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{{Short description|Tamil Poet}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{about|the Sangam period poet||Avvaiyar (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Statue of Avvaiyar.jpg|208x208px|thumb|Statue of Avvaiyar at [[Marina Beach]], [[Chennai]]]]
'''Avvaiyar''' ([[Tamil language|Tamil]]: ஔவையார்) was a [[Tamil literature|Tamil poet]] who lived during the [[Sangam literature|Sangam]] period and is said to have had cordial relations with the Tamil chieftains [[Vēl Pāri]] and [[Athiyamān]]. She wrote 59 poems in the [[Puṟanāṉūṟu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/01/stories/2011020150831000.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126002926/http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/01/stories/2011020150831000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-26|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=News Archives}}</ref> A plaque on a statue of the poet in [[Chennai]] suggests the first century BCE for her birthdate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Subramanian |first1=V. K. |title=Sacred Songs of India |date=1996 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-420-2 |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kGBDxqoL8YIC&pg=PA105 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sah |first1=Purnima |title=Tracing the significance of statues along the Marina stretch |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tracing-the-significance-of-statues-along-the-marina-stretch/articleshow/71066716.cms |access-date=30 April 2023 |work=The Times of India |date=11 September 2019}}</ref> The name Avvaiyar means a 'respectable good woman', hence a generic title; her personal name is not known.<ref>{{Cite book
| last = Mukherjee
| first = Sujit
| title = A dictionary of Indian literature
| publisher = Orient Blackswan
| year = 1999
| location = India
| page = 32
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YCJrUfVtZxoC
| isbn = 978-81-250-1453-9}}</ref>

==Biography==
Avvaiyar is considered to be contemporary to poets [[Paranar]],<ref name=name>{{Cite book
| author = Amaresh
| title = The Encyclopaedia of Hindu literature
| publisher = Sahitya Akademi
| year = 2006
| page = 295
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ObFCT5_taSgC
| isbn = 978-81-260-1803-1}}</ref> [[Kabilar]] and [[Thiruvalluvar]].<ref name=Dikshi>{{Cite book
| last = Dikshitar
| first = Ramachandra
| author-link = V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar
| title = Studies in Tamil Literature and History
| publisher = Read Books
| year = 2007
| pages = 65–70
| isbn = 978-1-4067-7245-6}}</ref> She is attributed as the author of 7 verses in [[Naṟṟiṇai]], 15 in [[Kuṟuntokai]], 4 in [[Akanaṉūṟu]] and 33 in [[Puṟanāṉūṟu]].<ref name=name/> Legend states that she was a court poet of the rulers of the Tamil country. She travelled from one part of the country to another and from one village to another, sharing the gruel of the poor farmers and composing songs for their enjoyment. Most of her songs were about a small-time chieftain [[Vallal Athiyamaan Nedumaan Anji]] and his family.<ref name=name/> The chieftain had also used her as his ambassador to avert war with another neighbouring chieftain ''Thondaiman''.<ref name=name/> The rest of her songs related to the various aspects of state governance. Although traditions claim that she was a sister of Kabilar, Thiruvalluvar and Athiyamaan, [[V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar]] refutes this claim based on his studies that all four of them were most likely of different walks of life, thus from different caste backgrounds and hence impossible to be siblings. Tirukkovilur is an ancient temple town in Tamil Nadu. This is where the demon Andhaka was killed by Lord Shiva. Sangam epics recount that it was here that Avvayar was blessed with a vision of her lord slaying Andhaka and she has dedicated verses to the same. At great ancient temple of [[Chidambaram temple|Thillai Chidambaram]] she sang Vinayakar Thiruakaval when Lord Ganesha displayed his dancing form to her. Vinayakar Thiruakaval is an extremely esoteric work.<ref name=Dikshi/>

===View on Valluvar and the Kural===
It is said that Avvaiyar was one of the several scholars who were present at the time when [[Valluvar]] submitted his masterpiece of the [[Tirukkural]] at the [[Madurai College of the Antiquity|Madurai College]]. Soon after the presentation and the subsequent acceptance by the scholars and the [[Pandiyan Kingdom|Pandiyan King]], [[Idaikkadar]] praised Valluvar and the Kural text thus:{{sfn|Robinson, 2001|p=27}}

{{cquote|The ''Cural'' contains much in a little compass. Such is the ingenuity of its author, that he has compressed within its narrow limits all the branches of knowledge, as if he had hollowed a mustard seed, and enclosed all the waters of the seven seas in it. <small>[Emphasis in original]</small>}}

On hearing this, Avvaiyar remarked to him that it would be more appropriate to liken the Kural text to an atom, which is even smaller than a mustard seed.{{sfn|Robinson, 2001|p=27}} Both Idaikaadar and Avvaiyar's remarks appear as the last two verses of the [[Tiruvalluva Maalai]].

==Legend==
A popular legend in Tamil is the story of the Avvaiyar and the Naaval ([[Syzygium cumini#Tamil Nadu State, India|Jambu]]) tree. Avvaiyar, believing she had achieved everything that is to be achieved, was pondering her retirement from Tamil literary work while resting under a Naaval tree. She was then met by a disguised [[Murugan]] (regarded as one of the guardian deities of the Tamil language; the god of war, victory, and knowledge), who jousted with her wittily. He later revealed himself and made her realise that there was still a lot more to be done and learned.

[[File:Adhiyaman avvaikku nellikani vazhanguthal.jpg|thumb|248x248px|[[Athiyamān Nedumān Añci]] offering a rare [[gooseberry]] to Avvaiyar]]
Another legend has it that once the great king [[Athiyaman]] gave an "eternal" gooseberry (''Nellikani'' in Tamil) fruit to Avvaiyar. It was a special fruit that would bestow on whoever ate it a very long and healthy life. Athiyaman wanted Avvaiyar to eat the eternal fruit as she was the right person who could serve the Tamil community. If she could live forever, so would the Tamil heritage and language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2000/06/28/stories/10280906.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125053941/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2000/06/28/stories/10280906.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-25|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=Guidelines for helping the needy}}</ref>

While on a visit to [[Ceylon]], Avvai was caught up in torrential rain, and took shelter in the house of two women of lower caste, Angavay and Sangavay. These women took care of Avvai with great kindness and the poet promised that they would be given in marriage to the King of [[Tirukoilur|Tirucovalur]]. On hearing this the King agreed to take the women in marriage if they were given away by the [[Chera]], [[Chola]] and the [[Pandya]] kings. Avvai then made an invocation to [[Ganesha]] for making the invitation on a palmyra leaf, on which Ganesha appeared before her. On receiving the invitation the kings from the three kingdoms come to the wedding ceremony and gave Angavay and Sangavay away in marriage. (pp. 57–59).<ref name="Robinson1873">{{cite book |author= Edward Jewitt Robinson |title=Tamil Wisdom; Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages, and Selections from their writings |url=https://archive.org/details/tamilwisdomtradi00robiuoft |year=1873 |publisher= Wesleyan Conference Office | location=London}}</ref>

==Shrine==
In [[Muppandal]], a small village in the [[Kanyakumari District]] of [[Tamil Nadu]]. there is an image of Avvaiyar. By tradition, this is stated to be the spot where the great poet left the mortal world.<ref>{{cite news
|last= Padmanabhan
|first=S.
|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/11/05/stories/2004110503211000.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050101152139/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/11/05/stories/2004110503211000.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=1 January 2005
|title=Shrine for the Tamil poetess
|access-date=28 October 2006
|location=Chennai, India
|work= [[The Hindu]]
|date=5 November 2004
}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In her poetical illustration {{ws|[[s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1836/Hindoo Temples and Palace at Madura|''Hindoo Temples and Palace at Madura'']]}} of 1835, [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] writes of Avvaiyar's (Avyia's) triumph and calls her "One who upon the scroll Flung the creative soul, Disdainful of life's flowers and of its rest."<ref> {{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1836|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=2dBbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA138|section=poetical illustration|year=1835|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1836|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=2dBbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA141|section=picture|year=1835|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>

In 1991, a 20.6 km-wide [[List of craters on Venus|crater in Venus]] was named the Avviyar crater by the [[International Astronomical Union]].<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/512
| title = Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Avviyar on Venus
| date = 2006
| website = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
| publisher = International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
| access-date = 8 February 2019
}}</ref>

Her quote "{{lang|ta|கற்றது கைமண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு}}" has been translated as "What you have learned is a mere handful; What you haven't learned is the size of the world" and included in [[NASA]]'s Cosmic Questions Exhibit.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/informal/features/F_Cosmic_Questions_prt.htm
|title=Cosmic Questions Exhibit
|publisher=NASA
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102092948/http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/informal/features/F_Cosmic_Questions_prt.htm|archive-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* Subramanyam, K. (1974). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329875 A Look at Some Tamil Classics]. ''Indian Literature'', ''17''(1/2), pp. 204–216.
* Sivakumar, R. (2000). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23342790 Sangam Poetry]. ''Indian Literature'', ''44''(2 (196)), pp. 182–192.
* Thompson, M. S. H. (1948). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/608754 The Avvai of the Sangam Anthologies]. ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', the University of London, ''12''(2), pp. 399–402.

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
* [[List of Sangam poets]]
* [[Sangam literature]]
* [[Tiruvalluva Maalai]]

==Notes==
<references />

==References==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |author=Edward Jewitt Robinson |title=Tamil Wisdom: Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages and Selections from Their Writings |url=https://archive.org/details/tamilwisdomtradi0000robi|year=2001 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |location = New Delhi|isbn=9788120615878 |ref={{sfnRef|Robinson, 2001}}}}
* Krishnamurti, Dr. C.R. (Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada) Thamizh Literature Through the Ages [http://tamilnation.org/literature/krishnamurti/07grammar.htm]
* Project Madurai – Purananuru eText – http://tamilnation.org/literature/ettuthokai/pm0057.pdf
* Project madurai – Avvaiyar works in PDF – http://tamilnation.org/literature/auvaiyar/pm002.pdf
* http://www.aathithamizharperavai.com/home.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110308182216/http://www.tn.gov.in/policynotes/archives/policy2004_05/hrce2004-05-3.htm
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://projectmadurai.org Project Madurai Homepage]
* [http://tamilnation.org/literature/auvaiyar/index.htm Avvaiyar & her Writings]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150608003648/http://vidyuthpublications.com/book/2/Auvaiyaars-Aathisoodi-Translated-into-English.html Aathisoodi Meaning in English] - Translated into English

{{Tamil language}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Hindu poets]]
[[Category:Tamil poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:Hindu female religious leaders]]
[[Category:Tamil epic poets]]
[[Category:Tiruvalluva Maalai contributors]]
[[Category:Sangam poets]]
[[Category:Female poets of the Sangam Age]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian women writers]]
[[Category:Tamil Hindu saints]]
[[Category:Dalit Hindu saints]]
[[Category:1st-century BC poets]]
[[Category:1st-century BC women writers]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Indian writers]]

Avvaiyar (Sangam poet) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article