A note on the 500 years old Thenkalai Vadakalai wars of Southern India A Substack blog post on “Amaruvi Aphorisms“ is copied here below ⬇️ Sudarshan Madabushi https://mylapore.substack.com/p/tamil-iyengarss-quixotic-squabbles AMARUVI DEVANATHAN MAY 23, 2026 Subscriber Note Let me begin with a personal note. I belong to the Vadakalai school of thought. When I had sought toContinue reading “Tamil Iyengars’s Quixotic squabbles “
Tag Archives: Language and Culture
The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History
As usual, the UK Economist peddles once again in its columns a perversely colonialist perspective on Indian History. Will some learned Indian historian please impart to these washed up editors of this fossilised imperialistic relic of British journalism, fresh lessons in understanding the nuances of Indian History and Culture? The Economist suggests that there areContinue reading “The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History”
சோம்பரை உகத்தி போலும்….” and “lazy bones”: transformation from the Ravanesque to the Rama-like .
For the last couple of years it’s been my privilege and personal delight to be corresponding via WhatsApp messages with the well-known writer, novelist, playwright and scholar, Sri. Indira Parthasarathy (pen name “Eepa”) almost daily while we casually discuss a whole range of subjects of mutual interest — mostly Tamil and English literature but occasionallyContinue reading “சோம்பரை உகத்தி போலும்….” and “lazy bones”: transformation from the Ravanesque to the Rama-like .”
India: “no country for intellectuals”?
https://open.substack.com/pub/thedigitalmeadow/p/the-death-of-the-public-intellectual?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web The above article is an excellent commentary on the subject of the waning vigour of the traditions of intellectualism in public debate within the general life of societies right across the globe. Why is the modern public intellectual a dying species? The above essay traces the cause to many reasons in America. But afterContinue reading “India: “no country for intellectuals”?”
Yesterday 10 July 2025: Happy 95th Birthday greetings to Sri Indira Parthasarathy (Eepa): My gift to a very dear friendly guide and outstanding doyen of Tamil literature
“The Middlemen of Vedapura”: A Masterful Translation That Transcends the Original By Indira ParthasarathyTranslated by M.K. SudarshanBlueRose Publishers, 2025★★★★★ (5/5 stars) A Translation That Becomes Transformation There’s something audacious about claiming that a translation surpasses its original, yet M.K. Sudarshan’s English rendering of Indira Parthasarathy’s 1995 Tamil novel “Vedapuratthu Vyaabaarigal” achieves precisely this feat. TheContinue reading “Yesterday 10 July 2025: Happy 95th Birthday greetings to Sri Indira Parthasarathy (Eepa): My gift to a very dear friendly guide and outstanding doyen of Tamil literature”
The “bounty-killers” of Keezhadi archaeology
There was this Rediff Op-Ed piece on the subject Dt. June 2nd 2025 which elicited a lot of discussion amongst a small group of email-friends of mine yesterday. https://www.rediff.com/news/column/n-sathiya-moorthy-why-stalin-is-pushing-keeladi-over-indus-valley/20250602.htm One of the friends … a retired senior bureaucrat, corporate executive, international consultant, government advisor , all rolled into one as a man of many distinguishedContinue reading “The “bounty-killers” of Keezhadi archaeology”
Tamil Vs. Sanskrit: Why this language war over Etymological Cocktails?
If only some expert linguist in India today could explain in similar simple yet so clear terms as the professor does in the video-clip above about how Tamil and Sanskrit languages also originated and developed over the millennia …. I believe there perhaps would be much greater and more sensible understanding that both are reallyContinue reading “Tamil Vs. Sanskrit: Why this language war over Etymological Cocktails?”
Kannada’s parentage: Kamal Haasan won’t apologise for his comment because he’s so intellectually lazy
On a day when Kamal Haasan was nominated by his party, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) to the Rajya Sabha, after the DMK in Tamil Nadu charitably allotted one seat in the Upper House to MNM in return for its support in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the ageing actor made a thoughtless comment about theContinue reading “Kannada’s parentage: Kamal Haasan won’t apologise for his comment because he’s so intellectually lazy”
The cinema world is neither boon nor bane … “it’s about jobs, stupid!”
Yesterday in The Hindu dt. May 9, 2025, I read a very interesting article about how the well known Tamil novelist Asokamitran had in a couple of his popular novels described both the dark and bright sides of the Tamil Cinema world by using the now defunct Gemini Studios S.S.Vasan’s career as his template. TheContinue reading “The cinema world is neither boon nor bane … “it’s about jobs, stupid!””
The Tamil word பூகோளம் (bhukolam) and its rich Sanskritic roots
After watching the video-clip above, if you are intrigued with the word பூகோளம்…, you are also likely to wonder how old the word would be and how it originated. The Tamil word “பூகோளம்” (pūgōḷam) means “globe” or “the terrestrial globe,” referring to the Earth as a spherical object. It is a compound of “பூ” (earth/land)Continue reading “The Tamil word பூகோளம் (bhukolam) and its rich Sanskritic roots”