namaste Nara, smt.HH and others.
I have in this post, shown references from the Tamizh lexicon, with examples from texts, that the term andhaNar denoted both brahmins and the sages and God in 'aRavAzhi andhaNan' of TirukkuRaL, in Sangham and later Tamizh texts:
http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/general-discussions/5557-enge-brahmanana-10.html#post66786
There are many references in the Sangham texts too that use the term andhaNar to refer to pArppAns--brahmins. Samples:
• This verse no.88, in
nAnmaNikkaDikai, a text that belongs to the
kIzhkkaNakku nUlgaL to which TirukkuRaL belongs too, refers to brahmins by the term, because of its association with
maRai--Vedas.
மறையறிப வந்தண் புலவர் முறையொடு
வென்றி யறிப அரசர்கள்--என்றும்
வணங்கல் அணிகலன் சான்றோர்க்கு அஃதன்றி
அணங்கல் வணங்கின்று பெண்
maRaiyaRipa va~ndhaN pulavar muRaiyoDu
venRi yaRipa arasargaL--enRum
vaNa~gkal aNikalan sAnROrkku aHdanRi
aNa~ggal vaNa~gginRu peN (88)
"andhaNa pulavOr--brahmins who know their Vedas, know their maRai--purport. The Kings knows his dharma as well as the way to victory. Humility is the ornament of sAnROr. And the woman does not worship any god other than her husband."
How does the term
andhaN pulavOr refer to brahmins who know their Vedas?
The term
pulavar among its other meanings, indicates one who knows the
pulam. The term
pulam in turn, is a name in Tamizh for the Vedas. Just as there are four words in Sanskrit that denote the Vedas--
veda, Chandas, shruti, AmnAya, the four Tamizh words--
pulam, maRai, kELvi, vAzhmozhi--refer to the Vedas.
•
paripADal, one of the core Sangham texts in the
eTTutthogai classification, adores TirumAl--ViShNu, in its prayer song (verse 1) as
நா வல் அந்தணர் அரு மறைப்பொருளே
1:14 ~nA val a~ndhaNar aru maRaipporuLE
This line clearly refers to brahmins by the term andhaNar, who are
nA val--capable of perfect tongue (pun intended) to chant the Vedas with its svaras--intonations. In that same verse again
விறல் மிகு விழுச் சீர் அந்தணர் காக்கும்
அறனும் ஆர்வலர்க்கு அருளும் நீ
1:40 viRal miku vizhuch chIr a~ndhaNar kAkkum
aRanum Arvalarkku aruLum ~nI
~nI--You, are the aRan--dharma, kAkkum--adhered to, by the viRal miku vizhuch chIr andhaNar--brahmins who are pure and distinctive (because of their veda dharma).
'perumazhaip pulavar' P.V.SOmasundaranAr, explains the term
viRal miku vizhuch chIr a~ndhaNar as those brahmins were renowned due to their
pArppana vAkai, which is the eminence achieved by pArppAns--brahmins, who did the
vELvi vETTal--performing the Veda yajnas and getting them performed.
and yet again in the same verse
நலம் முழுது அளைஇய புகர் அறு காட்சிப்
புலனும், பூவனும் நாற்றமும் நீ
1:48 ~nalam muzhudu aLaiiya pukar aRu kATchip
pulanum, pUvanum ~nARRamum ~nI
~nI--You, are one of ~nalam muzhudu aLaiiya--all kalyANa guNas; and the
pulan--Vedas, which impart, pukar aRu kATchi--faultless insight.
*****
paripADal in verse 6, describes the puduppunal--fresh floods flowing through the Vaigai river which some people revel while others shun because of its muddy composition.
• Women who wanted to take bath in the fresh floods, carried agni, flowers and other worship articles, making their husbands attire and adorn suitably for the event. Their bathing made the waters muddier albeit fragrant due to the sandal paste they wore on their chest and the kumkumam.
• Female elephants marched towards the river. Some of the women and their husbands rode them as well as the horses, carrying with them the things required for their water sports revelry, their small leather bags full of civet, horns full of rosewater, and a toy wooden chariot.
• The riverbank was so crowded that some of the youth could not enter it. The weak sought the bathing ghats while the strong jumped into the fresh waters for swimming against the currents.
