Kamban's Aryan

[Samar Abbas]

On Mon, 21 Dec 1998, N. Ganesan wrote:

> It is of note that
> When Hanuman meets Ravana in his court, he talks to
> Ravana in vaTamozi (Northern language) whereas
> when Hanuman meets Seethai in the forest of Asoka trees
> he comforts her in chaste Tamil to tell the news
> that Rama will come soon to rescue her.

 Hanuman is thought by some to have been originally a Dravidian monkey-god
who was later incorporated into the Aryan pantheon. So it is only natural
to expect him to have originally spoken Tamil. Older Dravidian versions
of the Ramayana are more likely to have preserved this feature.
Sanskritization came later, and there is no contradiction.

> 2) E. V. R. Naicker saying that Ramayana is a story
> describing how Dravidian leader, well versed in
> music and a devotee of "Siva, was cunningly
> defeated by Northern Aryans.

Samar