Pari's Blog

Language

I believe a language, like a magnet, becomes charged with what it was used for. If a language is used for expressing abstract concepts that uplift the mind, it becomes charged with that. If a language is used repeatedly for nature/love poetry and bhakti poetry that move the heart, it becomes charged with that.

English is a language specialized in materialism: reductionistic science, technology, pop culture, sound bites, marketing. In contrast, Tamil/Sanskrit family of languages have thousands of years of experiences in a holistic science and the resulting spiritual technology – such as the means of seeking and expressing higher states of consciousness.

This why even simple sentences always run as lengthy translations in English, often accompanied by lengthy explanations and metaphors desperately trying to recreate the same expression. English is inadequately equipped to express profound thoughts in the realm of spirituality (where spirituality was divorced from mainstream thought, being in the hands of religion/the Church).

Western classical literature and Eastern classical literature represent two different world-views, like the differences between Western classical music and Indian classical music. Listening to the two types of music, one can see that the former (whether it be Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven) is about “man over nature (control/domination)”, the later is about “man in harmony with nature”.

Word-by-word translation, allows the person to actually learn that language, to sink into the mode of that language, thereby appreciating the expressiveness and fluidity of the language – such as the curvilinear elegance and emotional intelligence of Tamil that operates on the heart, or the energy charged vibrational intelligence of Sanskrit that operates on the mind. I believe they are both complementary – if Tamil represents yin, Sanskrit represents yang. Regardless of which you start with, they approach each other, elevating the heart/mind into the lofty heights of the transcendental (start with bhakti, you get jnana; start with jnana, you get bhakti).

I’m not an expert in either, but I find Sanskrit a lot more easier to translate than classical Tamil. Even the word-by-word breakdown of classical Tamil was difficult (Sanskrit was a breeze comparatively). I suppose it’s because most of classical Tamil literature is bhakti poetry — as opposed to Sanskrit stotrams repackaged as bhakti poetry. Stotrams can induce bhakti no doubt, but they’re not the same as poetry; the emphasis is on the poetry aspect. I wouldn’t be surprised if bhakti poetry in other Indian languages have similar difficulty in translation (like for instance the Bengali bhakti poetry of Ram Prasad).

Sample Tamil Text & Transliteration

மாலே மணிவண்ணா மார்கழி நீராடுவான்
மேலையார் செய்வனகள் வேண்டுவன கேட்டியேல்
ஞாலத்தை எல்லாம் நடுங்க முரல்வன
பாலன்ன வண்ணத்து உன் பாஞ்சசன்னியமே
போல்வன சங்கங்கள் போய்ப் பாடுடையனவே
சாலப் பெரு பறையே பல்லாண்டு இசைப்பாரே
கோல விளக்கே கொடியே விதானமே
ஆலின் இலையாய் அருள் ஏலோர் எம் பாவாய்
- திருப்பாவை, பாசுரம் 26

mAlE maNivaNNA mArgazhi nIrAduvAn
mElaiyAr seyvanagaL vEnduvana kEttiyEl
nyAlaththai ellAm nadunga muralvana
pAlanna vaNNaththu un pAncha sanniyamE
pOlvana sangangaL pOy pAdudaiyanavE
sAla perum paRaiyE pallAndu isaippArE
kOla viLakkE kodiyE vidhAnamE
Alin ilaiyAy aruL ElOr em pAvAi
- thiruppAvai, pAsuram 26

To see how it sounds, click here (or right-click and save it): thiruppAvai-26.mp3

The letters/diacritics used in the transliterations of Tamil literature on this site are shown below. The equivalent Sanskrit letters are also provided for convenience.

Vowels

There are 11 vowels (உயிரெழுத்து / स्वर) in the Tamil alphabet.

Consonants

There are 23 consonants (மெய்யெழுத்து / व्यञ्जन) in the Tamil alphabet (18 classical + 5 grantha). In addition, 5 consonants (க், ச், ட், த், ப்) have dual sounds (soft and hard) in accordance to certain rules). Contributing to a total of 28 consonant sounds.

Note: the grantha consonants (the last five rows: ஜ், ஸ், ஷ், ஹ், க்ஷ்) came into being to accommodate Sanskrit words, which account for a small but significant portion of the Tamil language.

Alphabet

In most Indian languages each letter is a combination of a root/consonant + a modifier representing the vowel sound. In a way each letter is a “compound letter” (two letters in one – a consonant + a vowel).

As consonants by themselves are not really pronounceable, the resulting letter also known as a voiced-consonant or a full-letter (there actual technical terms for these in Tamil and Sanskrit). All together (consonants, vowels, full letters) there are 253 (11 x 23) letters in the Tamil alphabet (198 classical + 55 grantha).

The above table may seem daunting, but it is derived from a fairly simple rule: consonant + vowel = a full letter (voiced-consonant)

Note: This usually requires at least two keystrokes per letter. The first keystroke renders the consonant, the second keystroke modifies that consonant by adding a glyph representing the vowel sound. Sometimes this modification causes final letter change significantly in width/height, it causes the layout to be re-rendered. Therefore the font-engine needs to be capable of Complex Text Layout (CTL). For example. If one types “k”, the consonant font that will appear is: க். Next, if  one types the vowel “i”, then it back-tracks, modifies the consonant typed earlier (removed the dot over the க், and adds the “cane” glyph) resulting in the letter “கி” (ki).

Example 1
For example, the letters க, கா, கி, கு, கெ, கோ (ka, kā, ki, ku, ke, kō), are created as follows:
க் + அ = க (k + a = ka)
க் + ஆ = கா (k + ā = kā)
க் + இ = கி (k + i = ki)
க் + உ = கு (k + u = ku)
க் + எ = கெ (k + e = ke)
க் + ஓ = கோ (k + ō = kō)

Example 2
For example, the letters ம, மா, மி, மு, மெ, மோ (ma, mā, mi, mu me, mō),  are created as follows:
ம் + அ = ம (k + a = ka)
ம் + ஆ = மா (k + ā = kā)
ம் + இ = மி (k + i = ki)
ம் + உ = மு (k + u = ku)
ம் + எ = மெ (k + e = ke)
ம் + ஓ= மோ (k + ō = kō)

More examples:
க, கா, கி, கு, கெ, கோ – ka, kā, ki, ku, ke, kō
ம, மா, மி, மு, மெ, மோ – ma, mā, mi, mu me, mō
ப, பா, பி, பு, பெ, போ – pa, pā, pi, pu, pe, pō
ல, லா, லி, லு, லெ, லோ – la, lā, li, lu, le, lō
ண, ணா, ணி, ணு, ணெ, ணோ – na, nā, ni, nu, ne, nō

Thus, words are written exactly as they sound (and pronounced exactly as they are written), with very little room for ambiguity. Here are some examples of English words phonetically transliterated into Tamil:
kit = கிட் (ki-t)
adhere = அதிர் (a-dhi-r)
visa = வீஸா (vī-sā)
b.c. = பீ.ஸீ. (bī. sī.)
run = ரன் (ra-n)
ruling = ரூலிங் (rū-li-ng)
book = புக் (bu-k)
cool = கூல் (kū-l)
hello = ஹலோ (ha-lō)
money = மனி (ma-ni)
eraser = இரேஸர் (i-rē-sa-r)
earth = எர்த் (e-r-th)
seat = ஸீட் (sī-t)

Just going through the above list of English words you can see just how much ambiguity there is in English: the “i” in kit versus that in visa. The “u” in run versus that in ruling. The “o” in money versus that in hello. The “ea” in earth versus that in seat. The “oo” in book versus that in cool. The two “e”’s in eraser.

Additional Consonants: b, kh, dh, d, g

Tamil follows several rules of grammar and aesthetics as detailed in the Tholkāppiam (the treatise on Tamil Grammar, written in around 500 BCE), such as laws governing euphonious combinations and rules of curvilinear elegance/flow of the text. These rules insure that there is no visual or phonetic discordance as the language evolves (such as when it absorbs loan words from other languages, like Sanskrit).

Example 1: if a voiced-consonant is prefixed by its root-consonant, it is either accentuated or softened. Examples:

• பகம் (pakham) – பக்கம் (pakkam)
• நாடு(nādu) – நாட்டு (nāttu)
• முது (mudhu) – முத்து (muththu)
• கபல் (kabal) – கப்பல் (kappal)

Example 2: words do not start with: ங், ண், ழ், ற், ன் (i.e. voiced-consonants based on those root-consonants).

Example 3: there are rules as to which sounds are to occur in close proximity with certain other sounds. Examples:

• ந் is never used (instead use ன் or ண்) preceding a ற் voiced-consonant.
• ந் is much more often used (over ன் or ண்) preceding a த் voiced-consonant
• g sound (as goat or ग) occurs only when preceded by an “n” sound, by virtue of the letter ங் (ng).

Also, FYI, phonemes found in:

• Tamil but not in English: ர், ற்
• English but not in Tamil: f, w, z
• Tamil but not in Sanskrit: ழ், ற், ஏ, ஓ