110-646: Nammalvar ( Tamil : நம்மாழ்வார், lit. 'Our Alvar'; IAST Nammāḻvār) was one of the twelve Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu , India, who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism . The verses of the Alvars are compiled as the Naalayira Divya Prabandham , where praises are sung of 108 temples that are classified as divine realms, called the Divya Desams . Nammalvar
220-468: A Tamil poet and scholar named Madhurakavi Alvar was born in Thirukolur (who was elder to him by age) and had travelled to North India on a temple trip. As he was performing his Nityaanushtanam (daily rituals) one day, he saw a bright light shining to the south, and followed it until he reached the tree where the boy was residing. Unable to elicit any reaction from the child, he asked him a riddle: "If
330-468: 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
440-484: 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
550-759: 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
660-717: A Vaishya caste . Nammalvar's grandfather, Tiruvalmarban Pillai , is a Vellalar and comes under the Vaishya Caste. J. V. Chelliah a popular Tamil scholar who translated the Ten Idylls into English states that Paṭṭiṉappālai (Commonly dated between 1st to 2nd Century CE) has mentions that Vellalars belonged to the Vysya caste , They followed the 4 Vedas, they were commonly involved in agriculture, taking care of cattle, trade and other business pursuits. Tradition says that he must have been born fully enlightened because as
770-468: A baby he never cried or suckled and never opened his eyes. According to legend, as a child he responded to no external stimuli and his parents left him at the feet of the deity of Sri Adhinathar in Alwarthirunagari . The child then got up and climbed into a hole in a tamarind , sat in the lotus position , and began to meditate. It appears he was in this state for as long as sixteen years when
880-469: A boon. Kadru asked for one thousand Nāga sons, while Vinata asked for just two, but each an equal to all of Kadru's thousand sons. Kashyapa blessed them, and then retreated to a forest to meditate. Later, Kadru gave birth to one thousand eggs, while Vinata gave birth to two eggs. After incubating them for five hundred years, Kadru's eggs hatched and out came her 1,000 sons. Vinata, eager for her own sons, impatiently broke one of her eggs. From this egg emerged
990-826: A detailed account of the alvars and their works. According to these texts, the saints were considered incarnations of some form of Vishnu. Poigai is considered an incarnation of Panchajanya (Krishna's conch), Bhoothath of Kaumodakee (Vishnu's Mace/Club), Pey of Nandaka (Vishnu's sword), Thirumalisai of Sudarshanam (Vishnu's discus), Namm of Vishvaksena (Vishnu's commander), Madhurakavi of Vainatheya (Vishnu's eagle, Garuda ), Kulasekhara of Kaustubha (Vishnu's necklace), Periya of Garuda (Vishnu's eagle), Andal of Bhoodevi (Vishnu's wife, Lakshmi , in her form as Bhudevi), Thondaradippodi of Vanamaalai (Vishnu's garland), Thiruppaan of Srivatsa (An auspicious mark on Vishnu's chest) and Thirumangai of Sharanga , Rama 's bow. The songs of Prabandam are regularly sung in all
1100-519: 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
1210-429: A large bird with eagle-like features that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist epic as the vahana (vehicle) of the god Vishnu . Garuda became the national emblem of Thailand and Indonesia ; Thailand 's Garuda is rendered in a more traditional anthropomorphic style, while that of Indonesia is rendered in heraldic style with traits similar to the real Javan hawk-eagle . The word Garuda ( Khmer : គ្រុឌ – " Krud ")
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#17327984779301320-434: A metaphor of atman . The Hindu texts on Garuda iconography vary in their details. If in the bird form, he is eagle-like, typically with the wings slightly open as if ready and willing to fly wherever he needs to. In part human-form, he may have an eagle-like nose, beak or legs, his eyes are open and big, his body is the color of emerald, and his wings are golden-yellow. He may be shown with either two or four hands. If he
1430-607: 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
1540-671: 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
1650-518: 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
