UPSC Prelims 2023 Question:

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

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