Devaneya Pavanar

Devaneya Pavanar (ஞா. தேவநேயப் பாவாணர்; ; also known as G. Devaneyan, Ñanamuttan Tevaneyan; lived 1902–1981), was a prominent 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" and also a proto-world language, being the oldest 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 was conferred on him by the Tamil Nadu State Government in 1979, and he was also addressed as (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

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 ), 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".

Tamil During Vedic Period

Pavanar, in his book Vadamozhi Varalaru-II

gives information about the Tamil land and its language found in the vedic texts. They are:- 1)A chera vendhan Maveli is mentioned in kural thottraravu(vamana avadharam) story. 2)Sathiya Viradhan, a Tamil King (thravida padhi) is mentioned in meena thotraravu(macchavadharam) story. 3)Parasuram performing Thavam in chera naadu. 4)Naradhar and Agathiya muni came south to learn Tamil and write literatures in it.

And much more stating the acientness and superiority of Tamil Language is mentioned.

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 Devaneya Pavanar Stamp.jpg of Devaneya Pavana 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
, 1940.
, 1943.
= The mother of the Dravidian languages, , 1944.
, 1950.
, 1953.
, 1962.
, 1962-67 [v.1, 1966]
, 1964.
, 1964.
, 1965.
(Printed music), , 1965-
, 1966.
, 1966.
, 1967.
, 1967.
, 1968
, 1968/9
, [1969]
("etymological essays"), , 1973.
, 1978.

posthumously:

, 1982.
, 1985.
, 1985-2005
, 1991.
, 1999.
, 2001.
centenary edition:

, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
, 2000.
("comparative linguistics"), 2000-<2001 >
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 2001.
, 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).
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.