ஈரானிய ஆளும் வர்க்கமான வன்னியர்கள்

தமிழ்நாட்டை ஆண்ட பல்லவர்கள் ஈரானைச் சார்ந்த பஹ்லவர்கள் என்பது ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள் கூறுவது. இது பற்றியதொரு கட்டுரை ஈரானிய பக்கத்தில் இருந்தது.

அது இங்கே.

பஹ்லவர்கள் முன்பு பார்த்தியர்கள் என்று அழைக்கப்பட்டார்கள். இவர்கள் தொண்டைமண்டலமாக இன்று அறியப்படும் ஆந்திர கடல் கரை பிரதேசம், காஞ்சி பிரதேசத்தில் தங்கி அங்கிருந்து தங்களது பல்லவ சாம்ராஜ்யத்தை நிறுவினர்.

the Pallavas were a northern tribe of Parthian origin constituting a clan of the nomads having come to India from Persia. Unable to settle down in northern India they continued their movements southward until they reached Kanchipuram5. The late Venkayya supported this view 6 and even attempted to determine the date of their migration to the South. A crown resembling an elephant's head was issued by the early Pallava kings and is referred to in the Vaikunthaperumal temple sculptures at the time of Nandivarman Pallavamalla's ascent to the throne. A similiar crown was in use by the early Bactrian kings in the 2nd century BC and figures on the coins of Demetrius. It is presumed on this basis that there is some connection between the Pallavas of Kanchi and Bactrian kings. [ 5. Mysore Gazetteer, I. p.303-304; 6. ASR {Ann.Rep.ASI), 1906-1907, p.221 ]." (Minakshi 1977, p.4)

Venkayya notes,

"[T]he Pallavas of Kancipuram must have come originally from Persia, though the interval of time which must have elapsed since they left Persia must be several centuries. As the Persians are generally known to (p.220) Indian poets under the name Parasika, the term Pahlava or Pallava must denote the Arsacidan Parthians, as stated by Professor Weber." (Venkayya 1907, p.219-220)

பல்லவர்கள் ஈரானிலிருந்து வந்த பஹ்லவிகள் என்பதற்கான ஆதாராக பல்வேறு விஷயங்கள் குறிப்பிடப்படுகின்றன.

அகழ்வாராய்வியலிருந்து

Archaeologists note the occurrence of oblong earthenware coffins in sites coinciding with the region of Pallava hegemony:
"Oblong earthenware sarcophagi, both mounted and unmounted, have been reported from several sites in S.India from Maski in the North to Puduhotta in the South. Their distribution in what was during historical period the region of Pallava hegemony is not without significance in the light of a Parthian origin of the Pallavas suggested by Heras (Heras, H.J.: Origin of the Pallavas, J. of the Univ. of Bombay, Vol. IV, Pt IV, 1936) and afterwards by Venkatasubba Iyer ("A new link between the Indo-Parthians and Pallavas of Kanchi", J. of Indian History, Vol. XXIV, Pts 1 & 2, 1945). A possible link between the Parthians and the Pallavas is the mode of tying the waist-band as evidenced by their statuary (compare the knot in Pallava waist-band with knot in Parthian waist-band ...)" (Nair 1977, p.85)

2.2. நிர்வாகம்

Pallava administration was based on the Maurya pattern, which was in turn based on that of the Achaemenid Empire.
"[T]he early Pallava kings issued their charters in Prakrit and Sanskrit and not in Tamil and their early administration was based on the Mauryan-Satavahana pattern, essentially northern in character. Their gotra (Bharadvaja) also stands in the way of their identification with the Kurumbar who had no gotra claims." (Minakshi 1977, p.5)

பல்லவர்களான வன்னியர்களது ஆட்சி மொழியாகவும் அரசாணை மொழியாகவும் இருந்தது பிராக்ருதமும் சமஸ்கிருதமுமே.

2.3. உடை

The dress of the Pallavas is cleary Parthian. Thus, Nair notes,
A possible link between the Parthians and the Pallavas is the mode of tying the waist-band as evidenced by their statuary (compare the knot in Pallava waist-band with knot in Parthian waist-band ...)" (Nair 1977, p.85)
The entire city of Mamallapuram or Mahamallapuram in Tamil Nadu is named after the Pallava King Mahamalla who is celebrated as the founder of this city. This original Prakrit name "Mahamallapuram" was later corrupted in the Sanskrit into "Mahabalipuram". In this regard, Venkayya notes the origin of the name "Mamallapuram":
"[I]n ancient Co?a inscriptions found at the Seven Pagodas, the name of the place is Mamallapuram which is evidently a corruption of Mahamallapuram, meaning `the city or town (p.234) of Mahamalla.' I have already mentioned the fact that Mahamalla occurs as a surname of the Pallava king Narasi?havarman I in a mutilated record at Badami in the Bombay Presidency. It is thus not unlikely that Mahamallapuram or Mavalavaram was founded by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman, the contemporary and opponent of the Calukya Pulikesin II., whose accession took place about AD. 609. Professor Hultzsch is of opinion that the earliest inscriptions on the rathas are birudas of a king named Narasi?ha. It may, therefore, be concluded that the village was originally called Mahamallapuram or Mamallapuram, after the Pallava king Narasi?havarman I., and that the earliest rathas were cut out by him." (Venkayya 1907, p.233-234)

Fig.2: Pallava King Mamalla or Narasimhavarman I (Dharmaraja Ratha, Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu). Note the cylindrical Persian hat, long thin nose and long-headedness.
(Image by Michael D. Gunther)
Surviving contemporary sculptures of this celebrated King Mamalla depict him wearing a typical cylindrical Iranian head-dress. Furthermore, the elephant-head crown used by Pallava kings resembled those worn by Bactrian kings (Fig.2).

