Till date, my exposure to tamil literature had been limited only to Anandha Vikadan, kalki, and their deepavali malars. Heee.hee..Well, that is another way of saying N-I-L. Thanks to srivat, Mohandoss and many other buddies, the tamilian in me felt incomplete without having read Ponniyin Selvan. The thought of 6 huge volumes did scare me a little, but I was pretty determined. There were 3 encouraging factors. 1)Every single soul who has read it, applauded, and was full of praises, 2) None ever told me, that they left it half way through, 3) I like history
So, I dived into the world and am swimming across!! Whew! It's wonderful, awesome. I just completed 1 volume and am starting the 2nd. But this post is not about Ponniyin Selvan as a book. I don't think I even deserve to review that masterpiece! It is about something that I observed. The NAMES. As I said earlier, I have just completed 1 volume, and am already flabbergasted by the names of the characters! Almost all the names stood etched on my head.
How poetic! What a variety! How majestic!
Vandhiyathevan, Kandhan maaran, Parthibendhran, Arulmozhi varman, Malayamaan, Sendhan Amudhan, Madhuranthagar...and that is just a few of the male fraternity!
I did not find a single name with 2 or 1 syllables and found a very few with 3 or 4. The name expressed the character! Why on earth did we lose out these names to time?! Why are we stuck with monotonous world of Srirams, Balajis, Ravis, Sanjays, Srinivasans, Karthiks,Aruns in the name of modernity? What is the need to keep it short? When Long is sweeter and meaningful! Apart from the art, architecture, culture and wealth, we definitely have lost out on names as well.
After reading this, you might wonder if I would name my kid Vandhiyathevan or Kundhavai! The answer is a sad 'No'. In my quest for antiquity, I wouldn't jab into my kid's confidence and make him/her a laughing stock. I can't imagine my kid complaining, 'All my friends are calling me 'Vaandhi' or 'vandi'! If it is a daughter, it is even worse - 'Kundha vai' in Chennai slang!
Guess I only can sigh and post a blog on this!
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10 comments:
if vandiyathevan, madhuranthagar and kandhanmaaran get their h1 stamping done, they would be Vanz, Maddy and Kandy respectively. Makkaluku nalla peru irukkannu kavala padradukku munnadi avangalukku soru irukkanu yosingappa.
And this low class music directors and cheap lyricists will abuse the names :-( For instance vandarkuzhali is such a sweet name. Adha edho oru paatula asinga paduthitaanga X(
tyler,
very true! People who spend more time naming hurricanes, never realise the importance of pronouncing our names right! When we get their accents easily, why don't they get our names right?
ferrari,
sigh! your comment revealed the fate.. US le irundhu yaarum vendam, namma makkale podhum...paerai kedukka! There are music directors who can make a song from a name (Nivedha) and who can spoil a name thru the song! Guess it is part and parcel of creative licence!
Yadhvi,
When you look at it from historical point these names date back to 10th century.So it is quite difficult to find out under whose reign using these names were banned.I have a feeling either by external pressure(read another king) or as a token of respect to these great people their names might not have been reused.
Additionaly reading the full names gives me more pleasure. 'Vallavarayan Vanthiyathevan' or 'Aditha Karikalan'.
acho ! school days la tamil ilakanam exam ku prepare panathu ellam nyabagam varuthu :-)
srivat,
valid point! May be, future invasions introduced us to varied culture and literature and people adopted new conventions to be easily pronouncable
krishis,
:-) prepare ellam panniya nee? apuram en Kamala teacher unnai bench mela nikka vechaanga?
The world was definitely a smaller place in the 10th century. Madhuranthagar would probably never set his foot in North India. Nobody from China needs to pronounce his name. This is in sharp contrast with today when Frank has to talk to Sriram (in a call center) to get his wireless router to work. Of course, call centers are not only in India. They are in almost every low-cost country in the world - Mexico, Spain, Philippines to name a few ...
By the way, my paternal grandpa wanted to name me "Vaemanan" after a munivar. My mom vehemently opposed it and I am thankful for it !!!
But, I agree with Yadhvi that Americans do not take half the pain that we take when it comes to pronouncing names properly. Even after working for 2 years together, my technical leaders in US still do not pronounce my name right.
Looking it from another angle, should we put our foot down and make sure they get the pronounciation right? Have been too linient on this count? Probably it is the result of us not being too particular about the way our name gets pronounced ....
It's really gud to get reminded of the historical names from your blog.I think this historical names could also become a fashion someday jus like the coming back of short salvars,danglers :).Who knows,our grandchildren may be named vandhiyathaevan ,Adhitha karikalan etc :)and calling children like Pinku,rinku ..will be out of fashion.Do read Sivagamiyin Sabatham also when u get a chance.Worth reading historical novel.
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