உங்களுக்குத் தெரியுமா?
இந்தத் தொடர், தமிழ்ப் பண்பாடு, வரலாறு குறித்துப் பரவலாக அறியப்படாத ஆர்வத்தைத் தூண்டும் பல்வேறு தகவல்களைத் தாங்கி வருகிறது. முதல் தொடர், நவீன ஐரோப்பாவுடன் உள்ள தமிழர்களின் தொடர்பு குறித்த தகவல்களைத் தரும்.
சிங்கப்பூரின் 56வது தேசிய தினமாகிய இன்று (9 ஆகஸ்ட் 2021), இந்த இரண்டாவது தொடரை வெளியிடுவதில் மகிழ்ச்சியடைகிறோம். இத்தொடரில், வட இலங்கையில் பண்டைக் காலத்தில் வாழ்ந்த தமிழ்க்குடிகள் பற்றிய வரலாற்றைக் காணலாம். ஓவியங்களிலும் கட்டடக் கலைகளிலும் உறைந்திருக்கும் அந்த வரலாற்று நுணுக்கங்களை இத்தொடர் படம்பிடித்துக் காட்டுகிறது.
முதல் தொடரைத் தொகுத்த அதே முனைவர் சுரேஷ்குமார் முத்துக்குமரன்தான் இதனையும் படைக்கிறார். சிங்கப்பூர்த் தேசியப் பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளரான இவர், சிங்கப்பூர்த் தமிழ்ப் பண்பாட்டு மையத்தின் உறுப்பினருமாவார்.
News about the project
தொடர்
இந்தப் பகுதி, தமிழ்ப் பண்பாடு, வரலாறு குறித்து பரவலாக அறியப்படாத ஆர்வத்தைத் தூண்டும் பல்வேறு தகவல்களைத் தாங்கி வருகிறது. முதல் தொடர், நவீன ஐரோப்பாவுடன் உள்ள தமிழர்களின் தொடர்பு குறித்த தகவல்களைத் தரும்.
சிங்கப்பூரின் 56வது தேசிய தினமாகிய இன்று (9 ஆகஸ்ட் 2021), இந்த இரண்டாவது தொடரை வெளியிடுவதில் மகிழ்ச்சியடைகிறோம். இத்தொடரில், வட இலங்கையில் பண்டைக் காலத்தில் வாழ்ந்த தமிழ்க் குடிகள் பற்றிய வரலாற்றைக் காணலாம். ஓவியங்களிலும் கட்டடக் கலைகளிலும் உறைந்திருக்கும் அந்த வரலாற்று நுணுக்கங்களை இத்தொடர் படம் பிடித்துக் காட்டுகிறது.
முதல் தொடரைத் தொகுத்த அதே முனைவர் சுரேஷ்குமார் முத்துக்குமரன்தான் இதனையும் படைக்கிறார். சிங்கப்பூர்த் தேசியப் பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளரான இவர், சிங்கப்பூர்த் தமிழ்ப் பண்பாட்டு மையத்தின் உறுப்பினருமாவார்.
தொடர்
இந்தப் பகுதி, தமிழ்ப் பண்பாடு, வரலாறு குறித்து பரவலாக அறியப்படாத ஆர்வத்தைத் தூண்டும் பல்வேறு தகவல்களைத் தாங்கி வருகிறது. முதல் தொடர், நவீன ஐரோப்பாவுடன் உள்ள தமிழர்களின் தொடர்பு குறித்த தகவல்களைத் தரும்.
சிங்கப்பூரின் 56வது தேசிய தினமாகிய இன்று (9 ஆகஸ்ட் 2021), இந்த இரண்டாவது தொடரை வெளியிடுவதில் மகிழ்ச்சியடைகிறோம். இத்தொடரில், வட இலங்கையில் பண்டைக் காலத்தில் வாழ்ந்த தமிழ்க் குடிகள் பற்றிய வரலாற்றைக் காணலாம். ஓவியங்களிலும் கட்டடக் கலைகளிலும் உறைந்திருக்கும் அந்த வரலாற்று நுணுக்கங்களை இத்தொடர் படம் பிடித்துக் காட்டுகிறது.
முதல் தொடரைத் தொகுத்த அதே முனைவர் சுரேஷ்குமார் முத்துக்குமரன்தான் இதனையும் படைக்கிறார். சிங்கப்பூர்த் தேசியப் பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளரான இவர், சிங்கப்பூர்த் தமிழ்ப் பண்பாட்டு மையத்தின் உறுப்பினருமாவார்.
தொடர்
இலங்கையின் தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்
தொடர்
இலங்கையின் தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்
தொடர்
இலங்கையின் தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்
“ஐரோப்பாவும் தமிழ் உலகமும்” தொடரைத் தொகுத்தவர் முனைவர் சுரேஷ்குமார் முத்துக்குமரன். சிங்கப்பூர் தேசியப் பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளரான இவர், சிங்கப்பூர்த் தமிழ்ப் பண்பாட்டு மையத்தின் உறுப்பினருமாவார்.
The Vāṇavaṇmādevīśvaramudaiyar (வானவன்மாதேவீஸ்வரமுடையார்) at Jananātamaṅkalam (Polonnaruwa) is the only structurally intact and unmodified monument from the period of Cōḻa rule over Lanka (993 – 1070 CE). This Śaivite temple of the late 10th or early 11th century is named after Vāṇavaṇmādevī, a queen of the emperor Rājarāja (985 – 1014) and mother of the crown prince Rājendra. There are Tamil inscriptions of the Cōḻa period detailing grants to the temple on the south and east walls.
Vijayabāhu (1070 - 1110), the new king of Polonnaruwa, took into his employ the remnants of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments in Lanka which also included soldiers from Kerala and Andhra. The Vēḷaikkārars were not, however, always loyal to the new regime. The volatility of this relationship is exemplified by the revolt of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments when Vijayabāhu proposed an expedition against the Cōḻas. The Vēḷaikkārars refusing to fight their own Tamil brethren, rebelled against the king, killed two generals, burnt the royal palace and took the king's sister Mittā, who incidentally was married to a Tamil Pāṇṭiyaṉ prince, and her three sons captive (Culavamsa 60: 25-44).
This Tamil inscription, commissioned some 20 to 30 years after Vijayabāhu's reign, narrates how the monk Mahāthera Mugalan, the royal preceptor, and ministers of state entrusted the protection and maintenance of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Daḷadāypperumpaḷḷi) in Polonnaruwa to the Vēḷaikkārar soldiers who remained a key component of the Polonnaruwa kingdom’s armed forces even after their revolt.
The Polonnaruwa Vēḷaikkārar inscription (பொலநறுவை வேளைக்காரர் கல்வெட்டு) dated c. 1137 - 1153 provides an exceptional insight into the fate of Cōḻa regiments in Lanka following the imperial withdrawal of 1070 CE. The Vēḷaikkārar (spelt வேளைக்காரர் and not வேலைக்காரர் 'labourer') were soldiers from an elite regiment in Tamil armies who pledged their lives to their patrons, whether kings or public institutions and even committed suicide to protect their patrons if necessary.
Vijayabāhu (1070 - 1110), the new king of Polonnaruwa, took into his employ the remnants of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments in Lanka which also included soldiers from Kerala and Andhra. The Vēḷaikkārars were not, however, always loyal to the new regime. The volatility of this relationship is exemplified by the revolt of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments when Vijayabāhu proposed an expedition against the Cōḻas. The Vēḷaikkārars refusing to fight their own Tamil brethren, rebelled against the king, killed two generals, burnt the royal palace and took the king's sister Mittā, who incidentally was married to a Tamil Pāṇṭiyaṉ prince, and her three sons captive (Culavamsa 60: 25-44).
This Tamil inscription, commissioned some 20 to 30 years after Vijayabāhu's reign, narrates how the monk Mahāthera Mugalan, the royal preceptor, and ministers of state entrusted the protection and maintenance of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Daḷadāypperumpaḷḷi) in Polonnaruwa to the Vēḷaikkārar soldiers who remained a key component of the Polonnaruwa kingdom’s armed forces even after their revolt.
The Ambatthala Cetiya was built by Mahādāthika Mahānāga (67 - 79 CE) to mark the spot where Mahinda, the monk-envoy and son of the emperor Asoka, first met king Tissa (247-207 BCE) prior to the latter's acceptance of Buddhism. Apart from adopting Buddhism, Tissa also styled himself after the Mauryan emperor by assuming the title Devānampiya "beloved of the gods".
The king Mahādāṭhika Mahānāga, who built this stūpa, had a beautiful Tamil queen, named Damiḷadevī. One day, when she was worshipping at the Ambatthala Cetiya, a monk by name of Citta, who had joined the Order in his old age, fell in love with her and behaved as one mad, constantly repeating to himself “beautiful as Damiḷadevī.” Even when told of her death, which took place prematurely, he refused to believe the news and continued as before; he became, therefore, known as Ummattaka ("the deranged") Citta.
The ruins of Subhagiri, Sundarapabbata or Yāpahuva, the fortress-capital of the Dambadeniya king Bhuvanekabāhu I (1272 - 1284 CE) and the one-time residence of the Buddha's tooth relic. The fortress-city was harassed (and possibly captured) in 1283/4 by Cāvakamaintaṉ, the recalcitrant Malay-speaking feudatory of the Pāṇṭiyaṉ kings who ruled Jaffna and northern Sri Lanka. The Pāṇṭiyaṉ king Māravarman Kulaśekhara (1268 - 1308) despatched Ārya Cakravarti, a Brahmin general from Rāmēśvaram, to regulate the chaotic state of affairs on the island. This, quite significantly, led to Ārya Cakravarti's instalment as the ruler of the north on behalf of the Pāṇṭiyas. Following the collapse of the Pāṇṭiyan Empire in the 1310s, the descendants of Ārya Cakravarti became the independent rulers of the kingdom of Jaffna. The Buddha's tooth-relic was also briefly whisked away to Maturai, the Pāṇṭiyaṉ capital, before it was retrieved in the reign of the Dambadeniya king Parakramabahu III (1287-1293), who also ruled as feudatory of the Pāṇṭiyas from Polonnaruwa.
The Kantacuvāmī temple of Nallūr was built by Srī Sanghabōdhi Bhuvanēkabāhu IV, the adoptive son of Parākramabāhu VI of Kotte, who ruled Yāḻppāṇam between 1450 - 1467 after dislodging the Tamil king of the Ārya Cakravarti lineage. The first temple was completely destroyed by the Portuguese in 1620 and replaced with a church (the present-day St. James on Chemmani Road). The 18th century Yāḻppāṇa Vaipavamālai chronicle notes that the only object which was spared the demolition was a set of copper-plate inscriptions recording the temple's endowments which were whisked out by a temple employee named Caṅkili who had fled to Maṭṭakkaḷappu (Batticaloa).
The current temple was reconstructed as a small shrine by Irakunāta Māppāṇar Mutaliyār in 1734 under Dutch auspices. The temple’s rebirth under Dutch rule and its private ownership spelt a number of peculiarities in design and worship. The main sanctum houses a silver vel weapon rather than the customary image of the deity and more unorthodox perhaps is the deification of Irakunāta Māppāṇar Mutaliyār and his wife who have a shrine at the eastern wall of the temple’s mahāmaṇṭapam. The famed 19th century Jaffna Śaivite revivalist Āṟumuka Nāvalar in one of his tracts criticising the temple’s non-agamic scheme remarks: “This temple does not fulfil even the minimum requirements of the principles of temple architecture.” (Pathmanathan 2006: 358). But the quirkiness of design certainly makes it all the more uniquely Jaffnaite.
Coral and limestone stūpas from the 2nd – 1st centuries BCE at Kantarōṭai. Kantarōṭai, whose urban history extends to the early 1st millennium BCE, is the largest known early archaeological site on the Jaffna Peninsula.
This inland site was connected to the wider world through the ancient port of Jambukolapaṭṭana (modern Kāṅkēcaṉtuṟai). The ancient settlement mound, which has only been partially excavated, is 2 metres high and spread over 25 ha. It is likely that Kantarōṭai, or Katiramalai as it was known in later periods, was the capital of the early historic Jaffnaite polity known as Nākanāṭu/ Nāgadīpa or the “country of the Nāga/serpent peoples”. Kantarōṭai survived as a political centre in some form up till the Cōḻa conquest in the early 11th century CE. The sthalapurāṇa of the Māviṭṭapuram Kantacuvāmi temple hazily recalls, for instance, the marriage of a Cōḻa princess named Marutappiravīkavalli to Ukkiraciṅkaṉ, a king of Kantarotai-Katiramalai.
A piece of Yāḻppāṇam in Bangkok: The Vallipuram Buddha, dating to the 3rd century CE, was discovered at the end of the 19th century on the grounds of the Vaiṣṇavite Vallipuram Āḻvār temple in Vaṭamarāṭci, Jaffna. The site probably marked an ancient Buddhist monastic settlement. Sir Henry Blake, the governor of Ceylon, gifted the image to Chulalongkorn, the king of Siam, in 1906 who installed it in the newly-built Pañcamapavitra Vihāra (Wat Benchamabophit).
“ஐரோப்பாவும் தமிழ் உலகமும்” தொடரைத் தொகுத்தவர் முனைவர் சுரேஷ்குமார் முத்துக்குமரன். சிங்கப்பூர்த் தேசியப் பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளரான இவர், சிங்கப்பூர்த் தமிழ்ப் பண்பாட்டு மையத்தின் உறுப்பினருமாவார்.
The Vāṇavaṇmādevīśvaramudaiyar (வானவன்மாதேவீஸ்வரமுடையார்) at Jananātamaṅkalam (Polonnaruwa) is the only structurally intact and unmodified monument from the period of Cōḻa rule over Lanka (993 – 1070 CE). This Śaivite temple of the late 10th or early 11th century is named after Vāṇavaṇmādevī, a queen of the emperor Rājarāja (985 – 1014) and mother of the crown prince Rājendra. There are Tamil inscriptions of the Cōḻa period detailing grants to the temple on the south and east walls.
Vijayabāhu (1070 - 1110), the new king of Polonnaruwa, took into his employ the remnants of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments in Lanka which also included soldiers from Kerala and Andhra. The Vēḷaikkārars were not, however, always loyal to the new regime. The volatility of this relationship is exemplified by the revolt of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments when Vijayabāhu proposed an expedition against the Cōḻas. The Vēḷaikkārars refusing to fight their own Tamil brethren, rebelled against the king, killed two generals, burnt the royal palace and took the king's sister Mittā, who incidentally was married to a Tamil Pāṇṭiyaṉ prince, and her three sons captive (Culavamsa 60: 25-44).
This Tamil inscription, commissioned some 20 to 30 years after Vijayabāhu's reign, narrates how the monk Mahāthera Mugalan, the royal preceptor, and ministers of state entrusted the protection and maintenance of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Daḷadāypperumpaḷḷi) in Polonnaruwa to the Vēḷaikkārar soldiers who remained a key component of the Polonnaruwa kingdom’s armed forces even after their revolt.
The Polonnaruwa Vēḷaikkārar inscription (பொலநறுவை வேளைக்காரர் கல்வெட்டு) dated c. 1137 - 1153 provides an exceptional insight into the fate of Cōḻa regiments in Lanka following the imperial withdrawal of 1070 CE. The Vēḷaikkārar (spelt வேளைக்காரர் and not வேலைக்காரர் 'labourer') were soldiers from an elite regiment in Tamil armies who pledged their lives to their patrons, whether kings or public institutions and even committed suicide to protect their patrons if necessary.
Vijayabāhu (1070 - 1110), the new king of Polonnaruwa, took into his employ the remnants of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments in Lanka which also included soldiers from Kerala and Andhra. The Vēḷaikkārars were not, however, always loyal to the new regime. The volatility of this relationship is exemplified by the revolt of the Vēḷaikkārar regiments when Vijayabāhu proposed an expedition against the Cōḻas. The Vēḷaikkārars refusing to fight their own Tamil brethren, rebelled against the king, killed two generals, burnt the royal palace and took the king's sister Mittā, who incidentally was married to a Tamil Pāṇṭiyaṉ prince, and her three sons captive (Culavamsa 60: 25-44).
This Tamil inscription, commissioned some 20 to 30 years after Vijayabāhu's reign, narrates how the monk Mahāthera Mugalan, the royal preceptor, and ministers of state entrusted the protection and maintenance of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Daḷadāypperumpaḷḷi) in Polonnaruwa to the Vēḷaikkārar soldiers who remained a key component of the Polonnaruwa kingdom’s armed forces even after their revolt.
The Ambatthala Cetiya was built by Mahādāthika Mahānāga (67 - 79 CE) to mark the spot where Mahinda, the monk-envoy and son of the emperor Asoka, first met king Tissa (247-207 BCE) prior to the latter's acceptance of Buddhism. Apart from adopting Buddhism, Tissa also styled himself after the Mauryan emperor by assuming the title Devānampiya "beloved of the gods".
The king Mahādāṭhika Mahānāga, who built this stūpa, had a beautiful Tamil queen, named Damiḷadevī. One day, when she was worshipping at the Ambatthala Cetiya, a monk by name of Citta, who had joined the Order in his old age, fell in love with her and behaved as one mad, constantly repeating to himself “beautiful as Damiḷadevī.” Even when told of her death, which took place prematurely, he refused to believe the news and continued as before; he became, therefore, known as Ummattaka ("the deranged") Citta.
The ruins of Subhagiri, Sundarapabbata or Yāpahuva, the fortress-capital of the Dambadeniya king Bhuvanekabāhu I (1272 - 1284 CE) and the one-time residence of the Buddha's tooth relic. The fortress-city was harassed (and possibly captured) in 1283/4 by Cāvakamaintaṉ, the recalcitrant Malay-speaking feudatory of the Pāṇṭiyaṉ kings who ruled Jaffna and northern Sri Lanka. The Pāṇṭiyaṉ king Māravarman Kulaśekhara (1268 - 1308) despatched Ārya Cakravarti, a Brahmin general from Rāmēśvaram, to regulate the chaotic state of affairs on the island. This, quite significantly, led to Ārya Cakravarti's instalment as the ruler of the north on behalf of the Pāṇṭiyas. Following the collapse of the Pāṇṭiyan Empire in the 1310s, the descendants of Ārya Cakravarti became the independent rulers of the kingdom of Jaffna. The Buddha's tooth-relic was also briefly whisked away to Maturai, the Pāṇṭiyaṉ capital, before it was retrieved in the reign of the Dambadeniya king Parakramabahu III (1287-1293), who also ruled as feudatory of the Pāṇṭiyas from Polonnaruwa.
The Kantacuvāmī temple of Nallūr was built by Srī Sanghabōdhi Bhuvanēkabāhu IV, the adoptive son of Parākramabāhu VI of Kotte, who ruled Yāḻppāṇam between 1450 - 1467 after dislodging the Tamil king of the Ārya Cakravarti lineage. The first temple was completely destroyed by the Portuguese in 1620 and replaced with a church (the present-day St. James on Chemmani Road). The 18th century Yāḻppāṇa Vaipavamālai chronicle notes that the only object which was spared the demolition was a set of copper-plate inscriptions recording the temple's endowments which were whisked out by a temple employee named Caṅkili who had fled to Maṭṭakkaḷappu (Batticaloa).
The current temple was reconstructed as a small shrine by Irakunāta Māppāṇar Mutaliyār in 1734 under Dutch auspices. The temple’s rebirth under Dutch rule and its private ownership spelt a number of peculiarities in design and worship. The main sanctum houses a silver vel weapon rather than the customary image of the deity and more unorthodox perhaps is the deification of Irakunāta Māppāṇar Mutaliyār and his wife who have a shrine at the eastern wall of the temple’s mahāmaṇṭapam. The famed 19th century Jaffna Śaivite revivalist Āṟumuka Nāvalar in one of his tracts criticising the temple’s non-agamic scheme remarks: “This temple does not fulfil even the minimum requirements of the principles of temple architecture.” (Pathmanathan 2006: 358). But the quirkiness of design certainly makes it all the more uniquely Jaffnaite.
Coral and limestone stūpas from the 2nd – 1st centuries BCE at Kantarōṭai. Kantarōṭai, whose urban history extends to the early 1st millennium BCE, is the largest known early archaeological site on the Jaffna Peninsula.
This inland site was connected to the wider world through the ancient port of Jambukolapaṭṭana (modern Kāṅkēcaṉtuṟai). The ancient settlement mound, which has only been partially excavated, is 2 metres high and spread over 25 ha. It is likely that Kantarōṭai, or Katiramalai as it was known in later periods, was the capital of the early historic Jaffnaite polity known as Nākanāṭu/ Nāgadīpa or the “country of the Nāga/serpent peoples”. Kantarōṭai survived as a political centre in some form up till the Cōḻa conquest in the early 11th century CE. The sthalapurāṇa of the Māviṭṭapuram Kantacuvāmi temple hazily recalls, for instance, the marriage of a Cōḻa princess named Marutappiravīkavalli to Ukkiraciṅkaṉ, a king of Kantarotai-Katiramalai.
A piece of Yāḻppāṇam in Bangkok: The Vallipuram Buddha, dating to the 3rd century CE, was discovered at the end of the 19th century on the grounds of the Vaiṣṇavite Vallipuram Āḻvār temple in Vaṭamarāṭci, Jaffna. The site probably marked an ancient Buddhist monastic settlement. Sir Henry Blake, the governor of Ceylon, gifted the image to Chulalongkorn, the king of Siam, in 1906 who installed it in the newly-built Pañcamapavitra Vihāra (Wat Benchamabophit).
தொடர்
ஐரோப்பாவும் தமிழ் உலகமும்
The first series focuses on Tamil connections with early modern Europe. The “Europe and the Tamil World Series” is compiled by Dr Sureshkumar Muthukumaran, from the National University of Singapore and a member of CSTC.
தொடர்
ஐரோப்பாவும் தமிழ் உலகமும் - தொடர்
The first series focuses on Tamil connections with early modern Europe. The “Europe and the Tamil World Series” is compiled by Dr Sureshkumar Muthukumaran, from the National University of Singapore and a member of CSTC.
தொடர்
ஐரோப்பாவும் தமிழ் உலகமும் - தொடர்
The first series focuses on Tamil connections with early modern Europe. The “Europe and the Tamil World Series” is compiled by Dr Sureshkumar Muthukumaran, from the National University of Singapore and a member of CSTC.
The Cartilha em Tamul e Português (A Catechism in Tamil and Portuguese), is the earliest printed book in Tamil or, for that matter, in any South Asian language. The Cartilha em Tamul e Português, a masterpiece of early Portuguese typography, was published in 1554 by Germão Galhardo, a French printer in Lisbon. The royally-commissioned trilingual (Latin-Tamil-Portuguese) catechism was the work of Vicente de Nazarethe, Jorge Carualho and Thome da Cruz, three ethnic Tamil Christians working in Lisbon under the supervision of a Portuguese Franciscan João de Villa de Conde. The significance of the Cartilha em Tamul e Português was first brought to light by the Jaffna-born Catholic scholar Xavier Thaninayagam who scoured European libraries for early Tamil printed books in the 1950s. Professor Thaninayagam was the head of the Indian Studies Department in University of Malaya in the 1960s. Other books identified by this Tamil scholar included Tambiran Vanakkam (1578), Kirisitiani Vanakkam (1579) and the first printed Tami-Portuguese Dictionary (Vocabulario Tamulicao) compiled by Antão de Proença (1679).
