SV: Classical languages of India

[N. Ganesan]

I think Tamil will also fit well with Dr. Fosse'd definition
of a Classical language:

a) Tamil shaivaite hymns were long used in Thailand's royal
coronation ceremonies;

See: Chulalongkorn, King of Siam, 1853-1910.

Main Title:
Phrar¯atchaphith¯i tr¯iyamphaw¯ai-tr¯ipaw¯ai, (ch¯ak
Phrar¯atchaphith¯i  12 d¯uŽan) [microform] / phrar¯atchaniphon nai
Phrab¯at Somdet Phra Chunlach¯omkl¯ao Ch¯aoy¯uhua.

Published/Created:
[Bangkok] : Phray¯a Chonlam¯akphich¯an, 2477 [1934]
Notes:
In Thai.
"Phray¯a Chonlam¯akphich¯an `Athib¯od¯i Krom Chonlaprath¯an phim
m¯uŽa pen Phray¯a Y¯uŽn chingch¯a."
Description of a royal ceremony in which two Tamil devotional works,
Tirupp¯avai by ¯Ant¯al and Tiruvemp¯avai by M¯anikkav¯acakar are
recited.

b) For some other Tamil texts in Thailand:
Neelakanta Sarma,
Textes sanskrits et tamouls de Thailande.
Introd. par Jean Filliozat, 1972, Pondichery

c) It looks some mahaayaana dhaaraNis were at one time in Tamil also:
Franz Bernhard, 1967, Zur Entstehung einer DhAraNI,
ZDMG, v. 117, pp. 148-168

d) KaNNaki, the heroine of the Tamil literary epic called
CilappatikAram has been worshipped as Goddess Pattini
in Sri Lanka. See Sinhalese worship in
G. Obeyesekare, Cult of the Goddess Pattini,
1984, University of Chicago.

e) J. Ph. Vogel (among others) has written about the Tamil
folk deity Aiyanaar at Isuramuniya, Sri Lanka.

f) The most important example within India is the Shrivaishnava
tradition:  Alvar saints' poems in the prayers to Vishnu in many
Indian regions are used for centuries where Tamil is not the
majority language. Ofcourse,Tamil Alvar poems have been found
inscribed near temples and tanks in South East Asia for 1000
or more years.

Interestingly, Tamil has epics on Shaivism, Vaishnavism,
Jainism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity as well.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

---------------
C.R. Selvakumar [SMTP:selvakum at VALLUVAR.UWATERLOO.CA] skrev
28. september 2000 19:57:
 >     Would you or soemone else on this list be kind enough to
 >     explain what is a classical language and why Tamil is not
 > one of them ?

I don't have a clear-cut definition at hand, but I could suggest one:

"A classical language is a language with an ancient literature of
outstanding quality that through a considerable period of time has
played an important part in the history, literature and culture of
several peoples that otherwise may use different mother tongues."

This definition would include languages such as Greek, Latin, Arabic,
Persian, and Sanskrit as well as Classical Chinese. It would exclude
Tamil, Old Norse, Old German, Anglo-Saxon English etc. in spite of
the fact that these languages have old and venerable literatures.
Classical languages are  normally used across time and space by
educated people and serve as link languages and carriers of ideas
with some claim to universality: e.g. Greek and Latin for
Christianity, Arabic for Islam, Sanskrit for Hinduism etc.

I offer myself up for criticism.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



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