Re. Black and Bright and Beautiful

[Maran Kathirchelvan]

Vanbakkam Vijayaraghavan wrote:

>I seem to have touched a raw nerve in you and you make
>unwarranted statements about the lengths of my posts,
>knowledge,etc.

It is tiresome to read seemingly authoritative posts from people who have no
knowledge of the Tamil language nor its culture.  All you have to backup
your statements is your recollection of two posters in thirty-five years.
Since you haven't demonstrated even basic competence in the Tamil language,
it is doubtful if you can even read Tamil.  That makes your allegation even
less credible and completely irrelevant to an Indological discussion.

>However, you don't deny that Tamils use the word 'karuppargal'
>for Africans. Collectively, they don't use the term for
>themselves, even though some people are named 'karuppan', etc.

True.  And they don't identify themselves as "veLLaiyarkaL" (whites) either
and the use that name to refer to people of European ancestry.  The use of
those two terms are roughly comparable to the use of the words "Whites" and
"Blacks" in any American newspaper.  One cannot infer anything else from
that.  But that does not stop you, even though you seem to lack basic
literacy in Tamil language.

>I have seen an election poster attacking Kamaraj as Apprikka
>azhage in front of Mambalam station when he was alive in 1965.
>Who was fighting to defeat Kamaraj in 65 and putting up
>poters [sic] against him ?

There was no election in 1965. And Mr. Kamaraj never contested any elections
in the Mambalam area.  1965 is a tumultuous year in the history of Tamil
Nadu.  It is hard to forget what happened in that year if one had really
lived in Tamil Nadu. Nor can one forget when the elections were really held
considering that after that election, the Congress party never came to power
in the Tamil Nadu state.

>I have heard Tamil people use this word in a snide way.

Based on the mistakes you continue to make in your posts, this statement of
yours has even less credibility.

>>That there is a complexion consciousness in modern India is
>>undeniable
>
>This is your backhanded way of accepting what I am saying !!

Not really.  If you read it carefully, I had stated that this modern
complexion consciousness is not unique to Tamil Nadu but is seen all over
India.  You are alleging that only Dravidian political parties in Tamil Nadu
are guilty of using a racist slur.  There is every reason to believe (if we
go by Vasco da Gama's descriptions of the Pandiyan country) that before the
Tamils lost their independence and were ruled by Mughal, Vijyanagar, Mughal,
European invaders, they held dark complexion in high esteem.  Even in modern
Tamil Nadu, the movie makers choose darker skinned male actors as they are
more popular with the mass audiences.

>But we don't know the social reality of Kamban's days.

Well, we can surmise them from Vasco da Gama's descriptions of the later
Pandiyan kingdom.  And we can see if the Tamil literature of that period
equates black with evil.  Kamban's verse makes it clear that it doesn't.

>Under the cloak of "scholarly insight" i.e. texts or to be
>precise the involved interpretation of the texts, you somehow
>want to push the everyday reality under the rug. When I expose
>the anti-black sentiments in the Tamil society, you think we
>should read only texts and nothing beyond it

I didn't know that this thread was concerned with sociology of modern Tamil
Nadu or its politics.  Nor do I think that you have established your
credentials to "expose" any sentiments of Tamil society.  Your posts clearly
indicate that you lack basic understanding of Tamil language, that you don't
know much about Tamil literature nor Tamil history.  You get even modern
dates wrong. And yet you do not hesitate to make unsubstantiated
allegations.  In a list where scholars congregate, one would expect you to
do at least a little research before you post. That is the least that you
can do to show that you respect the scholars of the list.

Regards,

mARan
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