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.

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.