Birds Eye View Of The Sumero- Tamil Connection

I provide below a rough history of SumeroTamil for the benefit of those scholars who want to have a bird’s eye view of the matter.

My knowledge of Sumerian is secondary and therefore the information I provide below is simply a summary of what I have learned from Sumerian texts. I just provide some details.

The corpus of Sumerian literature is enormous and stretches a period of three thousand years ( 4000 B.C to 1000 B.C) of which the classical period is said to be 3000 B.C to 2000 B.C. the
time during which some of the great texts of outstanding merits were composed.

1. We have as the earliest written text Suruppak's NeRi that I have now posted with both Tamil and English commentaries. The earliest tablet is dated around 2500-2600 B.C. but probably composed several centuries earlier and perhaps survived as an oral text for long.

2. Then we have the writings of En Hudu Anna ( ~ 2200 B.C) the Sirbiyam, Kesi Koyil Paattu and numerous Hymns on Temples. The Kes Hymns and Sirbiyam are philosophically very profound and seem to contain the seed forms of the ideas that later matured as Saiva Siddhanta. Some of these are available in SumeroTamil Campus. Sirbiyam is also a Bakti text , very moving in fact.

3. We have then the Royal Hymns of Sulgi that number around 20 and of which the Murariibiyam (Hymn B) has been uploaded with Tamil commentary.

4. During the same classical period we have the itikasa Gilgamesh, the Epic tales related to Lugal Banda ( Pandiya?) , Studies of Dreams like Dumuzi's Mamu, the puraNaas related to the journeys of Inanna into nether world, many proverbs, dialogues and debates, scientific texts on astronomy and agriculture and so forth.

There are also many letters , commercial records, edicts of the famous Kings , catalogues of books in the libraries and so forth

Most of these are now available in the internet world.

5. Subsequent to this and during the Old Babylonian period (~ 1800 B.C) we have many interesting incantation texts such as Er Semma (> Sembu vari), Udug Hul ( Odukku ol) and so forth that parallel in some ways the Atharva Veda and other Vedas. These mantra texts also contain the nuclear ideas of the latter siddha tradition in India. In fact the whole of Vedic hymns may be related to this corpus. I have made a detailed study of some of these and written a series of articles on "The Word Magic of the Sumerians".

6. Now I also feel that Rigkrit , the language of Rig Veda is a later variant of SumeroTamil and where there is reference to the Sumerian Suruppak as Suuruppak. Comsidering the more evolved nature of Rk, it has to be a later text and probably around 1500 Bc- 1000 BC. The Athrava Veda may be linked with the Sumerian Incantations texts that were composed during the Old Babyloanian period ie. c 1800 BC. This remains to be studied more carefully.

7. During the whole of SumeroTamil literature there is NO VarNasrama Dharma being propounded and supported though individual differences are recognized and that any one can become the ur-sag ( caanRoon) and ulu-gula ( the Kuravan) the teacher.

It is only in the later part of Rig Veda that you see VarNa concepts emerging with even agni being addressed as Brahamonoagni and so forth. Such views are singularly absent in Tamil literature and in that has kept the philosophy of human equality of the Sumerians quite alive. Even Tol that mentions Antanar Vaiciyar as groupings of people also describes the Munaivan as one who enjoys understanding free of prejudices( Vinaiyin niiGki viLangkiya aRivu) implying thereby that anyone can become the Munivan and that it is NOT matter of birth but rather that of understanding.

8. Now with respect to Sumerian Prehistory, the studies of Egyptian, the African Nubiyan, Sub Saharan language and culture may be very relevant. Dr. Winters has done a lot of work in this direction.

I sincerely believe that the roots of Tamil and Indian past is contained in these texts and their neglect in Indological studies is surely to be regretted.

This neglect may be because it goes counter to the Aryan Invasion Theory of some of Western Indologists who twisted and turned historical facts to establish the superiority of the Aryan Race.

An added reason may that the whole of Tamil literature goes against VarNasra Dharma that almost every Sanskrit literature supports directly or indirectly. I am glad to note that this view has been discredited by modern and more objective scholarship.

I am glad also to note that many Indian scholars are slowly waking up to the enormous importance of SumeroTamil studies and through that understand the enormous contribution of the Tamil folks to world civilization.

Dr Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar