Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in India recently announced his decision to replace the rupee symbol (₹) in the Devanagari script, by the Tamil letter ‘Ru’ (from ‘Rubaai’, meaning rupee), in his state budget logo. This is yet another step on his part to further politicize the language issue by ignoring the history of linguistic and cultural integration between the North and the South.
While Tamil is undoubtedly very rich in literary heritage with a distinct cultural identity, a historical fact acknowledged by all, but so is the long tradition and history of linguistic integration, and the fact that this need not be a binary. And in this context, historically, music has played a significant role, which is best exemplified in the 18th century Kritis [compositions] of the trinity of Carnatic Music composers –Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, referred to as the “Three Jewels of Carnatic Music”. All three composers were born in Thiruvarur, located in in Tamilnadu; however, Dikshitar composed mainly in Sanskrit and some Kritis in Manipravalam– a combination of Tamil and Sanskrit, while Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri mainly composed in Telugu and Sanskrit. Dikshitar also visited and stayed in Benares, where he was instructed in music, esoterics, philosophy, and yoga; the Dhrupad style of music is said to have influenced his later compositions. His celebrated Kriti “Vaataapi Ganapati…”was written in Sanskrit and set in the Carnatic music Raga Hamsadhvani, which in turn has been embraced by eminent Hindustani classical musicians, many of whom have gone on to receive training in Carnatic music if only understand its idiom, and widen their repertoire. Similarly, many eminent Carnatic musicians, including Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi were also trained in Hindustani music, and who rendered Meera Bhajans with perfect diction.; the well-known film song sung by Lata, opening lines of which are “ Jaa tose naahi boloon..” too is set in Raga Hamsadhvani.
Other than the above, the two regions share deep-rooted cultural ties. The Kashi-Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi–an annual month-long programme started in 2022–sponsored by IIT Madras in association with Banaras Hindu University[BHU]– celebrates the age-old links between Tamil Nadu and Varanasi [Benares/Kashi]. The historical ties between the two date back to the 15th century when King Parakrama Pandya of Madurai [in Tamil Nadu] traveled to Kashi to bring back a sacred lingam for his temple named Sivakasi. This year’s celebrations highlight the contributions of Maharishi Agastya, said to be the father of Tamil literature, and who composed Agattiyam, one of the earliest Tamil grammar texts, incorporating its Vedic connections. Historically Benares and the BHU have long attracted Tamil scholars; even way back in the early 1900s it was a city which saw the confluence of the North and South, at a time when geographically, cultural contacts between the two regions were sporadic. BHU received students—even women –from the South; my mother who graduated from BHU around 1935, had a room-mate in her hostel, Hemlatha, who had come to study all the way from then Madras, and with whom she reconnected in the mid-50s, when my father was posted to Tambaram.
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Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, Kanchipuram is home to Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, a Hindu religious center of Vedic learning; Kumbakonam, holds the Kumbha-Mela, every, 3,6 and 12 years also attracting devotees from the North; and Kanyakumari is a city, where as legend has it, Hanuman dropped a piece of earth when he was carrying a mountain from the Himalayas to Lanka.
M.K.Stalin’s long resistance to Hindi—a descendent of Sanskrit, with both written in the Devanagari script—ignores the aforesaid historical linguistic connection between the two regions; this is further reflected in his refusal to have his state embrace both languages along with English, as in the Three-language formula vs the Two language formula of Tamil and English, which he privileges, by excluding Hindi. He also rejects by default the historical cultural ties between the two regions, by not lending his support to the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam.
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Nisha Sahai Achuthan, Ph.D, is a retired member of the Indian Administrative Service and currently a New York-based consultant, researcher and activist on Women’s empowerment, Sustainable Development, and the Performing Arts.