121-419: Apoorva Raagangal ( pronounced [apuːɾʋa ɾaːɡaŋɡaɭ] transl. Rare melodies ) is a 1975 Indian Tamil -language romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander . It stars Kamal Haasan , Sundarrajan , Srividya and Jayasudha , while Nagesh and Rajinikanth , in his feature film debut, play supporting roles. The film revolves around Prasanna (Haasan) who falls in love with
242-551: A Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad , a modified version, the pakhawaj , is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the Kendang , played in Maritime Southeast Asia . Its a complex instrument to tune and involves a lot of mathematics to construct korvais. During a percussion ensemble, the mridangam is often accompanied by the ghatam , the kanjira , and the morsing . The word "Mridangam"
363-546: A Special Award for Srividya. It was remade in Telugu as Thoorpu Padamara (1976) where Srividya and Nagesh reprised their roles, and in Hindi by Balachander as Ek Nai Paheli (1984) where Haasan reprised his role. Prasanna is a young man who indulges in several revolutionary activities against the wishes of his father Mahendran, a widower. After Prasanna tells him that, due to the price of rice increasing, he stole rice from
484-672: A katcheri , notices him lying unconscious on the roadside, takes him home and her doctor friend Suri treats him. At Bhairavi's request, Prasanna continues to live in her house even after he recovers. He slowly develops passionate feelings for her even though she is much older. Before Prasanna's arrival, Bhairavi's daughter Ranjani, who believes she was adopted, learns that she is actually Bhairavi's biological daughter born out of wedlock. Unable to digest her mother's hypocrisy, she runs away from home and meets Mahendran in Bangalore while trying to sell some items. She ends up staying at his house for
605-468: A lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached. Most Tamil affixes are suffixes . Tamil suffixes can be derivational suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or inflectional suffixes, which mark categories such as person , number , mood , tense , etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of agglutination , which can lead to long words with many suffixes, which would require several words or
726-484: A , as with other Indic scripts . This inherent vowel is removed by adding a tittle called a puḷḷi , to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the inherent a ) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called virama , but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a visible puḷḷi to indicate a 'dead consonant' (a consonant without
847-759: A 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies. Tamil is the primary language of the majority of the people residing in Tamil Nadu , Puducherry , (in India) and in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . The language is spoken among small minority groups in other states of India which include Karnataka , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh , Kerala , Maharashtra , Gujarat , Delhi , Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as Colombo and
968-552: A ceremony in Madras to reward the cast and crew. The ceremony was attended by M. Karunanidhi , then the chief minister of Tamil Nadu . Apoorva Raagangal received critical acclaim. On 22 August 1975, The Hindu said, "K. Balachander has contributed a unique story, dialogues and superb direction in Kala Kendra's [ Apoorva Raagangal ]. A film with a revolutionary offbeat theme it provides poetic experience". The reviewer praised
1089-519: A family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent . It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups such as the Irula and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue ). The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam ; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. Although many of
1210-488: A few days at his request. Impressed by his love for his deceased wife, his longing for his son Prasanna who left him, and his commitment to help her, she expresses a desire to marry him, despite the fact that he is old enough to be her father. Both Bhairavi and Mahendran reject Prasanna and Ranjani's proposals, citing their age difference and other situations, but with perseverance, Prasanna and Ranjani are able to convince them that their respective marriages could work. Bhairavi
1331-417: A film, We saw the film. When we came out, he started crying. I asked him, "Why are you crying?" He said, "I'm on the screen finally, I'm so happy. These are tears of joy". Despite being released on the same day as Sholay , which went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film at the time, Apoorva Raagangal became a box office success, completing a 100-day theatrical run. On its 100th day, Balachander held
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#17327900702401452-447: A girl in love with the much older Mahendran ( Sundarrajan ): "Balachander Sir was a very tough taskmaster. He would not be satisfied unless he got 100 per cent from you. He used to reprimand me and shout at me if I messed up." She also had to wear a sari and needed help since she had never worn one before. The scene where Pandiyan opens the gate of Bhairavi's house was filmed at a house in 1st Crescent Park Road, Gandhi Nagar . The scene
1573-406: A good role, and see what can be drawn out of him". The script of Apoorva Raagangal had been readied, and Balachander wanted Gaekwad to play a "small but interesting part", which he agreed to. The part was that of Bhairavi's ( Srividya ) ex-lover Pandiyan. As Gaekwad, who primarily spoke Kannada and his native Marathi , was only "tangentially familiar" with Tamil, Balachander advised him to learn
1694-883: A grand finale where the main artist resumes where he or she left off. Mridangam is used as an accompanying instrument in Yakshagana Himmela (orchestra) where it is called the maddale . However, the mridangam used in Yakshagana is markedly different in structure and acoustics from the ones used in Carnatic music. Significant players of the mridangam in modern times are T. K. Murthy , Dandamudi Ram Mohan Rao , T. V. Gopalakrishnan , Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman , Vellore G. Ramabhadran , T S Nandakumar, Karaikudi Mani , Trichy Sankaran , Mannargudi Easwaran , Yella Venkateswara Rao , Srimushnam V. Raja Rao, and Thiruvarur Bakthavathsalam , who have been playing and advancing
1815-473: A left-handed percussionist, the legs and hands are switched. It is not uncommon for artists to use stands for the miruthangam so the body is not loaded in an asymmetrical position. There have recently been reports of gradually altered gait and balance, varying in severity, in those that play the mridangam for long periods of time in asymmetrical positions, especially with poor attention to body posture. Some schools do not pay attention to posture and health so it
1936-434: A lorry, distributed it to the poor and set fire to the lorry before the police arrived, a disgusted Mahendran helps the police arrest him, widening the already existing rift between them. After his release, Prasanna opts to stay away from his hometown, Bangalore , and reaches Madras . One day, Prasanna is beaten up for abusing the passengers of a car that splashed water on him. Carnatic singer Bhairavi, returning home after
2057-656: A note saying his last wish is to see the raga and tala meet, referring to the proposed joint performance of Bhairavi the singer and Prasanna the mridangam player. Dhananjayan considers the entire story of the film is conveyed through the song "Kelviyin Nayagane". The film's soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan ; the lyrics were written by Kannadasan . It was released as an LP on the EMI label with an HMV logo. Two songs are ragamalikas , i.e. compositions having different verses set to different ragas. "Yezhu Swarangalukkul"
2178-586: A note to Bhairavi in the middle of the katcheri. Bhairavi searches for him after it ends and finds him dead with a note in his hand, wishing her well with Prasanna. She erases the kumkuma from her forehead to declare herself a widow and leaves with Ranjani, while Prasanna joins Mahendran. Kannadasan , Jaishankar and members of the Madras-based United Amateur Artistes make "friendly appearances". The Indian folktale collection Vetala Panchavimshati features many stories where
2299-607: A number of apparent Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew dating to before 500 BCE, the oldest attestation of the language. Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from 300 BCE to 700 CE. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi script called Tamil-Brahmi . The earliest long text in Old Tamil
2420-671: A number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware urns dating from at least 696 BCE in Adichanallur . Some of these urns contained writing in Tamil Brahmi script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin. Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in Keezhadi . These were sent to Beta Analytic in Miami , Florida , for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. One sample containing Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
2541-518: A number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions, and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic. Contact with European languages affected written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with
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#17327900702402662-400: A part of the antarakoṭṭu - a musical ensemble which performed at the beginning of dramatic performances, and that would later develop into Bharathanatyam . The player of this instrument held the title tannumai aruntozhil mutalvan . The mridangam is a double-sided drum whose body is usually made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or apertures of
2783-454: A sentence in English. To give an example, the word pōkamuṭiyātavarkaḷukkāka (போகமுடியாதவர்களுக்காக) means "for the sake of those who cannot go" and consists of the following morphemes : போக pōka go முடி muṭi accomplish Mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent . It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in
2904-419: A silent visual." The film was novelised in 2008 by Vikatan Prasuram. Apoorva Raagangal has been referenced in other Rajinikanth films. In Athisaya Piravi (1990), Yama ( Vinu Chakravarthy ) has to restore Kaalai (Rajinikanth) to life by putting him in the body of a lookalike. He shows him numerous alternatives, one of which is Pandiyan from Apoorva Raagangal ; Kaalai refuses after learning that Pandiyan
3025-647: A small number speak the language. In Reunion where the Tamil language was forbidden to be learnt and used in public space by France it is now being relearnt by students and adults. Tamil is also spoken by migrants from Sri Lanka and India in Canada , the United States , the United Arab Emirates , the United Kingdom , South Africa , and Australia . Tamil is the official language of
3146-610: A subject of study in schools in the French overseas department of Réunion . In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the Government of India and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations, Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India. The recognition was announced by the contemporaneous President of India , Abdul Kalam , who
3267-432: A subtle message about loving too well but not wisely." On 31 August, M. S. Udhayamurthy, writing for the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan , appreciated the film overwhelmingly for its quality, calling it one big musical concert happening before his eyes. He said he got so involved with the characters, to the point of forgetting they were artistes who were enacting their roles and started living with and empathising with them at
3388-463: A variety of dialects that are all collectively known as Brahmin Tamil . These dialects tend to have softer consonants (with consonant deletion also common). These dialects also tend to have many Sanskrit loanwords. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates loan words from Portuguese , Dutch , and English. In addition to its dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled on
3509-438: A vowel). In other Indic scripts, it is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does not differentiate voiced and unvoiced plosives . Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of Tamil phonology . In addition to
3630-414: A widow who falls in love with a much younger man. In Apoorva Raagangal , Ranjani often poses the riddle "Ennudaya appa yaarukku maamanaro, avarudaya marumagalin appa en maganukku maamanar. Appa avarukkum enakkum enna uravu?" (My father is father-in-law to someone; that person's daughter-in-law's father is my son's father-in-law. What is the relationship between him and me?), summing up the film's theme. While
3751-638: Is a tradition that Mridangamela is held by children of the age group 3 years and above, as soon as the Utsavam is flagged off. This is performed as an offering to Lord Bharata, who is the deity of Koodalmanikyam Temple. In 2014, Mridangamela by 75 children was performed at Chembai Sangeetholsavam, which is the annual Carnatic music festival held in Guruvayur by the Guruvayur Devaswom. Mridangamela had been performed at Chembai Sangeetholsavam for
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3872-457: Is based on the dialect of Jaffna . After Tamil Brahmi fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called vaṭṭeḻuttu amongst others such as Grantha and Pallava . The current Tamil script consists of 12 vowels , 18 consonants and one special character, the āytam . The vowels and consonants combine to form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters (12 + 18 + 1 + (12 × 18)). All consonants have an inherent vowel
3993-457: Is deemed unlikely by Southworth due to the contemporary use of the compound 'centamiḻ', which means refined speech in the earliest literature. The Tamil Lexicon of University of Madras defines the word "Tamil" as "sweetness". S. V. Subramanian suggests the meaning "sweet sound", from tam – "sweet" and il – "sound". Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages ,
4114-563: Is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the Tolkāppiyam . Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th-century grammar Naṉṉūl which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam , with some modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely eḻuttu , col , poruḷ , yāppu , aṇi . Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry. Tamil words consist of
4235-764: Is forced to accept Prasanna's proposal when he ends his revolutionary activities and takes up music for her sake, becoming a mridangam player. Prasanna is happy that Bhairavi has accepted his proposal, but Pandiyan, her ex-lover and Ranjani's father, turns up to meet her and to apologise. Prasanna does not allow this and, as Pandiyan is dying from blood cancer , takes him away for treatment at his place. He tells Pandiyan of his plan to marry Bhairavi and seeks his co-operation. Pandiyan agrees not to meet her. Mahendran, seeing an advertisement placed by Bhairavi about her missing daughter, comes to meet Bhairavi at her house and sees Prasanna's photograph there. He realises they are in love. Mahendran advertises for his missing son. Bhairavi sees
4356-431: Is formulated by the union ( sandhi ) of the two Sanskrit words mŗt (clay or earth) and anga (limb), as the earliest versions of the instrument were made of hardened clay. In ancient Hindu sculpture, painting, and mythology, the mridangam is often depicted as the instrument of choice for a number of deities including Ganesha (the remover of obstacles) and Nandi , who is the vehicle and follower of Shiva . Nandi
4477-511: Is found in Tholkappiyam , which is dated as early as late 2nd century BCE. The Hathigumpha inscription , inscribed around a similar time period (150 BCE), by Kharavela , the Jain king of Kalinga , also refers to a Tamira Samghatta ( Tamil confederacy ) The Samavayanga Sutra dated to the 3rd century BCE contains a reference to a Tamil script named 'Damili'. Southworth suggests that
4598-405: Is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme, the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals, and the transformation of the alveolar plosive into a rhotic . In grammar, the most important change
4719-409: Is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. In recent times, however, koṭuntamiḻ has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of centamiḻ . Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio, for example,
4840-429: Is going to be cleared in their case. During Bhairavi's next katcheri, where Prasanna is a mridangam player, she sings "Kelviyin Nayagane, Indha Kelvikku Badhil Edhayya?" (Oh hero of the question, what is the answer to this question?). Ranjani changes her mind and joins her mother by singing at the concert. Observing this, Prasanna also changes his mind and joins his father. When all these issues are cleared, Pandiyan sends
4961-505: Is going to die of blood cancer. In Petta (2019), Kaali (Rajinikanth) opens the gates to a house in a scene that director Karthik Subbaraj confirmed was inspired by Pandiyan's first scene in Apoorva Raagangal . Tamil language Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia Canada and United States Tamil ( தமிழ் , Tamiḻ , pronounced [t̪amiɻ] ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by
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5082-505: Is important to find a school that does so, and to ensure that teachers are experienced and licensed to teach. Additionally, the nature of the drum makes it difficult to avoid a symmetrical position for the two sides of the body. Perhaps, new innovations for the miruthangam will adapt it in such a way that circumvents this issue. Issues caused by asymmetrical body position include functional (not structural) scoliosis, uneven shoulders and hips, and this may cause issues further down limbs, such as
5203-410: Is in koṭuntamiḻ , and many politicians use it to bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of koṭuntamiḻ in modern times has led to the emergence of unofficial 'standard' spoken dialects. In India, the 'standard' koṭuntamiḻ , rather than on any one dialect, but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of Thanjavur and Madurai . In Sri Lanka, the standard
5324-407: Is known as the satham or karanai and gives the mridangam its distinct metallic timbre. The combination of two inhomogeneous circular membranes allows for the production of unique and distinct harmonics. Pioneering work on the mathematics of these harmonics was done by Nobel Prize-winning physicist C. V. Raman . Immediately prior to use in a performance, the leather covering the wider aperture
5445-421: Is known as the thoppi or eda bhaaga and the smaller aperture is known as the valanthalai or bala bhaaga . The smaller membrane, when struck, produces higher pitched sounds with a metallic timbre. The wider aperture produces lower pitched sounds. The goat skin covering the smaller aperture is anointed in the center with a black disk made of rice flour, ferric oxide powder and starch. This black tuning paste
5566-401: Is made moist and a spot of paste made from semolina (rawa) and water is applied to the center, which lowers the pitch of the wider membrane and gives it a very powerful resonating bass sound. Nowadays, rubber gum is also used to loosen the membrane helping in creating the bass sound, and its advantage is that unlike semolina, it will not stick on hands. The artist tunes the instrument by varying
