Page:Pre-Aryan Tamil Culture.djvu/55

 garlic. The bed, stitched thin and broad, was filled with the pure-coloured down of a swan in love; on it were placed pillows; on it was spread a sheet, woven with figures of the water-lily and well-starched.

The ancient Tamils were a mirth loving people; they gave themselves up to merry-making frequently. Till Aryan religious ideas took firm root in their minds in the post-Christian centuries pessimism did not pull them down. They did not indulge in dark cogitations about the evils of earthly existence and seek for means to abolish the present joys of life for securing a future state of unchanging bliss. Their religious rites, viḻavu were accompanied by drinking, singing, dancing and dumb show. Their secular amusements were the chase, vēṭṭai, āgēḍagam, pābatti , wrestling , marpor , sword play, single stick, śilambam , racing with chariots, elephants, bulls, etc. pandayam, playing with balls, ammānai , pandu , gambling and playing with shells, kavaḍi , palagaṛai , alagu , sōḻi. Music was called iśai or pāṭṭu, and has been partly discussed under war. Different kinds of tunes, paṇ, one at least for each region, was developed. Probably the paṇ of kuṛiñji is the tune called kuṛiñji to-day. That of mullai was perhaps what is now called madhyamāvatī, for this is also called brindāvana sāraṅga. That of marudam was perhaps that called kēdāram, for kēdāram, like marudam, means a ploughed field. The paṇ for Neydal was probably that now called punnāgavarāḷi, that now used for sailor's songs. Instrumental music was called pāṇ and as bards accompanied their songs with playing on the yāḻ, they were called pāṇar. There were various forms of drums, the beating of which accompanied singing and dancing. Different kinds of measures or volleys were beaten for different occasions. As specimens, the following may be mentioned: ēṛukoṭpaṛai, the cattle