Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes
[Back to Nature Study List]

Nature Study


Tambaram flora and early Tamil literature
Madras Christian College Magazine, Vol. 45, [July], 1976:21-26
Gift Siromoney
also in Indological Essays, Commemorative Volume II for Gift Siromoney
edited by Michael Lockwood, Madras Christian College. 1992

We are fortunate to live on a campus with hundreds of avenue trees planted and cared for during the last forty-five years. Most of the ornamental flowering trees that flourish here are not indigenous. The Gold Mohur tree (De!onix regia) found inside Hall quadrangles and in front of the College Main buildings, with brilliant masses of scarlet  flowers, is indigenous to Madagascar. The Tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata) with large cup-shaped crimson flowers found just behind the Miller Library is an East African tree. The Mauve Tabebuia (Tabebuia rosea), planted along the roadside from the Cafeteria to the Principal's house, is a native of Mexico. The Rusty Shield-bearer (Peltophorum  inerrne) which produces a profusion of bright golden yellow flowers that carpet the ground, is a native of Sri Lanka.1

We have also other trees that have grown naturally in the jungle, and some local varieties have been planted on the roadside as avenue trees. When the College grounds were fenced in 1930 a few scattered palmyras were the only trees to be found in the whole area.2 Once the scrub jungle area was protected from cutters of firewood, and cattle, the trees began to grow and the scrub put forth luxuriant growth in many places.

To those who are interested in Tamil literature, the scrub jungle represents a land sung by poets of the Sangam age. Recent studies have placed the Sangam period at 200 B.C. to 300 A.D.3 The Tamil Brahmi inscriptions, deciphered during the recent past, have established the contemporaneity of the inscriptions with the Sangam period. During that period the poets were closely associated with nature and described in their poems what they had actually observed. This practice later gave way to poetic fancy and exaggerated description of natural phenomena.

Names of trees and herbs have changed during the last two thousand years but it is possible to identify many of the plants if one makes a determined effort. There are many instances where the current Tamil names of plants are the same as the Sangam names. During the last twenty-five years, many studies have come out which help in the identification of plants mentioned in Sangam literature. For example, all the ninety-nine plants referred to in Kurinjippaattu have been identified4 and many of these plants are found in our campus. Description of a plant and its current Tamil and Malayalam names are found useful in its identification. To find the exact references of specific plants in Sangam literature, one can make use of the Pre-Pallavan Tamil Index. Even though one may not be absolutely sure of the identification up to the species level, in most cases one can be reasonably certain of the identification up to the genus level.

Major D. Giles Lal and Mr C. Livingstone of our Botany department have noted in our campus about a hundred and twenty different kinds of trees. Including these trees, there are about six hundred different kinds of plants in the campus. Many of the plants and trees of Tambaram area can be easily recognized and enjoyed by the layman and we shall mention a few of the interesting trees and plants of our area which were also noticed by ancient poets of South India. Two thousand years ago, Tamil was spoken not only in the region called Tamil Nadu but also in Kerala and parts of Mysore and Andhra Pradesh--the region south of Venkatam hills.

During the Sangam period, land was divided into five kinds of regions: the hills (kurinji), the forest (mullai), the agricultural lands (marutham), the seashore (neythal) and the desert (paalai). Each region was named after a flower characteristic of that region. A forest area, when it degenerated into arid land, was called mullai thirinda paalai. Mullai is identified as the jungle jasmine (Jasmiinum auriculatum) found on our campus. 5Paalai is identified as a small tree called Wrightia tinctoria. We had once, near the main gate, a paalai tree with white flowers and tong-like fruits. This tree is found on the main road near St. Thomas Mount and also near the railway line between Guindy and Saidapet railway stations.

