Cultural Geography in Paripaadal : River Vaigai in Perspective

Abstract

Abstract
In every landscape of the world, primitive man lived a life in harmony with nature. Then, as a result of creating the things necessary for his life from nature, he has reached the stage of cultural development as a civilized human race, different from other creatures. Since culture is adapted to the land structure where people lived, it is clear that culture found in a particular land is different from other lands because of the land structure in which it was formed. Also, it is significant that the culture differs from land to land, as the hilly Kurinji land is full of animals and birds, where ‘hunting’ is the primary occupation, and the field-based Marutha land is a plain, where ‘farming’ is the primary occupation. So it is clear that culture has been associated with the land system where man lives.
The Sangam literature, which records the ancient history of Tamil people, depicts the way of life of the Sangha Tamil people in association with the Tamil land they lived in. In those literatures, Tamil land is classified into five types of land namely Kurinji, Mullai, Marutham, Neythal and Paalai. Based on that, it is possible to learn about the natural environment in those lands and the way of life of the people that has evolved from it.
    Among the Sangam literatures that describe the bond between nature and man, Paripaadal, which is placed as the fifth text, that elaborates the cultural history of Madurai, one of the cultural regions of South Tamilnadu. It is possible to know that there were three types of land in Madurai. They were located in Madurai as three lands namely Kurinji which is hilly, Mullai which is forest and Marutham which is river plain. All three types of land are mentioned in Paripaadal as Tiruparangunram, Thirumaliruncholaimalai and Vaiyai Aaru respectively. The natural resources of those lands have also contributed to the cultural development of Madurai.
Among them, the land structure of the Vaiyai River has been the primary factor for the social, political and economic development of Madurai. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to explore the Vaiyai land system and the water-based cultures that it created, using the approach of "cultural geography" which examines the relationship between people and the land as Paripaadal explains the land structure and its cultures of Madurai.