Volume 7, Issue 7

தமிழர் நிலத்தில் பாலையும் ஒட்டகமும் | Desert and camels in the land of Tamils

Author

Author 1: K.Balakrishnan, Principal and Correspondent, Bharathi Matriculation School, Tiruchirappalli. Author 2: B.Pavendan, Interdisciplinary Researcher, Tiruchirappalli

Abstract

Ancient Tamils classifiied land into five Tinais, namely, Kurinci, Mullai, Palai, Marudham, Neydhal based on their geographical attributes. Of these five landforms mentioned in Tolkappiam and Sangam litrature corpus, Palai or deserts and the camels are not found in present day Tamil Nadu. Tolkappiam excludes Palai land in a succinct rule ‘of the five Tinais sans the middle one’ referring to Palai. The deserts are vividly described in Sangam literature along with osteophagy or bone eating habit observed among camels. A journal article published in 2013 records bone eating behaviour of feral camels (Camelus ferus) in arid central Australia.Why does a non-existent landform, as well as its characterstic animal, and its atypical behaviour find mention in ancient Tamil literature? This article explores the question in the light of Tamil mercantile activities in the Middle East, where large expanse of deserts are present.

Key words: Five Tinais, Palai, Trade, Camelus dromedarius, Camelus bactrianus, Camelus ferus, Osteophagy, Central Australian desert.

DOI

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