This is one fo the Pathupttu songs published in 1889 - , also known as (believed to have lived

around 215 A.D.) This song has 782 lines it is the longest of the Pathupttu songs . The poet Mngudi Maruthanr, who also goes by the name Mngudi Kizhr, has also written poems in Purananuru 24, 26, 313, 335, 372, 396 and in Kurunthokai 164, 302 and Natrinai 120. He might have been the court poet for king Pandiyan Nedunchezhian, whose Madurai is praised in Purannuru 72. There is a good description of the Pandiyan country and life in Madurai. The market place, Buddhist shrines, Jain shrines, riches the warriors brought home and all the activity in the city in the day and during the night. According to the Tamil and Sanskrit scholar Kamil Zvelebil, there are relatively more Aryan words in this song. Story of Maduraiknchi as sung by the poet: In this world where the winds swirl, where the stars move away during the day, where the sun gives light during the day, where one seed becomes thousand plants, where abundant harvest, land and trees provide for people, you have been honest, you king who comes of great lineage! You are great in battles. You kill your enemies. Your soldiers with their fast horses attack your enemies. They are swift with their swirling swords. You come of a lineage that has attacked the Chera and Chozha kings and other small kingdom kings, and won all the battles against them. You attacked and conquered kings with tall forts, big moats and huge palace gates. Your land goes down to Kumari in the south and to the oceans in the west and east and to the mountains in the north. You took Nel Oor with its harbors with ships as tall as mountains. In that town, one can hear the songs of the farm workers working in the fields, sounds of birds being chased from the fields, and that from the bells of the yoked ox. On the seashore filled with sand dunes, young girls perform kuravaidances. Nosiy festivals are celebrated with drums. You donate female elephants and their calves generously to bards and give golden flowers to everybody. You killed your enemies in the Thalaiylanknam. Such is your fame.

You help your friends in their progress. You remove kings who incur your wrath. You are praised by wise men. You are loved by the people in Korkai, which flourishes with pearls. You take things from your enemies, but dont keep it for yourself. You give them away generously. You ruined the fields of your enemies. Pigs roam where grains used to grow. Women in those countries have forgotten their thunangai and kuravai dances. In your Marutham land, the land is filled with ample water that comes down the waterfalls. Your ponds are full. Water-lilies and fish are abundant in them and one hears the sounds of those who harvest the grains. Parai drums are played as farmers harvest rice. Noisy festivals are held in the rainy cool Parankundram. Herons fly in the wide skies and rest on the trees in the houses of the bards who catch fish. Bards sing and dance in their settlement. In yourMullai land, millet and sesame grow, gems are obtained from deep pits, and male and female deer play with each other. In the kondrai tree shade, blue grains grow along with mullai and musundai and the place looks like a velansveriyttam ground. In your Kurinji land, fragrant woods akil and sandal grow. The thorai rice with short grain spears, white mustard and aivanam grains, white rice, ginger and turmeric grow in this land. There is also millet. One hears the sounds of the young girls chasing the parrots, and the sounds of the mountain men chasing the wild cows that eat their avarai beans. There are also sounds of the kuravars who killed a boar. Women who collect flowers from the blacktrunked vengai trees cry tiger, tiger, and one also hears the tigers that kill the wild pigs. Waterfalls roar down and one hears that on the splendid mountain slopes of your country. In the Plai land, big bamboo trees have gone through forest fires, leaving the elephants to starve. It is an ugly sight with dry bamboo forests, and a land with no waterfalls. The youth in their mountain settlement grass woven huts protect their houses from the wayside robbers. In the Neythal land, the loud oceans provide bright pearls, and women wear bangles made from conch shells. Merchants bring goods from different countries. Tamarind trees grow in patches, and salt heaps are on the seashore. Fishermen catch fish and dry some on the seashore. This is a rich land with a lot of beauty. Madurai is in the middle of your special country which has many towns with wide streets, drums, festivities and women performing kuravai and thunangai dances. Near the river which has come down from the mountains where monkeys play and waterfalls abound, there are gardens with many kinds of flowers. The pnars live around there. The city markets are noisy and full of people who speak different languages. Drums beat as festivities go on. On the streets, there are sounds of all kinds of music instruments. There are many flags. There are some in liquor shops and others to announce the victory of the king. There are flags with the Pndiyan fish symbol. Chariots with elephants and horses tied to them ride the streets. Many kinds of food is being sold. Also, there are flower vendors who sell flowers. In the houses older beautiful women with grey hair, and young women who have thoyyil on their young brreasts, and women with innocent words decorate themselves and enjoy life with their husbands. The rich people dress in fine clothes, adorn themselves with neem garlands, purple water-lily flowers and pearl chains, and ride on their fast chariots. Wealthy women wear fragrant oils, fine jewels and jingling anklets. They appear like celestial women who have come to this earth.

Offerings to given to Murugan and there are sounds of many musical instruments. Women hug their children to their bodies and carry trays of lotus flowers and offer it to Buddha with songs. They sing his praise. In the Brahmin prayer places, there are ritualistic prayers. In the Jain temples, offerings are made with flowers with honey and buzzing honey-bees. There is a judicial court where wise men who dont take sides offer justice, which is given with fairness and with equality like in a weighing scale. The temple is painted beautifully. There are residences of the kvithi people (vellalars who were given land by the Tamil kings) and the men rub sandal paste on their bodies and perform rituals. On the streets, pearls, gems and gold are sold. All kinds of food is arranged beautifully and sold. There are goods from many foreign countries. There are the residences of the brahmins, ministers, warrior chiefs, ambassadors and spies. There are shops where conch shells are cut and bangles are made, holes are made in gems for jewelry, gold jewel are created. There are also the fabric sellers. Copper is sold by weight and people sell flowers and fragrant compounds. There are artists who paint. People eat rice with meat. The night shops are very active. Women wear water-lily flowers and enjoy their nights with their husbands. They were sandal oil on their hair, and grind fragrant sandal and kasthuri together. They light their houses at night. Women sing accompanied by their yzh. There are weddings where the bride is decked with gold bracelets. Drums and dances accompany the festivities. In the public halls, young girls hold hands and do the kuravai dance as they sing the praises of Murugan. The velan had told them that they need to do that appease him. In the hours past midnight, the street vendors sell adai and mothakam (kozhukattai). Later when it is very dark, robbers roam the streets. They carry swords. They are well versed in their trade. In the morning hours, yzh music starts. Women wake up early and walk around doing their chores as their anklets jingle. The peacocks, kerons and swans call out for their mates, the time-keeper announces the time, drums beat, and and tigers and bears also make loud noises. At night, the king sleeps with his queen in their beautiful bed decorated with flower garlands. When he wakes up, he anoints himself with sandal paste, and wears his pearl garland and fresh flower garlands. He adorns himself with his warriors bracelets and gold rings. His soldiers praise him. He offers gifts of chariots and elephants to bards, musicians and dancers. In this land of yours where sheep have been killed for food, filtered toddy has been enjoyed by everybody, and there has always been abundance, be like your ancestor Palykaslai Muthu Kudumi (

) who performed many rituals. May you be like the sun. May you be like the moon

surrounded by stars. May your fame spread. Enjoy the alcohol drinks that beautiful women give to you in gold cuups. May you live the rest of your life with happiness. The follwing is a translation of just a few lines from the song. It is a description of prostitutes.

They adorned their hair with water-sprayed flower strands, wore beautiful, round bright bangles, swayed their hands and walked on the streets as fragrance of newly opened buds wafted, these women with great beauty and splendor. Bees swarmed the fragrant big-petaled kuvalai and other bush flowers opened by the rains. They pressed their breasts against the chests of men with fine jewels and uttered lies as they embraced them.

(562 589)

Young men came from far and near attracted by their beauty, only to lose their wealth to them and get abandoned. Their hearts were broken, confused and were unable to sleep. These women were like delicate-winged honeybees that eat fine pollen of fresh flowers and abandon them when they dry up. They sought rich men like birds seeking ripe fruits. Decked with bright bangles, they went to weddings in splendid rich houses that were well lit with bright lamps, and partied with everybody there. These prostitutes were like celestial women who danced in the blue skies, and caused those who witnessed them to tremble. They danced happily to the music of yzh combined with those of drums. They wore long fragrance-filled delicate thick-stemmed kuvalai garlands and played in the cool pond ports with sand dunes. Translated by Vaidehi water collected like, flower strands, wore on their heads, beautiful round, bright bangles, shine, shake, buds, open, new flowers, in the streets, spread fragrance, beauty, big petaled kuvalai flowers, bees, swarming, many flowers, open, smelled, best,

with splendor, great, attained

spreading fragrance, rain, east wind, flowers,

bushes, like, flowers, wore, fine, jeweled, few lies, embrace, hide,

chest, pressed hard, embrace, said a

 far away, nearby, young rich men,

came for their beauty,

fine pollen, eat, dried flowers, abandons, delicate wings, bees, like, united, heart, choose, hurt, confused, give up sweet sleep, fruits, men and, others, obtain, wedding functions, splendid, fine house, beautiful gold, bright bangles, attractive women, life, like bird, rich

take their wealth,

bright light lamps, with many, socialize, in blue colored sky, live there, dance, woman in the heavens, like, make their heart tremble, harlots, prostitutes, midnight, fine yzh, lute, combined with, ports, heaped sand, standing, danced happily to the drums, pond, cold thick stem, plucked, water droplets, dancers, long garland, purple water-lilies, insert, to wear, fragrance filled, in all houses, play games delicate stem, those who witness,