Milestones in Tamil History UNESCO Courier, March, 1984 "..The
History of Tamil Nadu begins with the 3 kingdoms,
Chera,
Chola and
Pandya, which are referred to in documents of the 3rd century BC.
Some of the kings of these dynasties are mentioned in
Sangam Literature
and the age between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD is called
the Sangam Age. At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Pallavas
established their rule with
Kanchipuram as their capital...In the middle of the 9th
century a Chola ruler established what was to become one of India's most
outstanding empires on account of its administrative achievements
(irrigation, village development) and its contributions to art and
literature. The Age of the Cholas is considered the golden age of Tamil
history."
Maraimalai Atigal and the Genealogy of the Tamilian Creed -
Ravi Vaitheespara Comment by
tamilnation.org "Dr.
Ravi Vaitheespara's study is essential reading for all those
concerned to further their understanding of
Tamil nationalism and its future direction. It was Mao Tse
Tung who said somewhere that theory is a practical thing.
Mao was right."
Literary History in Tamil - Karthigesu Sivathamby, 1986
"Literature... creates the mode of consciousness and this
can in a historical perspective become an indicator of
national consciousness... In fact consciousness of the
literary heritage was a cause and an index of Tamilian
nationality consciousness... "
Tamils & the Meaning of History - Dr Hellmann-Rajanayagam,
1996 "..And that leads us to the final question,
whether, if this was the case, the Tamils in Ceylon were not
really somewhat unique, different from those in India, the
close proximity notwithstanding, whether the undoubted fact
of their political autonomy had not generated a degree of
cultural, religious and linguistic independence as well, but
an independence which has become, in the late 20th century,
extremely limiting and downright dangerous. There have
been attempts to reverse this trend: Followers of
Arumuka Nåvalar's religious tradition always saw
India and Jaffna as one and unseparated and stressed the
unity. The dilemma of being torn between South India and
Jaffna is most evident in the writings and ideology of the
militants for whom India again became the vanishing point
when things in Jaffna got too hot, in the good old
tradition, but who now have changed their song again and
consider themselves as primarily belonging to Sri Lanka.
That is the dilemma of the Jaffna Tamils..."
“We should write the people’s
history of the northeast. It is important to discover and
publish old palm leaf manuscripts such as ‘Mattakkalappu
Poorva Sariththiram’ (Ancient History of Batticaloa) to
bring out the history of the communities that live in this
region. We have to search and preserve valuable primary
sources of our history”, Prof. S. Mounaguru, former
Dean of Fine Arts, Eastern University, Tamil Eelam
யாழ்பாணப்
பாரம்பரியம்
Jaffna Heritage - Traditional Buildings of Jaffna -
R.Mayuranathan - "On studying the various
civilizations of the world we come to know their
architectural heritage their temples, tombs, palaces, and
other public buildings which can be considered as the
products of high civilizations. Although these buildings
reflect the technological developments and the economic and
social power of the ruling elite of the respective periods,
they rarely have any relevance to the culture and the
economic realities of the majority common masses. Domestic
houses and other smaller buildings of the ordinary people
reflect the soul of the common man's culture, as these
building types had evolved in the respective communities for
longer periods through trial and error and generally retain
the basic characteristics unchanged for longer time . The
above characteristics make these buildings as potential
sources for information relevant to longer period back in
history...Traditional buildings of Jaffna are potential
sources of essential information about the life and history
of the community in which these were evolving for several
hundreds of years..."
more
"...
தமிழ் இன்று அதன் எல்லைகளைத் தாண்டி கண்டங்களையும் கடல்களையும் தாண்டி
தேசங்களைக் கடந்த தேசியமாக பர்ணமித்துள்ளது.... நாம் எங்கும்
சிறகுடன் பறந்தாலும் தமிழுக்கென, தமிழருக்கென ஒரு நாடு மலர்ந்திட காலம்தோறும், தேசம்தோறும்
தமிழ்செய்வோம்.."
M.Thanapalasingham
The
Tamils are an ancient people. Their history had its beginnings in the rich
alluvial plains near the southern extremity of peninsular India which included
the land mass known as the island of Sri Lanka today. The island's plant and
animal life (including the presence of elephants) evidence the earlier land
connection with the Indian sub continent. So too do satellite photographs which
show the submerged 'land bridge' between Dhanuskodi on the south east of the
Indian sub-continent and Mannar in the north west of the island.
Some researchers have concluded that it was during the period 6000 B.C. to
3000 B.C. that the island separated from the Indian sub continent and the narrow
strip of shallow water known today as the Palk Straits
(named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras Presidency (1755-1763)
under the British Raj) came into existence.
View of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu from Talaimannar in Tamil Eelam
Many
Tamils trace their origins to the people of
Mohenjodaro in the Indus Valley around 6000 years before the birth of
Christ. There is, however, a need for further systematic study of the
history of the early Tamils and proto Tamils.
