Naanmarai and Mundhunool in Tolkappiyam's Prolegomenon

Tolkappiyam is an ancient Tamil work on Grammar. This very short post discusses certain interesting facts/ debates relating to Tolkappiyam's prolegomenon. Tolkappiyam's payiram or prolegomenon was penned by Panampaaranar, who is regarded as a contemporary of Tolkappiyar, the unknown and mysterious author of the great work. 

The history of Tamil literature and various constructions provided to the text, like in any age, are tainted by the commentator's ideologies. This is well-accepted and is no big deal. Only rigorous and scientific methods of research can alleviate ideological biases. To the extent possible, this blogger will present facts sans ideological biases.

Some interesting debates on the words naanmarai and mundhunool in the prolegomenon are listed below:

• Tolkappiyam's prolegomenon was written by Panampaaranar, a contemprary of Tolkappiyar.
• The prolegomenon casts some light on Tolkappiyam and how it came to be.
• The prolegomenon refers to mundhunool kandu and naanmarai. Mundhunool apparently refers to Vedas and so does naanmarai, marai refers to vedas and the prefix naan refers to the number four (four vedas). 
• There is also another construction offered to these phrases. Mundhu nool refers to previous works and this phrase is juxtaposed with muraippada enni (meaning, well-thought as per norms) supporting the construction that the Tolkappiyam was a work with great insight and was written as per the established norms of research, including researching on prior work/ authorities. Prolegomenons in Tamil literature do generally state that the author has referred to the mundhunool. So mundhunool may not really refer to the vedas. There are close to about 240 references in Tolkappiyam to earlier authorities [Dr. V. Murugan, Tolkappiyam in English ix (2000)] supporting the inference that mundhunool refers to prior work/ authorities and not vedas.  
• However, naanmarai is a different story altogether. Naanmarai has been consistently translated to have referred to the four vedas [Dr. V. Murugan, Tolkappiyam in English xxiii (2000)]. Another construction has been afforded to Naanmarai: as aram (virtue), porul (material wealth), inbam (pursuit of happiness and pleasure), and veedu (salvation) but why this construction is given instead of the standard "four vedas" is anybody's guess.

More on this in another post.