Tamil Muslims

[N. Ganesan]

>Assume that a person of a European background grew up in Tamil Nadu
>and spoke Tamil, identifying himself as a Tamil: would he then be regarded
>as a Tamil by other Tamils?

Undoubtedly. Sangam poems proclaim: "Every dwelling place is our
village, and everyone is our kin" (yAtum UrE, yAvarum kELir).

On those who study Tamil, they usually put lifesize statues
on the Marina beach and honor them with their highest titles -
"Ayyar" or "Munivar". The Scots, Caldwell and Pope are
called "kALTuvelayyar" and "pOppaiyar" resp. and
the Italian Jesuit Beschi became "vIramAmunivar".

Basques (Jesuits by religion) like Henriques and Heras
and Russians and Finns have helped Tamil immensely.
I remember Osborne at Apple computers who grew up
in Tiruvannamalai Ramana Ashramam help start the
fonts and DTP revolution in Tamil, a first among Indian
languages.

Non-Tamils (who marry Tamils and) if they happen to study
Tamil are affectionately addressed by poets, using
Drav. kinship terminology.

Regards,
N. Ganesan



_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com