Pattinappalai — The Sangam Era Poem.
Pattinappalai, was written by Kadiyalur Uruthiran Kannanar. Kadiyalur is his place of origin. We do not know where is that town or village today.
Uruthiran is the name of the father of the poet and Kannan is the name of the poet. ‘ar’ is added as a suffix to denote respect.
What does Pattinam mean? Pattinam is any place where a river meets the sea. In other words, it is an estuary.
In Chennai also we have one ‘Pattinapakkam’ which is the place where ‘Adyar river’ meets the sea.
Naturally, in an estuary, the seafood and sea-related trades would be paramount.
Likewise, in Pattinappalai the place where the river ‘Kaveri’ meets the sea there is one ‘Pattinappakkam’.
Pattinapakkam is also called ‘Kaveri Poom Pattinam’ or simply as ‘Poompuhar’.
‘Poompuhar’ was the capital of the early Cholas and this song was sung during the reign of the celebrated Chola King ‘Karikalan’.
‘Poompuhar’ served as a port in those days and the poet narrates how different exotic and essential products were traded from that port.
Pattinappakkam was the walled city, within which the rich, wealthy, kings, influential people, and soldiers lived.
Maruvoorpakkam is the village/town that was outside this walled city.
Obviously not all can be accommodated within the walled city because, during any siege the resources would be scarce and would create strain on the fort.
So, only those who have to protect the fort would be inside the fort and the rest would be living outside the fort.
The poem ‘Pattinappalai’ is a time capsule, in the sense it narrates the life of different communities and trades both in Pattinappakkam and Maruvoorpakkam.
Since it is a seaside place, a lot of mention is made about the seafood and how people were given, fried fish as a side dish.
The fishermen would go to sea even during the night and they would calculate the time, based on the number of lamps still burning in the big mansions.
Of course, the fishermen could also measure time based on the position of Stars, saying that the fishermen measured the time based on the number of lamps that were still burning during the night means, that the people at that time, had the practice of burning lamps both inside their house and also outside their living quarters in the balcony.
There is one interesting piece of information about the wealth of that place. Small children would be given a sort of tricycle which they had to push along with them. This is called ‘nadai vandi’. This is to give the kids practice in walking.
The same kind of tricycle made of wood is even available today. So, the more we change, the more things remain the same.
The scenery is as follows:
The women folk dry their grain in the Sun and the birds like cock come there to get their peck.
In order to drive them away, the women folk throw their earrings at them, which are bulk and are made of gold.
These earrings serve as an obstacle to the kid who is practicing walking with his device of tricycle or ‘nadai vandi’.
In yet another instance, the poet narrates that Poompuhar which is a busy trading port, has a number of visiting boats from various countries and these ports stand outside in the seas. The goods are offloaded from them and also some goods are put into them by skilled laborers.
The ships standing in the ports are swayed by the ocean waves and their movement is akin to the movement of elephants.
The goods are coming from all the directions and even from far-off places, like, Kerala, interior Tamil Nadu, from North, and even from far-off places like the Himalayan region.
The merchants brought in horses, records the poet. The customs officials would be very busy measuring the quantity of the exports as well as imports and levy duty as fixed by the King. Once the levy was paid, the officials would mark the consignment with the mark of the Cholas, a seal of tiger and then it was ready for local consumption as well as for exports.
These customs officials looked very serious and would not talk unnecessarily, indicating that their interactions with the importers and exporters were purely official and they did not engage in any witty conversation or enter into any kind of understanding with both the importers and the exporters.
There were also other kinds of people who served as middlemen. These middlemen were in this profession for ages and they fixed the price of both the export items as well as the import items fairly.
They feared swerving from honesty and losing their reputation.
The King ‘Karikalan’ lived in his quarters, enjoying wine served to him by his wives.
These are some of the information that I gained by reading that small piece of literary work, which is a time capsule of all Tamils.
Even today we observe a lot of seafood in the coastal region, and this small poem of length 301 lines, describes in elegance of the seafood, and in fact, it was like reading this literature was like being served a place of seafood.
It also describes how the Veda Pandits were honored in Pattinapakkam and how Gods were offered their food also called ‘havir paagam’ in Homas that was conducted by the residents.
On the full moon nights, the fishermen, would not venture into the seas and spent their time singing, dancing, and taking alcohol.
This song also illustrates how the hunters would come into the town, to sell their hunts like the swan, duck, and other species to the local populace. The song in fact records that they would wear their shoes made of leather and enter into the walled city.
Verily, this song is a treasure trove of information regarding the lives of Tamils of that age.
It is said that the poet was given about 16 lac gold coins by King Karikalan.
I have been to ‘Poompuhar’ a number of times and there is something about that place. After reading this I yearn to visit the place once more and surely I would be seeing this place from a different perspective.
There are also some important shrines near ‘Poompuhar’ which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
One has to reach Poompuhar from Chidambaram. It is less than an hour's journey from Chidambaram.
