Page:Gleaning Of Tamil Literature.pdf/27

 ‘Atruppadais’ in Tamil 27

“Atruppadai’. ‘Arv’ means ‘way’ and “Padutthu’” means ‘to guide’ and thus in this. collection of ‘songs, the bard-who obtained gifts from the king advised his fellow bards who met him acciden- tally on his way home, to benifit by the king’s hospitality. The first song ia this collection seems to have been the work of Nakkirar—the erudite scholar and leader of the Third Sangam, wherein he describes the greatness of God Muruga as his true devotee. Incidéntally Nakkirar enlight- ens us on the method of worship in those days. God Muruga is characterised the Lord of Kurinji (mountainous regions) one of the four regions of the Tamil Nad as depicted in;‘Tholkappiam’, the other regions being ‘Mullai’, ‘Murudam’ and ‘Neydal’.

The description of the lives led by the sages is appreciable. Forbearance and simplicity seem to have been their important characteristics. They -wore the dresses made of barks. Since they fasted -on almost all the days’ their bodies became mere ‘skeletons. They were detached in their attitude, never swayed by passions of love and hatred and even the learned scholars were not able to read their minds. We are able to know about the times in which the sages lived and about the high learning and spiritual qualities of these sages. They offered prayers to God Muruga to ensure the prosperity of the world. The poet refers to the �