Disclaimer: I hereby declare that there is no chauvinistic intention of
promoting Tamil, which happens to be my mother tongue, in the series of
articles beginning with the present one. The intention is to bring to the
notice of readers, the presence of Tamil alongside Sanskrit in the Indian
Subcontinent for many thousands of years. A deeper analysis might give us leads
on why a fused Tamil and Sanskrit presence can be seen from India to Ireland to
Ice land and from Polynesia to the Incas.
My sincere thanks to Mr T.G. Saranathan for translating this article into English.
This series so far:
Part
6: Southern Madurai (தென் மதுரை) of 1st Tamil Sangam was
submerged at the time of Rama’s exile.
************************
TAMIL - THE LANGUAGE OF MAN.
There is evidence in the Sundara khanda of Valmiki
Ramayana, to
show that Valmiki as well as the people of entire Bharat, in
Valmiki's time, spoke and conversed in Tamil.
In the Sundata khanda, Hanuman saw Sita in Ashoka garden/forest.
He wanted to speak to her, and wondered in which language he should speak to
her. So he weighed the pros and cons of choosing the language he should speak
to her. He knew Sanskrit and the "language of humans" as well! Sanskrit is considered as Deva
Bhasha or the language of the gods. But which language was identified
as "the language of humans"?
If it was the language of human beings, then were there not many
other languages spoken by human beings? Today we hear so many languages being
spoken by different people. In that case which language did Hanuman identify as
the language of man which was known both to himself and to Sita?
If we go by today's scenario, people of Ayodhya might
have been speaking in one language and those in Kishkindha might
have been speaking another language. And, people of Lanka might
have spoken a totally different language.
The question here is which of these many languages Hanuman knew?
But the fact that Hanuman was able to understand the language spoken by Rakshasis,
and he was also able to converse freely with Sita, shows that the language he
spoke with Sita was not confined to a particular place or community. But the
language he chose to speak with Sita was well known to people all over Bharat.
Is that possible?
Well, we can see all around us various creatures. We can derive
some inferences from them. The chirping of birds might look un-intelligible to
us. But birds understand them. That language is inherent in them and not
tutored by anyone.
Like birds, animals also have natural language of communication.
Since the language of birds is more vocal than that of animals, it should be
elaborate. From ancient stories we understand that our ancestors were
knowledgeable in birds' language also. Like animals and birds, human beings
also should have had a natural language. That is, if there was no interference,
human beings could have communicated by making certain sounds and formed a
language – like how birds and animals have a language of their own which is
universal. If this is possible with birds and animals, it must have been
possible with human beings also. Such a language alone could have been
termed as a naturally formed human language or the language of Man or Manusham vaakhyam. .
A doubt arises here. Human beings were living in groups in various
places. Could it be possible that all the groups would have spoken the same
language? There is no way of finding this out. But when we probe how animals
and birds communicated, we could find a possibility.
For example, a bird brought from a distant country adapts to local
surroundings and communicates with other birds here. But if a bird group
migrates and forms groups in various places, there must be traces of the
original group's sounds in all the subsequent groups, even though they were
living totally unconnected. Similarly, if a human group migrated to other
places and formed different groups, it is possible that original human language
would have existed in some traces in all groups.
According to genetic analyses, the present people of India lived
together once and originated from a same gene pool. They separated as ancient
north Indian and ancient south Indian gene pool. Looking at literary sources,
we do get many clues on common surroundings for all these people during Ice age
or before that. The place where they once lived in close proximity was Shaka dweepa (south or South
East Asia) from where they diverged to various places.
{ A brief explanation on this:-
· Shaka dweepa is described in
Mahabharata, 6-11.
· The description of the
location, of the mountain of Malaya (extension
of western Ghats in to Indian ocean) associated with (monsoon) rains, the names
of places such as Sukumara
and Kumara and rivers such as Kumari and Kaveraka (river Kaveri's father was known as
Kaveraka as per Thiruvalankadu inscriptions of Cholas) do indicate this as the
former land of the ancient Tamils of first sangam period.
· The mention of a river
by name Ikshu
vardhanika shows
that the region was abundant in sugarcane which is possible only if it is the
tropics. The Ikshu of Ikshvaku is due to the
connection with sugarcane. It links them to an earlier location at Shakadwipa.
· The mention of the asterism
of Revathi as permanently fixed at Raivataka mountains indicates the
location near the equator on the 90 degree median range of which Andaman and
Nicobar are still seen above the sea.