The three main kingdoms of the Sangam period were the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, and each had a flower as an emblem. The Chola emblem was aatthi or aar identified as Bauhinia racemosa a small tree found in the jungle. Near the Bell Tower there is a specimen with rough bark and pale yellow flowers. The Pallavas had as their emblem the thondai flower. Thondai or aathondaii is a large thorny climber found near the N.C.C. parade grounds and other parts of the campus. It has white filamentous flowers, which turn pinkish brown. Neither aatthi of the Cholas or aathondai of the Pallavas is mentioned in Sangam literature. The Chola emblem is referred to as aar in the early period and not as aatthi. Nandi Kalambakam, a post-Sangam work of the ninth century, not only mentions the garland of the Pallava king made of the thondai flowers but also compares the reddish colour of the thondai fruit to lips of beautiful women.6 During the later period, thondai fruit was used in the same way as the more common ko$vai fruit (Coccinia indica) also found on campus. During the time of Silapathikaaram, a pre-Pallava work, ko$vai was used to describe the lips and kumizhi the nose of pretty women.7 Kumizhi (Gmelina asiatica) is a common shrub in the jungle with yellow flowers and small globular fruits. The flower was often compared to a pretty nose, and a nose was considered pretty, up to the Pallava period, if it was broad. During the later period a sharp nose was considered pretty and the Vijayanagar sculptors turned out bronzes with sharp noses, and the poets used the simile of ellu poo (Sesame flower) instead of kumizhi. There is another kind of kumizhi called Gmelina arborea, a large tree, a specimen of which is found near the Guest House. Kumizhi was used to make musical instruments8 such as the yaazh during the early period. The yellow globular fruits were compared to gold coins.9 The word that is used here to denote a coin is kaasu. The poet describes the falling off of coins from a young woman who had worn a string of gold coins. It is well-established that during the Sangam period, they had square coins, circular punch-marked coins and circular Roman coins, and the coins referred to here are circular in shape, and worn by young women as ornaments.

The Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula) is the konrai of the Sangam period. We have a fine specimen near the Cooperative Stores. It bursts into clusters of yellow flowers during the hot weather and it has long dark cylindrical pods. Both the golden colour of the flowers and the long seed pods are referred to in Sangam literature. The globular flowers are compared to kinkini, an anklet of globular bells. At Mahabalipuram we see the kinkini depicted on Pallava sculpture.

In addition to kumizhi and konrai which bear yellow flowers we also have the ve$ngai (Pterocarpus marsupium), a tree with bright yellow flowers. There is one specimen near the Guest House, and there are more in Vandalur hills. The pun on the word ve$ngai which also means a tiger, is made use of in Sangam literature where an elephant is described as charging towards a ve$ngai tree which also appears like a tiger because of its yellow flowers against a dark background. There are numerous references to the ve$ngai tree and a few to the animal (ve$ngai). The word puli also stood for panther and not always for the tiger, which is hardly ever found today in the forests of Tamilnadu.

 The flowers of vaahai are not bright yellow like the flowers described so far but white which turns to cream yellow. It is the emblem of victorious armies and winners of debates. The flower is compared to the plumy crest of a peacock. It is now called kaattu vaahai (Albizzia lebbeck) the most common tree in our jungle. It grows into a large tree, and flowers twice a year. The Magpie Robin, a black and white bird, often chooses this tree to pour out its melodies. The Coppersmith digs out holes in its dead branches and builds its nest. The migratory Brown Flycatcher on its way to Sri Lanka chooses the tree when it is in bloom in September and again in March, when the bird returns and finds the tree in full bloom once again.

We have saplings of Alexandrian Laurel in  front of the library. It is called punnai (Calophyllum inophyllum). It has shiny dark green leaves and sweet scented, pure white flowers with yellow anthers. It is referred to a number of times in Sangam literature as a tree found on the coastal region.

One of our spectacular jungle flowers is the kaayaa (Memecylon edule) referred to in Sangam literature. It is a large shrub with clusters of deep blue flowers arranged like a powder-puff, and red berries. During the first term one cannot fail to notice it on the jungle patch between the Arts Block and the main entrance. During the rainy season the red Velvet Mite (pattu poochi or moothaai in Tamil) is also common on our grounds. A Sangam poet compared the red Velvet Mite among the dark blue kaayaa flowers strewn on the ground as the coral among the sapphire or manimidai pavalam.10 The blue flowers are compared to the neck of a peacock. In Silapathikaaram the colour of the flower is compared to the complexion of Durga. A dark complexion was considered beautiful in Tamilnadu till the advent of the Portuguese. Marco Polo, the Italian traveller, who visited South India during the thirteenth century, has recorded that people tried to make their children acquire a dark complexion by anointing them with oil and exposing them to the sun. White was considered an inauspicious colour and was associated with ashes of the cremation ground.

The flowers of the nocchi shrub (Vitex negundo) are bluish purple in colour. Its leaves are compared to the feet of a peacock. The developing East Tambaram area was once called Nocchi taangal or the tank of the nocchi plant.

The murukku tree is identified with the true Flame of the Forest (Butea frondosa) found in Vandalur hills. It is not the common Drumstick tree nor the ornamental Gul Mohur tree planted in our College. The more common kalyaana murungai tree is identified with the kavir of Sangam literature.

The Scarlet Ixora (Ixora coccinea) a common garden plant called idli poo in Tamil, was known as vetchi11 during the Sangam period. The Ixora buds were compared to the back spur of the fighting game partridge.

The spectacular ilavu (Bombax malabaricum) or the Red Silk Cotton tree is not found on campus but can be seen near the Adayar river by the railway line. During the hot weather the whole tree is full of large, red flowers but without any leaves. It attracts many birds including the Rose-ringed Parakeet often referred to as the parrot in Tamil Nadu. The common White Cotton tree is not indigenous to Tamil Nadu and was not sung by the Sangam Poets.

A beautiful twiner, with deep orange flowers is the Climbing Glory Lily or kaanthal (Gloriosa superba).12 The flower has six narrow petals with frilled margins and a changing colour. When a bud first opens it is pale yellow in colour and the tips develop deep orange colour which spreads along the entire length of the petals. The flowers have a peculiar luminous appearance. The Sangam poets compared the petals to lanterns, broken bangles, women's fingers and the hooded cobra.13 People used to plant it along  fences. The flower was quite popular with young people in love, who used to exchange flowers and bouquets. The plants in the campus are often parasitised by the caterpillars of a small moth called Polytela Gloriosae and these dark caterpillars eat up the growing tip of the plant.

We also have on the campus Barringtonia acutangula, a medium sized tree with pretty pink flowers. It is found in the Vedanthaangal bird sanctuary where it gets partially submerged in water. It is called kadambu, whose flowers are associated with Muruga worship. There is a specimen near the Guest House. The area near West Tambaram is called Kadape$ri or the ' tank of the kadambu tree'.

Apart from spectacular flowering trees, we also find in our grounds inconspicuous Sandalwood (santhanam), maral (Sansevieria roxburghiana) which is similar to the Snake plant, and kunri (Abrus precatorius). The fibre of maral was used as strings in musical instruments. This plant is found on the western side of the tennis courts. Kunri is now called sinna kundumani in Tamil. The plant is a climber with pink flowers and scarlet seeds with a black end. Tiruvalluvar compared it to the outward good nature of some people who harbour evil thoughts. The word semmai in Tamil refers to both the red colour as well as flawless nature.We quote from Pope's translation of the Kural (277th verse).

 Outward, they shine as 'kunri'  berry's scarlet bright;

Inward, like tip of 'kunri'  bead, as black as night

 Poets of the Sangam period also made references to birds and animals of South India. At that time the flight of migratory geese (annam in Tamil) was quite common. We can still observe the flight of migratory ducks over the campus, but the Barheaded Goose which was once common is rarely seen in Tamilnadu. Our campus provides opportunities for many of us to observe the trees, plants, migratory birds and butterflies, and wild animals. Every one must strive to keep it free from encroachment and continue to maintain it as a bird and animal sanctuary.

References
1. M. S. Randhawa, Flowering Trees, National Book Trust, Delhi, 1965.
2. Alice M. Barnes, 'Tambaram Trees'. M.C.C. Mag., xviii, December 1948.
3. V. I. Subramoniam, 'The dating of Sangam literature', Proceedings of the Third International Conference. Paris, 1970, Pondicherry, 1973, pp. 75-86.
4. P. L. Samy, 'The plant names in Kurinjippaattu', Journal of Tamil Studies, September 1972, pp. 78-103
5.P. L. Samy, Sanga lllakiyathil Sedikodi Vilakkam (Tamil), Kazhagam, Madras, 1967.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

11. P. Lourdusamy,  'A naturalist's similes in Cankam literature', Tamil Culture, iii, January 1953, pp. 79-87.
12. D. Giles Lal, 'A List of Plants in the Campus', Department of Botany, July 1972.
13. M. Varadarajan, 'The Treatment of Nature in Sangam Literature', Kazhagam, Madras, 1957.

Go to the top of the page

Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes