Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thirukural in Tiruvalluvar era script



Considering the antiquity of Thirukural, I have always wondered how the original palm leaf manuscript of Tirukural written by Tiruvalluvar was preserved and handed  down to successive generations. It is widely believed Kural was written during the period 500 - 200 BCE .The oldest script used in India at that time was Brahmi. Obviously it would have been in the earliest Tamil Brahmi script.The present day Brahmic or Indic scripts have come from the ancient Brahmi scripts.In that case who transcribed the original Tamil Brahmi script kural to Present day Tamil Indic ?.The regional variations of all Indian language scripts from the Brahmi scripts happened between 3rd century BCE to 14th century AD. But earliest ancient Tamil epigraphic evidences prove Tamil existed even from 5th century BCE. But surprisingly I could not decipher the following Tamil book printed as late as 1781 (Ref wikipedia).

Book published in 1781
 It is very obvious only some experts would have transcribed the original Thirukural manuscripts.Who did it first time ? Why is there no mention about the transcriber's work anywhere ?While I tried to dig out some information on this and other very old palm leaf Tamil manuscripts from the web pages,I stumbled upon some useful informations. In this post I have shared the information I have gathered.

Madras Christian college professors Gift Siromani,S.Govindarajan and M.Chandrasekharan jointly conducted some research on this.Based on the evolution of the Tamil script over the years,they prepared a retroactive script of the Thirvalluvar era and prepared Thirukural manuscripts in Tamil Brahmi .They tried to recreate how Thirukural couplets would have appeared during the various stages of the evolution of the Tamil scripts.Given below are two samples recreated by them.

BC 250 to 250 AD it would have appeared like this .The couplets relate to ஊடல் உவகை

AD 735 to 795 AD it would have appeared like the above image .The couplets relate to உழவு


At the world Classical Tamil conference held at Coimbatore at 2010 a palm leaf manuscript of Thirukural was displayed .

Thirukural manuscript displayed at Coimbatore conference

This is a copied palm leaf manuscript, a mere replication .In ancient days when a palm leaf is damaged or likely to be disfigured ,their contents would be copied with a stylus on  new palm leaves.They copied them to be preserved for the posterity .Writing on palm leaves was a skilled job and was done by professionals in olden days.In olden days without  any preserving techniques ,the life of a palm leaf was only aroud 100 to 150 years. Now with the latest techniques their shelf life has improved to 500 years. By stringent measures the life could be extended by another century.If not properly preserved palm leaves could be damaged and decayed by variations in Rh, temperature,light, insects, constant handling and bad storage.Now a days special preservatives are used and palm leaves are stored under air condition at low temperature.

But many scholars took great pains to collect palm leaf manuscripts and preserve them.The Saraswati Mahal Library in Thanjavur, the Oriental Manuscripts Library and the Adyar Library at Chennai, have good collections of manuscripts. Theosophical Society Library, Adyar, has done commendable work in this respect. Sarabhoji and other rulers of Thanjavur took great trouble to collect manuscripts for the Saraswati Mahal library.In 2003 the Government of India started an autonomous body called  National Mission for Manuscripts (NAMAMI) to survey, locate and conserve Indian manuscripts.The idea was  to create a national resource base for manuscripts, for enhancing their access, awareness and use for educational purposes.NAMAMI's main field of work is digitisation of palm leaf manuscripts for the benefit of posterity.The Mission has rare Rigveda manuscripts preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.The Orissa state museum is  the largest repository in the world with around 50,000 palm leaf manuscripts.
U.V.Swaminatha Iyer Library

U.V.Swaminatha Iyer collected umpteen number of palm leaf manuscripts from all parts of Tamil Nadu and are stored in Dr. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer Library, at Besant Nagar in Chennai.The palm leaf manuscripts are classified as follows in this library.Transcribed and published manuscripts ,transcribed but unpublished and there is a third category where the palm leaf manuscripts are yet to be transcribed. It is reported many of the manuscripts relating to Ayurveda and Sidha medicines are yet to be transcribed.The library has published few books from the transcribed manuscripts.18 purana's are among the preserved rare books in this library .61 palm leaf manuscripts relating to Sangam literature are available in this library.This is the only library in world to have palm leaf manuscripts relating to Silapthikaram and Thirukural.


