Showing posts with label Tamil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tamil. Show all posts

War Crime

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Posted by Jagadeesh VP | Posted in ,

There are a lot of discussing going on in Indian Parliament and in media (obviously).

I just listened to the discussion.
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/un-vote-against-sri-lanka-indias-moral-dilemma/226187

Two peoples who in that discussion are Subramanya Swamy and G Parthasarathy are supporting the investigation council created by Sri Lankan government LLRC [Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission]. Not only them, the people who care about the investments in Sri Lanka done by Indian Govt and people who want to suppress the rights of Tamils both in India and in Sri Lanka supports this LLRC.

In this video in particular they both made a point. If we approve the US's bill in UN HRC, tomorrow it might turn towards India [problems going on in Kashmir & North-East]. Meena replied to this question perfectly "If there is human rights violation happened in those places that should be investigated". Does India has the gut to do that? I don't think so..

To make their stands clear they keep on saying if there is a war the loss of civilians life is inevitable. Accroding to the reports, death count given by LLRC is eight thousand; UN report says it is nearly fifty thousand; the other human rights organizations and NGO's says its more than hundred thousand.

Why the figures is so diverged. The count given by LLRC is not even close to fact.
Then how come we can believe that committee?

To defend the Sri Lankan side many says LTTE used people as shield. Even UN accepts that. Then why you are blaming Sri Lankan government alone?

For the sake of this argument, Though the LTTE used people as shield, that is an terrorist group. Even Sri Lankan government accepts it. In that case a government is there to protect the people. Basically they should have contacted UN or other NGOs to save the people. But the Sri Lankan government also acted like a Terrorist group and killed even more civilians.

Rajapaksha and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa have to be summoned in this case.
(Ctd..)

George Hart : About classical language

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Posted by Jagadeesh VP | Posted in

Sirs:

I read with dismay that Kannada is to be recognized as a classical language.  Like French, English, and German, Kannada is a rich and worthy language.  But India has only two true indigenous classical languages -- Sanskrit and Tamil, each of which is considerably older than the other Indian languages and has an independent literary tradition.  Tamil, not known as well as it should be in the rest of India, has an early literature that is entirely independent of Sanskrit, both in its literary forms and its vocabulary.  This is not true of Kannada, whose earliest writings are deeply indebted to and imitative of Sanskrit.  The earliest work in the language is Kaviraajamaarga, whose title and content are entirely based on Sanskrit.  Kannada does not satisfy two of the criteria listed by the Government of India for a classical language.  First, it is not 1500 years old.  The fact that a Kannada dialect may have possibly influenced some Tamil form hardly means it has texts 1500 years old.  Nor is it possible to claim that its literary tradition is original.  Unlike that of Tamil, which is genuinely original, the Kannada tradition follows Sanskrit quite faithfully.  It is not original by any stretch of the imagination.  A comparison of Kavirajamarga with the Tolkappiyam would make this point perfectly clear.  The Kannada scholars feel they have achieved a victory, no doubt, but in reality all they have accomplished is to foist on the world and on Kannada speakers themselves a myth.  To ignore the true richness of one's language and to base one's appreciation of it on a falsehood does no one any good.  The study of language and literature in India is highly political -- Kannada is hardly the only language that suffers from this situation.

Sincerely,
George Hart,
Professor of Tamil,
University of California,
Berkeley, CA, USA






Sirs:

I read with dismay that Telugu will be recognized as a classical language.  Like French, English, and German, Telugu is a rich and worthy language.  But India has only two true indigenous classical languages -- Sanskrit and Tamil, each of which is considerably older than the other Indian languages and has an independent literary tradition.  Tamil, not known as well as it should be in the rest of India, has an early literature that is entirely independent of Sanskrit, both in its literary forms and its vocabulary.  This is not true of Telugu, whose earliest writings are deeply indebted to and imitative of Sanskrit.  The same can be said of Kannada.  The rush to label languages as classical that are nothing of the sort can do nothing but harm those languages.  I could claim English, my own native language, as classical (with at least as much justification as the Telugu scholars have for claiming their language is classical), but I would only succeed in detracting attention from the true worth of the language while propagating a myth.  Telugu and Kannada are not, by any rational criterion, classical languages.  That its scholars insist on what is patently false seems bizarre, for it is utterly unwarranted by the great literary traditions that they study.  This rush to mythologize language suggests to me that the study of literature in India is still immature.  No English or French scholar in the West would question the classical status of Greek or rush to give the same status to their own language.  Rather, scholars study Greek in order to better understand their own literatures. If only scholars of modern Indian languages had such an unbiased view!  If Telugu and Kannada scholars would study Tamil, they would find their understanding of their own traditions multiplied many times.  The same is true of Tamil scholars, who often eschew the study of Sanskrit and of other Indian languages.  The study of Sanskrit will broaden the understanding of Tamil just as the study of Tamil will benefit Sanskrit scholars.  I find myself at a loss to understand why scholars of Indian languages must be so parochial.  To claim one's language is something it is not, or to fail to study other languages and traditions that throw light on one's own, are, to my mind, marks of a scholarly culture that is still undeveloped and immature.

Sincerely,
George Hart,
Professor of Tamil,
University of California,
Berkeley, CA, USA

UNLOCKING a 4,000-year-old language

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Posted by Jagadeesh VP | Posted in ,

Rajesh Rao tells how he and others like Asko Parpola decoded the
Indus Scripts.


