Thus Spake the Divine - Culture and Glory of Tamil Nadu

Thus Spake the Divine

Culture and Glory of Tamil Nadu

In this chapter, Maha Periyava brings out the glory of Tamil Nadu in being closely associated with the Vedic culture. He also talks about how people of Tamil Nadu have been accommodative of different cultures and languages.

More than half the temples in the world are in India. More than half of them are in Tamil Nadu. Most of the scriptures and spiritual manuscripts available in the world belong to India. More than half of them belong to Tamil Nadu. Thus, it is a matter of great pride that most of the Shastras now available to the world have been excavated from the banks of Cauveri running in Kumbakonam area of Tamil Nadu.

There is something unique about Tamil Nadu. Generally, when people of different cultures migrate to a region, which has a unique culture and a different language, they gradually absorb the new culture and the new language and totally disown their own language and culture. They also start following the culture and civilisation of the new region. This can be proved when we look at the history of various countries in the world.

Nowadays, Tamil people are migrating to northern parts of India on account of their jobs. Many Tamil Brahmins have also moved to North. You must be seeing the surname “Dravid” among some North Indians. They are the descendants of migrants from Tamil Nadu. But the northern “Dravids” do not know even the basic Tamil language. This is an example of how people living in a region for a longer period of time tend to forget even their own mother tongue.

Tamil-speaking people are proficient in easily absorbing other languages. Some of the Tamils speak English better than even the English. Other Tamils speak better Hindi than the Hindi-speaking population. A Tamil can easily and effortlessly familiarise himself with various cultural forms commencing from Ballroom dance and ending with Hindustani music. This is a matter that deserves great appreciation as also condemnation. We can appreciate the Tamil man for his openness in welcoming and adapting himself easily to other cultures. But we can condemn him on grounds that he adapts all these not for self and inner growth, but for worldly pleasures and false prestige.

Tamil language and culture are unique to this region. They are age-old and long-established and possess life potential (jeeva shakti). When we see people absorbing new cultures, which are not so old, then, the Tamil culture that is age-old and traditional should have been absorbed by migrants from other regions to Tamil Nadu, isn’t it? But the reality is different.

In Tamil Nadu, there are people from different states viz. Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Sowrashtra etc., who have been living here for several generations. But they speak their own language and follow their own culture. From days immemorial, Tamil Nadu has accommodated people from different states and allowed them to settle as per their own culture and language.

Tamil Nadu acts as a refrigerator in which all languages and cultures can be kept fresh and safe. Like a fruit is kept protected in fridge, literary works of other states have also been protected well in Tamil Nadu. For example, Telugu verses (Keerthanas) of Thyagarajar, the saint-poet, were born only in the land of Tamils and, surprisingly, not in Andhra, the Telugu-speaking state. Similarly, many other philosophies and manuscripts of other languages emerged in Tamil Nadu. The unique characteristic of people of Tamil Nadu is that they embrace other cultures and languages without thrusting their own culture and language on others.

It is Tamil Nadu, which has been the home of Vedas from times immemorial. Bhagavatham, one of Hinduism’s 18 great Puranas that promotes bhakti to Krishna by integrating themes from the Advaita philosophy of Adi Shankara, says that the first and foremost descendant of mankind, Manu, is said to have lived on the banks of Vaigai river of Madurai. The Alwars, Nayanmars, Pattinathar, Thayumanavar, Tiruvalluvar, Sanga Pulavar – all saints and poets, have written about the glory of Vedas in their own works.

There are inscriptions, which are witness to patronage extended by Chola, Chera and Pandya kings to schools of Veda by way of free lands and other resources. Christian poet Sri Vedanayagampillai of the 20 th Century has proudly said that in Tamil Nadu, apart from Churches (Devalayam), there are also many schools of Veda (Brahmalayam) in large numbers. Mahakavi Bharati sings that Tamil Nadu is filled with the knowledge of Vedas.

Though Tamil Nadu is full of multifarious arts along with Veda Dharma, it also has atheists and non-believers. But every similar occasion in history is also witness to its people consciously strengthening their religious belief with bhakti. This is the reason why Vedas sparkle with double their glory in Tamil Nadu.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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