Digital Tevaram (new publication: IFP / EFEO, 2007)

[Jean-Luc Chevillard]

The following publication has recently appeared (January 2007)
and is available from the French Institute of Pondicherry
(<http://www.ifpindia.org/Digital-Tevaram-Kaninit-Tevaram.html>).


Digital Tevaram. Kaninit Tevaram.

V.M. Subramanya Aiyar, Jean-Luc Chevillard, 
S.A.S. Sarma. Collection Indologie n° 103, IFP / EFEO, 2007 [CD-ROM]
Language : Tamil, English. 200 Rs (7 €)

The “Digital Tevaram” is a multi-feature CD-ROM 
edition of a collection of 800 Tamil hymns to 
Siva, possibly dating back to the 7th and 8th 
centuries, attributed to three authors 
(Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar), traditionally 
called Tevaram, and constituting the initial part 
of the Tamil Saiva Scriptures.

This electronic edition of the Tamil text, 
furnished with many maps, [which allow the user 
to locate the 274 traditional sites to which the 
Tevaram hymns are attached], 109 MP3 audio 
recordings [illustrating the 24 pan.-s, or 
musical modes, which are used in the Tevaram 
hymns and confronting the users of the CD with 
the variety of vocal styles that are met with 
today] and a complete English rendering by the 
late V.M. Subrahmanya Ayyar (1906-1981), combines 
the features of the two traditional book-forms of 
Tevaram: 1. arrangement according to musical 
modes (pan-s), as in panmurai editions of 
Tevaram, and 2. arrangement according to sites 
(stalam-s), as in talamurai editions. It also 
incorporates a concordance, and can be used as a "pre-dictionary" of Tevaram.

Keywords: Tevaram, Saivism, Hymns to Siva, 
talamurai (hymns classified according to sites), 
panmurai (hymns classified according to musical modes)



Jean-Luc Chevillard (CNRS, Université Paris 7, UMR 7597 "HTL")
& S.A.S. Sarma (EFEO, Pondicherry Center)