Page:Pre-Aryan Tamil Culture.djvu/43

 impression on the earth of an antelope's foot; this was covered by a skin of the colour of a flame and it was stitched in the middle and the stitches resembled the row of thin hair on the belly of a fair girl in the early stages of pregnancy; the skin was fixed to the wood by means of nails which looked like the eyes of the crab which lives in a mountain-cave; its mouth without a palate was of the shape of the moon on the eighth day after the new moon; its bean was like a serpent with its head upraised; its straps were like bracelets on the forearm of a black woman; its strings were taut and, struck by fingers looking like husked tinai, resounded.'

In another poem it is described as having a tol, hide of the colour of the core of the pādiri, the trumpet flower, ''Bignonia. Chelonoides, a tuḷai, a hole with two eyes like the bud of the kamugu, areca-palm, a green pōrvai, looking homogeneous as if made of melted metal, a vāy, mouth dark like a dried up spring, a kaḍai, extremity of the shape of the crescent, a tivavu, bands with strips of leather, moving like the bangles at the wrists of a lady, a maruppu, or taṇḍu, trunk, dark like sapphire, and narambu'', strings, as if of gold.

The drum, paṛai, muraśu, pērigai, āguṭi, ellari, śalligai, śallari, kiṇai, was also of various kinds and differed from region to region and also according to the purposes for which it was used. Taḍāri or uḍukkai, was a small double drum shaped like a sand-glass and carried by minstrels, pāṇar. The taṭṭai, or karaḍigai uttered a sound like the grunt of a bear. 'Pure Tamil' names of various tunes, paṇ, viz., pālai, kuṛiñji, marudam, śevvaḻi, occur; moreover the names of a few rāgams now sung are old Tamil names, but nothing definite about old Tamil music can be ascertained unless ancient books like the Iśainuṇukkam, of the Iḍaichchaṅgam, the Śirriśai, and the Pēriśai, of the Kaḍaichchaṅgam are discovered.

The arms, offensive and defensive, and the drums, referred to above, were also used in hunting, vēṭṭai, āgēḍagam, pābatti, which was another favourite occupation of kings and nobles. The professional shikari had numerous names, āviyar, kānavar, kuṛavar,