It is impossible to begin writing about Tamil language and Tamil literature on the world wide web without paying tribute to the pioneering work of Dr. Bala Swaminathan, Dr.Gnanasekar Swaminathan, Dr. Vijayakumar Sinnathurai and Krishnaswamy Srinivasan, in Canada, Kuppuswamy Kalyanasundaram in Switzerland, Naa. Govindasamy in Singapore,Muthulilan Nedumaran and Sivagurunathan Chinniah in Malaysia, Siddharthan Ramachandramurthi, P.Kumar Mallikarjunan in USA, and Sinniah Ilanko in New Zealand.

Dr. Sundara Pandian, Dr. Meenan Vishnu and C.R. Selvakumar in Canada, amongst others, contributed to the formation of the Soc.Culture.Tamil newsgroup which provided an early electronic forum for discussion on Tamil language, literature and culture. The work of the SCT, and the efforts of Kumar Kumarappan in California, led to the establishment of the first Tamil Chair in North America at the University of California at Berkeley. The efforts of Jeyachandran Kopinath in Norway, also reflect the contribution that the struggle for Tamil Eelam has made to this digital Tamil renaissance.

Amongst non Tamils, the contributions of Dr. Kamil.V. Zvelebil from Czechoslovakia, Thomas Malten in Germany, Peter Schalk at Uppsala University in Sweden, George Hart at the University of California, Berkeley, Harold Schiffman in Pennsylvania and Jean-Luc Chevillard in Paris are significant.

Websites devoted to the teaching of Tamil have also begun to appear. The call for a common standard for Tamil font encoding is a reflection of the felt need to render communication in Tamil easy and simple in this digital age. Efforts at achieving an uniform transliteration scheme have also increased in momentum.

Project Madurai launched by Dr.K. Kalyanasundaram on Thai Pongal Day 1998 is an open and voluntary initiative to collect and publish free electronic editions of ancient tamil literary classics.

Dr.Kalyanasundaram's Tamil Electronic Library is a labour of love and Tamils everywhere will acknowledge his contribution with gratitude. It is perhaps appropriate therefore that this web page on Tamil language and literature should contain a poem by Bharathidasan which Dr.Kalyanasundaram has featured in his web site.

In February 1999, the Tamil Nadu government declared its intention to set up an Internet Research Centre and a Tamil Virtual University. In June 1999, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi announced that the Tamil Virtual University would be headed by Dr.V.C.Kulandaisamy, former Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University and that work on the Internet Research Centre was progressing well. The University was inaugurated in February 2001 and provides a growing number of Tamil related courses.

The "Pongal-2000" Project is a collaborative undertaking of the Institute of Asian Studies (Madras), the Institute for Indology and Tamil Studies of the University of Cologne and the University of California-Berkeley, and is directed to creating an electronic compilation of Tamil texts - the Online Tamil Lexicon (OTL) - as well as a Tamil Text Thesaurus (TTT). The stock of ready-to-use digitalized Tamil ASCII data consisting now of about 100 Mbytes, will be doubled or tripled during the next four years. This will allow computer access to all major Tamil literary works, classical and modern, via the Internet from anywhere in the world.

Tamil is, perhaps, the oldest living language of India. It is commonly regarded as belonging to the Dravidian group of languages. But, that is not to say that the whole question of the 'Aryan/Dravidian categorisation' of the peoples of the Indian subcontinent is not without controversy.

Kamil.V. Zvelebil, sometime Professor in Tamil Studies at Charles University, Prague writing in 'The Poets and the Powers' in 1973, characterised the Tamils as the 'Greeks of India':

"Tamil is a Dravidian language of South India, spoken by 30,465,442 inhabitants of the State of Madras (Tamil Nadu), by about 2,500,000 in Ceylon, further by Tamil settlers in Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam (about 1 million), East and South Africa (260,000) and elsewhere in the world where the Tamils, 'The Greeks of India', settled as merchants, intellectuals, money lenders, bankers and plantation workers. The earliest literary monuments of the language belong to ca. the 3rd Century B.C...."

The number of first language Tamil speakers in the world is difficult to estimate and this remains an useful (and important) area for further study. Dr. R.E. Asher in 'Descriptive Grammars' (published by Croom Helm) concluded in 1981:

"No accurate figures for the number of Tamil speakers at the time of writing are available. The provisional figure for the whole of India produced by the 1971 census is 37,592,794. A reasonable calculation, based on a projection of population trends, would give between forty-five and forty-six million for India as a whole in 1981, with some forty-three million living in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, which has Madras as its capital and Tamil as its official language. If one assumes four million or so in Sri Lanka (mainly in the north and northeast and classified as Ceylon Tamils, Indian Tamils, Ceylon Moors and Indian Moors), something approaching one million in Malaysia and Singapore, and much smaller minorities in many countries of the-world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Burma, South Africa, some Caribbean states and Great Britain, the total number of Tamil speakers in the world at the present time might well be in the region of fifty million."

That was in 1981. In 1999, the Ethnologue (Languages of the World) estimated the number of first language Tamil speakers in the world at 66 million and the number including second language speakers at 74 million. It reports that Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu and neighboring states and also in Bahrain, Fiji, Germany, Malaysia (Peninsular), Mauritius, Netherlands, Qatar, R�union, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom.

Tamil ranks 17th amongst the top twenty of the world's most spoken languages.

In scriptual form, Tamil is made up of 247 scripts which comprise of 12 vowels 18 consonants and 1 aytham. It is difficult to fix with certainty the beginnings of Tamil language and literature. Professor S.Vaiyapuri Pillai declares in his well regarded 'History of Tamil Language and Literature':

"Perhaps, it is safe to assume that the Dravidian alphabet was used for literary purposes about the first century A.D... We might naturally expect that the Tamils had an ancient literature of which they might be legitimately proud. Their civilisation is of great antiquity and their ruling dynasties played an important part in the third century B.C."

The earliest literature in Tamil is the Sangam poetry - regarded by many Tamils as the voice of the Tamil nation in its origin.

It consists of anthologies of short lyrics and longer poems. The lyrics are made into eight collections known as Ettu-thokai - the Eight Anthologies. The longer poems are collected under the name of Pattup-pattu - the Ten Idylls.

Although the matter is not free from controversy Professor S.Vaiyapuri Pillai concludes that Sangam literature should not be carried to any date anterior to the second century A.D. and that the period of development of the Sangam works might be put as three centuries and that Tolkapiyam, the early Tamil book on grammar, should also be given a date posterior to that period.

Professor T.P.Meenakshisundaran points out in a paper presented at the first International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies in 1966 at Kuala Lumpur:

"Tolkappiyam is a book on phonolgy, grammar and poetics. Therefore it implies the prior existence of Tamil literature. There is a distinction made therein between literary language and colloquial or non literary language - ceyyul and valakku, thus implying certain literary conventions not only in grammatical forms but also in literary form and subject matter..."

He adds:

"Sangam poetry is unique as group poetry par excellence. It has a personality of its own representing the group mind and the group personality of the Sangam age. Taken as a whole it satisfies all the requirements of great poetry... The folk songs and the proverbs of an age, with their authors unknown, form a unity, as the very expression of the national personality and the language."

"Sangam poetry, though too cultured to be called folk song, consciously creates this universal personality and that is why it has been classified as a separate group in Tamil literature - the really great national poetry, not in the sense of national popularity but in the sense of being the voice of the nation in its origin.

"These remind us of the towering gopuram of Tanjore expressing the aspiring spiritual height of the Chola age, though it is not the handiwork of any one sculpter but the work of a group of artists, each giving expression in rock to a vision of his own. It is therefore necessary to realise the importance of this conception of Sangam literature as a Thogai or anthology or group poetry which lies at the very root of the theory of Sangam poetry." (T.P. Meenakshisundaram, The Theory of Poetry in Tolkappiyam, Collected Papers, Annmalinagar, 1961)

Professor A.L.Basham in Wonder that was India, comments on some other aspects of early Tamil literature:

"Very early Tamils developed the passion for classification which is noticeable in many aspects of ancient Indian learning. Poetry was divided into two main groups: 'internal' (aham) and 'external' (puram). A unique feature of Tamil poetry is the initial rhyme or assonance. This does not appear in the earliest Tamil literature but by the end of the Sangam period it was quite regular. The first syllable or syllables of each couplet must rhyme. This initial assonance, in some poems continued through four or more lines, is never to be found in the poetry of Sanskrit languages, or as far as we know, in that of any other language. Its effect, a little strange at first, rapidly becomes pleasant to the reader, and to the Tamil it is as enjoyable as the end rhyme of Western poetry."

Again V.K.Narayana Menon's comments are not without relevance:

" We know of the immense richness of Tamil classics, dating back to the pre Christian era, of the many epics, anthologies of lyrics, long poems, of the wealth and beauty of Sangam literature, all of which represent the consciousness of a community independent of the main stream of the Aryan cultural pattern, and fully aware of the difference...''

Father Xavier S. Thaninayagam's contributions to Tamil studies have been monumental. His Chelvanayagam Memorial Lecture in 1982 on Research in Tamil Studies: Retrospect and Prospect is essential reading. His comments in Ancient Tamil Literature reflect his diligent research and scholarship -

"...The poetry belonging to the age before and immediately after the composition of Tolkaappiyam has not come down to us. What have reached us are the Ten Idylls (Pattuppaattu) and the Eight Anthologies (Ettuttokai) which are collections of poems composed after Tolkaappiyam by various poets, most of whom belonged to one single epoch. Most of this poetry was composed before the second century A.D.These poems, however, do not exactly belong to a Golden or Augustan Age of Tamil literature as has been supposed. Indications point to their being the efforts of an age when decades of convention were setting limits and marking boundaries to poetic inspiration, and preventing the free and unfettered beat of the poets' wings. Nevertheless, it is a great and spacious age in Tamil literature..."

The Thirukural and the Cilapathikaram belong to the classics of Tamil literature. Kamban's Ramayanam and Sekkilar's Periya Puranam are amongst the masterpieces of the Chola period. And in this century, the contributions of Subramaniya Bharathy infused fresh vigour and helped to transform Tamil into a language not simply of the literati but of the people.

Tamil is a living language and Geetha Ramasamy's website and Dr.Kalyanasundaram's 20th Century Tamil Authors & their Works open windows to modern Tamil writing including those of Sundararamasamy and Kannadasan. And, here, many will agree with Muthulilan Nedumaran's remark:

Again, Canadian Tamil writer Navaratnam Giritharan's views will find a persuasive reasonance in the minds of many:

"For me there is no difference between writers from Tamilnadu or from Singapore or from Malaysia or from Sri Lanka. We all belong to one family: Tamil writers family.Tamil writers living in many different parts of the world should feel united. For instance, in Tamilnadu various Tamil writers from various parts write different Tamil; they speak different Tamil. Speaking differently or writing differently doesn't mean they are different. They all belong to the same Tamil writers family. Sri Lankan Tamil literature or 'Pulampeyarnthor Literature' or Singapore Tamil Literature or Malaysian Tamil Literature or Tamilnadu Tamil Literature all should be considered as part of the same Tamil Literature.

Contradictions always exist. They shouldn't be antagonistic, instead they should be friendly.There is a need for a serious literature. There is a need for a children literature. There is a need for magazines like kanaiyazhi or kalachchuvadu. At the same time for 'pamara makkal' there is a need for a news paper like Thinath Thanthi or magazine like Ranee. There is a need for 'Ampulimama' or Kokulam for kids.

If we understood this, there won't be any fighting among various literary groups. The purpose of the literature is for various reasons. It can be a guide; it can be an entertainment;..... it can be useful in various ways. For instance, during my past life, at various stages I was influenced by various writers and writings due to my age and my knowledge. Going through these different stages are necessarry for the growth. As a child no one can expected me to read Kafka. I had to reach certain level before I understood Kafka.

For me, all these different '...lisims' in literature are important and necessary for various reasons. Fighting against each literary concept is not a positive thing to do." Canadian Tamil Literature - V.N.Giritharan

The Roja Muthiah Research Library in Tamil Nadu (and in Chicago on micro film), has been described as "Roja Muthiah's attempt to capture the essence of his people". It contains more than 100,000 rare books as well as journals and newspapers, and thousands of clippings. The range of subject matter includes medicine, folklore, religion, cinema, and women's studies - and materials, such as theater playbills and popular songbooks. Most of the publications date from the later half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth.

The Jaffna Public Library in Tamil Eelam, which contained more than 95,000 books and journals, including valuable historic manuscripts was burned down by Sinhala police in 1981. It was an act of cultural genocide which served to consolidate the togetherness of the Tamil people - albeit, in pain and anguish. To many thousands of Tamils it served as a Konstradt. Karthigesu Sivathamby has made an authoritative study of Eelam Tamil literature during the past fifty years.

Today, the growing number of websites devoted to Tamil language and literature, are a reflection not only of the deep and sturdy roots of the Tamil language, but also of the growing and deep felt need of Tamils, living everywhere, to go back to those roots - in search of their own identity in an emerging post modern world. Some may give expression to this need in English (because their early education as a result of foreign rule, was largely in English), but Tamil remains a part of their being - and has something to do with the way in which they 'segment' and 'see' the world.

" எமக்கு எம் மொழியைப்போல் வேறொன்றும் இல்லை. எம்மை நாம் அறிவதற்கான மார்க்கமே எமது மொழி. அதுவே யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர் என்ற தமிழ் செய்யும் வாழ்விற்கு ஆதாரம். அதுவே எம் உரிமைச் செம் பயிருக்கு வேர். " M.Thanapalasingham on Language & Nation

Ancient Tamil Script at Thanjavur

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