Tamil Language

One of the four Dravidian languages,
along with Kannada, Telegu, and
Malayalam; all four languages are spoken primarily in southern India. Tamil is
the predominant language in modern
Tamil Nadu, which is one of the “linguistic states” formed after the Indians
gained independence. This state was
formed to unite people with a common
language and culture under one state
government. Although all four languages have literary and cultural significance, Tamil has by far the richest
history as a literary language. Tamil literature begins in the early centuries of the
common era with the Sangam literature, eight collections of poetry that
focused equally on the external description of battle or internal descriptions of
love. The Sangam literature was followed by the three Tamil epics: the
Shilappadigaram, the Manimegalai,
and the Shivaga-Sindamani. Between
the seventh and tenth centuries came
684
Talikota
the devotional (bhakti) literature composed by the Alvars and the Nayanars,
with the former expressing their devotion to the god Vishnu and the latter to
the god Shiva. Their devotional poetry
was unprecedented in Hindu religious
history because it utilized everyday vernacular language as a spectacular vehicle for profound religious expression.
The Alvars’ poems became a foundational text for the Shrivaishnava community, and the Nayanars’ for Shaiva
Siddhanta, and thus both of these collections continue to be important in
Hindu religious life. Even today Tamil is
a vibrant literary language and a source
of intense regional pride to the people
living there; some of the most violent
recent demonstrations in southern
India were the so-called language riots,
protesting the imposition of Hindi as
the government language, a move that
was seen as a conscious attempt to marginalize Tamil language and culture.