· The 4 varnas that existed in
Shakadwipa include Brahmins known as Maga. Maga Brahmins were authorised to consecrate and conduct the
worship of Sun God, according to Brihad samhita. This specific feature must
have been applicable to people who lived near equator where the Sun shines on
all days. Later on they could have migrated to other parts of the globe, but
their original home could only be near the equator where the sun shines
throughout the year.
· The name shaka is derived
from the tree called shaka which was found in abundance in that place. The
Tamil equivalent of this tree is Vaagai ( வாகை (ACACIA SIRISSA) which is an important tree in
sangam texts / gramamar. The cultural identity
given to Vaagai in the grammar book of Tholkappiyam is such that the 4 varnas
appear only in Vaagai-th-thiNai connected to Paalai land! The
sunken Tamil lands had 14 Paalai lands (7 Mun paalai lands and 7 pin paalai
lands whereas the 3rd sangam period of current Tamil lands had
no specific paalai land, but one identified by the fusion of two other
land forms made so during dry season,) The 4 varnas are associated with Paalai
land of Vaagai-th-thinai (shaka tree) only and not with any other land form.
Infact three more varnas or groups are added along with the 4 varnas in
this region. In no other region of cultural identity, these varnas appear in
Tholkaappiyam. It shows that the varna system existed in the olden Tamil lands
(now submerged) where the predominant plant was Vaagai or Shaka! This puts the
ancient Tamil land at shaka dwipa. The presiding deity of Shakadwipa was Shiva
who was also the presiding deity of the Pandyans of that ancient land.
· Sri U.Ve. Srinivasachar who translated
Mahabharata into Tamil and published in the year 1919, had written in this
chapter (of Mahabharata) that in some olden texts that he referred for
translation, in the place of Shakadwipa, it was written as "Naga
dwipa". This also puts the location in the southern hemisphere.
In the beginning, a group led by Vaivasvata Manu,
migrated from Shaka dwipa to the Malaya mountain range of South India and the
extensions of land on the west in Arabian Sea. The time period must have been
Ice age when the water level of the Arabian Sea was low thereby exposing the
land in the west of Western Ghats. Dravideswara Manu (as he was called –perhaps he was a Kshatriya vrathya to be
called as Dravideswara) lived with his people in this region which borders
western side of South India. The identification of Pancha Dravida in South India was
perhaps due to this reason. When the first floods occurred in the Arabian sea,
Manu and his men were pushed to North India via Dwaraka and entered the
Saraswati River. That group fanned out and spread all over North India in
course of time.
It is also possible that people from Shaka island
entered directly to South India after Ice age when vegetation became available
in South India.
In all this, what cannot be denied is that the people of Shaka island
at some time in the past came under the reign of Thennan (Southerner) or Pandyan
who was also known as Gauriya (in the lineage of Gauri, another name for
Parvathi, the consort of Shiva).
If all the people in ancient India, say, during or after the
Ice age were somehow connected with Shaka dwipa in the south, then all of them
should have spoken the same, common language. This language might have been the
communication medium for all people of Bharat. Only then
Hanuman could have termed that language as language of Human beings. Hanuman
refers to that language as 'mAnusham
vAcham' (Valmiki Ramayana 5-30-17) and 'mAnusham vAkyam' (Valmiki Ramayana 5-30-19).
Hanuman first thought of conversing in Sanskrit. It was possible
for Sita to doubt how a 'vAnara' (monkey) could speak in Sanskrit and
she might think that Ravana in monkey disguise was speaking in Sanskrit.
Therefore, he decided to speak in the language of humans.
While mentioning about that language, Hanuman says, 'mAnusham vAkyam arthavath' - human language with sentences
full of meaning.
Here a doubt arises. Does it mean that there was a human language
with meanings and another human language without meanings?
The language of Human beings was not mere sounds, but conveyed
deep meanings also. This is conveyed at three places while talking about language
of the humans:
1 'arthavath' -full
of meanings (VR 5-30-18)
2 'srAvayishyAmi' -
(I will) make (Her) understand (VR 5-30- 43)
3 'avithatham' - (unalloyed) truth (VR
5-30-44)
After all, a language means it should contain meanings. We may ask
what is so great about that. But Hanuman chose a language that contained words
which could instil confidence, bring solace and convey truth.
