|
 Response to those few who oppose Thai first as the Tamil New Year
- V.Thangavelu, President Thamil Creative
Writers Association, Canada, 17 April 2008 [see also
Sanmugam Sabesan
-
சித்திரையில் தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டா?
]
Comment by
tamilnation.org
Both
Mr.Sanmugam Sabesan (from
Australia) and Mr.Velupillai Thangavelu (from Canada) are right to point out
that the Tamil
New Year is the First of Thai (which is also Thai Pongal day) and
that in 2008 this
Tamil New Year day received
legislative sanction in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil national
identity is a secular identity - and the Tamil New Year reflects
that secular identity.
The Tamil nation includes not
only Hindus (both Savaites and
Vaishnavites) but also Tamils belonging to many different faiths. Christian Tamils
are also Tamils. Dalit Tamils some of who may be Buddhists are also part of the
Tamil nation. The Tamil nation
also includes those who may regard themselves as atheists and agnostics.
It is not that the
Saivaite saints have not
contibuted to the growth of the Tamil national identity.
They have. It is
not that the
Vaishanavite alwars are not a part of the Tamil heritage.
They are. It
is not that Ramalingam
Atikal affectionately known as Vallalar is not a part of the Tamil
heritage. He is. It is not that Brahmin Tamils such as
U.V.Swaminatha Iyer (known as
'Thamil Thaatha') did not contribute to the growth of Tamil
togetherness. They did. At
the same time Periyar, a
rationalist and an aethist has also contributed to the growth of Tamil
national consciousness - so too has
C.N.Annadurai.
So too did Mahakavi Bharathiar -
" சொல்லடி,
சிவசக்தி - எனைச்
சுடர்மிகும் அறிவுடன் படைத்து விட்டாய்
வல்லமை தாராயோ ? – இந்த
மாநிலம் பயனுற வாழ்வதற்கே....."
Again a
Christian Tamil,
S.J.V.Chelvanayagam contributed to the growth of the Tamil identity in
Tamil Eelam. And today Velupillai
Pirabakaran by his steadfast commitment to the creation of a
secular independent Tamil Eelam has given
a sense of dignity and thanmaanam to millions of Tamils living in many lands
and across distant seas. All this is part of the growth of the secular Tamil national
identity.
The New Year is a cultural event. The New Year is an event that happens when a
culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next year.
Cultures that measure yearly calendars all have New Year celebrations. (Anthony
Aveni, Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University in
"Happy New Year. But Why Now?" in
The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays - Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003, 11-28.)
In the Western world, "(New Year's
Day) originally observed on March 15 in the old
Roman Calendar,... first came to be fixed in January 1, 153 BC,
when the two Roman consuls, after whom - in the Roman calendar - years were
named and numbered, began to be chosen on that date, for military reasons."
(New Year's Day
in Wikipedia). And that was 153 years before the Birth of Christ.
Indeed, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism.
".. the early Catholic Church condemned
the festivities as paganism...During the Middle Ages, the Church
remained opposed to celebrating New Years. January 1 has been celebrated
as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years..." (New
Year's Day - History, Traditions, and Customs)
The Tamil New Year on First of Thai is not a 'Christian' new year. Nor is it a 'Saivaite' or
'Vaishnavite' new year. The Tamil New Year on First of Thai is a secular
event. That is the Dravidian
legacy. It is a legacy which needs to be secured in our
fight for national existence.
".. It is the fight for national
existence which sets culture moving and opens to it the doors of
creation... "
Frantz Fanon at the
Congress of Black African Writers, 1959
When we suggest that the Tamil New Year is the April
Hindu New
Year we join hands with those who would (knowingly or unknowingly)
divide the Tamil nation, undermine its secular unity and weaken its growth.
And
those who knowingly or unknowingly choose to conflate the First of Thai with
the day of the Sankranthi festival (the day that
Adi Sankara
reportedly took sanyasa) choose to ignore the fact that the
First of Thai is celebrated by the Tamil people as the birthday of
Thiruvalluvar and that the Tamil year is named as the Valluvar Aandu.
 "In order to have a continuous year count, the birth day of
Thiruvalluvar was taken as falling on Thai (Suravam) first. This was given
effect by the TN government in 1971 in official calendars, from 1972 in gazettes
and from 1981 in all departments. Later it was extended to non-governmental
departments as well." Velupillai Thangavelu, in 'Response to those few who oppose Thai first as
the Tamil New Year', 17 April 2008
Again, those who confuse the Tamil New Year on First of Thai
with the Thai Pongal harvest festival on the same day choose to ignore the
significance of the Tamil Nadu government's declaration of 23 January 2008
that "...the people of Tamil Nadu, who now celebrate Pongal as the festival
of Tamils, can now celebrate it as Tamil New Year day also
with redoubled joy." Both the Tamil New Year and Thai Pongal fall on the
same day and therefore that day may be celebrated with redoubled joy.
Those who confuse the Tamil New Year on First of Thai with
the Thai Pongal harvest festival on the same day, choose to ignore the
secular significance of the Valluvar Aandu. And in their confusion
they speak of Tamils being not simply farmers (who celebrate harvest
festivals) - and that Tamils were also sea farers. They
speak of the modern age in which we live. Yes, Tamils are not simply
farmers. They were also seafarers. Yes, we live
in a modern age.
And Tamils are today playing a
significant role in a
global digital renaissance.
"..The print revolution brought Tamil from the ola leaves to paper, from the select few
literati to the many. The digital revolution is bringing Tamil from paper to the computer
and the internet.
Swaminathatha Iyer and
Thamotherampillai heralded the
Tamil renaissance in the 19th century.
Today, a Tamil digital renaissance is
taking place - and is helping to bring Tamil people together not
simply culturally but also in political and economic terms..."
Nadesan Satyendra, May 1998
And to paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, yes, by all means let us
open our windows to the world but let us not be blown off our feet. The
unity of the Tamil people will not be built by a shallow modernism which
ignores our cultural roots. The
Tamil New Year on the First of Thai firmly roots our feet in the richness of
the Tamil cultural heritage - the cultural and literary heritage of
Thirukural and Thiruvalluvar.
It should not surprise that those who would destroy the
Tamils as a nation of people are intent on keeping the Tamils divided by
caste and pseudo 'religion' - and undermine our togetherness by an appeal to
a pseudo 'modernism'. That Sinhala Sri Lanka
promotes the 13th of April as the Tamil New Year whilst its
armed forces kill and maim Tamils in Tamil Eelam is therefore understandable
- understandable as a twin track approach in its
genocidal programme to destroy the
Tamils as a people. Less understandable are the views promoted by
tamilnet.com.
A nation is a deep and horizontal togetherness
which cuts across vertical divisions - and the Tamil nation is a growing
horizontal togetherness
-
... of more than 70
million Tamil people, living in many lands and across distant seas - a
growing togetherness rooted in a
shared heritage, a
rich language and
literature, and a vibrant culture - a growing togetherness
consolidated by struggle
and suffering and
given fresh impetus by the
digital revolution - a growing togetherness given
purpose and direction by a determined will to live in
equality, in
freedom and in
peace with
their fellow beings and
meaningfully
contribute to an emerging
one world, unfolding
from matter to life to mind ...
 It is important therefore that Tamils as a people, wherever
they may live, pay heed not
only to the stand taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the
unanimous will
of
the Tamil Nadu State Assembly but also to the views of
Maraimalai Adikal,
Naavalar Somasundera Bharathiar, Prof. Parithimaakalaignar (Prof. Surya
Narayana Shastri)
K.Subramaniapillai,
Thiru V.Kalyanasundera Mudaliyar, Saivite scholar Sachchithanadapillai,
Naavalar Na.Mu. Venkatasamy, K.R.P.Visvanatham and to the words of
Paventhar
Bharathidasan -
" தையே முதற்றிங்கள் தை முதலே ஆண்டு முதல்
பத்தன்று நூறன்று பன்னூ றன்று
பல்லாயி ரத்தாண்டாய்த் தமிழர் வாழ்வில்
புத்தாண்டு, தைம் முதல் நாள், பொங்கல் நன்னாள்
நித்திரையில்
இருக்கும் தமிழா.
சித்திரை அல்ல உனக்குத் தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டு
அண்டிப் பிழைக்க வந்த ஆரியக் கூட்டம் காட்டியதே
அறிவுக்கு ஒவ்வாத அறுபது ஆண்டுகள்
தரணி ஆண்ட தமிழர்க்கு
தை முதல் நாளே தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டு."
It was the same
Bharathidasan who sang -
இன்பத் தமிழ்
தமிழுக்கும் அமுதென்று பேர். - அந்தத்
தமிழ் இன்பத் தமிழ்எங்கள் உயிருக்கு நேர்.
தமிழுக்கு நிலவென்று பேர். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் சமுகத்தின் விளைவுக்கு நீர்.
தமிழுக்கு மணமென்று பேர். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் வாழ்வுக்கு நிருமித்த ஊர்.
தமிழுக்கு மதுவென்று பேர். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் உரிமைச்செம் பயிருக்கு வேர்.
தமிழ் எங்கள் இளமைக்குப் பால். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் நல்ல புகழ்மிக்க புலவர்க்கு வேல்.
தமிழ் எங்கள் உயர்வுக்கு வான். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் அசதிக்குச் சுடர்தந்த தேன்.
தமிழ் எங்கள் அறிவுக்குத் தோள். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் கவிதைக்கு வயிரத்தின் வாள்.
தமிழ் எங்கள் பிறவிக்குத் தாய். - இன்பத்
தமிழ் எங்கள் வளமிக்க உளமுற்ற தீ.
Response to those few who oppose Thai first as the Tamil New Year
- V.Thangavelu
Opposition has been voiced by a small number of individuals
against the change in the birth of Thamil New Year. They claim the change is
against tradition and borders on blasphemy. Such people are superficial and
naïve in many ways.
 The opposition can be seen as an ad hominem argument – you cannot fault an
argument, so you fault the person advancing it. In this instance
Chief Minister
M.Karunanidhi. He is reviled by pseudo Hindu
bigots like Thuglak Cho, Ramagopalan, Ela
Ganesan (BJP) Ms Jayalalithaa (ADMK MLAs voted for the bill) and few others as
anti-Hindu.
 Strangely, the editor of the
TamilNet website also joined the
anti-nationalist forces to whip up frenzy against the change - thus making a
mockery of the decision of the de facto state of Thamil Eelam that endorsed Thai
first as the Thamil New Year.
The Thamil Nadu government gave legal status to the observation of Thai first
(January 14th) as the beginning of Thamil New Year which will be called
Thiruvalluvar Aandu.
In an unprecedented act of solidarity, the bill was
unanimously passed by the TN State legislature.
The accusation that the TN government has arbitrarily and
suddenly made the change in regard to the New Year is not supported by facts... Thamils need a continuous year count. They need to discard foreign culture and beliefs imposed on them under
the guise of religion.
 Way back in 1921 Thamil scholars like
Maraimalai Adikal,
Naavalar Somasundera Bharathiar, Prof. Parithimaakalaignar (Prof. Surya
Narayana Shastri)
K.Subramaniapillai,
Thiru V.Kalyanasundera Mudaliyar, Saivite scholar Sachchithanadapillai, Naavalar
Na.Mu. Venkatasamy, K.R.P.Visvanatham and scores of others met at Pachchayappan
College and resolved to make Thai first Thamil New year instead of Chiththirai..
In order to have a continuous year count the birth day of
Thiruvalluvar was taken as falling on Thai (Suravam) first. This was given
effect by the TN government in 1971 in official calendars, from 1972 in gazettes
and from 1981 in all departments. Later it was extended to non-governmental
departments as well.
In the Indian civil calendar, the initial epoch is the Saka Era,
a traditional era of Indian chronology that is said to have begun with King
Salivahana's accession to the throne and is also the reference for most
astronomical works in Sanskrit literature written after 500 AD. In the Saka
calendar, the year 2002 AD is 1925.
The other popular epoch is the Vikram era that is believed to have begun with
the coronation of King Vikramaditya. The year 2002 AD corresponds to 2060 in
this system.
The Calendar Reform Committee set up India’s present day
national calendar in 1957. It is a lunisolar calendar, which has leap years
coinciding with the leap years of the Gregorian calendar. The months in the
calendar have been named after the conventional Indian months. This calendar
came into effect with the Saka Era in Chaitra 1, 1879 (March 22, 1957).
Although we don’t have direct evidence of
Thiruvalluvar’s birth day,
this day has been chosen with reference to available (indirect data) from
Sangam and post-Sangam Thamil literature.
The opposition to the change in the Thamil New Year from
Chiththirai to Thai mostly emanates due to a lack of proper understanding of
astronomy. Added is the natural tendency to resist change.
 The
Earth has three types of motions: motion around its axis, motion around the
Sun, and motion of its axis due to wobbling of Earth. The Earth rotates
around its axis in 24 hours, which causes day and night. In the Northern
Hemisphere we see that all but one of the stars and planets rise in the east
and set in the west. The one star that does not rise or set is the polar
star (Dhruv Nadchchathiram or Polaris), which is located directly above the
Earth's North Pole. The Earth’s axis is tilted from perpendicular to the
plane of the ecliptic by 23.45°. It is this tilting that causes the four
seasons of the year - spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter. Since the
axis is tilted, different parts of the globe are oriented towards the Sun at
different times of the year.
The seasonal changes have nothing to do with stars or planets as widely
believed by Astrologers and Almanac casters.
The second type of motion is the rotation of the Earth
around the Sun in 365 days to complete one revolution in an elliptical
orbit. Using modern instruments for exact observations of the universe,
the Earth takes 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.50 seconds to complete
one revolution with respect to the stars (sidereal year). With respect to
the orbit, it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.50 seconds to
complete one revolution (tropical year). The difference in time is 20
minutes and 24.00 seconds as follows:
|
Solar year, |
365 |
d. |
5 |
h. |
48 |
m. |
45.50 |
s. |
|
Sidereal year, |
365 |
|
6 |
|
9 |
|
9.50 |
|
|
|
|
|
Difference, |
|
|
|
|
20 |
m. |
24.00 |
s. |
This difference is caused
by the third type of motion of Earth, the wobbling of its axis, which
astronomers call processional movement (precession of equinoxes) of the pole or
axis of the Earth.
The ancient Thamils lived
in close touch with nature. Astronomy and astrology very much influenced their
lives. With regard to the year, the Thamils started it with the Vernal Equinox.
Astronomers have determined the Sun transiting Aries at 0 degree as the Vernal
Equinox, that is the day when the Sun rose exactly in the east, coincided. This
was about the year 285AD. With the lapse of centuries, the New Year falls now,
about three weeks after the Vernal Equinox. The Hindu solar year is sidereal,
and since it is in excess of the tropical year by 20 minutes and 24.00 seconds,
it does not keep step with the seasons. The seasons fall back one and half days
for every hundred years or one day every 71.6 years.
It is not correct to say
that Chiththirai has always been the beginning of Thamil New Year.
Nachchinarkiniyar who wrote a commentary to
Tholkaappiyam says Thamil
New Year started in August (Aavani) and ended in July (Aadi). This demonstrates
the fact that Aeries (Medam) is not the start of the reference point in the
Zodiac during Tholkappiyar’s time.
The Thamils/Hindus
divided the year into "Uttarayanam" the first six months after the winter
solstice and "Dhadshanyam" the second six months after the summer solstice. The
former was considered health-giving, bright period for man and animals for
during that period the days became longer and longer. Thus "Uttarayanam" was
celebrated by Thaipongal and Paddippongal (the cattle festival). Most of the
temple festivals in the Thamil country were also fixed for this bright period.
The beginning of the "Dhadshanayam" was marked by "Adipirapoo" (July 1- Hindu
calendar). These six months were considered not a very bright period for men and
animals because the days became shorter and shorter.
One of the major
drawbacks in counting Chiththirai is that it is not a continuous year. Its cycle
consists of 60 years. This cycle of years is useless to record historical
events. And their (so are some of the months) names are not Thamil. They are in
Sanskrit. The mythological story attached to the birth of the years is
extremely vulgar and obscene.
A close look at the six
seasons given in Thamil literature reveals that they are out of sync with the
actual seasons experienced at the equator.
Ilavenil Kaalam :
mild sunny period : Chithirai, Vahasi - Thingal
(mid April to mid June)
Muthuvenil Kaalam :
intense sunny period : Aani, Aadi - Thingal
(mid June to mid August)
Kaar Kaalam : cloudy
rainy Period : Aavani, Purataasi - Thingal
(mid August to mid October)
Kuthir Kaalam - cold
period : Iyppassi, Kaarthihai - Thingal
(mid October to mid December)
Munpani Kaalam -
early misty period (evening dew): Maarkali, Thai – Thingal
(mid December to mid February)
Pinpani Kaalam - late
misty period (morning dew): Maasi, Panguni – Thingal
(mid February to mid April)
Definitely mid June to
mid-August is not the rainy season in Northeast of Ceylon or Thamil Nadu. They
are in fact hot and humid months. The rainy season is from October to November
(Iyppasi to Kaarthikai) and not from mid August to mid October.
