Monday, February 4, 2013

Because there is a world known as tamil

you might be aware of India but you might be unaware of tamil nadu...the southern most state of india speaking the ancient most language of mankind..yes it is one of the 13 official classic languages of the world..you might very well step into a world unknown to you than getting depressed or being pessimistic about your life..stop coming to a decision about your life when you haven't tried to look an extra dimension which is already existing ..it is unfair to say that i  have no drive or motivation and the realization should come that the world you are caught into is a tiny tiny world and there is a very big one existing in reality..so why not step into the world called tamil..so whats the fun in learning about a new language when you think " I am not going to that country anyway " or "I wont transit in that place"..well, you might not want to go there as you have a generalized opinion about india like poor, dirty, etc.,there are about 20- 30 distinct languages spoken throughout india and even though hindi is spoken on a majority of the northern states its presence is almost non-existent in most parts of south india and especially tamil nadu..and it has all the ingredients like culture, art, history, language, politics of a separate country in the size of great britain and you might be totally unaware of it. if you wondered sometime about how was it like living in 3000 years ago then you might just want to read the literature of tamil..thats it you will be in a time machine that it will take you back eons backwards..dont worry we have english translations for every great piece of literary work..Tamil is being taught in University of California, Berkley and if you go to school there then it will be worth to take a look at the foreign languages department.. or you can go to tamil nadu to see the world in existence with full of life..or you can step into the world very quickly by seeing tamil movies..contemporary tamil cinema will no way give the feel of tamil literature and history but as I said it is contemporary and it will have the language spoken by everyday usage of common men. the everyday spoken/written language has nothing spectacular about.

As the language has been there for about 5000 years atleast the common people who know to read, write and speak will have no clue if they were given the literary master pieces written centuries before and hence in no way I will be able to explain or give a sense of it. Actually infact I can give a link where some of the tamil literary works have been translated to english.

Thirukural is the most respected literary work and is translated to almost every language and below has the english translation. Each poem is only of 2 lines with 7 words in total but it conveys great content succinctly.
http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0017.pdf

the below are some poems in thirukural and you can see them with 2 lines made up of 7 words..there are about 1330 like these 2 line poems in thirukual discussing about varied topics from love to war..


    யாதனின் யாதனின் நீங்கியான் நோதல்
    அதனின் அதனின் இலன்.
    From what from what a man is free 341
    From that, from that his torments flee.

    உரமொருவற்கு உள்ள வெறுக்கை அஃ தில்லார்
    மரம்மக்க ளாதலே வேறு.
    Mental courage is true manhood 600
    Lacking that man is like a wood.

    வெள்ளத் தனைய மலர்நீட்டம் மாந்தர்தம்
    உள்ளத் தனையது உயர்வு.
    Water depth is lotus height 595
    Mental strength is men's merit.

    உள்ளுவ தெல்லாம் உயர்வுள்ளல் மற்றது
    தள்ளினுந் தள்ளாமை நீர்த்து.
    Let thoughts be always great and grand 596
    Though they fail their virtues stand.

and projectmadurai.org has many collections of tamil literary works. I dont think they have translations for all. You might find translations for Thiruvasagam, thirumoolar thirumanthiram online which are also great works..

 and tamil is written in tamil as தமிழ்