The Linguistic Philosophy of Tolkaapiyar - Part 8

The TG Phonology of Tolkaappiyar ( Part 1 )

The Transformational Generative (TG) view of the grammatical processes of language or Process Grammar runs through the entire spectrum of Tolkaappiyam - in the Books on Phonology, Syntax and Semantics and Intentional Meanings people live with. 

It is this Process Grammar that I have modernized and now extending to the field of Historical Linguistics where the notion of cognate languages are seen in terms of evolutionary developments. I see Rigkrit Sanskrit and Classical Tamil as cognate to each other because they all have as their BASE language SumeroTamil and in which Classical Tamil is a CONTINUATION because of the retention of the basic grammatical processes of the initial SumeroTamil. In terms of the technical terms of Naccinaarkkiniyar, we can say the SumeroTamil is the Karuvi Mozi and Rigkrit, Sanskrit and C.Tamil the Ceykai Mozi but in which while C.Tamil serves as a continuation of SumeroTamil, Rigkrit as something that branched off in view of drastic phonological and other transformations. 

Now before I lose the insights I have gained on the TG Phonology and which is part of Process Grammar, as observed by one of the brilliant commentators Naccinaarkkiniyar, and who uses these technical terms of Karuvi and Ceykai, I want to write this piece and which I hope to revise later. 

The most interesting observation of Nac about overall philosophy of Tol on Ezuttu, the phonemes implicit in all the sutras is contained in his concepts of Karuvi and Ceykai and their differentiations as below: 

>>>>>>>>>> 

இக்கூறிய இலக்கணங்கள் கருவியும் செய்கையும் என இருவகைய.

அவற்றுள் கருவி புறப்புறக் கருவியும் புறக்கருவியும் அகப்புறக் கருவியும் அகக் கருவியும் என நால்வகைத்து. நூன்மரபும் பிறப்பியலும் புறப்புறக் கருவி, மொழிமரபு புறக்கருவி, புணரியல் அகப்புறக் கருவி. ‘ஏகார ஓகாரம் பெயர்க் கீறாகா' (எழு.272) என்றாற் போல்வன அகக் கருவி.

இனிச் செய்கையும் புறப்புறச் செய்கையும் புறச் செய்கையும், அகப்புறச் செய்கையும், அகச்செய்கையுமென நால்வகைத்து. ‘எல்லா மொழிக்கும் உயிர் வருவழியே' (எழு. 140) என்றாற் போல்வன புறப்புறச் செய்கை. ‘ல ன வரூஉம் புள்ளி முன்னர்” (எழு. 146) என்றாற் போல்வன புறச்செய்கை. ‘உகரமொடு புணரும் புள்ளி யிறுதி” (எழு. 163) என்றாற் போல்வன அகப்புறச் செய்கை. தொகை மரபு முதலிய ஓத்தினுள் இன்ன ஈறு இன்னவாறு முடியுமெனச் செய்கை உறுவன வெல்லாம் அகச்செய்கை. இவ்விகற்பமெல்லாம் தொகையாக உணர்க.

Translation by me:

All these phonological processes pertaining to the grammatical coherence (of Tamil) can be further classified into Karuvi and Ceykai. 

Among these, the Karuvi (the Generative Basis or Deep Structure) is further divided into PuRappuRak Karuvi, PuRak Karuvi, AkappuRak Karuvi and Akak Karuvi. The chapters of Nuun Marabu and PiRappiyal (phonetics) pertain to PuRappuRak Karuvi, the chapter on Mozi Marbu is PuRak Karuvi while the chapter on ‘puNariyal” (word conjuncts) is AkappuRak Karuvi. The sutras like “ eekaaram ookaaram peyark kiiRaakaa ( Ezu. 272) belong to Akak Karuvi. 

Now the Ceykai ( the transforms ) are also four types: the puRapuRac Ceykai, puRac Ceykai, AkappuRac Ceykai and Akac Ceykai. The sutras like “ellaa mozikkum uyir varu vaziyee” (Ezu. 140) belongs to PuRappuRac Ceykai. The sutra ‘la na varUum puLLi munnar ‘( Ezu. 146) elucidates the PuRac Ceykai. The sutras like ‘ ukaaramodu puNarum puLLi yiRuti” ( Ezu. 163) are instances of AkappuRac Ceykai. Now in the chapters like ‘Tokai Marabu” where it is described which word final phonemes will get transformed into which phonemes, are instances of Akac Ceykai. All these must be understand collectively. 

>>>>>>>>>> 

Semantically the term Karuvi and which means the womb, karu, also relates well with the English ‘generate’ and we can equate ‘karuvi’ with the Generative Basis. The Ceykai can mean the products of actions and hence the transforms. Let me explain this matter with a concrete example. 

We have the words ‘pal’ (many) and ‘cuvai’ (taste) and when in conjugation we have ‘pal-cuvai’ but which is NOT uttered as such but rather as ‘paRcuvai’. Thus we have here the Deep Structure, the pre-transformational BASE form’ pal-cuvai’ and post transformational Surface form ‘paRcuvai’ . When such phonological transforms in the entire language are studied and which are studied very extensively by Tol. we have the phoneme ‘l’ in the DS getting transformed into the phoneme ‘R’ of SS and which constitutes the IlakkaNam, a linguistic processes that constitutes our pre-existent understanding of grammatical coherence. The ‘-l’ in the DS is the Karuvi Nilai and its transformed state ‘-R’ occasioned by the union of ‘cuvai’ with ‘pal’ is the Ceykai Nilai. 

Thus we see that as Nac. has noted, the meta-concepts of Karuvi and Ceykai go together and anticipate each other. 

Also it makes clear that such a linguistics is immensely HERMENEUTICAL for we are NOT hypothesizing and then testing and so forth. The understanding that uttering ‘pal-cuvai’ as ‘paRcuvai’ is grammatical, is ALREADY there as the linguistic competence of anyone who has a mastery of Tamil and in explaining this pre-understanding in terms of meta-concepts of Karuvi, Ceykai and so forth, we are only CLARIFYING, making CONSCIOUS what already remains part of the unconscious or TACIT understanding of the grammar of the language. 

Unlike in the positive sciences we do not have Theory Building , formulating hypothesis on the basis of it to reach BEYOND the existent conditions and then TEST how true the hypothetical construction is and so forth and which is so evident in the Indo-European linguistics. Such IE Linguistics that seeks out Proto-Indo European as a hypothetical construct cannot be part of Process Grammar and which is the proper shape of Linguistics as much as all the human sciences.

As part of Linguistic Competence of the Tamil language, any fluent speaker has ALREADY an understanding of the IlakkaNam, the grammar constituting processes and what a competent linguist does is to CLARIFY this pre-existent understanding. 

Such an activity is VALID when it SUCCEEDS in clarifying the matter and which is shown by the AGREEMENT any speaker shows towards the explanation. I agree with the derivation of PaRcuvai from pal-cuvai and with the above meta-concepts, only because such an understanding is ALREADY with me but which I was not conscious of.

In other words Linguistics can be practiced as a science only as Hermeneutic Science and this is how it has been in the tradition of Tolkaappiyam in India, setting the model for many other sciences that also developed . 

ULLAGANAR

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

The Icon Thinking of En Hudu Anna

The Cosmos is a Woman

As I started the study the Bakti literature (after decades of concern with Logic and Epistemology) it was a delight to discover the Icon Thinking, which  I recognized as  more basic than analogical metaphorical and so forth.


Such a form of thinking is the essence of Living Hinduism, the Hinduism of ordinary people who go to the temple and in visions of deities, be it in stones, copper, bronze etc, get solace of a kind and as if they have witnessed the gods themselves. They are certainly naive and possess only what can be called “folk wisdom” but somehow they strike me as more authentically religious compared to the widely read and literature spewing scholars, the caattiram ootukinRa sazakkarkaL (the verbose who only study the sastras) of Appar. 


There is something beautiful and alluring about this naivete and this because, I believe, they have an implicit believe in the presence of deities and that they are around there to help the suffering people. I have talked to many ordinary and common people (like my mother who was illiterate) and they also disclose a profound wisdom which is the understanding that all gods are the same - be it Siva, Muruka, Vinayaka, Turumaal, Krishna etc - they are the same and all deserve to be respected and worshipped! Such simple people can penetrate and go to the depths and see the SAME BEING at the depths of all deities.


I think that this is all because of the basic and primordial Icon Thinking which has been buried by scholastic and analytical concerns and who by that have become very distant to genuine and simple religiosity. At the moment the Acaryas are the least religious despite their weighty scholarship in selected literature!


I would like to show in thus essay the 'Icon Thinking of En Hudu Anna’ to show that this form of thinking was there in one of the earliest civilizations in the world, SumeroTamil Civilization and that it was the kind of thinking that formed the basis of culture itself and in that the human culture was forged by the gods themselves by erupting into the human mind and possessing it.


I have taken for a renewed study En Hudu Anna’s immensely beautiful 'Exaltations of In-Anna' that have I called Sirbiyam (c. 2200 BC), using a word that occurs in Sulgi’s Hymn B. I have done the whole text with Tamil renderings. 


What I want to do now is not to discuss  so much the linguistic aspects, which I have already already done in in my other papers, but to bring out the Icon Thinking as available here and through that show the very ancient genesis of Bakti that constitutes the essence of Hindu way of life both high and low. 



The text begins as below:

1. nin-me-sar-ra u-dalla-e-a 

Lady of all the me's resplendent light 
நின் மெய் சர்வ உள் தெள்ளிய 


2.mi-zi me-lam gur-ru ki-aga-an-uras-a 
Righteous woman clothed in radiance,  beloved of heaven and earth 
மை-சீ மேலம் கூறு காங்க வான் ஊரŠய 


3. nu-gig- an-na suh-kesda- gal-gal-la 
Hierodule of An, (you) of all the great ornaments 
நங்கி ஆண்ண சூ‹கட்டு கள்கள்ள 


4. aga-zi-de ki-aga nam-en-na tum-ma 
Enamored of the appropriate tiara, suitable for the high priest-hood 
அங்க சீத்தே காங்க ஏண்ணநம் தகும்ம 



In the first line itself, the praise is NOT to Fire as in Suruppak’s Neri where the ancient ri, eri, the fire was invoked, as was also the case with Rig Veda, the agnim Ile. 

There is description of Fire but as u-dalla-e-a, the uL teLLiya, the Brilliant and Clear LIGHT, the Pure radiance. And furthermore this is NOT the impersonal Light, the Sunyata (sun< suur< suul) but rather the FORM of In-Anna Herself, the Woman, the creatrix of all, and because she is the Lady of all me’s, the Nin me sar-ra, i.e., Nin mey sarva where Nin means the immensely tall and great (Tamil: nil: to stand up, nivar; to rise up) and the beholder of all powers (me Tamil : mey, moy: power, strength)


This Pure Light is the woman, the later Parai of the Saivites but here also the hierodule or consort of An, (Tamil: aaN, aaL> aaNdavan) the righteous woman (mi -zi: mai cii) and who wears the radiance itself as her attire (me-lam gur-ru: meeLam kuurai). But most importantly, bright and brilliant as such, she is the beloved of all, both in the world and the heavens (ki-aga an uras-a: kaama vaan uraasya). 


So the Pure radiance is NOT impersonal and indifferent light but rather someone who is LOVED dearly by all the creatures in the world as well as   the celestial beings in the heavens. By her beauty of Pure Radiance she captures all and makes them LOVE her and PRAISE in true Bakti! The Woman, ParaSakti, is being viewed as a spiritual entity and NOT just simply as alluring stream of light. What was eri sudra, eri bad-da, the ancient and primordial burst of molten rocks etc, is now a Woman, immensely beautiful and alluring by her garment of Brilliant Light.


For En Hudu Anna, the spiritual essence of In-Anna, doesn’t stop here. She sees the heavens so filled with stars and other objects and immensely beautiful as such as  In-Anna herself wearing the aga-zi-de (aNi ciiyitee: beautiful ornaments), the crown studded with diamonds and wearing which she becomes fit for high-priesthood (nam-en-en-na tum-ma: eeNNanam takumma). In those days the high-priesthood was not different from queenship, the kingly was one with the priestly.


Of course she is describing the Universe but NOT  simply as a physical system where the impersonal gravitational and magnetic forces enact all the dramas. There is Organismic thinking like in ‘u-ulluh-ha’ where there is  viewing the cosmos as Se-er Maal, the Purusha of Purusha Suktam, BEING showing Himself with a thousand heads and limbs and even here  showing only part of Himself and concealing the rest.


But for En Hudu Anna, the most outstanding woman poet-philosopher of the Third Millennium World, the Cosmos is a Woman, whose man An, (aaN) remains hidden and concealed in her brilliance!


These notions are still available in Saiva Siddhanta where it is said that unless blessed by Parai, no one could witness BEING(Siva) and enjoy Civanjanam and so forth



ULLAGANAR.
( AG 7-4-2003 )


( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Part 26

The Metaphysics of Transgressive Sexuality

By metaphysical explanation I mean relating everything to the fundamental Siva Tatvas, Natam and Bindu, the Yin and Yang of Taoism and perhaps also the root causal basis of Jungian Anima and Animus. These Tatvas also appear as the Inner Sun and Moon as we shall see next.

These Siva Tatvas generate a range of mantras that are existence binding through installing sexuality in the very breath of all creatures. Acting against are the Mantras of Natam, the Vanni ezuttu, the Fire-Mantras and which roasts these fertility mantras so that they are made ineffective. Spiritual ascendance and reaching the peak in stages is a matter how FREE one becomes from the sexual desires and hence also the desire for immortality.

Moksa appears on the horizon only when the unconscious desires are burnt out.

See more on this below.

54.

1969

விந்துவும் நாதமும் விளைய விளைந்தது
வந்த இப்பல்லுயிர் மன்னுயிர்க் கெல்லாம்
அந்தமும் ஆதியுமாம் மந்திரங்களும்
விந்து அடங்க விளையும் சிவோகமே

உரை:

என்றும் அழியாத சிவதத்துவங்களாகிய விந்துவும் நாதமும் பர அபர நாதம் விந்துவென விளைய விளைந்தது, உருவெடுத்து ஒருவாறு வாழ்கின்ற திறத்தின், மீண்டும் மீண்டும் பிறப்பெடுத்து மன்னும்  உயிர்கட்கெல்லாம் அவற்றின் அந்தமும் ஆதியுமாகிய மேலே கூறப்பட்ட மந்திரங்கள். இவற்றில் விந்துவின் வடிவங்களாக நின்று பல்வேறு இச்சைகளை தோற்றிக்கொண்டே உயிர் மூச்சொடு மூச்சாகக் கலந்திருக்கும் மந்திரங்கள், நாதத்தின் வடிவங்களாக இருக்கும் மந்திரங்களின் தாக்கத்தால் அடங்க, ஆன்மா எல்லா இச்சைகலையும் வென்று சிவத்துவம் எய்தி சிவோகம் அனுபவிக்கும்.
54.
1969

vintuvum naatamum viLaiya viLaintatu
vanta ippalluyir mannuyirk kellaam
antamum aatiyumaam mantiraGakalum
vintu adaGka viLaiyum civookamee

Meaning:

It is only because the Natam and Vintu in their para and apara forms manifest themselves as mantras that all creatures assume bodily forms and persist in existence through a cycle of births and deaths. The mantras that are actually expressions of both Natam and Bindu become the forces that originate and annihilate them so that there is existential repetition. Now in this when as a result the fire-mantras of Natam, the Mantras of Bindu are made ineffective, there will arise the self enjoying, the qualitative SAMENESS with Siva.

55.

1970

வறுக்கின்ற வாறு மனத்துலா வெற்றி
நிறுக்கின்ற வாறும் அந்நீள் வரை யொட்டி
பொறிக்கின்ற வாறும் அப்பொல்லா வினையை
அறுக்கின்ற நாள்வரும் அத்தீப் பழமே

உரை:

சந்தானவிருத்தி சிந்தனையின் காமத்தை ஊட்டும் அபர பர விந்துக்களின் தாக்கத்தை வறுத்து இல்லாது போக்குமாறும், மனத்தில் பொய் என்றும் மெய் என்றும் செல்லும் மெய்ஞானச் சிந்தனை  உலாவில் வெற்றியுற்று ஆழுண்மைகளிலேயே தவறாது நிறுத்துகின்றவாறும், அதனால் ஆதாரத்தலங்களில் உயர்ந்து உயர்ந்து சென்று முடிவில் அந்த நெடியக் குன்றாகிய சகஸ்ரத்தலம் ஒட்டி, எல்லா இச்சசக்திகலையும்  ஞானசக்தியாக பொறிக்கின்றவாறும் அதன் வழி பிறப்பீனும் வித்துகளாகிய வினைகள் அனைத்தையும் அறுக்கின்றவாறும், சிவாக்கினியாக நாதம் விளைந்து நிற்கும் நாள் தவராது வரும்.
55.

1970.

vaRukkinRa varu manattulaa veRRi
niRukkinRa vaaRum anniiL varai yoddi
poRikkinRa vaaRum appollaa vinaiyai
aRukkinRa naaLvarum attiip pazamee

Meaning:

There is Fire deep inside which expresses itself as a form of Natam and which roasts the seed of Bindu so that it is no more capable of reproduction. This also establishes VICTORY in Metaphysical Thinking of the mind so that finally it rests firmly on TRUTH. It is also that which causes the ascendance in the journey of Atara Cakras so that the anma ascends and reaches the Great PEAK of the Lotus of thousand petals and where all the karmas are burnt and the anma freed of them completely.

Comments:

These two verses explain the total uprooting of SEXUALITY including the transgressive form. For anma to become absolutely PURE and in that also enjoy being  SAME-as-Siva, the Sivookam, it has to be absolutely pure and which includes freeing oneself from all kinds of desires including here even sexuality, the root cause of all desires.

The desires are related to the species reproduction mantras that are expressions of Bindu, the Vittu, the SEED and the mantras that are the expression of Natam are the fire mantras, the Vanni Ezuttu that desiccate the Bindu mantras through roasting, burning and so forth. This liberating of the anma from sexuality and hence the desire for immortality through self-regeneration, also lifts it up ABOVE that cycle and prepares it for enjoying Moksa through the stance of Sivookam, the qualitative SAMNESS with BEING.

Here it must be recalled that it is the Sudhadvaita of Saiva Siddhanta where is no NEGATION of the world but only a TRAVEL, a Yaattirai through the Atara Cakras, so well entrenched in many Tantric systems. The UNDERSTANDING must TRAVEL, explore all the metaphysical worlds and make sense of all interpretively and hence bring everything to the Ilaadat taanam, as MeykaNdar later would say, the region of forehead where consciousness is located. 