"Dravidians, whose descendents still live in Southern India, established
the first city communities, in the Indus valley, introduced irrigation
schemes, developed pottery and evolved a well ordered system of government."
(Reader's Digest Great World Atlas, 1970)
Clyde Ahmad Winters, who has written
extensively on Dravidian origins commented:
"Archaeological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Dravidians
were the founders of the Harappan culture which extended from the Indus
Valley through northeastern Afghanistan, on into Turkestan. The Harappan
civilization existed from 2600-1700 BC. The Harappan civilization was twice
the size the Old Kingdom of Egypt. In addition to trade relations with
Mesopotamia and Iran, the Harappan city states also had active trade
relations with the Central Asian peoples."
He has also explored the question whether the Dravidians were of African
origin. (Winters, Clyde Ahmad, "Are Dravidians of African Origin", P.Second
ISAS,1980 - Hong Kong:Asian Research Service, 1981 - pages 789- 807) Other useful web pages on the Indus civilisation (suggested by
Dr.Jude Sooriyajeevan of the National Research Council, Canada)
include the
Indus Dictionary.
Professor Klaus Klostermaier in 'Questioning the Aryan Invasion Theory and
Revising Ancient Indian History' commented:
"India had a tradition of learning and scholarship much older and vaster
than the European countries that, from the sixteenth century onwards, became
its political masters. Indian scholars are rewriting the history of India
today. One of the major points of revision concerns the so called 'Aryan
invasion theory', often referred to as 'colonial-missionary', implying that
it was the brainchild of conquerors of foreign colonies who could not but
imagine that all higher culture had to come from outside 'backward' India,
and who likewise assumed that a religion could only spread through a
politically supported missionary effort.
While not buying into the more sinister version of this
revision, which accuses the inventors of the Aryan invasion theory of malice
and cynicism, there is no doubt that early European attempts to explain the
presence of Indians in India had much to with the commonly held Biblical
belief that humankind originated from one pair of humans - Adam and Eve to be
precise ..."
"Although lacking supporting scientific evidence, this (Aryan Invasion)
theory, and the alleged Aryan-Dravidian racial split, was accepted and
promulgated as fact for three main reasons. It provided a convenient
precedent for Christian British subjugation of India. It reconciled ancient
Indian civilisation and religious scripture with the 4000 bce Biblical date
of Creation. It created division and conflict between the peoples of India,
making them vulnerable to conversion by Christian missionaries."
"Scholars today of both East and West believe the Rig Veda people who
called themselves Aryan were indigenous to India, and there never was an
Aryan invasion. The languages of India have been shown to share common
ancestry in ancient Sanskrit and Tamil. Even these two apparently unrelated
languages, according to current "super-family" research, have a common
origin: an ancient language dubbed Nostratic."
"... From the evidence of words in use amongst the early Tamils, we learn
the following items of information. They had 'kings' who dwelt in 'strong
houses' and ruled over 'small districts of country'. They had 'minstrels',
who recited 'songs' at 'festivals', and they seem to have had alphabetical
'characters' written with a style on Palmyra leaves. A bundle of those
leaves was called 'a book'; they acknowledged the existence of God, whom
they styled as ko, or King.... They erected to his honour a 'temple', which
they called Ko-il, God's-house.
They had 'laws' and 'customs'... Marriage existed among them. They were
acquainted with the ordinary metals... They had 'medicines', 'hamlets' and
'towns', 'canoes', 'boats' and even 'ships' (small 'decked' coasting
vessels), no acquaintance with any people beyond the sea, except in Ceylon,
which was then, perhaps, accessible on foot at low water.. They were well
acquainted with agriculture.... All the ordinary or necessary arts of life,
including 'spinning', 'weaving' and 'dyeing' existed amongst them. They
excelled in pottery..." (Robert Caldwell:
Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages
- Second Edition 1875 - Reprinted by the University of Madras, 1961)
The Tamils were a sea faring people.
They traded with Rome in the days of Emperor Augustus. They sent ships to many
lands bordering the Indian Ocean and with the ships went traders, scholars, and
a way of life. Tamil inscriptions in Indonesia go back some two thousand years.
The oldest Sanskrit inscriptions belonging to the third century in Indo China
bear testimony to Tamil influence and until recent times Tamil texts were used
by priests in Thailand and Cambodia. The scattered elements of ruined temples of
the time of Marco Polo's visit to China in the 13th century give evidence of
purely Tamil structure and include Tamil inscriptions.
"Tamil Nadu, the home land of the Tamils, occupies the southern most region
of India. Traditionally, Thiruvenkatam - the abode of Sri Venkatewara and a
range of hills of the Eastern Ghats - formed the northern boundary of the
country and the Arabian sea line the western boundary. However as a result of
infiltrations, made by peoples from other territories, Tamil lost its ground in
the west as well as in the north. In medieval times, the country west of
the mountains, became Kerala and that in the north turned part of Andhra Desa.
Bounded by the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Desa, the Tamil Nadu of
the present day extends from Kanyakumari in the south to Tiruttani in the
North....
In
early times the
Pandyas, the
Cheras
and the
Cholas
held their pioneering sway over the country and extended their authority beyond
the traditional frontiers. As a result the Tamil Country served as the homeland
of extensive empires. It was during this period that the Tamil bards composed
the masterpieces in Tamil literature.
"In the first decade of the 14th century the rising tide of Afghan
imperialism swept over South India. The Tughlugs created a new province in the
Tamil Country called Mabar, with its capital at Madurai which in 1335 asserted
independence as the Sultanate of Madurai. After a short period of stormy
existence, it gave way to the Vijayanagar Empire... Since then, the Telegus, the
Brahminis, the Marathas and the Kannadins wrested possession of the territory.
Between 1798 and 1801, the country passed under the direct administration of the
English East India Company."
(History of Tamil Nadu 1565 - 1982:
Professor K.Rajayyan, Head of the School of Historical Studies, M.K.University,
Madurai - Raj Publishers, Madurai, 1982)
Today an estimated 80 million
Tamils live in many lands - more than 50 million Tamils live in Tamil Nadu
in South India and around 3 million reside in the island of Sri Lanka.
The response of a people to
invasion by aliens from a foreign land is a measure of the depth of their roots
and the strength of their identity. It was under British conquest that the Tamil
renaissance of the second half of the 19th century gathered momentum.
It was a renaissance which had its cultural beginnings in the discovery and
the subsequent editing and printing of the
Tamil classics of the Sangam period.
These had existed earlier only as palm leaf manuscripts.
Arumuga Navalar in Jaffna, in the island of Sri Lanka, published the
Thirukural in 1860 and
Thirukovaiyar
in 1861.
Thamotherampillai, who was born in Jaffna but who served in Madras,
published the grammatical treatise
Tolkapiyam by
collating material from several original ola leaf manuscripts.
It was on the foundations laid by
Arumuga Navalar and Thamotherampillai that
Swaminatha Aiyar, who was born in Tanjore, in South India, put together the
classics of Tamil literature of the Sangam period. Swaminatha Aiyar spent a
lifetime researching and collecting many of the palm leaf manuscripts of the
classical period and it is to him that we owe the publication of
Cilapathikaram,
Manimekali,
Puranuru,
Civakachintamani and many other treatises which are a part of the
rich literary heritage of the Tamil people.
Another Tamil from Jaffna,
Kanagasabaipillai served at Madras University and his book 'Tamils -
Eighteen Hundred Years Ago' reinforced the historical togetherness of the Tamil
people and was a valuable source book for researchers in Tamil studies in the
succeeding years. It was a Tamil cultural renaissance in which the contributions
of the scholars of Jaffna and those of South India are difficult to separate.
Again, not surprisingly, it was a renaissance which was also linked with a
revived interest in Saivaism and a growing recognition that Saivaism was the
original religion of the Tamil people. Arumuga Navalar established schools in
Jaffna, in Sri Lanka and in Chidambaram, in South India and his work led to the
formation of the Saiva Paripalana Sabai in Jaffna in 1888, the publication of
the Jaffna Hindu Organ in 1889 and the founding of the
Jaffna Hindu College in 1890.
In South India, J.M.Nallaswami Pillai, who was born in Trichinopoly,
published Meykandar's Sivajnana Bodham in English in 1895 and in 1897, he
started a monthly called Siddhanta Deepika which was regarded by many as
reflecting the 19th century ' renaissance of Saivaism'. A Tamil version of the
journal was edited by Maraimalai Atikal whose writings gave a new sense of
cohesion to the Tamil people - a cohesion which was derived from the rediscovery
of their ancient literature and the rediscovery of their ancient religion.
The cultural renaissance of the 19th century led to an increasing Tamil
togetherness and was linked with the thrust for social reform and political
power - a thrust which at the same time, sought to marry a rising Tamil
togetherness with the immediate and larger struggle for freedom from British
rule.
In South India, no one exemplified the marriage of this duality more
effectively than
Subramania Bharathy whose songs in Tamil stirred the hearts of millions of
Tamils, both as Tamils and as Indians. The words of Bharathy's Senthamil Nadu
Enum Pothinale, continue to move the hearts of the Tamil people today. It was
his salute to the Tamil nation that was yet unborn. His Viduthalai was the
joyous song of Indian freedom and there he reached out beyond the Tamil nation
to the day when Bharat would be free.
Bharathy sought to consolidate the togetherness of his own people by his
ceaseless campaign against casteism and for women's rights. The Bharathy birth
centenary celebrations of 1982 served to underline the permanent place that
Bharathy will always have in the hearts of the Tamil people, whether they be
from Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eelam, Malaysia, Singapore or elsewhere.
Two other Tamils will be always associated with the rise of Tamil national
consciousness in the first two decades of the 20th century - lawyer, Tamil
scholar and revolutionary,
V.V.S.Aiyar and the Swadeshi steam ship hero,
Kappal Otiya Thamilan,
V.O.Chidambram Pillai.
Aiyar was a lawyer who joined Grays Inn in London to
become a barrister but became a revolutionary instead.
Later, he wrote many books in Tamil and in English and is
regarded by many as the father of the modern Tamil short
story. He was a pioneer in Tamil literary criticism. His
major works included a translation of the
Thirukural and 'Kamba
Ramayanam - A Study'.
In the years after the first World War,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi reached out to the underlying unity of India and
sought to weld together the many peoples of the Indian subcontinent into a
larger whole. But the attempt did not entirely succeed. The assessment of
Pramatha Chauduri who wrote in Bengali in 1920 was not without significance:
"...You have accused me of 'Bengali patriotism'. I feel bound to reply. If
its a crime for a Bengali to harbour and encourage Bengali patriotism in his
mind, then I am guilty "But I ask you, what other patriotism do you expect
from a Bengali writer? The fact that I do not write in English should
indicate that non Bengali patriotism does not sway my mind. If I had to make
patriotic speeches in a language that is the language of no part of India,
then I would have had to justify that patriotism by saying it does not
relate to any special part of India as a whole. In a language learnt by rote
you can only express ideas learnt by heart.
... The
whole of India is now under British
rule...therefore, the main link between us is
the link of bondage and no province can cut
through this subjugation by its own efforts and
actions...So today we are obliged to tell the
people of India, 'Unite and Organise'... People will recognise the value of
provincial patriotism the moment they attain
independence...Then the various nations of India
will not try to merge, they will try to
establish a unity amongst themselves... To be
united due to outside pressure and to unite
through mutual regard are not the same. Just as
there is a difference between the getting
together of five convicts in a jail and between
five free men... Indian patriotism then
will be built on the foundation of provincial
patriotism, not just in words but in reality..."(Pramatha
Chaudhuri: Bengali Patriotism - Sabuj Patra
1920, translated and reprinted in Facets,
September 1982)
In
Madras Presidency, which was the largest province of British India, and
which included parts of that which is Andhra,
Karnataka and
Kerala today, the
Suya Mariyathai Iyakam (Self Respect Movement) of
E.V.Ramasamy
(Periyar) started initially, in the early 1920s, as a social reform movement
aimed at a casteless society. It later developed into a vehicle for a rising
Tamil nationalism.
"The Tamil Renaissance took place at the same time as the (Indian) Nationalist
Movement. The outcome of this interaction of the renaissance and the
Nationalist Movement was the genesis of a consciousness of a separate
identity resulting in Dravidian Nationalism.... In philology the term
'Dravidian' was used to denote a group a group of languages mainly spoken in
South India, namely, Tamil Telegu, Kannada and Malayalam. Later when the
term was extended to denote a race, again it denoted the peoples speaking
these four languages. But in South Indian politics as well as in general
usage since the beginning of this century the term 'Dravidian' came to
denote the 'Tamils' only and not the other three language speaking peoples.
... Hence it may be observed that the terms 'Tamil Nationalism' and
'Dravidian Nationalism' were synonymous" -
K.Nambi
Arooran - Tamil Renaissance and Dravidian Nationalism, Koodal Publishers,
Madurai, 1980
The establishment of Annamalai University in Chidambaram and later the Tamil
Isai Sangam in Madras were manifestations of a rising Tamil self consciousness.
The students at Annamalai University were to become influential political
leaders of the Tamil people in the years to come.
As early as 1926, Sankaran Nair, a nominated member of the Council of
State in Delhi, pleaded for self government to the ten Tamil districts of the
Madras Presidency, with its own army, navy and airforce.
Scholar politician V. Kaliyanasundarar writing in 1929 urged that Tamil Nadu
constituted a nation within the Indian state. He declared that the correct
English translation of the word Nadu was nation and not land and pointed out
that the early Tamils had their own government, language, culture and historical
traditions. (V.Kaliyanasundarar, Tamil Cholai, Volume 1, Madras 1954)
In 1937, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy took over the leadership of the South Indian
Liberal Federation, commonly called the Justice Party.
At the Justice Party confederation held in Madras in 1938, Periyar Ramasamy
put forward his demand for Dravidanad. This was two years before Mohamed Ali
Jinnah set out the formal demand for Pakistan at the Lahore conference. In 1944,
the Justice party changed its name to Dravida Kalagam and
C.N.Annadurai
functioned as its first General Secretary.
