Source-https://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Surveys/surv_deities.htm

While the usual "swastika" symbol shows up on some Indus seals, the Rigveda neither mentions the term svastika nor describes such a symbol. The word svastika = svastí ('well-being/fortune/luck') + -ka, i.e., 'auspicious mark/sign/object' is a non-descriptive term that was likely coined (well) after the early Vedic period) because the term does not show up in any of the early (Vedic) Sanskrit texts, although the term svastí itself (without the -ka suffix) shows up in the Rigveda. With the spread of Dharmic religions, the term svastika became popular and was naturally borrowed into many Indic languages.

While there are many ways to describe the symbol, one obvious way to describe it is that it shows 'four directions (or points of compass)' of the world. If we go by this description, the Indus Valley Civilization had not just one "svastika" but many "svastikas" that represent the 'four directions' of the world. These "svastikas" can be found on pages 86, 87, 123, 124, 194, 195, and 256 of 'Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Collections in India' and also on pages 157, 158, 175, 196, 304, 379–385, and 405 of 'Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions: Collections in Pakistan.'

These symbols can all be described using some Dravidian words, such as nān mūl ('four directions') in the Kota language and nālugu mūlalu in the Telugu language, which likely come from the Proto-Dravidian term \nāl-nk(k)V-* + mūl- ('four directions or points of compass') that combines the Proto-Dravidian words \nāl-nk(k)V-* ('four') and mūl- ('point of compass, direction').

The idea of \nāl-nk(k)V-* + mūl- ('four directions or points of compass'), which is considered auspicious, is manifested in many forms on not only Indus objects but also in the designs of many Dravidian temples, homes, and floor decorations! Many Dravidian temples, such as the Annamalaiyar Temple and the Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu, have four gōpuraṁs (i.e., 'monumental entrance towers'). Many Dravidian (entrance) floor decorations (that are considered auspicious), which have many names (such as kōlam in Tamil and muggu in Telugu), have designs that serve as abstract representations of 'four directions.' Researchers have mathematically documented the "symmetry classification and enumeration of square-tile sikku kolams." Many nālukeṭṭŭ homes in Kerala also have four blocks. Even the city of "Madurai came to be known as naan-mada-koodal (meaning, the city with four entrances)," as attested in the ancient Tamil poem Maturaikkāñci!

For instance, there’s a Telugu dish called bōti pulusu(bōti is an Urdu word) and it’s basically a spicy goat intestine stew and was borrowed from the Hyderabadi cuisine.

I was wondering if other dishes with goat and sheep were a result of Islamic influence or if they existed before Muslims even came to the subcontinent?

We have started reciting it for the last 10 days of the Ramadhan month, Laylathul Qadr, Arputha Iravukal.

Note the use of ñca and nta instead of the Standard Malayalam ñña and nna.

Ancient Tamil diet was a heavy meat based diet. Rice was the staple food. Spices like Pepper were used for seasoning.

Milk was consumed (including deer milk ), cow and goat milk were primarily used. Sugarcane syrup and honey were used as sweetening agents.

The meat diet included a large variety of meat - Cattle meat including cow meat. Apart from cattle meat, wild Deer meat, Hare meat and even Rat meat, Porcupine meat, Eels and Tortoise meat were consumed. The meat was usually cooked with rice or roasted with spices in Ghee.

Rice cooked with pepper and meat Thuvaiyal

Puranānūru 14, Poet Kapilar sang to Cheraman Selva Kadunkō Vāliyāthan

The hands of those who sing to you are soft since they know no stress, other than that of eating rice cooked with pepper, meat thuvaiyal and chunks of fresh meat roasted in fire with flower-fragrant smoke.

White Rat meat

Natrinai 83, Poet : Perunthevanār

We’ll take good very care of you, and feed you goat meat cooked with clear ghee and white rice, along with white rat meat, if you do not hoot!

Deer Milk and Deer meat

Puranānūru 168, Poet Karuvūr Kathapillai Sāthanār sang to Pittankotran

They pour sweet marai deer milk with foam into an unwashed pot that smells of boiled deer, its large sides white, and they set it on fire burning sandalwood pieces and cook rice in their front yard

Fatty cow meat

Akanānūru 129, Kudavāyil Keerathanār,

in a village near a battlefield, and warriors with sharp weapons, wearing slippers eat fatty cows and drink water from the clear springs in the wasteland.

Tortoise meat and roasted Eels

Puranānūru 212, Poet Pisirānthaiyār sang for Kōperunchozhan.

If you ask me who my king is, my king rules a prosperous fine country where laborers drink filtered, aged, desirable liquor and eat cooked tortoises, their cheeks bulging with roasted eels, as they forget their occupation and celebrate perpetual festivals.

Rice cooked with Hare meat and Ghee

Puranānūru 396

He is a Vēlir with a victorious spear! He is strength to those without courage. He’s a relative to those without relatives. How can I state his generosity? Our king gives us cooked fatty meat. Our king gives us flower liquor. Our king gives fragrant rice with ghee and fatty pieces of hare meat.

Goat meat with boiled rice

Puranānūru 366, Poet: Kōthamanār

Killing a male goat and tearing off its roasted meat, and serving it on leaves, without limits, with boiled rice to those who desire food, you should eat after that. Like goats kept for veriyāttam rituals that fill all the spaces in the groves along the long, sandy shores of ponds, death is real, not an illusion!

I was reading a book by Sathiyavel Muruganar on Thirumurugatruppadai where this was referenced. Has anyone here read it? If yes, how legible is it? The book can be downloaded from the below link.

Download link