Showing posts with label abraham pandithar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abraham pandithar. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
POETS PROTEST TO AWAKEN OUR TAMIL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT :2002
POETS MEET TO AWAKEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FROM SLUMBER
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A novel kind of protest by the Poets and Tamil scholars of Pondicherry disturbed the lethargy of our political class and it left an imprint on Tami lhistory pointing an accusing finger at the Parliament Members of Tamil Nadu, with an exception of a few, for their utter failure to stand united on the issues pertaining to Tamil Nadu in the floor of the Parliament. This protest also charged the political parties for not giving a free hand to the members of parliament to raise issues of concern to Tamil Nadu and also had a dig at the parties for not choosing competent persons to represent their constituencies.
The poets of Pondicherry were brought under an umbrella to air their poems in a THERU MUNAITHIRUPALLI EZHUCCHI organized jointly by a political party Dravida Peravai and a Tamil association namely Senthamizhar Iyakkam.
Thirupalli Ezhucchi , in Tamil is a poetic form which was used by devout followers to awaken their favorite god or goddess from slumber. Saint Andal's Thiruppavai falls under this category. Today poet after poet used this form to awaken the parliamentarians and political parties and urged them to stand united on issues like Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu. Poets in their poems condemned the saffronization of the education and the deletion of the word "Dravida" from the text books published by NCERT and also the suppression of the history of Chera, Chola, Pandian and Sathavahana rule. The poets also condemned the attempt in these text books to describe the Bolshevik revolution as a "Coup led by Lenin". The poets also condemned the downsizing of the Sethu Canal project, which according to the Union Minister for Shipping Ved Prakash Goel is going to be a mini-canal at a cost of 200 croes and completable in a years time.
The uncertainty of the lives of plantation labour in Srilanka, whose fate remains still unsettled decades after Srimavo-Sastri pact was signed also found mention in these poems.
Dravida Peravai General Secretary N.Nandhivarman, Tamil Valarchi Nadavadikkai Kuzhu President Dr.Era.Tirumurugan,Bi- Lingual Poet Professor M.Lenin Tangappa, Senthamizhar Iyakkam President N.M.Tamizhmani, Poets Pugazenthi, Ramakrishna Bharathi, Poongunran, Janakiraman, PattaringnarIlakkiyan, Thamiziyakkan, Veera.Madurakavi, Professor Sambandam, Reader of the International School of Economics Pondicherry University etc were the notable poets who participated in this STREET CORNER POETS MEET (Therumunai Pattarangu) which is for
TAMIZHAR KATCHIGALUKKU TIRUPALLI EZHUCCHI.
Speaking at the meet N.Nandhivarman said that Pondicherry assembly in order to fulfill the legal requirements had met for two days and had deliberated for 3 hours and 6 minutes in these two days. It is high time that hourly pay is fixed for our legislators, and compulsory attendance insisted for our parliamentarians to get their salary. Otherwise they have no right to claim salary while they commit dereliction of duty by not attending sessions and not
airing peoples concerns. In a joking manner he said that if he is made ORU NAAL MUDALVAR AS IN CINEMA MUDALVAN, his first order will be cancellation of the order that waived 60 crores to two distilleries. His next order will be to arrest the 26 absconders who had taken 487 crores from various financial institutions in Pondicherry and had vanished. By this two orders all monetary demands of various people agitating for various reasons could be met.
This novel protest is a warning to all Parliamentarians in this country. People may demand right to recall as the last option, if such protests fail to awaken the political class.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
SIDDHA IS A FREE THINKER AND REVOLUTIONARY : UNDERSTAND TAMIL SIDDHARS
Siddha Research: The Basic
Difficulties
by Dr. T. N. Ganapathy, Ph D
Director of the Tamil Siddha Yoga Research Project
Director of the Tamil Siddha Yoga Research Project
(The following article is excerpted from our forthcoming
book, "The Yoga of Tamil Siddha Boganathar" by Dr. Ganapathy)
There are certain basic difficulties, which every writer on
Tamil Siddhas has to encounter. The basic difficulties relate to:
1. The definition of the term "Siddha", the
classification of the Siddhas and their number;
2. The absence of reliable editions, the poetic form, and the language used by the Siddhas.
3. The number of siddhis and views regarding the siddhis;
4. The use of tantric yoga as the method of the Siddhas;
5. Identification of the Siddhas with the alchemists.
6. The philosophy of the human body and
7. A trustworthy biographical account.
2. The absence of reliable editions, the poetic form, and the language used by the Siddhas.
3. The number of siddhis and views regarding the siddhis;
4. The use of tantric yoga as the method of the Siddhas;
5. Identification of the Siddhas with the alchemists.
6. The philosophy of the human body and
7. A trustworthy biographical account.
Let us discuss the above basic
difficulties in detail.
1. The definition and
classification of the Siddhas.
The basic difficulty of a
study of the Siddhas begins with the term "Siddha" itself which has
several inter-connected and often overlapping meanings without any common
accepted usage. It is a Sanskrit term meaning "fulfilled". A Siddha
is a "videgdha", "fully boiled", i.e., perfect being. He
stands for the Indian ideal of perfection. The Tamils refer to four types of
mukti or liberation. They are salokya, the status of living in the world of
God, samipya, the status of being nearer to God, sarupya, the status of getting
the form of God, and sayujya, the status of being one with the God. The Siddhas
are those who have attained the last type of liberation. The first three types
of liberation are called padamukti by Tirumular and the last one is called
siddhi. Tirumular says that one whose mind is serene and clear like an ocean
without waves is a Siddha. In Tamilnadu it is customary among the Siddhas to
trace their origin to Siva, who is also called a Siddha.
A Siddha is one who has
realized the non-duality of jiva and Siva. He is the one who has realized Siva
in himself. He is one who has attained Sivanubhava. Sivanubhava stands for the
state of experience where there is non-dualism or oneness between the
experiencing jiva and Siva, a jiva-Siva-aikya. There is a Tamil saying
"Sittan pokku, Sivan pokku" meaning that a Siddha walks or follows
the way of Siva.
A Siddha is a yogin. Saint
Tirumular says that those who live in yoga and see the divine power and light
through yoga are the Siddhas.8 He is an experimental yogin who attains
perfection by the method of self-effort.9 As yogins the Siddhas are said to
have the triple control - the control of breath, the control of the seminal
fluid, i.e. the control of all passions and the achievements of desirelessness
- and the control of mind. A Siddha is one who has succeeded in stabilizing
these controls in oneself and maintains equanimity and a sense of equilibrium.
A Siddha is one who has attained siddhi, a special psychic
and supernatural power, which is said to be eightfold in the science of yoga.
The eight siddhis are :
(i)anima, the ability to become as minute as an atom;
(ii)mahima, the ability to expand infinitely;
(iii)laghima, levitation or the ability to float through the air;
(iv)garima, the ability to reach everywhere;
(v)prakamya, freedom of will, or the ability to overcome natural obstacles;
(vi)isitva, the ability to create or control;
(vii)vasitva, domination over the entire creation; and
(viii)kamavasayitva, the gift of wish-fulfilment or the ability of attaining everything desired or to attain the stage of desirelessness.
(i)anima, the ability to become as minute as an atom;
(ii)mahima, the ability to expand infinitely;
(iii)laghima, levitation or the ability to float through the air;
(iv)garima, the ability to reach everywhere;
(v)prakamya, freedom of will, or the ability to overcome natural obstacles;
(vi)isitva, the ability to create or control;
(vii)vasitva, domination over the entire creation; and
(viii)kamavasayitva, the gift of wish-fulfilment or the ability of attaining everything desired or to attain the stage of desirelessness.
The term "Siddha"
comes from the word "siddhi" which means the experience of Siva.
Siddhisvara, God of Siddhis, is a name of Siva. Siddhis indicate whether the
practitioners of yoga have attained a stage to reach the ultimate goal, namely,
liberation. It is wrong to think that the Siddhas are magicians or uncouth
ascetics credited with supernatural powers. They are not atheists or agnostics
as is commonly believed. They believe in God, but not a God of this or that
religion. For most of them there is a God, a Siva, without any limitation or
attributes, Siva is grammatically and philosophically an impersonal conception.
The real name for "Siva" is "It" or "Atu" or
"Thatness" or "Suchness". A genuine Siddha is beyond
atheism and faith (theism) alike.
A Siddha is a free thinker and
a revolutionary who refuses to allow himself to be carried away by any religion
or scripture or rituals. One Tamil Siddhas says: "A Siddha is one who has
burnt the sastras". This is to be interpreted not in the literal sense but
in the sense that for a jnanin, "the Vedas are not Vedas". A Siddha
is one who has attained a stage of realization where he is not bound by the
injunctions of the sastras, and where he has gone beyond the Vedas. At this
stage sastras become irrelevant trifles. There is always a gulf between words
and the experience, which they stand for. To seek enlightenment in words and
ideas is like expecting the sight of a menu card to reach and satisfy the inner
processes of a hungry man. A description can never in itself transmit
experience. All the sastras, Vedas, Puranas, and the various religious sects
turn humanity into conditioned animals. Truth is felt experience and it cannot
be translated fully in any sastra. As a Doha song says: "Looking at the
fruit in the tree is not smelling it. Does the disease fly away at the sight of
the physician?" The Siddhas seem to be opposed to the scriptures, but
their temper is devout. They are "pious rebels" inside the field of
religion and as such they are not atheists. Karai Siddhar draws a distinction
between a Siddha and a non-Siddha by saying that a Siddha points to the path of
the experience whereas a non-Siddha points to the path of scriptures.
A Siddha is one who enjoys
perfect bliss even while he is in his physical body. The body is treated by him
as the best medium of realizing the truth. Similar to the sacred rivers,
temples, mountains, etc., the body is a sacred passage to the ultimate Reality.
Sivavakkiyar raises a pertinent question: why should we go out to these places
when the threshold is in us.
Siddhas know how to preserve the body through
light rays ("mani" in Tamil) sound waves ("mantra") and
medicine ("marundu" or "ausadha" in Tamil). The technique
of the preservation of the body is called kaya sadhana: it is an attempt to
attain a perfect body called Siddha deha. In short, one who has obtained the
power of dematerializing and spiritualizing the body, and knows how to
transmute the corruptible physical into the incorruptible superphysical basis
of life is a Siddha.
A Siddha attains and possesses an eternal spiritual body
called the divya-deha and is one who finally breaks out of the karmic cycle and
attains deliverance from time. Using the expression of Mircea Eliade we may say
that the Siddhas are those "who understood liberation as the conquest of
immortality".
A notable feature that we find
among the Tamil Siddhas is the total absence of any local cult of the deity.
They are not "henolocotheists", believers in one local God. No
genuine Siddha in Tamilnadu including Tirumular, has sung in praise of any
local God or deity or personal God. This is a feature that distinguishes
Siddhas from other saints, especially Alwars and Nayanmars.
We may say that the
chief characteristic feature, the differentia, to determine a genuine Siddha
from a non-Siddha is to find out whether he/she has sung in praise of any local
God or Deity.
According to Sivavakkiyar a Siddha does not worship any deity in
the temple. As a Baul sings: "the road to the Absolute is blocked by
temples, mosques and the teachers. Markendaya Purana says that the knower of
yoga should not participate in pilgrimages to the shrines of gods.
Pambatticcittar also says that those who have built temples for local Gods and
have offered prayers are those who do not get at the feet of the real Lord.
Tirumular also refers to Siddhas as those who have not tried the path of any
(sectarian) religion. The Tamil Siddhas do not belong to any religion or
samayam. "Samayam" in Tamil means "convention",
"rule".
The songs of the Siddhas do
not show any trace of collective thinking; neither is there any suggestion of
preaching; they indicate only the direction. One can discern certain common
characteristics among the Siddhas, which make them distinct from the
"learned" poets on the one hand and sectarian religious poets on the
other. To be a Siddha, sectarian affiliation is irrevelent. Their philosophy is
enlightenment as distinct from doctrine; it is not a theoretical and formalist
approach to problems.
The Tamil Siddhas are not system-builders; their whole
technique is to jolt people out of their intellectual ruts and their
conventional, barren, morality. They laid before their audience an abrasive,
shocking, uncompromising message exhorting them to shed their delusions,
pretensions, and empty orthodoxies in favour of an intense, direct, personal
confrontation with truth. They are the "untethered", non-conformist,
spiritual aspirants, yearning for a direct and natural approach to, and a more
intense experience of, the absolute truth. They reject, the value and prestige
of the scriptures, which remain the privilege of the few in Hinduism. The Tamil
Siddhas may be considered as "scriptureless" or "bookless"
or nirgrantha school of Hinduism, as they are detatched from any scriptual
authority.
