Scholars from across the world hail glory of Tamil literature

COIMBATORE - Scholars from India and abroad hailed the grandeur of Tamil literature at the World Classical Tamil Conference, which commenced here on Wednesday.

Inaugurated by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the five-day conference will be hosting experts in Tamil literature and history from Sri Lanka, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, United States, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, among others.

President Patil presented the ‘Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award’ to Asko Parpola, leading authority on the Indus script and Professor Emeritus of Indology in the University of Helsinki, Finland.

While praising Tamil literature Parpola said that the rich literature and antiquity of Tamil Nadu matches many other traditions in the world.

“The Government of India has rightly recognised Tamil as a classical language. The statehood fully deserves, in view of its antiquity and its rich literature that in its quality and extent, matches many other traditions of the world,” Parpola added.

Talking about the history of Sanskrit language he said India is an exceptional country, given its ‘remarkable’ literatures, both written and oral.

“India is really a very exceptional country with so many languages having all their remarkable literatures, both written and oral. Sanskrit with its 3000-year old tradition has produced an unrivalled number of literary works. Sanskrit goes back to proto-Indian Aryan attested in a few names and words related to the …kingdom of …between 1,500 and 1,300 BC,” he said.

The World Tamil Conference has been organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which aims at connecting Tamil people across the world.

The conference, this year, will focus on Dravidians art, culture, literature and civilisation. This is the ninth edition of the conference. (ANI)