These early manifestations of a Tamil national consciousness influenced
Tamils outside India as well. Periyar visited
Malaysia in 1929, and his visit led to a proliferation of Tamil
associations, dedicated to religious and social reform - associations which were
often led by journalists and teachers. The writings of Annadurai and other
leaders of the Dravida Kalagam were avidly read by ordinary Tamils and marked a
watershed in the literary heritage of the Tamil people .
But, in the end, Periyar E.V.Ramasamy, the undoubted father of the Dravidian
movement failed to deliver on the promise of Dravida Nadu. E.V.R. failed where
Mohamed Ali Jinnah
succeeded. It is true that the strategic considerations of the ruling colonial
power were different in each case - and this had something to do with Jinnah’s
success. But, nevertheless, if ideology is concerned with moving a people to
action, the question may well be asked: why did E.V.R’s ideology fail to deliver
Dravida Nadu?
Two aspects may be usefully considered. One was the attempt of
the Dravida movement to encompass Tamils, Malayalees, Kannadigas and all
Dravidians and mobilise them behind the demand for Dravida Nadu. Unsurprisingly,
the attempt to mobilise across what were in fact separate national formations
failed to take off.
It was one thing to found a movement which rejected casteism. It
was quite another thing, to mobilise peoples, speaking different languages with
different historical memories, into an integrated political force in support of
the demand for Dravida Nadu.
At the same time, the Aryan/Dravidian divide propagated by
German scholars such as Max Weber, encouraged by the British, and espoused by
E.V.R. paid insufficient attention to the underlying links that the Tamil people
had with the other nations of the Indian sub continent.
That was not all. E.V.R extended his attack on casteism to an
attack on Hinduism - and indeed to all religions as well. Periyar E.V.R threw
out the Hindu child with the Brahmin bath water.
E.V.R was
right to extol the virtues of pahuth arivu, common sense. He was right to
attack mooda nambikai, foolish faith. His rationalism was often a refreshing
response to religious dogma and superstition in a quasi feudal society. His attack on casteism, his social
reform movement and his Self Respect Movement in the 1920s infused a new
dignity, thanmaanam, amongst the Tamil people and laid the foundations on which
Tamil nationalism has grown.
".. Periyar's Dravidianisin,
which was but Tamil nationalism, has to be seen as a response to the
homogenising drives of the Brahmin-Bania combine which, Periyar judged rightly,
would shape the new Indian nation-state. Periyar opposed to the coopting logic
of Brahminism and the centralizing dynamic of the modern nation-state, the notion
of a free and rational Tamil society that would in time evolve into a Tamil
nation..." Interrogating 'India' - a Dravidian Viewpoint - V.Geetha and S.V.Rajadurai
But, having said that, the refusal of EVR to recognise that
casteism was one thing, Hinduism another and spiritualism, perhaps, yet another,
proved fatal. His belligerent atheism failed to move the Tamil people. In the
result even within Tamil Nadu, EVR's Dravida Kalagam became marginalised, and
the DMK which was an offshoot of the Dravida Kalagam and the ADMK which was an
offshoot of the DMK, both found it necessary to play down the anti religious
line and adopt instead a ‘secular’ face. One consequence of EVR’s atheism was
that spirituality in Tamil Nadu came to be exploited as the special preserve of
those who were opposed to the growth of Tamil nationalism.
"... The
cultural nationalist agenda of the
Dravidian parties, and its moral claims for social justice for the common people
(to be achieved by modest redistribution, or ‘sharing’ through welfare
programmes rather than by changing the distribution of assets),
was immensely successful... Culture war, in other words, is class war by other means: the one is
a displacement of the other’. ..but the non-Brahmin category proved
too amorphous to become the basis of an enduring cleavage... The dividing
lines between individual backward castes and between the
‘backward’ castes and the scheduled castes create divisions
that are salient in the everyday experience of the
majority of the population, and this makes broader
categories, such as that of the backward castes, difficult
to invoke as the basis of political action..." The
Changing Politics of Tamil Nadu in the 1990s - John Harriss
and Andrew Wyatt
Support for the positive contributions that E.V.R. made in the
area of social reform and to rational thought, should not prevent an examination
of where it was that he went wrong. Again, it may well be that E.V.R.
represented a necessary phase in the struggle of the Tamil people and given the
objective conditions of the 1920s and 1930s, E.V.R was right to focus sharply on
the immediate contradiction posed by 'upper' caste dominance and mooda nambikai.
But in the 21st century, there may be a need to learn from E.V.R. - and not
simply repeat that which he said or did.
It is not surprising that in Tamil Nadu poverty and corruption continue to
weaken confidence in existing political structures.