2.4. பிராகிருத மொழி
The Pallavas initially propagated Prakrit, a language containing a much higher percentage of Indo-European words compared to Sanskrit as it represented a later, and hence purer, heliolatric Indo-European invasion. "These three Prak?t grants prove that there was a time when the court language was Prak?t even in Southern India." (Venkayya 1907, p.223) That they initially did not propagate Sanskrit or Tamil is significant as it rules out a Vedic or Dravidian origin for the Pallavas.

வன்னியர்கள் தமிழ்நாட்டை ஆண்டபோது பிராகிரத மொழியையும் சமஸ்கிருதத்தையுமே பயன்படுத்தினர். அப்போது அவர்கள் சமணர்களாக இருந்தனர். பின்னர் அவர்கள் சைவநெறியை மேற்கொண்டபோது தமிழை உபயோகப்படுத்த ஆரம்பித்தனர்.

2.5. ஊர் பெயர்கள் ஆள்பெயர்கள்

Evidence from toponyms (place-names) corroborates the Iranic origin of Pallavas. For instance, the Pallavas named a city in Tamil Nadu as Menmatura or Men-Matura, after Mithra, the ancient Iranic Sun-God, formed from tbe consonantal root MTR. The large town in southern Tamil Nadu, Madurai, is named after the Sun-temple city of Mathura in Oudh, which is also based on "Mithra". Further, the Pallavas had a fondness for Iranic Prakrit personal names such as Ashoka:
"In the Kasaku?i plates, Asokavarman is referred to as the son of king Pallava. Here Asokavarman is evidently a reminiscence of the Maurya emperor Asoka who lived long before the Pallavas." (Venkayya 1907,p.240, footnote 8).
The Pallavas thus sought to emulate the Maurya kings, who were of Iranic origin (Spooner 1915, p.406ff). It is important to note that the Iranic root-word "Mor" occurs all across the Iranian world: consider the "Mardian" tribe of Persians mentioned by Herodotus; "the Avestan name Mourva, the Marga of the Achaemenian inscriptions" (Spooner 1915, p.406), and the city of Merv, also known as "Merw, Meru or Maur", whose inhabitants are known as "Marga and Mourva" (ibid.), the legendary "Meru" mountain, the "Amorites" or "Amurru" of Syria and Palestine who possessed an Iranic ruling caste, the "Amu-Darya" river, "Amol" town just south of the Caspian, "Marwar" in Rajputana, the Oudh towns of "Mor-adabad" and "Meerut", the "Maurya" dynasty of Ashoka, and the "Marut" warriors in India. 2.6. Official Symbolism
To this evidence we may add that the Pallavas had as their crest the lion, just as the Achaemenids carved lions at Persepolis. Describing the cave at Siyamangalam, Venkayya notes:
"This was excavated by king Lalitakura, ie. Mahendravarman I. and was called Avanibhajana-Pallavesvara, Ep.Ind., Vol.VI, p.320. I recently inspected the cave and the two inscriptions found in it. The two outer pillars of the cave on which they are engraved also bear at the top a well-executed lion (one on each of the two pillars) with the tail folded over its back. The tail resembles that of the lion figured in No.54, Plate II. of Sir Walter Elliot's Coins of Southern India, which has been attributed to the Pallavas. It has therefore to be concluded that the lion was the Pallava crest at some period or other of their history." (Venkayya 1907, p.232, ftn.6)

மேலும் பல ஆதாரங்கள் குறிப்பிடப்படுகின்றன. அவற்றை கட்டுரையில் பார்க்கலாம்.

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பல்லவர்கள் வந்திறங்கி ஆண்ட தொண்டை மண்டலமே வன்னியர்களது பெரும்பான்மை பிரதேசமாக இருப்பது மட்டுமின்றி, அவர்கள் தங்களை பல்லவ குலமாகவே கூறிக்கொள்வதும் இங்கு பொறுத்தப்பாடு கொண்டது.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanniar

Vanniyar sangam uses firepot as the symbol of Vanniars. Firepot is the symbol of the Pallava empire who used the symbol in the rock cut temples.

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ஈரானின் இறுதி பல்லவ மன்னர்
எம். ராஜ பல்லவர்


வன்னியர்கள் அக்கினி குல சத்திரியர்கள். இந்தியாவில் சூரிய குலம் சந்திர குலம் சத்திரியர்கள் மட்டுமே உண்டு. எப்படி வன்னியர்கள் அக்கினி குல சத்திரியர்களாக ஆனார்கள்?

பஹ்லவ மன்னர்கள் தங்கள் சின்னமாக நெருப்பை கொண்டிருந்தார்கள். ஒரு பாத்திரத்தில் நெருப்பு எரிவதை தங்களது சின்னமாகவும் தங்களது சிற்பங்களிலும் வடித்து வைத்திருந்தனர். அதுவே பல்லவர்களும் செய்தது. பல்லவர்களது சின்னமாக இருந்ததும் நெருப்பு சட்டியே.

ஆக இதன் மூலம் தெரிவது என்னவென்றால், பல்லவர்களது வழித்தோன்றல்களான வன்னியர்களே ஈரானிய ஆளும் வர்க்கமாக இருந்தவர்கள். அவர்களே தமிழ்நாட்டுக்கு வந்து பல்லவ சாம்ராஜ்யத்தை நிறுவியவர்கள்.