Know the Etymology: 17
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 10 April 2017

Nānāṭṭāṉ, Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu

நானாட்டான், மட்டுவில்-நாடு
Nānāṭṭāṉ, Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu

Nānāṭṭāṉ/ Nāṉku+nāṭṭu+āṉ
Maṭṭu+vil+nāṭu

The place of the Nāṉku-nāṭṭār merchant guild

The administrative unit or settlement named after a place Maṭṭuvil

Nāṭu1	country, district, province, locality, situation, earth, land, world, kingdom, state, rural tracts as opposed to Nakaram, open place, side, agricultural tract (Tamil, DED 3638); cognates in 13 Dravidian languages (DED 3638); one's own place identified psychologically (Tamil usage); Nāṭu: (verb) to seek, know, reach, approach (Tamil, DED 3637); Nāṭṭam: eye, sight, desire, intention, pursuit, movement (Tamil, DED 3637); Nāṭu meaning a country seems to have come from the sense of attachment of a people to a land or sense of attachment of a people to a body of people. See box on Nāṭu 2
Nāṭu2	related to Nāṭu 1; traditional identities coming through geography or demography of a community, council of elders of an administrative division, council of a guild, council of a community, umbrella organisation of a community, identity of a community the affairs of which are decided by its own council (Tamil, inscriptional usage and folk usage; inscriptions, c. 550 CE, TASSI, 1958-1959, p. 41-83; PLCP, p. 26-32; 909 CE, IPS, 38; 922 CE, SII, ii, 76; note the inscriptional usage Periya-nāṭu for an umbrella guild; 1057 CE, TAMARAI, p. 54-56; note folk usages of community connotations such as Nāṭṭār, Nāṭṭuk-kavuṇṭar etc.); also note Mahā-nāṭu in contemporary Tamil usage, meaning a grand assembly of people or delegates. See box on Nāṭu 1
Nānāṭṭāṉ	Nā+nāṭṭu+āṉ: the place of the Nā-nāṭu guild (Āṉ/ Āṉa means place, see other columns); or a shortened form of a place name that originally had a suffix such as village, town etc., following the prefix Nā-nāṭṭār. It would be Nānāṭṭāṉ if the prefix alone survives now; Nā-nāṭṭār: most probably a shortened form of Nāṉku-nāṭṭār: a Tamil merchant guild, the presence of which in the island is known from its inscription at Anuradhapura, dated to 9th century CE (Indrapala, 2006, p. 310, 386; Tamil edition, 2006, p. 342, 343); the term literally means, 'the community going to countries in the four directions or the community coming from countries in the four directions'; Nā, Nāṉku: four (Tami, DED 3655); Nāṭṭār: people of a country, community, guild or council (Tamil, see boxes on Nāṭu 1 and 2); Nāṉa-tēci: an umbrella organisation of many merchant guilds, seen in Tamil inscriptions from late 10th century CE (Tamil, SII, xix, 459); literally meaning the same as Nāṉku-nāṭṭār, Tēsi has replaced the term Nāṭṭār; whether the two guilds were the same or different is not clear. See columns 82 and 136
Maṭṭuvil	a Vil-related place name. See column 10

Nāṭu in common Tamil usage means a country in the sense of geography as well as in the sense of a State or nation. The word also means various other geographical units such as province, district, locality etc. (see box on Nāṭu 1).

However, in Tamil inscriptions, Nāṭu was also often found used to mean a body of people as a village council, district council etc. and guilds such as a merchant guild. In folk usage, a community assembly is Nāṭu and a community that is bound by its assembly is also Nāṭu. In contemporary usage, a phrase like Maha-nāṭu means a grand assembly of people or delegates to discuss and decide matters of common interest.

Nāṭu as a verb in Tamil means to seek, reach, approach etc.

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Apart from the geographical meaning, Nāṭu meaning a council or body of people who have come together:

“நாடாய் இசைந்த நாட்டோம்” (Tamil inscription, 909 CE, IPS, 38)

"Nāṭāy icainta nāṭṭōm" (Tamil inscription, 909 CE, IPS, 38)

We, the members of the council that assembled in one mind


"நாட்டைக் கூட்டி நில நடப்பித்து" (Tamil, inscription, 992 CE, SII, ii, 76)

"Nāṭṭaik kūṭṭi nila naṭappittu" (Tamil, inscription, 992 CE, SII, ii, 76)

Convening the council and running the affairs of the land

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The Eezham Tamil place name Nānāṭṭāṉ seems to be corresponding to the merchant guild that was known as Nāṉku-nāṭṭār (Nāṉku-nāṭṭār > Nā-nāṭṭār).

A Tamil inscription of this guild, dateable to 9th century CE, has been found in Anuradhapura, attesting to the presence of this guild in the island in old times.

The place Nānāṭṭāṉ is located on the ancient route to Anuradhapura from the harbour city, Mātōṭṭam or Māntai in Mannar.

Nāṉku-nāṭṭār literally means the people who go to countries in the four directions or people coming from countries in the four directions. The connections between this guild and another umbrella guild that comes a little later with the title Nāṉā-tēsi, are not clear.

The inscription of Nāṉku-nāṭṭār at Anuradhapura, recording its endowments to a Buddhist monastery called Mākkōtaip-paḷḷi, may indicate the connections of the guild with the western coast of South India, as Mākkōtai was a title of the Chera kings as well as the name of a city in the Chera country.

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Nāṉku-nāṭu as a Tamil guild functioning in the island:

“மாக்கோதைப் பள்ளிக்குச் செ(ய்)தா….நான்கு நாட்டுத் தமிழரிலுமிழந்…ட்டுவித்தோம் நான்கு நாட்டோமும்” (parts from a Tamil-Grantha inscription in Anuradhapura, c. 9th century CE, SII, iv; Indrapala, K., 2006, edition in Tamil, pp. 342-344)

“Mākkōtaip paḷḷikkuc ce(y)tā….nāṉku nāṭṭut tamiḻarilumiḻan…ṭṭuvittōm nāṉku nāṭṭōmum” (parts from a Tamil-Grantha inscription in Anuradhapura, c. 9th century CE, SII, iv; Indrapala, K., 2006, edition in Tamil, pp. 342-344)

“The (charity) that has been done to the Mākkōtaip-paḷḷi…among the Nāṉku-nāṭu Tamils (guild)…we the members of the Nāṉku-nāṭu (guild) caused the writing (of this inscription).” [The inscription is damaged on either side, not providing a continuous text. Only the relevant parts are given here]

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Nāṭu, as in Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu means an administrative unit or a settlement unit, recognized from the name of a place called Maṭṭu-vil.

Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu in Pūnakari was probably a satellite unit of the township there (the name Pū-nakari indicates an urban centre, and the neighbouring units of Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu have the names, Kolla-kuṟicci, Maṟava-kuṟicci, Ceṭṭi-kuṟicci etc.)

Maṭṭu-vil is a pond-name, but no pond of that name is found in Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu. There is a strong probability that the settlement unit has gained the name from people who have come from another old village called Maṭṭuvil in Jaffna Peninsula. If so, Nāṭu in this context may mean the original village identity, besides meaning an administrative or settlement unit at Pūnakari.

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Nāṉāṭṭāṉ is the name of a place as well as a division in Mannar district.

Maṭṭuvil-nāṭu is a large village in Poonakari division of Kilinochchi district.

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Revised: Monday, 10 April 2017, 18:00

First published: Friday, 29 June 2007, 01:00