EAP810/22/29

Title in original script: சித்திர புத்திரன் அம்மானை

The manuscript is constituted of a text of palm leaves numbered from 4 to 77; the leaves 17 and 18 are missing and the text is not finished. The manuscript is very twisted and extremely fragile. The last leaves are broken and a small part of the text is missing from the leaf 54 to the end due to high infestation of mould. This manuscript seems to have being exposed to frequent worship (pūja) during which liquid of sandal is sprinkled on.

The text is an Ammāṉai, a type of Tamil poetry, often in the form of questions-answers that the adolescent girls used in their play named ammāṉai. This form of poetry uses quite often the rules of a veṇpa, repetition of the second sound (consonant) of first verses in the second ones.

The text is entitled Cittira puttiraṉ. It is a piece of literature which concerns Intiraṉ, considered by the Tēvar (minor gods) as a king, and his wife, Intirāṇi. Intiraṉ and his wife have no child. They approach Civāṉ and request him for a grace. Satisfied by their prayers, Civāṉ come down earth in May, the day of full moon (Tamil date: Cittirai, 18ām), in the form of a cow with eternal quality. On the bank of a river, he gives birth to a child, and then, he returns to his world. Intiraṉ takes the baby that he names Cittira Puttiraṉ and brings up him. Cittira Puttiraṉ is very studious and attracted by mathematics; he becomes a genius. Become an adult, he gets a special job that consists to report to Yamā, the god of death, the good and bad deeds of each individual. Based on his reports, Yamā defines for each individual after the death, who has to go to the heaven or to the hell.

The story presented in the manuscript ends here.

The morality of this story is to encourage people to do only good actions. At Cittira Puttirar’s birthday, some Hindus worship him by fasting, praying and doing charity in order to increase the power of their karma.

The text, here, specifies that a female devotee, called Amarāvati, who had prayed Cittira Puttiraṉ and observed the fasting, had attained the feet of almighty god.

This story is also available in the manuscript: Subash_TN_MSS16.

Size of the manuscript: 37.0cm x 3.8cm. The palm leaves of the text are numbered from 4 to 77; the leaves 17 and 18 are missing. The manuscript is very twisted and extremely fragile. The last leaves are broken and a small part of the text is missing from the leaf 54 to the end due to high infestation of mould. This manuscript seems to have being exposed to frequent worship during which liquid of sandal is sprinkled on.