The coolest months are
December - January (Maarkali - Thai).
It is in January (Thai)
the farmer harvests the first sheaves of a harvest. They are ground and mixed
with old rice and used for Pongal. The actual harvest season does not take place
in January. It takes place in February and March. This is due to the change in
seasons due to precession.
January 14th too has
astronomical significance, in that, the Sun (Earth) commences its Northerly
transit.
In fact there are four
transits of significance by the Sun in its journey from south to north and north
to south. They are -
Spring Equinox –
March 20/21
Summer Solstice – June 21
Autumnal Equinox – September 22
Winter Solstice – December 21/22
Equinoxes are days in
which day and night are of equal duration. The two yearly equinoxes occur when
the Sun crosses the celestial equator.
The solstices are days when the Sun reaches its farthest Northern and Southern
declinations. The winter solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 and marks the
beginning of winter (this is the shortest day of the year). The summer solstice
occurs on June 21 and marks the beginning of summer (this is the longest day of
the year).
The above is true only in
regard to the Northern hemisphere. It will be the exact opposite to those
living in the Southern hemisphere. When it is summer in the Northern hemisphere,
it is winter in the Southern hemisphere. So in regard to spring and autumn.
As already mentioned, the
arrivals of the seasons have been changing at the rate of 1 degree per 71.6
years. Westerners found spring coming earlier (March 10) than the Julian
calendar showed viz March 21. To adjust the extra days Pope Gregory ordered the
deletion of 10 days i.e. October 5th was followed up with October 15th. The
Gregorian calendar still has a few seconds difference. But the calendar can hold
good fairly accurately for the next 1000 years.
Due to the precession of
the equinoxes, the Sun will be at the 1st degree of Libra at the spring equinox
in 11,232 years. Those who think that almanacs and calendars are cast in iron
should mark their calendars. The zodiac of the two systems (Tropical and
Sidereal) will be exactly opposite one another. Ayanamsha will be 180 degrees 0
minutes.. It would be interesting to those who oppose Thamil New Year shifted to
Thai first to incarnate at that time just to join in the debate.
In Vedic or Sidereal
astrology the calculation of the Sun passing through the 1st degree of Aries is
marked by the Sun actually passing through the observable fixed stars making up
the constellation Aries and has nothing to do with the seasons. Because of the
precession of equinoxes at a rate of 50.26 seconds per year, .difference between
the tropical zodiac and sidereal zodiac increases every 10 years by 8 minutes
22 arc seconds.
The Thamil/Hindu calendar
has gone awry and no correction was made for precession of equinoxes. This is
the reason why the real seasons are not synchronizing with months mentioned
above. Poet Subramanian
Bharathiyar has pointed out this discrepancy in one of his essays.
Those who claim that
Chiththirai New Year ushers in Spring (Venil) have to re-think. It really falls
on March 21st. A good 24 days earlier. So are all the Hindu auspices festival
and ceremonial days.
The "wobble" and the
precession of the equinoxes were known to the Ancient Egyptians, although the
first official "discovery" of it was made by an Ancient Greek astronomer,
Hipparchus, who was born sometime around 190 B.C. It was noted that the Sun was
in a slightly earlier position at the time of the Spring Equinox each year (as
measured against the fixed stars). Because the movement slips backwards
(Westwards) through the zodiac, it is called precession (as opposed to a
forward-movement which would be called progression).
Now 1° every 71.6 years
doesn't sound like too much, but it certainly adds up over 2,000 years or so,
and this is where we get into the different Zodiac systems.
The determination of Thai
first as Thamil New Year is now a fait accompali. One cannot unscramble a
scrambled egg. History is heavily stacked against intellectually discreditable
individuals for they live in the past.
The change of Thamil New
Year has not altered or modified the Panchangam or Thamil Almanac as some
foolishly think or argue. What has changed is the reference point (in a circle
any point could be considered the reference point) in the Zodiac. Instead of
Aeries 0 degree being considered the birth of Thamil New Year, the reference
point has been shifted to Makaram 0 degree the birth of Thamil New Year.
There is reference in
Thamil Sangam literature to the
celebration of Thai Neeradal, but there is absolutely no reference to
Chiththirai New Year in ancient literature.
The shifting of Thamil
New Year from Chiththirai first to Thai first is a mile stone in the history of
Thamils. |
