The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Pursue linguistic research with pan-Dravidian focus”

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Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Pursue linguistic research with pan-Dravidian focus”

Ananth Krishnan

This will help to further understanding of ancient Indus Valley script

Creation of etymological dictionaries may throw up clues that can widen knowledge of the script
Past being politicised for non-scholarly purposes

CHENNAI: Tamil scholars need to extend their vision beyond Tamil Nadu and pursue linguistic research with a pan-Dravidian focus to help further our understanding of the ancient Indus Valley script, according to one of the world’s most wellknown Indus Valley experts.

Asko Parpola, Professor Emeritus of Indology at the University of Helsinki, is known in academic circles for being a strong proponent of the idea that the ancient language of the Indus Valley civilisation was Dravidian, and that the civilisation used a writing script.

Dr. Parpola suggests that linguistic research across the different Dravidian languages and the creation of etymological dictionaries might throw up clues that could widen the knowledge of the ancient script.

“Tamil linguists, folklorists and cultural anthropologists have to extend their vision beyond Tamil Nadu,” he said, speaking to journalists at The Hindu on Saturday. “They should study Tamil’s cognate languages as well if we are to further our understanding [of the Indus script].”

Dr. Parpola called for treating “linguistic relatives” as part of the same tradition and better preserving oral traditions too.

While much of the Tamil linguistic tradition was preserved with its “wealth of words,” this was not the case with several other languages.

“Small tribal languages are losing their vocabularies,” he said. “We tend to focus only on written linguistic traditions. But we should also collect folklore, songs and even stories from old women… The challenge to this generation is to preserve traditions and to preserve them wisely.”

Asked about the Aryan-Dravidian debate that has coloured much of the scholarship on the Indus Valley, Dr. Parpola said it was “unfortunate that the past is being politicised and [used] for non-scholarly purposes.”

“There are no pure Aryans or pure Dravidians,” he said. “The great ills of modern times come from wrong ideas on this sort of nationalism.”

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