Old Dravidian
In the historical past Proto-Dravidian
was spoken throughout India. When the Turanians and the Aryans came to India
through the Khyber and the Bolan Passes respectively, and mingled with the
local population of the North, the North Indian languages of Proto-Dravidian
origin changed to a great extent. As a consequence Praakrit and Paali emerged
as the languages of the masses in the northern part of India. Despite the
commingling of local and foreign ethnic elements, a section of Proto-Dravidians
maintained their ethnic and cultural identity in some isolated areas, spoke
corrupt forms of Proto-Dravidian languages and these have survived, to this
day, as living examples of ancient Dravidian languages. Languages such as
Kolami, Parji, Naiki, Gondi, Ku, Kuvi, Konda, Malta, Oroan, Gadba, Khurukh,
and Brahui are examples of Dravidian languages prevalent in the North. Today
Proto-Dravidian speakers are increasingly mingling with other linguistic groups
and learning their languages. Therefore, their numerical strength is on the
decline. People living in the Rajmahal mountains in Bengal and in the areas
adjacent to Chota Nagpur are good examples of the intermingling. A section
of people living in Baluchistan speak Brahui, which has many linguistic features
similar to the Dravidian languages spoken in South India. Scholars are surprised
today to note many linguistic similarities between Tamil and Brahui, especially
in numerals, personal pronouns, syntax and in other linguistic features. The
Indian Census report of 1911 classified Brahui as a language belonging to
the Dravidian family. It was then spoken by about 170, 000 people, although
this number over the years dwindled to a couple of thousands. Whatever be
their numerical strength now, they are proof of the fact that the Dravidians
in some age of the historical past were spread in the region between Baluchistan
and Bengal and spoke the Proto-Dravidian idiom.
North Indian Languages
Since the Dravidians lived throughout the Indian subcontinent at some historical
past, certain syntactical affinities are noticeable even today between the
South and a large number of North Indian languages.
When Praakrit and Paali became popular in the North, the Proto-Dravidian language
lost its ground there, and confined itself entirely to the South. Even in
South India it did not remain as one single language for a long time. Dialectical
differences arose partly due to the political division of the Tamil country
into three distinct Tamil kingdoms and partly due to the natural barriers
created by rivers and mountains. The absence of proper land communication
among the three Tamil kingdoms also accentuated this process of dialectal
differences. As a result the Dravidian language spoken by the people. who
lived in the regions north and south of the Tirupati mountains, varied to
such an extent as to become two independent languages, Tamil and Telugu. The
language spoken in the region of Mysore came to be known as Kannada. Malayalam
emerged as yet another distinct language in Kerala. All these far-reaching
changes occurred at different periods of time in the history of the Dravidian
languages. Among these four languages, it is only the Tamil language which
has a long literary tradition.
The term Dravidian, which refers
to the language of South India, is of a later origin. Originally it was derived
from the word tamil /tamiz> . This word in course of time changed into
dravida after undergoing a series of changes like tamiza, tramiza, tramiTa,
trapida and travida. At one time the languages spoken in the regions of Karnataka,
Kongu and Malabar were respectively known as Karunaattut-tamil, Tulunattut-tamil
and Malainattut-tamil. Today however, these regional languages are classified
under the blanket term "Dravidian family of languages".
South Indian Languages
Many common linguistic features are still discernible among these Dravidian
languages. Some five thousand words are common to these languages. Many grammatical
forms are common. The overwhelming influence of Sanskrit scholars and the
indiscriminate borrowing of Sanskrit words resulted in the emergence of Kannada
and Telugu as distinct languages from Tamil some fifteen hundred years ago.
The influence of Sanskrit on Malayalam language came to be felt only about
eight centuries ago, and therefore, the areas of difference between Tamil
and Malayalam are not many. Tamil was the language of bureaucracy, of literati
and of culture for several centuries in Kerala. In fact, fifteen centuries
ago the rulers of Kerala were all Tamils. Up to the tenth century the Pandya
kings ruled Kerala with royal titles such as 'Perumaankal and 'Perumaankanar'.
It was a Tamil poet from Trivandrum who in fact presided over the academy
of Tamil scholars, when they met to evaluate the famous Tamil grammatical
work Tolkappiyam. From the third century 13.C. to the first century A.D.,
many poets from Kerala composed poems in Tamil and their compositions are
included in Tamil anthologies such as Akananaru and Purananaru. All the one
hundred poems in the anthology PatiRRuppattuextol the greatness of the kings
of the Kerala region. The author of the famous Tamil epic Cilappatikaram was
a poet from Kerala. The shrine in honor of KaNNaki, the heroine of Cilappatikaram,
was built at Tiruvancikkulam in Kerala. Among the Saiva and Vaisnava composers,
CEramAn PerumAl Nayanaar and KulacEkara Alvaar respectively, belong to the
Kerala region. AiyanEritanaar, the author of the tenth century grammatical
work PuRapporul VeNpaamaalai, hailed from Kerala. Many scholars and pundits
from Kerala contributed much to the Tamil language and literature and the
historical evidence shows that the region now known as the State of Kerala
was once an integral part of Tamil Nadu at some period of time. Because of
these reasons there is greater affinity between Tamil and Malayalam than between
Tamil and Kannada or Telugu.
Contact with Foreign Countries
Tamil occupies a distinctive position among the Dravidian languages owing
to its geographical expansion, for it has spread beyond the frontiers of India.
Apart from being the language of forty million people in Tamil Nadu it is
the spoken and written language of several millions of Tamils living in Ceylon,
Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Fiji Islands and Mauritius.
That the Tamils were well advanced in sea-borne and inland trade is evident
both from Tamil literary sources as also from the accounts of foreign travellers.*
Even as early as the tenth century B.C., articles of trade such as peacock
feathers, elephant tusks and spices intended for King Solomon were sent in
ships belonging to the Tamil country. Some words in Hebrew, Greek and English
point to the existence of trade between Tamil Nadu and the countries around
the Mediterranean region. Classical Hebrew terms like tuki and ahalat are
close to the Tamil words tokai and akil respectively. Although English words
like 'sandalwood' and 'rice' are borrowed from the Greek language, their origin
is in fact Tamil. Likewise the Greek words for ginger and pepper also owe
their origin to Tamil. Sea-borne trade flourished between the Tamil country
and the Roman Empire during the period of Emperor Augustus. This fact is borne
out by numerous coins issued during his reign, which were unearthed by archaeologists
in the Tamil country. Iron age finds in Philippines also point to the existence
of trade between Tamil Nadu and the Philippine Islands during the ninth and
tenth centuries B.C. This apart, Tamil traders frequented the shores of Burma,
Malaya and China with their wares and bartered them for Chinese silk and sugar.
The Tamil word ciini for sugar indicates its origin. In Tamil classical works,
Chinese silk is referred to as ciinattupattu.
--
* For an interesting account of the ancient Tamils refer, P.T. Srinivasa Iyengar,
History of the Tamil from the Earliest Times to 600 A.D., Madras, 1929, pp.
36-43.; and A.L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, London, 1954, p. 62. --
Foreigners who toured India gave
an account of the flourishing trade between the Tamil regions of India and
other countries. Periplus and Pliny mention that since articles from Tamil
Nadu such as pearls, elephant tusks and muslin were bartered for gold, and
that the trade balance was more in favour of the Tamils, the Emperor Vespasian
viewed especially the drain of gold as a serious threat to his country's economy
and took the extreme step of terminating the two-way trade between Rome and
the Tamil country. References to the ports of trade in the Tamil country such
as ToNTi, MuciRi, KoRkai and Kaavirippumpattinam are also found in the writings
of Periplus. Ptolemy writing in A.D. 150 speaks about Ceraas, Cholaas and
Paandyas as the rulers of Tamil Nadu. He also mentions the important trading
centres like Karur, NagappaTTinam and Pondicherry in his travel notes. Ali
these references to the trading activities of the Tamils in foreign writings
correlate to those found in the early Tamil classics.
The business acumen of the Tamils
is shown in the special terms used by them to refer even to the minutest fractions
in calculation. To cite some examples, the term immi referred to the fraction
of 1/320 x 1/7. And one-seventh of this fraction was termed as anu. One-eleventh
of an anu was known as mummi and one ninth of a mummi was termed kuNam.
The renowned Sanskrit epics the
Raamayanaa and the Mahaabhaarata also speak about the Tamil country and in
particular the importance of Madurai as the capital of the Paandyaa kings.
Megasthenes, who came to India during the period of Chandragupta Maurya, refers
to the Paandya country and its polity. The edicts of the famous Indian Emperor
Asoka also mention that during his rule the Tamil kings in the far south of
India enjoyed political independence.
Antiquity of Tamil Grammatical
Works
Among the ancient grammatical works available, the Tolkappiyam was the earliest
and it was written around the third century B.C. There are over two hundred
and fifty references in Tolkaappiyam which, provide substantial evidence of
the existence of many classical and grammatical works in Tamil prior to Tolkaappiyam
itself. It classifies Tamil words into four categories, iyarcol, tiricol,
ticaiccol, and vatacol. Iyarcol refers to the words in common use, while tiricol
refers to the words used specifically in poetry. Regional words are known
as ticaiccol. Words borrowed from Sanskrit are called vatacol. Certain specific
rules were stipulated in borrowing words from Sanskrit. The borrowed words
were to strictly conform to the Tamil phonetic system and to be written in
the Tamil script. All these indicate the sound grammatical basis on which
the Tamil language has evolved over the years.
Besides, Tolkaappiyam also classifies the Tamil language into centamil and
kotuntamil. The former refers to the classical Tamil used exclusively by literati
in their works and the latter refers to the colloquial Tamil, spoken by the
people. This shows that even in those distant days differences had grown to
such an extent as to enable the Tamil grammarians to classify the language
into written and spoken.
Tamil Scripts
The earlier Tamil inscriptions were written in braahmi, grantha and vaTTezuttu
scripts.* Inscriptions after the seventh century A.D. contain Tamil characters
similar to the one now in vogue. This prompted some scholars to argue that
vatteluttu and Tamil scripts originated from braahmi scripts. This view has
no solid base, for one can see a copious description of Tamil scripts in Tolkaappiyam,
which belongs to third century B.C. It is obvious therefore, that Tamil language
had a distinct script of its own even at that early period. In fact vaTTezuttu
is none other than the old Tamil script. Even the southern braahmi was a corrupt
form of vaTTezuttu . Distinct differences exist between the southern and the
northern braahmi script, for the southern one had its genesis in vaTTezuttu
. Much before brahmi scripts could become popular the Tamils possessed a script
of their own which they put to use in their commercial transactions and in
their writings.
---
* According to Professor M. Varadarajan, vaTTezuttu was nothing but the scripts
inscribed on stones. They had been known as veTTezuttu or letters inscribed
on stones. But in course of time and by usage it was transformed into vaTTezuttu
. For an in-depth study of Tamil scripts refer, M. Varadarajan. Moli Varalaaru
(The History of Tamil Language), Madras, 1954, pp. 425~37. The view of a historian
on the same subject is as follows: "What the vaTTezuttu is and how it
came into being and how it was practiced we cannot say definitely. But we
can say almost with some definiteness that it represents a very ancient cursive
alphabet, perhaps the primitive South Indian alphabet which existed long,
long before the inscriptions of Asoka." V.R.R. Dikshitar, Pre-Historic
South India, Madras, 1951, p. 218. Yet for another view of the origins of
Tamil scripts refer, John R. Marr, "The Early Dravidians" in A.L.
Basham (ed.), A Cultural History of India, London. 1975, pp. 32-34.
--
The Tamii characters which are in use today also can be deemed to have originated
from vatteluttu. There are twelve vowels in Tamil consisting of five short
vowels, a, i, u, e, and o («, –, ¯, ±, ´); their
corresponding five long vowels, aa, ii, uu, ee and oo (, ®, °, 2,
µ) and two letters ai and au (3, ´Ç) for the prevention
of hiatus. There are eighteen consonants made up of six surds k. c, T, t,
p, and R (ì, î, ð, ò, ô, ü) and their corresponding
six sonants g, j, N, n, m, n2 (í, ï, ñ, ó, õ,
ý) and six medials y, r, l, v, z and L ( ö, ÷, ø,
ù, ú, û) . The two short vowels e and o (±, ´)
which are not in Devanagari are essential to Tamil and other languages of
the Dravidian family. There is a world of difference in meaning between the
words eTu and ETu (±Î, 2Î); koTu and kOTu (|¸¡Î,
§¸¡Î), teL and tEL (|*û, §*û ); as
well as koL and kOl (|¸¡û, §¸¡ø).
It is therefore, needless to emphasise the importance of short and long vowels
like e and ee/E (±, 2); as well as o and O (´, µ ) in Tamil.
There are no aspirated consonants like gha or cha in Tamil. Likewise the letter
h ( Ý ) is also absent in Tamil. But a corresponding leter k (·
), known as aytam is used to soften the surds in Tamil. The trilled consonant
R (ü) is quite different from r (÷).The consonant n (ý
) has a nasal sound and it is different from other dentals. The consonant
l ( ø ) is equally essential like that of the consonant L ( û
). These two different l's exist both in Telugu and in Kannada. The consonant
z (ú) is found only in Tamil and Malayalam. It had existed in old Kannada
but not now. The two vowels ru ( Õ ) and lu ( Ö), which are there
in Devanagari, are not there in Tarr.ih The short-nature u (¯) and i
( – ) sounds are in Tamil, but there are no letters to indicate them.
