Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:15:33.042Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language of the People in the World of Gods: Ideologies of Tamil before the Nation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2010

Sumathi Ramaswamy
Get access

Extract

Once upon a time, long before the rise of the modern nation, a language named Tamil wandered about in a world inhabited by divinities and extraordinary beings. This was an enchanted world of miraculous events and wondrous deeds, where the dead were brought back to life, and deserts transformed into fragrant groves; and where verses in Tamil cured fevers, stopped floods, and impaled enemies. It was a world in which poets, because of their mastery of Tamil, lorded over the gods themselves, and in which celestials vied with each other to win the affections of the language. There were even those who insisted that devotees of Tamil could look forward to a life amongst the gods, while its enemies were destined to languish in hell.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 66 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Benedict, Anderson. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Aravamuthan, T. G. 1930. “The Oldest Account of the Tamil Academies.” Journal of Oriental Research 4 :183–01; 289–17.Google Scholar
Aravamuthan, T. G. 1931–32. “The Maturai Chronicles and the Tamil Academies.”Journal of Oriental Research 5:108–24; 196–214; 6:89–105; 275–94; 322–40.Google Scholar
Susan, Bayly. 1989. Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
CankuPulavar, T. Pulavar, T. 1966. Maturaic Cokkanātar Tamiḻ Vitutūtu [Tamil Dispatched as Messenger to Madurai Cokkanatar]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
John, Carman, and Narayanan, Vasudha. 1989. The Tamiḻ Veda: Pillāṉ's Interpretation of the Tiruvāymoḻi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chengalvaraya Pillai, V. S. 1941. Murukarum Tamiḻum [Murukaṉ and Tamil], Madras: n.p.Google Scholar
Chidambaranar, A. 1964. Akattiyar Varalāṟu “Story of Agastya]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Clothey, Fred. 1978. The Many Faces of Murukaṉ: The History and Meaning of a South Indian God. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, Norman. 1987. Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Hardy, Friedhelm. 1983. Viraha-Bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṋa Devotion in South India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hein, Norvin. 1995. “Līlā.” In The Gods at Play: Līlā in South Asia, edited by Sax, William S.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hudson, Dennis. 1989. “Violent and Fanatical Devotion Among the Nāyanārs: A Study in the Periya Purāṉam of Cēkkiḻār.” In Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays on the Guardians of Popular Hinduism, edited by Hiltebeitel, Alf. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Ilankumaran, I. 1988. Iḽakkaṋa Varalāṟu [History of Grammar]. Madras: Manivacagar.Google Scholar
Jayaraman, N. V. 1965. Tūtu Ilakkiyaṅkaḽ [Messenger Poems]. Chidambaram: Manivacagar.Google Scholar
Jesudasan, C., and Jesudasan, H.. 1961. A History of Tamil Literature. Calcutta: YMCA.Google Scholar
Jeyechandrun, A. V. 1985. The Madurai Temple Complex with Special Reference to Literature and Legends. Madurai: Madurai Kamaraj University.Google Scholar
Kailasapathy, K. 1970. “Kālantōrum Kaṭavuḽ Vāḻttu.” [Divine Invocations through the Ages]. In his Aṭiyum Muṭiyum [Essays on Literature]. Madras: Pari Nilayam.Google Scholar
Krishnan, P. 1984. Tamiḻ Nūlkaḽil Tamiḻ Moḻi, Tamiḻ Iṉam, Tamiḻ Nāṭu [Tamil Language, Tamil Community and Tamilnadu in Tamil Texts]. Madras: Ilantamilar Publications.Google Scholar
Lal, Mohan, ed. 1992. Encylopedia of Indian Literature. Vol. 5. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.Google Scholar
Namasivaya Mudaliar, C. R. 1910. “The Tamil Tongue.” In his Tamil: Dramatic Interludes, First Book. Madras: C. Coomaraswami Naidu and Sons.Google Scholar
NarayanaAyyar, C. V. Ayyar, C. V. 1936. Origin and Early History of Śaivism in South India. Madras: University of Madras.Google Scholar
Narayana Rao, V., Shulman, D., and Subrahmanyam, S.. 1992. Symbols of Substance: Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Narayanan, Vasudha. 1994. The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation and Ritual. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. 1963. Development of Religion in South India. Bombay: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Niranjana, Tejaswini et al. 1993. Interrogating Modernity: Culture and Colonialism in India. Calcutta: Seagull.Google Scholar
Parantamanar, A. K. 1966. Maturai Nāyakkar Varalaāṟu [A History of the Madurai Nayakas]. Madras: Pari Nilayam.Google Scholar
Perumal, K. V. 1981. “Iṟaivar Iṉpat Tamiḻaṉpu” [God's Love for Sweet Tamil], In Tiruviḻayāṭal Corpoṉivukal [Lectures on the Tiriviḽāyāṭal Purāṇam]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Peterson, Indira. 1989. Poems to Śiva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, Sheldon. 1996. “The Sanskrit Cosmopolis, 300–1300: Transculturation, Vernacularization, and the Question of Ideology.” In The Ideology and Status of Sanskrit: Contributions to the History of the Sanskrit Language, edited by Houben, Jan E. M.. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Pulavar, Kulanthai. 1972. Pulavar Kuḻanthai Pāṭalkaḽ [Songs of Pulavar Kulanthai]. Erode: Vela Patippakam.Google Scholar
Ramanujan, A. K. 1981. Hymns for the Drowning: Poems for Viṣṋu by Nammāḻvār. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ramaswamy, Sumathi. 1997. Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanjeevi, N. 1972. “Vaṭamoḻi: Sanskrit? in Ancient Tamil Literature.” Annals of the Oriental Research 24(01): 1–11.Google Scholar
Sanjeevi, N. 1977. “Earliest References to Tamil.” Annals of Oriental Research 27 (1–2): 1–9.Google Scholar
Saravana Muttu, T. 1892. The Study of Tamil Literature: An Essay in Tamil. Madras: Sreenilayum Press.Google Scholar
Sax, William S. ed. 1992. The Gods at Play: Līlā in South Asia. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shulman, David. 1980. Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Śaiva Tradition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shulman, David. 1985. The King and the Clown in South Indian Myth and Poetry. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Shulman, David. 1988. “The Tamil Flood Myths and the Cankam Legend.” In The Flood Myth, edited by Alan Dundes. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Shulman, David. 1990. Songs of the Harsh Devotee: The Tvāram of Cuntaramūrttināyaṉār. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Singaravelanar, C. 1958. Tamiḻviṭu Tūtu [Lectures on Minor Literatures]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Singaravelu Mudaliar, A. [1910] 1983. Apitāṉa Cintāmani [Encyclopedia of Tamil Literature]. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services (reprint)Google Scholar
Sivaraja Pillai, K. N. [1932] 1985. Agastya in the Tamil Land. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services (reprint).Google Scholar
Srinivasa Aiyangar, M. [1914] 1982. Tamil Studies: Essays on the History of the Tamil People, Language, Religion, and Literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services (reprint).Google Scholar
Stein, Burton. 1980. Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stein, Burton. 1984. All the King's Mana: Papers on Medieval South Indian History. Madras: New Era.Google Scholar
Subramania Pillai, K. 1961. Kumarakuruparar Aṭikaḽ Varalāṟum Nūlārāycciyum [History of Kumarakuruparar and His Works]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Suddhananda, Bharati. 1970. The Grand Epic of śaivism. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Swaminatha, Alyar U. V. [1941] 1981. Maturaic Cokkanātar Tamil Viṭutūtu [Tamil Dispatched as Messenger to Madurai Cokkanatar]. Madras: U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar Library (reprint).Google Scholar
Varadarajan, M. 1988. A History of Tamil Literature (translated from Tamil by Visswanathan, E. S.. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.Google Scholar
Vedanayagam Pillai, S. 1879. The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pradapa Mudaliar. Mayavaram: The author.Google Scholar
Velayutam, Pillai. [1949] 1971. Moḽiyaraci [Queen of Languages]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works (reprint).Google Scholar
Venkatachari, K. K. A. 1978. The Maṇipravāḽa Literature of the Śrivaiṣṇava Ācāryas, 12th–15th Century A.D. Bombay: Ananthacharya Research Institute.Google Scholar
Venkatasami, Nattar, N. M., ed. 1965. Parańcōtimuṉivar Aruḽiceyta Tiruviḽayāṭaṟ Purāṋam: Maturaikkāṋṭam [Tiruviḽayātal Purāṇam of Parańcōti: Book on Madurai]. Madras: South India Shaiva Siddhanata Publishing Works.Google Scholar
Waghorne, Joanne. 1994. The Raja's Magic Clothes: Re-Visioning Kingship and Divinity in England's India. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Yocum, Glenn. 1982. Hymns to the Dancing śiva: A Study of Māṇikkavācakar's Tiruvācakam. New Delhi: Heritage.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, Kamil. 1973a. “The Earliest Account of the Tamil Academies.” Indolranian Journal 15(2): 109–35.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, Kamil. 1973b. The Smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India. Leiden: E. J. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zvelebil, Kamil. 1974. Tamil Literature. Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, Kamil. 1991. Tamil Traditions of Subrahmaṇya-Murugan. Madras: Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar