Being a Thamizh!!

Thamizhukkum amudhendru per
andhath thamizh inbath thamizh
yengaL uyirukku ner, uyirukku ner.

These lines written by BarathiDasan are my favorite among all the song lyrics that i've ever listened to.

Meaning: Thamizh is also called amruth (the nectar that the Gods drink to get immortality)
That thamizh, lovable (comfort giving) thamizh is right next to our life in priority.
Now I realize translating tamil into english is just a waste of time. U can never convey the emotions and hidden thoughts that a poet expresses in his mother tongue in any other language. To be fair, i will say that this is true in the reverse case also. Will not sidetrack further....

The language is to die for! Wikipedia calls her "the only living classical language" where a classical language should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. She is one of the very few languages whose origin is not Sanskrit. Along the way, lots of words were absorbed from it. The special characteristic is the letter "zha" and the way people pronounce it.

Thamizhukku Zha Azhagu - Vairamuthu (Zha makes thamizh beautiful!)

She ranks 17 among the world's most spoken languages and she grows as we speak. The wealth of literature and culture that she built up over the eons will stay with us forever.

Now about the people... We are a very ancient race (Dravidian) with recorded history dating back to 2 millenia. Did u also know that we began the Harappa and Mohenjadaro civilizations?

"Dravidians, whose descendents still live in Southern India, established the first city communities, in the Indus valley, introduced irrigation schemes, developed pottery and evolved a well ordered system of government." (Reader's Digest Great World Atlas, 1970). This is just a theory.

We migrated down into peninsular India in search of greener pastures and settled in the land now called Thamizh Nadu (land of the thamizhs).

The land was classified as

Kurinci (Mountainous regions),
Mullai (Forests),
Marutam (Farmlands),
Neithal (Sea and the surrounding lands)
and
Paalai (Desert regions)

Three big empires arose.

The Cholas with their capital, Thanjavur on the rich delta of the river Kaveri, (on whom I will blog later)
The Cheras who ruled over most of Kerala (the fertile lands which receive ample rainfall and are criss crossed with rivers bringing silt) and
The Pandyas with their capital Madurai - the land which gave thamizh three sangams and ample literature to make her one of the best.

The Pallavas rose to importance a lot later. They were sea farers with their capital somewhere near present day Chennai.

All of them contributed to the culture, architectural wonders in the form of temples and literature. Thamizh was having her GOLDEN AGE.

And after the golden age comes the slow decay of once strong empires. Small lords and vassals of northern rulers ruled for a while. The Mughals came in to plunder the wealth sometimes or take advantage of the fertile land or sea accessibility for their progress. Temples were destroyed and some literature was totally wiped clean. Then, the British East India Company ushered in another round of the Dark age with their nice talk and promise of trade. The small rulers fell like domino pins owing to greed of becoming GREAT. U know what happened next!!!
MADRAS PRESIDENCY... They brought every kingdom under their rule. Some resisted and were sent to the gallows (Veera Pandya Katta Bhomman, for eg. Watch Sivaji act the part of the great hero in the thamizh movie of the same name).

FREEDOM came after nearly 100 years of unwanted bondage. I don't even want to go into that. (U can expect any Indian's blood to boil at the thought of this.)

U know the rest of the story. Well, there is definitely more to come.. Lots of areas i never covered. Keep reading.

VAZHGA THAMIZH !!! (or Jai Thamizh!!!, as my roomies describe my frequent outbursts about the majesty of our language).

Thamizh Blood :)