The Tamil Siddhas belong to a
non-conformist, "counter-tradition". What is meant by "counter
tradition" is not that "which opposes tradition". But the
"tradition which opposes".
The Siddhas challenged many of the
accepted beliefs and practices of the Hindu society and thought. They denounced
idol and ritualistic worship and petitionary prayers as fetters holding back
the soul from liberation. Their language was as unconventional as were their
lives. This led many people to think that the Tamil Siddhas were Buddhists in
disguise, since Buddhism also criticized vehemently the doctrines of the
Hindus.
Siddha, sectarian affiliation
is rather unnecessary and irrelevant. Yet it is customary to classify Siddhas
into the above groups. The Hatha-Yoga Pradipika, a classical text on hatha
yoga, contains a list of Maha-Siddhas beginning with Adinatha. Adinatha is the
mystical name for Siva. The Siddhas belonging to the school of Adinatha are
called Natha Siddhas. They are known as kan-phatta, because they have to pierce
the cartileges of their ears and pass a heavy ring, known as darsana, around
which by its weight cut longish slits upto their ear lobes. Gautama Buddha was
having this mark on him. The Natha Siddhas originated in North India, and their
literature contains a number of hatha yogic texts of which the famous are the
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita and the Siva Samhita. They had the
agnomen of Natha added to their proper names. The term "Natha" in its
theological sense is restricted to a Saiva preceptor just as the surname of
gosain is confined to the teachers of the Vaishnava faith. In this connection
it would be interesting to note the view that the term "Natha" is
derived from the Prakrit word "Nattha" meaning the nose-string used
for controlling an animal. This term probably has been adopted by the Siddhas
to refer to one who has controlled his mind through yoga.
The concept of sacrifice is
connected with this number, and "eighteen" appears to be the symbolic
equivalent of man as sacrifice. According to the Chinese mythology there are
eighteen lohans(arhats). From the point of view alchemy eighteen is an
important number. In Rasesvara Darsana eighteen modes of elaboration of mercury
or eighteen modes of treating quick silver are discussed. In the Ramayana the
war took place for eighteen days: and that there are eighteen Agamas, eighteen
consonants, etc. There is another view that the number "eighteen" may
also refer to the "eighteen" worlds of ordinary human beings - the
six sense organs, the objects of the six sense organs and the six forms of
consciousness of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. The Siddhas are those
who have gone beyond, transcended these eighteen worlds of ordinary men. Hence
they are referred to as "eighteen Siddhas" i.e. people who have
conquered the "eighteen worlds". In Siddha medicine number
"eighteen" has a special place. Macchamunmi says that there are
eighteen important herbs. In kundalini yoga "eighteen" is a
significant number; kundalini after reaching sahasrara has to cross further
through eighteen mahavidyas. That is eighteen energized subtle centres
encircling the sahasrara region, finally to unite with Siva, in an act known as
maithuna yoga In Sattaimuni Jnanam the Siddha refers to the
"eighteen" letters that are part and parcel of valai, i.e. the kundalini
sakti. In his work Padinen Siddhar Yogakkovai Parayanappa, Yogi Ramaiah says
that the number "eighteen" represents eighteen different aspects of
yoga though he has not explained them. He also says that out of the eighty four
Siddhas, the most important are eighteen and hence this tradition of yoga is
called Padinen Yoga Siddha Tradition. All these internal evidences from Siddha
yoga and medicine have been taken to show that "eighteen" in the
"eighteen Tamil Siddhas" does not refer to the number of Siddhas (because
Siddhas are innumerable) but to the attainments of a Siddha. But it seems to
the author that the number "eighteen" refers to the eighteen siddhis.
The Siddhas are those who have attained the eighteen siddhis. In short, the
numeral "eighteen" is a holy number among the Tamil Siddhas. There is
a verse which says that Siddhas know eighteen languages. Here language means
siddhi.
