Organized by the
Centre for Tamil Culture, the programme included the release of the book Thayagam Kadantha Tamil, an anthology
containing articles from Tamil scholars abroad. The contributors include Ulrike
Niklas, Head, Department of South Asian Studies, University
of Cologne from Germany and Zhao Jiang, Director of the China Radio international’s Tamil station from China.
Explaining the
objective behind the international conference, veteran journalist Malan pointed
out:
“With Tamils living
all over the world today, the demarcation of the ancient Tamil speaking region
just as Vadavenkatam to Thenkumari mentioned by Tamil scholar Panamparanar in his
prologue to the ancient Tamil grammar work
Tholkappiyam, has lost its meaning today”
Malan also noted that
Tamil language has crossed new horizons through developments in media,
technology, education and literature.
Introducing the chief
guest V. Ramasubramanian, noted Tamil scholar and Judge, Madras High Court, poet Sirpi
Balasubramaniam, said in his welcome address:
“ Ramasubramanian’s
famous column Sol Vettai ( Word hunt) in Dinamani, a sister publication of
The New Indian Express, was so popular among readers of Tamil, as he roped in even
readers for coining equivalent terms to the new words in English. In fact, he proved his skills as a
judge in etymology too, by accurately investigating the deep meaning of
words”
Dr. Nalla. G.
Palanisamy, founder-president of The Centre for Tamil Culture, said in his
presidential address:
“The age- old
tradition and culture of Tamil language is preserved and practiced more by the
Tamil people, who have spread across foreign countries these days”
Expressing concern
over the degradation of culture in the modern world, popular Tamil scholar
Silampoli Chellappan rued that the cultural values of Tamils are under threat
due to lewd dialogues and visuals in commercial Tamil movies and T.V.
programmes these days.
Sharing the experiences
of coining new Tamil words in his popular column Sol Vettai in Dinamani, V. Ramasubramanian said in his special
address:
“In one of my
articles, I just thought of coining the equivalent Tamil word for the
expression ‘Phobia’ as ‘Achcham’ which generally means ‘Fear’ in English. But
when I received a letter from a Tamil scholar by name Saiva Pulavar Tamizh
Selvi from Sekkizhar Sivanadi Kazhagam,
I was amazed to know from her that the Tamil Saivite literature Saiva Sidhdhantha has a total of 47 words to mean different forms
of fear arising out of four states of mind namely Manam, Siththu, Budhdhi and Akangaram!”
Admiring the rich corpus of vocabulary in Tamil language, Ramasubramanian worried that most Tamils are still unaware of thousands of such words in Tamil language
P.K. Ponnusamy,
Former Vice-chancellor, University of Madras, ‘Iakoka’ Subramaniam writer and industrialist and Tamil scholar R.
Karthikesu from Malaysia
were among those present in the function.
link to my article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2266148
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