Verse 201 in Puranauru traces the origin of the VeL king IrungoveL to an ancestor who was born from a sacrificial fire conducted by a sage of the North.
நீயே, வடபால் முனிவன் தடவினுள் தோன்றிச்,
செம்பு புனைந்து இயற்றிய சேண்நெடும் புரிசை,
உவரா ஈகைத், துவரை ஆண்டு,
நாற்பத்து ஒன்பது வழிமுறை வந்த
வேளிருள் வேளே!
There is only one instance of such a birth in olden texts. That comes in Mahabharata in the birth of the twins - Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi.
The Northern sage who did that homa was known as Yaja. He was assisted by Upayaja. It was Upayaja who suggested Yaja's name to King Drupada when he approached him for an idea to get a son capable of vanquishing Drona.
In Mahabharata chapter 1-169 we can get the details of this sage.
To quote other places where the birth of a son from sacrificial fire is indicated:-
Mbh.1.63.3167:- "Then was born Dhrishtadyumna, of the splendour of Agni himself, from the sacrificial fire."
Mbh.1.167.8582:- "The Pandavas said, How, O Brahmana, did the birth of Dhrishtadyumna the son of Drupada, take place from the sacrificial fire?"
It is therefore possible to connect the VeL King IrungoveL to Dhrishtadyumna from what Kapilar says. .
The gap in years that is mentioned in terms of 49 generations requires further research.
Dhrishtadyumna lived during the times of Mahabharata war.
That happened around 3000 BC.
If IrungoveL was a direct descendant of Dhrishtadyumna, this poem by Kapilar must have been sung much earlier and not 2000 years ago.
Kapilar's time period is needed to be researched and we have numerous poems by him in various Sangam texts.
An inscription on his death is said to be unearthed near Pudukkottai.
Kapilar holds the key to the time of migration of VeL kings from Dwaraka.
There is another input from this poem in Puranauru that shows a stronger link to Dhrishtadyumna.
It comes from a titular name that Kapilar uses to address this king.
He calls him as "Pulikadimaal" (புலிகடி மால்). He uses the same title in 2 songs.
(ஒலியற் கண்ணிப் புலிகடி மாஅல்!)
(தாழ்ந்த கண்ணியை உடைய புலி கடி மாலே!
Meaning:- Puli kadi maal, who wears a lowering garland of flowers called Kanni )
Kapilar has sung 2 songs on this king, the first one discussed in the previous post and the next one is compiled as a continuation of the first poem. From the next poem (202) we know that the king has rejected the suggestion by Kapilar to marry the daughters of Paari.
We also know that Paari and IrungoveL belonged to the same lineage called Evvi.
Since they belonged to the same clan, Kapilar had thought of approaching him for marriage.
There was another king, Vicchikko whom Kapilar approached with the same request but he also rejected the suggestion. A saddened Kapilar then married the girls to Brahmin boys.
There are other Evvis also. There was a Vel Evvi whose wife did death ceremony of offering rice balls to him on his death (Purananuru - 234).
All these Evvis must have some connection with the king who was born of the sacrificial fire.
We have to explore northern literature on Dhrishtadyumna or other Yadava kings for a term resembling Evvi.
Coming to the Titular name "Pulikadimaal" (புலிகடி மால்), some commentators are of the opinion that this king was a predecessor of Hoysala kings who ruled between 10 and 14 centuries AD.
Pulikadi maal means one who threatened the tiger. புலியைக் கடிந்தமையால், அவன் புலிகடி மால் எனப் பெயர் பெற்றான்.
There is an opinion that this king was the one who killed the tiger that was about to pounce on a sage.
The Hoysala history in Karnataka has a similar story.
But the time period of Hoysalas was much later than this king.
Moreover Kapilar, displeased with IrungoveL's rejection of the marriage offer cursed him in the next song.
The Vel kingdoms have become unknown later.
So the title must have some other relevance and is not connected to Hoysalas.
There is a name Maal in this title which denotes Thirumaal or Vishnu or Narayana.
The king is obviously referred to as Vishnu or in the image of Vishnu.
There is a mention of name as the Lord of tigers attributed to Krishna by Yudhishtira in Mahabharata.
Mbh.13.17.2684 :-
"Thou art of the form of that lord of Tigers who is worshipped in the country of the Kalingas"
Vishnu or Thirumaal had been known as Puli-maal or 'Vishnu the Tiger'.
It is known from chronicles on Kalinga (Orissa) that Siva was worshiped in Kalinga in the form of a Tiger and was called Vyaghreswara.
In the chapter quoted above, Yudhishtira was in praise of Krishna in different names that are attributable to Brahman or the all pervading One deity.
He has seen Krishna in the image of Vyaghreswara which is the tiger form of Shiva.
That is how Vishnu could have come to get a connection with tiger as Puli kadi maal or Pulimaal or Maal, the Tiger.
Dhrishtadyumna also has a connection to Kalinga.
During the Mahabharata war, Kalinga was on the side of Duryodhana because he was married to the Kalinga princess.
The battle was very fierce with Bheema fighting against the Kalingas.
From Mahabharata 6- 54 it is known that Dhrishtadyumna rushed to the help of Bheema and succeeded in countering the Kalingas.
Perhaps his valour in the war against the Kalingaswas was remembered as their God (Siva in Tiger form).
Dhrishtadyumnaa's allegiance to Krishna might have earned him the title which his descendants in Tamil nadu could have kept for themselves as Puli kadi maal.
This is not unusual because the Cholans were known as Sembians (செம்பியன் ) because they were the descendants of Sibi.
Sibi became Sembian in Tamil. We have to explore whether a term with a meaning 'winning a tiger' is found in the folklore of Orissa or Gujarat or in locations of Mahabharata war.
What is deduced in the final analysis is that the Vel king had his predecessor in the North in the areas where IVC flourished.
The kingly families had migrated to the South.
They were not known as Dravidians.
They were not the Tamil kings.
They co existed with the 3 dynasties of the Tamil kings.
And they were never accepted by the Tamil kings.
They were always pitted against each other.
So tracing Tamils' connection to a Dravidian population of the IVC is limited to this king (or Vels in general) and others which I will discuss in the next post.
The culture and language could have been the same because the kings from the North had settled in the South and ruled over the people here.
A common language with Tamil connection might have been there, like how Hindi is a widely spoken language today as a common language for communication among the people of different parts of India.