• புலம் புரி அந்தணர் கலங்கினர் மருண்டு
pulam puri a~ndhaNar kala~gkinar maruNDu
Notice how the term
pulam puri refers to the learned brahmins who studied the Vedas and VedAntas. These brahmins as they came early morning to the river for their bath, were confused to see the water muddy and filled with thrown flowers of women, faded garlands worn by women and their husbands, muddy roots and raw fruits of plants and creepers, and the pannADais--fibrous leaf-stalk shells of palm and coconut trees, used to filter toddy. Seeing the river unfit for bathing, the other people too left the place, which had become suitable only for the revelry of young people.
*****
•
maduraik kAnjchi, among the
patthuppATTu, core Sangham text:
ஓதல் அந்தணர் வேதம் பாட
656:Odhal a~ndhaNar vEdam pADa--
"Brahmins performing their dharma of Odal--recital, by chanting the Vedas."
•
Kalitthogai 36, among the
eTTutthogai, core Sangham text:
Nara, if Kalitthogai 9 refers to sages by the term andhaNar, in verse 36, it clearly refers to brahmins by the same term.
கேள்வி அந்தணர் கடவும்
வேள்வி ஆவியின் உயிர்க்கும் என் நெஞ்சே
kELvi a~ndhaNar kaDavum
vELvi Aviyin uyirkkum en ~ne~jchE
en nenju--My heart, uyirkkum--breathes hot, like the vELvi Avi--fire that rises from the yajnas, kaDavum--performed by, the kELvi andhaNar--brahmins who learned their Vedas by the oral tradition of shruti.
•
padiTRuppatthu, among the
eTTutthogai, core Sangham text:
ஓதல் வேட்டல் அவை பிறர்ச் செய்தல்
ஈதல் ஏற்றல் என்று ஆறு புரிந்து ஒழுகும்
அறம் புரி அந்தணர் வழி மொழிந்து ஒழுகி
24:6 Odhal vETTal avai piRarch cheydal
Idhal ERRal enRu ARu puri~ndu ozhukum
aRam puri a~ndaNar vazhi mozhi~ndu ozhuki
This verse praises the king who adheres to his dharma of sustaining the Veda dharma of
aRu tozhil andhANar--brahmins with their six occupations (Odhal--chanting Vedas and getting them chanted, vETTal--performing and getting veda yajnas performed, Idhal--charity, and ETRal--accepting gifts).
This verse should convince that by his term 'aRutozhil andhaNar', TiruvaLLuvar only refers to pArppAnargaL--brahmins, following the tradition of the earlier texts.
•
padiTRuppatthu again:
அறங்கரந்து வயங்கிய நாவிற் பிறங்கிய
உரைசால் வேள்வி முடித்த கேள்வி
அந்தணர் அருங்கலம் ஏற்ப நீர்பட்டு
இருஞ்சேறாடிய மணன்மலி முற்றத்து
4:3 aRa~gkara~du vaya~gkiya ~nAviR piRa~gkiya
uraisAl vELvi muDittha kELvi
a~ndhaNar aru~gkalam ERpa ~nIrpaTTu
iru~jchERADiya maNanmali muRRatthu
This verse, titled
uraisAl vELvi, describes a scene of a king giving dAnam--charity, to the Veda andhANargaL--vedic brahmins, with the proper gesture of நீர் வார்த்துக் கொடுத்தல்--~nIr vArtthuk koDutthal--symbolically by pouring water on hands and dispensing it to the floor.
The king gives the andhaNargaL, rare kalangaL with the shAstric gesture. The term kalan refers primarily to vessels, also to jewels. What is the yogyadAMsha--eminence, of the andhaNargaL who receive the gifts from the king? The poet beautifully describes it as
aRam karaindu vayangkiya nAvin--by the clarity of their tongue obtained by learning, listening to and adhering to their aRam--dharma, and the
piRangkiya uraisAl vELvi--the eminent Veda yajnas they performed, since the fame of pArppAns is obtained only by performing yajnas.
*****
I think these examples should convince anyone about the unambiguous reference of the term
andhaNar to pArppAns--brahmins, right inside the core Sangham texts (besides their other references to the word), and that the type of Veda yajnas they performed and got them performed were not the Atharva vedic rituals but the yajnas of the three Vedas as detailed in the brAhmaNas.
