Sulg's Hymn B that I have renamed as MutarIbiyam, one of the names he gives himself, is turning out to be encyclopaedic with respect to the wealth of information in contains about Sumerian culture. It describes the schools for children , academies and lirbraries maintained in Temples and palaces, a variety of waepons and tools they used , details about the temple rituals , the vast number of musical intruments, the immensely fascinating analysis of the relevance of music for psychological well being, the psychology of the oridianry individuals and how it different from the exceptional etc. In my pubications I am only touching upon these issues, breaking into a more detailed study only in some cases.
This is one of them . For I came accros an interesting term "in-di" in one of these lines over which I have been thinking for the last few days. The word occurs in line below:
164. gis.al-gar gis. sa-bi-tum in-di lugal-la /MIR su si mi-ni-zu
The algar, the sabitum (which) are of the king's rite, I taught the herald their fingering
Some tablets seem to have the variant "in-a" for "in-di" which is translated here as a noun 'rite". Going along with the above translation it follows that it is NOT a verb such as idin, iduyin etc. Now once we allow for the meaning of 'rite" especially that pertaining to the kings , some kind of rites where the use of al-gar (yaazkaram, yaazkaal? ) and sabitum (> samittum and hence related to Sama ?) then we can see that 'indi-ra' becomes the Deity of these rites and the God special to the Kings and hence probably a God who would establish a person in his kingly life. kingly luxury . And of course his consort would be Indarani.
Indiran, we should remember, is the KING of the countless number of Gods, the King of the world of gods, and who is always associated with wealth worldly prosperity and happiness, something that goes to make up what a king is.
Indira in Tolkaappiyam
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We must recall here that the socalled Vedic gods Indira and VaruNa also
occur as Dravidian gods in Tolkaappiyam. We have the following Sutra where
Indira, is addressed as VEntan, .i.e King a meaning that well suits the
Sumerian occurence as well.
sut. 951
maayoon meeya kaaduRai ulakamum
ceeyoon meeya maivarai ulakamum
veentam meeya tiimpunal ulakamum
varuNam meeya perumaNal ulakamum
mullai kuRinjsi marutam neytalenas
colliya muRaiyaaR collavum padumee.
The commentators are agreed upon that by VEntan is meant Indra who is said to pervade (meeya) as the DIVINITY of the watered world of fertile fields which in those days was the primary source of wealth.
Intiriyam and Indra
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Related to this term are 'intiriyam' meaning the senses and 'intirapookam" meaning the enjoyment of the pleasures of life. It may be possible that this term for the senses as distinct from 'pulan' 'poRi" etc is derived from the notion "sensual enjoyment" and derivatively that which allows the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. In mythologies we have the depiction of Indira as one with unsatiable sexual desires and hence cursed with a thousand vagina all over his body.
Aintiram
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This may also help to unravel the real meaing of 'aintiram" which occurs in the preface to Tol, the real meaning of which has been a matter of dispute among scholars, some claiming that it is an earlier grammatical text etc.
.......
aRangkarai naavin naanmaRai muRRiya
atangkooddu aasaaRku aritabat terintu
mayangaa marabin ezuttumuRai kaaddi
malkuniir varaippin aintiram niRainta
tolkaappiayan enat tan peyar tooRRip
palpukaz niRutta padimai yoonee.
Here the relevant phrase is ' malku niir varaipin aintiram" i.e. the intiram pertaining to the world encircled by the waters. The meaning of "aintiram" as that pertaining to the excellence of worldly life well suits the whole tenor of Tol. and which is the substance of the whole of Porulatikaaram and for which the earlier books on phonologyy and syntax are written . Also considering that 'niRainta' means "filled with" aintiram may just mean ' worldly prosperity"
Indi and Hindu
I should also point out that the meaning of "religous rites" as it is in Sumerian can easily be turned into a name for religion. It may be possible originally it meant only a species of rituals and hence a kind of cultic practice esp. that pertaining to the kings. However in the use by foreigners especially the ancient Persians it may have become a name for a religion such as that practised by Sumerians and which they also saw practised in India.
I am offering these thoughts as matters for further research.
I should also point out that if what I am saying makes sense then the prevalent notion that Indira the Aryan king devastating the Dasyus , the Dravidians will turn out to be very misleading indeed , a hasty misconstruel of facts. The Sumerian texts reveal that every king waged wars with the enemies as destroyed them. So did too the Gods only that their enemies were the evil forces of nature, the Asuras.
Dr K.Loganathan