Namaste
by Rajesh Krishnan
| 2 : அறத்துப்பால் : பாயிரம் : வான்சிறப்பு | ||
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| 1 | வானின் றுலகம் வழங்கி வருதலாற் றானமிழ்த மென்றுணரற் பாற்று |
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| 2 | துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய துப்பாக்கித் துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய தூஉமழை |
आरण्या उभयीषामवरुद्ध्यै | अन्नस्यान्नस्य जुहोत्यन्नस्यान्नस्यावरुद्ध्यै | औदुम्बरेण स्रुवेण जुहोत्युर्ग्वा उदुम्बर ऊर्गन्नमूर्जैवास्मा ऊर्जमन्नमवरुन्द्धे | अग्निर्वै देवानामभिषिक्तोऽग्निचिन्मनुष्याणाम् | तस्मादग्निचिद्वर्षति न धावेत् | अवरुद्धं ह्यस्य अन्नम् | अन्नमिव खलु वै वर्षम् | यद्धावेदन्नाद्याद्धावेदुपावर्तेतान्नाद्यमेवाभि || Taittiriya Samhita 5.4.9.2 |
| 3 | விண்ணின்று பொய்ப்பின் விரிநீர் வியனுலகத் துண்ணின் றுடற்றும் பசி |
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| 4 | ஏரி னுழாஅ ருழவர் புயலென்னும் வாரி வளங்குன்றிக் கால் |
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| 5 | கெடுப்பதூஉங் கெட்டார்க்குச் சார்வாய்மற் றாங்கே யெடுப்பதூஉ மெல்லா மழை |
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| 6 | விசும்பிற் றுளிவீழி னல்லான்மற் றாங்கே பசும்புற் றலைகாண் பரிது |
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| 7 | நெடுங்கடலுந் தன்னீர்மை குன்றுந் தடிந்தெழிலி தானல்கா தாகி விடின் |
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| 8 | சிறப்பொடு பூசனை செல்லாது வானம் வறக்குமேல் வானோர்க்கு மீண்டு |
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| 9 | தானந் தவமிரண்டுந் தங்கா வியனுலகம் வானம் வழங்கா தெனின் |
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| 10 | நீரின் றமையா துலகெனின் யார்யார்க்கும் வானின் றமையா தொழுக்கு |
The Taittiriya Samhita verse 5.4.9.2 provides an excellent parallel for this Kural. It is immediately clear that अन्नमिव खलु वै वर्षम् (rain, indeed, is as it were food) is remarkably close to துப்பாயதூஉம் மழை (rain itself becomes food). The striking correspondence in rhythmic structure is hard to miss: अन्नस्यान्नस्य … अन्नस्यान्नस्य … अन्नमन्नम् … वर्षम् repeatedly turns upon अन्न and then culminates in the single वर्षम्, just as the Kural repeatedly turns upon துப்பு and culminates in the single மழை.
The deeper semantic parallel becomes clearer once we extricate the relevant structure from the ritual machinery: अन्नस्यान्नस्यावरुद्ध्यै … अवरुद्धं ह्यस्य अन्नम् | अन्नमिव खलु वै वर्षम् |. The later अवरुद्धम् connects back to the preceding अवरुद्ध्यै across the intervening ritual material. The ritual passage thus contains an underlying causal nexus: food is obtained for the oblation, food is offered as oblation (जुहोति), and the ritual nexus leads through rain to the securing of food and grain. Valluvar makes note of this ritual context a few verses later when he says that சிறப்பொடு பூசனை for the வானோர் can no longer proceed on earth if rain fails. The kural compresses a larger rain–ritual–food nexus into its economical two-part proposition: rain makes food for the food-eater, and rain itself becomes food.
The trichotomy of that-which-eats-food, that-which-becomes-food, and that-which-is-food in the kural’s vocabulary of துப்பார், துப்பாயது, and துப்பு, has a striking analogue in the Vedic vocabulary of अन्नम्, अन्नाद्यम्, and अन्नादः. The Taittiriya tradition ultimately dissolves these distinctions into the unity of Brahman, allowing अन्नम् to encompass all three. This is expressed explicitly in Taittiriya Upanishad, Ananda-valli, 3.10.6, where the realized person declares: अहमन्नमहमन्नमहमन्नम् | अहमन्नादोऽहमन्नादोऽहमन्नादः || — “I am food … I am the food-eater.” The passage therefore provides a particularly apt Sanskrit analogue for the Kural’s ability to move between துப்பார், the eaters, and துப்பு, that which is eaten, while making the same semantic field encompass the thing that becomes food.
The अवरुद्ध्यै resonates with the ஆக்கி in துப்பாக்கி. This is corroborated by the Maitrayani Samhita, which explicitly connects वृष्टि, अन्नाद्य, and अवरुध्: in verse 2.4.7: वृष्टिर् वै देवेभ्योऽन्नाद्यम् अपाक्रामत् | तेभ्यो वृष्टिम् अन्नाद्यम् अवारुन्द्ध | … वृष्ट्या अन्नाद्यस्यावरुद्ध्यै || — “Rain, indeed, departed from the gods as that which becomes food; they secured rain as that which becomes food … the rite is for securing that which becomes food through rain.” The verse provides independent Vedic corroboration of the துப்பாக்கி / துப்பாய movement in the Kural.
The trichotomy, and its tight association with rain, is also consistent with Kalingar’s commentary on the kural: உண்பவர் யாவர்க்கும் உணவுப் பொருளாய் இன்னும் அவற்றை உளவாக உறுதிபண்ணிக் கொடுப்பதூஉஞ் செய்து; உண்பவர் யாவர்க்குந் தானே உணவுமாய் நிற்பதூஉம் மழை என்றவாறு. Kalingar first describes rain as providing and securing the food-substances for all who eat, and then explicitly says that rain itself stands as food for all who eat, matching my proposed reading of the kural and its parallel.