1760-763: A nāga by the tail and force him to vomit up his stone (Pandara Jātaka, J.518). The Garudas were among the beings appointed by Śakra to guard Mount Sumeru and the Trāyastriṃśa heaven from the attacks of the asuras . In the Maha-samaya Sutta (Digha Nikaya 20), the Buddha is shown making temporary peace between the Nagas and the Garudas. In the Qing dynasty fiction The Story of Yue Fei (1684), Garuda sits at
1870-477: 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 Garuda Garuda ( Sanskrit : गरुड , romanized : Garuḍa ; Pali : गरुळ , romanized: Garuḷa ; Vedic Sanskrit : गरुळ , IAST : Garuḷa )
1980-403: A serpent. Defeated warriors are like snakes beaten down by Garuda. The Mahabharata character Drona uses a military formation named after Garuda. Krishna carries the image of Garuda on his banner. Though Garuda stautues and iconography can be seen in many Vishnu temples, there are very few temples dedicated to Garuda as a deity in India. A 1800 year old ancient kavu dedicated to Garuda, it
2090-647: 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
2200-610: 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
2310-463: 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
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#17327984779302420-438: 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
2530-558: Is Vaikunta Ekadashi . The eleventh day of each fortnight in the Tamil calendar is called Ekadasi and the holiest of all Ekadasi in the Vaishnava tradition is the Vaikunta Ekadashi . Nammalvar, one of the 12 alvars , is believed to have ascended to Vaikuntha (the heavenly abode of Vishnu) on this day. The devotion of the 9th-century poet, Nammalvar, and his perceived ascent to heaven are enacted annually. During
2640-409: Is "an account of the pilgrimage of the soul to its transcendence over its ignorance, sleep and sloth in which it is caught up in the body". While medieval poetry is considered self-pity and repentance, his works always have a message of hope. Nammalvar is regarded as one of the top three Hindu mystics in India, with the other two being Manickavasagar and Kabir . Nammalvar is considered greatest among
2750-635: Is a Dravidian language natively spoken by 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
2860-559: Is a Hindu deity who is primarily depicted as the mount ( vahana ) of the Hindu god Vishnu . This divine creature is mentioned in the Hindu , Buddhist , and Jain faiths. Garuda is also the half-brother of the Devas , Gandharvas , Daityas , Danavas , Nāgas , Vanara and Yakshas . He is the son of the sage Kashyapa and Vinata . He is the younger brother of Aruna , the charioteer of
2970-594: Is a divine eagle-like sun bird and the king of birds. A Garutman is mentioned in the Rigveda who is described as celestial deva with wings. The Shatapatha Brahmana embedded inside the Yajurveda text mentions Garuda as the personification of courage. In the Mahabharata , Garutman is stated to be same as Garuda, then described as the one who is fast, who can shapeshift into any form and enter anywhere. He
3080-620: Is a giant mythological bird likened to the Middle Eastern roc . Garuda's Chinese name is Great Peng, the Golden-Winged Illumination King ( 大鵬金翅明王 ). The Garuda is a yaksha or guardian for Shantinatha in Jain iconography and mythology. Jain iconography shows Garuda as a human figure with wings and a strand-circle. In India and the rest of Southeast Asia the eagle symbolism is represented by Garuda,
3190-532: Is a powerful creature in the epics, whose wing flapping can stop the spinning of heaven, earth and hell. He is described to be the vehicle mount of the Hindu god Vishnu , and typically they are shown together. He is the younger brother of Aruna , who is a charioteer of the sun god, Surya . According to George Williams, Garuda has roots in the verb gri , or speak. He is a metaphor in the Vedic literature for Rik (rhythms), Saman (sounds), Yajna (sacrifices), and
3300-547: Is also brought in Anna Vahanam (palanquin) and his verses dedicated to each of these nine temples are recited. The utsavar of deities of each of the nine temples, travel through the paddy fields in the area, reach Alvar Thirunagari. The verses dedicated to each of the nine Divyadesams are chanted with music and dance in front of respective utsavar deities. It is the most important of the festivals in this area, and it draws thousands of visitors.After this paasuram recital
3410-717: Is also known as Tarkshya and Vainateya . Garuda is a part of state insignia of India , Indonesia and Thailand . Both Indonesia and Thailand has Garuda as their coat of arms , the Indian Army uses the Garuda on their Guards Brigade Regimental Insignia. The Indian Air Force named their special operations unit after him as the Garud Commando Force . It is often associated with the Greater adjutant stork ( Leptoptilos dubius ). In Hinduism , Garuda
