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May 31st, 2006

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Demystifying Tamil as a language and a person

Bharat · 03:30 · South Asia

What is Tamil? For some it's a language, for some it's a religion, for the uninitiated, wikipedia to the rescue. There is of course also the the Wikipedia in Tamil.

For those who don't like reading pages and pages, google current has it all. From “what is Tamil” to “the latest in Tamil cinema” while discussing matrimonial sites, all under 3 minutes. If you absolutely detest external links, Tamil is an anglicized moniker of “Thamizh”, an ancient language spoken majorly in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Speakers of the language are called “Tamils”.

Tamil Picture this. The english alphabet has 26 letters. Tamil has 12 vowels and 18 consonants and we have derived characters from the combination of these vowels and consonants. If you do the math, that's 247 characters in all. Our ancestors dumped the idea of having an ABCD rhyme equivalent for the Tamil character set after the initial test ran for more than 1/2 a day. They instead devised a rhyme scheme for the vowels alone that goes “aana aavanna” and so on.[1]

Tamil has innumerable dialects depending on the place it is spoken in. Sanga Thamizh is the ancient form and Tamil still is written in this form. Spoken Tamil is very different compared to written tamil.“Madras baashai” is a very popular variant that has an ever growing vocabulary as it borrows words from English day after day after day. For example: “Peter” means a guy well versed in English and “Mary” is his female counterpart. Note that both “Peter” and “Mary” are Tamil words in this context. Wikipedia has a comprehensive but (more…)

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Updates for Wed, 2006-05

Central Asia & Caucasus

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South Asia

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South Asia

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Samudaya.org comments on the close relationship of the throne and Hinduism. “The Shah Kings in Nepal have exploited Hinduism for more than 236 years. Since the majority of the population is Hindu, as a god of 80% of the citizens, the throne was unchallengeable.”

South Asia

Blogdai has some serious words of advice. “Get rid of these old reprobate politicians and sweep aside your romanticizing, stone-throwing children, Nepal, and let's get busy with saving the country before these fools plunge us into civil war.”