04-16-2008, 06:33 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Lankan Tamils reject Karunanidhiâs diktat on Tamil New Year
Tuesday April 15 2008 11:26 IST
P K Balachandran
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Tamils, who are known for their orthodoxy, have summarily rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhiâs bid to change the Tamil New Year from Chittirai Thirunaal (April 13) to Thai Pongal (January 14), saying it is unwarranted on astronomical, historical and cultural grounds.
Pro-Tamil Tiger commentators as well as Tamil moderates in the island feel that the change brought about through a resolution of the Tamil Nadu state assembly in February, does not have a justifiable basis even from Karunanidhiâs Tamil nationalist standpoint.
âI have not come across anywhere that Thai Pongal was considered to be the beginning of a New Year,â said Prof. S Pathmanathan, a renowned Sri Lankan Tamil historian and a former head of the history department in Peradeniya University at Kandy.
âIn the Sangam era literature, there is no mention of the New Year. Sangam literature was secular and dealt with matters other than the religious. The question of the New Year is essentially a religious one, and politicians should not interfere,â he told this website's newspaper.
Pathmanathan, who has written seminal works on Hindu temples in Sri Lanka and the history of the Jaffna kingdom, said the Tamil New Year was an integral part of Tamil Hinduism and had been part of the Hindu ritual calendar for over a thousand years.
âFrom the time of the indigenous Tamil kings, the Tamils of India and Sri Lanka have considered Chittirai Thirunaal as the New Year, based on astronomical and religious considerations,â Pathmanathan said.
âThe calculation for the commencement of the New Year and the calendar based on it are entirely astronomical,â added a commentator on the pro-LTTE website www.tamilnet.com who goes under the name Ampalam.
There is a combination of solar and stellar perspectives in the calculation of the New Year.
âThe entry of the Sun into the first degree of the Fixed Zodiac (Niryana in Sanskrit), i.e. the first degree of the constellation Achchuvini (Ashwini) or the first degree of the zodiacal sign of Aries (Mesha in Sanskrit and Thakar in Tamil) is taken as the beginning of the year,â Ampalam said.
âFor some reasons, the solar New Year found much currency in the southern parts of South Asia. It is associated with the Saalivahana Era, the reckoning of which is found predominantly in the inscriptions of South India and Sri Lanka. The Era begins in 77-78 AD,â he added.
âThe Solar New Year in April is also associated with the 60-year cycle that has rendered names for the years. This cycle is based on the calculation of the relative positions of Jupiter and Saturn, the two major planets of the solar system, supposed to be exerting special impact on the climate and natural phenomena in a year, in addition to the usual impact of the Earthâs revolution around the sun. In this cycle, the relative positions of Jupiter and Saturn will repeat after 60 years.â
âOnce again, the 60-year cycle is peculiar to Tamil astronomical texts. The names of the years are widely used only the Tamils. The system is essentially a southern innovation despite the names being in Sanskrit,â Ampalam pointed out.
On Chief Minister Karunanidhiâs argument in favour of adopting Thai Pongal as the Tamil New Year, the Sri Lankan commentator said the arguments for regarding this as a step towards a âTamil revolutionâ are not clear. Thai Pongal is also determined astronomically. And like the Chittirai Thirunaal, Thai Pongal day (Jan. 14) is observed in various parts of India under various names.
âWhatever pros and cons can be said about the April New Year can also be said about Thai Pongal, which is Makara Sankraanti to the rest of India,â he asserted.
Giving up the April 13 New Year and opting for Thai Pongal day will only dissociate the Tamils from other Dravidian peoples in South India and Sri Lanka, Ampalam said.
Chittirai Thirunaal plays an integrative role by keeping alive relations between the Tamils and other Hindus in India, and also the Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Pathmanathan said. By giving it up, new cleavages and animosities would be created, he warned.
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Tuesday April 15 2008 11:26 IST
P K Balachandran
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Tamils, who are known for their orthodoxy, have summarily rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhiâs bid to change the Tamil New Year from Chittirai Thirunaal (April 13) to Thai Pongal (January 14), saying it is unwarranted on astronomical, historical and cultural grounds.
Pro-Tamil Tiger commentators as well as Tamil moderates in the island feel that the change brought about through a resolution of the Tamil Nadu state assembly in February, does not have a justifiable basis even from Karunanidhiâs Tamil nationalist standpoint.
âI have not come across anywhere that Thai Pongal was considered to be the beginning of a New Year,â said Prof. S Pathmanathan, a renowned Sri Lankan Tamil historian and a former head of the history department in Peradeniya University at Kandy.
âIn the Sangam era literature, there is no mention of the New Year. Sangam literature was secular and dealt with matters other than the religious. The question of the New Year is essentially a religious one, and politicians should not interfere,â he told this website's newspaper.
Pathmanathan, who has written seminal works on Hindu temples in Sri Lanka and the history of the Jaffna kingdom, said the Tamil New Year was an integral part of Tamil Hinduism and had been part of the Hindu ritual calendar for over a thousand years.
âFrom the time of the indigenous Tamil kings, the Tamils of India and Sri Lanka have considered Chittirai Thirunaal as the New Year, based on astronomical and religious considerations,â Pathmanathan said.
âThe calculation for the commencement of the New Year and the calendar based on it are entirely astronomical,â added a commentator on the pro-LTTE website www.tamilnet.com who goes under the name Ampalam.
There is a combination of solar and stellar perspectives in the calculation of the New Year.
âThe entry of the Sun into the first degree of the Fixed Zodiac (Niryana in Sanskrit), i.e. the first degree of the constellation Achchuvini (Ashwini) or the first degree of the zodiacal sign of Aries (Mesha in Sanskrit and Thakar in Tamil) is taken as the beginning of the year,â Ampalam said.
âFor some reasons, the solar New Year found much currency in the southern parts of South Asia. It is associated with the Saalivahana Era, the reckoning of which is found predominantly in the inscriptions of South India and Sri Lanka. The Era begins in 77-78 AD,â he added.
âThe Solar New Year in April is also associated with the 60-year cycle that has rendered names for the years. This cycle is based on the calculation of the relative positions of Jupiter and Saturn, the two major planets of the solar system, supposed to be exerting special impact on the climate and natural phenomena in a year, in addition to the usual impact of the Earthâs revolution around the sun. In this cycle, the relative positions of Jupiter and Saturn will repeat after 60 years.â
âOnce again, the 60-year cycle is peculiar to Tamil astronomical texts. The names of the years are widely used only the Tamils. The system is essentially a southern innovation despite the names being in Sanskrit,â Ampalam pointed out.
On Chief Minister Karunanidhiâs argument in favour of adopting Thai Pongal as the Tamil New Year, the Sri Lankan commentator said the arguments for regarding this as a step towards a âTamil revolutionâ are not clear. Thai Pongal is also determined astronomically. And like the Chittirai Thirunaal, Thai Pongal day (Jan. 14) is observed in various parts of India under various names.
âWhatever pros and cons can be said about the April New Year can also be said about Thai Pongal, which is Makara Sankraanti to the rest of India,â he asserted.
Giving up the April 13 New Year and opting for Thai Pongal day will only dissociate the Tamils from other Dravidian peoples in South India and Sri Lanka, Ampalam said.
Chittirai Thirunaal plays an integrative role by keeping alive relations between the Tamils and other Hindus in India, and also the Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Pathmanathan said. By giving it up, new cleavages and animosities would be created, he warned.
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