SANGAMAM CULTURAL PROGRAMMEGLORIFICAION OF TAMIL LANGUAGE, CULTURE & ARTS
Dravidian Civilization is one of the ancient
civilizations of the world. Archeological
evidences excavated from Harappa and Mohanjedaro in Punjab and Sind provinces in Pakistan prove that this Dravidian Civilization was in vogue in Indus valley some 5,000 years ago. Aryans, who came to India from Central Asia, foisted their civilization, culture, customs, system of worship etc on the natives of India. People were divided into four varnas and thousands of castes. Apart from this, the working class people are classified as avarnas, panchamas and chandalas who are treated as untouchables. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar describes the caste system as a ladder in which the castes are arranged in ascending and descending order and the highest caste receives reverence and the lowest is treated with contempt.
The Aryans called themselves as Boo Devas (gods on earth) and assigned the name of Asuras ( devils or evil forces) to the natives.
Aryans consider their language Sanskrit as a sacred and divine one, in which the vedas are recited. Sanskrit is not a spoken language. The Vedas were passed on from generation to generation through oral lessons and recitations. Proper script was adopted for the Sanskrit language only at a later date.
Tamil is one of the ancient classical languages having abundant works of literature, grammar, arts like music, dance and drama. The three other Dravidian languages of Telugu, Kannada and Malayala are closely related to Tamil lanaguge. The great scholar and Christian Missionary Caldwel, in his book ‘The Comparative grammar of Dravidian Languages’ describes in detail the richness of Tamil language and the impact of Sanskrit on the Dravidian languages.
Hitherto, the first of the Tamil month of Chithirai (usually falls in the middle of April) was considered as the Tamil New Year Day. Unlike the universal calender of B.C. and A.D., the Tamil calender was calculated on the basis of 60 years which will be repeated in a cycle. The historial events could not be correctly recorded with this calendar. The names of these years are not Tamil names, but only Sanskrit names. As per a mythological story, these years are named after the children born out of the union of two male gods, Lord Krishna and Narada.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M.Karunanidhi passed an order on the basis of the decision of great Tamil scholars who assembled at Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai, in early 1920s, that the first of the month of Thai will be the Tamil New Year’s Day and the Thiruvalluvar Era will be followed in the Tamil Calender based on the birth of Thiruvalluvar.
Pongal, the harvest festival, is the only festival of Tamilians. All other festivals like Deepavali, Navarathiri, Rama Navami, Krishna Jayanthi, Vinayagar Chathurthi are festivals of Aryans based on the mythological stories of imaginary Hindu gods.
Of late, the Tamilian festival of Pongal is being celebrated with great pomp and show. Sangamam, a Tamil Cultural Programme is being conducted on the eve of Pongal from the year 2007 due to the initiative of Thiru Jegath Kaspar, Director of Tamil Centre, and poet Tmt.Kanimozhi, M.P. and Co-ordinator of the Tamil Centre.
Cultural events of Tamil arts like Karaga Attam, Poikkal Kudirai, Vurimai Melam, Folk Dance, etc were conducted in 16 prominent big parks in Chennai city. Other events like Food festival, Rural games, Story telling with songs are also organised along with the cultural programmes.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu inaugurated the Sangamam in the evening of 10th January at a function held at Island grounds. The festival came to an end with a colourful concluding programme held at Elliots Beach, Chennai on 16th January.
It is proposed to conduct Sangamam cultural programmes in places outside Chennai City also in the coming years.