"As programmes and reforms failed... repression appeared as the direct
method of dealing with peasant unrest. Between 1975 and 1982, the police
forces launched a series of operations against the Naxals. Either in what
was called encounters or under police custody nineteen young men died and
about 250 people were jailed. The green turbanned peasants led by
Narayanaswamy Naidu launched agitations in 1972 and 1980. In Coimbatore,
Dharmapuri, South Arcot and Madurai there were serious disturbances..
Between 1972 and 1982 fifty four peasants were killed in police firings and
more than 25,000 were taken into custody." (History of Tamil Nadu 1565 -
1982: Professor K.Rajayyan, Head of the School of Historical Studies,
M.K.University, Madurai - Raj Publishers, Madurai, 1982)
"India's Tamilians have always considered themselves a distinct race. Distinct
from the Aryans who, history tells us, displaced their Dravidian ancestors after
the conquest of the Indus-Valley civilizations. The Tamil language and script
are perhaps of greater antiquity than Sanskrit and have remained largely free of
its influence. Not to speak of Tamil literature which may be the richest India
has to offer, both in depth and scope.
Which is why Tamilians break into
passionate protest when any Tamilian anywhere be perceived
as being under siege. Sri Lanka offering a prime example, as
well as the situation of Tamilians in Malysia. So, would it be right to infer that Tamilian civilizational homogeneity brooks
no breach? Wrong.... Interestingly, Tamil Nadu is governed by a largely
(Other Backward Classes) OBC-led
formation—intermediate social castes who vanquished the caste oppression of the
Tamil Brahmins during the social reform agitations led by Periyar and Annadurai,
mentors of the current leadership.Yet, such is India's social reality that those who fought and defeated
Brahminism seem at best lukewarm in defeating caste oppression of the Pillai
OBCs in Uthapuram against fellow dalit Tamils.."
In the island of Sri Lanka, the national identity of
the Tamil people grew through a process of opposition to and differentiation
from the Buddhist Sinhala people. The
Sinhala people trace their origins in the island to the arrival of Prince Vijaya
from India, around 500 B.C. and the Mahavamsa, the Sinhala chronicle of a
later period (6th Century A.D.) records that Prince Vijaya arrived on the island
on the same day that the Buddha attained Enlightenment in India. However, the
words of the Sinhala historian and Cambridge scholar, Paul Peiris represent an
influential and common sense point of view:
"..it stands to reason that a country which was only thirty
miles from India and which would have been seen by Indian fisherman every
morning as they sailed out to catch their fish, would have been occupied as
soon as the continent was peopled by men who understood how to sail... Long
before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, there were in Sri Lanka five recognised
isvarams of Siva which claimed and received the adoration of all India.
These were Tiruketeeswaram near Mahatitha; Munneswaram dominating Salawatte
and the pearl fishery; Tondeswaram near Mantota; Tirkoneswaram near the
great bay of Kottiyar and Nakuleswaram near Kankesanturai. " (Paul E.
Pieris: Nagadipa and Buddhist Remains in Jaffna : Journal of Royal Asiatic
Society, Ceylon Branch Vol.28)
The Tamil people and the Sinhala people were brought within the
confines of a single state by the British. The struggle for freedom from British
colonial rule, did lead Tamil leaders such as
Ponnambalam Ramanathan and
Ponnambalam
Arunachalam to work together with their Sinhala counterparts in the Ceylon
National Congress. But it was largely a dialogue between the English speaking
Tamil middle class and its English speaking Sinhala counterpart.
Professor Kailasapathy in a
paper presented at a Social Scientists Association Seminar in Colombo,
traced the growth of Tamil consciousness in Eelam from the time of British
rule, through independence and upto 1979. The paper affords many insights into
the continuing growth of Tamil Consciousness today, not only in Eelam but in the
Tamil diaspora as well:
"Both the reformers and the revivalists came from the Hindu upper castes,
but while the former were not only English educated but also used that
language for their livelihood and for acquiring social status, the latter
were primarily traditional in their education and used their mother tongue
for their livelihood and social communication.. .most of them wrote in
English... In doing so they probably had a particular audience in mind, an
audience to whom they wanted to prove the antiquity and greatness of their
tradition...In contrast the revivalists were mainly highly erudite in their
mother tongue and wrote in it..."
The Pan Sinhala Executive Committee of the Ceylon State Council in 1936 and
the formation of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress led by
G.G.Ponnambalam
were some of the early manifestations of the growth of a separate Sinhala
nationalism and a separate Tamil nationalism in the political arena of the
island of Ceylon (as it then was known).
The 'thiyagam' of
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, gave poignant expression to the cultural
values of the Tamil people, rooted in the
Purananuru and
Cilapathikaram. At the same time, the armed resistance movement in Tamil
Eelam, also brought about a fundamental cultural transformation in Tamil
society. It helped to break down casteism among the Tamil people. It
helped to liberate Tamil women from the structures of oppression that had been
deeply embedded in sections of Tamil society - and help create the
Puthumai Penn that Bharathy had sung about.
"The historical storm of the liberation struggle is uprooting age old
traditions that took root over a long period of time in our society... The
ideology of women liberation is a child born out of the womb of our
liberation struggle... Our women are seeking liberation from the structures
of oppression deeply embedded in our society. This oppressive cultural
system and practices have emanated from age old ideologies and
superstitions. Tamil women are subjected to intolerable suffering as a
consequence of male chauvinistic oppression, violence and from the social
evils of casteism and dowry."
(Velupillai Pirabaharan,
1992, 1993)
That the armed resistance movement of the Tamil people should have originated
in Tamil Eelam and not in Tamil Nadu is not altogether surprising. It is the
nature of the discrimination and oppression which often determines the
nature of the response.
"Liberty is the life breath of a nation; and when life is attacked, when
it is sought to suppress all chance of breathing by violent pressure, then
any and every means of self preservation becomes right and justifiable...It
is the nature of the pressure which determines the nature of the
resistance." (Aurobindo
in Bande Mataram, 1907)
Suffering unites a people and the
suffering of the Tamil people in the island
of Sri Lanka, in their struggle for freedom and justice, has also served to
bring together the Tamils living in many lands.
Pongu Tamil Vizhas and
Maveerar Naals around the globe
have brought together Tamils who had originally come not only from Tamil Eelam
but also from Tamil Nadu - the Tamil homeland.
"...
தமிழ் இன்று அதன் எல்லைகளைத் தாண்டி கண்டங்களையும் கடல்களையும் தாண்டி
தேசங்களைக் கடந்த தேசியமாக பர்ணமித்துள்ளது.... நாம் எங்கும்
சிறகுடன் பறந்தாலும் தமிழுக்கென, தமிழருக்கென ஒரு நாடு மலர்ந்திட காலம்தோறும், தேசம்தோறும்
தமிழ்செய்வோம்.."
M.Thanapalasingham in காலம்தோறும் தமிழ்,
2009
Here, not many will question that the future of the Tamil nation is
interlinked with
the other nations of the Indian subcontinent. In 1973,
Kamil Zvebil, Professor in Tamil Studies at
Charles University, Prague wrote in 'The Poets and the Powers', of the Tamil
contribution in shaping and moulding the Indian synthesis :
Sylvain Levi George Coedes and La Valee Poissin wrote in the 'The
Indianisation of South East Asia' in 1975:
"Without being aware of it, India determined the history of a good
portion of mankind. She gave three quarters of Asia a God, a religion, a
doctrine, a art. She gave them her sacred language, literature and her
institutions... All the regions contributed to this expansion and
civilisation, but it was the South that played the greatest role."
"... Endless platitudes abound about (Indian) 'national unity' and
the catholicity and durability of 'Indian culture'... (but) our national
identity has not been forged through a definitive articulation of a
national-popular collective will as has been claimed... It seems urgent,
then, that we pose certain crucial and important questions about ourselves:
How are we a 'nation'? What are the historical and cultural markers of our
'nation-hood'? Is our national identity the product of a `national popular
will'?... The Indian state is of course determined to prevent these
questions from being asked. In this context it seems logical that we ask:
What is the 'Indian' nation we seek to preserve? These questions were posed
with great alacrity and boldness by the ideologues of the Dravidian movement
in Tamilnadu (among others) during the early decades of this century..." Interrogating 'India' - a Dravidian Viewpoint - V.Geetha and S.V.Rajadurai
The European Union is a pointer to the direction that the Indian 'Union'
will need to take if it is not to implode in the way that the Soviet Union
did in the 1990s. Peaceful evolution is necessary if bloody revolution is to be avoided. The
days of an Indian empire with a ruling Indira Gandhi - Rajiv
Gandhi - Sonia Gandhi - Rahul Gandhi dynasty presiding over a
caste riven quasi feudal society with an
English speaking elite are numbered.
"...India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says his country is losing the battle
against Maoist rebels. Mr Singh told a meeting of police chiefs (14 September
2009) from different
states that rebel violence was increasing and the Maoists' appeal was growing... The rebels operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand,
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and West
Bengal. In some areas they have virtually replaced the local government and are
able to mount spectacular attacks on government installations. "
India is 'losing
Maoist battle' says Indian Prime Minister, BBC Report, 15 September 2009
Arundhati Roy was right to point out in
2007 -
"..What we’re witnessing is the most successful secessionist struggle
ever waged in independent India — the secession of the middle and
upper classes from the rest of the country. It’s a vertical
secession, not a lateral one. They’re fighting for the right to
merge with the world’s elite somewhere up there in the stratosphere...
to equate a resistance movement fighting against enormous
injustice with the government which enforces that injustice is
absurd. The government has slammed the door in the face of every
attempt at non-violent resistance. When people take to arms,
there is going to be all kinds of violence — revolutionary, lumpen and
outright criminal. The government is responsible for the monstrous
situations it creates...There
is
a
civil war in Chhattisgarh sponsored, created by the Chhattisgarh
government, which is publicly pursing the Bush doctrine: if you’re
not with us, you are with the terrorists. The lynchpin of this war,
apart from the formal security forces, is the
Salva Judum — a government-backed militia of ordinary people forced to become spos
(special police officers). The Indian State has tried this in
Kashmir, in
Manipur,
in Nagaland.
