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The President presenting the 'Kalaignar
M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award' to Asko Parpola at the
World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore on Wednesday
(Photo: M. Vedhan/The Hindu) |
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 World
Classical Tamil Meet: Coimbatore wears festive look, Inaug today by
Pres: President Pratibha
Patil arrived here on Tuesday night by a special aircraft to
inaugurate the World’s
first Classical Tamil Meet beginning today. ....
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Coimbatore:
The first World Classical Tamil Conference got off to a grand start
in Coimbatore on Wednesday with President Pratibha Patil
inaugurating the mega event and scholars from various parts of the
globe singing paeans to Tamil language and literature.
Inaugurating the five-day event, the
President said that many concepts intrinsic to India's society and
critical to its polity were found in Tamil discourse over the
millennia. The message of peace, universality and the spirit of
equality was propounded in a Sangam poem more than 2000 years ago,
she said, referring to a poem in Purananooru.
The President presented the first
Kalaignar M Karunanidhi Classical Tamil award to Finnish Indologist
Asko Parpola, and said the next generation of Tamils must equip
themselves with knowledge of Tamil culture, literature and values.
“A language must fulfil two functions;
it must base itself on its ancient roots and, at the same time, vary
and expand with growing needs, becoming essentially the language of
the masses, and not of a select coterie,” she said, recalling former
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief
Minister M Karunanidhi described Tamil as supreme among all
classical languages. The Tamil scholar from Sri Lanka, Karthikesu
Sivathamby agreeing with his views, underscored the need to update
Tamil according to developments that are taking place.
"There was a worldwide consensus that
Tamil possessed greater merits than the 11 parameters laid down for
declaring a language classical", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.
Karunanidhi who was presiding over the inaugural function said.
“Tamil is not only an international language; it is like a mother
for all the languages of the world,” he added.
Noting that the roots of Tamil words were present in many languages
of the world, Karunanidhi said such words differed only in form but
retained the meaning. Quoting extensively from works such as the
Valmiki Ramayana, Arthasastra and Purananooru, he stressed that the
Tamil people had an ancient origin and a hoary past.
Though the demand to classify Tamil as a classical language was made
over a hundred years ago, it was the United Progressive Alliance
government at the Centre that granted the status [in October 2004]
to the language. It was after the declaration that such a meet was
being organised for the first time, he added
Karunanidhi referred to research by late Tamil scholar Devaneya
Pavanar, saying, “Many languages in the world have words originating
in Tamil, for example, ‘Amma’ (mother), ‘Appa’ (father), ‘Naan’ (I),
‘Nee’ (you), ‘Avan’ (he), ‘Neer’ (water), ‘Neruppu’ (fire) and
‘Katru’ (air).” Tamil has all qualities of a classical language:
antiquity, individuality, common character, neutrality, parental
kinship, linguistic principles, literary prowess, noble ideas and
ideals, he said.
Governor Surjeet Singh Barnala said Tamil had the privilege of being
an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore and was spoken in
more than 55 countries. Literary works like Tirukkural, Kamba
Ramayanam and Silapathikaram bear testimony to Tamil’s claim as a
classical language.
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