By
M. Amirthalingam
Tamil literature of the Sangam period
(between 2300 C.E. and 700 C.E.) includes the Tolkaappiam and Padinenkilkannakku
(the eight Anthologies, ten long songs, the minor eighteen anthology series
and the five great epics). During the period the poets were closely associated
with nature and wildlife and described in their poems what they actually
observed. The habits and habitats of wildlife during the Sangam period can be
understood through this literature.
Tolkaappiam, recognising that
human activities cannot take place in a vacuum and are constantly influenced by
environmental factors, human experiences in general and subjective topics in
particular, assigned specific habitats. Accordingly, land was classified into
five divisions or thinai. These were: kurinji (mountainous
regions), mullai (forests), maruthan (agricultural lands), neithal
(coastal regions), and palai (wastelands).
The references to the descriptions of
animals in Sangam literature given below will show that they are a mixture of
observed facts, imagination, and poetic fancy, and not a serious study in
natural history.
An Agam (271) describes the
feeding behaviour of the Little brown dove. The poet states that the brown dove
mainly eats grain, which it may swallow with some fine sand particles.
Birds like the Collared scops owl,
Indian barn owl and Spotted owlet sleep during the day in their nest and feed
during the night. These nocturnal birds build their nests in natural holes or
niches in the ruins of buildings and in hollows of old trees. These
characteristics accompanied by their description are explicitly illustrated in Agam
122 and Puram 364.
The Collared scops owl almost looks
like the Indian barn owl, somewhat brownish in colour with a crest on its head.
The poem describes how it sleeps during the day and how it comes out in the
night from the hollows of old trees to feed.
Verses of Natrinai (356), Kurunthogai
(384) and Purananooru (67) refer to the description and migration of
the wild duck. The verses describe the Spot bill duck as one which has short,
reddish legs and webbed feet. In one of the verses, the poet says “anna
chaval after feeding on the minute prey over the water spread at Kanyakumari,
if you migrate to the Himalayas…”
The White stork, a migratory bird,
flies to India from Europe and Siberia during the cooler seasons and it returns
home by summer. The ancient Tamil poets called the bird a guest bird (vamba
naarai). The poem written by Satthimuthar clearly reflects this behaviour
of the migratory bird. There are other references found in verse 236 of Kurunthogai
and verses 100 and 190 of Agananooru about vamba narai (migratory
bird) where the punnai (Indian laurel) tree is mentioned in all the
three verses.
Few passages can rival the description
of the North Wind and its effects, and the interplay of human emotions and
sentiments, as found in Netunalvaatai. It refers to the impact of vadai
katru (chill northern wind) which affects animals in various ways: prevents
cattle from grazing and cows from suckling their calves, makes monkeys shiver
in the cold and birds fall from trees.
From verses 225 of Purananooru and
336 of Natrinai we gather that the Baya weaver bird builds its nests
shaped like a conical bottle in the leaves of the palmyra palms and branches of
the bamboo plant. Depending on the season, the bird constructs the entrance for
the nest. Birds like crane, peacock, parrot, rooster and dove also find a place
in the verses of Kurunthogai. The parrot is said to eat the neem fruit
in the desert region, a habit common among crows. (Courtesy: Eco News –
the journal of CPREEC.)
Madras Musings, Vol. XIX No. 7, july 16-31, 2009
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