History of Tamil people....
PART-4
Before we go further/deeper about Sumerians-Tamil/dravidians connections,Here We give below Time line of Sumerian civilizations with brief explanations & examples ,so that you may get more ideas about them & their civilizations.
The original homeland of the Sumerians is unknown.commonly believed,the Sumerians may have migrated from the East -- and were unrelated on the basis of their language to the various groups speaking Semitic languages in the Ancient Near East. From its beginnings as a collection of farming villages before 5000 BC through its conquest by Sargon (Sharrukin) of Agade (Akkad) around 2330 BC and its final collapse from the Amorite invasion around 2000 BC
Sumer civilization in Mesopotamia
PEROIDS
People called the Sumer moved into the land called Mesopotamia.They planted crops and began farming the land.Also they form the first towns and cities
5000 BC -
The Sumer people built temples called ziggurats to worship their gods. They began building large and powerful cities.The ziggurat was a temple to the main god of the city. Each city in Mesopotamia had a primary god. For example, Enki was the god of Eridu,Enlil: god of Nippur, Inanna[or Ishtar]:goddess of Uruk and Nanna: god of Ur . The tall height of the ziggurat may have also been useful during the seasonal flooding.
4000BC -
Much of lower Mesopotamia is inhabited by numerous Sumer city-states such as Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Kish, Lagash, and Nippur.Uruk was one of the first major cities in the history of the world.Other is Ur. It reached its peak around 2900 BC when it had an estimated population of nearly 50,000 people making it the largest city in the world. The most famous king of Uruk was Gilgamesh. He was later turned into a mythical hero.
3500 BC -
The Sumer people began using pictures for words, and they would draw the pictures to write sentences.They inscribe them on clay tablets. With the invention of writing came the first recorded laws called Hammurabi's Code as well as the first major piece of literature called the Epic Tale of Gilgamesh.
3300 BC -
Although archeologists don't know for sure who invented the wheel, the oldest wheel discovered was found in Mesopotamia. It is likely the Sumer first used the wheel in making pottery in 3500BC and then used it for their chariots in around 3200 BC.
3200 BC -
1]The Sumerians start to implement mathematics using a number system with the base 60.They divided time up by 60s including a 60 second minute and a 60 minute hour, which we still use today. They also divided up the circle into 360 degrees. They had a wide knowledge of mathematics including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, quadratic and cubic equations, and fractions.
2]By studying the phases of the Moon, the Mesopotamians created the first calendar. It had 12 lunar months
3]The Mesopotamians made many other technological discoveries such as:potter's wheel to make better pottery, sun-dried bricks, and Irrigation to get water to their crops,looms to weave cloth from wool etc All of these things were important for the development of human civilization.
3000 BC -
General :1]With people moving to towns and governments being formed, society was dividing into different classes of people.At the top of society was the king and his family & At the bottom were the slaves.2]Clothing was typically made from sheepskin or wool. The men wore kilt-like skirts and the women wore longer dresses.3]Art and poetry was a big part of the wealthier cities. Most of the poetry and art had a religious theme or honored the king of the city.
2700 BC -
The Sumerian people were taken over by the Akkadians. The Akkadians established the Akkadian Empire.Sargon of Akkad,form the first Semitic dynasty in the region & ruled for 2334-2279 BC, 55 years.
2330 BC -
The greatness of sumerian civilization was it produced the first literature called "Epic Tale of Gilgamesh". Generally,literatures are outcome of a matured civilization.Also there were libraries by the 3rd millennium B.C. More than 200,000 clay tablets have been found in ancient Mesopotamian cities such as letters and business documents, administrative accounts, and literature in poetry and prose.There is also evidence that rich families had private libraries.Even 2000-2700 years old sangam literatures too advise in Purananuru 183,that "It is good to learn"
"it is good to learn[from a teacher] honoring[him], without hatred[malice],
those born in the same stomach[womb],
due to his special achievement, a mother’s mind will be tender to the learned one,
among those born in the same community,
without honoring the first-born, among them,
the intelligent one[learned man] is who the king will choose, "
[Purananuru 183]
Also Scholars genrally agree that certain political, social, economic, and technological traits are indicators of civilization such as::(1) cities as administrative centers, (2) a political system based on control of a defined territory, rather than kinship connections, (3) many people engaged in specialized, non-food-producing activities, (4) status distinctions based largely on accumulation of substantial wealth by some groups, (5) monumental building, (6) a system for keeping permanent records, (7) long-distance trade, and (8) major advances in science and the arts.All of these you can find in Sumerian civilization as explained above....