5687-771: Is not always consistently applied. ISO 15919 is an international standard for the transliteration of Tamil and other Indic scripts into Latin characters. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brahmic consonants and vowels to Latin script , and thus the alphabets of various languages, including English. Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day, month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well. Tamil also uses several historical fractional signs. /f/ , /z/ , /ʂ/ and /ɕ/ are only found in loanwords and may be considered marginal phonemes, though they are traditionally not seen as fully phonemic. Tamil has two diphthongs : /aɪ̯/ ஐ and /aʊ̯/ ஔ ,
5808-433: Is not known how prevalent the issues are and some artists do not experience any symptoms, although this might be due to an awareness of health and physical appearance not being so significant some countries. Research has yet to be done on the association to physical impairments when the drum is played with a stand. Musicians should also watch out for uneven shoulder positions when playing the drum, which may be unavoidable. It
5929-492: Is perhaps best remembered is the drunkard-doctor of [ Apoorva Raagangal ]." Director Mani Ratnam credited Balachander, with Mahendran and C. V. Sridhar , for "weaning the audience away from theatricality", citing a scene in Apoorva Raagangal as an example: "The shadow of the woman upstairs drying her hair falls across the path of the rebellious young man sneaking out of the house. It is enough to stop him. This scene could have been dramatic, with lot of dialogue. Instead you get
6050-416: Is playing, reflects Balachander's penchant for depicting patriotism. During Pandiyan's first appearance, "Sruthi Bedham" (Change of Sruthi ) appears. Historian Mohan Raman said that by including these words, Balachander "meant that the man who changed the course of the story would also the change the industry". Anand Kumar RS, of The News Minute , however, says the term which also means "pitch distortion",
6171-592: Is predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu , India, and the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . It has significant speaking populations in Malaysia , Singapore , and among diaspora communities . Tamil has been recognized as a classical language by the Indian government and holds official status in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Singapore. The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrate
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#17327900702406292-435: Is recommended that musicians sits completely straight, with hips, spine and shoulders completely even and relaxed. Wooden stands may help alleviate issues with scoliosis, uneven shoulders, hips and its associated issues at the knee and ankles. The impacts can result in difficulty in walking and running efficiently and may cause pain later in life and in old age. Whether strength training and stretching may alleviate these problems
6413-400: Is said to have played the mridangam during Shiva's primordial tandava dance, causing a divine rhythm to resound across the heavens. The mridangam is thus also known as "deva vaadyam," or "Divine Instrument". Over the years, the mridangam evolved and was made from different kinds of wood for increased durability, and today, its body is constructed from the wood of the jackfruit tree. It
6534-579: Is set in Panthuvarali, Kambhoji , Sindhu Bhairavi and Ranjani. "Athisaya Raagam" begins in Mahati, and shifts to Bhairavi with the line "Oru Puram Paarthaal". "Kelviyin Nayagane" is set in a single raga, Darbari Kanada . Singer M. Balamuralikrishna recalled in a 2006 interview, "I ran into [M. S. Viswanathan] in AIR who was setting music for the movie. As the story revolved around strange relationships,
6655-652: Is sounded by mouth to mimic the sounds of the mridangam. Students of this art are required to learn and vigorously practice both the fingering strokes and solfa passages to achieve proficiency and accuracy in this art. Advanced strokes: Many other strokes are also taught as the training becomes more advanced, which are generally used as aesthetic embellishments while playing. These notes include gumki (or gamakam), and chaapu. The combination of these finger strokes produces complex mathematical patterns that have both aesthetic and theoretical appeal. Increasingly complex calculations (kanakku) and metres (nadais) may be employed when
6776-409: Is the Tolkāppiyam , an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the late 2nd century BCE. Many literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature . These poems are usually dated to between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE. The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil , which
6897-793: Is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia , along with English, Malay and Mandarin. A large community of Pakistani Tamils speakers exists in Karachi , Pakistan , which includes Tamil-speaking Hindus as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka. There are about 100 Tamil Hindu families in Madrasi Para colony in Karachi. They speak impeccable Tamil along with Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi. Many in Réunion , Guyana , Fiji , Suriname , and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but only
7018-470: Is widely believed that the tabla , the mridangam's Hindustani musical counterpart, was first constructed by splitting a mridangam in half. With the development of the mridangam came the tala (rhythm) system. The mridangam has a large role in Newa music . One of the earliest Nepal Bhasa manuscripts on music is a treatise on this instrument called Mridanga anukaranam. The range of its use has changed over
7139-478: Is yet to be researched. Therefore, it is strongly advised to notify minors and their parents of issues associated with the drum so that they can make informed decisions on whether to play the drum. When played without adequate care to posture, the miruthangam has the potential to have lifelong effects on one's physical health. Regular stretching, weight training, and sports are advisable but may not prevent impairments. Western physiotherapists may struggle to comprehend
7260-529: The Dadasaheb Phalke Award , Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff called the film one of his best and wrote, "Many filmmakers of that time would have hesitated to touch a subject like this, particularly at a time when relationships were still being gingerly tested on celluloid. But not K Balachander." The scene where a drunk Suri talks to his own shadow and hurls the empty glass at it while saying "Cheers" led to filmgoers imitating him and throwing cups on
7381-465: The Pandiyan Kings for the organization of long-termed Tamil Sangams , which researched, developed and made amendments in Tamil language. Even though the name of the language which was developed by these Tamil Sangams is mentioned as Tamil, the period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. The earliest attested use of the name
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#17327900702407502-534: The Tamil people of South Asia . It is one of the two longest-surviving classical languages in India , along with Sanskrit , attested since c. 300 BCE. The language belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian language family and shares close ties with Malayalam and Kannada . Despite external influences, Tamil has retained a sense of linguistic purism, especially in formal and literary contexts. Tamil
7623-599: The University of Madras , was one of the earliest dictionaries published in Indian languages. A strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from Tamil. It received some support from Dravidian parties . This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain. According to
7744-491: The 11th century, retain many features of the Vaishnava paribasai , a special form of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values. Several castes have their own sociolects which most members of that caste traditionally used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their speech. For example, Tamil Brahmins tend to speak
7865-481: The Indian state of Haryana , purportedly as a rebuff to Punjab , though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by Punjabi , in 2010. In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in Tamil as the medium of instruction . The establishment of Tamil-medium schools has been in process in Myanmar to provide education completely in Tamil language by
7986-474: The Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India . It is one of the official languages of the union territories of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore . Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with Sinhala . It was once given nominal official status in
8107-641: The Silappadikaram, we find detailed references to it as in the Natyasastra . During the Sangam period , it was one of the principal percussion instruments used to sound the beginning of war, along with the murasu, tudi and parai , because it was believed that its holy sound would deflect enemy arrows and protect the King. During the post-Sangam period, as mentioned in the epic Silappadikaram , it formed
8228-590: The Tamil language, Kannada still preserves a lot from its roots. As part of the southern family of Indian languages and situated relatively close to the northern parts of India, Kannada also shares some Sanskrit words, similar to Malayalam. Many of the formerly used words in Tamil have been preserved with little change in Kannada. This shows a relative parallel to Tamil, even as Tamil has undergone some changes in modern ways of speaking. According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form Tamil Thāi (Mother Tamil)
8349-696: The Tamils who settled there 200 years ago. Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities in Canada and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the Parliament of Canada . Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the Constitution of South Africa and is taught as a subject in schools in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently, it has been rolled out as
8470-428: The advertisement so she tells Prasanna to get his father's consent before marrying her. They both meet Mahendran, who introduces Ranjani as Prasanna's future mother since she is his future wife. A riddle is explained: Prasanna's wife will be the mother of his father's wife, meaning Ranjani will be the mother-in-law of her own mother and Mahendran will be the son-in-law of his own son. Mahendran asks Prasanna how this riddle
8591-415: The aid of a pitch pipe or a tambura . The larger membrane can also be tuned in a similar manner, though it is not done as frequently. Note that since the leather straps are interwoven between both the smaller and larger aperture, adjusting the tension on one side often can affect the tension on the other. The mridangam is played resting it almost parallel to the floor. A right-handed mridangam artist plays
8712-442: The ancient language ( sankattamiḻ ), a modern literary and formal style ( centamiḻ ), and a modern colloquial form ( koṭuntamiḻ ). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic continuum. For example, it is possible to write centamiḻ with a vocabulary drawn from caṅkattamiḻ , or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking koṭuntamiḻ . In modern times, centamiḻ
8833-596: The beginner lessons that Carnatic music students learn; "mohanam", meaning enchantment or infatuation, appears when Prasanna falls in love; and the film ends with "mangalam", referring to the closing part of a katcheri. The female lead characters are named after the Carnatic ragas Bhairavi and Ranjani . V. Ramji of the Hindu Tamil Thisai believes the scene where Prasanna beats up a man for not standing still when " Jana Gana Mana " (the Indian national anthem)
8954-433: The concept of relationships between people with wide age gaps , which challenged Indian social mores, it received critical acclaim and became a commercial success, and a breakthrough for Srividya and Haasan. The film won three National Film Awards , including Best Feature Film in Tamil , and three Filmfare Awards South in the Tamil branch: Best Feature Film , Best Director for Balachander and Best Actor for Haasan, and
9075-689: The culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India, but it has also been related to the Harappan civilization . Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods: Old Tamil (300 BCE–700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present). About of the approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages. In 2004,
9196-952: The dialect of Madurai , and iṅkaṭe in some northern dialects. Even now, in the Coimbatore area, it is common to hear " akkaṭṭa " meaning "that place". Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in India, and use many other words slightly differently. Tamil dialects include Central Tamil dialect , Kongu Tamil , Madras Bashai , Madurai Tamil , Nellai Tamil , Kumari Tamil in India ; Batticaloa Tamil dialect , Jaffna Tamil dialect , Negombo Tamil dialect in Sri Lanka; and Malaysian Tamil in Malaysia. Sankethi dialect in Karnataka has been heavily influenced by Kannada . The dialect of
9317-399: The differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic divergence of the western dialect, the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Additionally Kannada is also relatively close to the Tamil language and shares the format of the formal ancient Tamil language. While there are some variations from
9438-647: The district of Palakkad in Kerala has many Malayalam loanwords, has been influenced by Malayalam's syntax, and has a distinctive Malayalam accent. Similarly, Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has more unique words and phonetic style than Tamil spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The words and phonetics are so different that a person from Kanyakumari district is easily identifiable by their spoken Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated to Karnataka in
9559-431: The doctor Suri who lives a double life as a drunkard named Hari, observed his difficulty and told him, "Don't get tensed up. Just imitate whatever Balachander is doing. That's what I'm doing as well!" After listening to Nagesh's advice, it became easier for Rajinikanth to complete his portions in the film. For the scene where Suri speaks to his own shadow, it was Nagesh's idea by making the character utter "Cheers" and throw
9680-433: The drum are covered with a goat, cow or buffalo skin and laced to each other with leather straps along the length of the drum. These straps are put into a state of high tension to stretch out the circular membranes on either side of the hull, allowing them to resonate when struck. These two membranes are dissimilar in diameter to allow for the production of both bass and treble sounds from the same drum. The bass aperture
9801-464: The end. On the same day, Kanthan of Kalki praised the film for the screenplay and characters being innovative, along with the cast performances and music. Though some reviewers criticised Rajinikanth's performance and told him to improve, he complemented them over the reviewers praising his performance. In 1976, Apoorva Raagangal was remade by Dasari Narayana Rao in Telugu as Thoorpu Padamara ; Srividya and Nagesh reprised their roles. In 1984,
9922-494: The film under their production banner, Kalakendra Films. B. S. Lokanath was chosen as the cinematographer, N. R. Kittu as the editor, and Ramasamy as the art director. Before the film's release, author N. R. Dasan accused Balachander of plagiarising Verum Mann , a story he had written for the magazine Kannadasan . The matter was taken to the Madras High Court , and Dasan won the case. Although he did not seek money,
10043-703: The film was remade in Hindi as Ek Nai Paheli by Balachander himself, with Haasan reprising his role. Apoorva Raagangal became a landmark in Tamil cinema, and a breakthrough for Srividya and Haasan. The Times of India wrote that it was "innovative for the way it brought out the O Henry sort of twist in the plot. [...] It was experimental in bringing out complexities involved in relationships and how certain relationships, no matter what, do not leave you and emerge abruptly to create new equations." Chitra Mahesh of The Hindu wrote that it "was bold and unapologetic about love transcending age, caste and all barriers one can think of". In 2011, after Balachander had been given
10164-417: The force is exerted at precisely the point where it is needed. Striking the periphery of the smaller membrane in the direction toward the hull raises the pitch, while striking the periphery from the opposite side (away from the hull) lowers the pitch. The pitch must be uniform and balanced at all points along the circumference of the valanthalai for the sound to resonate perfectly. The pitch can be balanced with
10285-453: The ghost-like being Vetala poses many riddles to Vikramaditya . In the final riddle, a king marries a woman and his son marries her mother; Vetala asks, "If these couples were to beget children, what would be their kinship relations?" and Vikramaditya keeps quiet since it does not have an answer. This riddle inspired K. Balachander to write the script of Apoorva Raagangal , which he would also direct. V. Govindarajan and J. Duraisamy produced
10406-465: The glass at his own shadow. The final reel length of the film was 3,949 metres (12,956 ft). Apoorva Raagangal explores the concept of relationships between couples with a large disparity in their ages , which challenged Indian social mores. Although it is based on a Vetala Panchavimshati riddle, it has frequently been compared to the American film 40 Carats (1973), which tells the story of
10527-503: The gradual turning in of sole of the right foot to face medially. The asymmetry throughout the body may cause mild balance issues. As well as impairing sporting prowess, it can impair one's ability to maintain good cardiovascular health, leading to the development of associated health conditions. If the body becomes uneven to the point of impairing balance, this too can affect one's daily life. It can also affect one's self image through changing gait and balance – especially in male artists. It
10648-699: The hill country . Tamil or dialects of it were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE. Tamil was also used widely in inscriptions found in southern Andhra Pradesh districts of Chittoor and Nellore until the 12th century CE. Tamil was used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in southern Karnataka districts such as Kolar , Mysore , Mandya and Bengaluru . There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants in Malaysia , Singapore , Philippines , Mauritius , South Africa , Indonesia, Thailand, Burma , and Vietnam . Tamil
10769-432: The introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the syntactic argument structure of English. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiran Vanakkam , thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published. The Tamil Lexicon , published by
10890-468: The issues faced because they are unfamiliar with the nature of the drum. Even when the issues are well understood, it is not known whether such long-term changes to the body can be reversed. Such conditions may be avoided through learning from experienced, licensed teachers. Research on the miruthangam and postural issues are yet to be done. Basic strokes on the mridangam: There is also a parallel set of rhythmic solfa passages (known as "solkattu") which
