In honor of Tamil
Eleven years ago this day, the status of ‘classical language’ was granted to Tamil. Although it was a momentous occasion, Tamil does not necessarily need that tag to be cherished as a part of the great national heritage. But unfortunately for long the politics of so-called ‘secular pluralism’ have done more to delink Tamil from our national heritage; from the colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’ to the acidic Dravidian movement post-independence, we are always exposed to this North-South divide due to the now discredited yet popular concept of Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT). But this barrier has started to come down in recent years.
But the most notable incident to bridge the North-South divide came in the November of last year when BJP MP Tarun Vijay claimed that “India will be incomplete without Tamil.” Well not just Tamil, India would be incomplete without all its indigenous languages. The petty politics practiced in this country have insulated a great portion of our countrymen from the priceless gems crafted in Tamil. So today in honour of Tamil we shall briefly highlight two such gems:
i. Thirukkural – One of the most important works in the Tamil language, scholars date its compilation d to sometime between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century BCE. The word ‘Kural’ here is meant to be a short verse of only two lines. Ten such verses make up a single chapter of Tirukkural. Now ‘Tiru’ can mean sacred, as well as beautiful. Each of the chapters is headed by one major concept such as ‘Friendship’, ‘Wisdom’, ‘Justice’, and so on. The ten verses under each concept expand on each it fully.The work is divided into three sections:
- ‘Aram’ (virtue) deals with ingredients of an ideal family life.
- ‘Porul’ (wealth) deals with various matters pertaining to politics, finance and alliance.
- ‘Kamam’ (love) is concerned mostly with marriage and love.
If one goes through this masterpiece, they would find it to be reflective of the holistic view on lifestyle taken by the ancient Indians, a trait seen also in other ancient works like the Arthashastra. Abounding with splendid verses it is fitting to reproduce the chapter titled The Excellence of Rain with regards to the pending monsoon season:
11. The world its course maintains through life that rain unfailing gives;Thus rain is known the true ambrosial food of all that lives.
12. The rain makes pleasant food for eaters rise;As food itself, thirst-quenching draught supplies.
13. If clouds, that promised rain, deceive, and in the sky remain;Famine, sore torment, stalks over earth’s vast ocean-girdled plain.
14. If clouds their wealth of waters fail on earth to pour;The ploughers plough with oxen’s sturdy team no more.
15.’Tis rain works all: it ruin spreads, then timely aid supplies; As, in the happy days before, it bids the ruined rise.
16. If from the clouds no drops of rain are shed;’Tis rare to see green herb lift up its head.
17.If clouds restrain their gifts and grant no rain;The treasures fail in ocean’s wide domain.
18. If heaven grow dry, with feast and offering never more;Will men on earth the heavenly ones adore.
19. If heaven its watery treasures ceases to dispense;Through the wide world cease gifts, and deeds of ‘penitence’.
20. When water fails, functions of nature cease, you say;Thus when rain fails, no men can walk in ‘duty’s ordered way’.
The author Tiruvalluvar was one of the greatest social philosophers of the ancient world who was interested not only in the behaviour of an individual, but also in the congruent development of society. The great scholar and statesman, C.Rajagopalachari once said: “Tiruvalluvar was one of those rare and great men whose catholic spirit rose above all kinds of castes and creeds, and whose vision was not clouded by dogma or prejudice of any kind”.
ii. Silappatikaram- Also spelled as Cilappatikaram (is translated as the Lay of the Anklet), is one of the ‘Five Great Epics of Tamil literature’ ; other epics include Manimekalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi. The Jain monk Ilanko Adigal, who was a poet prince, was said to have composed the epic. He was considered as the brother of the Chera King Senguttuvan. Silappatikaram is narrative in nature and contains three chapters and 5270 lines of poetry. Silappatikaram has many references to historical events and personalities, although it has not been accepted as a reliable source of history by many historians due to its folk contents. In the prologue to the book, Ilango Adigal gives the plot in the following rhyme:
| We shall compose a poem, with songs, To explain these truths: even kings, if they break The law, have their necks wrung by dharma; Great men everywhere commend Pattin̪i of renowned fame; and karma ever Manifests itself, and is fulfilled. We shall call the poem The Cilappatikāram, the epic of the anklet, Since the anklet brings these truths to light. |
A concise account of the plot-
In the city of Puhar in Chola kingdom the marriage Kannagi and Kovalan is arranged by their parents. Kannagi serves her husband diligently but the latter deserts her, going off to live with a dancer by the name of Madhavi. On realizing his mistake Kovalan returns to Kannagi but soon realizes that all his fortunes have been spent on Madhavi. Not only does Kannagi forgive her husband for spending all their money on a courtesan, she provides her precious ‘silambu’ or anklets to Kovalan so that he can trade it for money.
The couple comes to Madurai to refurbish their fortunes by engaging in trade. Kovalan attempts to sell Kannagi’s anklets to the king’s goldsmith, who coincidentally had stolen the queen’s anklet and decided to frame Kovalan for the theft. Kovalan is condemned by the king without inquiry and put to death. An enraged Kannagi storms into the court of the king and upon the floor breaks the left over anklet to show that the anklets belonging to her were made of pearls, not gems, thus demonstrating before the king and others that Kovalan was innocent. In anger she cursed the king that his city will perish, a curse which caused the city to burn to ashes.
Silappatikaram is also significant in Tamil theatre history because of what it tells us about dance and music of that timeline. In the epic the courtesan Madhavi is said to be well trained in Varikkuttu, a form of dance that contains cloaked acts, where one does different roles. In the describing her character, the composer speaks in detail about various forms of dance and music prevalent at the time. This puts Silappatikaram in the leagues of Natyasastra.
Also nowhere is Madhavi shown in negative light because of her lifestyle. In its place she is presented as a talented performer with magnificent beauty; instead what Kovalan does is conceived of as immoral within the framework of the story. This is reflective of the flexible and nuanced society which existed in ancient India.
The aforementioned masterpieces are among countless other gems that are the creations of the Tamil language. We hope more of our countrymen are made aware of these priceless gems.
There is something that needs to be looked at with regard to “Thamizh monolingualism”.
Americans are often accused of being too “monolingual”, and many times unable to even understand English in another accent. There was a Canadian comedian who joked about how people in the US, especially in places where there is not a lot of diversity, like in the Midwest and the South, would say to him, “Sorry dude, I can’t understand your accent. Where are you from?” And he would shout, “How is that possible? I am a Canadian.” :))
This is being challenged and changed in many American schools that offer, at a very early age, courses in Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Gujarati…(not just courses in the usual European languages of Latin, French, German and/or Spanish).
A neurologist once said that those who grow up in very provincial environments, with little exposure to diversity, including other languages, do not get some of their growing brain connections, neurons, stimulated, They may not only become dull, but they might also “become rigid and antagonistic to learning certain things”.
One wonders if “the Thamizh only policies and attitudes” have brought down, not only the proactive, innovative and healthily curious minds, but it has affected the “learning neurons”…which might show up also as “terrible education, mediocre education or low quality education”.
One could accuse those who did this to our education as a form of “intellectual genocide, dulling the mind for political purposes and ruining the growth and development of India itself”. This requires a huge lawsuit and a big prison for all those who ruined the education and the minds of our young people.
The question we can ask is, “Is it possible that Thamizh only policies of Tamil Nadu’s government has not only taken away other Indian languages from the learning environment, and its usefulness in many things ‘Indian’. but has it affected in some ways the neurology of some people that in turn shows up as rigidity, arrogance, argumentativeness and dictatorial personalities? Has this language ethnocentricism and xenophobia affected the ability to of young people to learn well?”
While Tamilians seem tolerant to English, Arabic, etc. They are not very tolerant to Hindi, Kannada, Gujarati, etc. Does this affect both “how Tamilians develop or not develop their Indian identity, and how they view learning languages and its struggle.”
Does excessive monolingualism make the mind lazy and mediocre? And when does ethnic and linguistic pride become ethnocentricism and xenophobia?
Any research on these issues? I
t would be easy to do exploratory studies on this matter, with the help of neurologists, etc.
R. Nanjappa,
Please contact the editor of IndiaFacts at [email protected].
Thanks.
By picking these two, I as a reader get an impression that these two are the top most literary works in tamil. But I wonder how come the top two works are non-religious while the kingdoms were hindu and the people were hindus? I agree that all were tolerant of other faiths like budhism and jainism, but I am not able to accept that the society and the powerful kings spent all their time on hinduism building temples, writing poems, developing music etc, but read the non-religious and buddhist texts of sangam literature. Top 5 Sangam works are totally devoid of hinduism, this is suspicious. Was sangam literature really that prominent for our ancestors who otherwise had hinduism in everything single activity in their life?
The sangam literature coincides with the pallava rule and kalabhra rule. Pallavas used a granta script that included north indian syllables. So sangam literature in pure tamil could not have had that prominence during that time. May be these texts were prominent only to buddhist community of the kalabhra era and the colonial/dravidian politics is desperately showcasing this as top gems of tamil literature now just to overshadow other works of saiva and vaishnava philosophies which otherwise influenced the ruling class largely. These tirukural, chilapatikaram etc may sound good now, because of the old tamil words, but were they considered great earlier by tamil society is the question. Were they having qualities of great epics is still debatable. The whole sangam concept is controversial. The kalabhra kings who were ‘probably’ budhists and jains ealier became hindus during the later period. There is no real evidence on what kalabhra kings were. So the whole idea of non-hindu texts getting so much prominence as tamil literary work is probably a modern thought. Did native tamil hindu people contribute nothing to literature while buddhist/jain converts created the ‘great’ sangam literature?
Can people do “an objective coverage of Al Jazeera” which often carries negative stories about India, Indians and Hindus? There is one story circulating about India, with a dark skinned South Indian HIndu rural woman’s face, identified as a witch, as being harassed and possibly assaulted by people. What is the obsession with “ghosts, demons and witches” in many Muslim communities, including Sheiks and their wives harassing Indian and Asian workers for doing black magic and stuff like that? Is it people who have no sense of Dharma or free will, and think every problem is somebody’s else’s fault (like Inshah Allah, In Sha Allah), and usually blame foreigners or dark skinned people (like Indians or South Indians)? These events are rare, and more rare than women being beheaded in Islamic countries.
Al Jazeera, in spite of being shunned by Western news media and made fun by many Westerners, sucks their backsides with no shame or pride while making fun of Indians. It is like an enslaved servant making fun of a poor person to feel good. It is cheap and stupid.
Can Indians, including Muslim Indians, hold Al Jazeera accountable please?
Thank you!
Al Jazeera is the Muslim version of NyT, Wpost et.al.
I’d imagine that it’d make no difference whether one is eaten by a ravenous wolf or a wretched hyena. Don’t you ?
That said, al Jazeera does have things which would be considered sacrilege on the US media.
Thank you for the nice article and nice discussions below on Tamilzh.
Side Note: One of the reasons Tamil survived and even flourished, unlike Sanskrit which became extinct, is because it kept its spoken language simple, easy to learn and was extremely flexible and adaptive even in its alphabets and grammar taking sounds and letters from other languages. Tamil even developed letters to accommodate sounds from Sanskrit (sha, ja, dha, ha, kra, tra, pra…), Arabic (fa or pha, bha…), etc. The great Chola kings (Shozha) were able to set up their kingdoms in many parts of the world and do business with many fiefdoms and kingdoms in South East Asia, islands of the Indian Ocean and even Middle East (as well as Africa) because of this language flexibility and openness. Sometimes it can be overdone where many English words are merely spelt in Tamil (or Thamizh) without developing a corresponding word or looking for one in history like Hindi does or Sanskrit does. For TV we say Doordarshan (not merely spell TV in Hindi and Sanskrit) but many Tamiliians merely write the word TV using Thamizh letters. That can be a problem.
But the politics of Thamizh language is both an asset as well as serious problem. Communities and their competencies, capabilities and contributions can get neglected or discriminated because of “political Thamizh”.
I had a bizarre experience where a group of faculty were correcting my enunciation of a worker’s name which was given to me by the worker himself directly as “Sharan”. They were asking me to pronounce his name as only “Charan”, when the worker himself introduced himself as “Sharan”. “Sharan” is his name, his family name and the name given to him at birth by his parents. What the faculty in Tamil Nadu university were doing, by changing the pronunciation and spelling of this adult man’s name, is a form of political domination and persecution. A Tamil worker’s name was being changed by his authority figures to fit the university or faculty political linguistic agenda. And some of the faculty were not even Tamilians. How arrogant and manipulative of them.
This is like me being asked to change my name to Mary or Smith just to please my American employers or their cultural beliefs or priorities., I could sue people like that in the US. In Tamil Nadu you accept your arrogant male faculties or leaders to literally change your name and your identity, Think of this.
This nonsense has to stop.
Two oe three points here merit some further consideraton.
1.That Sanskrit became extinct. This is not at all correct. The very name ‘Samskritam’ means that which is refined, perfected, used for higer purposes, etc.It indicates a diberate intent behind that kind of usage or adaptation. (Sams+krutam).It is not meant for spontaneous or light use. It was used by poets, philosophers and in learned circles. In this sense, it was like what we call King’s English. Culture is called Samskriti. We refer to a refined or cultured person with noble bearings as having ‘good samskaram’.The addition of prefix ‘sam’ indicates the deliberate infusion of a higher internt or purpose.
The special purpose reserved for Sanskrit was in connection with religion and philosophy.All the rites and rituals of Hindus are based on Sanskrit mantras. And these are used today as they were used may be 5000 years ago, without addition and alteration, of even a jot or tittle.And this is so all over the country. All our philosophies in India are based on Sanskrit originals, where they are not in Sanksrit themselves.. For instance, the Tamils claim ‘Saiva Siddhanta’ as their own. But these very words are Sanskrit! Their authority consists of some sutras which are Sanskrit based and derived or adapted from Sanskrit words.. There is no philosophy or theology in India which is not based on Sanskrit . Because of this association between the language and religion and philosophic usage, Sanskrit came to be called ‘Deva Basha.’. It is not that God speaks Sanskrit, as some foolish zealots would have it. God understands all languages, is the source of inspiration for all languages and in fact needs no language to understand anyone or anything . He knows the footfalls of even the ant. Devabasha simply means the language that is dedicated for use with divine purpose. Even today, it is Sanskrit mantras which are used and invoked in all religious functions whether in temples, homes or other places. When the language is thus fulfilling its intended purpose, how can we say it is extinct? it is quite another matter that it is not commonly spoken.
What was meant for common discourse was called ‘Prakrutam’ The name itself is significant. Prakrutam is derived from ‘Prakriti’ which means .’nature’.. so it is something evolving naturally, on its own. (A stone is prakriti. But when it is sculpted, it becomes samkrut!)It consists of many local dialects which developed on their own. Not a single one of them is standardised in speech or in writing. So, we see great natural variations and varieties of speach in Prakrutic languages, even including Tamizh.Buddha resorted to Pali, a Prakruti basha to communicate with common people, using common speech like ‘Dhamma’ for Dharma etc. But when it came to preservation of his teachings in pure form, and to ensure study and propagation, they had to resort to Sanskrit. Even their mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is Sanskrit! Sangam Sharanam Gachchami etc is Sanskrit! All mantras are of Sanskritic origin, though they are not relaated to classical Sanskrit. Even Tolkappiar recognised this: he used the very word Mantra in its Tamilised form -mantiram- and said it arose in the perfect speech of purified minds as commands and their meaning was not plain: NIRAI MOZHI MAANDAR AANAIYIR KILARNDA MARAI MOZHI TAANE MANDIRAM ENBA.
Nirai mozhi here indicates the perfect speech, consisting of all the four forms of Vak, vaikhari, etc. So, Sanskrit is well alive where it is supposed to be! It is not extinct.
Since you mentioned Tamizh speech in this context, I will share one more thought with you. When you read Sangam literature, you are struck by the majesty of the language, intensity of thought , the perfect diction and structure of words and their combinations. But it was not the speech of the common man even then!. Nor is it spoken now. Sangam Tamizh is not understood now without annotations and comments, and will not be followed if spoken. It has become a purely literary ornament . Some scholars tried to bring it to spoken level in the last century , but they failed. Today, Tamil scholars cannot even write Tamizh in Sangam style. So, in that sense, it is Sangam Tamizh that is really extinct in speech, and totally extinct in writing! A prakritic tongue will not stand too much of refinement. It is not a fault of the language but its feature.
2. The local officials do use force to make people change their names. Srinivasn is to be written as ‘Seenivasan’. Lakshmi is to be written as ‘ilatchumi’ Meenakshi is to be spelt as Meenatchi. More common is the effort to use ‘t’ where ‘D’ sound is intended.Damodaran becomes ‘Thamotharan’. Dilipan becomes Thileepan.Balaji becomes Balachi. When one needs a birth certificate or admission in school or college, what could one do?
But when you look at some of the things those people do, it is funny! Vinayaka becomes Vinayaga.They want Shanmukham to become Aarumugam. While Aaru is Tamil for six (shan in Sanskrit) Mukham is Sanskrit and by spelling it as Mugam they are making it meaningless; besides when they do not want ‘g’sound in Tamil- Govindan is to be written as Kovindan, they are freely using ‘g’ for ‘k’ in Tamil! Sankatahara (chaturthi) is written as ‘Sankatakara’ because they do not want the ‘h’ sound. But the substitution of ‘k’ for ‘h’ (kara for hara) makes the meaning exactly opposite.! instead of removing obstacles (hara), it creates (kara) obstacles! There is no logic behind such things but only prejudice (where numerology is not involved!) backed by power.. As the saying goes, the crocodile and the idiot will not leave the things they have caught ! (Mudalaiyum moorkhanum kondadu vidaa).
Dravidian supremacists are completely mad; how can a community give up so many sounds and words in a matter of a century! I wish old proper Tamil with Grantha was taught in surrounding states.
Yes. The situation is so comical, but for the sad practical consequences for our youngsters through schooling. I have long thought of ‘compensatory’ or ‘complementary’ or ‘corrective education’ to straighten out things, but the forces we have to face are mighty. All i could do was to take my own children off ‘govt. controlled’ Tamil in school and teach them privately.There was no problem with Marathi or Kannada later.
One more related aspect is pronunciation- the proper enunciation of sounds. The sound ‘ai’ or ‘aye’ is pronunced in two distinct ways, just as the sound ‘av’ or ‘au’- as in Avvaiyar, the sounds emanating from two different ways of swirling the tongue,and moving the mouth.. The govt has now removed this fine distinction!
There are words like “Manoharan’ which are written in Tamil as “Manokaran”. In the olden days, the teachers used to take care to tell us that the ‘ka’ should be pronounced in a gentle, light way (as we have so many words like that in English or French). But today, it is given up. Rama is written as ‘Iraman” , supposedly following Kamban, though it is to be pronounced as Raman only.But the school children now pronounce it as it is written, stressing the initial ‘i’. The combination of i and r makes it ‘ira’ in Tamil which means ‘not’!
What these misguided zealots are doing is not even in accordance with the old grammar. Tolkappiar did not ban the use of words of foreign origin (with rare exceptions) but gave rules as to how they could be adapted to Tamil usage.(But they do not accept the authority of Tolkappiar now!) That was in the olden days, when communication was limited. Today, with the communication revolution having reduced the world to a global village, languages cannot be insulated or isolated. English shows the way how a dialect has grown into an international language by borrowing liberally. It is said that about 40% of current English is of French origin (though England and France had had historical enmity!), the rest coming heavily from Greek, Latin, etc! When I was in Gujarat in the 70s, i observed how the doctors gave prescription slips in Gujarati, but transliterating the name of medicine in Gujarati letters, not translating! I also found some popular English books rendered in this way!
How nice it would be if some fresh wind could blow away the old cobwebs conceived by human stupidity and arrogance!
> The combination of i and r makes it ‘ira’ in Tamil which means ‘not’!
I’m sure that goes down well with the Dravidian Tamil + Christian nexus.
> cobwebs conceived by human stupidity and arrogance!
Arrogance and stupidity are wonderfully co-related aren’t they ?
> How nice it would be if some fresh wind could blow away the old cobwebs conceived by human stupidity and arrogance!
I don’t see how it can. I mean 400 years of British propaganda (our Govt is essentially a continuation) has led to so much anti-Brahminism that mention of Sanskrit throws liberals, Dravidianists, into throwing fits of rage, and more viciously so in TN.
How can democracy work when someone is hell-bent on throwing himself off the cliff ?
I don’t think amateurs have the ability to muster up enough propaganda, they don’t have funds, they don’t have Hindus behind them.
On the other hand, you have centralized well-funded (sometimes by the Govt.) entities dead set on seeing everything Dharmic destroyed.
Nanjappa ji
You have so much knowledge in these matters. I suggest Indiafacts to offer and Nanjappa ji to take it and write articles…. here on this site
Thank you for your comments. When I said “extinct” I meant “in speech or every day usage”,
Your input into how birth certificates and documents are being changed by “lingo fascists” in Tamil Nadu is informative and frightening. I am surprised there are no lawsuits.
How come no lawyer is on these websites working on some kind of a class action suit against institutions that actually changes people’s names for their own political agenda. It is a form of forgery or alteration of official documents without permission that could land these public officials and leaders in prison. Something to think about.
Thank you for your comments again. Very helpful.
The situation is a bit complicated. This problem is mostly faced by Brahmins.They usually have the names of Deities and their Sanskrit connection is unmistakable. But they do not have the fighting spirit. (It is well recognised in Sangam literature that brahmins are of the nature of cows-easily frightened = aavum aanirai paarppana makkalum- Purananooru) The victims may not even like to be identified. And they would not come together in such matters. Perhaps they are right: they could face further harrassment! Sometimes it is better to bend before a strong wind and survive, like the bamboo, than stand erect like a tree, to only fall! (They may feel that after all, they have their ‘sarmas’ for religious purposes and the vyavaharika name does not matter, unless it has numerological implications!)
Here the problem is in the courts also. In the lower courts, it is believed that decisions often depend upon the community of the litigant , and the lawyer, vis a vis the judge! So some lawyers say that in many cases, they do not charge the fees till the case is decided.
As for the higher courts, the details are public, where brahmin interests or issues are involved. When the Kanchi Sankaracharya was seeking bail, in the Madras High Court almost the entire lawyer community of Chennai opposed it, though it was not their business! The bail was granted by the Supreme Court. In the case involving the Chidambaram Nataraja temple, where the Brahmin Dikshitars are concerned, when Subramaniam Swamy appeared for them in the court, there were throwing of eggs , rotten tomatoes and other ugly scenes.
It is for the experts to say whether class action suits would succeed when the political atmosphere is hostile.When people fall for political correctness, even the victims may prefer to suffer in silence.
But such prejudices in respect of names operate in strange ways in strange places. The son of a friend was named Chandrasekhar. In the school the teacher said the name did not sound Tamilian.So the name was written as ‘Chandrasekharan’. Years passed.He joined a medical college in Karnataka and completed MBBS., In the final vivo voce, the interviewer saw his name and asked why the name was written as ‘Chandrasekharan’ when normally in Karnataka it was spelt as ‘Chndrashekhar or Chandrashekhara’. The boy told him how it came to be. ‘So, you are not from Karnataka? Come next year!”, he was told. The boy was not cleared! A small change somewhere and such strange effects! The power of the name.!
But i will relate my own case. I appeared for the interview for an engineering seat in June/July 1959. G.R.Damodaran was the chairman of the interview board.He took my SSLC book, looked at the first page and said: “oh are you a Brahmin?” He said it in Tamil:” Oh, nee oru paappaana?” The way he uttered the word ‘”paappaana” i knew the result! I said yes.Then he asked; “Then why is your name then like this?” By then, I knew what the result would be, grew bold and reckless and replied: “That you must ask those who named me”. And I came out! (( I did not think about it much then. But later when I reflected, i thought there were two possibilities: he might have thought that a Brahmin was trying to get on or ahead with a non-brahmin name! or he might have been genuinely surprised that a brahmin had such a name! In any case, the way he uttered that word conveyed what he had in mind!)
But even this was not without a history. i was named Nanjundeswaran.(after Nanjangud) In the Urmu Dhanalkshmi Vidyasala in Trichy where they first put me to school, the teacher felt the name was too long . So, my grandmother who was there then told him to write it as ‘Nanjundu’ as elders called me at home. Later when I came to live with my grandfather in another place, that teacher in the first standard – I still can recall his face and remember his name: Kaveri Gounder- told my grandfather : Sir, what is this name? So he changed it to the present oneI Does it sound like the first paragraph in Dickens’s novel ‘Great Expectations’ about Pip?
But when I was seeking marriage alliance for children, the first doubt they would have was about caste status, in view of the name! What would happen when Matrubhutam is written as Tayumanavan in Tamil! Who can say name is not important!
We talk of global village. But in India, every state is like the globe- a world unto itself!
In the light of all this, one smiles when Browning writes: God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world! We would rather believe with the celluloid poet: “Aasman pe hain khuda, aur zamin pe hum; aaj kal wo iss taraf dekhta hain kum!”
DMK has erased the school tamil books containing aavvaiyar’s poems, bharatiyar’s poems stating that it has hindtuva agenda very secretly, they even shadowed the thirukkural’s part Kamam (love) portion of thirukkural, because it is very vulgar and it would be against minorities.
Thanks Madhan for reporting this. Somebody told me about this and I was shocked that original works in Thamizh have been politically manipulated. This is what I call “political Thamizh”. No other language in India has this problem…and I believe the only other language that has “politicized language” is “certain kinds of Spanish” when dictatorships took over and tried to re-do literature and language for a political agenda. Even Chinese that underwent some change during Mao’s revolution is not that political. Thamizh is. the only language that has three language culture, tradition or history: 1) Pure or old Thamizh (which can includes words, sounds and meanings from other languages like Sanskrit) ; Spoken or practical Thamizh (which can be very different than written Thamizh and sometimes almost appear like another language “in enunciation, pronunciation, meaning and actual grammar”. And then there is political Thamizh which has many words, sounds, etc removed, added, redefined, etc…for political purposes.
I believe Thamizh and Spanish (as spoken in some countries) are the only two languages that have “political version of the language” shaped by history of dictatorship, colonialism or religious or cultural influence or genocide. And this kind of Thamizh is only few hundred years old.
Another Politically manipulated language is Urdu. Hindi has both sanskrit and persian words.
Islamist removed sanskrit & devnagri from Hindi to create Urdu.
Back in 80s, Urdu was simply Hindi – Sanskrit. Any one with elementary knowledge of Hindi can easily understand spoken Urdu; However, In 21st century, Islamist decided that persian is unislamic and arabic is islamic. Starting the arabization of Urdu.
Bollywood has certainly played a role in popularizing the Persianized/Arabized (read “bastardized”) Urdu tongue. They replace even the simplest Sanskritic words with Persian/Arab alternatives.
Thank you for this insight. Thinking back you are right.
It’s actually less than a 100 years old.
It is good to see an article in honour of Tamil. The issue of language is so charged with political overtones, especially in Tamil Nadu, that one feels hesitant to mention facts. Yet some facts must be mentioned.
1. Before the Dravidian parties took over, scholars had always reckoned its origin as divine, tracing it to Sage Agastya who came to the South as directed by Lord Siva. Tamil Saivite Saints like Appar talked of Sanskrit and Tamil as the two languages originating directly from lord Siva.
2Tamil was developed by groups of poets, sitting in congregation, called ‘Sangam’.. Lord Subrahmanya was also part of it at times. Any new poetic work had to be approved by the Sangam. There were three Sangams spanning long intervals. The first one was at ‘Kapatapuram”; (mentioned in Valmiki); the second was at ‘South Madurai’. Both these were located south of Kanyakumar but were submerged in sea. So, the last Sangam came to the present Madurai. The Pandya kings had always been associated with Sangam.
