Aryans and Dravidians / Tamil sources

Sat Sep 17 22:32:18 UTC 1994

In answer to the request by Lars Martin Fosse for references to translations
of Tamil works, we include a brief list below. It is intended to give a 
cross-section of the work done in this century. It must be noted that many of
these works were unavailable to most scholars until the beginning of this
century, when most of them were edited by U. V. Swaminathaiyar. 

Since many texts refer to poetic conventions which have no equivalent 
in other literatures, we have included also a few studies and articles 
which may help the newcomer to Tamil Studies. One should also note 
that many works translate not the text itself, but a paraphrase 
by famous mediaeval commentators. 
These commentaries were written because a direct understanding of the text had 
become difficult in their time. It follows that these commentaries 
represent a deformation of the original to some extent. It is therefore 
recommended to look at the texts themselves whenever possible, 
or at least to compare several translations.   

To my earlier comments on the place of Tamil sources in Indology,
one may add two further points:

 1) We now know that there were direct contacts between Rome and
Greece and the ancient Tamils, by sea, before the Christian Era; see e.g.

    J. Andre and J. Filliozat, L'Inde vue de Rome : textes latins de
    l'antiquite, relatifs a l'Inde, Paris, Belles Lettres, 1986. 

 2) It is also known that Tamil colons played a major role in the 
spreading of Indian culture in South-East Asia, from the time of the 
Pallavas (see the references below).

The following list is limited to studies in Western languages. Those with some
knowledge of modern Tamil are *strongly* urged to look up U. V. Swaminathaiyar's
editions (for PuRam, Kampan, PattuppAt't'u, KuRuntokai...) which combine modern
standards of scholarship with an excellent understanding of the texts. 
It would, by the way, be very nice if these editions were reedited---
I would appreciate knowing of any effort in this direction.
For KuRaL, the Tiruppan_antAL edition, which includes five (sometimes 
contradictory) commentaries, is recommended. 

REFERENCES (alphabetically by author)

Note: PIFI = Publication de l'Institut Francais d'Indologie, Pondichery

  1) V. V. S. Aiyar, Kamba-Ramayanam, A Study, Delhi Tamil Sangam, 1950.
This work contains translations of several passages (this author 
also translated the KuRaL).    

  2) J.Bloch, Structure grammaticale des langues dravidiennes, A.Maisonneuve,
       translated by R. Ganesh Harshe (1954)

  3) Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, The Southern
            Schools of Saivism, Cambridge, 1955.

  4) J. Filliozat, (a) Un texte de la religion kaumara: le TirumurukARRuppat'ai
           (by NakkIrar) PIFI, 1973  
                   (b) Un texte tamoul de devotion vishnouite : Le 
      TiruppAvai d'ANt'AL, PIFI, 1972 (describes Sanskrit translations as well).
                   (c) Laghu-Prabandhah, E.J.Brill, 1974.
                   (d) Cours au College de France, 1971-1977. See Annuaire du
             College de France, from 1971 to 1977; includes translations from
             the Tirumantiram. (The same, from 1962, also contains some
             translations from MammAzhvAr, and from the Sangam)

  5) Articles by J. Filliozat et P. Meile in `L'Inde classique'
         by L. Renou and  J. Filliozat, 2 vol.Payot, Paris, 1947-1953.

  6) F. Gros, Le Paripatal, PIFI #35, 1968. 
[Has also edited the Tevaram, with T. V. Gopal Iyer. The introduction 
of the first volume is in French, the text in Tamil only. Critical
notes may have appeared as a third volume].

  7) G. L Hart III, (a) The Forest Book of the Ramayana of Kampan, 
translated and with an introduction by G. L. Hart and Hank Heifetz,  
U. of California Press, Berkeley 1988.   
                    (b) Poems of the Tamil Anthologies, (from AingkuRunURU,
KuRuntokai, NaRRiNai, Akam and PuRam), Princeton 1979.    

  8) J.S.M.Hooper, Hymns of Alwars, Calcutta, 1929

  9) F.Kingsbury and G.E.Philipps, Hymns of Tamil saivite saints, Oxford,1921.

 10) S.Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Manimekalai in its historical setting, London,
                          Luzac and Co, 1928.
I gather there exists an abridged prose version.

 11) J.M.Nallaswami Pillai, (a) Meykanda Devar, Sivagnana Botham, 
               Dharmapuram, Gananasambandan Press, 1945.
                            (b) Umapathi Sivacharya, Thiruvarutpayan, same ed.,
                        same year.

  12) B. Natarajan, Tirumantiram, with introduction, synopsis, and notes,
Madras, ITES Pub.l, 1979; Thirumandiram: A Classic of Yoga and Tantra,
Montreal, Babaji's Kriya Yoga and Publications, 1993 
[This reference was also mentioned recently by Noel Evans]

  13) G.U.Pope, (a) The Thiruvacagam, Oxford, 1900. Also translated 
                (b) TirukkuRaL and
                (c) Naladiyar. Reprinted by (a) Clarendon Press 1970, and 
Asian Educational Sevices, New Delhi 1980, 1984 for (b) and (c) respectively.
[For KAmattuppAl, see VVS Aiyar, of a recent translation by Gros 
(Unesco, Gallimard, 1992)]
                (d) Also translated selections from PuRapporuL veNpAmAlai, 
and PuRanAnURu
(South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Pub. Soc., Tinnevelli, 1973).

  14) V.R.Ramachandra Dikshitar, The Silappadigaram, Oxford, 1939, or
The Cilappatikaram, with a foreword by J. Bloch and K. R. Srinivasa
Iyengar, South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Pub. Soc., Tinnevelli, 1978.

  15) A. K. Ramanujan, The Interior Landscape, Indana Univ. Bloomington, 1967

  16) H.W.Schomerus, (a) Die Dravidishen Literaturen, in `Die Literaturen 
          Indiens,' H. von Glassenap, 2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1961.
                    (b) Der Caiva-Siddhanta, Leipzig, 1912
                                      reprinted:  New York, Garland Publ., 1980.
                    (c) Meister Eckhardt and MaNikka Vasagar, Guetersloh, 1936.
                    (d) Die Hymnen des Maniikka - Vasagar, Jena, 1923.
                    (e) Schvaitische Heiligenleben (Periya PurAnam), Jena, 1925  
                    (f) AruNantis Siva-gnana-siddhiyar : die Erlangung des 
        Wissens um Siva oder um die Erl"osung ; edited by H. Berger, 
        A. Dhamotharan and D. B. Kapp, Wiesbaden, Steiner, 1981.

   17) S.A.Singaravelu, A comparative study of the Story of Rama in South 
        India and Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur, 1956

   18) X.S.Thani Nayagam, Landscape and Poetry, Madras, 1956

I also think that there is an English rendering of PukazhEnti's
NaLa-veNpA by M. Langton.

In answer to S. Nadesan's question, very little is available in electronic 
format. 
Many texts of the Sangam, as well as the definitions in the Madras Tamil
Lexicon, are available online by Gopher, from linus.informatik.uni-koeln.de 
(vt100-type terminal emulation is fine, and the transliteration system
is explained in separate files).
The texts themselves are however in Tamil only.

I'd be happy to provide further pointers if needed---this list is not meant
to be exhaustive.

                                   Satyanad Kichenassamy
                                   School of Mathematics
                                   University of Minnesota
                                   kichenas at math.umn.edu