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3520-457: 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
3630-516: Is common across Buddhist traditions. In Buddhism , the Garuda (Sanskrit; Pāli : garuḷā ) are enormous predatory birds with a wingspan of 330 yojanas . They are described as beings with intelligence and social organisation. They are also sometimes known as suparṇa (Sanskrit; Pāli: supaṇṇa ), meaning "well-winged, having good wings". Like the Nāgas , they combine the characteristics of animals and divine beings, and may be considered to be among
3740-521: Is completed, the Alvar utsavar in anna vahanam and the nine Perumal deities in Garuda Vahanam come around the maada veethi [temple street] of Alvar Thirunagari. Then, each divyadesam Perumal utsavar bid farewell to their most relished jeevathma Nammalvar and return to their respective temples. Amongst these Perumals, when Alvar most favourite deities of Irattai tirupathi leave after the utsavam, Alvar
3850-629: Is considered to be the fifth in the line of the twelve Alvars. He is highly regarded as a great mystic of the Vaishnava tradition. He is also considered to be the foremost among the twelve Alvars, and his contributions amount to 1352 among the 4000 stanzas in the Naalayira Divya Prabandam . According to traditional scriptures, Nammalvar was born in 3059 BCE in Alwarthirunagiri ; historically he flourished in 8th century CE. In Hindu legends, Nammalvar remained speechless from
3960-401: 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 ,
4070-563: 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
4180-602: Is famous in the state for the alleviation of 'sarpa dosham'. Nearby the main temple is a rare subsidiary shrine dedicated to the Kurma avatar of Lord Vishnu. This temple was believed to have been constructed after Garuda himself manifested in eagle form in front of the devotees during the consecration ceremony. Lord Vishnu is present in his Mohini swaroopam in this temple, adding to its rarity. Garuda, also referred to as Garula , are golden-winged birds in Buddhist texts. Under
4290-460: 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
4400-498: Is found in early temples of India, such as on the underside of the eave at Cave 3 entrance of the Badami cave temples (6th-century). Garuda's mythology is linked to that of Aruna , the charioteer of the Hindu sun god Surya . Both Aruna and Garuda developed from an egg. According to one version related by George Williams, Kashyapa Prajapati's two wives Vinata and Kadru wanted to have children, and Kashyapa granted each of them
4510-405: 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
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4620-409: 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,
4730-410: 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
4840-504: Is literally derived from Sanskrit. India primarily uses Garuda as a martial motif: As an art form Indonesia uses the Garuda in a form called the Garuda Pancasila as its national symbol . The Garuda Pancasila is coloured black or gilded , symbolising both the greatness of the nation and the elang Jawa ( Javan hawk-eagle Nisaetus bartelsi ). The black color represents nature. There are 17 feathers on each wing, 8 on
4950-771: 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 ,
5060-462: Is not carrying Vishnu, he holds a jar of amrita (immortality nectar) in one hand in the rear and an umbrella in the other, while the front pair of hands are in anjali ( namaste ) posture. If he is carrying Vishnu, the rear hands provide the support for Vishnu's feet. According to the text Silparatna , states Rao, Garuda is best depicted with only two hands and with four bands of colours: "golden yellow colour from feet to knees, white from knees to
5170-434: Is opened and the deity passes through it as it is believed that one who enters here will reach Vaikuntha (heaven) after death. The gate is open only during the ten days of Ra Pathu (10 days of the nighttime festival). On the last day of the festival, the poet Nammalvar is said to be given salvation. The performance is enacted by priests and images in the temple depicts Nammalvar as reaching heaven and getting liberation from
5280-592: 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
