Devaneya Pavanar

Devaneya Pavanar
'மொழி ஞாயிறு ஞா. தேவநேயப் பாவாணர் "Sun of Language, Ña. Tevaneyan Pavanar" 'மொழி ஞாயிறு ஞா. தேவநேயப் பாவாணர் "Sun of Language, Ña. Tevaneyan Pavanar"
Occupation	Author, Tamil Activist, Dravidologist, Etymologist

Devaneya Pavanar (ஞா. தேவநேயப் பாவாணர்; [ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Ñānamuttaṉ Tēvanēya Pāvāṇar (help); also known as G. Devaneyan, Ñanamuttan Tevaneyan; lived 1902–1981), was a prominent Indian Tamil author. He wrote over 35 books.

In his 1966 Primary Classical language of the World he makes some extraordinary claims - for example he argued that the Tamil language is the "most natural" ([ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: iyal-moḻi (help)) and also a proto-world language, being the oldest ([ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: tol-moḻi (help)) language of the world, from which all other major languages of the world are derived. He believed that its literature, later called Sangam literature and usually considered to have been written from 200 BCE and 300 CE, spanned a huge period from 10,000 to 5,500 BC. He was also a staunch proponent of the "Pure Tamil movement" and initiated the Etymological Dictionary Project primarily to bring out the roots of Tamil words and their connections and ramifications.

Devaneya Pavanar composed many musical pieces (Isaik kalambakam) and many noteworthy poems, including the collection of Venpa. The title [ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Senthamiḻ Selvar (help) was conferred on him by the Tamil Nadu State Government in 1979, and he was also addressed as [ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Moḻi Ñayiru (help) (மொழி ஞாயிறு) "Sun of language".

Biography

Gnanamuthu Devaneyan Pavanar was born on 7 February 1902 in Sankaranayinar Koil, Tamil Nadu to his parents Thiru.Gnanamuthu Devendrar and Paripuranam Ammaiyar. He was educated in the C.M.J. High School, Palayankottai, S.S.L.C. (1916-1918) and trained as a teacher in Madras University. He married in 1930 and had four sons and one daughter, the daughter being the fourth child.

He worked as a Tamil teacher in several High Schools, 1922-1944. During this time, he pursued autodidactic studies of Dravidian philology and comparative linguistics.

He was Tamil professor at Municipal College, Salem, 1944-1956. From 1956-1961, he was Reader in Dravidian Philology at Annamalai University. He was a member of the Tamil Development and Research Council, set up by the Nehru government in 1959, entrusted with producing Tamil school and college textbooks. From 1974, he was director of the Tamil Etymological Project, and he acted as president of the International Tamil League, Tamilnadu. (U.Tha. Ka.)

Views on Tamil versus Sanskrit

Main article: The Primary Classical Language of the World

"Lemuria" according to Pavanar, connecting Madagascar, South India and Australia (covering most of the Indian Ocean). Mount Meru stretches southwards from Sri Lanka.

Pavanar's Vadamoli Varalaru argues that hundreds of Sanskrit words can be traced to a Tamil origin, and at the same time he insisted that pure Tamil equivalents existed for Sanskrit loan words. He claimed that Tamil is a "superior and more divine" language than Sanskrit. In his view the Tamil language originated in "Lemuria" (இலெமூரியா [ta] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: Ilemūriyā (help)), the cradle of civilization and place of origin of language. He believed that evidence of Tamil's antiquity was being suppressed by Sanskritists.

Pavanar's timeline for the evolution of mankind and Tamil is as follows:

• ca. 500,000 BC: origin of the human race,
• ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or Homo Dravida",
• ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC, beginnings of Tamil
• ca. 100,000 to 50,000 BC, growth and development of Tamil,
• 50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
• 20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture on Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
• 16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
• 6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
• 3031 BC: A Chera prince wandering in the Solomon Islands saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Tamilnadu.
• 1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
• 7th century BC: Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar

In the preface to his 1966 book The Primary Classical Language of the World he wrote:

There is no other language in the whole world as Tamil, that has suffered so much damage by natural and human agencies, and has been done so much injustice by malignant foreigners and native dupes.

