Question

UPSC Prelims 2023 Question:

Which one of the following explains the practice of ‘Vattakirutal’ as mentioned in Sangam poems?

1. Kings employing women bodyguards
2. Learned persons assembling in royal courts to discuss religious and philosophical matters
3. Young girls keeping watch over agricultural fields and driving away birds and animals
4. A king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death

Answer (Detailed Solution Below)

Option 4: A king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death

Detailed Solution

Explanation:

Sangam poems are pervaded with a warrior ethic. The goal of the hero of the puram poems was pukal (glory, fame) and a heroic death was greatly valued.
It was believed that the spirit of a warrior who died in battle dwelt in paradise. A poem in the Purananuru suggests that the bodies of warriors who did not die in battle were cut with swords before the funerary rites, to simulate death in battle.
The practice of vattakirutal was one in which a defeated king committed ritual suicide by starving himself to death, accompanied by those who had been close to him during his lifetime.

Therefore, option (4) is the correct answer.

Subject: History | Sangam Age

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