telugu history

[N. Ganesan]

>Mr. S. Krishna writes:
>*by the 12th century, when the maNipravALam style held sway,
>*samskrtization had taken root so firmly that there were Tamil
>*works with more Samskrt words than Tamil words.

>But in all periods, Tamil works employing tamil vocabulary
>far exceed the no. of maNipravALam tamil works. Can give you 100s of
>examples for any century CE.
>

Dr. Bh. Krishnamurti writes:
*And what about the naming pattern in Tamil Nadu--GaNesan, KaruNaanidhi,
*SaNmukam, etc. How old is this tradition? Most Tamil names, if you look at
*the electoral roles, are of Sanskrit origin as it is true of the other
*literary Dravidian languages. Nativizing Sanskrit names into Tamil, like
*neTunceZiyan, aaRmukam, etc. is a recent trend which has political origins
*and overtones.

   The naming of Tamils with Sanskrit names is after the Bhakti
   movement. But neTuJceziyan2 occurs in classical sangam texts. aaRumukam
   is NOT a recent trend. It occurs in all periods and in all facets
   of tamil culture. May be it is political, but is it wrong
   on the part of Tamils to name their kids with those found in
   classical Tamil sangam texts (eg., neTuJceziyan2)?!
   Are they allowed to use the names they have always been using
   (eg., aaRumukam)?!

*What does it matter which language has more of Sanskrit or less of Sanskrit?
*As a linguist, I see this kind of inquiry itself is political. English, the
*greatest language of the world, has  only 5% of Anglo Saxon native element.
*How are you suddenly interested in the Telugu History and what are you
*driving at? It is true, as JBSHaldane (in the Hindu in the fifties) once
*said, Telugu has greater accommodative power of foreign borrowings without
*creating tadbhavas than the other modern Indian languages and he said it
*deserved to be the official language of India.


      Agree with and support J. B. S. Haldane 100%. My interest in
  knowing about Telugu culture in not new. I have been reading about Telugu,
  Kannada and Malayalam culture quite a bit as far as I remember. I talk to
  my telugu friends if I have a question. Have compiled a huge bibliography
  of 25000 english items on S. Indian culturescape. Of course, with a tilt
  towards Tamil.

  Sir, Upon seeing your brief messages on Indology, I wrote to you twice a
  personal message seeking your list of publications. Unfortunately, I did not
  get a reply. That is a kind of evidence that my interest in Telugu
  is not sudden. I still seek your list of publications.

  Any thing told about possibility from Dravidian side is branded as
  "political" or "regional chauvinism" of tamils. Any Dravidian
  etymology is usually accorded benign neglect.
  I am asking a simple question: why Telugu is full
  of Sanskrit words? That's all. All the replies are useful (to a degree).
  I agree that  borrowing and especially from Sanskrit is good.

  Once a famous professor Sanskrit wrote in Indology

"       [Para 3: ]  The main Indian way of thinking and mode of creativity
have probably been somewhat influenced by the Perso-Arabic way and mode.
The possible contribution of tribal cultures in shaping them need not be
doubted either.  However, essentially and predominantly, the way and the
mode are Sanskrit-Tamil.  Without the complexes of languages, literatures
and (sub)cultures that are ultimately traceable to Sanskrit and Tamil,
there would be no indianness to India.  And regardless of the perception to
the contrary that the propaganda based on some ill-informed research has
succeeded in creating, it is a fact that Sanskrit and Tamil heritages have
generally moved ahead on a tandem at least since the beginning of India as
a cultural unit. "

Another recent posting was:
"        I understand well why a theory showing the Indus Valley
civilization (eventually "Dravidian") destroyed by invaders (eventually
"Aryan") don't is today a "politically correct" one. But the arguments
against it are poor (most of them "in absentia") and highly suspect to be
justified by non-historical motives.
        We have some simple facts:
        - Indus Valley civilization disappears, just leaving ruins.
        - subsequent dwellers of the country speak a language strongly
related to a great lot of languages spoken out of this country.
        - the same dwellers have ancient text talking about destruction of
cities.
[...]
        My choice is easy. I recall that I don't prefer Hindi-speakers to
Tamil-speakers, nor the contrary.       "
(End of quote)



    Upon hearing these kind of nice words about Tamil's antiquity, Tamils
   look to their roots from classical sangam texts and name their kids with
   Tamil names. I do not see anything wrong, in spite of being repeatedly
   told that these things are "political". Just wondering whether these
   statements themselves are not political?

Regards,
N. Ganesan