Date of tolkAppiyam

[Guest guest]

Dear List Members,

 

The most controverial issue about fixing the date

of old literature is, perhaps, that of tolkAppiyam,

the oldest extant Tamil grammar.

 

Dr B G L Swamy has mentioned 20 different dates

by different authors at p.292 of his article entitled

"The Date of Tolkappiyam - a Retrospect", Annals of

Oriental Research, Univ. of Madras, 1975, pp.292-317.

These dates vary from 8000 BC to 8th century AD, the

last one arrived at by A C Burnell. The author of this

article concludes:"The fact that five of its

commentaries appeared in the 13th century AD alone

suggests that the treatise could have been written a

century or two earlier". This means that as per Dr

Swamy, the date of Tolkappiyam should be about 11th or

12th century AD.

 

Dr Naga Ganeasan has mentioned another reference

dealing with the date of Tolkappiyam:"S N Kandaswamy,

The Age of Tolkappiam, JTS 20 (Dec.1981) 37-71."

(vide his message dated 3 Nov. 2001 to

<CTamil> under the subject "Enquiry

about Tamil Grammars"). Could somebody having access

to this journal make us aware of the date (age) of

Tolkappiyam arrived at by Dr Kandaswamy ?

 

Best regards.

 

Narayan Prasad

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, narayan prasad <prasad_cwprs> wrote:

> Dear List Members,

>

> The most controverial issue about fixing the date

> of old literature is, perhaps, that of tolkAppiyam,

> the oldest extant Tamil grammar.

> [...]

>

> Dr Naga Ganeasan has mentioned another reference

> dealing with the date of Tolkappiyam:"S N Kandaswamy,

> The Age of Tolkappiam, JTS 20 (Dec.1981) 37-71."

> (vide his message dated 3 Nov. 2001 to

> <CTamil> under the subject "Enquiry

> about Tamil Grammars"). Could somebody having access

> to this journal make us aware of the date (age) of

> Tolkappiyam arrived at by Dr Kandaswamy ?

 

Dear Narayan Prasad,

 

Here is what S.N. Kandaswamy writes in the conclusion

of his article, on p. 68:

 

"As a result of the study on the historicity

"of the prologue, comparative analysis

"of the language structure of tolkAppiyam

"and the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, some

"observations on meyppATTiyal, uvamaiyiyal

"and ceyyuLiyal and the social and religious

"conditions as gleaned in tolkAppiyam,

"it is proper to conclude that the major portion

"of tolkAppiyam (say 90% or even more),

"should have been composed

"not later than 300 B.C."

(_The Age of tolkAppiyam_,

Journal of Tamil Studies, N°20, pp.37-71)

>

> Best regards.

>

> Narayan Prasad

 

Warm regards

 

-- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD (Paris)

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, narayan prasad <prasad_cwprs> wrote:

> The most controverial issue about fixing the date

> of old literature is, perhaps, that of tolkAppiyam,

> the oldest extant Tamil grammar.

>

> Dr B G L Swamy has mentioned 20 different dates

> by different authors at p.292 of his article entitled

> "The Date of Tolkappiyam - a Retrospect", Annals of

> Oriental Research, Univ. of Madras, 1975, pp.292-317.

> These dates vary from 8000 BC to 8th century AD, the

> last one arrived at by A C Burnell. The author of this

> article concludes:"The fact that five of its

> commentaries appeared in the 13th century AD alone

> suggests that the treatise could have been written a

> century or two earlier". This means that as per Dr

> Swamy, the date of Tolkappiyam should be about 11th or

> 12th century AD.

 

Before scholars decide on the dates of layers of tolkAppiyam,

Gift Siromony's discovery of puLLi letter in

rock inscrptions dating to mid 2nd century,

and R. Nagasamy found the unique puLLi letter

used in mid 2nd century AD Satakarni inscription.

The definition of puLLi is in tolkAppiyam.

CTamil/message/311

 

Iravatham Mahadevan was dating TolkApiyam sections

to 5th century. Conclusive archaeological data

discovered by Gift Siromony, Prof. S. Raju, ...

made him revise his 5th century date backward by

at least 300 years. I. Mahadevan was talking

about puLLi in 5th century back in 1960.

Now he has revised his earlier guesses.

INDOLOGY/message/1516

 

Tolkaapiyar tradition comparable to Buddha or Socrates:

INDOLOGY/message/833

 

The TolkAppiyam grammar's antiquity and the recent

archaeological discoveries of Tamil Brahmi inscriptions

in Sri Lanka may be related. Brahmi was invented

in Ceylon in 4th century BCE, we have archaeological

occurence of earliest Brahmi there. Given the

similarities between Semitic alphabets and early Brahmi,

did the trade with Arabic lands trigger Brahmi

development in Sri Lanka?

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan