April 03, 2010

WORLD CLASSICAL TAMIL

CONFERENCE – A PERSPECTIVE
Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Although Tamil and a few other languages such as Greek, Latin and Sanskrit enjoy the status
of classical language in the academic world thanks to their antiquity and rich literary
heritage, Tamil is the first living language to be given the official status of a classical
language.

— Photo: A. Rajesh

He wrote the theme song for which A.R. Rahman composed the music.

O
ur sagacious leader, Arignar Anna [C.N. Annadurai],
conducted the Second World Tamil Conference in
Chennai in 1968, during his tenure as Chief Minister
of Tamil Nadu, on a very grand scale with the participation of
lakhs of Tamils from all over the country and abroad. The First
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World Tamil Conference, held in Kuala Lumpur in 1966, the

Third in Paris (1970), the Fourth in Jaffna (1974), the Fifth at
Madurai (1981), the Sixth again in Kuala Lumpur (1987), the
Seventh in Mauritius (1989), and the Eighth in Thanjavur (1995)
were, relatively speaking, on a moderate scale.

Following our success in getting the rightful status of Classical

Language for Tamil declared and notified by the United
Progressive Alliance government – a landmark achievement in
the development of Tamil and in the restoration of its prestige
and glory – succeeding in our efforts to establish the Central
Institute of Classical Tamil in Chennai, and facilitating the
award of the President's ‘Kuralpeeda Award' and ‘Tholkappiar
Award' on nationally and internationally renowned Tamil
scholars, we thought it fit to conduct the first World Classical
Tamil Conference. We decided to hold it for five days from the
23rd to the 27th of June 2010 at Coimbatore in a grand
manner.

Demand for classical status

For more than 150 years, Tamil scholars and those conscious of
their Tamil heritage have been demanding that the classical
character of Tamil be recognised. They claimed that Tamil has
rich and hoary literary and grammatical traditions, its own
script system, and an unbroken lengthy history. In addition, the
language has continuously been a spoken language at least for
more than 2,000 years in Tamil Nadu. It has essentially kept its
age-old character intact, even though it is an effective modern
language.
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The demand for classical status arose in the context of the
British Indian administration treating Sanskrit, Persian, and
Arabic as classical languages and making special provisions
and support mechanisms for the learning and development of
these languages. The demand arose also in the context of the
strong Tamil tradition and tendency, even now easily
discernible, to maintain its own distinct character through
various linguistic, literary, religious, anthropological,
sociological, cultural, and architectural means and
contributions.

In recent years, George Hart, Professor of Tamil Studies at the

University of California, Berkeley, reiterated with sound
arguments the demand that Tamil should be declared or
recognised as a classical language. He wrote in 2000: “First,
Tamil is of considerable antiquity. Second, Tamil constitutes the
only literary tradition indigenous to India that is not derived
from Sanskrit. Third, the quality of classical Tamil literature is
such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of
Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic.”

Dr. Robert Caldwell (1814-1891) established beyond the pale of

controversy the reality of the Dravidian family of languages and
the high antiquity of Tamil. According to him, it is the most
highly cultivated of all Dravidian idioms; it can dispense with its
Sanskrit altogether, if need be, and not only stand alone but
also flourish without its aid.

Caldwell's study provided the base for the formation of the Pure
Tamil Movement, founded by the great Tamil savant,
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Parithimaal Kalaignar (V.G. Suryanarayana Sastri), a Professor

of Tamil at the Madras Christian College. He first gave the
clarion call to recognise Tamil as a classical language. His view
was further nurtured by the renowned scholars, Maraimalai
Adigal (1876-1950) and Devaneya Paavanar, who opined that
Tamil was the primary classical language of the world.

In 1918, the Saiva Siddhanta Samajam passed a resolution

demanding that the University of Madras grant classical
language status to Tamil. This was done at the initiative of
Maraimalai Adigal, Professor of Tamil at the Madras Christian
College, and a proponent of the Pure Tamil Movement, whose
original name was Vedachalam. Two years later, the Thanjavur-
based Karanthai Tamil Sangam petitioned the university to
raise the status issue with the provincial government. After
that, not much was heard of the demand for a long time.

The 1970s again saw a champion of the cause in Manavai

Mustafa, then Editor of UNESCO Courier (Tamil). But he did not
have much organisational backing. Since 1975 he has been
writing consistently in newspapers and magazines pressing the
demand. Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran asked him to send
a petition detailing how Tamil qualified to claim the status.

Mustafa said it took him two years to collect the necessary

data, which included the features a language should have to
qualify for classical status. He presented a petition to the Chief
Minister in 1982, but no action was taken. Years later, he said,
he learnt that the petition was rejected by a top government
official on the ground that if Tamil was given the status on a
par with Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, which are no more spoken
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languages, Tamil would also be considered a `dead' language.

Movement gains momentum

The movement to classify Tamil as a classical language gained

momentum about ten years ago when major political parties
took up the issue. A few months before the 1996 general
elections, the DMK adopted a resolution at its Tiruchi
conference demanding that Tamil be made one of the official
languages of the Union government. The demand was also
included in the DMK's manifesto for the Assembly elections
held along with the general elections.

In 1998, when the BJP captured power at the Centre, many

academics felt that the BJP-led government, which declared
1999 as Sanskrit Year and caused a flow of funds to universities
and Sanskrit organisations, was not keen on giving classical
status to Tamil. The DMK, as a constituent in the government,
pressed Tamil's case. It organised hunger strikes and
demonstrations and thousands of people courted arrest.

The DMK conference at Villupuram also adopted a resolution to

that effect. Its election manifesto for the 2004 Lok Sabha
elections stated: “The DMK will continue to insist on the
declaration of Tamil as a Classical Language as it would enable
the allocation of funds for Tamil research by the Central
government and would also facilitate Tamil research in various
universities in India and abroad.”

The DMK-led alliance swept the polls and the DMK became an
important constituent of the UPA government formed at the
Centre. We could get this demand included in the National
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Common Minimum Programme. In the very first joint session of

Parliament in June 2004, the declaration of Tamil as a Classical
Language by President APJ Abdul Kalam, a Tamil scholar
himself, was not just symbolic. It was a victory for Indian
democracy and the federal polity as well.

On September 17, 2004, Information and Broadcasting Minister

S. Jaipal Reddy announced that the government's decision to
accord classical language status was taken on the
recommendation of an Expert Committee of the Sahitya
Akademi that a category of “classical languages” be created.
Since Tamil fulfilled the set of criteria the Committee had
evolved, it won the honour of being the first to get into this
prestigious category. Although Tamil and a few other languages
such as Greek, Latin and Sanskrit enjoy the status of classical
language in the academic world thanks to their antiquity and
rich literary heritage, Tamil is the first living language to be
given the official status of a classical language.

On October 12, 2004, the UPA government issued a notification

declaring Tamil as a classical language. Thus Tamil won the
distinction of being the first classical language declared by the
independent Government of India.

I expressed my overwhelming feeling of joy at the DMK

conference in Tiruchi on March 5, 2006, in the presence of
Congress president Thirumathi Sonia Gandhi. I said the letter
she wrote to me about the decision was not just a letter but an
ageless copperplate. She had stated in her letter of November
8, 2005: “Dear Thiru Karunanidhiji, I have received your letter
of 28th October. I am glad that all the formalities for declaring
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Tamil as a Classical Language have now been completed. This

is an achievement for all the constituents of the UPA
Government, but particular credit goes to you and your Party.
With Regards, Yours sincerely, Sonia Gandhi.”

The century-old dream of Tamils turned true and the first part
of the history of classical language came to an end. I wrote a
series of epistles to my party brethren under the heading
‘Some pages in the history of Classical Language' in our party
organ Murasoli, explaining the historical development of the
demand for classical status for Tamil and the stalwarts and
scholars who contributed to it.

Significance of conference logo

The image of Thiruvalluvar's statue in Kanyakumari, being

lashed by waves caused by the tsunami and encircled by seven
icons from the Indus Valley Civilisation, forms part of the logo
of the World Classical Tamil Conference. The logo emphasises
the ideal of humankind, that it should always be free of narrow
walls of race, creed, and caste. The message is found in a palm
leaf manuscript at the bottom of the statue. This concept
(“pirapokkum ella uyirkkum” = All living humans are one in
circumstances of birth) has been declared to be the motto of
the meet. The Indus Valley Civilisation icons, found in the logo,
symbolise the Dravidian civilisation, which is regarded as the
most ancient civilisation of the world. The number of icons
stresses the importance of ‘seven' in the lives of Tamils.

Theme song
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I wrote the theme song for the Conference, which has been set
to tune by Oscar and Grammy Award winner A.R. Rahman. The
DVD was made by leading film director Gautham Menon.

The World Classical Tamil Conference will be inaugurated by

President Pratibha Patil in the forenoon of June 23, 2010. The
Governor of Tamil Nadu, Thiru Surjit Singh Barnala, and
scholars like Professor George Hart, Dr. V.C. Kulandaisamy, and
Dr.K. Sivathamby will participate in the inaugural function,
which I will preside over.

The “Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award” will be

presented to the world renowned Indologist, Dr. Asko Parpola of
Finland, for his magnum opus, Deciphering the Indus Script
(1994), proposing Dravidian as the language of the Indus
Script, close to old Tamil. This Award has been instituted by the
Central Institute of Classical Tamil making use of the
endowment created by me from my personal contribution of
Rs.1 crore.

Academic sessions

The Conference will feature comprehensive academic sessions

in which research papers in Tamil language, literature, culture,
and so on will be presented by scholars and researchers. As
many as 1,020 delegates from 49 countries have registered for
participation at the conference. They will present their papers
on various subjects under 55 titles.

General sessions for the public

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The general sessions will have various literary programmes to
benefit and attract the public. The public will get an opportunity
to listen to presentations on classical Tamil in the form of
various programmes like literary speeches, poetry sessions,
and scholarly debates by renowned personalities. We expect
thousands of people to attend these sessions. Further, dance
operas, music performances, and so on will be organised in the
evenings to showcase Tamil culture to the delegates and the
general public.

Exhibition on Classical Tamil

A grand exhibition is being organised for the World Classical

Tamil Conference. There will be exhibits depicting Tamil arts,
culture, language, literature, and the history of Tamil. The
exhibition will present objects of pottery, figurines, bricks, and
seals, bathtubs etc., which were excavated from the Indus
Valley apart from Chola bronzes, stone inscriptions, and statues
from various ages.

Pageantry procession

A massive pageantry procession will be organised on June 23,

the day of inauguration. It will cover 9 km. from VOC grounds in
the heart of the city of Coimbatore to CODISSIA grounds, the
venue of the Conference. The procession will have 40 floats
displaying paintings and models of sculptures depicting the
glory of Tamil culture. The floats will portray rare and
resplendent scenes from the ancient Sangam classics and
reflect the richness of the Tamil people and their culture. What
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is more, 40 cultural troupes consisting of 2,000 artistes will
participate in the procession.

Tamil Internet Conference

Another unique aspect will be the Tamil Internet Conference

2010, which the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to hold
alongside the first World Classical Tamil Conference. The
objectives of the former are to showcase the development of
Tamil Internet up to the present time and to identify the steps
needed to increase the use of the Tamil language on the
Internet; to establish a wide network between Tamil literary
scholars and Tamil Internet developers; and to motivate the
younger generation to use Tamil on the Internet.

We expect about 350 special invitees, speakers, delegates, and

experts from 15 countries to participate in the Tamil Internet
Conference. A “Tamil Computing Internet Exhibition” is being
organised as an interactive module to expose and explain the
latest developments and technology in Tamil Internet to
common folk.

Much thought and consultation has gone into formulating the

programmes of this specialised Conference. I am confident it
will take Tamil to the 21st Century, based on its requirements
and having in mind the rapid developments in science and
technology, information technology, linguistics, anthropology,
epigraphy, and other fields of knowledge.

© The Hindu. 2010

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