The study of the ancient Indian texts:

Probable pitfalls in the western based rationalist approach

   

The study of the ancient Indian texts by western scholars as well as the Indian scholars following the western approaches, may lead to many kinds of pitfalls. For example, the pitfalls that led the famous American scholar Sheldoon Pollock to err on his observation with respect to Tamil literature were found in his book  ‘The Language of the Gods in the World of Men – Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Premodern India’. For example, he had stated that “ While Tolkappiam is often dated to the early centuries of the first millennium, one sober assessment places it a few centuries before the appearance of its first commentary in the thirteenth century “ (Page 300 n39) 

 

Why no TN Tamil scholars ( including reputed Tamil scholar Maraimalai Ilakkuvanar, whom I still respect, or foreign scholars like George Hart, a friend of Maraimalai Ilakkuvanar) did not challenge the MOST DAMAGING views on Tamil language , by WORLD FAMOUS Indologist Sheldon Pollock? Is it because Pollock  has" far more weapons (practically all of the Western press and a good bit of the Indian press plus literary events and other powers)" , as pointed out by Mr.Rajiv Malhotra? ('DECODING ANCIENT TAMIL TEXTS – THE PITFALLS IN THE STUDY & TRANSLATION'; https://www.amazon.com/DECODING-ANCIENT-TAMIL-TEXTS-TRANSLATION-ebook/dp/B07T8QV6RT) 

 

Also though I had pointed out with evidences, how his views on Tamil were wrong. Pollock did not reply to me. Interestingly his admirers like the famous anti-Hindutva Indian writer Ramachandra Guha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramachandra_Guha ), on receiving the copy of my letter to Pollock, replied to me, seeking if Pollock had replied to me. Note that Pollock's most damaging comments on Tamil, unless reversed, will be treated as 'gospel truth', by  worldwide research scholars & writers , interested in Tamil. It will be sad if all the pro-Tamil groups were  under the control of " all of the Western press and a good bit of the Indian press plus literary events and other powers", as their  'Silence' to the most damaging comments on Tamil  by Pollock,  suggested. 

I am very much familiar with such pitfalls, as I was once associated with Periyar Movement in Tamilnadu, prior to my entry into the inter-disciplinary research involving Music, Physics, Computer and ancient Tamil texts.  

 

Mostly based on the western based rationalist approach, late Periyar EVR declared that Tamil language; heritage and culture were anti-Tamils and deserved to be burnt. I had concurred with him and started propagating them. It was a kind of mechanical rationalist approach. Without objective evidences, that approach will reject any stand, unaware of the limitations of such approaches. For example, the practice of using neem leaves as remedy for some kinds of sickness, by the villagers was considered as ‘superstition’, till evidences in the researches undertaken in the western countries proved the medicinal value of all neem products.   Human intelligence must be aware of its limitations while looking for ‘evidences’ related to the topics of interest. 

 

Applying 'Physics of Music' to the ancient Tamil texts, I made discoveries proving the value of the ancient Tamil texts in contradiction to the view  of Periyar EVR. 

 

Also I found that the ‘Linear – one dimensional- mechanical rationalist’ approach might lead to unforeseen pitfalls in the study of the ancient Indian texts, which were multidimensional in their content. 

 

For example, consider the following story in ‘vAyu purANa’

" Jayanta : -  son of Indra -  born to Indra by his wife Sacidevi (M.B. Adi Parva chap 112, Stanza 3 and 4).Once Agasthya  came in Indra`s durbar. Indra arranged for the dance of Urvasi in honour of Agastya`s visit.  In the midst of the dance, Urvasi saw Jayanta before her and she fell in love with him.  Consequently her steps went out of beat.  Narada who was playing his lute called Mahati went wrong.  Agastya got  angry and cursed Jayanta and changed him into a bamboo.  Urvasi was cursed to become a woman with the name of Madhavi.  Agastya cursed Narada that his lute Mahati would become the lute of the people of the world ".  (Vayu Purana 5)                      Puranic  Encyclopaedio -- VETTAM MANI  - Motilal Banarsidoss--1979   Patna)

Its story value is one dimension. Interestingly this story had another dimension revealing a valuable music related details. That proved to be a research lead, to my discovery of the ‘Musical Linguistics’ in the ancient texts including tholKappiam.  Let me brief those interesting details.

The same story was also found in the lines of the ancient Tamil text Cilappathikaram சிலப்பதிகாரம்.

Cilappathikaram, a great Tamil Classic, has a rich wealth of information on music and dance.  The famous curse of Jayanta, son of God Indra, found in Cilappathikaram,  was related to music and dance.  References to this curse are found in the following chapters of Cilappathikaram.

 
  அரங்கேற்று காதை         Arankentru Kadai           lines 1-3 

  அரங்கேற்று காதை         Arankentru Kadai           lines  119-120 

  கடலாடு காதை               Kadaladu Kathai           lines   18-25 

  நடுகற் காதை                 Nadukar Kathai             lines   100-101

The details of the curse are given in the commentary for the lines in Kadaladu Kathai.  Surprisingly the details match with those provided in Vayu Puranam as revealed in Puranic Encyclopaedia. This third dimension related to the comparison of Cilappathikaram in Tamil with Vayu Puranam in Sanskrit, could be pursued by the interested scholars.

At my end, I pursued the second dimension of the valuable music related details.

During the period of Cilappathikaram, ` Thalai Kol' -   தலைக்கோல்  -(Supreme Stick)  representing Jayanta,  resulting from the curse of Agastya in the above mentioned story, apart from providing the shape for the award of excellence in dancing, guided dance by balancing Swara Music and Tala Music. Unlike the present day `Thattu Kazhi'  ( stick used to guide dancing steps while learning dance)  used by Nattuvanars (dance teachers)  only for dance practicing sessions, Thalai Kol had a dominating presence in dance during those times. In fact it was the ‘caman cythu cIr thUkkum kOl’ - சமன் செய்து சீர் தூக்கும் கோல் -  referred in ancient Tamil text thirukkuRaL –திருக்குறள் -118. http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2448

Further researches revealed that the two kinds of syllables in Tamil – nhEr acai நேர் அசை  & nhirai acai    நிரை அசை – were related to the percussion beats structure , apart from combining to form a kind of phrase called cIr சீர் having the details of the musical scale and other musical unique aspects. The above balancing of both the percussion arts and the music, guided the dancing. That, in turn, led to the discovery of the grammar governing the relation of the letter’s sound with the music in a song.(http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2445) Its application to the ancient Tamil grammar text 'tholkAppiam' led to the discovery of the Musical Linguistics, a new field with great potential to develop computer based application software involving Natural Language Processing. ( refer: http://musictholkappiam.blogspot.in/ )

When I contrasted the above research findings with the speeches I heard during my association with the Periyar Movement, I realized that how puranas could become a source of vulgar stories in Linear – one dimensional- mechanical rationalist’ western approaches. Like the import of classical/folk divisions in the study of the ancient Indian texts, sex related obscene searching approach may also prove to be a mischievous western import; an example for the 'misuse' of the western paradigm to study the ancient Indian texts.

 
From the above discussion, it is clear that the ancient texts in ancient Indian languages have multidimensional treasures which will remain hidden in Linear – one dimensional- mechanical rationalist’ western approaches. The same text might offer valuable evidence, after acquiring new knowledge/skill in a new field of study. Hence the ancient Indian texts are multidimensional treasures.

In a previous post ‘இசையில் ' தீண்டாமை' காலனியத்தின் ‘நன்கொடை’யா?’ - Was untouchability in Music, a colonial import? ' (http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.in/2013/11/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_13.html), I had explained, based on the evidences in the ancient Tamil texts, that the concept of ‘untouchability’, superiority/inferiority in music was a western import. I shall not be surprised if the same finding extended to the practice of ‘untouchability’, superiority/inferiority at the social level. I am yet to come across evidences for their presence, prior to the colony rule in Tamilnadu. Ignoring the heterogeneous dimensions of the Indian society, and the reliable evidences on the nature of the society, prior to the colonial intervention,   it will be difficult to meet the challenges of the researches undertaken following ‘linear – one dimensional- mechanical rationalist’ western approaches.

Note:'புராணங்களில் உள்ள 'சிக்னல்கள்';  http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.sg/2013/11/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html