At this point everything becomes TRANSLUCENT with nothing OPAQUE in understanding. Such a way of being also FREES the anma from all karmas, the vinai and thus made absolutely PURE and in which state only it can enjoy Sivookam, the Sameness as Siva.



ULLAGANAR


( Editing and re-paragraphing by his student)

தமிழர் திசை - Tamils’ Direction: ஹார்வார்ட்பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் 'தமிழ் இருக்கை' (Tam...

தமிழர் திசை - Tamils’ Direction:

ஹார்வார்ட்பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் 'தமிழ் இருக்கை' (Tam...: ஹார்வார்ட் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் ' தமிழ் இருக்கை ' (Tamil Chair); சமஸ்கிருத ஆதரவு புலமையாளர்களிடமிருந்து கற்க வேண்டிய பா...

Eliminating Sanskrit words in Tamil, is it justified?

Question :I do not know why Ullaganar uses the word sutra in explaining Tolkaapiyam. This I am sure is a Sanskrit word and there is an equivalent word in Tamil - nuul.

Answer : I am questioning such assumptions as yours and all based on my studies of Sumerian as Archaic Tamil.

Beautiful Tamil words are mistakenly taken as Sanskrit where as a matter of fact Sanskrit itself is a kind of Tamil language that branched off during very ancient times. Thus there can be a large number of shared words just as is the case with Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and so forth. Once we get into the habit of thinking that Sanskrit is an ancient branch of ArchaicTamil language such problems will be over.

There are many words of the same morphology as sutra - tantra, mantra, yantra and so forth, The roots of su-tra i.e 'su' and 'tira> tra" are both Archaic Tamil. 'su' occurs in SumeroTamil as 'zu/su' meaning to understand, know and so forth.

For example: we have from En Hudu Anna's Sirbiyam the following lines:

123. Sumerian : an-gim mah-a-za he-zu-am
That you are lofty as Heaven-- be it known!
Tamil : vaanGin mahaa ji-a ii suu aam

124 Sumerian : ki-gim dagal-la-za he-zu-am
That you are broad as the earth -- be it known!
Tamil : kiiGim takalla ji-a ii suu aam

125.Sumerian : ki-bala-gul-gul-lu-za he-zu-am
That you devastate the rebellious land- be it know !
Tamil : kii-vala kolkollu jia ii suu aam

The 'zu/ju' here is also rendered as "su' in many places.
The tira>tra is to be derived from Su. til-a , meaning to exist, abide, to subsist etc and which is retained in Tamil in the term Tillai ManRu and which is rendred as Til-mun in Sumerian.
Thus 'suuttiram' ( > Sk sutra) is somehing that contains a deep understanding. Now the 'tra' can also be derived from Su. tar-ra i.e. to give that corresponds with Ta. tar, taru. There are many terms in CaGkam Tamil with 'taru' as an aux. verb such as 'tiri-taru' , valam-taru' etc. su-taru-am> suuttiram : that which give an understanding?

I also believe that the letter 'ka' in Tamil has the allophones 'ha' and 'ga'.

ULLAGANAR

( NOTE : Su : Sumerian, Sk : Sanskrit, Ta : Tamil. A lot of Tamil words are being lost to Sanskrit due to the wrong understanding that these words are Sanskrit based and not pure Tamil. We hope the universities in Tamilnadu ibn particular will do further research in the finding that Sanskrit is an offshoot of Tamil )

The Linguistic Philosophy of Tolkaapiyar - Part 7

The Transformational Grammar of Tolkaappiyar 

It is generally taken even by Indian linguists that Transformational Generative Grammar came into the linguistic world only after Chomsky’s Aspects of Syntax and which was born out of a criticism of Structural Linguistics such as that of Harris. But this may not be true if we look at the several sutras in Eccaviyal that deal with MozimaaRRu, how sentences become transformed in the context of generating more complex meanings where semantic ambiguity comes to prevail because of that. 

There is an important difference. While Chomsky’s TG grammar deals with syntactic transformations independent of meanings, this is NOT SO with Tolkaapiyam, where it is semantically founded. Basic sentences are combined and complex sentences are generated to create more complex and sometimes ambiguous meanings - i.e. by poruL puNar iyalbu - ways of generating complex meanings. Here because of semantic considerations, transformed sentences that undergo changes in prosodic features are also noted. 

The FOUR classes of transformations recognized are called : NiranniRai, CuNNam, AdimaRi amd MozimaaRRu and of which the NiranniRai appears to be purely syntactical while the remaining prosodic. 

The Four Different Ways Meanings are Communicated in Verses:

399 

niraniRai cuNNam adimaRi mozimaaRRu 

ena n_aan kenpa poruLpuNar iyalbee 

It is intended to explicate how words are combined in literary compositions so that appropriate meanings get communicated. 

Meaning:The scholars will say that the different patterns of word combinations in literary compositions that communicate meanings are the four: niraniRai, cuNNam, AdimaRi and MozimaaRRu.

Comments: 

Tol. isolates here only the non normal ways in which meanings are communicated in literary compositions, it being unnecessary to explicate the natural ways in which meanings are communicated in both existential and literary uses of the language where the meanings are immediately grasped. These will be explained at the appropriate sutras. 

Notes (Loga) 

In this sutra and those that follow, what we have is the study of meanings which are ambiguous or uncertain and which require various of kinds of TRANSFORMATIONS to disambiguate. The natural order of words are disturbed and transformed and in that specific meanings are communicated. These sutras deal with the various ways in which these transformational processes must be overcome to get at the meanings. 

401 

The Way of getting at the Meaning by the Method of NiranniRai 

avaRRuL 

niraniRai taanee

vinaiyinum peyarinum ninaiyat toonRi

colveeRu nilai.i poruLveeRu nilaiayal 

Meaning: Among the ways (of getting at the intended meaning) enumerated above, the NiranniRai method consists in reflecting on the scattered NPs and VPs collectively and reorganizing them so that each NP is followed with the most appropriate VP. 

adal veel amar nookkki ninmukang kaNdee 

udalum irintoodum uuzmalarum paarkkum

kadalumkanaiyiruLum aampalaum paambum

tadamatiyam aamenRu taam 

Here the VP’s udalum ( will suffer) oodum ( will run away) , uuzmalarum (will blossom) paarkkum (will see) must be connected with the NP’s kadal ( the seas) iruL ( darkness) aambal ( the lotus) paambu (the snake) in that order and reorganize all as the conjunction of the sentences : kadal udalum ( the seas will suffer ), iruL oodum ( the darkness will run away) ,aambal malarum (the lotus will blossom) and paambu paarkkum ( the snake will see) 

When it is said : kodikuvaLai koddai nucupuNkaN meeni”, the NP’s kodi ( creeper), kuavaLai (the flower), koddai (the seeds) go with the NP’s nucuppu ( the waist), uNkaN (the devouring eyes),and meeni (the body) where we have to derive the sentences ‘ kodu nucuppu ( the creeper-like waist), kauvaLaik kaN ( the lotus-like eyes), koddai meeni ( the seed colored (i.e. black) body 

Now when you come across such constructions only with verbal nouns and VP’s, then apply the same rules.

On account of it being said, only by reflection that the proper meaning emerges, we can consider all constructions where unless properly reorganized the meanings do not emerge clearly. When it is said “ kaLiruG kantum poola naLikadaR kuumbuG kalanum toonRum( Mayilai- pp 282), because the kuumbu( the beams) is not a possible analogy for kaLiRu (the elephant) and the Kantu (the pole) for the kalan ( the boat) , it is best to reorganize as :the boat-like elephant, the beams like the wooden pole(for tying down the elephants) 

Notes ( Loga) 

It looks as though we have here some elementary principles of Transformational Grammar as aspects of disambiguation whereby the HIDDEN and CONCEALED proper form and order of a number of sentences juxtaposed are RECOVERED through appropriate reordering and reorganizing maneuvers. The initial sentence has the surface form of : {{NP1, NP2, NP3, NP4 }& {VP1, VP2, VP3, VP4}} This surface form is semantically ambiguous or confusing and in order to disambiguate and attain an understanding of the intended, the whole sentence has to be CAPTURED semantically the SAME as { NP1&VP1, NP2&VP2, NP3&VP3, NP4&VP4}. Here the recovered set is the INTENDED and which has the SAME MEANING as the presented. The order of words in the presented form or the Surface Structure, does not make any sense immediately but which contains within itself the Deep Structure on the recovery of which the meaning becomes quite obvious. 

Using this and other truth-functional notions, I have developed Process Grammar as an alternative to the TG Grammar of Chomsky. For example the subject-predicate sentence “The dog is barking” when used for assertion, meaning a certain proposition in which the referred object the dog is presupposed as real and assertion being an attribution of something to this and which can agreed upon or not so. 

This sentence and hence the assertion can be considered to have been generated out of TWO more primitive kinds of assertions : ( That1 is dog )

 O (That1 is barking) ------>The dog is barking ( the number refers to the identity of the object). As Teyvaciliaiyaar has noted in the chapter on KiLaviyaakkam ( the genesis of speech), unless it is presupposed that the first is true ( as indicated by the symbol “o” ) the assertion “ The dog is barking” will be impossible. In making truth presuppositions central in the generation of subject-predicate and other kinds of complex sentences, Process Grammar differs from not only the TG Grammar of Chomsky but also the predicate Calculus of Russel-Whitehead. 

Remarks: 

We can see that it is the question of AMBIGUITY in meaning that forces one to RECOVER another sentence by de-transforming the given where the meaning is not ambiguous at all or less ambiguous. 

This, I understand, was also the take-off point for the TG grammar of Chomsky. The TG Grammar of Tol or what I have called Process Grammar is semantically based and is not purely syntactical. 

Such matters remain to be studied in greater depth and I hope to take up such issues in greater details later.

ULLAGANAR.

( EDITING AND RE-PARAGRAPHING BY HIS STUDENT )

Definition of Valiancy in Navarathiri

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia, Penang

Definition of wealth in Navarathiri

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia, Penang.

Allowing BEING to Form Us - The Psychology of Tirumular

Allowing BEING to Form Us

The new world situation where the national and cultural boundaries are disappearing, demands a philosophy of life that is universal and the Psychology of Tirumular fits in as a suitable candidate to displace the ideologies that have divided people more than uniting them. We need a Philosophy of Life that is UNIVERSAL and at the same time RATIONAL so that an articulation of it becomes acceptable to all whatever their cultural, religious or ideological background they belong to.

This is provided I think by the Philosophy of Praximatism, the philosophy that begins with the empirical truth that human beings ACT, effect Praxis and that is it only through ACTING that one can ascend the metaphysical ladder and assume personalities that are better and closer  to the Divine essence. Though Marxism started with this notion but seems to have gone  astray with its atheism or materialism that is NOT warranted within strict Praximatism.

Tirumular articulates this Philosophy as do the most of the brilliant Saiva Philosophers who sought after the UNIVERSAL in man and connected with it with Bakti.  In the following  verse Tirumular articulates the notion that human personalities are FLUID and CAN BE DEVELOPED continuously provided we allow without any internal resistance to be informed and formed by the ARCHETYPES that are different presentations of BEING. 

We human beings, full of ignorance,  do not know what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong and our praxis reflects this. However we can derive  comfort from the understanding  that BEING is there deep within our interior self, guiding us all along  possessing us through a series of graded archetypes so that we intuit different meanings, ACT consistent with that understanding and LEARN to discard the wrong and evil and retain the good and noble. In this progress is also written a better understanding of BEING. Without ACTING we cannot understand our divine essence.

This philosophy demands that we LOOK INTO our OWN UNDERSTANDING to illuminate ourselves the mysteries of existence and which demands as a corollary that we FREE ourselves from whatever that chains our freedom of thought. At an important point of development these chains become PRISONS and hence something that must be discarded and thrown away as no more relevant and important and look rather at the LIVING PRESENCE of BEING in various archetypal forms. This means we have to throw break away from these binding chains  as no more necessary for the further progress in personality and assume the posture of Bakti  and allow BEING Himself to guide us further in His own way.


7.

aRivil aNuka aRivathu nalkip
poRivazi yaacai pukuttip puNarntiddu
aRivatu vaakki adiyaruL nalkunj
ceRivodu ninRaar civam aayinaaree.
Meaning:

BEING provides the necessary metaphysical illuminations for those individuals who seek their understanding itself as that which needs to be understood. They will realize that BEING does not bless them with  the Absolute Illumination immediately but rather in stages where they are at first given a body and impelled to inquire into metaphysical matters through sensorial perceptions  in the course of which  He discloses Himself in various archetypal forms thereby allowing the anmas intuit His Presence and understand Him.  Furthermore by impelling further inquiries through these archetypal forms, discloses HIS  Grace continuously to further illuminate them. Those who live steadfast with this clarity will finally destroy their Ego and shine forth in existence as BEING  himself.
Notes:Human beings are PRAXIMATIC, inclined to effect ACTIONS knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously,  intentionally or unintentionally. That which stabilizes behavior , as we have already seen, is MEANINGFUL behavior and we have already seen that the emergence of DIFFERENT KINDS OF MEANINGS is a matter of Grace, the blessings of BEING that never dries up. As a person continues to act  in the world,  meanings after meanings emerge in a graded manner taking the person higher and higher in cognitive development and so forth.

However such a person , caught up in his Praxism, is ignorant of himself, the various mechanisms made available to him for effecting an action and the presence of BEING as the ONE who provides and regulates all these. Thus a praxic person remains IGNORANT or UNCONSCIOUS of  all these and when the knowledge of one's own ignorance of such matters breaks into the consciousness of the person, then he sits back and makes his UNDERSTANDING itself the subject matter of his search. Thus he becomes at long last genuinely philosophic or metaphysical seeking to understand  his own being and presence in the world  as such and such .  

BEING  provides  the metaphysical illuminations sought after but in stages CONCEALING his OWN Essence till the right sort of philosophic maturity becomes available.  He discloses Himself in various archetypal forms that impel further metaphysical reflections about the essence of BEING and in the course He UNCONCEALS Himself in slow measures so that the individuals begin to glow in the TRUTH of BEING.

But why this archetypal presentations and that too in human-like forms?

Those who do not understand the workings of BEING and His strategies would be inclined to say that such archetypes or divinities are fertile imaginations of human beings , their own projections into the Unknown,  simply their fictions , mental constructs and so forth. 

It should be noted that archetypes, as they possess powers beyond the imagination of the individuals,  are NOT projections of the feeble  human mind but rather presentations of BEING Himself in a manner that is within the COMPREHENSION of the human mind. The anmas are given a body and for the matured the human frame itself with all the cognitive facilities that come along with it so that they can BEHOLD BEING at least in the human- like archetypes but at the same time INQUIRE further as to the TRUTH of the whole matter. BEING conceals Himself behind these archetypal presentations and draws the attention of the anmas to His HIDDEN PRESENCE  so that they would TRANSCEND these archetypes and seek out His FORMLESS ESSENCE.

Not all individuals can do this for it requires a certain maturity to do this -- they must have the INNER  COURAGE to liberate themselves from being held a  prisoner of such comprehensible archetypes that remain dear to oneself. Any way for those who dare and free themselves from the worship of archetypal form of BEING and ascend further, BEING graces them, destroying their Ego and implanting HIMSELF there so that they shine forth as BEING HIMSELF. With this the anmas attain the ultimate mode of behavior for from this moment,  their PRAXIS ceases to be human and turns out to be that of BEING HIMSELF.



ULLAGANAR
( 2-1-2002, DP )

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )


( photo taken from https://pixabay.com/en/ with thanks )

What is 'Learning' from the Tamil Saivite point of view?

What is 'Learning' from the Tamil Saivite point of view?

First of all , we have to be clear as to the meaning of 'LEARNING' especially in the modern context where this notion has been distorted by the behavior psychologists like Pavlov and Skinner and also numerous cognitive psychologists. I would also add to this list the Depth psychologist like Freud and Jung who while exposing the unconscious intruding into the conscious at various levels , were not clear as to the PEDAGOGIC dimensions of the workings of the unconscious.

By learning I mean the destruction of IGNORANCE where this ignorance is itself is seen as ABCONSCIOUSNESS ( absence of consciousness) arising from a certain BLINDNESS, the inability to SEE. When we go further into this then we have to recognize the presence of ANavam and along with it the Mayai and Kanmam as those elements already there and which introduce the blindness, the inability to SEE by hiding, covering up, distorting , distracting or calling the attention away from the essence, circumscribing and so forth.

Learning takes place when we pierce through this inherent delimitedness of seeing and by gaining the aruL, we manage to SEE more and also more of truths.

In this context the alpha-learning or paacanjnanam is the learning pertaining to the physical -- the destruction of ignorance through whatever illuminations we can gain about the physical. This is also the matters that pertain to PoRiliyak Kaadci, the sensorial perceptions including the information we gain through the instruments which are extensions of the senses. Thus it would incorporate the whole of positive sciences. This kind of learning is there with all of us though it is only the Europeans who have elevated it to the primary methodology of understanding and hence the development of technologies that really works.

When this PoRiliyak Kaadci or sensorial perception gives way to the Hermeneutic or Nuuliyap Paarvai, then we have the birth of beta-learning or self-learning, learning about the self, the atmanjaanam. The self can be identified and seen as a reality only within the Hermeneutic seeing for the self discloses itself only though TEXTS and as the Deep Structure of such texts. The ' I ' that I am can be identified only as the D.S of my behavior but as taken as a TEXT and NOT simply as collection of responses tied to various kinds of stimuli or even cognitive processes of image formation, distortion retention recollection and so forth. I act and in my actions or praxis emerges what I am -- cunning scheming, avaricious, greedy, gentle, aggressive, intelligent , stupid, racial, arrogant, impatient and what not. The self has to be intuited as the Agent ( the Nimitta Kaaranam) of the actions which are intentional. We have to capture the INTENTIONALITY of the human beings to understand the essence of the self. Beta-learning or Pacunjaanam is of this type.

Now as the Pacunjaanam develops , the UNCONSCIOUS presence or various kinds of archetypes within us configuring our INTENTIONALITIES themselves is intuited and with this also the understanding that there is BEING who presents Himself in so many archetypal forms -- Muruka, Siva, VishNu, Sakti and what not and with this begins the Gamma-learning or the Pathinjaanam.

Life becomes genuinely metaphysical where the intentionalities are directed at understanding more and more of BEING.

This is the meaning of 'LEARNING' from the Tamil Saivite point of view, in my understanding.

ULLAGANAR

( 21-6-2002, AT )

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

( photo taken from https://pixabay.com/ , with thanks )