Know the Etymology: 70
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 14 May 2017

Kaḷḷiyan-turavu

கள்ளியந்துரவு
Kaḷḷiyan-turavu

Kaḷḷi+am+turavu

The un-walled well or excavated tiny pond in the locality of Kaḷḷi plants

Turavu	shallow and un-walled well or tiny pond, excavated usually in sand for drinking-water, for cattle to drink water, or for small-scale, hand-lifted irrigation of a garden (Eezham Tamil usage); = Maṇaṟ-kēṇi: well made by excavating sand, un-walled well (Tamil, MTL); large well for irrigation purposes (Tamil, MTL, DED 3341, Tirumūlar, 2873, Tamil inscription, 789 CE, SII, ii, 99); a large well (Malayalam, DED 3341); burrowing, mine, hole (Malayalam, DED 3339); Doravi, Doravu: a large well (Telugu, DED 3341); Doruvu: a large well, tank, dock for ships (Telugu, DED 3341); Tura: (verb) to tunnel, bore (Tamil, DED 3339); (noun) hole, burrow (Malayalam, DED 3339); Turappu: tunnel (Tamil, DED 3339); Turuvu: (verb) to bore, drill, perforate, scrape; (noun) hole, scraping (Tamil, DED 3339); (verb) to hollow, make hole (Kannada, DED 3339); Turu: soil dug out in a heap by rats (Parji, DED 3339); cognates in 10 Dravidian languages
Kaḷḷi	milk-hedge, Euphorbia tirucalli (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu, DED 1383, Kuṟuntokai, 16: 5); spurge, Euphorbia, prickly pear, Opuntia dillenii (Tamil, DED 1383); prickly pear, Opuntia dillenii (Tulu, DED 1383); the Kaḷḷi plant, which is thorny and drought-resisting, was used in the past in setting boundaries (Tamil, inscription, 550 CE, TASSI, 1958-59, pp. 41-83)
Am	empty phoneme called Cāriyai in Tamil grammar, coming in conjunctions (Tamil, Kuṟuntokai, 13: 5; Tolkāppiyam, 119)

Turavu in Eezham Tamil largely means an un-walled, shallow well or a tiny pond of the Kēṇi type (un-walled), usually excavated in sandy soil. One side of such a water-body is kept as a slope to draw water by hand and for cattle to drink water.

In Jaffna Peninsula, such Turavu wells are mostly seen in the sandy tracts of Teṉmarāṭci and Paccilaippalḷi, where good groundwater is available in the sand layers.

Apart from providing potable drinking water to humans and cattle, such wells also serve for small-scale irrigation of gardens. Water is usually hand-lifted by buckets made of palmyra palm leaves. Often, a garden may have many such wells.

In old Tamil literature and inscriptions, the term Turavu was meaning a large irrigation well.

Listed as Dravidian (DED 3341), the etymology of Turavu is related to the verbs Tura, Turu and Turuvu, meaning to burrow (see box).

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Turavu in literature and in inscriptions:

"ஏற்றம் இரண்டு உள ஏழு துரவு உள" (திருமூலர், 2873)

"Ēṟṟam iraṇṭu uḷa ēḻu turavu uḷa" (Tirumūlar, 2873)

There are two well sweeps (water lifts) and seven irrigation wells (a reference to mystic points in Yoga)


“துரவு கிணறு இழிக்கப் பெறுவதாகவும்” (Tamil inscription, 789 CE, SII, ii, 99)

"Turavu kiṇaṟu iḻikkap peṟuvatākavum" (Tamil inscription, 789 CE, SII, ii, 99)

Let a well of the Turavu type be excavated

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Kaḷḷi in literature and in inscriptions:

"அம் கால் கள்ளி அம் காடு" (குறுந்தொகை, 16: 5)

"Am kāl kaḷḷi am kāṭu" (Kuṟuntokai, 16: 5)

The jungle of beautiful post-like Kaḷḷi


"கல்லுங் கள்ளியுந் நாட்டி (Tamil inscription, 550 CE, TASSI, 1958-59, pp. 41-83)

"Kalluṅ kaḷḷiyun nāṭṭi" (Tamil inscription, 550 CE, TASSI, 1958-59, pp. 41-83)

Planting Kaḷḷi (to mark the boundary) and setting the (boundary) stone

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Kaḷḷiyan-turavu is a locality in Caracālai in Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna district (Balasundaram, p. 206).

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Some related place names:

Turavu:

Arumat-turavu: Caracālai, Thenmaradchi, Jaffna (Balasundaram, p. 206)

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Kaḷḷi:

Kaḷḷiyaṅ-kāṭu: Nallur, Jaffna. Kaḷḷi+am+kāṭu; Kāṭu: forest, jungle, thicket

Kaḷḷit-teru: Kayts, Jaffna. Teru: street

Kaḷḷip-piṭṭi: Kandavalai, Kilinochchi. Piṭṭi: high ground, low mound

Kaḷḷik-kaṭṭai-kāṭu: Mannar Town, Mannar. Kaṭṭaik-kāṭu: enclosed cultivation field in jungle tract

Kaḷḷi-aṭaiccāṉ: Manthai West, Mannar

Kaḷḷik-kuḷam: Manthai West, Mannar; Madu, Mannar; Vavuniya, Vavuniya

Kaḷḷiyaṭi: Kaḷḷi+aṭi: Manthai West, Mannar

Kaḷḷiyaṭip-piṭṭi: Nanaddan, Mannar. Kaḷḷi+aṭi+piṭṭi

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Revised: Sunday, 14 May 2017, 18:30

First published: Tuesday, 18 September 2007, 01:00