You can further study & understand-How Sumerians lived & spread their civilization to others who were non civilized,lived as a wild man-from The Epic of Gilgamesh.It also defines civilization as the people of ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) under stood it.
Gilgamesh, an early king, sends a temple prostitute to tame Enkidu, a wild man who is covered in hair and lives like an animal in the grasslands,who knew neither people nor settled living,who ate grasses with the gazelles [a kind of antelope],and jostled at the watering hole with the animals,telling Shamhat:"Release your clenched arms,expose your sex so he can take in your voluptuousness.Do not be restrained--take his energy!,When he sees you he will draw near to you,Spread out your robe so he can lie upon you,and perform for this primitive the task of womankind!,His animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will become alien to him,and his lust will groan over you.".Hence,She[Shamhat] take off her robe,expose Enkidu her beautiful body & lie down on a blanket.She uses her all attractiveness to tempt Enkidu from the wild, and his 'wildness', civilizing him through continued sexual activities / love making.After few days,his former companions, the wild animals, turn away from him, seeing him, they fled.
" The creatures were gone, and everything was changed.His body that loved to range the hills was now unable to follow;his knees that wanted to go off with his animals went rigid;but in the mind of the wild man there was beginning a new understanding.Bewildered,he turned, and sought out the company of the temple prostitute.he sat down at the harlot's feet,gazing into her face, his ears attentive as the harlot spoke.Now Her love & attractiveness were such an incredible thing to him.It is not a terrible thing or a disease!,It is a feast for him as sangam literature kurunthokai 204 said.
"One with broad shoulders!
Love, love, they talk about it,
but it is not a terrible thing or a disease!
It is a feast if you think about it,
like that tasted by an old cow
when it licks flourishing, tender,
new grass on an old, hilly mound."
[Kurunthokai 204]
Later Shamhat brings Enkidu to a shepherds' camp.Here we get more examples of her goodwill. First, Shamhat pulled off her clothing,and clothed him with one piece while she clothed herself with a second. then, she takes him to a picnic being held by some shepherds.The shepherds gathered all around about him,They placed food in front of him,they placed beer in front of him; He served with bread and beer for the first time.
"But Enkidu knew nothing about eating bread for food,and of drinking beer he had not been taught.so he sat and stared at the cooked food and the beer for a very long time, not knowing what to do. Then Shamhat, the harlot, the temple prostitute,spoke to Enkidu, saying: "Eat the food, Enkidu, it is the way one lives.Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land.This is the food and drink men eat and drink.".So Enkidu ate the food until he was sated,he drank the beer-seven jugs!-- and became expansive and sang with joy!He was elated and his face glowed.He splashed his shaggy body with water,and rubbed himself with oil, and turned into a human.He put on some clothing and became like a beautiful bridegroom.He took up a weapon and chased lions so that the shepherds could eat.He routed the wolves, and chased the lions to guard the flocks and shepherds that preyed upon them..With Enkidu as their guard, now the herders could lie down in peaceful sleep at night.
Then Shamhat persuades him to follow her and join the civilized world in the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh is king, rejecting his former life in the wild with the wild animals of the hills.Hence Using her sexual charms to win Enkidu’s trust, the temple prostitute tells him:
"Come with me to the city, to Uruk, to the temple of Anu and the goddess Ishtar . . . to Uruk, where the processions are and music, let us go together through the dancing to the palace hall where Gilgamesh presides."
She clothes Enkidu and teaches him to eat cooked food, drink beer, and bathe and oil his body. Her words and actions signal some of the traits of civilized life in ancient Mesopotamia.That is the Mesopotamians, like other peoples throughout history, equated civilization with their own way of life,
Even though she only appears in Tablets 1 and 2 (plus getting cursed and blessed in Tablet 7), Shamhat is a major female character who plays a pivotal role in the above story. She uses her wily woman's ways to transform Enkidu into a civilized being...