5390-464: Is saddened by their departure and will wait until they take a turn to their divyadesams. This episode of the Garuda Sevai is known as "Vidaiyaatri Utsavam". The saddened Alvar is taken into the temple by Alvar Thirunagari's deity Polindhu Nindra Piran by showing his beauty. This garuda sevai is to show how Alvar has sung paasurams on each perumal without moving an inch from his Thirupuliyazhwar. All
5500-517: Is shown either alone or with Vishnu, signifying divine approval of the power of the state. He is found on the faces of many early Hindu kingdom coins with this symbolism, either as a single-headed bird or a three-headed bird that watches all sides. Throughout the Mahabharata, Garuda is invoked as a symbol of impetuous violent force, speed, and martial prowess. Powerful warriors advancing rapidly on doomed foes are likened to Garuda swooping down on
5610-409: 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
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#17327984779305720-793: 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
5830-506: The Amrita to the Nagas though, as it would bring great trouble later, so they forged a plan. Upon reaching his brothers Garuda placed the vessel before them, and asked them to first purify themselves before drinking. Meanwhile, Jayanta (the son of Indra) stole the vessel back. On returning, the nagas were all devoured by Garuda. Some myths present Garuda as so massive that he can block out
5940-591: The Buddhist concept of saṃsāra , they are one of the Aṣṭagatyaḥ , the eight classes of inhuman beings. In Buddhist art, they are shown as sitting and listening to the sermons of the Buddha. They are enemies of the Nāgas (snakes) and are sometimes depicted with a serpent held between their claws. Like the Hindu art, both zoomorphic (giant eagle-like bird) and partially anthropomorphic (part bird, part human) iconography
6050-465: 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
6160-614: The Sun . Garuda is mentioned in several other texts such as the Puranas and the Vedas . Garuda is described as the king of the birds and a kite -like figure. He is shown either in a zoomorphic form (a giant bird with partially open wings) or an anthropomorphic form (a man with wings and some ornithic features). Garuda is generally portrayed as a protector with the power to swiftly travel anywhere, ever vigilant and an enemy of every serpent. He
6270-599: 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
6380-753: The atman (Self, deepest level of consciousness). In the Puranas, states Williams, Garuda becomes a literal embodiment of the idea, and the Self who attached to and inseparable from the Supreme Self (Vishnu). Though Garuda is an essential part of the Vaishnavism , he also features prominently in Shaivism , Shaiva texts such as the Garuda Tantra and Kirana Tantra , and Shiva temples as a bird and as
6490-428: The nāga , a race of intelligent serpent- or dragon-like beings, whom they hunt. The Garudas at one time caught the nāgas by seizing them by their heads; but the nāgas learned that by swallowing large stones, they could make themselves too heavy to be carried by the Garudas, wearing them out and killing them from exhaustion. This secret was divulged to one of the Garudas by the ascetic Karambiya, who taught him how to seize
6600-419: The sun . The text Garuda Purana is named after him. Garuda is presented in the Mahabharata as one who eats snake meat, such as the story about him planning to kill and eat Sumukha snake, where Indra intervenes. Garuda in anger, vaunt about his feats and compares himself to Indra's equal. Vishnu teaches a lesson to Garuda and cured his pride on might. Garudas are also a race of birds who devour snakes in
6710-435: 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
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#17327984779306820-481: 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
6930-474: 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
7040-601: The Perumals come to the Holy Tamarind tree to get sung by the Alvar. The Pagal Pathu and Ra Pathu festivals are celebrated in the month of Margazhi (December–January) for twenty days in Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam . The first ten days are referred to as Pagal-Pathu (10-day daytime festival) and the second half as Ra Pathu (10-day nighttime festival). The first day of Ra pathu
7150-535: 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)
7260-463: 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
7370-415: The Vishnu temples of South India daily and also during festivals. According to a traditional account by Manavala Mamunigal, the first three alvars, namely Poigai, Bhoothath and Pey, belong to the Dvapara Yuga (before 4200 BCE). It is widely accepted by tradition and historians that the trio are the earliest among the twelve alvars . The alvars were also instrumental in promoting the Bhagavatha cult and
7480-442: 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
7590-424: The cream of these vedas" into his songs and poetry that were the result of deep mystic experience. Though Nammalvar did not visit any of the 108 divyadesam temples talked about in the Vaishnava religion, it appears from his works he must have had the vision of all the archa forms in the temples he glorified in his hymns. The distinction of Nammalvar with his contemporaries is above the devotional aspects in writing,
7700-506: 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,
7810-579: The cycle of life and death. At that point, a member from the crowd of devotees, who are witnessing this passion play, goes up to the centre stage and requests Vishnu to return Nammalvar to humanity, so that his words and form in the temple will continue to inspire and save the devotees. Following this performance of the salvation of Nammalvar, the cantors are taken in procession around the temple. Tamil language Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia Canada and United States Tamil ( தமிழ் , Tamiḻ , pronounced [t̪amiɻ] )
7920-952: 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
8030-399: 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
8140-647: 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
8250-569: The divinity of this child. It is believed that in the Kali Yuga, the doors of Vaikuntham (The abode Of Vishnu) was opened first time for him by Narayana himself and it is believed that the followers of Swami Nammalvar have the most easy access to the supreme abode. Following his moksha his family entitle as the Subbiah Kumara Pillai by holy Vaishnava acharyas and they serve him and believe him to be Sriman Narayana Tiruvadi. After
8360-552: The epic. The Suparṇākhyāna , a late Vedic period poem considered to be among the "earliest traces of epic poetry in India," relates the legend of Garuda, and provides the basis for a later, expanded version which appears within the Mahābhārata . Garuda's links to Vishnu – the Hindu god who fights injustice and destroys evil in his various avatars to preserve dharma – have made him an iconic symbol of kings' duty and power, an insignia of royalty or dharma. His eagle-like form
8470-632: The festival, through song and dance, this place is affirmed to be Bhoologa Vaikunta (heaven on earth). Araiyar Sevai is a divine colloquium of araiyars , who recite and enact Nalayara Divya Prabanda , the 4000 verses of alvars (Vaishnavite poets of the 7th–10th century). Araiyars are born to the Araiyar tradition most prevalent in Sri Vaishnava families in Srirangam, Alvar Thirunagari and Srivilliputhur . The tradition of Araiyar Sevai
8580-779: The first three alvars , Poigai Alvar , Bhoothath Alvar and Pey Alvar were born miraculously. Thirumalisai Alvar was the son of a sage, Thondaradippodi Alvar , Madhurakavi Alvar , Periyalvar and Andal were from the Brahmin community, Kulashekhara Alvar was a kshatriya , Nammalvar was a Vellala , Thiruppaan Alvar was a paanar and Thirumangai Alvar was a kallar . The Divya Suri Charitra by Garuda-Vahana Pandita (11th century), Guruparamparaprabhavam by Pinbaragiya Perumal Jiyar, Periya tiru mudi adaivu by Anbillai Kandadiappan, Yatindra Pranava Prabavam by Pillai Lokacharya, commentaries on Divya Prabandam , Guru Parampara (lineage of Gurus) texts, temple records and inscriptions give
8690-658: The head of the Buddha's throne. But when a celestial bat (an embodiment of the Aquarius constellation ) flatulates during the Buddha's expounding of the Lotus Sutra , Garuda kills her and is exiled from paradise. He is later reborn as Song dynasty General Yue Fei . The bat is reborn as Lady Wang, wife of the traitor Prime Minister Qin Hui , and is instrumental in formulating the "Eastern Window" plot that leads to Yue's eventual political execution. The Story of Yue Fei plays on
8800-699: 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
8910-432: 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
9020-461: 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
9130-412: The legendary animosity between Garuda and the Nagas when the celestial bird-born Yue Fei defeats a magic serpent who transforms into the unearthly spear he uses throughout his military career. Literary critic C. T. Hsia explains the reason why Qian Cai, the book's author, linked Yue with Garuda is because of the homology in their Chinese names. Yue Fei's courtesy name is Pengju ( 鵬舉 ). A Peng ( 鵬 )
