The name of a person is not just a word or a mere identity. Rather, it has a long cultural history. In particular, the names of the yesteryear rural Coimbatoreans could even be said as gateways to the region’s social history.
The name of a person is not just a word or a mere identity. Rather, it has a long cultural history. In particular, the names of the yesteryear rural Coimbatoreans could even be said as gateways to the region’s social history.
“One can certainly understand the social history of a particular region from the names of its people. In Kongunadu, most names of men reflect the worship of Lord Muruga as Palanichamy, Veluchamy, Thangavel, Arumugam, Aruchamy. It is also unique in the region that most women names end in the suffix ‘ammal’ as Pappammal, Angammal, Kaliammal and so on” says Prof. K. Magudeeswaran, a well-known researcher in Kongu history.
He informs that the history of naming ceremony in Tamil society dates back to many centuries.
“A chapter in the great Tamil epic Silapathikaram, written by Elango Adigal, unfolds a scene of as many as 1000 elderly women thronging the house of Madhavi, the beautiful courtesan dancer to take part in the ceremony of naming her child as Manimegalai,” writes Magudeeeswaran in a chapter of his book Konguverkal (The roots of Kongu)
The historian informs that a similar ceremony also finds mention in Civaka Cintamani, which is one of the five great Tamil epics, penned by the Jain Tamil scholar Thiruthakka Thevar, who is believed to have lived in Dharapuram in the yesteryear undivided Coimbatore.
The tradition of naming newborn babies after their grandparents is hardly followed in the modern age. The practice, which has been replaced by numerology, had been practised in ancient Tamil society.
“A line in the 81st song of Kalithogai, a piece of Sangam literature, informs that the hero of the lyric had named his baby boy after his father,” says Magudeeeswaran.
He says that in the Kongu region, a newborn baby is named normally within three months, and the name would be after the child’s grandparent or the family deity.
“The reason for naming the newborn after its departed grandparents is in the belief that the soul of the dead would not harm the child”
The worship of the family deity in the present-day Kongu region is also in the same belief as Magudeeswaran informs.
The Tamil words ‘Peyaran’ and ‘Peyarthi’ (Now corrupted to ‘Paeran and Paethi) meaning ‘grandson’ and ‘granddaughter’ respectively are synonymous with the word ‘name’, as it denotes ‘peyar’ in Tamil. The grandchildren are called so, as they are the bearers of their grandparents’ names.
An author of around ten books including Kongu Seethanam, Kongu Verkal, Kongu Manidaviyal, and Samana Kaapiya Thalaivarkal, Magudiswaran says that the rural pockets of Coimbatore even followed a strange culture.
When a child asks its parents “How was I born?”, the parents, answer thus:
“Thavittuuku Vaanginom” (We bought you from a person by paying him some bran)
The idiom Thavittuuku Vaanginom in the vernacular of rural Coimbatore reflects the belief of the rustic folk. When a mother had earlier delivered a stillborn, the custom, then, was handing over the next child to a person lest the spirit of the previous one would haunt and kill it. Later, the parents would ‘purchase’ the same child by giving the person some thavidu (bran).
By doing so, the ruralites of Coimbatore believed that no soul of the dead would harm the newborn. Because, the child, which was bought by paying bran, would be as worthless as the bran from the eyes of the evil spirit!
“One can certainly understand the social history of a particular region from the names of its people. In Kongunadu, most names of men reflect the worship of Lord Muruga as Palanichamy, Veluchamy, Thangavel, Arumugam, Aruchamy. It is also unique in the region that most women names end in the suffix ‘ammal’ as Pappammal, Angammal, Kaliammal and so on” says Prof. K. Magudeeswaran, a well-known researcher in Kongu history.
He informs that the history of naming ceremony in Tamil society dates back to many centuries.
“A chapter in the great Tamil epic Silapathikaram, written by Elango Adigal, unfolds a scene of as many as 1000 elderly women thronging the house of Madhavi, the beautiful courtesan dancer to take part in the ceremony of naming her child as Manimegalai,” writes Magudeeeswaran in a chapter of his book Konguverkal (The roots of Kongu)
The historian informs that a similar ceremony also finds mention in Civaka Cintamani, which is one of the five great Tamil epics, penned by the Jain Tamil scholar Thiruthakka Thevar, who is believed to have lived in Dharapuram in the yesteryear undivided Coimbatore.
The tradition of naming newborn babies after their grandparents is hardly followed in the modern age. The practice, which has been replaced by numerology, had been practised in ancient Tamil society.
“A line in the 81st song of Kalithogai, a piece of Sangam literature, informs that the hero of the lyric had named his baby boy after his father,” says Magudeeeswaran.
He says that in the Kongu region, a newborn baby is named normally within three months, and the name would be after the child’s grandparent or the family deity.
“The reason for naming the newborn after its departed grandparents is in the belief that the soul of the dead would not harm the child”
The worship of the family deity in the present-day Kongu region is also in the same belief as Magudeeswaran informs.
The Tamil words ‘Peyaran’ and ‘Peyarthi’ (Now corrupted to ‘Paeran and Paethi) meaning ‘grandson’ and ‘granddaughter’ respectively are synonymous with the word ‘name’, as it denotes ‘peyar’ in Tamil. The grandchildren are called so, as they are the bearers of their grandparents’ names.
An author of around ten books including Kongu Seethanam, Kongu Verkal, Kongu Manidaviyal, and Samana Kaapiya Thalaivarkal, Magudiswaran says that the rural pockets of Coimbatore even followed a strange culture.
When a child asks its parents “How was I born?”, the parents, answer thus:
“Thavittuuku Vaanginom” (We bought you from a person by paying him some bran)
The idiom Thavittuuku Vaanginom in the vernacular of rural Coimbatore reflects the belief of the rustic folk. When a mother had earlier delivered a stillborn, the custom, then, was handing over the next child to a person lest the spirit of the previous one would haunt and kill it. Later, the parents would ‘purchase’ the same child by giving the person some thavidu (bran).
By doing so, the ruralites of Coimbatore believed that no soul of the dead would harm the newborn. Because, the child, which was bought by paying bran, would be as worthless as the bran from the eyes of the evil spirit!