Anthropos 92.1997
92
In the legends of Murukan’s love for Valli, one
must first of all distinguish between the Tamil
“high,” “great” tradition of the elite, represented by
poets such as Arunakirinatar and Kumarakuruparar
(Zvelebil 1977: 227) and the Tamil “low,” “little”
tradition of the people, which is still alive today
and is made up of numerous local variants.
The “standard version” of the myth of Muru-
kan and Valli is found in the 24th Canto of the
sixth Book of Kaciyappa Civaccariyar’s Kantapura
nam, composed around A.D. 1350 in Kanchipu-
ram in 267 stanzas under the title “Valliammai
tirumanappatalam” (The Canto of the Marriage of
VaUiammai) (Zvelebil 1977: 227). It tells of a hill,
Vaiiimalai, and of Murukan assuming the form of a
verikai tree in order to remain unnoticed. In order
to lure Valji into his arms, Murukan summoned
his brother" Vinayaka (Ganesa), who, assuming the
form of an elephant, frightened the girl.
The following story is documented in the
Caiikam literature:
The heroine goes into the jungle to pick flowers from
the vertkai tree. Suddenly she sees something yellow
on the black ground. She thinks it must be a tiger
and, frightened, cries: “Tiger, tiger!” She is in luck,
for nearby is the hero, hunting. He rushes to help the
young heroine and when he reaches her, asks her where
the tiger is. But instead of a wild animal, only yellow
blossoms on a black rock are to be seen. The hero and
heroine are relieved, and at this moment fall in love. A
short time later they marry and have children (Aka. 48.
4-22).
In its content and structure, this short story of
the first meeting between the hero and the heroine
is comparable to that of the first meeting between
Murukan and Valli. The first meeting happens by
chance. The heroine is alone in the wilderness and
is frightened by a wild animal. The hero rushes to
help her and the two fall in love.
The treatment of the priest’s story of veti-itti-
kanta Hill is so unembellished that it offers only a
few starting points for an interpretation.
Concepts of Love in Old Tamil Literature
The story of the meeting of Valli and Murukan
is the story of love not only as repeated today
in local traditions but as already described in Old
Tamil literature. 2 We are thus offered a method
ological approach to comparing the concept of love
in Old Tamil literature with contemporary stories
and to testing out the investigation of useful and
2 Lehmann 1994 offers one example.
luiormative correspondences with, for example,
the priest’s story concerning Murukan and Valli
on veti-itti-kanta Hill. Is there a concept behind it,
and is this concept to be recognized in the sacred
space of Kataragama, the place where the lovers
first met? Does this comparison explain aspects of
the concept of the world (Weltbild) which underlies
the conception of Kataragama? In short, is the
concept of love in Old Tamil still effective in the
lived reality of today?
In the so-called Cankam Period (lst-3rd centu
ry A.D.), two categories of literature arose, or in
other words “the basic division of the substance of
poetry (porul) or subject-matter, of the content of
poetry” (Zvelebil 1973: 90) was puram? Puram
“outer, outside, exterior, that which is foreign, ex
traneous” describes the world of action, especially
kingly virtues and heroic deeds. Akam “inner, in
side, house, place, agricultural tract, breast, mind,
sexual pleasure” is always connected with stories
and songs about love in all its emotional variety
and instability and - what is most important in
the present context - it is expressed by means of
symbols. 4
In the akam category love is dealt with in all
its variations, love in union and in separation, love
before and after marriao<* "
- *
ivjvc ; Karpu “marital and extrarm
love”). There are seven settings (elu tinai) of a.
The first (kaikkilai) and last (peruntinai) deal
improper love and are only treated marginal
the literature, appearing in only fourteen oi
1862 akam poems. Only the middle five set
(aintinai “the five landscapes”) form the obje
true love poems (Zvelebil 1973: 89).
According to Lehmann (1993:1), as an exai
of kaikkilai, the tolkâppiyam (tolkâppiyam 1
latikâram akattinai 52) gives lust for a yc
immature girl which cannot be returned ar
therefore one-sided. Peruntinai is an exce:
love affair which oversteps the bounds of pi
love (tolkâppiyam porulatikâram akattinai 53
As regards the aintinai, the middle setting
love, five different sorts of landscape with ch
teristic flora and fauna are to be understood,
associated with different “behaviour patte
3 AU translations of Tamil concepts are from the Tami
icon 1982 [1924-19381 unless otherwise stated (set
Lehmann 1989).
4 For the corpus of Tamil classical poetry arranged acci
to subject matter, see Zvelebil 1974: 13 ff.
5 Tamil peruntinai: “improper love, as when it is in vie
of customary rules or when the woman is older th;
man, or is of a different caste, or does not consent.”