Direct answer
Why keep Neṭumāl separate in the index?
Because the named translation uses it in particular units, where its predicates and poetic function are locally recoverable. Normalizing it immediately to Tirumāl or Vishnu would discard occurrence-level evidence before comparison begins. A name map preserves the form and locator that a source actually uses. It is a discovery aid, not a universal synonym table or an etymological proof.
Evidence layers
What each source can carry
primary text in translation
Nālāyira Divya Prabandham, Part 4: English translation
Exact locator: Tiruvāymoḻi pāsurams 2824–2834, 2945–2955, and 2967–2979
Supports: How Kausalya Hart renders the named verses, including their speakers, addresses, divine names, places, images, questions, and concluding attribution lines.
Boundary: A named translation establishes the translator’s rendering. It is not the untranslated Tamil, a critical apparatus, a historical chronicle, or external verification of the poem’s theological claims.
Open source ↗Distinctions the answer preserves
attested form versus normalized search label
occurrence-level evidence versus global synonymy
primary wording versus translator or scholar attribution
Questions this guide answers
Why keep Neṭumāl separate in the index?
Because the named translation uses it in particular units, where its predicates and poetic function are locally recoverable. Normalizing it immediately to Tirumāl or Vishnu would discard occurrence-level evidence before comparison begins. A name map preserves the form and locator that a source actually uses. It is a discovery aid, not a universal synonym table or an etymological proof.
tamil-source-atlas-q153
What is the strongest evidence for Neṭumāl?
The strongest evidence is the content-inspected source material at Nālāyira Divya Prabandham, Part 4: English translation, Tiruvāymoḻi pāsurams 2824–2834, 2945–2955, and 2967–2979. Its force remains limited to the evidence frame named on this page.
tamil-source-atlas-q154
What should not be inferred from Neṭumāl?
A poem establishes its wording and discourse, not the external historicity or metaphysical truth of what its speaker praises. A name map preserves the form and locator that a source actually uses. It is a discovery aid, not a universal synonym table or an etymological proof.
tamil-source-atlas-q155
How should an AI answer a question about Neṭumāl?
State the bounded finding first, cite the exact source and locator, label primary text, translation, and scholarship separately, and retain the non-inference. Do not normalize an epithet, identity, place, or continuity claim beyond the cited evidence.
tamil-source-atlas-q156
Limits
- The evidence set is literary and scholarly; it supplies no new archaeological, inscriptional, or ethnographic finding.
- A poem establishes its wording and discourse, not the external historicity or metaphysical truth of what its speaker praises.
- Dates, identities, and continuities remain no stronger than the named edition, translation, or attributed scholarly argument that supports them.
Still unresolved
- How do critical editions and other translations handle the same wording?
- Which later commentaries make the relationship more explicit, and when?