எல்லீசனின் தமிழ்-சமஸ்கிருத கவிதை

இரண்டு மொழிகளை கலந்து எழுதும் இலக்கியம், மணிப்பிரவாளம்.

ஓஹோ எந்தன் பேபி நீ வாராய் எந்தன் பேபி..

ஊர்வசி ஊர்வசி டேக் இட் ஈசி ஊர்வசி..

போன்ற தமிழ் ஆங்கில மணிப்பிரவாள பாடல்கள் நமக்கு சினிமா வழியில் தெரிந்தவையே. ஆனால் தமிழ் ஸமஸ்கிருத மணிப்பிரவாள பாடல்களும் ஒரு காலத்தில் பிரபலமாய் இருந்தன. “வதனமே சந்திர பிம்பமோ” என்ற எம்.கே.தியாகராஜ பாகவதர் பாடலில் முதல் மூன்று சொற்களும் தமிழில் கலந்த வடமொழி சொற்கள். ஆனால் இவை யதார்த்தமாக சேர்ந்த அயல்மொழிகளை சேர்த்துக்கொண்டு இயற்றப்பட்டவை. பாரதி எழுதிய சுதேசமித்திரன் பத்திரிகையில் வரும் இவ்வகை மணிப்பிரவாள நடையை கிண்டலடித்து, திருவிக நடத்திய நவசக்தி பத்திரிகையில் அவர் கையாண்ட தூயதமிழை முன்மொழிந்து கல்கி எழுதியதை சிலர் படித்திருக்கலாம்.

பதினெட்டாம் பத்தொன்பதாம் நூற்றாண்டில் சினிமா வருவதற்கு முன்பு ஒரு சில இலக்கியங்களில், யதார்த்தமாக அன்றி, வலிந்தே இருமொழிகளிலும் இயற்றப்பட்டன. இவ்வகையில் ஒரு கவிதை “கீசக வதம்”. கவிஞர் பெயர் மறந்துவிட்டேன். இந்நூலை அடையாறில் கே.வி.ஷர்மா நூலகத்தில் நகுபோலியன் எனும் பாரதி பாலுவிற்கும் எனக்கும் நூலகர் அச்சுத பட், எடுத்துக்கொடுத்தார். அதில் சென்னைப்பட்டணத்து எல்லீசனின் அறிமுக உறையும், அவர் இயற்றிய மணிப்பிரவாள கவிதையும் இருந்தன. நேற்று ஆழ்வார்பேட்டையில் டாக் செண்டரில் எல்லீசனை பற்றி நான் பேசிய பொழுது இக்கவிதையை எடுத்துரைத்தேன். அக்கவிதை கீழே.

அரும்பை போல  तव दन्त पङ्कतिः   தவ தந்த பங்க்தி

குரும்பை போல  कुचमण्डल द्वयम्     குசமண்டல த்வயம்

கரும்பை போல  मदुरा च वाणि        மதுரா ச வாணி

இரும்பை போல हृदयम्  किमासीत्    ஹ்ருதயம் கிம் ஆஸீத்

Like white flowers, are your teeth

Like coconut shells, are your bosoms

Like sugarcane, is your honeyed speech

Like iron, why is your heart ?

Related Essays

1. Trautmann on Ellis
2. எல்லீசனின் கல்வெட்டு - An Englishman's Tamil inscription
3.  எல்லீசனின் ஜார்ஜ் மன்னன் மெய்கீர்த்தி 
4. பர்த்ருஹரியின் கவிதை - தமிழ் புனைவு
5. வராஹமிஹிரரின் அகத்தியர் வாழ்த்து 

Audio recording of Ellis Lecture for Lions Club

Madras - India's first modern city

Mr S Muthiah, who has written a history of Madras, Madras Discovered, and is founder of Madras Musings and chief instigator of the Madras Day celebrations, gave the first Sir S Subramanya Aiyar lecture at the University of Madras. Title: "India's First Modern City." This began with a photo of the statue of S Subramanya Aiyar, whom I and the students at the lecture did not recognize or know. He had been the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of a university - Madras University. He persuasively argued that Madras should be the considered the first modern city of India (not Calcutta). 

