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International Symposium on Tamil as
a Classical Language
Organised by Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai and
the Centre
of Excellence for Classical Tamil, Mysore.
Report by U Bakialakshmi - 17 January
2008
[see also Status of Tamil as a Classical
Language]
The International Symposium on Tamil as a Classical
Language was inaugurated by Prof, Ka. Anbazhagan,
Minister for Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu, in
Chennai on Thursday, January 17. The 3-day symposium was
organised by the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai and the
Centre
of Excellence for Classical Tamil, Mysore.
In his inaugural address, the Minister said that that it
is the responsibility of the Tamilians to preserve the
language. Tamil was made classical language amidst
opposition, he said. Quoting various poets including
Bharatiyar and Bharatidasan, he said that Tamil was one
of the oldest languages, with a literary tradition of
over two thousand years. "Even though Tamil is a
classical language, it was sad that Tamilians feel
ashamed of speaking Tamil, their mother tongue", said
Anbazhagan.
The highlight of the function was the participation of
Tamil scholars from foreign countries including Scotland,
Russia, USA, South Korea and Srilanka, who spoke in
Tamil.
Prof R.E. Asher from Scotland,
Prof. David C. Buck from USA and
Prof. Sanmugadas from Sri Lanka, said that they were
proud to be part of the symposium. Prof Alexander Dubiansky from Russia said
that Tamil can present even complex issues in a
comprehensive manner. Prof. Jung Nam Kim from South Korea
demonstrated similarity in pronunciation and meaning of a
few words in Tamil and in Korean.
Dr. G. John Samuel, Director, Institute of Asian Studies;
Dr. C.N.A. Parimalam, Chairman, Board of Governors,
Institute of Asian studies and son of former Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai and Dr.
Udhayanarayana Singh, Director, Central Institute of
Indian Languages, Mysore, were present at the inaugural
function.
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Hindu Report - 18 January 2008
CHENNAI: Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan on Thursday
called upon Tamil scholars to research and come out with
more evidence to prove the classical nature of Tamil
language.
Inaugurating a four-day symposium on 'Tamil as a
classical language', he said recent archaeological finds at Adhichanaloor
in Tirunelveli district revealed that Tamil language
was in use between 1500 B.C. and 500 B.C.
Tamil had all the attributes of a classical language.
Ancient Tamil literary works such as Iymperumkappiyam, Pathu Pattu and
Ettuthogai of the Sangam period could make
a case for including the language in the classical
category.
Mr Anbazhagan said every Tamilian was duty-bound to
safeguard the language from being influenced by words
from other languages in its written and spoken forms.
G. John Samuel, Director, Institute of Asian Studies,
said the symposium was organised to bring together Tamil
scholars living in various parts of the world and discuss
the uniqueness of the language. The symposium would also
discuss steps for making Tamil language a classical one
at the global level.
Efforts are on to establish a Central Institute of Tamil
for taking up higher level of research, said
Udhayanarayana Singh, Director, Central Institute of
Indian Languages, Mysore. The Institute was in the
process of making 50 television documentaries on the
Tamil language, which were in different stages of
completion. The Institute had also started a Tamil online
course to help those wanting to learn Tamil. Such an
effort would also help in preserving the teachings of
some of the greatest scholars.
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