The language in which Hanuman conversed made
**Sita to abandon suicidal attempt,
**She could trust Hanuman as Rama's messenger,
**Hanuman could convey the Samudrika beauty,
described in Sanskrit, of Rama in that language fully,
**Sita could convey her agony in that language, and
**Hanuman was able to assuage her feelings adequately, in that
language.
** Hanuman and Sita could talk in that language in whispers
** When it was still dark and each could not clearly see each
other, this language was able to convey each other and understand each other
fully.
** Not even one unnecessary word was spoken.
** No word was spoken which could have conveyed or understood with
different meaning.
** There was not a single word which was untruth.
Hanuman when decided to speak to Her, affirms that he would talk
only unalloyed truth ( At the end of chapter 30, he says 'avithatham jagAtha vAkyam'.
What is that 'avithatham' - unalloyed truth?
We assume that if we say something true then the sentence that
conveys it is a true sentence. Speaking truth means the expressed content is
true. But what if the words themselves are true? This is expressed in Chandogya Upanishad.
It says words have the power of truth. It says that words have
life and truth. "With those words even if,
for example, one says 'water', then even a dried up log would germinate and
tender leaves would sprout.", says Japala Satyakama ( Ch.Up.
5-2-3)
That is if the word 'water' is mentioned with full meaning,
truthfully and dedicatedly, it would quench dryness and thirst. Similarly by
mere mention of the word 'food' should eliminate hunger and fill
the stomach! This Upanishad says that is how prANa functions (5-19.1)
Words have that power.
Deva bhAsha, Sanskrit,
has that power of realizing the truth of the words. The Devas or
gods conversed among themselves and so Sanskrit is called Deva bhAshA,
just as humans conversed in human language.
Devas? Researchers with the Western mindset might regard Devas
and God to be imaginary beliefs. From their own angle of view, we can
denote Deva as the relativity formula of Albert Einstein,
E=Mc2
Devas and gods would appear suddenly and disappear instantly. There
are many reported instances of appearance of Devas/gods in
Tamilnadu.
Deva is an Energy form. He will be invisible in
that form. But he can become visible with Mass. But such a manifestation with
mass and therefore some form, would not be an ordinary image as it
possesses Velocity of light. So it (Deva) appears and disappears at speed of
light. (I may be crude in explaining this, but this formula of Einstein seems
to be easier way to explain the concept of Deva and his manifestation in
physical form in fleeting moments.)
Where from that light comes? It comes from the Universe. The stars
are the resource for the light in the Universe. The stars are responsible for
the creation and appearance of all living beings. They are the images of Devas
- nakshathrANi rUpam [Purusha
sooktham].
That is why we denote god with illumination or light. If that god
has to appear, that light also would be associated.
The difference between Mass and Energy lies in this Velocity of
light, in the Einstein's formula on Theory of Relativity. We can visualize this
Relativity Theory as Purusha and Prakruti.
While prakruti is Mass, Purusha is Energy.
Every living being is made of these two (soul and body). God is all
energy and He is Supreme Energy- purushOththaman. He will appear at
His will with a flash of light.
When our purusha or soul approaches Purushotthama level,
man becomes god -like. At that state, whatever he speaks is Deva bhasha or language of the
gods. This is how Deva bhasha can be described.
**In that level if word water is mentioned, it would quench
thirst. (It is not just a physical entity as water, it also has the energy of
water)
** In that level word food uttered, it would remove hunger.
** This also explains why and how the grains (akshthai) left by
Sage Yajnavalkya on the throne of the king, started to grow as plants
instantaneously!
When Sage Valmiki attained that level, Ramayana epic was
created.
Valmiki himself narrates the creation of Ramayana.
Valmiki requests Narada for the story of Rama. After hearing
it, Valmiki ponders over it and goes to Tamasa river for bathing. Before
bathing, he observes a pair of birds on a tree branch. Just then a hunter's
arrow shoots down the male bird. The female bird cries at the dead bird. Seeing
this with pity, Valmiki curses the hunter with words flowing out from his mouth
spontaneously.
But those words in Sanskrit were couched so nicely to form a
beautiful sloka. Not merely that. The words uttered as curse
in reality were glorifying Lord Rama. The sloka starts
with the word 'mA nishAdha' and glorifies Rama.