9240-480: The lower tail, 19 on the upper tail and 45 on the neck, which together make up the date 17 August 1945, when Indonesia proclaimed its independence . The shield it carries bears the motto Panca Sila , which symbolises self-defense and protection in struggle. In the northern Peninsular state of Kelantan , the Geroda ( Jawi : ݢرودا ) often appears in stories of Wayang Kulit Kelantan as well as becoming
9350-434: The lowest of the devas . The Garudas have kings and cities, and at least some of them have the magical power of changing into human form when they wish to have dealings with people. On some occasions Garuda kings have had romances with human women in this form. Their dwellings are in groves of the simbalī , or silk-cotton tree . Jataka stories describe them to be residents of Nagadipa or Seruma. The Garuda are enemies to
9460-538: The main motif of Burung Petala Indera boat-chariot made for special royal processions in the early 20th century. Thailand uses the Garuda ( Thai : ครุฑ, khrut ) as its national symbol , known as the Phra Khrut Pha , meaning "Garuda, the vehicle (of Vishnu)," also used as the symbol of royalty. It adorns the banknote of their currency - the Baht - as well. The Electronic Attack Squadron 134 ( VAQ-134 ) of
9570-550: The moment of his birth, sitting under a tamarind tree when he first interacted with Madhurakavi Alvar , who saw a bright light shining to the south, and followed it until he reached the tree where the boy was residing. The works of Nammalvar were compiled by Madhurakavi as four different works, the Tiruvaymoli (1,102 verses), Tiruviruttam (100 verses), Tiruvaciriyam (or Tiru Asiriyam - 7 verses) and Periya Tiruvantati (87 verses). The works of Nammalvar contributed to
9680-506: The most prolific contributor to the 4,000 hymns written by the Alvar poet-saints. These works are: Tiruvaymoli describes Ranganatha as a metaphor for discussing the philosophical details in In the Sri Vaishnava canon, these four represent (in Tamil language) the four Sanskrit vedas, respectively, the Sama Veda , Rig Veda , Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda . According to tradition "He poured
9790-423: 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
9900-522: The navel, scarlet from navel to neck, and black above the neck". His hands, recommends the text, should be in abhaya (nothing to fear) posture. In Sritatvanidhi text, the recommended iconography for Garuda is a kneeling figure, who wears one or more serpents, pointed bird-beak like nose, his two hands in namaste posture. This style is commonly found in Hindu temples dedicated to Vishnu. In some iconography, Garuda carries Vishnu and his two consorts by his side: Lakshmi and Bhumi . Garuda iconography
10010-537: 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
10120-490: The one who dives deep into the ocean of the countless attributes of god. The Alvars are considered the twelve supreme devotees of Vishnu who were instrumental in popularising Vaishnavism. The religious works of these saints in Tamil , songs of love and devotion, are compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham containing 4000 verses and the 108 temples revered in their songs are classified as Divya Desam. The saints had different origins and belonged to different castes. As per history,
10230-399: The partially formed Aruna, looking radiant and reddish as the morning sun, but not as bright as the midday sun as he was promised to be. Aruna chided his mother Vinata for her impatience, and warned her to not break open the second egg, cursing her to be a slave until his brother rescued her. Aruna then left to become the charioteer of Surya, the sun god. Vinata waited, and after many years,
10340-561: The passing of Nammalvar, Madhurakavi Alvar composed 10 pasrams called Kanninin Sirutambu. He gave a word that whoever reads this 11,000 times with devotion will get vision and blessings of Nammalvar whenever they visit his abode at Alvarthirunagari. Nammalvar was one of the twelve alvar poet-saints who immersed themselves in a love of Vishnu and who had a considerable knowledge of ancient Tamil literature and its variants of traditional stories concerning Vishnu and his associates, as well as
10450-753: The philosophical and theological ideas of Vaishnavism. The Garudasevai festival in Nava Tirupati , the nine Vishnu temples in the Thoothukudi region, and the Araiyar Sevai during the Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival of the Srirangam temple are dedicated to him. The verses of Nammalvar and other Alvars are recited as a part of daily prayers and during festive occasions in several Vaishnava temples in Tamil Nadu. The word alvar means
