“Tamil computing must be naturalised for average user”

Anyone who is able to read or write Tamil should be able to use the language easily on the computer too.

“When people see their language on the computer screen, they get excited and want to make more use of it,” points out Michael Kaplan, Programme Manager of the World Readiness Team of Microsoft Corp. Hence, “For any user it is necessary to get rid of the computer baggage that makes it harder for them to use their language on the computer naturally.”

Now, English enables the computer users to get more knowledge and opportunities. Those, who speak, read and write Tamil and have learnt English by necessity would be the early adaptors of Tamil computing.

They should be able to lead the growth in Tamil computing. The potential for those getting into Tamil computing is 60 million.

The average users of computer in any language are those who just use it as long as it works.

So, it is important to enable people to use Tamil on the computer the way they think rather than visually how it appears. Tamil computing should be naturalised for the average user, he says.

Mr. Kaplan, whose special interests are in Tamil, Unicode and input methods, is here to participate in the Tamil Internet Conference 2010, a concurrent event of the World Classical Tamil Conference.

He says that Microsoft incorporated Tamil Unicode in the Windows 2000 version and since then, made several changes to improve the use of it.

For Microsoft, research is on to see what people are interested in. “I want people to try more what we have and give their inputs.”

Tolkappiyam is not dependent on Sanskrit sources: Tamil scholar

Tolkappiyam is not dependent on Sanskrit sources and a work that demanded not only vast knowledge but also a lot of thinking from its author, according to Alexander Dubyanskiy, veteran Tamil scholar from Moscow State University.

“Many scholars (have) pointed out that Tolkappiyam is dependent on Sanskrit sources. It is said that its author, Tolkappiyanar followed the Aindra School of linguistics. Subrahmanya Sastri, a scholar who studied Tolkappiyam, even stated that some parts of the work were translations of some portions of Panini's Ashtadhyayi, Yaska's Nirukta, Rigveda Pratishakya, etc., which according to me is not right,” he said in his paper presented at the World Classical Tamil Conference on Sunday.

“I think it is not correct because at those times the process of interaction of texts was connected not with translating but with rendering and, speaking generally, there was nothing unusual in borrowing or using ideas from other sources.”

The author of Tolkappiyam was a well educated person who used the works available to build a construction of his own and place the same in the mainstream Indian theoretical linguistic thought.

He said that it was known that Tolkappiyanar did not try to conceal his indebtedness to his predecessors and often used – around 150 times – expressions which clearly signified them.

Vast knowledge

“I am sure that Tolkappiyam is a work which demanded not only vast knowledge and a lot of thinking but a considerable creative skill from its composer.”

Dr. Dubyanskiy also said, “Interestingly enough, there are cases when Tolkappiyanar himself shows his independence on the Sanskrit tradition.” He quoted a verse to underscore his point.

“Besides, one should not forget that Tolkappiyanar described not an Indo-Aryan [language], but Tamil, a language of a different family with its own phonetics and grammatical structure and he could not copy the sources blindly.”

In his tribute to Tolkappiyanar, the professor said that though nothing much was known about him, he seemed to be a person of great intellect, deep thought and an open mind.

On Tamil and its classical status, he said any classical language presented itself in a fixed verbal form that was in the form of a certain kind of treatise, a text describing and analysing the structure and specific features of the language or literature, prescribing rules and regulations for them.

Like Greek, Latin and Sanskrit, Tamil too had such texts, he said and added “during more than 2,000 years of its development, Tamil tradition produced a great quantity of such texts. Many of them are very famous like ‘Nannool,' ‘Yaaparunkalam,' ‘Agapporul,' among others.”

“Together with commentaries they made a vast section of literature of a special kind, very important and interesting. And, in the beginning of the theoretical tradition stood Tolkappiyam, a treatise connected with Tamil classical poetry.”

Dr. Dubyanskiy further said that the authority of the text was undeniable. “It is a literary and cultural monument of great importance.”

Simple steps add largely to the cultural ambience

The cultural programmes performed so far at the World Classical Tamil Conference can be classified into any one of the art forms, viz., classical or folk. But, the group that performed in the open area in front of the main CODISSIA exhibition hall on Saturday evening did not belong to any dance troupe.

They were Hindu Irula tribals from the villages of Jambukandi and Kudalur near Anaikatti and the dance they performed was their traditional ‘Dilli Aatam.' It was a slightly modified version of the traditional ‘Kummi.'

Men and women from different age groups numbering 40 sang and danced to their indigenously set tune for which the lyrics too were penned by them. The lyrics were in a different dialect of the Tamil language. For example, ‘nalla sollu' is said as ‘arumaka sollu.'

The singers stood in the centre and the dancers danced around them in a circle. Men were dressed in dhoti, shirt, and a turban, while the women were dressed in bright saris that reached short of their ankles. They also made use of instruments like the ‘tavil', ‘porai' and ‘kozal.'

K. Vaidehi, a member of the group said they organised such dances during deaths and temple festivals. They do not perform the dance during other auspicious occasions. “This is an age-old tradition which we learn from our elders.”

First time

This is the first time the tribals performed outside of their village. Thanks to the efforts of S. Surendran, former Panchayat President, Anaikatti, the tribals were given a chance to showcase their unique dance form at the conference.

Though they are tribals, they are not the closeted kinds who do not move out of their native place.

Most of the men and women are educated and even working outside. Vaidehi is a B.Sc. graduate from Avinashilingam University for Women and works as a teacher in the local school.

N. Nagaraj, a post-graduate student of Public Administration from Government Arts College, Coimbatore, said that the group would like to make more public performances if given a chance.

Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, Minister for Information Technology Poongothai Aladi Aruna, and Tamizhachi Thangapandian, were among the audience who cheered the group performing their simple art.

Youths spread awareness of Tamil on the web

At the Internet Exhibition at the CODISSIA grounds, a group of volunteers is actively engaging with the public. It wants to inform people how Tamil is being used on the Internet and how they can benefit and also contribute.

“Volunteers are teaching how to type in Tamil, how to use Tamil on mobile phones, projecting the Tamil content on the web, among others,” says A. Ravishankar at the stall.

“It is important to let the public know because when they understand that they can read Tamil content on the Web, they will avail an Internet connection.”

The group is also engaged in taking online encyclopaedia Wikipedia to the public. “Not many are aware that a free online encyclopaedia, that too in Tamil, is available,” says Mr. Ravishankar, an administrator at Tamil Wiki.

Being an administrator, he enjoys the privilege of monitoring content, editing them and deleting those that are radical, inflammatory and factually incorrect. He has been an administrator since 2005.

At present, Tamil Wiki has 15,000 members, including 250 active contributors. The credit for starting Tamil Wiki goes to Mayooranathan, a Sri Lankan Tamil working in the United Arab Emirates.

Another active member of the group of volunteers is R. Loganathan, who looks after the Tamil Wiktionary, an online Tamil-English dictionary. He says a team of volunteers has managed to upload 1.18 lakh Tamil words and provide meanings for the same. “We are growing and the Tamil Nadu government has volunteered to share its archives, glossary and other information it has,” he says.

Mr. Loganathan and Mr. Ravishankar say they want the Tamil people to realise the power of Web and use it to promote Tamil and add that their exhibition is a small effort in that direction.

Call for incentives to those taking up Tamil computing projects

The State government should provide incentives to those who carry out projects in Tamil computing, Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT-Kanpur and local organising committee of the Tamil Internet Conference (TIC) 2010 M. Anandakrishnan said on Saturday.

About one lakh projects were taken up in colleges in the State every year. However, only a handful of them pertained to Tamil computing, he told a function to mark the distribution of prizes to students who won contests organised as part of the TIC.

Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin gave away the prizes to the State-level winners and also released a special souvenir that had 130 articles. Emphasising that greater support should be given to promote the use of Tamil computing, he said that the State government should declare a policy that in the computers purchased for government departments, schools and colleges, the opening screen should be in Tamil when booted.

In an effort to sustain the interest of children in Tamil computing, they should be encouraged to use computers for activity-based learning. For instance, students could collect data and information related to the local economy, history and social issues and feed these in Tamil in the computer and also sort the information in Tamil. The secretariat for Tamil computing should be located with that of classical Tamil, he added.

About 8,000 school students and nearly 3,800 college students participated in the competitions. Dr. Anandakrishnan said prizes would be given away to district-level winners soon.

Among those present were Ministers for Higher Education, School Education and Information Technology, K. Ponmudy, Thangam Thennarasu and Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Chief Secretary K.S. Sripathi and Principal Secretaries for Higher Education and IT K. Ganesan and P.W.C. Davidar.

Tamil must find its way into all faculties, says Sivakumar

Tamil, a classical language should diversify itself into various areas and find a place in the faculties of Medicine, Engineering, judiciary and all other fields, Actor Sivakumar said on Sunday. He was presiding over the seminar on “Vithaga Vilankum Tamil.”

Lines from theme song

The topics for individual speakers were a few lines each from the conference theme song.

Of the world's ancient languages such as Sanskrit and Tamil, Sanskrit is no longer a spoken language whereas Tamil has crossed various stages such as inscriptions and manuscripts thus reaching the computer era. Speakers reiterated that guidelines for life and scientific inventions for humanity had found place in the literature several thousand years ago vouching to the foresight and intellect of the litterateurs.

Rev. Jagath Gaspar who spoke on “Yaathum Oore Yaavarum Kelir” said that the ancient literatures had stressed the need for unity through the bond of brotherhood.

The elaborated DNA chart says that this community has crossed seventy eight generations.

“Highlight rich history”

He underlined the need for English speaking scholars who could highlight the rich history, culture and legacy of Tamil across the world.

Prof. Parveen Sulthana spoke on “Unpathu Naazhi, Uduppathu Irande and Uraividam Ondre” and said that any race that wants to dominate another race or community would first ensure domination of the language of the targeted race or community.

Tamil has valiantly fought such attempts to dominate and on the theme, she said human race says enough only for food and pointed out the all that a person would require is a limited food, two sets of clothing and a shelter.

Advocate Ramalingam who spoke on the theme “Theethum Nandrum Pirar thaara” meaning good or bad are always self inflicted, quoting literature said efforts never fail and in the absence of efforts there will be no progress. Advocate Arulmozhi spoke on “Porai Puranthalli…Porulai Podhuvakkave." Cumbum P. Selvendran spoke on “Orarivu mudal Aaarivuvarai” and Tiruchi Selvendran spoke on “Agamendrum, Puramendrum Vazhvai Alaghaga Vaguthalithu.”

Peter Alphonse who was listed as one of the speakers was not present because of the death of Congress Legislature Party leader D. Sudarssanam.

Modern Tamil literature's resonance akin to Sangam's, says expert

Modern Tamil literature has the resonance and power of words that the Sangam literature possessed, according to George L. Hart, Professor of Tamil language, University of California, Berkeley, United States.

Just as the Sangam literature had mirrored the lives of people, modern writing in Tamil too had the ability to describe human conditions,

Professor Hart told delegates of the World Classical Tamil Conference on Saturday, expressing his admiration over the continuity in Tamil literary traditions.

Delivering a lecture on the uniqueness of classical Tamil here in the presence of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan, among others, the 65-year-old scholar, now involved in making annotated translations with extensive introduction of ‘Akananooru' and ‘Paitruppattu,' said the Sangam literature's influence could be seen in the subsequent literary creations of Nammazhwar and Kamban.

The hymns of Azhwars blossomed into the Bakthi movement of Vaishanavites which was exported from Tamil Nadu to the rest of the country.

That was how the “Tulsi Ramayana” could be seen as being influenced by the Sangam literature, he argued.

Kamba Ramayanam contained some amount of Sanskrit but many elements from early Tamil.

“Kamba Ramayanam is probably the greatest poem written in India,” he noted.

Tamil-Sanskrit ties

On the relationship between Tamil and Sanskrit, Professor Hart said the languages of south Asia, excepting Tamil, derived their traditions from Sanskrit or Persian/Arabic. In the beginning, Tamil, like most other classical literatures, developed from an oral culture. While the Sangam poets were aware of the Sanskrit epics, they did not imitate them but referred to them a few times. “The Sangam literature is entirely independent of Sanskrit and follows its own rules and traditions.”

Sanskrit literature

Sanskrit literature was predominantly other-worldly, mediating on lofty issues. Though Sanskirt poetry had always been beautiful, it, in later times, turned introspective. In contrast, Sangam poetry was always about here and now.

Though Sanskrit subsequently began to exert considerable influence on Tamil, Tamil literature had always been indebted to its beginnings.

The anthologies of classical Tamil formed a sort of template for expression, feeling and the use of language for later writers, just as the Vedas and Upanishads did for later Sanskrit writers.

Despite the two languages being different radically in their focus and conception of the world, they influenced each other and each took many elements from the other. They had very different and complementary ways of viewing the world, Professor Hart explained.