Till then Valmiki could not compose any sloka nor
did he know the grammar of Sanskrit. The quality of compassionate energy in him
at the sight of the slain bird sublimed him to godly level. In that state,
words in Deva bhasha -Sanskrit- came out spontaneously
from him. Those words were not created by human efforts. When one sublimes to
godly level, one possesses godly powers. In that state the spontaneous flow of
words constitute Deva Bhasha or language of the gods.
What Sages speak in that state become Vedas!
They can never be composed by human efforts but are composed at a
different wave length.
That Veda Bhasha is called chandhO
bhAshA. Chandho bhasha means it is in sound form and
cannot be written or read. (But persons like Macaulay read and interpreted in
their own way conveying absurd results.)
Valmiki was astonished at the sprout of those beautiful words in
the beautiful poetic format. Just then the Four faced Brahma appeared before
Valmiki and commanded him to create the Ramayana epic with the
very same words and poetic form, as they came at a sublime level.
Accordingly, the Ramayana he wrote flowed like flood waters from
his divine state. That is why Valmiki Ramayana is regarded as Mother Veda incarnated.
Vedas will always speak about Veda Purusha or God.
When that Veda Purusha incarnated as Rama, Veda Mata also
was born as Valmiki's Ramayana, glorifying Rama.
Devotees even today start reciting Valmiki Ramayana by
uttering slokas conveying this meaning.
It is usually believed that when one reaches Divine level,
goddess Saraswati takes one's tongue as her seat. This incident in Valmiki's
life is an example of this belief. Vedas are the source for Brahma.
When one chanted Vedas it was considered as Saraswati. That is how
people regard Saraswati as wife of Brahma.
**After the deluge, Vaivasvata Manu and others
regarded the river which made them to escape to safer place, as Saraswati. Or,
because Rig Veda flowed from the sages who were settled there,
in their sublime Divine level, the river came to be called as Saraswati!
We should note here that this is not only
applicable to Sanskrit, but also to Tamil.
** After the Second cataclysm, the Pandyas made Kavatapura as their capital
(kavatam also means door which is what Dwaraka means in Sanskrit. Both were the
places where the people had entered through after a deluge and started a new
living. How could the name with same meaning exist for Tamils and also in the
North?
** The Pandyan who thus started a new life along with his
surviving subjects started the Second Tamil sangam with 48
poets. The Tamil Epic poem called "Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam" (chapter
3-3) says that the 48 alphabets of Sanskrit were born as 48 poets and Lord Shiva joined
them as a mark of redemption of a curse on Saraswati. This assembly discussed and
analysed both Sanskrit and Tamil. All this goes to show that when all is lost
in a cataclysm, and the survivors regroup themselves, they revive their old
ways of education by invoking Saraswathi.
**This is reported in Tamil lands and also in North India when Manu
and others survived a cataclysm. Invoking of God by the language of Devas
was done in Saraswati valley. In Tamil lands, Saraswati herself was thought to
have been born as incarnation of 48 Sanskrit alphabets. All these can be
dismissed as mere exaggerations, but what must not be missed is that pattern is
similar – the name of place of entry is same and the revival of education is
the same and invoking of Saraswati's name is same.
** This practice was followed in Thennan's
(Pandyan) country also. (I use the word Thennan as it is very often used
in Sangam texts. It means 'southerner' – an expression to denote Pandyan kings)
** Interestingly it is mentioned in Sinnamanur inscriptions that
an olden Pandyan king mastered the Tamil language of the south! Why is this
specifically written in the prasasthi of the inscriptions is a question that
comes to our minds. Does it mean that the Pandyan kings did not know or
study Tamil as a matter of having it as their mother tongue? If we analyse in
this angle, we get some important clues on an ancient language coming to get
some status after refinement. We can find a chronological order in the mention
of this information. It is after this, comes the mention of driving away of the
sea by a Pandyan king by throwing his spear.
The details of the Sinnamanur inscriptions can be read here:
The reference here is to Ugra Pandyan, the son of Gauri and Lord Chokkanatha (Shiva) around whose time
the first Sangam was constituted. The time period is the first deluge after the
Ice Age. The olden Madurai of the South (known as Then-Madurai) escaped a major
catastrophe of sudden ocean-floods. This feat of Ugra Pandyan (of stopping the floods
by throwing the spear called as 'VEl' in Tamil and "Vadi vEl' in sangam
literature. This Ugra Pandyan in all probability is Skanda or Muruga) is
mentioned at several places in olden Tamil texts. From this it is deduced that
the Pandyan who mastered Tamil proceeded the time that Sangam was constituted
for the first time. It also conveys that Tamil existed then as a spoken
language among the common people and the king had learnt it. The mention of
Ugra Pandyan after this king shows that efforts to refine Tamil with the
grammar (of Sanskrit) was under way around that time and once it was
complete, the Sangam assembly was constituted by inviting people to compose and
publicise their poems in grammatical Tamil. By then Ugra Pandyan had come to
the throne.
