The Tamizh people have their own unique story for the origin of the Vedas.
Once, Adi Sesha, bearing Vishnu, felt heavy. He asked Vishnu: "Lord, I'm feeling heavy. You must have a thought that I need to fulfil. What do I need to do?"
Vishnu replied: "Indeed, Adi Sesha. Go to Chidambaram immediately. You'll know what you need to do."
Adi Sesha goes as Patanjali (पतञ्जलि), in the form of a human as his upper body & a serpent as his lower body. He wears a Veshti that hides his tail. He goes erect in Bhujangasana to Chidambaram.
In Chidambaram, Shiva emerges as Nataraja & performs the Ananda Thandavam witnessed by a mesmerized Patanjali. The Vedas emerge from the Damaru & the dance. The dance ends. Patanjali has learned the Vedas.
What is learned has to be remembered, simplified & taught. This is called Jnanam, Smriti & Apohanam. If not passed down, the knowledge will be lost. Hence, teachers are the most important for a society to progress.
Patanjali collects many students. There is one condition: Patanjali will be behind a screen that must not be opened. The teaching starts.
One boy comes home & realizes that all his friends have left to learn from Patanjali. He rushes there. The teaching has started. He sits as well. But since he didn't get time to get ready, in some time, he needed to answer nature's call. He leaves. This distracts the other students.
The students now wonder how a single person seems to be talking in a thousand voices. One opens the screen. They see a thousand headed snake with poisonous breath. He quickly closes the screen but everyone has fainted.
The boy meanwhile rushes back after answering nature's call but hasn't washed his hands & legs properly. He is possessed by the Brahma Rakshasa. He stays & learns. Patanjali finishes the lesson, revives the boys & leaves.
Now, only one boy has learnt most of the Vedas. But he is highly irritable owing to the Brahma Rakshasa. If anyone comes to learn from him, he asks them three difficult questions. When they are unable to answer, he slaps them hard & they leave. Hence, there is no one willing to approach him.
Adi Sesha now decides to return in a new birth. He does Puja of Chidambaram Natarja with flowers untouched by even pollinators but his feet get injured climbing trees. He prays to Shiva for tiger feet for easy climbing of trees which Shiva grants, earning him the name of Vyaghrapadar (व्याघ्रपद).
Vyaghrapadar goes to the boy, who is now a grown up cranky man, to learn the Vedas. He answers the three questions correctly. (The person who told me this story forgot what those three questions were. If someone knows, please comment). He agrees to teach Vyaghrapadar. Vyaghrapadar has to act as a scribe & he will not be interrupted in teaching. Vyaghrapadar agrees.
The teaching starts. Vyagarapadar starts writing it down in leaves, as was the norm in those days. In Samskritam, leaves are called Patra. This is the root word for the Hindi Patrakar (journalist), Hindi Patrika or Tamizh Pathirikkai (newspaper). A feather would be used as a nib, dipped in ink & written. The leaves would be bound together. He runs out of ink. He slashes his own thighs & uses his blood as ink. A pile of leaves with writing forms behind him.
But a goat comes at that time. There is a Samskritam saying: "Aja Bhojanam, Gaja Snanam" meaning "Eat quickly like a goat. Bathe well like an elephant." The goat starts quickly eating the leaves while Vyagarapadar is busy writing.
The teaching is finished. As he has now chanted the Vedas, the Brahma Rakshasa leaves, and the teacher returns to normalcy losing his irritability. He blesses his sishya & leaves. Vyagarapadar now realizes in shock that the goat has been eating the leaves. He salvages the rest of the writings & continues teaching them. That is all that now remains of the Vedas.
In a fascinating parallel indicative of the goat eating the Vedas, Chamakam of the Krishna Yajur Veda is chanted by Daksha with a goat head, where many verses end with a May, like a goat's bleat.
The word for tiger in Tamizh is Puli (புலி). The Shiva temples that Vyagarapadar worshipped are called Puliyur (புலியூர்).
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