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=226–227}} as is the presence of Jain monks and Buddhist monasteries alluded to in lines 519–528 and elsewhere in the poem.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1974|pp=60–61}}{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|p=259 with footnote 2}} The lines related to the Vedas, states Chelliah, alludes to the [[jivanmukta]] ideology found in Hinduism.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=226–227, p. 259 "They feel they are one with the Universe, and reach for high heaven while yet they are on earth; they never depart from virtue, love all life, and live a saintly life of joy supreme."}}

==See also==
* [[Ten Idylls]]
* [[Eighteen Greater Texts]]
* [[Sangam literature]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{ref begin|30em}}
*{{cite book|author= JV Chelliah|title= Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation)| year= 1946|url = https://archive.org/details/PattupattuTenTamilIdylls_20180715/page/n1| publisher= Tamil University (1985 print)}}
* {{cite book |author=Edward Jewitt Robinson |title=Tamil Wisdom: Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages and Selections from Their Writings |year=2001 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |location = New Delhi}}
* Mudaliyar, Singaravelu A., Apithana Cintamani, An encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, (1931) - Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi (1983)
* {{cite book|title=Tamil Literature|last=Pillai|first=M. S. Purnalingam|year=1994|pages=115|publisher=Asian Educational Services|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIeqvcai5XQC&pg=PA115|isbn=81-206-0955-7}}
* {{cite book|title=The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia|last=Ray|first=Himanshu Prabha |year=2003|publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location=Cambridge|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iHHzP4uVpn4C |isbn=9780521011099}}
* Selby, Martha Ann (2011) Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu, an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|9780231150651}}
*{{cite book|author=Takanobu Takahashi|title=Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgCHuVGyZoEC|year=1995|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-10042-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ|year=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-03591-5}}
* {{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC | year=1974| publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn= 978-3-447-01582-0}}
* {{cite book|title=Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|author-link=Kamil Zvelebil|year=1992|pages=73|publisher=BRILL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC |isbn=90-04-09365-6}}
{{refend}}

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{{Tamil language}}
[[Category:Sangam literature]]

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