Science in Classical Tamil

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Posted by Jagadeesh VP | Posted in , ,

அறிவியல் தமிழ், தமிழில் அறிவியல்




Dr.T S Subbaraman holds a doctorate in Physics and was a former Head of the Physics department at Anna University, Chennai. This is one side of him. His specialization may be Physics, but his fervor in his heart is inscribed with Tamil. He always had the passion to write dramas, articles and stories in Tamil. He is also an expert in writing poems in English. Dr. Subbaraman has acted in Tamil plays from the age of nine

Archaeological and literary sources of Kongu Region

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Posted by Jagadeesh VP | Posted in

*During the classical period (i.e. Sangam Age) Kongu was under the rule of the Chēra kings and many vēļir chieftains. The society of those times is well represented in the Patiṟṟuppattu and other akam and puṟam anthologies. During that period this region was technologically well advanced and was visited by the traders of the East and West. Evidence suggests that this region was occupied right from Iron Age (1000 BC).

*The Potiṉi hill (Paḻaṉi), the abode of the Tamil God Murukaṉ,is in this region.

*Ayirai, another famous hill of the Chēras mentioned in Patiṟṟuppattu(30,79) as the “Ayirai where dwells the fearful deity” is located in Kongu region.

*Kumaṇaṉ who donated his head for the cause of benevolence and Pēkaṉ, one among the seven great philanthropists of Sangam Age who ruled over the Potiṉi hills of the Kongu region were eulogised by famous Sangam poets Perun͂cittiraṉār and Peruntalai-c-Ca̅ttaṉa̅r.

*Kāmūr (present Kangayam) ruled by Kaḻuvuḷ is mentioned in Akanāṉūṟu and Patiṟṟuppattu. It is situated in Kongu region.

*The Kutiraimalai region ruled by Pittaṅkoṟṟaṉ alluded in Puṟananūṟu(168-172) is situated in Kongu region.

*Poruntil Iḷaṅkīraṉa̅r , a famous Sangam poet is located near Paḻani in Kongu region. Recent excavation conducted by Pondicherry Central University brought out many evidences to attest the flourishing activities of this region in those days. During the excavation, about 2 kgs., of paddy of Sangam Age has been recovered. Large quantities of beads of precious and semi precious stones and glass beads, have been brought out from the excavation, besides evidence for glass bead industry in the habitation mound.

*The Industrial and Trade centre of Koṭumaṇam (present Kodumanal in Erode District), recorded in the Patiṟṟuppattu belongs to the Kongu region. This place was excavated by Tamil University during 1980s. The megalithic burials have yielded many semi precious stone beads, iron implements, brass objects, and potteries with graffiti marks. The excavations in the habitation area yielded evidences for the existence of metal furnaces. Besides, many pottery inscriptions of old Tamil characters (Tamil-Brahmi) dated from the third century B.C. have been obtained.

*Pavaṇanti Aṭikaḷ who wrote the grammar work Naṉṉūl, lived in present Sīṉa̅napuram (Jainapuram) in Kongu region and Aṭiyārkunalla̅r the famous commentator of the Cilappatika̅ram lived in Nirambai which is also situated in Kongu region. The famous Jain work Peruṅkatai was written by the poet Koṅguvēḷ who hailed from Kongu region. The Jain temple of Vijayamangalam indicates the spread of Jainism in Kongu region also.

*In Kongu region there are many megalithic burials of Iron Age found in the form of stone circles and stone heaps. This region was a nodal region for the trade between the East coast ports and West coast ports of Ancient Tamiḻakam. A large number of Roman coins were recovered around Veḷḷalūr, Chāvaṭippāḷaiym, and Pollachi region. In fact, only Kongu region yielded the bulk of Roman coins found in the whole of India. This attests to the fact that Kongu region played an important role in Maritime Trade with Roman world through Palghat Pass in the Sangam Age.

*The famous Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions found at Pukaļūr, near Karūr, corroborate the Sangam evidence relating to the Chēra dynasty. A third century inscription on musical notes is found at Aṟachalūr, which is in Kongu region.

*The excavations in the sites near Coimbatore namely Pērūr and Poluvāmpaṭṭi have brought to light many stone, glass, and shell beads, iron implements, terracotta objects, ear rings, the potteries with the graffiti marks and so on.

*A Punch-marked coin found in Sūlūr near Coimbatore attests to the trade connection between North India and Tamilnadu during the Sangam Age. Distinguished scholar Iravatham Mahadevan is of the view that a symbol found on an old pot at Sūlūr is similar to an Indus Script symbol.

*More than 250 Iron Age and Sangam Age sites have been so far identified in the Kongu region (Old Coimbatore District) by various scholars during their field work.

*It is generally agreed that Karūr Van͂ci (Karūr), the capital of Chēras was situated on the bank of Āṉporunai (present Amarāvati River), which is in the Kongu area.

*The famous port Musiṟi, alluded to in Sangam Literature situated on the West coast of Ancient Tamiḻakam, belonged to the Chēra Kings. Only recently, this port has been discovered and excavated by the Kerala Council for Historical Research. The findings would go to prove the maritime activity of Musiṟi, as noted in Akana̅ṉūṟu (149), which mentions that the ships (from Rome) laden with gold visited the port and returned with pepper. In this excavation, Roman potsherds, gold objects, Chēra coins, Brick structures, Boat wharf and wooden boat of 2200 years old have been unearthed. It may be remembered that this port was the important emporium for exporting the semi precious stone beads of the Kongu area.

*The above evidence suggests the importance of hosting World Classical Tamil Conference at Coimbatore the seat of Kongu region.

Courtesy: Naveen Kumar

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