UNESCO has a project to preserve the palm leaf manuscripts of Asia called "Memory of Asia".A recent Survey says there are hundred thousand unpublished palm leaf manuscripts of traditional Indian knowledge in Tamil.The existing palm leaf manuscripts in Tamil cover diverse fields such as the following


  1. Indigenous medicine- including  Siddha Ayurveda; and  Yunani systems

  2. Human anatomy (Varmam, surgery)

  3. Veterinary science (Vakatam)

  4. Agriculture (Kuvam, Karanul)

  5.Traditional art and architecture - including Temple art Temple architecture   Shipbuilding  Carpentry   Metalworking  Sculpture

  6.Traditional musicology

  7.Techniques of writing

  8.Astrology & astronomy

  9.Yoga

 10.Animal husbandry

 11.Martial arts

 12.Physiognomy (Samudria Laksanam)


(Ref http://xlweb.com/heritage/asian/palmleaf.htm )


These palm leaf manuscripts are remnants of history .They contain valuable traditional knowledge in manifold fields,more particularly in the field of medicine.Even today these traditional therapy gives long lasting non surgical relief to many ailments.Early transcription and publication of these rare manuscripts would be a great boon to the world.




34 comments:

  1. Very interesting and informative article. After reading your post I too have certain unanswered questions.One palm leaf manuscript is said to be available in U.V.Swaminatha Iyer librarry Chennai as mentioned in your post. Is this the one which was displayed at the Chemmozhi conference at Coimbatore in 2010 ?.Surely this could be one of the replicated palm leaf manuscripts made over the years . As suggested by you the original one penned by Thiruvalluvar might have been in a different script . Over the years there has been evolution in the script . Does the available palm leaf reflect the script prevailed at the time of writing or does it reflect the original script of Thiruvalluvar ? Is there any information on this ? I agree with you that information on the first time transcriber of the original script could throw some light on this.

    I understand, in olden days before the advent of paper and printing technology, even elderly people proficient in palm leaf writting used to etch familial informations,important events in their family,village history,history of local temples,festivals,vedas,slogas etc in palm leaves.It is believed it was a treasure trove.All these invaluable treasures were not preserved for posterity .Many of those documentary evidences were lost or destroyed.Tamil nadu still has umpteen number of dilapidated historical temples,history of which are not known. Some of them are renovated but a vast number of them are still in ruins.It is good to know some initiatives have been to made to preserve these rare documents by the government and UNESCO.

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  2. Very Informative.

    Now if Thirukural was written BC or 3AD, what scripts were used. If it was Brahmi, then is Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil?
    May be the Kural was translated later in >500AD?
    THere seems to be a mismatch in the time.

    Sandilyan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thiruvalluvar was surely a Tamil .Thirukural in Tamil testifies that .Brahmi was a script used in those days.But the language was Tamil.you may please go through the link given here to know more about Tamil Brahmi script
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Outshine

    I have lots of questions unanswered.

    Some researchers find that all of the Indian languages scripts (south & north) derived from Brahmi scripts. This may not have happened over 100 years, but several centuries. As we know, Veeramaamunivar developed the oharam, ohaaram, eharam, ehaaram. Nowhere the Brahmi scripts identify that it belongs to a family called “Tamil”. The question is; does it belong to “Malayalam”? Telugu? If we look at the pronunciation when written in modern day Tamil, it sounds like Malayalam.
    Further, Iraivatham Mahadevan states that Brahmi could not have developed from Indus Valley (IV) Script. IV disappeared around 1500BC.

    All directs to conclude that Kural was written in olden Brahmi script. However, there is no evidence of Valluvar’s history. It may have been destroyed by the elites because Valluvar belongs to a lower caste as said in most pages. Therefore, could it be possible that Valluvar started the Kural, but could not finish, and later Sangam pulavar, in the BC or AD era completed the Kural. As eharam, ehaaram was only developed in the 17th century; Kural could have been translated from Brahmi to Tamil script later. Question is when?

    What is the connection between “Elam” in Persia and Sumerian? It is said that Sumerian and Elam are the same people. Ref: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/Elamite/elam_history.htm.

    History states that Parthians from Persia penetrated into present day Tamil Nadu and became “Pallavars”. The Cholas were “Kalappirar”. Pallavars spoke Prakrit (Sanskrit), while Cholas spoke “Pali”.

    Today we boast that Raja raja Cholan is a Tamil, while the truth is he is a Northerner identified as “Marathi”.

    Please research into the shape of the Thanjavur Kopuram and Thiruvannamalai Kopuram. Thanjavur Kopuram has similarity to Northern Kopurams.

    My thoughts are that (i) the language Tamil, may not have been identified as “Tamil, but something else, because there is no proof to say that Brahmi belongs to Tamil, but belongs to a wider spectrum of races. May be a link language like the present day’s English, (ii) Kural was composed by a group of people (poets), (iii) Tamil Nadu was never ruled by Tamils, The current script was developed in the 12th century. (iv) Brahmi has close relationship with Greek, Latin etc.

    Please give me a quotation to state that the word Tamil is stated in Brahmi inscriptions anywhere, in any centuries.

    Today Tamil’s are confused that even Veerapandian is a Tamil, He is not a Tamil, but a Telugu.

    I only want to ID the truth please.

    Regards

    Sandilyan

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  5. In this context please refer: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~asharan/bihar/indus/indus~3.htm

    Regards

    Sandilyan

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  6. Mr.Sandilyan
    I have tried to answer all your queries to the best of my knowledge.

    1. It is true Brahmi scripts were used by many language families.They include Indo-European,Dravidan Tibeto-Burman,Mongolic,Austroasiatic,Austronesian and Thai.The Brahmic or Indic script as we call it now has come from the Brahmi script of India.(Note the difference between Brahmi and Brahmic).Recent epigraphic finds Show that Tamil Brahmi existed 6th century BCE or even earlier (Ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmic_scripts.)This shows Tamil Brahmi script
    existed even before Brahmi.Earliest writing system was invented by Sumerians.Now it is believed and agreed by most archaeologists world over,the Sumerian language is nothing but Archaic Tamil (Tamil of the First Sangam).Refer my post' Tamil's hoary past and the Sumerian connections'.


    2.You have said there are no mentions about Tamil Brahmi anywhere .Refer the following link
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi

    3.You have said if written in modern Tamil,Brahmi sounds like Malayalam .This is no wonder .Because Malayalam was a dialect of Tamil till the 9th century .Malayalam originated from 'chenthamizh ' in 6th century and was considered as a dialect of Tamil till 9th century.Malayalam became a full fledged language of its own
    only from 12th century.

    4.Refer the link given below.Iravadam Mahadevan is delighted about the Tamil Brahmi script found at Marungur near Vadalur in Tamilnadu.(Published in The Hindu in 2010)


    5.You have said "All directs to conclude that Kural was written in olden Brahmi script.".Precisely,this is what I have written in my post 'Thirukural in Tiruvalluvar era script'. You are only agreeing with what I have said.Tirukural would have been originaly written in Tamil Brahmi.Please don't get confused
    between the script and the language.We know all language scripts have undergone changes over the years.If you trace the the evolution of all language scripts you will find Brahmi was the pan Indian script for many languages.Brahmi was an Indo dravidan script.Many of the earliest languages used the Brahmi scripts to write.Archeological evidences say Tamil was written in Brahmi during the Indus civilisation times.In other words the script was Brahmi,but the language was Tamil.This is akin to what some people do in Malaysia and Singapore where I believe Malayalam is written in Arabi by Malayali Muslims living there.Even Devanagiri is used by many Indian languages .Script is one but languages are different.

    6.It is true,accurate informations about Thiruvalluvar are not available.But your theory Thirukuarl was written by a group of poets appears highly hypothetical to me.I have not heard or read such a theory anywhere.


    continued

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  7. 7.Sumer was an urban civilization in South Mesopotamia ,present day Iraq.The language was Sumerian.The latest theory by some archaeologists is Sumerian is Archaic Tamil .Elam was also an ancient civilization near present day southwest Iran and what is now known as Persia .The language was Elamite. Both languages Sumerian and Elamite are extinct today .Asko Parpola,another noted archaeologist feels "Early Harappans were in trade relations with the Proto-Elamites, and were to a limited extent influenced by them. The Indus people spoke an early Dravidian language, which was not Elamite,although David McAlpin (1981) has argued that Elamite is distantly related to the Dravidian languages" .

    8.Raja Raja cholan was the greatest Tamil Chola emperor .I have not read anywhere that Raja Raja Cholan was a Marathi .The confusion might have come because Thanjavur was also ruled by Maratha kings much later.

    9.Regarding the shape of the Thanajavur big temple gopuram,I don't buy your theory it appears like a North Indian temple.Normally South Indian temples have multiple finials atop the gopuram . Being a great connoisseur of art and architecture,Raja raja cholan wanted a single monolith finial atop the gopuram .To facilitate holding a 82 tonne monolith finial atop the gopuram,the gopuram has been tapered at the apex.So it appears as though it is a north Indian temple. But look at he base of the
    temple tower.It is very much like any other south Indian temple.To facilitate holding the massive monolithic finial naturally the apex had to be tapered.This is considered as an engineering marvel.

    10.Everyone knows Kattabomman belonged to the Telugu speaking Kamabalathu Naicker community.Kattabommans's ancestors migrated from AP during the regime of Vijayanagar King.

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  8. Outshine,

    Thank you for your quite informative reply. Thank you so much. I quite agree on Malayalam. It was a dialect of the Tamil language and scripts were rationalized by Ezhuththachchan.

    While I quite aware of the language and scripts: My question of Tamil. While Brahmi was used by most languages to be written, is there any proof reference to say that the language was "TAMIL" spoken in the IV and the region. The word Tamil; when was this invented. WE are aware that Tamil language has undergone significant changes to its language and scripts over the last 100 years.

    Wikipedia reference is not the absolute reference that could be considered with authority.

    I will provide you with reference of Rajaraja cholan in due course.

    I have read a book of ancient civilisation, which refers that Pallavars are actually Parthains from Parthia, and Cholas are Kalappirar who spoke Pali. Your opinion on this?

    Is there a possibility that we could exchange our email address please. I can provide my email address here, but please do not publish it. Once you agree then I could provide. We could exchange information.

    Sandilyan

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  9. Outshine

    1. We all know that Tamil Nadu is composed of various races, however they speak Tamil with different accent. Some are like dialects. Where is the concentration of True Tamils. Is it Madurai?

    SriLanka Tamils talk of Tamil Elam. Do you think that the "Elam" of the persia gulf may have links with this. Are the then Elamites black or fair?

    In Thanjavur pillars; what scripts are being used and what Language are they?

    Sometimes I get frustrated when people state:

    "Kal thonri Man thonra kaalathil tyhonriyathu thamizh". I think this is crap. This is where I am getting an opinion that people are being misled by some Tamils.

    AT one time I read a news written by a Tamil from SriLanka that Angkor temple was built by a Tamil king. I had to refer them to the truth.


    Regards

    Sandilyan

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1.There can not be a global accent .It varies from region to region .Accents are always region specific.Most people have an accent of their own.One can not say for sure which accent is perfect or right .By and large we learn accents from peers
    and associates.Popular person in a region is generally emulated by others in the region and thus becomes the accent or dialect of that region.Recent advances in technologies like TV has wider reach and inforaml colloquial region specific usages have become popular and gets wider acceptance . For instance many Madurai slangs like 'alapparai,aattai,mappu,lanthu kundakka mandakka etc have been made popular by comedian Vadivelu.This is no longer a region specific accent.It is now widely used by many.Earlier particular usages were restricted to a specific region.Linguists had a goegraphical boundary for such usages and were known as isogloss.The wider reach of the visual media has made the liguistic dialect boundaries meaningless.Nowadays regional accents are not despised.People have started to enjoy these variations .Visual medium now hires people with different accents to entertain wide spectrum of viewers.One can find a character with rural Tirunelveli accent in most Tamil films.Similarly Characters with Coimbatore accent is also very popular in Tamil films.People relish the different accent flavours.At times Sri Lankan Tamil accent is also shown in Tamil films.Even today there are people who tune Radio ceylon to listen to the Sri Lankan Tamil accent.There are popular Sri Lankan Tamil
    anchors too.Some times a dialect may become a language.For instance Malayalam was a dialect of Tamil,but eventually became a language of its own.Similarly French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian were all developed from different dialects of Latin.

    2.I don't know if there was any connection between the Elamites and the Elam of Sri Lanka. To me it appears imaginative and most unlikey.But experts say Elamites spoke a Dravidian language. It is believed the Sumers,Elamites and Dravidians were all dark in complexion.

    continued

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  11. 3.Though the Big temple in Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja cholan,subsequently the temple came under the rule of many different dynasties.Chola's 9th – 13th AD,Pandya's till the early part of 14th century Nayaka's til the mid 17th century and Maratha's till later half of 18th century controlled the temple.Hnce one can find tamil inscriptions belonging to the various periods from the 11th century
    and sanksirt inscriptions put up during the period of Marathas.This is because small additions to the temple were made by all four dynasties.

    4.Regardng Angkor Wat,it is reported there are large amount of Tamil-Brahmi
    inscription in the walls of angkor wat temple in Cambodia.The temple was built
    by Suriyavarman II.No one has disputed this claim so far.Suriyavarman is believed
    to be a pllava king .Like the Thanjavur Big temple ,Angkor wat is also made of
    exclusive granite stones,a technique perfected only by Tamil sculptures at that time.
    Mahabalipuram and Thanjavur big temple are two great examples.The Khmer empire
    kings had Tamil names like the Pallava kings with the suffix varman.There were kings
    bearing the name Jayavarman,Suryavarman and Udaya adithy varman.It is also reported
    the Khemer king was related to the Kadaram (Present Kedah in Malaysia) empire.There is a mention about this in Silapathikaram,Tamil novel.

    Dr.Suresh who has done extensive research in Cambodia says "Angkor Wat shares many
    common features with both Pallava and Chola temples. Like the Vaikunta Perumal
    Temple (Kanchi) and the Sundara Varada Perumal Temple (Uttaramerur) of the
    Pallavas".He also elaborates "When Kulottunga I, the Chola king, was constructing
    or enlarging the famous Shiva Temple at Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu), Suryavarman II,
    the king of Cambodia and the builder of Angkor Wat, offered to send, all the way
    from Cambodia, a block of stone as a gift for the new construction. Kulottunga
    gratefully accepted the unusual gift, installed it in the temple and engraved an
    inscription informing that the stone was from Cambodia.".

    Dr.Suresh says "Damodara Pandita, a Brahmin scholar from Madhyadesa
    (Karnataka-Orissa region) in India was the chief priest of Suryavarman II,
    the builder of the Angkor Wat. It is believed that the king built this temple
    as per the guidelines provided by the Indian priest. "

    Excerpts from Dr.Suresh

    "Nandivarman Pallavamalla, one of the later Pallava rulers, is believed to have
    lived in Cambodia for some years before he travelled to Kanchi to ascend the
    Pallava throne. The most enduring contribution of the Pallavas to Cambodia is
    the cult of Ashtabhuja Vishnu (eight-armed Vishnu)."

    " This huge majestic monolithic image, recently restored and now kept at the
    entrance of Angkor Wat, is almost identical, in stylistic features, to the image
    within the sanctum of the Ashtabhuja Perumal Temple of Kanchi. "

    Please refer the link given below published in The Hindu

    http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/03/29/stories/2009032950240800.htm

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  12. This article itself is a treasure trove of information just like those palm leaf manuscripts.
    Well researched article and you have answered the doubts and arguments clearly and informatively.
    Hats off to you :-)

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  13. “Historian KR Subramanian states the Pallavas were originally not a Tamil power, they were a Telugu power; and Telugu Sources know of a Trilochana Pallava.

    All the early Pallava royal inscriptions are either in Prakrit or in Sanskrit language, considered the official languages of the dynasty while the official script was Pallava grantha. Similarly, inscriptions found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka State are in Prakrit and not in Telugu or Kannada

    Assuming the correctness of the identification of the Pallavas with the pauranic Pahlavas, and of the Pahlavas with the Parthians, there are good historical grounds for supposing that Parthian colonies established themselves in the Deccan at a very early period.[23] From the time of the separation of Bactria from Syria in the middle of the 3rd century BCE, the tendency of the Bactrians, forced by the pressure of their western and northern neighbours, was to extend themselves southwards into India”. Ref: Wikipedia

    All possible writings direct Pallavars are descendents of Parthians. We are not talking ten years, but several centuries would have taken for the transformation. Their names generally ends up with …..varman. Kopurams built by these foreigners have a near square base, not rectangle like Thiruvannamalai.

    Sandilyan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr.Sandilyan

      I was pre occupied with some other work .Hence the delay in replying to your comment .It is true there are many theories about the origin of pallava's.But I feel theories about parthians or the pahalva connections with pallava dynasty are far fetched .Some historians state pallavas were initially a Telugu power.But there are others like P.T.Srinivasa Iyengar who state Pallava's were Tamil and belonged to the Tondaiman clan .Rajasimhan was a pallava king.He was a great dramatist and poet .The most ancient Tamil dance forms are koodiyattam and chakiyar koothu . These dance forms are still in vogue in Kerala. Some dances in these dance forms use Rajasimhan's Tamil plays .It is also true earliest Pallava inscriptions were in prakrit and Sanskrit. Earliest Pallava copper plates were in Prakrit (AD 250 -575). From 575 AD to 730 AD the pallava copper plates were in Sanskrit . But later Pallava inscriptions between AD 731 -890 were in Tamil .But it must be remembered pallava's developed a script based on Brahmi and that it had similarities with ancient Grantha and Tamil scripts. The ASI annual report on epigraphy 1903-04 observed and called Tiruchi cave Temple inscriptions of King Mahendra as "Pallava Tamil script" . (Ref :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_alphabet). "Tamil Brahmi script was prevalent in Tamil Nadu from 3rd century BCE onwards and continued with variations upto 4th century of Common Era. During this time, the practice of writing Sanskrit letters in Tamil Nadu, commonly known as Grantha script was popularised by the Pallavas. This continued for nearly two centuries i.e. from 4th – 6th century. The Tamil script evolved from the Grantha script around 7th century CE." (Reference -http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins2.htm)


      The pallava's were preceded by Kalabra's rule.They promoted Budhism and Jainism and Tamil was pushed to backstage . But during Pallava's rule the Nayanmar's and Azhwars thrived and flourished . Hence the Kalabra period is known as 'dark period'.The rock cut caves in Maamandur hills were believed to be shrines during the pallava regime.These cave temples have 2nd century Tamil brahmi inscriptions .Narasimhavarman I was also known by the Tamil name Mamallan . Incidentally there are only 9 Indian kings who have never lost a battle to their foes . Out of the nine kings 6 were Tamil kings .Narasimhavarman was one among the great six Tamil Kings.Others were Rajaraja Cholan I,Rajendra Cholan,Karikala Cholan,Kochengannan and Cheran Senguttavan. The three northern kings were Ajathasathru,Chandragupta Mayura and Samudra Gupta .

      Whatever it is, it must be admitted there is no consensus among historians about the origin of Pallava's .Mystery shrouds about their origin .But they have made significant contributions to the development of Tamil culture and language . The earliest Bakthi literature in India was in Tamil . Bakthi literature in other Indian languages emerged nearly 4 centuries later. " The power of ancient bakthi poetry in Tamil set in motion what might well be considered a pan-Indian efflorescence. " ( Reference -Centre for cultural resources and training under the aegis of Ministry of Culture,Government of India ).


      Delete
    2. Outshine

      I wish to quote reference to your articles. How can I contact you for reference permission pl.

      My email address: nrnmind@gmail.com

      Could you please. contact me.

      Sandilyan

      Delete
    3. Dear Sandlyan

      I have replied to your message dated yesterday . .The same holds good for this also

      Delete
  14. Thanks for the article & the interesting discussion. I am not knowledgeable to add any points, but very much liked being an audience.

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  15. great article and discussion, long live classical tamil!

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  16. i read this entire discussion only today, 19th june 2014. its almost a year since the last discussion took place here. i wish such exchange of knowledge continues. gr 8. tks . i look forward to more.

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  17. Government should fund and encourage more on research on Tamil Language and history and put an end to such doubts and discrepancies once n for all...

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  18. A well researched post. And the conversations between Sandilyan and outshine is enlightening. I am glad that this post was in English. Fortunately or unfortunately English has almost become a global medium for communication. Hence this post would reach even people who are not of Dravidian or Indian origin.

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  19. Came in accidentally, and am very glad that I did so. Excellent discussion. We do not obtain such information in Malaysia. Thanks to all contributors.

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  20. Really interesting and informative. Discussion between Sandilyan and Outshine shed more light on linguistic development in South India.
    -Ibn Elias Natamkar, Ambur

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  21. I want to know when was the earliest record of ThirukkuRaL, and who compiled it first. Where can find earliest available manuscripts of ThirukkuRaL? What is the age of available ThirukkuRaL manuscript?
    -Ibn Elias Natamkar, Ambur

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  22. Outshine

    I would like to contact you personally. Could I have your email address please. Please reply to nrnmind@gmail.com

    Sandilyan

    ReplyDelete
  23. Dear Sandilyan
    You can post your comments. Presently I have some professional commitments and currently occupied. However when time permits If required will try to respond

    ReplyDelete
  24. Outshine
    I would like to make reference to your articles and research material please. I am writing a book in Tamil. Once you agree that you will give me your approval, I will detail them. It is on Thirukural and alphabets. My name is Kanthar Balanathan. புனைபெயர் : சாண்டில்யன்

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dear Sandilyan.

    I am glad you are authoring a book on Thirukural and alphabets . You can surely make reference to my articles. I wish you all the best for your endeavor. I hope you would inform me when the book is published and where it is available.

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  26. Dear Outshine

    Thank you for the approval. I will inform you the contents of reference I make on my book please. Thank you again

    Regards

    Sandilyan

    ReplyDelete
  27. Great Article and very informative Discussion..Hats off..!! Anand

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  28. To my instinct parthian might be a chola king named Parthiban and pahlavas are rulers mentioned as pallavas in India

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  29. Dear S Kalyanasundar,

    I just came across this while searching tamil letters. I happy to read your explanations and exchange of information with Sandilyan. Its very interesting. I understand you have mentioned you couldn't decipher 1781 tamil book image you have shown. This is alomost our modern Tamil letters. Its easy to read if you remember meyezhuthu will be without dot earlier days. Thats all. I have reproduced it as below:

    யேசு முன்னிற்க

    சிறுபிள்ளைகளுக்கு ஞானஸ்னானங் கொடுக்கிற வரதமானம்

    இந்த பிள்ளை வீட்டிலே ஞானஸ்னானம் பெற்றதுண்டோ பிற:யில்லை.

    அதுக்கு பேரேன்ன பிற

    கிருஸ்த்தியான்

    நீ அறச்செய்சிஷட்ட சிலுவையின் அடையாளத்தை ஏர்த்துக்கொள். உன் நெத்தியிலேயும் உன் மார்பிலேயும்

    நாங்களெல்லோரும் பிறாத்தித்துக் கொள்ளகடவோம். சறுவத்துக்கும் வல்ல அனாதி பார்பானே, நம்முடைய நாதா யேசு கிறிஸ்த்துவின் பிதாவே.

    Thanks,
    Sethu

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    Replies
    1. Mr.Sethu Ramalingam
      Thanks for your input.
      Kalyanasundar

      Delete