If the letters ka, ca, Ta, ta,
pa (¸, º, *, *, À) appear at the beginning of a word, after
hard vowel consonants. and after doubling they will be pronounced like surds.
In other places they will be pronounced like sonants. Although there are no
distinct letters for surds and sonants in Tamil, the vowel consonants themselves
are pronounced like surds and sonants depending on the place in which they
appear. Therefore the one Tamil consonant ka (k) is pronounced like gha depending
upon its placement in a word. Likewise other hard vowel consonants ta (* ),
ca (º), Ta (*) and pa (À) are pronounced differently like ( dha,
cha, tha, bha) respectively according to the place where they appear in a
word. There are no sibilants like sa, sha, Sa in Tamil.
There are distinct letters in
Tamil to indicate numerals and fractions. There are evidences to show that
the present roman numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 originated from Tamil.
Classification and Formation
of Words
There are four kinds of words in Tamil. Among them the root words or uriccol
which were used in ancient poems are not popular now. If we exclude them then
there exist only three types of words namely nouns, verbs and itaiccol or
particles. The nouns indicate animate and inanimate categories of things,
gender, number and person. tiNai is classified into uyartiNai (nouns denoting
personal class of beings, including men, gods and demons) and akRiNai (inferior
class of beings whether animate, inanimate, or neuter). Higher categories
of animate beings like human beings fall under uyortiNai. Others, both animate
and inanimate come under the category of akriNai. There are three genders
in uyartiNai: masculine, feminine and neuter. Palar paal or neuter plural
gender indicates many in number. Masculine and feminine genders in Tamil indicate
only singular number. AkRiNai is classified into onRan paal (singular of the
impersonal class) and palvin pal (plural of the impersonal class).
Again, number is classified into one and many. Unlike Sanskrit there is no
dual number in Tamil. There are three 'persons' in Tamil, namely, first person,
second person and third person. Case inflexions are many in Tamil and their
indicators form as suffixes in words.
Distinction between animate and
inanimate things, and masculine and feminine genders are usually made according
to the meaning of words.
Verbs are classified into finite and infinite verbs. Most of the finite verbs
are formed with suffixes which indicates this animate or inanimate quality,
as also gender. The gender is not distinguished both in abstract nouns and
in relative participles. Both verbs and nouns are formed from verbal roots.
But very few verbs are formed from noun roots.
Particles have no meaning of their own but acquire meaning when added to other
words and help to differentiate their meanings too. Even meaningless words
are regarded as particles.
Most of the words in Tamil are agglutinative in character, i.e. case indicators,
time and gender markers are affixed to root words. As a result, the formation
of words become clear. Even the words in the classical literature are agglutinative
in character. There is no distinction between the roots that were. used in
ancient classics and those which are now in vogue. The root word which was
used to mean 'food' in ancient classics was una. The one used in medieval
period was either uN or uNTi. Whereas the modern word for food is uNavu. In
all these words whether ancient, mediaeval or modern, the root word un is
clear. Only the suffixes differ. Therefore, the Tamil of ancient poetry too
begins to seem familiar after a while if one reads the ancient classical poetry
for a time. This is the reason why the Tamils of this century find little
difficulty in understanding the Cankam classics. It also accounts for the
continuity that exists in Tamil literary growth. One finds it used in the
poems of the hymnodists and Kampan, composed in the seventh century and the
twelfth century respectively.
There is little difference in
syntax between ancient and modern Tamil. Although over a period of time word
forms have changed the formation of syntax remains intact in all the Dravidian
languages. In this respect there exist similarity between the languages of
the South and the North, though they fall under a different category known
as Indo-European languages. The fact that syntax changes very little, while
other aspects of a language do, is brought out in the similarity one finds
in the formation of syntax between the Dravidian languages of the South and
the languages of the North of India. This explains why syntactical differences
exist between the languages of North India on the one hand and Sanskrit, Greek
and Latin on the other; and why there exists similarity between north and
south Indian languages. This unity in syntactical formation becomes obvious
if one analyses all the four major Dravidian languages of South India. If
one analyses the continuos growth of Tamil language the perceivable truth
is that there is little change in the formation of syntax both in the classical
Tamil and the Tamil used in modern short stories.
