A Note on the World Conference on Classical Tamil

I feel very delighted to write this post commemorating the World Conference on Classical Tamil. This article presents the basic idea of a classical language, position of Tamil language and the scholarly research initiatives pursued worldwide.

A classical language is that language which is the root of whole set of languages and traditions. To quote the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) professor George Hart, ‘a classical language is one which is of considerable antiquity, has an independent literary tradition and has a

rich body of ancient literature’. There are a few languages in the world that satisfy these stringent and subjective conditions beyond doubt and debate. Greek and Latin are classical languages of Europe. Tamil though is fit to be treated on par with its European cousins, is a late entrant to this elite club.

Professor Hart in a letter to the Government of India regarding the status of Tamil as a classical language states that Tamil is as old as Latin is and older than Arabic. Tholkaapiyam, oldest surviving literary work in Tamil is commonly attributed to the 200 BCE. Earlier works in Tamil had literally no influence from other languages especially Sanskrit. But with the passage of time Tamil borrowed from Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary.

Though Indian Government was slow in recognizing the classical nature of the language, scholars across the world have done well to recognize the classical component of this language very early. Indologists and Indian philologists across the world have done some ground-breaking researches in Tamil. The occupation of Europeans in India kick-started modern research in Tamil. Earliest researchers were the missionaries like Bartholomeas Zeigenbalg, J.E. Gruendler, Robert Caldwell and others of the 18^th century. Rev G.U.Pope who published an English translation of Thirukural deserves special mention here. His tombstone reads ‘a humble student of Tamil’. Such dedicated enthusiasts paved the path for some serious research overseas.

In the recent times the role of Indian Diaspora has been significant in promoting research and learning in Tamil. Tamils living in North America initiated the setting up of a Tamil Chair at UCB. With an initial endowment of USD 400,000, the chair was setup in 1996 with Dr. George Hart as the chairman. This organization has created an excellent platform for sharing and building the knowledge of Tamil. The website of this organization displays reports of Annual Tamil Conferences that were held regularly for the past six years. Today this chair supports a good amount of students at graduate and doctoral levels.

A classical language is one which boasts about its past. For a language to remain classical, it needs to maintain status quo. On the other hand for a language to survive it needs to adapt to the changing environment. This is a classical dilemma for a classical language. In overcoming this ‘do or die’ dilemma many classical languages have ceased to exist as an effort to protect its classical character. There cannot be a second thought about Tamil evolving to serve modern communication needs. Forums like Kanini Tamil (Tamil in Computing) are welcome steps in rendering Tamil a suitable language for 21^st century. Special funds should be established to support writers who generate quality literary works. At the same time there is a need to preserve its ancient roots. Above all modern research should be pursued vigourously to bring out the salience of the language in a more elegant fashion.