Sumerians generally focused on spiritual matters. Every Sumerian city had atleast one god to worship. Ur, for example, had Nanna ,They regularly made generous offerings to the temples to avert divine wrath. Sometimes more than that was demanded; the temples of Ishtar[counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna], for example, demanded the virginity of Ishtar's female worshipers. According to Herodotus[490 to 425 B.C]., before they could be married, they had to serve as prostitutes in the temple, until they attracted the attention of a pious customer, who expressed his interest by tossing a coin or piece of jewelry to the young woman he wanted. Herodotus himself considered the practice unfair because the prettiest girls completed their duty in only a few days, while the homely could be left waiting for years.
The practices of offering a maiden to the service of gods in temples ( the so-called sacred prostitution or Devadasi System) are some of the rituals noticed in Ancient South Indian temples too.References for this devadasi tradition can be found in the Sangam works such as Tholkappiyam, Ettutogai, Pattupattu and several minor works.They refer several kinds of devadasis such as kontimakalir (captive women engaged in divine services),viraliyar(ministrels), kuttiyar(dancing girls), parattaiyar(courtesans).Devadasi was also once addressed as thevidichi , ( deva- god, adi- feet,achi- slave) Many glorious texts of Sangam literature narrate stories of Devadasis .Texts like Manimeghalai ( written by Seethalai Saathanar) and Silappatikaram (written by Ilango Adikal) depict the lives of devadasis in sympathetic detail. In Manimeghalai,one reads about the struggle of the protagonist ,Manimeghala who is unwillingly bound to the tradition of devadasis into which she’s born to.The Parathai (Concubine) whom the Thalaivan[Hero] visits for pleasure is some time bothered her emotions, feelings or situation of her life.Thalaivi[heroine] naturally feels worry and jealous & even question the Parathai about her conduct.One of such incident from sangam literature is given below: Here,The concubine utters after she heard that the hero’s wife accused her of controlling her husband.
"When I sit with the man from the cool seashores,
where plump,beautifully colored white waterlily buds are
opened by bees in the ponds,we are two bodies.
We are one when we lie together,as his fine chest is pressed
against mine, and we are as close as fingers wrapped tightly around a bow."
[Kurunthokai 370]
When the tombs of several kings and queens of Ur were excavated in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Woolley, the British archeologist Besides gold, jewelry, and various art objects,He uncovered a grim secret; whenever a king or queen died in Ur, dozens of servants followed the royal person into the grave and drank poison so they could serve in the next life as well.
similar thoughts can be found in sangam literature too, such as kurunthokai 49
"I want you to be my husband
and me to be your wife in our
next life, as we are in this one."[kurunthokai 49]
The Sumerians never learned to live in peace, despite their common language and culture.Unity was never a permanent thing with Sumerians, first one king of a city would gain power by defeating the others, thus making himself king of all the lands, then the next king of another city would do the same, etc etc.
Not only the sumerian king fought among themselves to capture the land & kingdom from his own race to expanse his kingdom,It also made them weak so that the semitic people who were surrounded them took advantage of this disunity & finally overcome them in about 2000 BC and made them disappear completely from Mesopotamia,The land of Sumerians,The first civilized people of the world.
From sangam literature we came to know that this disunity even continued during sangam period among the three Tamil Emperors in Tamil nadu.However in the year 313 B.C, the author Dr.Mathivanan says. Imayavaramban Neduncheralathan, Karungai Olvat Perumvazhuthi and Deva Pandian [ 70th] jointly signed the declaration of unity that lasted for 113 years.This Treaty of Tamil Unity stood as a rock protecting Tamil lands from Northern invaders.However,That unity did not last nor the lessons of unity learnt till date by Tamils.
Purananuru 58 advise the both kings to keep unity among themselves,comparing them to Balaraman and Thirumal.
You are the ruler of Kaviri River with cool waters!
He is born of great lineage of an ancient Pāndiyan
....................................................
If you help each other and if this unity
is not ruined, you will win this beneficial world that is
surrounded by oceans.
......................................................
may the peaks be incised with the signs of the tiger with
curved stripes and of the carp from the deep waters!
[Purananuru 58]....
WILL FOLLOW.... PART-5....
யாழறிவன்.... Yalarivan Jackson Jackie
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