Tamil: A Biography

This remarkable book opens up for us a world, the religion and literature of southern India, that is pretty much unknown to most of us. There is fascinating interplay between the languages of this region and the Sanscrit language of northern India, the dominant cultural form. Tamil is utterly alien to Sanscrit, but both coexist and influence each other in the region. The wonderful poetry, much of it erotic, is beautifully translated and explicated by the author.

All good!

Exceptionally rigorous but dense

Very good book, well written.

I got this by mistake it seems well written but is for someone with a specific interest in Tamil and more interested in linguistics than I am

Brilliant

outstanding!

Regret buying the book. Rolling Stones gather no moss. Professors are good in sementics, that’s all. If you want to read about Tamil read read Periyaval’s “ Voice of God “. How can appreciate Tamil without an ounce of Devotion ?. It’s a Devine Language. One cannot comment one the lives of fully realized Souls without realizing the deeper context of the incident. How can one ignore Ouwaiyar’ s contribution to Tamil, mere passing mention does not do justice. It was like trying to understand Islam ignoring Sufism. Tamil without spirituality & devotion is as good as dead, liked what has been happening in Tamil Nadu for the past three decades.

Excellent book, sympathetic to Tamil as Tamil speakers see it without losing objectivity . A must for anyone to understand the complexities of Tamil and the attitude of Tamil speakers to the language. The author has devoted a number of pages to Manipravalam , a language writing style in which Sanskrit words my be in varying degrees incorporated in Tamil texts , usually in Grantham lipi. This part is much needed. I also resonate with the author's view that for the last 100 years, there is an overemphasis on Sangam classics as the most important part of Tamil literary heritage , while many creative literature of the 12th to 19th centuries are neglected as if they don't exist or don't deserve appreciation. This has led to lopsided in Tamil literary and much else appreciation by Tamils. It is high time Tamil literary consciousness takes it's head buried in the sands of 'Golden age of Sangam tamil' to the present and future

Excellent read

suprb

WOW. This is quite a feat for any scholar.

Well researched book. Brings out the real history of Tamils that they were the Mohanjadaro and Harrapa civilization.