10560-489: The philosophical differences between Buddhism , Hinduism and Jainism . Madhurakavi Alvar was his first disciple. Swami Madhurakavi Alvar composed 11 pasurams in praise of his Acharya, Swami Nammalvar known as Kanninun Siruthambu , which are included among the Nalayira Divya Prabandham . He contributed four pieces of works to Divya Prabhandham . These works consisted of 1,296 poems, making him
10670-535: The second egg hatched and Garuda was born. After losing a bet to Kadru through trickery, Vinata was forced to become her slave. Garuda later asked his brothers to free his mother from her slavery, to which they demanded Amrita from heaven. Garuda waged a war against gods with his extraordinary might and abilities, and defeated all of them, including Indra . He then took Indra's nectar vessel and flew back to earth. Vishnu then came to Garuda, and asked him to be his ride, to which he agreed. Indra requested that Garuda not give
10780-507: The small is born in a dead's body (or stomach), what will it eat and where will it stay?" meaning, if the subtle soul is embodied in the gross body, what are its actions and thoughts? Nammalvar broke his lifelong silence and responded, "That it will eat, it will rest!" meaning that if the soul identifies with the body, it will be the body but if it serves the divine, it will stay in Vaikuntha and eat (think) of God. Madhurakavi Alvar realized
10890-470: 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
11000-741: The twelve alvars and his contributions amount to 1352 among the 4000 stanzas in the Nalayira Divya Prabandam . The Garuda Sevai utsavam (festival) in the month of Vaikasi (May-Jun) witnesses nine Garudasevai , an event in which festival image deities from the nava tirupathis temples namely, Mayakoothar Temple , Makara Nedunkuzhai Kannan Temple , Rettai Tirupathi - South Temple , Rettai Tirupathi North Temple , Vaithamanidhi Perumal Temple , Adhinaatha Perumal Temple - Thirukkurugur , Kaaisinavendhan Temple , Vijayaasana Perumal Temple , Sri Vaikuntanatha (Kallapiran) Temple are brought on Garuda vahana . The festival image of Nammalvar
11110-548: The two epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata . The alvars were instrumental in spreading Vaishnavism throughout the region. The verses of the various alvars were compiled by Nathamuni (824-924 CE), a 10th-century Vaishnava theologian, who called it the "Tamil Veda". According to traditional scriptures, Nammalvar was born on the 43rd Kali in 3059 BCE as an amsha of Vishvaksena , Vishnu's army commander. He
11220-416: The visualization and dramatic movement. He mentions Vishnu in various aspects frequently in all his verses. The poems of Tiruvirrutam are depicted fully between the lone context of the hero and heroine. Most of these are utterances of the hero, heroine, her friends to the heroine or her mother to the heroine. The heroine always perceives her hero, Vishnu everywhere around her. As per Varadachari, Tiruviruttam
11330-526: 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
11440-534: 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,
11550-586: Was born at Thirukurukur (modern day Alwarthirunagiri ) in the southernmost region of the Tamil country. Many sources regard him to have been born to a princely Vellalar family of Shudra status (To prove world that "caste is not based on birth and it is based on action"). Some caste associations claim him to be a Vaishya , like the All India Vaishya Samaj in 1988. P. Jayaraman in his book "A Brief History of Vaishnava Saint Poets: The Alwars" where he mentions that Nammalwar belongs to Vellalar ,
11660-600: 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
11770-540: 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
11880-468: Was started by Nathamuni , a 10th-century Vaishnavite who compiled the works of alvars . It is believed as per Hindu mythology that 330 million demi-gods came down to witness the event. The festival deity is brought to the 1,000-pillared hall on the morning of Vaikunta Ekadashi through the Paramapada Vasal (gate to paradise). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims rush to enter it after the gate
11990-504: 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
12100-451: 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
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