Copyright. Babaji's Kriya Yoga
and Publications. December 2001
Yoga of Siddha Bogarnathar by Ganapathy
T. N. Ganapathy, trans. The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar.
St. Etienne de Bolton, Quebec: Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and Publications, 2003 and
2004. Paperback, vol. 1, xvii + 355 pages; vol. 2, xv + 523 pages. Vol. 1: US
$24.45 / CAN $32.16; Vol. 2: US $30.95 / CAN $34.72. Prices include shipping
(and local taxes for orders from Canada).
The teachings of the Siddhas (
Sitthars) of Tamilnadu are little known among Western Yoga practitioners, and
there are only a handful of research organizations that investigate this branch
of the yogic heritage. Also, few researchers are qualified to translate the
Tamil scriptures on Yoga, because the Siddhas generally use highly symbolic and
covert language to speak about their experiences and realizations. Among those
rare scholars is Prof. T. N. Ganapathy, who is head of the newly created Yoga
Siddha Research Centre in Chennai, which was launched in 2003 in collaboration
with Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas ( Canada).
Boganathar, or simply Bogar,
is said to have been the guru of the famous Babaji Nagaraj, founder of
Kriya-Yoga. Prof. Ganapathy has devoted an entire chapter to Bogar’s life and
teachings. The fact is, very little is known of this adept’s lifestory, and the
little we know stems from autobiographical comments in Boganathar’s own work
(i.e., The 7000 [Verses] ofBogar), which the translator has diligently
scanned for every last scrap of relevant information. Bogar appears to have
been born into a family of gold-smiths, was initiated into Kundalini-Yoga by
Kalangi (a disciple of the famous Tirumular), and gained Self-realization and
all the great paranormal abilities of an adept.
Bogar further claimed to have
acquired a golden-hued “divine body” ( divya-deha), which he kept alive for
thousands of years and in which he traveled in many foreign lands, notably
China (some pundits even think that Bogar is identical with Lao Tzu. In his
poetry, he also speaks of such anachronisms as a parachute, an airplane, a
steamship, and a self-propelled car. Did the adept gaze into the future? Given
this kind of self-testimony, Prof. Ganapathy abstained from fixing Bogar’s life
chronologically. But if Bogar was indeed a disciple of one of Tirumular’s
pupils, he can be placed sometime between the 300 and 600 A.D. Indian
traditionalists, however, disagree with the conventional scholarly dating of
Tirumular and place this Siddha in the third millennium B.C. and earlier.
Luckily, Tirumular’s and also
Bogar’s exact dates are quite irrelevant when it comes to appreciating their
respective works. If it is claimed, however, that the latter practiced
Kundalini-Yoga as does Prof. Ganapathy, then we must also place Bogar into the
appropriate era. Kundalini-Yoga, as he wrote about it, did not come into its
own until c. 500 A.D., with the full emergence of Tantra as a scriptural
tradition. Without stating so, Prof. Ganapathy appears to favor such a date
himself, since he interprets Bogar’s reference to the “twelve religions” in
verse 13 of the Jnana Pujavidias including the Madhyamaka and Yogacara
Schools of Buddhism, which belong to the second and fourth centuries A.D.
respectively. Bogar also claimed to have seen the disciples of Jesus, which,
unless we assume he was able to travel into the future or possessed the faculty
of remote-viewing or precognition, also confirms his later date. In this case
we may take his statement as indicative of his ability to “visit” the past in
deep meditation.
Be that as it may, Bogar’s
teaching is not only profound (as one would expect of a Tantric teaching) but
also illuminating for anyone wishing to penetrate the secrets of
Kundalini-Yoga. As one might expect, his yogic teaching in many ways parallels
what we can glean from the Sanskrit scriptures of Tantra and Hatha-Yoga. The
advantage of studying Bogar’s work is that it was clearly authored by a master
of the Tantric tradition, and his words have a special power.
The claim made by Marshall
Govindan Satchidananda in his foreword to volume 2 that this is the first
rendering into English of any of Boganathar’s writings is incorrect, as the
American Tamil scholar Layne Little published a selection of this great adept’s
verses some years ago. However, the present two-volume rendition has at least
three advantages. First, it is the most extensive anthology on Boganathar
available today. Second, the translation was prepared by a scholar who over
many years has immersed himself deeply into the Siddha literature and spiritual
teachings. Third, each of the two volumes includes the Tamil text in
transliteration, a word-by-word translation, the excellent translation itself,
a summary, and an all-important commentary without which many of the verses
would remain unintelligible to the lay reader.
