Open Access
Subscription Access
The Unheeded Dravidian Linguist Who Deconstructed the Brahmanical Knowledge Autonomy
Abstract
This paper highlights a longstanding gap in research regarding Chattampi Swamikal's contributions to Dravidian linguistic history. While scholars like France Whyte Ellis and Robert Caldwell are often credited with identifying the Dravidian language family and challenging the prevailing belief that Sanskrit is the origin of all Indian languages, Swamikal was the first Indian scholar to further this work. Following Caldwell, he distinguished Tamil from Sanskrit and demonstrated that Tamil is older. Notable linguists such as Burrow, Emeneau, Kuiper, Southworth, and Witzel have emphasized the deep roots of Dravidian languages, yet Swamikal's contributions remain largely unrecognized. Aligned with the principles of the Open Knowledge movement, Adhibhasha was written in a language accessible to the general public and so Swamikal’s approach resonate with the ideals of Open Knowledge movement and intellectual decentralization, challenging knowledge hierarchies; enforcing the significance of regional linguistic identities. Against this backdrop, this paper explores authors’ pioneering ideas on Dravidian linguistics.
Keywords
References
Blackburn, Stuart H (2003). Print, Folklore and nationalism in Colonial South India, Permanent Black, Indiana University.
Burrow, T (1945). Some Dravidian words in Sanskrit. TPS, pp. 79-100.
Burrow, T (1947). Dravidian Studies VII: further Dravidian words in Sanskrit. BSOAS 12: 365-96.
Burrow, T (1973). The Proto-Indo-Aryans, JRAS 1: 123-40.
Burrow, T and M B Emeneau (1984) Dravidian Etymological Dictionary (2nd edition), Oxford: Clarendon Press. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Caldwell, Robert (1856). Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages. Revised and edited by J. L. Wyatt and T. Ramakrishna Pillai. Madras, University of Madras, 1956.
Cannon, G H Jr (1952). Sir William Jones, Orientalist: an annotated bibliography of his works. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Cannon, G H Jr (1990). The life and mind of oriental Jones: Sir William Jones, the father of modern linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P.
Cavalli-Sforza, L L Menozzi, P. & Piazza, A (1994), The History and Geography of HumanGenes. Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press.
Chattampi Swamikal (2015). Vidyadhiraja Chattampi Swamikal. Jeevacharithravum Krithikalum. Edited by Maheswaran Nair. Trivandrum, Dhuma Books.
Chattampi Swamikal (1910). Dravida Mahatmyam. In Dakshinedya Padanangal Ed by K. Pushpalatha. Trivandrum, Chattampi Swami Archive, 2021.
David, R. et.al (2009). Reconstructing Indian Population History, Nature. 2009 Sep 24; 461(7263): 489-494.
Dolgopolsky, Aaron B (1998). The Nostratic Macrofamily and Linguistic Paleontology. (With an introduction by Colin Renfrew.) Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Edgerton, F (1946). Sir William Jones: 1746-94. JAOS 66, 230-39.
Emeneau, M B (1954). Linguistic prehistory of India. PAPS 98: 282-92.
Emeneau, M B (1956). India as a linguistic area. Language 32: 3-16.
Fairservis, W A (1992). The Harappan Civilization and its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script, Delhi: Oxford & IBH.
Krishnamurti, B H (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kuiper, F B J (1967). The genesis of a linguistic area. IIJ 10 :81-102.
Masica, C P (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Master, Alfred (1948). Indo-Aryan and Dravidian III. BSOAS 12: 340-64.
McAlpin, D W (1981). Proto-Elamo-Dravidian: The Evidence and its Implications, Philadelphia, PA: The American Philosophical Society.
Raman Nair, R and Sulochana Devi, L (2010). Chattampi Swami: An Intellectual Biography. Trivandrum, Centre for south Indian Studies.
Southworth, F C (1974). Linguistic Stratigraphy of north India. In: F C. Southworth and M. L. Apte (eds), Contact and Convergence in South Asian Languages, IJDL (special issue), pp. 201-23.
Sreenathan, M (2010). Langauge plurality and functional heterogeneity among people of India In: Identity, Cultural pluralism and State: South Asia in perspective. In: Das N K and Rao V R (eds)Macmillan and AnSI
Sreenathan, M (2015). Compatibility of linguistic and genetic co evolution, Indian journal of physical Anthropology and Human Genetics, Vol. No. 34 issue no 2
Sreenathan, M (2021). Chattampi Swamikalude Jnana Navodhanam. Trivandrum, State Institute of Languages.
Trautmann R Thomas (2006). Languages and Nations The Colonial Proof in Colonial Madras, Berkely: University of California press
Unnikrishnan, A M (2021). Chattampi Swamikal Padanangal. Vol -III, Kottayam, D C Books
Witzel, M (1989). Tracing the Vedic dialects. In: C. Caillat (ed.), Dialects dans les littératures Indo- Aryennes, Paris: Institut de Civilisation Indienne, pp. 97-264.
Witzel, M (1995). Early Indian history: linguistic and textural parameters. In: G. Erdosy (ed.), The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 85-125.
Witzel, M (1999). Substrate languages. In: Old Indo-Aryan. EJVS 5: 1-67.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Informatics Studies: ISSN: 2583-8994 (Online), 2320-530X (Print)