Unnecessary Polemics
Among the spoken languages of India, Tamil achieved perfection even during
the pre-historic period. Literary growth in Tamil took place at the same time
when there was similar growth in Sanskrit. Literary works came to be written
only at a later period in all other Indian languages. Therefore there was
considerable antiquity for Tamil language and literature. Besides, the ancient
classical Tamil literature originated and blossomed from the folk song and
poetry of the Tamil country. The forms of such poetry were also not borrowed
from any other language, but were culled from the folk poetry and songs that
was in vogue among the people of Tamil Nadu. The existence of such combination
of antiquity and individuality in Tamil literature, was forgotten by later
day Sanskrit scholars. As such they not merely denied the greatness due to
the Tamil language but began to look upon it on the assumption that it borrowed
immensely from Sanskrit from its very inception. Therefore, Sanskritists indulged
in unwanted polemics by arguing that Tamil had no intrinsic merit of its own
because it borrowed heavily from Sanskrit. To establish this assumption, Caminata
Desikar, a Sanskrit scholar and author of a grammatical work entitled ilakkaNakkottu
compared the alphabets of Sanskrit and Tamil and found that all, expect five
alphabets, the two short vowels e (±) and o (´) and three consonants
Ra, na and za (È, É, Æ ) are common to both the languages.
Therefore he argued that all the characters common to the two languages essentially
belonged to Sanskrit and the five rare symbols which are absent in Sanskrit
belonged specifically to Tamil. Based on his findings he wrote an unusual
verse in which he posed insolently a question whether Tamil with only five
letters of its own could ever be called a language.
Intelligent persons will be ashamed
To call it a language
That possesses only five letters.*
--
* Arumuka Navalar (ed.), llakkanakkottu (Madras). p. 9, lines 27-28.
--
This scurrilous verse only indicates the irrational attitude of the Sanskrit
scholars of the seventeenth century.
Such unreasonable attitude became obvious in analysing the origin of words
that were common to Sanskrit and Tamil. Basic words like niir (water) and
miin (fish) which had been in use from time immemorial in Tamil language was
interpreted by Sanskrit scholars as having originated from Sanskrit roots.
They refused to consider the possibility that Sanskrit would have borrowed
these common words from Tamil, the most ancient language of the region, and
even propagated that most of the words in Tamil had been borrowed from Sanskrit.
The Tamil scholars were perplexed by such unfounded claims. However with the
arrival of linguists like Caldwell from Europe, and with the publication of
books in English refuting the claims of Sanskritists, Tamil scholars gained
confidence in the intrinsic value of Tamil language. Despite this, the biased
views held by Sanskritists held sway ir the world of letters even up to this
century until linguists in England like Burrow falsified these erroneous claims
by their researches. This controversy persisted even in analysing the names
of places in the Tamil region. After translating certain names of places from
Tamil to Sanskrit, the Sanskrit scholars argued that they were borrowed from
Sanskrit. One classic example was Vriddhachalam which is a literal translation
of the Tamil place called MutukunRam. Likewise, several names of deities were
translated into Sanskrit. The devotional hymns of the Nayanmars in fact mentioned
these names in their pure Tamil form. Instances are not wanting that while
translating names of places from Tamil into Sanskrit, the Sanskrit scholars
failed to comprehend the real meaning of the criginal Tamil words and translated
them erroneously. Without knowing the actuai meaning of the name of a town
ArkkaTu (Arcot), the Sanskrit scholars translated it Sataranyam, which literally
means six forests, whereas the Tamil word arkkaTu literally means a forest
of fig trees. To perpetuate these Sanskritised names, they wrote stories as
well. Despite their efforts Sanskritised names failed to gain currency among
the people. The Sanskrit scholars, for example, tried to Sanskritise the name
of the river Paalaaru as Ksra Nati. It could not be perpetuated. Thus the
Sanskrit scholars unnecessarily sowed the seeds of dissension in the Tamii
country.
Tanit-Tamil Iyakkam (Pure
Tamil Movement)
Sanskrit scholars attempted to Sanskritise Tamil several centuries ago by
the liberal use of Sanskrit words. They argued that such a liberal mixture
enhanced the beauty of the Tamil language and compared the hybrid language
to an ornament made out of equal number of pearls and corals. They called
the hybrid style as manippravala style and attempted to popularize it in the
country. Some of the Jain and Vaisnava Sanskrit scholars employed that style
using grantha scripts Their attempts, however, failed because of the naturally
rich vocabulary and literary wealth of the Tamil language.
Sanskrit scholars, however, refused to acknowledge the real merit of Tamil
literary works. Although they were born in the Tamil country, spoke the Tamil
language, and lived as Tamilians, they seldom read such important works as
the TEvaram and the Tiruvaacakam. They treated lighty those who attained scholarship
only in Tamil. Even the hymns of Nayanmars, which found a pride of place in
remple rituals during the Chola period, lost their importance at a later stage.
They went to the extent of denigrating Tamil as the language of the mortal
and extolling Sanskrit as the language of gods. If the Sanskritists found
laudable ideas in Tamil works, they tried to belittle their merit saying that
those were borrowed ideas from Sanskrit works. They tried even to underrate
the importance of Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural by running it down as a compendium
of ideas translated from Sanskrit works. Likewise they considered that Tolkaappiyam,
the first grammatical work by Tolkappiyar was based on Sanskrit. To substantiate
their view, they assigned the work of Tolkappiyar to Tiranatumakkini who was
a scholar in Sanskrit. The RaamayaNaa, Mahaabhaarata, PuraaNas and other philosophical
works were no doubt borrowed from Sanskrit but the Sanskrit scholars tried
to camouflage the very existence of great literary works in Tamil like the
Cankam classics, didactic and devotional literature. But their efforts were
halted only when scholars like V.K. Curiyanaraayana Sastriar and Maraimalaiyatikal
focussed the attention of the people on the literary treasures of the Tamil
language.
Two Different Types of
Tamil Style
Though the efforts to Sanskritise Tamil no longer exist, the repercussions
of those earlier efforts are still felt in society. One effect, of course,
was the virulent opposition to the use of Sanskrit words in Tamil, and this
opposition has not subsided even today. At a time when all merit and greatness
were attributed to Sanskrit alone, Tamil scholars like cUriyanarayana Sastriar
and CuvAmi Vetaacalam preferred to use only the Tamil equivalents of their
Sanskrit names, Paritimarkalainjar and MaRaimalaiyaTikal respectively. Despite
their stance, their earlier Tamil prose works contained many words of Sanskrit
origin. When the Sanskritists claimed that Tamil could not exist without Sanskrit,
the two Tamil scholars addressed themselves to the task of writing Tamil without
borrowing from Sanskrit. Curiyanarayana Sastriyar, the pioneer of this style
of writing died at a very young age. His contemporary, MaTaimalaiyaTikal lived
longer and crystallized this attitude into a movement in 1916. Since then
the movement has been popularly known as the Tanit-Tamil lyakkam or the Pure
Tamil Movement among the Tamil scholars. Its impact still persists among the
Tamils. Those who have interest in m ai n tai n ing the purity of Tamil language
even now prefer to substitute a Tamil equivalent for Sanskrit names given
by their parents. With vengeance they totally reject borrowines from Sanskrit.
Instead they prefer to borrow from English. The Tamil scholars consider it
their duty to write in chaste Tamil free from Sanskrit and have been writing
like this since the inception of the Pure Tamil Movement. The virulence of
the movement was due to the past pride of the Sanskritists in their knowledge
of Sanskrit language. The blunders committed by them have given rise to two
different views as well as controversies in the use of Tamil. One group preferred
to use as far as possible a pure Tamil without the admixture of Sanskrit words;
others preferred to write in a hybrid language. Even now many writers to daily
newspapers, weeklies and monthlies write in a hybrid language. Therefore the
Tamil scholars denounce their writing as faulty. The writings of the Tamil
scholars are criticised as too difficult to read, lifeless and artificial.
Thus the effect of the old controversy still exists, although in a different
form.
In the historic past, Sanskrit played the role of a communication language
among the scholars, who lived in different parts of the Indian sub-continent.
Therefore it was learnt avidly by scholars at Kanchipuram as well as at Banaras.
The sum-total of human knowledge available from Kaveri to the Gangetic plains
was written in the Sanskrit language. Ideas relating to literature, religion
and theories of art were found elaborately set forth in Sanskrit. Many forget
that quite a lot of authors of these Sanskrit works were scholars from South
India. For example Dandin the author of the Kavyadarga in Sanskrit, was a
scholar from Kanchipuram in the Tamil country. Sankara the exponent of Advaita
philosophy, was again a South Indian. He mentioned in his works Saint Njanacampantar,
the crusader against Jainism in South India. Raamanujar, the originator of
Visishtaadvaita philosophy was a Tamillian and he lived every close to Kanchipuram.
Scholars who analysed the life-style and arts of the people of the Tamil country,
wrote many works on the Bharata Naatyasastra, the Carnatic music and on astrology.
Therefore, if one considers these facts dispassionately, it was unrealistic
on the part of later day Sanskrit scholars to denigrate Tamil language and
literature. It is equally true in the case of Tamil scholars to think that
theories and ideas found in Sanskrit were alien to Tamil.
The Tamil scholars took the cue
from the old commentators for writing prose. The commentators including Parimelazakar
and others, who were known for their scholarship in Sanskrit, wrote in pure
Tamil with the least borrowing from Sanskrit. Their style of writing was similar
to the one now in vogue, for the present-day Tamil scholars adopted only their
style.
The journalists' style has been
based on the spoken language of the Tarnils. In spoken language, foreign loan
words are mixed freely and syntax corresponds to emotional situations. Poet
Paaratiyaar composed pooms largely in pure Tamil. He followed the same method
while writing essays too.
Tiru. Vi. Kaliyanacuntaraar moved very closely with Tamil scholars and journalists.
He was himself a distinguished scholar and a seasoned journalist. He wrore
many literary works and also edited a number of daily newspapers and weeklies.
He was a link between the Tamil schoiars and the journalist of his day. His
earlier writings abound in Sanskrit words. With the advent of the Pure Tamil
Movement, he began to write without the admixture of Sanskrit words. He used
foreign words only when there were no suitable Tamil words to express a particular
idea. He gave up long and stilted sentences and largely used emotionally charged
short sentences common to spokon language. Thus his writings and speeches,
tried to bridge the chasm that existed between the scholars and journalists.
Even now two different types of styles exist: one adoptod by the scholars
and the other followed by the journalists.
Dialectical Conventions
There exist slight regional differences in the spoken Tamil of the people
living in various parts of the Tamil country. In the nineteenth century, in
the absence of transport facilities, dailectical differences would have been
more pronounced than it is now. Now they are on the decline because of increased
transport and educational facilities. Besides mass-media, such as daily newspapers,
journals, radio and television are also contributing factors. However, there
are some differences between the Tamil spoken at Tirunelveli and Coimbature.
These two dialects differ distinctly from the Tamil spoken in Thanjavur and
Tiruchirappalli. The Tamil spoken in the city of Madras on the other hand
differs from all of them, because of the liberal borrowing of words from Telugu,
Urdu and English languages.
Similar differences exist in the phonetics also. The vowel consonant ca (
º ) is distinctly pronounced in Tirunelveli, whereas in the northern
part of Tamil Nadu it is pronounced as sa (… ) at the beginning of words.
The letter za (Æ), which is unique to the Tamil language is pronounced
differently from one district to another. In the southern districts it is
pronounced as la (Ç ), in Salem as ya ( Â ) and in the city of
Madras it is pronounced in both the ways. The verb izu (–Ø) is
pronounced as icu (–Í ). In spoken language vaazaippazam (Å¡¨ÆôÀÆõ
) is pronounced to the detestation of scholars as vaaLappaLam (Å¡ÇôÀÇõ)
and Vaayappayam (Å¡ÂôÀÂõ). Certain
classes of people pronounce the verb irukkiratu (–Õ츢ÈÐ)
as irukku (–ÕìÌ). Others pronounce it is irukkutu
(–ÕìÌÐ) and the illiterates as kiitu (¸£Ð).
The verb ceytuvittaar (|ºöÐÅ¢ð*¡÷,
has done it) is pronounced in spoken language as ceynjiTTaar, cenjiTTaar and
cenjipuTTaar (|ºö»¢ð*¡÷, |ºïº¢ð*¡÷,
|ºïº¢Òð*¡÷). Likewise the verb
eTuttukkoNtan (±ÎòÐì|¸¡ñ*¡ý,
has taken it) is pronounced as etuttukkinan, etuttukNan, and etuttukkittan
(±ÎòÐ츢ɡý,
±ÎòÐìÉ¡ý, ±ÎòÐ츢ð*¡ý).
Some words have altogether a different meaning in the Tamil used in Sri Lanka.
The known meaning for the word aRutalaka (Ú*Ä¡¸) is
comforting. But in Sri Lanka 'calmly' and 'leisurely (amaitiyaaka and kaalataamatamaaka)
(«¨Á*¢Â¡¸, ¸¡Ä*¡Á*Á¡¸).
The Tamils in Sri Lanka use the word kataippOm (¸¨*ô§À¡õ)
instead of pecikkoNTirappOm (§À¡º¢ì|¸¡ñÊÕô§À¡õ)
which means 'will be talking'. Likewise they use caTanku (º*íÌ,
rituals) for tirumaNam (*¢ÕÁ*õ, marriage); kaNakka
(¸*측, heavy or weightly) for niRaiya (¿¢¨ÈÂ,
full); vaTivaai(ÅÊÅ¡¸, beautiful) for nanRaaka
(¿ýÈ¡¸, better or well); and kantOr (¸ó§*¡÷,
office) for aluvalakarn («ÖÅĸõ, office).
Foreign Loan Words in
Tamil
Words borrowed from English are phonetically changed and used as such in Sri
Lanka. For example pan (bun) is written as pan (Àý); kappi (coffee)
as koppi (¸¡ôÀ¢), kOrt (court) as kot (§¸¡ð);
Sart (shirt) as set (|ºð), taarc (torch) as rOc and taval (towel)
as tuvaai. Likewise many Tamil words are phonetically changed and used as
such in spoken and written Tarnil of Sri Lanka.
English and Hindi words are used in spoken Tamil of the people who live in
the northern districts of Tamil Nadu. Such loan words are not phonetically
changed but written in the same way as they are pronounced in the concerned
languages. For example such words as bus, cycle, car, office, late, post,
bank, and coffee (pas/ÀS , caikkil/¨ºì¸¢û,
kaar/¸¡÷, apis/À£S, let/§Äð,
post/§À¡Sð, pank/À¡íì and
kaappi/¸¡ôÀ¢ respectively) are written in Tamil
characters in the manner they are pronounced in English. Script writers, novelists
and short story writers use these Tamilised forms in their writings. Some
of them use such loan words frequently in their writings,.while others use
them only when their Tamil equivalents are non-existent. Although in spokon
Tamil such English words as leave, stamp, rail, station and telephone are
commonly used, in written Tamil their equivalents vitumuRai (Å¢ÎÓ¨È),
tapaaltalai(*À¡ø*¨Ä), pukaivaNTi nilaiyam (Ò¨¸ÅñÊ
¿¢¨ÄÂõ) and tolaipEci (|*¡¨Ä§Àº¢)
respectively are used. Some Urdu words like calam and capacu found place in
the devotional poems of saints Arunakirinˆtar and Kumarakuruparar, who
lived in the seventeenth century. As a result of North Indian's contact some
words from the Hindi language are used in the present-day spoken Tamil. For
the same reason many sweets prepared in hotels of Tamil Nadu bear Hindi names.
From time immemorial a few Sanskrit words had been intermixed with Tamil.
Prior to the second century A.D., and during the Cankam period only one per
cent of Sanskrit words intermingled with Tamil. This increased to three to
five per cent in the devotional songs of Alvars and Naayanmaars who lived
in the seventh and eighth centuries respectively. During the period of the
epics also the intermixing of Sanskrit words with Tamil continued to increase.
It reached its high water mark in the thirteenth century when the maNippravaala
style became popular. As a result the number of Sanskrit loan words increased
phenomenally in the religious prose works of the Jains and the Vaisnavites.
But the commentators of grammatical and literary works wrote in chaste Tamil
with the least number of Sanskrit loan words. As a result the maNippravaala
style fell into disuse. However in the Puranas, Talapuraanas, Ulaas and Kalambakams
the percentage of Sanskrit loan words continued to remain at five to eight
per cent. In the subsequent centuries the frequency increased with the advent
of certain new types of versifications like yarnakam, ciletai and matakku.
They, however, became obsolete in course of time. Most of the devotional songs
of Raamalinka Cuvaamikal contain very few Sanskrit loan words. Their percentage
is very high in his prose work. Certain new usages peculiar to the Christians
found their place in the Bible. A new translation of the Bible in chaste Tamil
is now available. Certain Arabic words were frequently used by Muslim writers
in their works. Even today stories written on Muslim families contain some
words of Arabic origin. Stories about anglicized families or families living
in metropolitan cities contain many words from English to reflect the spirit
of their spoken Tamil as well as to give realism to the story. Though foreign
loan words were used in Tamil in lesser or greater degree for various reasons
and at different periods of time, the Tamil language itself retained its individuality.
It can be said that among the living languages of India, it is the Tamil language
which has the least number of foreign loan words.
Source of the articTransliteration
Scheme used:
In place of the transliteration scheme used in the book (Tamil lexicon scheme
with diacritical markers), I have used the following transliteration scheme:
a, aa/A, i, ii/I, u, oo/U, e, ee/E, ai, o, O, au, q
k, g, c, j, T, N, t, n, p/b, m, y, r, l, v, z, L, R, n2
le:
"A HISTORY OF TAMIL LITERATURE",
by Mu. Varadarajan,
(Translated from Tamil by E.Sa. Viswanathan)
Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1988, p. 1- 17
NJTACS 
