The Name Vemkateshwara

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On 8/20/98 11:28 PM

Sri Gopal wrote :-

 

___________________________QUOTE________

 

On Thu, 20 Aug 1998 Ramanbil wrote:

 

Dear members,

 

Can someone please tell me where in writing is Venkateswara ever written

as Vemkateswara (in any Indian script). Some confusion can result because

of the recent incorrect rendering of the word in Telugu/Kannada scripts -

using a '0' ('sunna') instead of the '~Nk' or as in tamil '~Ng'. The name

is a reference to the 'Lord of the Tiger infested hill' and I don't think

it can admit of some other meaning unless the word itself is changed to

'Vemkateswara'

 

gopal

 

___________________________UNQUOTE_______

 

While I am in noway an expert in establishing the correctness of the

name "Vemkateshwara", I will try to do it as per what I have studied

in my regular School Tamil.

 

As aptly pointed out by Sri Anbil Swamy, vEnkatam has to be split as

"vEm" and "katam". This basically is a Tamizh word. Forget not that

Tamizh was the most prominent and older language than Telugu or

Kannada(Oops! I am not trying to start another debate. What ever I

have written about the Tamizh as the oldest language is as per what I

have studied and heard). So the name of the perumAL was

"vEmkatEswaran" as he is the one who helps us get rid of all the sins

that we have made.

 

Now in the due course people used to address the name as

vEnkatEswaran. In Tamizh grammar they call this as "maruvu". That is a

word which has obtained a difference in sound due to the local usage

of the word.

 

As Telugu and Kannada came into existence at a later date, they have

started writing the name as vEnkatEshwaran with the 'O' sound

representing 'nk' instead of 'mk'.

 

Also even in the recent past, until Andhra was separated,

ThiruvEngadam used to be in Tamizh Nadu only.

 

Well whatever I have written above is to the amount of my

understanding about the Tamizh. I request the great Scholars in the

list to confirm the correctness of what I have written and correct me

if I am wrong.

 

vAsaka dOsham kshandavyaha

 

adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan

 

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh