TAMIL
Propagation of Tamil
S. N. KANDASWAMY
TAMIZH VALARCHI — Membaadu + Payanpaadu = Valarchi: V.C. Kulandaiswamy, Bharathi Pathippagam, 126/108, Usman Road, T. Nagar, Chennai-600017. Rs. 190.
THIS BOOK is a collection of essays written by the author at various intervals of time. Many of them are either adaptations or abridgements of his previous essays. Nevertheless, there is a sequence of thought and coherence of expression.
In the light of standard works and the Grolier Academic Encyclopaedia, the author has enumerated that antiquity, harmony, clarity, restraint, severity, idealism, humanitarian outlook and order to be the characteristics of the classical Greek and Roman literature.
He has also put forth the unanimous view of world-renowned Tamilogists, George Hart, Kamil Zvelebil, Asher and A.K. Ramanujan who maintained that Sangam Tamil fulfilled all the aforesaid requirements of a classical language.
He quotes S.K. Chatterjee, who explicated that like the warp and woof of a piece of woven stuff, Aryan and Dravidian have become interlaid with each other to furnish the texture of Indian Civilisation.
A brief account of the origin and objectives of the Tamil Virtual University, International Association for Tamil Research and International Institute of Tamil Studies has been presented.
The author has laid stress on the integrated study of Tamil literature, music and dance to practise and propagate the concept of Muthamizh and has emphasised the necessity of learning many languages so that comparative study would yield rich dividends.
The role of reference dictionaries, glossaries of technical terms, encyclopaedias of various disciplines and journals in the development of education has been emphasised.
In the rest of the book, some thoughts on the media of instruction, script-reform, the language policy of the Central and State Governments and the process of making Tamil as administrative language are projected. On the whole, the book is informative and interesting.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Book Review