Tamil is a very challenging
language, and the Tamil Siddhas are especially difficult to translate. Even an
accomplished scholar and translator as Prof. Ganapathy has had to struggle at
times to ferret out the meaning of a verse or find the right words to express
it in English. Fortunately, he was added in his labors by flashes of insight in
the middle of the night—a gift from the Siddhas themselves, perhaps.
Bogar—yogi, miracle-worker,
and healer—is one of the most colorful figures in the long history of India’s
spiritual heritage. One can only hope that Prof. Ganapathy’s translation will
reach many Western students of Yoga, and Kriya-Yoga in particular, and that it
will serve as a stepping-stone to a complete English rendering of Bogar’s7000.
Until then, we are greatly indebted to the present translator for his
pioneering efforts.
The two volumes can be ordered
from: Kriya Yoga Publications, 196 Mountain Road, P.O. Box 90, Eastman, Quebec,
Canada J0E 1P0.
Copyright ©2006 by Georg
Feuerstein. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form requires prior permission from Traditional Yoga Studies.
Reproduction in any form requires prior permission from Traditional Yoga Studies.
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Treasure Trove of Tamil Yoga Siddha
Manuscripts Released
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on 2016/2/3 19:03:15 ( 1388
reads )
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Source
INDIA, January 31, 2016 (Babaji's Kriya Yoga): "The Treasure Trove of Tamil Yoga Siddha Manuscripts" is a guide and a large collection of verses composed by Tamil Yoga Siddhars during the medieval Sangam period. These verses, found only on palm leaf manuscripts, were collected, scanned, transcribed into modern Tamil and edited by an eminent team of scholars and manuscriptologists during the past 15 years. The guide is a valuable resource, not only for lovers of Siddha poetry, but also for scholars, translators and researchers in the fields of Yoga and Tantra. All 13,276 verses on 1,677 pages are included in a compact disc inserted in the rear cover. This new publication will be released at a function in Chennai, India, on February 6, 2016, at 6:30 pm organized by Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas and the Yoga Siddha Research Centre. For more information, click "source" above. |
Sunday, October 4, 2015
தமிழ்க் கலைக்களஞ்சியங்கள்
தமிழ்க் கலைக்களஞ்சியங்கள்
CLICK THE LINK FOR YOU TUBE
CLICK THE LINK FOR YOU TUBE
Published on Jun 12, 2014
ஒரு காலத்தில் ஒவ்வொரு இல்லத்திலும் பிரித்தானியக் கலைக்களஞ்சியங்கள் அடுக்கி வைக்கப்பட்டு இருக்கும் தமிழ்க் கலைக்களஞ்சியங்கள் வந்தும் அத்தகு வரவேற்பு இன்மைக்கு வருந்தி நந்திவர்மன் ஆற்றிய தொலைக்காட்சிப் பேருரை
Thursday, September 24, 2015
TAMIL MUSIC THROUGH AGES
TAMIL MUSIC THROUGH AGES
N.Nandhivarman
“In Western Music
even today Piano holds a key position, they have not abandoned it. Equal
temperamental scale is the basis for western music. It is a digital scale that
enables them to deliver orchestral music. Unlike Tamils who gave up Yazh,
westerners did not desert Piano. This is a lesson for Tamils. Similarly all the
great Musicians like Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Bach, Wagner and Brahms wrote
hundreds of symphonies, and only in Beethoven’s tenth symphony vocal music
finds place. Since in other symphonies there is no language, every country is
eager to hear the music, language problem does not arise,” says P.T.R.Kamalai
Thiagarajan in his book Isai Thamizhin Unmai Varalaru.
In Pondicherry
Kalaimamani Arimalam Padmanaban opines that Tamil Music must spread to other
parts of the globe. For this music sans language must be propagated or for
Tamil musical notes we must select suitable poems in languages like English,
French etc, so that we can spread the message that Tamil music belongs to the
common heritage of mankind with greater antiquity than their cultures. Dr.
Arimalam Padmanaban says that all western music could be adopted in sankaraparanam,
nadabhairavi and keeravani, 3 musical notes of the South Indian Music. The
earlier Tamil names of these three notes are Arumpaalai, Padumalaipaalai
and Pazham Panjuram (source: Silapathigaram) respectively. He
surprises us by saying that at the Olympic closing ceremony old classic music
of Chinese was sung which is similar to our mohanam. It was known as Mullai
pann in Sangam age and later came to be known as mohanam. Pann
in Tamil means raga and scale in English. Silapathigaram, the Tamil epic
mentions about 11991 panngal, which is lost in the ravages of time.
Scholars like Dr.Arimalam Padmanaban are working hard to redeem the lost
musical heritage of Tamils, lost due to invasions and colonial rule.
Arimalam Padmanabhan
who obtained his Doctorate from Pondicherry University is preparing a
Dictionary of Tamil Music Literary Terms and he is also planning to do research
in Sopaana sangeetham, which is famous in Kerala. He had written
about “Therukoothil Isai” which speaks
about the musical content of street theatre and
is included in the Madras University syllabus as a lesson. His treatise
on the Musical contents in Sankaradas swamigal’s Dramas deserves special
mention. Sankaradas swamigal could be termed as Shakespeare of Tamil theatre.
It is he who stands as an outstanding pioneer of Tamil theatre. Sankaradas
swamigal (1867-1922) brought all musical streams into Tamil theatre. For
instance a Christian missionary Edward Paul contacted Sankaradas swamigal and
wanted him to write songs for western devotional songs. Swamigal not only
obliged him, but through that exercise mastered the nuances of Western music
and in his dramas he wrote Tamil songs for western tunes says Arimalam
Padmanaban in his research paper brought out in book form. “ In carnatic music
various forms of Hindustani crept into during the period of Gopalakruishna
Bharathy in 19 th century” says Arimalam Padmanaban, thereby analyzing the
influences, its origins, admixture of musical forms with precision.
Sankaradas
swamigal wrote 68 dramas, and if Padmanaban had not laboured hard to trace all
this for his research quest the complete list would not be available to others.
Sankaradas swamigal in his last days spent his life in Pondicherry and breathed
his last here on 13 th November 1922. There is a memorial here in the graveyard
at Karuvadikuppam Pondicherry where Government of Pondicherry every year
celebrates the anniversary of swamigal. Swamigal simplified the classical music
and brought it nearer to the common masses. In the history of Tamil music this
marks a turning point.
Delving deep into the
emergence and uniqueness of Swamigal, Arimalam Padmanaban says that
“Gopalakrishna Bharathiar wrote Nandan sarithra keerthanaigal, which
marked the revival of the Tamil musical tradition. Following his footsteps
Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiar used the same musical notes of Gopalakrishna
Bharathiar and wrote songs. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar brought Tirupavai and
Tiruvembai into the Tamil musical usage. Bharathidasan in order to spread Tamil
music with help of Telugu scholars translated Thiyagarajas keerthanaihal into Tamil.
For instance Thigaraja’s sani thodi deve o manasa in arikambothi raga
was rendered into Tamil by Bharathidasan as thathi kooti vaaray o maname.”
By such narrations Arimalam points out the cultural exchanges that has taken
place and the blending of various musical traditions that run like streams of
the same river called humanist culture.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
TAMIL MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION
MOTHER TONGUE AS MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION: N.Nandhivarman
If anyone says,
“I will not speak English” in England Cornwall England United States of America annexed Hawaii Caucasus
region the death of a farmer in 1992 resulted in the death of Ubykh language.
UNESCO had prepared a Red Book on Endangered Languages and to promote
multilingualism had been celebrating International Mother Language Day on
Febraury 21st every year from 2000. UNESCO adopted Universal
Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which “ encourages international community
to take steps to protect intangible heritage, including languages, in the same
way natural and cultural treasures of tangible heritage are protected”. This is
the way wind is blowing globally.
