Pari Perumal (c. 11th century CE), also known as Kaviperumal, was a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

scholar and commentator known for his

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

on the ''

Thirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

''. He was among the canon of

Ten Medieval Commentators The Ten Medieval Commentators (Tamil: உரையாசிரியர்கள் பதின்மர்) were a canonical group of Tamil scholars whose commentaries on the ancient Indian didactic work of the Kural are esteemed by later schol ...

of the Kural text most highly esteemed by scholars. He was also among the five ancient commentators whose commentaries had been preserved and made available to the

Modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

, the others being

Manakkudavar Manakkudavar (c. 10th century CE) was a Tamil scholar and commentator known for his commentary on the Tirukkural. His is the earliest of the available commentaries on the Kural text, and hence considered to bear closest semblance with the origin ...

Kaalingar Kaalingar (c. 12th century CE), also known as Kalingarayar, was a Tamil scholar and commentator known for his commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was among the canon of Ten Medieval Commentators of the Kural text highly esteemed by scholars. H ...

Paridhi Paridhi (c. 11th century CE), also referred to as Paridhiyaar, was a Tamil literary commentator known for his commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was among the canon of ten medieval commentators of the Kural text most highly esteemed by schola ...

, and

Parimelalhagar Parimelalhagar (), sometimes spelled Parimelazhagar, born Vanduvarai Perumal, was a Tamil poet and scholar known for his commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was the last among the canon of ten medieval commentators of the Kural text most hi ...

Biography

Pari Perumal hailed from Thenselhuvai in the Sethu country of the

Pandya Kingdom The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

. Scholars date his period between the second half of the 11th century and the first half of the 12th century CE since he mentioned the work '' Vatsyayana'' (whose author also lived in the 11th century CE) at the beginning of his commentary of the

third book Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of the ''Tirukkural''. The ''Thondaimandala Sathagam'', which mentions the names of all the ten medieval commentators, refers to Pari Perumal as "Kavi Perumal". A verse at the end of his commentary work indicates that Pari Perumal has also authored two other books, namely, ''Molhiyiyal'' (linguistics) and ''Kamanul'' (book of pleasure). The verse also indicates that his home town is Thenselhuvai in Sethu Naadu under the Pondy zone. The Perunthogai has a few verses about Pari Perumal. The Perunthogai verse 1539 indicates there were few commentators before Pari Perumal. Similar to the commentaries by Paridhiyar, Kaalingar, and Mallar, Pari Perumal's commentary is believed to have been originated in the Kongu Region.

Commentary on the Kural text

Pari Perumal chronologically came after Manakkudavar among the medieval commentators. In writing his commentary on the Kural, he greatly followed Manakkudavar, elaborating only where necessary. There are many places where he uses Manakkudavar's commentary verbatim. It can be said that Pari Perumal revised Manakkudavar's work. The semblance of his work with that of Manakkudavar includes an introduction to all the three books of the Kural text, an explanation to each subdivision (), introduction to each chapter, and the ordering of the couplets within each chapter. Following Manakkudavar's original division, Pari Perumal also divides

Book III Kevin Danell Mann (born January 10, 1969), known artistically as Brotha Lynch Hung, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Sacramento, California who is a horrorcore pioneer of his own sub-category called “Rip-gut”. The R ...

of the Kural text into five s attributed to the moods of five s, or divisions of the

Sangam landscape The Sangam landscape (Tamil language, Tamil: அகத்திணை "inner classification") is the name given to a poetic device that was characteristic of love poetry in classical Tamil language, Tamil Sangam literature. The core of the devi ...

, namely (mountainous landscape), (forest and pastoral landscape), (agricultural plains and valleys), (coastal landscape), and (desert landscape). Nevertheless, Pari Perumal's explanations also differ from those of Manakkudavar in many places. For instance, his commentary varies from that of Manakkudavar in couplets 1081, 1178, and 1195. He also refers to other early commentators besides Manakkudavar in places such as couplets 480 and 1116. Like other medieval commentators, Pari Perumal had an extraordinary command of both

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. He quotes several Tamil and Sanskrit works across his commentary. For instance, he cites the Tolkappiyam (verse 22 under the ''Meippaattiyal'') in couplets 1126 through 1129 in the third book of the Kural text. At the beginning of the third book, he quotes on the sutras of the Tolkappiyam (verse 14 under the ''Kalaviyal'') and the Iraiyanar Agapporul. In couplet 641, he cites verse 252 of the

Purananuru The ''Purananuru'' (, literally "four hundred oemsin the genre puram"), sometimes called ''Puram'' or ''Purappattu'', is a classical Tamil literature, Tamil poetic work and traditionally the last of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') i ...

. In couplet 687, he bases his elaboration on a verse from the Bharatha Venba. Pari Perumal was also well-versed in the Sanskrit works of

Kamasutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; , , ; ) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kamasutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions ...

and

Arthasastra ''Kautilya's Arthashastra'' (, ; ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, politics, economic policy and military strategy. The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries, starting as a compilation of ''Arthashas ...

. In Chapter 51, which appears in the second book of the Kural text, he quotes the philosophies of

Drona Droṇa (, ), also referred to as Dronacharya (, ), is a major character of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he serves as the royal preceptor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. He is one of the primary counsellors and warriors featured ...

Chanakya Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...

Narada Narada (, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage-divinity, famous in Hinduism, Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of the Manasputra, mind-created children of Brahma, the creator ...

Parashara Parashara (Sanskrit: पराशर; IAST: ) was a maharishi and the author of many ancient Hindu texts. He is accredited as the author of the first Purana, the Vishnu Purana, before his son Vyasa wrote it in its present form. He was the g ...

, Vyadha Gita, and Uddhavacharya doctrines in couplets 503, 504, 505, 507, 508, and 510, respectively. He also narrates many stories in his commentary to explicate the meaning of the Kural couplets as in couplets 431, 432, 437, 439, and 440. He cites Vatsyayana's Kamasutra at the beginning of the third book of the Kural text. Pari Perumal also possessed excellent social and worldly knowledge. This is revealed in his explanations to couplets 522, 527, 529 and 530, where he describes the societal structure of his time. Pari Perumal's analytical skills are revealed when he elaborates envoy in three different types, namely, primary, secondary, and tertiary. According to him, the primary envoys are those one who sense the situation and act, the secondary ones are those who acts according to instructed, and the tertiary ones are those who simply passes the message. Like

yar, Pari Perumal employs storytelling in several places to explain the moral of a given Kural couplet. This can be seen in his explanations to the couplets of the chapter on the correction of faults (Chapter 44) in

Book II A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

. Verses 1540 and 1541 of the Perunthogai indicate that Pari Perumal's commentary was not accepted by the masses during his time. Nevertheless, Pari Perumal hints that without a holistic understanding of the essence of the Tirukkural, one's effort to delve deep into the work would be fruitless.

Variations in ordering of the Kural verses

The following table depicts the variations among the early commentators' ordering of, for example, the first ten verses of the Tirukkural. Note that the ordering of the verses and chapters as set by Parimelalhagar, which had been followed unanimously for centuries ever since, has now been accepted as the standard structure of the Kural text. It is found that there are 16 variations found in the ordering of the Kural couplets by Pari Perumal with respect to the commentary by Manakkudavar. Thus, Pari Perumal's commentary remains the closest resembling work to the Manakkudavar commentary.

Citations

References

* * * * * *

Biography

Commentary on the Kural text

Variations in ordering of the Kural verses

See also

Citations

References

Further reading