The general belief that all arts and sciences are progressively advancing with the passage of time, is falsified in the case of philology, owing to the fundamental blunder of locating the original home of the Tamilians in the Mediterranean region, and taking Sanskrit, a post-Vedic semi-artificial composite literary dialect, the Indian Esperanto, so to speak, for the prototype of the Indo-European Form of Speech.

Westerners do not know as yet, that Tamil is a highly developed classical language of Lemurian origin, and has been, and is being still, suppressed by a systematic and co-ordinated effort by the Sanskritists both in the public and private sectors, ever since the Vedic mendicants migrated to the South, and taking utmost advantage of their superior complexion and the primitive credulity of the ancient Tamil kings, posed themselves as earthly gods (Bhu-suras) and deluded the Tamilians into the belief, that their ancestral language or literary dialect was divine or celestial in origin.

In a chapter entitled Tamil more divine than Sanskrit, Pavanar gives the reasons why he judges Tamil to be "more divine" than Sanskrit, arguing for "Primary Classicality of Tamil".

Reception

Poet Bharathidasan hails Devaneya Pavanar as the "King of all Tamils" (எந்தமிழர் எல்லார்க்கும் வேந்து).

The Cultural Heritage of India; vol. V: Languages and literature, p. 641 (ed. Chatterji, The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture, 1978) states that "but for his (Pavanar's) efforts the purity and antiquity of Tamil might have been a myth."

The Central Plan Scheme for Classical Tamil of the Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil recommends

"To publish the translated but not yet published Sattambi Swamigal's Adhibhasa which seeks to establish that Tamil is the most ancient language. When published, it will provide an impetus to Pavanar's findings"

The literary works and books of Pavanar have been "nationalised" by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the course of the "Golden Jubilee year of National Independence" (2006). This means that the copyright for Pavanar's work is now owned by the state of Tamil Nadu, his legal heirs having been compensated financially.

G. Elavazhagan of Tamilman Patippakam has brought out all the works of Pavanar for his centenary celebrations, 2000-2001.

M. Tamil Kudimagan, Ex-Minister for Tamil Development, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Madurai, in the preface to the 2001 reprint of Primary Classical Language of the World writes that "We are the followers of Pavanar and we are implementing the ideals of Pavanar in all walks of life".

In the foreword to the same volume, Pavanar's assistant and disciple R. Madhivanan claims that

Prof. Hakola (Finland), Prof. Levitt, M.B. Emeneau (U.S.A.,) and T. Burrow (UK,) approved Pavaner as an etymologists of great repute. The great Tamil scholar Maraimalai Adigal glorified 'In the study of words Pavanar's work is unique and he is unrivalled unmatched'.

and continues into a eulogy to the effect that

It was a matter of surprise when the scientists came forward to split the atom. Now it has become still a matter of much more surprise when Pavanar came forward to split the root of words till the origin of human speech. [...] His Primary Classical Language of the World is an eyeopener for the linguists regarding the mother tongue of man.

No reviews of Pavanar's linguistic works in mainstream academia are known. He does however figure in works on language activism and national mysticism (Ramaswamy 1997, 2004) and of Indian nationalism (Kaiwar et al. 2003).

Awards and honours

• A Silver plate presented to him by the Tamil Peravai, Salem in 1955 in appreciation of his service to Tamil.
• A Copper Plate presented to his by the Governor of Tamil Nadu 1960 in appreciation of his contribution to the collection of administrative terms in Tamil.
• A Silver Plate presented to his by the South Indian Saiva Sinddhanta Works Publishing Society, Thirunelveli Ltd., in 1970 in appreciations of his research work in Tamil philology and etymology.
• Official centenary celebrations of Pavanar were held at Sankarankoil (5 February 2002) and Gomathimuthupuram (6 February) of Tirunelveli district and at Chennai (8. February), attended by the Minister for Education and the Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam.
• In February 2006, a commemorative stamp of Devaneya Pavanar was released by the Postal Department in Chennai.
• In October 2007, a memorial was installed at Madurai by the Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of Devaneya Pavanar.

Bibliography

English

• The Primary Classical Language of the World, Katpadi Estension, North Arcot Dt., Mukkudal (Nesamani Publishing House), Paari Nilayam, Madras (1966), reprint Chennai : G. Elavazhagan, 2001.
• The language problem of Tamil Nad & its logical solution, Mani, Katpadi Extension, North Arcot Dt. [1967]
• An Epitome of the Lemurian Language and its ramifications (cyclostyled booklet, 1980)

Tamil

• [Kaṭṭurai varaiviyal., Tirucci : Śrī Nilaiyam Accukkūṭam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1940.
• [Cuṭṭu viḷakkam, allatu, Aṭippaṭai vērccol aintu., Tirucci : Impīriyal Piras] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1943.
• [Tirāviṭattāy] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help) = The mother of the Dravidian languages, [Cen̲n̲ai : Purōkireciv Accukkūṭam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1944.
• [[[Tolkāppiyam]] el̲uttatikāram, Cen̲n̲ai : Tirunelvēli Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta, Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1950.
• [Mutal tāymol̲i, allatu, Tamil̲ākka viḷakkam, Cen̲n̲ai : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1953.
• [Mutal tāymol̲i allatu Tamil̲ākka viḷakkam, Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1962.
• [Tolkāppiyam : naccin̲ārkkin̲iyar urai., Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuka Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1962-67 [v.1, 1966]
• [Collārāyccik kaṭṭuraikaḷ, Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippak Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1964.
• [Tiraviṭat tāy, Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1964.
• [Kaṭṭurai varaiviyal, en̲n̲um, Iṭaittarak kaṭṭurai ilakkaṇam, Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1965.
• [Icaittamil̲k kalampakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help) (Printed music), [Cen̲n̲ai, Tiru murukan̲ accakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1965-
• [Tolkāppiyam : el̲utatikāram, Tirunelvēli : Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1966.
• [Paṇṭait Tamil̲a nākarikamum paṇpāṭum, Kāṭṭuppāṭi Virivu, Tamil̲nāṭu, Intiyā : Nēcamaṇi Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1966.
• [Vaṭamol̲i varalār̲u, Kāṭṭuppāṭi Virivu : Va. Ā. Māvaṭṭam, Nēcamaṇi Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1967.
• [Tamil̲ varalār̲u, Kāṭṭuppāṭivirivu : Va. Ā. Māvaṭṭam, Nēcamaṇi Patippakam : [kiṭaikkum iṭam, Tirunelvēlit Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam, Cen̲n̲ai] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1967.
• [Intiyāl Tamil̲ evvār̲u keṭum?, Cen̲n̲ai : Ip Pottakam Kiṭaikkum Iṭam, Caiva Cittānta Nūr̲ Patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1968
• [Vaṇṇan̲ai mol̲inūlin̲ val̲uviyal, Cen̲n̲ai : Ip Pottakam Kiṭaikkum Iṭam Caivacittānta Nur̲patippuk Kal̲aka] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1968/9
• [Tirukkur̲aḷ Tamil̲ marapurai, Kāṭṭuppāṭi Virivu : Nēcamaṇi Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), [1969]
• [Vērccor̲ kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help) ("etymological essays"), [Cen̲n̲ai : Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittanta Nūr̲patippuk Kaḷakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1973.
• [Maṇṇil viṇ : allatu, Vaḷḷuvar kūṭṭūtamai, Kāṭṭuppāṭi Virivu, Va. Ā. Māvaṭṭam : Nēcamaṇi Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1978.

posthumously:

• [Nāṅkaḷ kāṇum Pāvāṇar : Mol̲iñāyir̲u Pāvāṇar avarkaḷin̲ mutalām nin̲aivu nāḷ veḷiyīṭu., Neyvēli, Tamil̲nāṭu : Pāvāṇar Tamil̲k Kuṭumpam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1982.
• [Pāvāṇar kaṭitaṅkaḷ, Cen̲n̲ai : Tirunelvēli Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūr̲patippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1985.
• [Centamil̲c cor̲pir̲appiyal pērakaramutali, Cen̲n̲ai : Centamil̲c Cor̲pir̲appiyal Akara Mutalit Tiṭṭa Iyakkaka Veḷīyīṭu] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1985-2005
• [Pal̲antamil̲āṭci, Cen̲n̲ai : Tirunelvēli Ten̲n̲intiya Caivacittānta Nūrpatippuk Kal̲akam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1991.
• [Pal̲antamil̲ar araciyal koṭpāṭukaḷ, Cen̲n̲ai : Maṇivācakar Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 1999.
• [Pāvāṇar mukavuraikaḷ, Tañcāvūr : Tamil̲mati Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
• [Tamil̲maṇ Patippakam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help) centenary edition:
  • [Uyartarak kaṭṭurai ilakkaṇam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Tamil̲ar matam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Tamil̲nāṭṭu viḷaiyāṭṭukaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Centamil̲k kāñci] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Mutar̲r̲āy mol̲i] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Tamil̲ar tirumaṇam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Iyar̲r̲amil̲ ilakkaṇam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Tamil̲ilakkiya varalār̲u] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2000.
  • [Oppiyan̲ mol̲inūl, Cen̲n̲ai] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help) ("comparative linguistics"), 2000-<2001 >
  • [Mol̲iyārāyccik kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Kaṭṭuraik kacaṭar̲ai, en̲n̲um, Viyāca viḷakkam] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Mar̲uppurai māṇpu] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Ilakkaṇak kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Pāvāṇar nōkkil perumakkaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Ten̲cor̲ kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Talaimait Tamil̲ : Tamil̲in̲ talaimaiyay nilaināṭṭum cor̲kaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Ilakkaṇak kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Ten̲cor̲ kaṭṭuraikaḷ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.
  • [Mar̲uppurai māṇpu] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help), 2001.

References

• Iravatham Mahadevan, Aryan or Dravidian or Neither? A Study of Recent Attempts to Decipher the Indus Script (1995-2000) EJVS (ISSN 1084-7561) vol. 8 (2002) issue 1 (March 8).[1]
• Vasant Kaiwar, Sucheta Mazumdar, Robin Nelson, Antinomies of Modernity: Essays on Race, Orient, Nation (2003), p. 141.
• P. Ramanathan (trans.), Nostratics - The Light From Tamil According to Devaneyan (1977-80 studies of G. Devaneyan on the spread in different Language families of the world of derivatives from 22 basic Tamil words), Chennai: The Tirunelveli South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society Ltd., 2004.
• Sumathi Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970, Studies on the History of Society and Culture , No 29, University of California Press (1997), ISBN 978-0520208056.
• Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories University of California Press (2004), ISBN 978-0520244405.
• Mu Tamilkkutimakan , Pavanarum tanittamilum, Moli ñayiru Tevaneyap Pavanar Arakkattalaic Corpolivu (On linguistics and historical philosophy of Ñā. Tēvanēyaṉ), International Institute of Tamil Studies, Ulakat Tamilaraycci Niruvanam (1985).
• Sahitya Akademi, Tevaneyap Pavanar, Cakittiya Akkatemi, 2002, ISBN 9788126014996.

See also

• Kumari Kandam
• Maraimalai Adigal
• Pure Tamil movement
• Anti-Hindi agitations
• Indigenous Aryans
• Paleolithic Continuity Theory
• Divine language
• Nationalism and ancient history

External links

• Devaneya Pavanar (tamilnation.org)
• The Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil (CECT), Government of India
• Movement for Linguistic Purism: The case of Tamil
• publications (worldcatlibraries.org)