Every mother
tongue must be preserved seems to be the driving force for intellectual growth
of humanity. In a rare coincidence, in spite of being classical language
efforts are needed to revive the Tamil medium of instruction, for fear of
extinction of Tamil in everyday usage. And the primary school situated in the Chief
Minister N.Rangaswamy’s constituency is a school with a difference. They teach
Spoken English to nourish the proficiency of English language but at the same
time want to stimulate thinking process in Tamil. To commemorate the memory of
Late Swaminathan who was the President of Dravida Kazhagam in Pondicherry
A tiny baby
Ashwini walks out of a class, we ask her “ In which class you are studying? She
replies I am doing “Arumbu” which means pre-kinder garden. Lower Kinder garden
(LKG) class is named as Mottu, UKG is known as Malar. The children call the
Head Mistress as Amma, teachers as Akka and Annan. The star performer of the school
Nilavarasi who studied from pre kg here and now in IV th standard states that
“Our teachers never used cane, never threatened us, we are brought up with love
and care”. Nilavarasi now is the star dancer of the school that teaches Music,
Dance, Painting and Computers too. She and all the children are proud of their
school. It is surprising that amidst craze for English education in the
mushrooming private primary schools, parents are willing to send their children
to a Tamil medium primary school. If the history of education in Pondicherry Tamil
Primary School
Looking to America America Periyavar Swaminathan
Memorial School
Courtesy : The New Indian Express : 18th September 2004
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
TAMIL MUSIC THROUGH AGES
TAMIL MUSIC THROUGH AGES
N.Nandhivarman
“In Western
Music even today Piano holds a key position, they have not abandoned it. Equal
temperamental scale is the basis for western music. It is a digital scale that
enables them to deliver orchestral music. Unlike Tamils who gave up Yazh,
westerners did not desert Piano. This is a lesson for Tamils. Similarly all the
great Musicians like Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Bach, Wagner and Brahms wrote
hundreds of symphonies, and only in Beethoven’s tenth symphony vocal music
finds place. Since in other symphonies there is no language, every country is
eager to hear the music, language problem does not arise,” says P.T.R.Kamalai
Thiagarajan in his book Isai Thamizhin Unmai Varalaru.
In Pondicherry
Kalaimamani Arimalam Padmanaban opines that Tamil Music must spread to other
parts of the globe. For this music sans language must be propagated or for
Tamil musical notes we must select suitable poems in languages like English,
French etc, so that we can spread the message that Tamil music belongs to the
common heritage of mankind with greater antiquity than their cultures. Dr.
Arimalam Padmanaban says that all western music could be adopted in sankaraparanam,
nadabhairavi and keeravani, 3 musical notes of the South Indian Music. The
earlier Tamil names of these three notes are Arumpaalai, Padumalaipaalai
and Pazham Panjuram (source: Silapathigaram) respectively. He
surprises us by saying that at the Olympic closing ceremony old classic music
of Chinese was sung which is similar to our mohanam. It was known as Mullai
pann in Sangam age and later came to be known as mohanam. Pann
in Tamil means raga and scale in English. Silapathigaram, the Tamil epic
mentions about 11991 panngal, which is lost in the ravages of time.
Scholars like Dr.Arimalam Padmanaban are working hard to redeem the lost
musical heritage of Tamils, lost due to invasions and colonial rule.
Arimalam
Padmanabhan who obtained his Doctorate from Pondicherry University Madras University
Sankaradas swamigal wrote 68 dramas, and
if Padmanaban had not laboured hard to trace all this for his research quest
the complete list would not be available to others. Sankaradas swamigal in his
last days spent his life in Pondicherry
Delving deep
into the emergence and uniqueness of Swamigal, Arimalam Padmanaban says that
“Gopalakrishna Bharathiar wrote Nandan sarithra keerthanaigal, which
marked the revival of the Tamil musical tradition. Following his footsteps
Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiar used the same musical notes of Gopalakrishna
Bharathiar and wrote songs. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar brought Tirupavai and
Tiruvembai into the Tamil musical usage. Bharathidasan in order to spread Tamil
music with help of Telugu scholars translated Thiyagarajas keerthanaihal into Tamil.
For instance Thigaraja’s sani thodi deve o manasa in arikambothi raga
was rendered into Tamil by Bharathidasan as thathi kooti vaaray o maname.”
By such narrations Arimalam points out the cultural exchanges that has taken
place and the blending of various musical traditions that run like streams of
the same river called humanist culture.
Courtesy : New Indian Express 2004
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