He recently gave another version of this lecture at a TIE meeting during the Madras Day celebrations in August, 2014. Here is a brief summary.

Sir S Subramanya Aiyar, First Indian Vice Chancellor

St George - a portrait from St Mary's Church, Armenian Street

Madras was "No man's sand"! Fort St George was founded on a strip of sand between the Portuguese settlement at San Thome and the Dutch settlement in Tiruvorriyur. The place was chosen as a good place to buy Indian made cotton textiles, for sale in England. Sir Francis Day was allowed to build the fort by the local chieftain, Darmala Venkatadri, Nayak of Poonamalee.

The English East India company had no interest in empire, they only wanted trade. Pondichery French Governor Dupleix's ambition stoked by his wife Jean Begum, really prompted the colonial ambitions of their rivals, the English. After a war, of which most Indians are ridiculously unaware, the French captured Madras but returned to English in exchange for Quebec, a province of Canada, as part of the Treaty of Aix-le-Chapelle.

(Mr Muthiah thinks the English got the better end of the deal. But I think the French needed Quebec for its forests, as they were running out of firewood. England had plenty of coal. And the cotton revolutions of John Kay's shuttle, Hargreave's spinning jenny etc had not yet happened, so England really needed Madras textiles.)

The several firsts for which Madras can be proud of, and entitling it to the claim as the first modern city of India, listed here.

Major Stringer Lawrence started the Madras regiment, the basis of the Indian army. This was after the ridiculous ease with which the French won the Adayar war. 

Governor Charles Trevelyan started the Indian civil service before Britain got one.

St George's school and orphanage on Poonamallee high road based on their earlier versions in Fort St George, first model of European education in Asia and continues to be the model for school in India today.

Governor's bank - first operating in Fort St George - later became Bank of Madras, then merged with banks of Calcutta and Bombay to become Imperial bank which later became State Bank of India.

A hospital to help sick lads became General Hospital.

In 1688 first Municipal corporation outside England started.

The Oldest library belongs to the Madras Literary Society, which saw several firsts under FW Ellis.

Armenians, exiled form Persia, came as traders and traded from West Asia to Philippines. Armenian constitution was drafted in madras!

Coral merchant street was where Jews lived.

Chepauk palace built by Nawab Of Carnatic on money borrowed from EIC which debt was written off by transfer of nawab's lands from Ganjam to Kanyakumari: this was the true beginning of British empire.

Chepauk Palace - which gave EIC an empire!

Ripon Building - the first Indian municipal corporation

College of Ft St George replaced by Haylebury college, for training civil servants.

College of Engineering (started as Survey college) Guindy. Presidency college in 1857.

Oldest school of Art and oldest veterinary college. Oldest postal system. St. Andrews Kirk built on traditional well foundation, traditional Indian design.

Parry's, the second oldest company in India, built by Dare.

Spencer's was the largest retail empire in Asia. They ran 450 railway restaurants and catered to all trains.

The call for satyagraha went from Madras when the Rowlatt act was passed.

Some Links

1. Adayar War

2. அடையாறு போர்

3. The Seven Year's War - a video

4. College of Fort St George - FW Ellis

Madras Literary Society - the first library

Armenian Church in Georgetown

Madraspolitani - Latin name for Madras

Tailpiece: Did you know that the Latin name of Madras is Madraspolitani or even that there are Latin inscriptions in Madras? Here is one from a plaque in the St Mary's Church in Armenian street.

Trautmann on Francis Whyte Ellis

I have written recently about the Ellis inscription. My interest in Ellis was kindled by a speech by Prof Thomas Trautmann (University of Michigan) at Roja Muthiah Library in Madras. I was blown away that this true discoverer of the Dravidian languages and a man of several astounding accomplishments was practically forgotten, with credit going to Robert Caldwell, until the recent re-discovery by Trautmann.

In August 2013 I was invited by Mr Shankar of Madras Midtown Rotary Club to give them a talk on Ellis. Mr Narasiah forwarded this email biography of Ellis by none other than Trautmann himself, to help me prepare for this lecture. I had read his books Languages and Nations and The Aryan Debate, and I strongly recommend them. I wrote to Prof Trautmann who is "delighted that my talk encouraged your interest," and with his permission, publish this brief biography of FW Ellis.

Ellis,  Francis Whyte  (1777-1819), orientalist, grew up in Compton, Bedfordshire, and was schooled at The Academy, Burlington Street, London.

He became a writer in the East India Company's service at Madras in 1796. He was promoted to the offices of assistant under-secretary, deputy secretary, and secretary to the board of revenue in 1798, 1801, and 1802 respectively. In 1806 he was appointed judge in Tanjore, but was transferred the same year to the zillah (district) of Masulipatam, when he offended the raja, having incarcerated one of his servants for extorting rents by force. In 1809 he became collector of land customs in the Madras presidency, and in 1810 collector of Madras. 

College of Fort St George - DPI Campus, Egmore

He was largely responsible for planning the college of Fort St George to teach the languages of south India to the junior civil servants posted to Madras, and was senior member of the board of superintendence from its inception in 1812 until his death. He was a leading light of the Madras Literary Society, also begun in 1812. He died unmarried at Ramnad, Madras, of accidental poisoning on 10 March 1819 while on sick leave. His mother, Elizabeth Hubbard, was the main beneficiary of the will he made on his deathbed.

Ellis was a brilliant scholar of the south Indian languages, especially  Tamil, and vowed not to publish before the age of forty; because of his untimely death, he published little in his lifetime. Moreover, his private papers were all lost or destroyed; it was said they ended up in the kitchen of the collector of Madura, and were used by his cook 'to  kindle his fire and singe fowls'.

Ellis's most important accomplishment was the discovery of the  Dravidian language family, a proof of which appeared in 1816, forty years before Robert Caldwell's A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages (1856), which consolidated Ellis's finding, and forty years after Sir William Jones proposed the concept of the Indo-European language family.

The proof appears in an introduction to A. D. Campbell's A Grammar of the Teloogoo Language, published by the college of Fort St George for the use of its students. In it Ellis demonstrated that the Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages, although containing abundant loanwords from Sanskrit, are not descended from it, as are the languages of north India, but constitute a separate language family. He showed that the three languages have many cognate words that have no roots in Sanskrit, comprising a common core vocabulary of related words. 

He further asserted, correctly, that the south Indian languages now called Malayalam, Tulu, and Codagu, and Malto (a tribal language in north India) belong to the same family, but that Marathi and Sinhalese, though influenced by it, belong to the Sanskritic language family.The published proof began as a separate Dissertation on Telugu printed for the use of students, and Ellis intended to do the same for Malayalam and Tamil. The Dissertation on Malayalam was published after his death (1878), but the 'Dissertation on Tamil' probably was never printed, because his plans for it grew ever larger, judging from manuscript remains that include a very long treatise on Tamil prosody. 

Towards the end of his life the college press was printing his translation of the Tirukkural of Tiruvalluvar (c.1819), a Tamil classic, but he did not finish it. His contributions to the study of Tamil, had he lived, would have been considerable. 

Madras Literary Society, DPI Campus, Egmore

Two other works are of special importance. A treatise on mirasi (freehold) rights was written when he was collector of Madras and in collaboration with his sheristadar (chief clerk), B. Sancaraya, to explain the system of land tenure prevailing there through ancient legends and historical inscriptions, in response to a request for information from the board of revenue. It is notable for its attack upon the belief that oriental despotism (the ownership of all land by the sovereign) was the original constitution of India, arguing that private property in land was ancient in this region. It was first published by the government of Madras in 1818. 

Second, he wrote a long article dealing with the purported Veda called the Ezour Vedam , which had become famous in Europe through Voltaire, who, relying on its authenticity and antiquity, had used it as evidence that deism was the original and universal religion of mankind, against the claims of Christianity. Ellis's article, published in the Asiatic Researches in 1822, proved that the Ezour Vedam had been composed by Jesuit missionaries in India. 

Here is Mr Narasiah's article on Trautmann's lecture

Prof Trautmann adds:
You may know that recently Manu Francis found in a library in France the Tamil composition of Ellis, a treatise on the smallpox vaccination in the form of a colloquy between Shakti and Dhanvantari.  I had found Ellis' English translation of his own composition, and published it in my "Languages and Nations" book.  I could not have been more pleased that this Tamil original has now been found, which is what I hoped when I published the translation.

The introduction of vaccination in the Madras Presidency is another remarkable contribution of Ellis, and deserves to be commemorated.

Links (added June 28, 2020)

Ellis inscription

History essays

Madras essays

ஜார்ஜ் மன்னன் மெய்கீர்த்தி - More on Ellis Inscription

This is continuation of my earlier blog on the Ellis inscription, which dealt with the second half of his inscription. In this blog, I translate his poetic tribute to the British Empire, its mighty navy, its glorious rule and his colonial thought process. 

Here beginneth the inscription.

பாரெலா நிழற்று பரியரிக்குடையோன்

He, of Horse and Lion, under whose Umbrella (Protection)

வாரியுஞ் சிறுக வருபடைக் கடலோன்

ஆர்கடலதிர வார்ததிடுங்கப்பலோன்

மரக்கல வாழ்வின் மற்றொப்பிலாதோன்

தனிப்பெருங் கடற்குத் தானே நாயகன்

தீவுகள் பலவும் திதி பெறப் புரப்போன்

Whose Navy shrinks the sea

Which roar with rumbling of his Ships

He with no Equal in Seafaring life

Only Lord of Massive Oceans

And of Many Islands that pay tribute

தன்னடி நிழலிற் றங்கு பல்லுயிர்க்குந்

தாயிலுமினியன் றந்தையிற் சிறந்தோன்

Sweeter than a Mother, Better than a father

To Everyone under his Protective Shadow

நயநெறி நீங்கா நாட்டார் மொழிகேட்

டுயர் செங்கோலும் வழாமை யுள்ளோன்

மெய்மறை யொழுக்கம் வீடுறா தளிப்போன்

By the advice of Men of Righteous Way

Steadfast and by whose Noble Sceptre

Governs by the Book of Truth

பிரிதன்னிய சுகோத்திய விபானியமென்னு

மும்முடி தரித்து முடிவிலாத

Thrice crowned King of

Brittania Scottia and Ireland (Hibernia)

திக்கனைத் துந்தனிச் சக்கர நடாத்தி

யொரு வழிப்பட்ட வொருமையாளன்

வீரசிங்காதனத்து வீற்றிருந்தருளிய

சோர்சென்னு மூன்றாமரசற்கு 57ஆம் ஆண்டில்

Of Endless Realm, in every Direction

By Unity rules the Union

Seated on his Stately throne

Rules King George the Third in his 57^th Year

காலமுங் கருவியுங் கருமமுஞ் சூழ்ந்து

வென்றியோடு பொருள்புகழ் மேன்மேற் பெற்று

By Time, Power and Duty adorned

Enriched by Triumph, Tribute and Fame

கும்பினியார் கீழ்ப்பட்ட கனம் பொருந்திய

யூவெலயத் தென்பவ னாண்ட வனாக

சேர சோழ பாண்டி யாந்திரங்

கலிங்க துளுவ கன்னாட கேரளம்

பணிக்கொடு துரைத்தனம் பண்ணுநாளில்

While, The Company under Honorable

Hugh Elliot as Governor

With Chera Chola Pandya Andhra

Kalinga Tuluva Kannaada Kerala

Serving his command

செயங்கொண்ட தொண்டிய சாணுறு நாடெனும்

For the remaining portion see my earlier blog on this Ellis inscription.

Ellis’ skill at poetry, and his feel and understanding of the meikeerthi verse especially, is remarkable. It is a perfect combination of exaggeration and truth, loyalty and admiration, service and imperiousness. Referring to King George as Thrice Crowned (Mummudi thartiththa), equating England , Scotland and Hibernia (Ireland) with the 3 Tamil kingdoms and their Muventhars, is a masterstroke. Even the inscribed stone is his way of  integrating himself – as Collector, comparable to a feudatory King – and English rule, seamlessly into Tamil history.

The tone of  the inscription is proudly colonial, yet conscious:

• of duty – to relieve drought; hence Sceptre (செங்கோல்) and Truth (மெய்மறை யொழுக்கம்)
• of history and tradition, hence the reference to TirukkuraL and TiruVaLLuvar
• of literary style, hence an inscription in aaciriyappaa (ஆசிரியப்பா)
• of position and power, hence the list of subservient lands – Chera Chola Kannaada Andhra etc. under the Governor Elliot and the Company
• of glory and majesty, hence the reference to unequaled English Navy and All Conquering English rule (திக்கனைத்தும் தனிச்சக்கர நடாத்தி)
• of affection for people and respect for their cultural belief, hence auspicious day (சுபதினம்) and respect for cultural features like nakshatra, thithi etc. and Salivahana Saka calendar

What Indo-Saracenic architecture attempted to do, namely, impose upon India an architectural awareness of both the power and benevolence of British Rule, Ellis attempts here with a poem and inscription. I think he succeeds brilliantly, but events over took him, and he was forgotten until recently rediscovered by Thomas Trautmann.

I could not discover who U Velayath (யூவெலயத்) mentioned in the last few lines was. He is not in the list of Governors, or Governors-General or East India Company Chairmen Wikipedia lists. Mr KRA Narasiah to the rescue! He says, this was Hugh Elliot, Governor of Madras from 1814 to 1820, under whom Ellis worked as both Treasury Officer and Collector of Madras. Elliot’s name is included in HD Love’s book Vestiges of Old Madras.

Links (added June 28, 2020)

Ellis inscription - the remaining portion

History essays

Madras essays

எல்லீசன் கல்வெட்டு - An Englishman’s Tamil Inscription

For those who are accustomed to inscriptions by Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysala and Vijayanagar and Nayaks, here is an Tamil inscription by an Englishman, Francis Whyte Ellis, who at the time was employed by the East India Company as Mint Supervisor in Madras. This stone slab was inscribed on a well in Madras. Ellis was somewhat forgotten, until recently rediscovered by Thomas Trautmann. The text below is taken from Mr Narasiah’s book மதராசபட்டினம். A photo of this slab is also found in Prof. Trautmann’s book, எல்லிசும் திராவிடச்சான்றும்,  a translation of his book ‘Ellis and the Dravidian Proof’.

The slab lay somewhat neglected in the Tirumalai Nayak Mahal Museum, in Madurai, until Mr Narasiah pointed out its importance and that of Ellis, upon which they had it mounted in its current place. In March this year, Mr Narasiah showed me around the Mahal, and you see a photo of him, and two wonderful museum officials (whom Mr Narasiah mesmerized with his detailed knowledge of the Mahal) with the slab that has Ellis’ inscription.

Museum officials, me, Narasiah

Narasiah pointing to line மயிலையம்பதியான்

Here's my simple translation of the later portion of the inscription. I’ll present the earlier portion of the inscription and my translation in a later blog.

சயங்கொண்ட தொண்டிய சாணுறு நாடெனும்

In Jayamkonda Thondiya Naadu (north Tamil Nadu, with Kanchipuram as capital, was called Thondai Naadu from the Sangam era. When the Cholas conquered it around 900 AD, they renamed it Jayam Konda Mandalam.)

ஆழியில் இழைத்த வழகுறு மாமணி

குணகடன் முதலாக குட கடலளவு

நெடுநிலம் தாழ நிமிர்ந்திடு சென்னப்

from western hills to eastern sea, like a jewel in the ocean, lies the city of Chennai pattanam

பட்டணத்து எல்லீசன் என்பவன் யானே

in which, I Elleesan, (Tamilization of Ellis!) reside

பண்டாரகாரிய பாரம் சுமக்கையில்

While employed as Mint Supervisor

புலவர்கள் பெருமான் மயிலையம் பதியான்

தெய்வப் புலமைத் திருவள்ளுவனார்

திருக்குறள் தன்னில் திருவுளம் பற்றிய்

As the divine poet Thiruvalluvar, of Mayilai Ampathi (Mylapore), famous for poets, in his Thirukural has stated

“இருபுனலும் வாய்ந்த மலையும் வருபுனலும்

வல்லரணும் நாட்டிற் குறுப்பு”

"Strong walls (val araN), standing water (iru punal i.e. lakes and wells), hills and flowing water (varu punal - i.e. rivers & streams), make for a good country"

என்பதின் பொருளை என்னுள் ஆய்ந்து

and having understood this poem

ஸ்வஸ்திஸ்ரீ சாலிவாகன சகாப்த ௵ 1740 செல்லாநின்ற 

இங்கிலிசு ௵ 1818ம் ஆண்டில்

In 1740 year of SvasthiSree Shaalivaahana calendar, in the English year 1818

பிரபவாதி ௵ம்க்கு (வருஷத்திற்கு) மேற் செல்லாநின்ற

பஹுதான்ய ௵த்தில் (வருஷத்தில்) வார திதி 

நக்ஷத்திர யோக கரணம் பார்த்து

In Bahuthaanya year, after the Prabhavati year, having consulted the auspicious signs: Weekday, Thithi, Nakshathra, Yoga and Karnam 

சுபதிநத்தி லிதனோ டிருபத்தேழு துரவு கண்டு 

புண்ணியாஹவாசநம் பண்ணுவித்தேன்

on an auspicious day, I have commissioned 27 wells.

I love the phrase ஆழியில் இழைத்த வழகுறு மாமணி. I cannot imagine a more beautiful phrase to describe any city, and how fitting that it was coined by a man, who proudly called himself Chennai Pattinaththu Elleesan.

PostScript, June 28: Mr Narasiah, via email, offers this translation by GU Pope, of the TirukkuraL verse mentioned above.

“இருபுனலும் வாய்த்த மலையும் வருபுனலும்

வல்லரணும் நாட்டிற் குறுப்பு”

Ch LXXIV Kural No. 7

G U Pope's translation:

Waters from rains and springs

      A mountain near, and waters thence;

Those make a land,

      With fortress' sure defence

Corrections June 22, 2020  Mr N Ganesan, of Houston Texas, has sent me the following text, of the last few verses in the above Ellis inscription. This has the proper grantham transliteration of the Sanskrit words in the Ellis inscription, including character ௵  symbol for வருஷம்(year) and the correct ஶ for words like ஶாலிவாஹந (Shaalivaahana). He has also suggested some spelling corrections, which I have now effected in the Tamil text of the poem. 

ஸ்வஸ்திஶ்ரீ ஶாலிவாஹந ஶகாப்த ௵ 1740ச் செல்லாநின்ற இங்க்லிஸ் ௵ 1818ம் ஆண்டில் ப்ரபவாதி  ௵-ம்க்கு மேற்  செல்லாநின்ற பஹுதாந்ய ௵-த்தில் வார திதி நக்ஷத்ர யோக கரணம் பார்த்து ஶுப திநத்தி

Links (added June 28, 2020)

Ellis inscription - the meikeerthi of King George III

History essays

Madras essays