No Aryan - Dravidian divide - it was one Aryavartha (3)
The stunning fact, I referred to in the previous blog,
reveals the unitariness of this land called Aryavartha,
under
It will be appropriate to dig out this fact from Tamil texts
than from the so-called Aryan texts written in Sanskrit.
This is about a verse addressed to
“Pal yaaga shaalai Mudu kudumi
that describes the extent of his land.
The four directions of his country’s border are mentioned with a qualifying description.
His country was land locked in the North which was lined with the snowy
In the South, his country was spread until the river Kumari.
In the west, was the olden ocean (thondru mudhir bouvam) –
an ocean which was in existence from olden times.
But in the east, there was a newer sea –
A sea that was DUG BY SAGARA.
“gunaa adu karai poru thodu kadal guNakkum”
From the other 3 borders in 3 directions,
we understand that this land was in
stretching far into the present day sea beyond
The sea in the east is what we know as
But this sea is characterized as a newer sea
– a sea that was dug by Sagara!
This verse exists along with a commentary that was written more than 2000 years ago,
or could be even 3000 years ago,
for we know that the compilation of these verses
into a
and the original versions appeared much earlier
and written by different poets during different times.
The specialty of this compilation I am referring to here
is that most of the verses exist along with the meanings and commentary,
written by unknown authors and copied in palm leaf inscriptions.
It was Dr U.Ve Swaminatha Iyer who brought this into print for the first time in the year 1894.
The verse I mentioned above is available with the commentary that goes like this:-
“keezh-k-kaNNathu karai-yai porugindra
SAGARARAAL thOndappatta
saagaratthin kizhakku..”
It means, “In the east was the sea dug by Sagara”
Who was this Sagara?
The story about Sagara and how he dug the sea is found in Valmiki Ramayana.
The story of Sagara is narrated by the sage Vishwamithra to Rama and Lakshmana.
Sagara was the ancestor of Rama.
He had 60,000 sons from one wife and only one son from another.
When he did the Ashwamedha yaaga,
the horse ran in the area between the
but was lost afterwards, presumably stolen and hidden by someone.
In a bid to get back the horse,
the 60,000 sons of Sagara were ordered by Sagara
to dig through the earth to find the horse
which was believed to be hidden in the lands under the ground.
Sagara asked each of his son to dig one square yojana each
to find out where the horse was hidden.
The description of how they proceeded is given by Valmiki.
They started off from the present day estuary of the
which was the area between the Vindhayas and the
- the place where the horse was lost.
They dug towards the east, then turned to south and then turned to west!
The description indicates that when they proceeded to the east
they encountered the eastern directional elephant and decided not to disturb him.
What was mentioned as Elephant was nothing but
the tectonic plate and this is being mentioned by Vishwamithra.
He says,
"Oh, Rama, the legatee of Raghu, that great easterly elephant Viruupaaksha is bearing the entire eastern earth along with its mountains and forests on its head. [1-40-14]
On certain occasions, oh, Rama of Kakutstha, when that great-elephant moves its head desiring respite in tiresomeness then earthquakes will occur on earth. [1-40-15]
This makes it certain that the sons Sagara were indeed digging the earth
but
the ‘faults’
or the areas of contact of the sub-terranean plates.
So without disturbing the eastern plate,
they turned to south,
where again they encountered the tectonic plate of the south
( on which there was located the lost land of Gondwana
and a remnant of it still remaining as Pandyan land with the river Kumari until 5000 years ago.)
Without disturbing it, they turned towards west.
This means they were digging towards what is east of present day
Since they could not find the horse within their allotted quota of 1 square yojana each,
they started digging further.
They kept digging through until they entered sage Kapila’s place!
It must be noted that Kapila is a popular name in olden Tamil texts.
Many Kapilas had existed and it appears that
Kapila is the surname of a family of Brahmins who had made Tamil land their home.
So it is to be understood that the sons of Sagara had reached the Tamil lands.
The westward course in digging also explains
why the Southern part of
which covered more than 60,000 square yojanas ( 1 yojana = 8 miles).
The sons were reduced to ashes by Kapila
and it was made known
that unless the celestial
the slain sons could not reach immortality.
Sagara died without bringing the
so too his grandson Amshumaan.
Then came his son Dileepa and then Dileepa’s son Bhageeratha.
Bhageeratha succeeded in bringing down the
situated high in the
A massive glacier breaking up and pouring down would have had a catastrophic impact.
Hence we find the role of Shiva by trapping up the
stories connected with him
which are metaphoric of the melting of an Ice-age
and the descent of a melting glacier
finding its way into the plains.
It is further explained in the Valmiki Ramayana
that the
dug by the sons of Sagara
and occupied the trough in full
as it (
Thus was born the Ganga Sagar,
Now known as Bengal Sagar – converted by the English rulers as
By the conversion of this the name,
the history of this Sagar
and the unbelievable human feat of Sagara’s sons was forgotten!!
When this history was forgotten,
the geology about the coming to an end of the Ice-age about 10,000 years ago
was forgotten,
- in alignment with the fact that Ramayana was not more than 10,000 years old
- that it had happened very much in recent memory
- and that when a sea could be dug by mortals of those days,
a dam could be built on that very sea by a descendant of those who dug!
That the
was not a figment of imagination, nor a fiction
must be borne by the fact that cross references to it had existed!
This information had lived fresh in the minds of Tamil poets until 2000 years ago,
for, the commentators (urai-aasiriyar) have mentioned this
in their explanation for this verse.
That this
- made by Sagara
has been mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana at other places too.
The Mynaka mountain which stopped Hanuman
when he was crossing the Sea said
that it wanted to help Hanuman in his Rama-kaaryam
as a token of gratitude for the favour done by Sagara
by digging up the sea where it was living then!
Again at another place,
when Rama was wondering how he was going to cross the sea,
Vibheeshana suggested that he ask the sea god to help him in crossing,
because the sea god would be obliged to help the descendant of Sagara (Rama)
who dug the sea for which he was the God.
Thus from Valmiki Ramayana which originated in the so-called Aryan land,
to the Pura nanUru verses which originated in the so-called Dravidian land,
the history was one
which was common,
which was shared and which meant the same to everyone.
The stunning fact about this is that Sagara was not considered as an Aryan King
nor as a king of another culture.
We will continue to see how,
by drawing inputs from Tamil texts.
( I keep referring to Tamil texts,
because if Dravida is about Tamil
and if Dravidians were the ones driven out by the Aryans,
to deep South,
then the Tamil texts must speak a different news
- must speak against the invader Aryan
- and must denounce the Aryan culture.
But such an inference can not be made out from Tamil texts
is one thing I want to high light,
and that Tamil culture was very much a part or extension of Aryan culture
is the other one I am attempting to highlight.)
(to be continued)
