Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world, that dates back nearly 2500 years ago — and Tamilians globally take immense pride in acknowledging it.
Sivakumar
While Tamil scriptures and literature are renowned for their content, there still exists a lingering feeling that the language hasn’t gotten its due credit in the international arena. Now, to put Tamil on the global platform, two doctors from Dallas — KV Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam — proposed to the 380-year-old Harvard University to set up a professorship exclusively for Tamil!
Naushad Ali
Thanks to Harvard, the proposal to set up a Sangam Tamil Chair in the Department of South Asian Studies has been accepted, with the focus being on Tamil Sangam literature and all Tamil literature influenced by it. The prestigious university also gave a timeline of one year to collect six million dollars (approx Rs 36 crores) to set up the Sangam Tamil Chair.
Actor Kamal Haasan supporting the cause.
TA Vetriselvan, a finance RMM, who is the global coordinator for Harvard Tamil Chair, reveals, “Dr Thirugnanasambandam and Dr Janakiraman contributed half a million dollars each for starters. So far, we have collected nearly three million dollars! I’ve been with the Tamil Chair since its inception and what started as a campaign in Dallas has now expanded to 30 countries. We are targeting Harvard University because it would give the language global recognition and it would pave way for more research about different civilisations,” shares Vetri.
Vetri with co-founder Dr Thirugnanasambandam and Founder Dr. K.V. Janakiraman.
Tamil is one of the seven classical languages in the world including Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Arabic. While the six other languages have a professorship at Harvard, Tamil is the only language that has been left out. Praveena Varadharajan, an IT professional, who is a volunteer for the organisation says, “Tamil language satisfies all the 11 criteria to get a place at Harvard. If people want to boast about giving it back to the language, they should probably donate in setting up the Tamil Chair. Of the 80 million Tamil speaking people in the globe, each one of them can contribute '100 to achieve the target. Even Sanskrit, which is not widely spoken, has a department at the university. We don’t have a clue about how we missed out enrolling our language.”
Vetri also shares some unknown aspects of Tamil literature — “Women equality and empowerment are considered progressive in today’s scenario. But, the truth is that we have practiced it 2000 years ago, and there is evidence for the same. Out of 400 siddhars, over 40 were women and they were given equal importance in work and other areas too. Tamil is not just a language, but a way of life.”
We have practiced sustainable living thousands of years ago, but now, we are going back to it again. If a Tamil Chair is set up, we can do more research in archaeology, astronomy, epigraphy, etc., which will help us in the long run,” Vetri explains.
Praveena adds that many of the Tamil speaking people questioned them for choosing Harvard instead of any Indian university. “If such a research is being carried out in India, very few people would recognise it. However, if the same research is carried out at Harvard, it gives us more credibility. We have to admit that there are better infrastructure and resources at the university.”
Vetri further added the research will help us learn about the culture. “Back in those days, it was more about king and queen and the concept of God was later introduced to us. As we evolved, religion came into existence and now we are heading towards a superstitious society. We can understand history better and practice it,” quips Vetri.
Naushad Ali, a volunteer in Australia asserts, “We are getting a lot of support from celebrities Kamal Haasan, Suriya, GV Prakash, Sivakumar and S Ve Shekher. With the Hindi imposition and other issues, it is the right time to set up a professorship at the Harvard which will speak for itself. We are planning to conduct concerts and get various Tamil associations to actively participate for the cause.”
Visit http://harvardtamilchair.org/donate to donate for the cause