The Grammatica Damulica, authored by the Pietist missionary Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, is the first printed Latin grammar of Tamil (in Tamil characters) in the German-speaking world (1716). This was not the first grammar of Tamil written by Europeans, since the Grammatica Damulica was already preceded by Henrique Henriques’ Arte da Lingua Malabar (1548), Gaspar de Aguilar’s Arte Tamul (early 17th century; lost), Balthazar da Costa’s Arte Tamulica (1649) and Philippus Baldaeus’s Malabaarsche Spraackkunst (1672). With the exception of Baldaeus’s short work, all other early European grammars of Tamil circulated in manuscript rather than print form. This was also true of related lexical texts like da Costa’s Vocabulario Lusitano-Tamulico (before 1673) and Ignacio Bruno’s Vocabularium Tamulicum Jafanapatham (before 1659). Antão de Proença’s Vocabulario Tamulicao was the first printed Tamil dictionary (Ambalcat, 1679).
The grammars of Tamil which were written for a European audience followed Latin and vernacular European grammatical models rather than the native Tamil grammatical idiom. There was, of course, no need to write Tamil grammar for Tamils since the Tamil language already possessed a rich tradition of grammatical scholarship. The European missionary grammars of Tamil usually used a colloquial form of Tamil found along the eastern coast and the northern Sri Lankan area rather than centamil or standard literary Tamil.
The Mirror of Wisdom (ஞானக்கண்ணாடி) was, one of the many Tamil, invariably Christian and lexical, texts printed in 18th century Halle (Germany) to support the Danish Tranquebar Mission. The German missionary Heinrich Plütschau and his Tamil companion Timothy Kudiyan, who travelled to Europe in 1711, were the earliest Tamil teachers at Halle and later in Copenhagen. The Mirror of Wisdom is a 1751 Tamil translation of Johann Arndt's True Christianity (1606-1610) by Benjamin Schultze, another German missionary of the Danish-Halle mission at Tranquebar. Johann Arndt (1555-1621) was a famous German Lutheran theologian and his works were printed in multiple editions and translated into several languages.
This image of the goddess Kali belongs to an 18-piece bronze model of a 17th century hall (Putu Mantapam) at Madurai commissioned by Adam Blackader, a British surgeon stationed in Madurai during the 1780s. The model of the Putu Mantapam, built by Tirumalai Nayaka, was presented to the Society of Antiquaries in London through the English naturalist Sir Joseph Banks as means to encourage the study of South Indian temple architecture. Apart from the bronze models, Adam Blackader also commissioned Tamil artisans to produce 143 scale drawings of the same edifice. Adam Blackader was among the earliest European scholars to provide an academic study of the Madurai Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple through his essay published in the journal Archaeologia in 1792.
This mural executed around 1720 at the Rāmaliṅga Vilāsaṃ in Ramanathapuram depicts a Dutch soldier manning a cannon in the Setupati army during the war between Ramnanathapuram and the Maratha kingdom of Thanjavur in 1715. A lasting Dutch presence in the Ramnathapuram kingdom dates to 1690 when the local dynast Kiḻavaṉ Setupati permitted the Dutch East India Company to build a trading factory in the port of Kilakkarai much to the chagrin of Tamil Muslim traders who had hitherto dominated the port of Kilakkarai.
St. Mary’s church, Fort St. George, Chennai (formerly Madras). Completed in 1680 under the leadership of the East India Company agent Streynsham Master in the reign of Charles II, this edifice is the oldest Anglican church in Asia and one of the earliest surviving British edifices anywhere in the East. It was here where Elihu Yale, the founder-benefactor of Yale university in Connecticut, and Robert Clive (aka Clive of India) were wedded. The young Arthur Wellesley, later victor at Waterloo, lived right next door.
The Cartilha em Tamul e Português (A Catechism in Tamil and Portuguese), is the earliest printed book in Tamil or, for that matter, in any South Asian language. The Cartilha em Tamul e Português, a masterpiece of early Portuguese typography, was published in 1554 by Germão Galhardo, a French printer in Lisbon. The royally-commissioned trilingual (Latin-Tamil-Portuguese) catechism was the work of Vicente de Nazarethe, Jorge Carualho and Thome da Cruz, three ethnic Tamil Christians working in Lisbon under the supervision of a Portuguese Franciscan João de Villa de Conde. The significance of the Cartilha em Tamul e Português was first brought to light by the Jaffna-born Catholic scholar Xavier Thaninayagam who scoured European libraries for early Tamil printed books in the 1950s. Professor Thaninayagam was the head of the Indian Studies Department in University of Malaya in the 1960s. Other books identified by this Tamil scholar included Tambiran Vanakkam (1578), Kirisitiani Vanakkam (1579) and the first printed Tami-Portuguese Dictionary (Vocabulario Tamulicao) compiled by Antão de Proença (1679).
The Grammatica Damulica, authored by the Pietist missionary Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, is the first printed Latin grammar of Tamil (in Tamil characters) in the German-speaking world (1716). This was not the first grammar of Tamil written by Europeans, since the Grammatica Damulica was already preceded by Henrique Henriques’ Arte da Lingua Malabar (1548), Gaspar de Aguilar’s Arte Tamul (early 17th century; lost), Balthazar da Costa’s Arte Tamulica (1649) and Philippus Baldaeus’s Malabaarsche Spraackkunst (1672). With the exception of Baldaeus’s short work, all other early European grammars of Tamil circulated in manuscript rather than print form. This was also true of related lexical texts like da Costa’s Vocabulario Lusitano-Tamulico (before 1673) and Ignacio Bruno’s Vocabularium Tamulicum Jafanapatham (before 1659). Antão de Proença’s Vocabulario Tamulicao was the first printed Tamil dictionary (Ambalcat, 1679).
The grammars of Tamil which were written for a European audience followed Latin and vernacular European grammatical models rather than the native Tamil grammatical idiom. There was, of course, no need to write Tamil grammar for Tamils since the Tamil language already possessed a rich tradition of grammatical scholarship. The European missionary grammars of Tamil usually used a colloquial form of Tamil found along the eastern coast and the northern Sri Lankan area rather than centamil or standard literary Tamil.
The Mirror of Wisdom (ஞானக்கண்ணாடி) was, one of the many Tamil, invariably Christian and lexical, texts printed in 18th century Halle (Germany) to support the Danish Tranquebar Mission. The German missionary Heinrich Plütschau and his Tamil companion Timothy Kudiyan, who travelled to Europe in 1711, were the earliest Tamil teachers at Halle and later in Copenhagen. The Mirror of Wisdom is a 1751 Tamil translation of Johann Arndt's True Christianity (1606-1610) by Benjamin Schultze, another German missionary of the Danish-Halle mission at Tranquebar. Johann Arndt (1555-1621) was a famous German Lutheran theologian and his works were printed in multiple editions and translated into several languages.
This image of the goddess Kali belongs to an 18-piece bronze model of a 17th century hall (Putu Mantapam) at Madurai commissioned by Adam Blackader, a British surgeon stationed in Madurai during the 1780s. The model of the Putu Mantapam, built by Tirumalai Nayaka, was presented to the Society of Antiquaries in London through the English naturalist Sir Joseph Banks as means to encourage the study of South Indian temple architecture. Apart from the bronze models, Adam Blackader also commissioned Tamil artisans to produce 143 scale drawings of the same edifice. Adam Blackader was among the earliest European scholars to provide an academic study of the Madurai Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple through his essay published in the journal Archaeologia in 1792.
This mural executed around 1720 at the Rāmaliṅga Vilāsaṃ in Ramanathapuram depicts a Dutch soldier manning a cannon in the Setupati army during the war between Ramnanathapuram and the Maratha kingdom of Thanjavur in 1715. A lasting Dutch presence in the Ramnathapuram kingdom dates to 1690 when the local dynast Kiḻavaṉ Setupati permitted the Dutch East India Company to build a trading factory in the port of Kilakkarai much to the chagrin of Tamil Muslim traders who had hitherto dominated the port of Kilakkarai.
St. Mary’s church, Fort St. George, Chennai (formerly Madras). Completed in 1680 under the leadership of the East India Company agent Streynsham Master in the reign of Charles II, this edifice is the oldest Anglican church in Asia and one of the earliest surviving British edifices anywhere in the East. It was here where Elihu Yale, the founder-benefactor of Yale university in Connecticut, and Robert Clive (aka Clive of India) were wedded. The young Arthur Wellesley, later victor at Waterloo, lived right next door.