11011-446: The judge ordered Balachander to pay him ₹ 1,000 (equivalent to ₹ 28,000 or US$ 340 in 2023) as a fine. Sometimes you aim for it. If you aim for it seriously, you succeed. Of course when I introduced him in Apoorva Raagangal , it was only a small role, but people would remember him because he comes in the climax. So I thought, I'll give this particular role to him. – Balachander, on casting Rajinikanth Kamal Haasan
11132-478: The language. Gaekwad practised by speaking only Tamil with his friend Raja Bahaddur, a native Tamil speaker; he mastered the language in 20 days. After meeting Balachander again, and impressing him with his Tamil, he was given the part. When it came to giving Gaekwad a screen name, Balachander chose Rajinikanth, the name of A. V. M. Rajan 's character from his 1966 film Major Chandrakanth ; the name means "colour of night", referring to Gaekwad's skin colour, though it
11253-461: The latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items. Tamil employs agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are used to mark noun class , number , and case , verb tense and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to the Sanskrit that is standard for most Indo-Aryan languages . Much of Tamil grammar
11374-498: The lobby walls in theatres. In 2003, Rediff wrote, "In an era where every other moviemaker claims to have come up with a daring, original, premise, this 28-year-old film is worth remembering. A trademark K Balachander film, this was the first to showcase Kamal's histrionic abilities." In 2015, Tamil Canadian journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj wrote, "Though Nagesh has acted in many different roles in Balachander films, one sequence that
11495-517: The mridangam is played. Classically, training is by dharmic apprenticeship and includes both the yoga of drum construction and an emphasis on the internal discipline of voicing mridangam tone and rhythm both syllabically and linguistically, in accordance with Rigveda, more than on mere performance. Types of Talam, each with specific angas and aksharas: Today the mridangam is most widely used in Carnatic music performances. These performances take place all over Southern India and are now popular all over
11616-461: The much older Bhairavi (Srividya) while Bhairavi's daughter Ranjani (Jayasudha) is drawn to Prasanna's father Mahendran (Sundarrajan). Apoorva Raagangal ' s theme was based on a riddle featured in the Indian folktale collection Vetala Panchavimshati about a king marrying a woman and his son marrying her mother, and Vetala , the riddler asking Vikramaditya what would be their kinship relations if these couples were to beget children. The film
11737-473: The music director wanted to introduce new ragas to go with the ambient theme. I offered my `Mahati' scale and the records created then are history now." "Yezhu Swarangalukkul" became "the rage everywhere" and was a breakthrough for its singer Vani Jairam . Apoorva Raagangal was released on 15 August 1975. When the film was released in Bangalore's Kapali theatre, Rajinikanth and Raja Bahaddur went to watch it. The latter recalled, "Nobody knew that he had acted in
11858-423: The name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ "self-speak", or "our own speech". Kamil Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iḻ , with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and " -iḻ " having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of tamiḻ < tam-iḻ < * tav-iḻ < * tak-iḻ , meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)". However, this
11979-537: The old aspect and time markers. The Nannūl remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil. Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil – instead, negation is expressed either morphologically or syntactically. Modern spoken Tamil also shows
12100-531: The past 35 years orchestrated by Korambu Mridanga Kalari. Over the years and especially during the early 20th century, great maestros of mridangam also arose, inevitably defining "schools" of mridangam with distinct playing styles. Examples include the Puddukottai school and the Thanjavur school. The virtuosos Palani Subramaniam Pillai , Palghat Mani Iyer and C.S. Murugabhupathy contributed so much to
12221-444: The performances of the main cast, Nagesh's dual role performance as a doctor and a drunkard, and called Rajinikanth "dignified and impressive". They also appreciated the music and Vani Jairam's singing, and Lokanath's cinematography. The reviewer concluded, "Some of the most memorable scenes in this outstanding film emerge from the clash of personalities between the two odd pairs. The end should satisfy even conservative tastes and carries
12342-415: The present he voluntarily agrees to stay away from her after realising she is content with Prasanna. Ramachandran said three things that happen soon after Pandiyan's death prove he is not a villain: the music playing in the background is the type usually played when a sympathetic character dies; Bhairavi erases her kumkuma , like any Indian woman would upon becoming a widow; and Pandiyan is found to be holding
12463-406: The smaller membrane with their right hand and the larger membrane with the left hand. The mridangam rests above the right ankle (but not on it), the right leg being slightly extended, while the left leg is bent and rests against the hull of the drum and against the torso of the artist. It is extremely important that the two sides of the hips are level, to prevent a habitual lateral pelvic tilt. For
12584-495: The song "Athisaya Raagam" was filmed at the cashew farms of VGP Golden Beach ; however, Roshne Balasubramanian of The Indian Express says it was filmed at the Theosophical Society Adyar . The camera was moved manually by the cameraperson at this time, without the use of a dolly . In a 2000 interview with Rediff , Jayasudha , who portrayed Bhairavi's daughter Ranjani, recalled that it was hard portraying
12705-486: The source riddle in Vetala Panchavimshati does not have an answer, G. Dhananjayan believes the answer to the film's riddle is, "for a husband, the relation is his wife and for the wife, the relation is her husband". Because one of the lead characters is a Carnatic singer, the film uses various Carnatic music terms as placeholders to carry forward the narrative. The first is "sarali varisai", referring to
12826-470: The standard characters, six characters taken from the Grantha script , which was used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit, Prakrit , and other languages. The traditional system prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but
