Who is God - Tamilian Classical Philosophy

The Sangam people worshipped gods according to their occupation (turai) and geographical location (tinai).  God whom one worships cannot change just because one’s occupation or location changed – so God must be more fundamental and beyond the man-made concepts of tinai and turai.

The Romans called their God deum, the Sanskrit people called God deivum, the Arabic people call god Allah. The only thing that changes is the language – the meaning, which is fundamental, remains the same.

Beyond space and time

The Sangam philosophers realised that there must be something of God that does not change throughout the world. These are iyavul and katavul.

Katavul is the most common Tamil word for God. It is composed of two words: ul (inside) and kata (to travel beyond). The explanation of this word in Tamil would be: உள் அனைத்தும் கடந்தவன் (ul annaitum katantawan) (He who is beyond all that exists i.e. is inside). Iyavul is not so common. It is composed of two words: Iyakku (to move) and kata (to travel beyonf). The explanation of this word in Tamil would be: உள் அனைத்தும் இயக்கியவன் (ul annaitum iyakkiyawan) (He who sets everything in motion).

Also note the use of (ul) which means ‘inside’ in Tamil. These two words compare that which is inside the world (ul) to that which is beyond the world itself.

Motion, or change is caused by time which is continuously changing – God must be unchanging so he must be beyond time உள் அனைத்தும் இயக்கியவன் (ul anaitum iyakkiyawan) (He who sets everything in motion). Also, God must be infinite, that is to be not confined to the three dimensions of space like objects in the world, so he must be உள் அனைத்தும் கடந்தவன் (ul anaitum katantawan) (He who is beyond all that exists i.e. is inside).

Under the mask

So for Sangam people, God changed his appearance depending on peoples’ tinai and turai, but he always was iyavul and katavul. So it was pointless fighting about the superficial aspects of God while the fundamental aspect of God remained the same. Hence, the Sangam people were secular; they worshiped and respected all gods.

The word katavul was successfully taken into the Bhakti Movement and the Post-Sangam period by the Chittar and the Nayanar and Azhawar: and is still the commonest word in Tamil to denote the Divine. Iyavul was unfortunately abandoned.

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