3Many poetic works of the Sangam period , long and short,are avilable in tact. It is these which truly reflect the antiquity, magnificence and majestry of the language. They are colleced in three compilations called ’10 songs’, ‘Group of 8’ and the ‘Collection of 18’,, though the last is not considered strictly or wholly of the Sangam age. Tirukkural belongs to this group. Dating is subject to disputes , both scholarly and other wise.
But some clues are available. For instance, the very first work in the very first collection is dedicated to Lord Subrahmanya (Muruga) who was the Deity of the hills and hilly regions, the highest part of land, and the first to emerge out of water! Such was their devotion to God. This poem describes how the people of different tribes and communities worshiped the Lord at different centres, especally six of them. Describing how Brahmins worshipped at Swamimalai. the poem says that they had ‘dedicated 48 years to ‘brahmachaya and learning’ The poet actually says “those who had dedicated 6x4x2 years on this path of discipline”. Now, the normal reckoning for brahmacharya and Vedic learning is up to 24 years, even according to Manu. So this must be a period even prior to that!
4.Agastya was supposed to have written a grammar for Tamil but that is extinct. The oldest grammar available now is that of Tholkappiar , a student of Agastya. In the olden days, his original name was taken as ‘Trunadhumagni’. But after the rise of Dravidian politics, this is obscured. This is a book not just covering linguistic grammar, but the very grammar of life!
5. Tirukkural belongs to the group of 18, which deals with Dharma, called in Tamil, Aram. In fact Tirukkural deals with Aram. Porul, Inbam, which are the exact Tamil rendering of Dharma, Artha and Kama. The only difference is that while in Sanskrit, kama stands for any desire, though predominantly associated with human sexualty in the popular mind, the Kural deals with just human sexuality. One important question here is why did Valluvar leave out Moksha (Called Veedu in Tamil) when he adopted the other 3 of the standrd 4 purusharthas? One of the celebrated ancient commentators , Parimelazhagar, answered this that while the human mind can think and talk of the other three, Moksha was beyond human thought and expression- (anirvachaniyam as we would say)it had to be realised by other means and not lalked about! ‘ and so Valluvar did not deal with it separately. But he does mention it in appropriate contexts.
6. It is necesary to remember that Tirukkural is a dharmasastra. It starts with praise of God and asks what is the use of learning if does not lead to the feet of God. It departs boldly from certain usages of ancient Tamils of the sangam age- such as meat eating, drinking and prostitution. The whole Kural is a reflection of our dharma sastras, without any contradiction anywhere: the panchayajna, the six duties of brahmins, the duties of the kings etc. In dealing with artha, he deals with both economic and political aspects, which are reflective of the respective provisions in Manu and Kautilya. These have led some scholars to say that the Kural belongs to a later age. Political interests today would like to paint the Kural as a secular ie non-religious, non- Hindu literature dealing with mundane matters. This is not so..Indian spirtuality never separated the two facets of life.
7. The Silappadhikaram (now written as Cilappadikaram) is a unique work, which was spedifically written to teach three truths through a tale:
i. For a ruler who falls from Dharma, Dharma itself will become (cause) death.
ii. A true Pativrata will be honoured by the sages.
iii.One’s fate or destiny will pursue him, no matter what!
The work is classified as ‘kappiam’ ie kavya. it is rather encyclopaedic, mirroring the poltical social economic and religious life of the people and all the three kings of the Tamil land. Its coverage of music and other arts is one of the main sources of our knowledge of those aspects of ancient Tamil life.
8. In ancient and Classical times, there was no prejudice or hatred against Sanskrit or any other language. Tolkappiam in fact prescribes rules as to how those words from other languages are to be adapted into Tamill usage. But the ancient poets, including Tolkappiar and Tiruvalluvar used direct Sanskrit words where necessary. In the first Kural itself, he uses three Sanskrit words.
9. Many important words in Tamil are adaptations from Sanskrit , which most Tamilians do not know eg.
ilakkanam= grammar= Lakshana ( hence Lakshmana becomes Ilakkuvan in Kamban)
ilakkiyam = literature= Lakshya
Kaappiam = epic = kavya
deivam = deity, god, etc = Deva.
vulagam= world = Lokam
vulogam = metal =Loham
The very word Sangam is Sanskrt!
etc.
10. But Tamil also has stunning direct originals for important Sanskrit words.
eg. Veda is called Marai in Tamil It means literally what is hidden. That is because the Vedic truths are not apparent, and are to be reflected upon, intuited, and learned through proper authorities.
Veda is called Shruti in Sanskrit, because it is to be heard, not written. This is stunningly called ” Ezhudhaak kilavi” ie that which is not written. It is also called ‘vottu’ in Tamil, because it is recited in a particlar way, which is called “Vodudal”.There are innumerable such examples
11. Sri Aurobindo who studeid the Veda intensely on his own, and also Tamil has said that the knowledge of very ancient Tamil words ( of very great antiquity) enabled him to understand certain Vedic words better!
Our languages are gifts of God. Let us share them without hatred, as we would and should all Nature’s bounties.
Mr. Nanjappa, thank you for your indepth analysis, and the gaps in what is being reproduced: both in the article above and in the historical interpretations (that as you correctly point out, which has had its historical bias and political bias).
This is why Thamizh language poses such a problem when it comes to analysis and development…because as I often say there are three Thamizh: there is the pure correct old Thamizh (which itself has many schools and thoughts linguistically…including words and sounds borrowed from Sanskrit, Paali, etc.) ; there is the adapted, changed and practical Thamizh (which is linked to the former) and is connected to speech, including modern spoken Thamizh…and then thirdly there is the “political Thamizh” where words have been removed, redefined and re-organized for “certain political purposes”.
The latter, political Thamizh, requires an all new investigation, reorganization and discussion.
Kindly do publish your piece after some editing…it is very useful.
Dr.MS
Thanks, madam.
Your idea of three Tamils is interesting! Traditionally, Tamil is divided into 3: Iyial (literature, prose,poetry) isai (music) and Natakam (Sanskrit word , again) so some call it koothu ie drama. In the 40s and 50s, when the Dravidian platform orators were attacking Hnduism, brahmins, gods, temples, etc, they resorted to very cheap, violent and vulgar language. So one of the great Tamil scholars living then, but who was also a strong Saivite, besides being a nationalist, and trade union leader,Thiru V. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar (affectionately called Tiru.Vi.Ka.) used to say that these orators had invented a fourth Tamil which he called :”VASAI TAMIL” ie the Tamil for abuse!
I am myopic and these fypefaces are small.. So, typos occur, in spite of care. I crave indulgence.
Yes, you are right. I remember my father jokingly telling me when we were young and were asking about the difference between Tamil and English, “that Tamil had many more insult words than English”. We did not understand what he meant but later we did.
There is an entire dictionary of words in Thamizh intended to offend “women, certain cultures, castes, personalities, people and even other languages”. Surprisingly there were no insult words, or not that many, for “Christians, Muslims or Anglos”. This may explain why the independence movement was not linguistically powerful in Thamizh Nadu except for people like Kamraaj, Rajaji…who were excellent speakers.
Even in Chinese there were insult words for colonialists, Anglo trouble makers and Anglo settlers. There were referred to in Chinese as “Foreign devils, men with horns, men with hidden nails, baldies (referring to shaved head of nuns…), “death in dark” (referring to priests in black).
In Thamizh Nadu there were more insults for Brahmins and their own women (Tamil or Dravida) than for Anglo missionaries, Anglo colonizers and brutal or judgmental church men.
Strange. Someone must write about this.
Thank you again for your contribution.
I actually find parts of Thirukkural to be very “sexist, judgmental and extremely preachy”. It is moralizing from a group of patriarchal men who are not very different than Middle Eastern Abrahamic doctrines. Everything old is not gold, and old also has to evolve….which does not happen when education is affected, and colonialism disrupts social evolution and cultural development.
While some parts of Thirukkural provides useful insights into people’s psychology, and like Aesop’s fables offers morals on giving up anger, jealousy, gossip, etc, Thirukkural does not include much from modern psychology. And like those texts that get interpreted by foreign invaders or occupiers or visitors the English translation of Thirukkural is actually very Catholic…because its first and most well known translation is by a Catholic colonialist.
The most unkind words for Seetha is in Kambhan Ramayan (a Thamizh author) than in Tulisidas Ramayan. Somebody said to me years ago, “There is a tendency towards dictatorship and autocracy within some of the Dravidian culture and Dravidian movements, that precedes DMK…all the way to the 1500s wiyh the arrival of Missionaries, that people like DMK’s Karuna Nidhi used shrewdly for his benefit. While claiming Northerners or people of certain caste were hegemonic (which maybe partly true…but that is true for almost all patriarchal cultures) Thamizh itself has been bastardized by Abrahamic religions, particularly Christianity, for more than five hundred years…which is why segments of Thamizh quoted here are not evolved.
Thirukural and catholic spirit!
LOL Thirukkural is so Uncatholic and rational
There are claims by Dravidian supremacists that Kural was “given” to the brown natives by St. Thomas the Apostol.
The moronic theories were apparently presented in a conference supported by Hillary Clinton.
Rajiv Malhotra’s books talks about this and much more.
True. Actually the research was done by a Tamil rice plate Christian and the work was published by the International Institute of Tamil Studies, Chennai. This guy was heavily criticized by Tamil scholars and so the institute hastily withdrew the publication. Ishwar Sharan has done pioneering work on the myth of St.Thomas. Equating Tirukkural, Dharmic philosophy at large, to Catholicism is unthinkable on all fronts.
May be he is using the term catholic for ‘universal’.