Tens of thousands have been killed - thousands tortured, thousands have disappeared. Any
banana republic would be proud of this record. Now the government wants to import these failed strategies into the heartland... I have no doubt that the Maoists can be agents of terror and
coercion too. I have no doubt they have committed unspeakable
atrocities. I have no doubt they cannot lay claim to undisputed
support from local people — but who can? Still, no guerrilla army
can survive without local support. That’s a logistical
impossibility. And the support for Maoists is growing, not
diminishing. That says something. People have no choice but to align
themselves on the side of whoever they think is less worse.does this mean that people
whose dignity is being assaulted should give up the fight because
they can’t find saints to lead them into battle?. " 'It’s outright war and both sides are choosing their weapons'-
Arundhati Roy
March 2007
There is a compelling need for those concerned to preserve the Indian
'Union' to pay
renewed attention to that which
Pramatha Chauduri said many decades
ago -
"... As children, we read in the Hitopodesa that at
night birds from all directions would gather on a shimul tree on the
banks of the Godavari. Why? To cackle for a while and then go off to
sleep. Cackle in this context means to discuss the politics of the
birdworld. We, too, in this dark, night time of India's history go to
the Congress meet to cackle for three or four days and then snore. We
can cackle together because, thanks to the education conferred by the
British, we all have the same dialect. I am not saying that this dialect
is all that our lips utter or our minds. All I want to suggest is that
behind the Congress patriotism, there is only one kind of mind and that
mind is bred on English text books. We all have that kind of mind, but
under it is the mind which is individual for all nations and different
from nation to nation. And our civilisation will emerge from the depth
of that mind.
...It is not a bad thing to try and weld many into one but to
jumble them all up is dangerous, because the only way we can do
that is by force. If you say that this does not apply to India,
the reply is that if self determination is not suited to us,
then it is not suited at all to Europe. No people in Europe are
as different, one from another, as our people. There is not
that much difference between England and Holland as there is
between Madras and Bengal. Even France and Germany are not that
far apart."
For Province, Read Nation - Pramatha Chauduri, 1920
"The Tamil Language
is the official language of the State of
Tamil
Nadu
(population over 48 million) in southeast India and is also
spoken by some 4 million people living in
Sri Lanka,
Burma,
Malaysia,
Indonesia, as well as parts of east and
south Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean, the South
Pacific and the Caribbean.
There is a scholarly literature in Tamil dating back to the early centuries
of the Christian era. The language is of Dravidian origin. The Dravidians
were the founders of one of the world's most ancient civilizations, which
already existed in India sometime before 1000 BC when the Aryans invaded
the sub-continent from the north.
The Aryans, who spoke the Sanskrit language, pushed the Dravidians down into
south India. Today 8 of the languages of northern and western India (including
Hindi) are of Sanskrit origin, but Sanskrit itself is only spoken by Hindu
Brahman priests in temple worship and by scholars. In southern India, 4
languages of Dravidian origin are spoken today. Tamil is the oldest of these.
The History of Tamil Nadu begins with the 3 kingdoms,
Chera,
Chola and
Pandya, which are referred to in documents of the 3rd century BC. Some of
the kings of these dynasties are mentioned in
Sangam Literature and
the age between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD is called the Sangam
Age. At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Pallavas established their rule
with
Kanchipuram as their capital. Their dynasty, which ruled
continously for over 500 years, left a permanent impact on the history of Tamil
Nadu, which was during this period virtually controlled by the Pallavas in
the north and the Pandyas in the south.
In the middle of the 9th century a Chola ruler established
what was to become one of India's most outstanding empires on account of its
administrative achievements (irrigation, village development) and its
contributions to art and literature. The Age of the Cholas is considered the
golden age of Tamil history.
Towards the end of the 13th century the Cholas were
overthrown by the later Pandyas who ruled for about a century and were followed
by the Vijayanagara Dynasty, whose greatest ruler was Krishnadeva Raya
(1509-1529), and the Nayaks of Madurai and Tanjore.
The Colonial Age opened in the 17th century. In 1639 the British East India
Company opened a trading post at the fishing village of Madraspatnam, today
Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu. In 1947, India achieved Independence. The
overwhelming majority of the population of Tamil Nadu is Hindu, with active
Christian and Muslim minorities.
In
early times the
There
is