12947-685: The technique for decades. Mridangamela is a synchronized performance of mridangam by a group of artists. The concept of Mridangamela was developed by Korambu Subrahmanian Namboodiri and is currently propagated by Korambu Vikraman Namboodiri. Mridangamela is designed to be easily performed and managed even when performed by a group of children. It is common that the age of artists can range from 3 years to above. Most Mridangamelas are performed by children soon after their initiation to learning mridangam. A teaching method developed to train for Mridangamela made this easy to be taught and contributed to its popularity. In Koodalmanikyam Temple , Irinjalakuda , it
13068-405: The tension of the leather straps spanning the hull of the instrument. This is achieved by placing the mridangam upright with its larger side facing down, and then striking the tension-bearing straps located along of circumference of the smaller membrane with a heavy object (such as a stone). A wooden peg is sometimes placed between the stone and the mridangam during the tuning procedure to ensure that
13189-526: The word for "here"— iṅku in Centamil (the classic variety)—has evolved into iṅkū in the Kongu dialect of Coimbatore , inga in the dialects of Thanjavur and Palakkad , and iṅkai in some dialects of Sri Lanka . Old Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇ means place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of Tirunelveli , Old Tamil iṅkiṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in
13310-487: The world. As the principal rhythmic accompaniment ( pakkavadyam ), the mridangam has a place of utmost importance, ensuring all of the other artists are keeping their timing in check while providing support to the main artist. One of the highlights of a modern Carnatic music concert is the percussion solo ( thani avarthanam ), where the mridangam artist and other percussionists such as kanjira, morsing, and ghatam vidwans exchange various complex rhythmic patterns, culminating in
13431-464: The years. In the old days, percussionists were only employed to accompany the lead player, often the vocalist. Now its use is not restricted to accompaniment, and it is used for solo performances. In Tamil culture, it is called a tannumai. The earliest mention of the mridangam in Tamil literature is found perhaps in the Sangam literature where the instrument is known as 'tannumai'. In later works, like
13552-534: Was a Tamilian himself, in a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament on 6 June 2004. The socio-linguistic situation of Tamil is characterised by diglossia : there are two separate registers varying by socioeconomic status , a high register and a low one. Tamil dialects are primarily differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example,
13673-569: Was cast as the protagonist Prasanna. He spent seven months learning to play the mridangam required for the role. The film was the debut of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, who later became one of Tamil cinema's biggest stars, Rajinikanth . He was a student at the Madras Film Institute , when Balachander, who came there, met him. Balachander was impressed by his appearance: his "fragile" health, "powerful" eyes, "chiselled" face and dark skin and did not view them as negatives. He sought to "give him
13794-600: Was claimed to be dated to around 580 BCE. John Guy states that Tamil was the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt. In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BCE with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions. There are
13915-540: Was created by Lord Shiva . Murugan , revered as the Tamil God, along with sage Agastya , brought it to the people. Tamil, like other Dravidian languages, ultimately descends from the Proto-Dravidian language , which was most likely spoken around the third millennium BCE, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of
14036-557: Was misspelled in the credits as "Rajanikanth". Unlike many contemporaneous Tamil films, Apoorva Raagangal was shot entirely in actual houses for interiors without building sets, as Balachander wanted a more authentic narration to be conveyed. With Lokanath's help, he found houses which belonged to A. V. Meiyappan 's family members, one of which was Meiyappan's house, Chettiar Bungalow. For Prasanna's look, Haasan kept his moustache thin and hair long, and had him sporting bell-bottoms and polo shirts . According to historian G. Dhananjayan ,
14157-511: Was produced by V. Govindarajan and J. Duraisamy under the Kalakendra Films banner, photographed by B. S. Lokanath and edited by N. R. Kittu; the music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan . Unlike many contemporaneous Tamil films, it was shot entirely in actual houses for their interiors without building sets, as Balachander wanted to convey a more authentic narration. Apoorva Raagangal was released on 15 August 1975. Despite exploring
14278-490: Was shot on 27 March 1975, the same day that Balachander gave Rajinikanth his name; it was approved after only five or six takes. For the character's looks, Rajinikanth sported stubble and wore a loose-fitting suit consisting of a dusty coat, loosely worn tie, untucked shirt and trousers; his make-up was done by R. Sundaramoorthy . During the initial stages of principal photography , Rajinikanth found Balachander's directing methods very difficult to follow. Nagesh , who portrayed
14399-504: Was the lingua franca for early maritime traders, with inscriptions found in places like Sri Lanka , Thailand , and Egypt . The language has a well-documented history with literary works like Sangam literature , consisting of over 2,000 poems. Tamil script evolved from Tamil Brahmi, and later, the vatteluttu script was used until the current script was standardized. The language has a distinct grammatical structure, with agglutinative morphology that allows for complex word formations. Tamil
14520-451: Was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb kil ( கில் ), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an aspect marker to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ṉ ( ன் ). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟa ( கின்ற ) – which combined
14641-412: Was used to symbolise Pandiyan making "an entry at the wrong time". Balachander said Pandiyan's first shot was deliberate and representative of Rajinikanth making his first appearance in cinema. According to critic Naman Ramachandran , the character is not entirely villainous despite popular belief since he commits no villainous act on screen. Having deserted Bhairavi after impregnating her offscreen , in
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