During Ugra Pandyan's time, the people experienced the floods from
the seas for the first time. Ugra Pandyan threw the spear that he got from his
mother (Gauri) into the seas which resulted in some change in the direction of
waves in such a way that the floods receded. This is similar to the episode of
Rama (when he was planning to cross the sea to reach Lanka) throwing or
shooting his arrow (Brahmastra) in a region in the sea that resulted in rise of
some regions and inundation of some other regions.
After this, there comes the mention of founding the city of Madhura and walling it on four sides.
The 2nd canto of Thiruvilayadal puranam begins from this. The
relevant section of this epic detailing these events can be read here:
** Continuing from the previous idea of how Sanskrit is regarded
as a Deva Bhasha (by virtue of it being a 'truthful' language), let us see some
comparable features of Tamil, that was spoken by the common people even before
the 1st Sangam was constituted around 11,500 ago somewhere in a
region in the Indian ocean which is now under the sea waters.
Earlier we said that Chandogya Upanishad mentioned
that Sanskrit words had the energy and power. Similarly, Tamil words also had
energy and power.
** Just like the word water in Sanskrit had the power to quench
thirst, Tamil words from Nayanmars, the savants of Shiva, had the power to open
closed doors.
** Words of Thirugnana Sambandar in his divine level could bring
back to life a dead girl.
** Words of Abirami Bhattar brought full moon, to make his words
true.
** Such were the words of Hanuman when he wanted to speak 'avithitham'.
In the language of humans, there were words with unalloyed truth,
and so Hanuman decided to speak in that language. Such a language must have
existed strongly for a long time among the people. The period of First sangam
far preceding Ramayana times shows that Tamil was spoken long before Ramayana
happened. At the time of Ramayana, the 2nd sangam was on, as
the capital city of Pandyans is mentioned as Kavaatam in Valmiki Ramayana. (कवाटम् पाण्ड्यानाम् गता द्रक्ष्यथ वानराः VR- 4-41-19)
These features establish the prevalence of Tamil among the people.
With this if we examine peyariyal soothiram ( formula for Nouns) in Tholkappiyam, we can
find some deeper meanings.
The author of Tholkappiyam says that though all
words in all languages have certain meanings, in Tamil they contain appropriate
truthfulness ('பொருண்மை'=பொருந்திய உண்மை). It
means 'truth'
embedded in the word.
//"எல்லாச் சொல்லும் பொருள் குறித்தனவே.
பொருண்மை தெரிதலும்
சொன்மை தெரிதலும்
சொல்லின் ஆகும் என்மனார் புலவர்".//
Wherefrom Tamil got this 'truth' embedded in itself?
We talked about language of the birds. Parrots speak in their
language. But if we teach our language, a parrot speaks that language.
The parrots of Mandana Mishra, who
argued with Adi Sankara, chanted Vedas.
By refinement of parrot's language this was possible. Sanskrit has
natural refinement. Many language experts acclaim the superior refinement found
in Sanskrit.
Tamil was also refined, just like how the parrot's language was
refined.
The language of the commoner of the earliest times (before the
first deluge) was refined by Lord Shiva and sage Agastya. This is reiterated at
many places in ancient Tamil books.
As recently as a 100 years ago, this was common knowledge of the
people such that the Great Poet Subramanya Bharathiyaar says that Tamil was given by Shiva and the sage Agastya
framed the grammar and refined it.
//"ஆதி சிவன் பெற்று விட்டான் –என்னை
ஆரிய மைந்தன் அகத்திய னென்றோர்
வேதியன் கண்டு மகிழ்ந்தே – நிறை
மேவும் இலக்கணஞ் செய்து கொடுத்தான்"//
Even though this is forgotten now, Valmiki has mentioned the name
of Tamil as it was known originally in the beginning, at least in 8
places in Ramayana.
The same name occurs in Madurai Kalambakam, written
by Swami Kumara Guruparar.
The same name was mentioned by Subramanya Bharathi 100 years ago.
What is that name?
We will see it in the next article.
(to be continued)
