Avvaiyar

Avvaiyar (Tamil: ஔவையார்) was a Tamil poet who lived during the Sangam period. She wrote 59 poems in the Puṟanāṉūṟu. and is said to have had cordial relations with the Tamil chieftains Vēl Pāri and Athiyamān. A plaque on a statue of the poet in Chennai suggests the first century BCE for her birthdate. The name Avvaiyar in Tamil is defined as a respectable good woman and was considered an honorific. Her given name is not known.

Biography Avvaiyar is considered to be contemporary to poets Paranar, Kabilar and Thiruvalluvar. She is attributed as the author of 7 verses in Naṟṟiṇai, 15 in Kuṟuntokai, 4 in Akanaṉūṟu and 33 in Puṟanāṉūṟu.

While on a visit to Ceylon, Avvai was caught up in torrential rain, and took shelter in the house of two women of lower caste, Angavay and Sangavay. These women took care of Avvai with great kindness and the poet promised that they would be given in marriage to the King of Tirucovalur. On hearing this the King agreed to take the women in marriage if they were given away by the Chera, Chola and the Pandya kings.

Shrine In Muppandal, a small village in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. there is an image of Avvaiyar. By tradition, this is stated to be the spot where the great poet left the mortal world.

Legacy In 1991, a 20.6 km-wide crater in Venus was named the Avviyar crater by the International Astronomical Union.

Her quote "" has been translated as "What you have learned is a mere handful; What you haven't learned is the size of the world" and included in NASA's Cosmic Questions Exhibit.