Devaneya Pavanar (also known as G. Devaneyan, Ñanamuttan Tevaneyan; 7 February 1902 – 15 January 1981) was a prominent Tamil scholar who wrote over 35 research volumes. Additionally, he was a staunch proponent of the "

Pure Tamil movement ( ta, தனித்தமிழ் இயக்கம், , Independent Tamil Movement) is a linguistic-purity movement in Tamil literature which attempts to avoid loanwords from Sanskrit, English and other languages. The movement began in ...

" and initiated the Etymological Dictionary Project primarily to bring out the roots of Tamil words and their connections and ramifications with Nostratic studies. In his 1966 ''Primary Classical language of the World'', he argues that the

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

is the "most natural" (') and also a

proto-world language The Proto-Human language (also Proto-Sapiens, Proto-World) is the hypothetical direct genetic predecessor of all the world's spoken languages. It would not be ancestral to sign languages. The concept is speculative and not amenable to analysi ...

, being the oldest (') language of the world, from which all other major languages of the world are derived. He believed that its literature, later called

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...

and usually considered to have been written from 200 BCE and 300 CE, spanned a huge period from 10,000 to 5,500 BCE. Mainstream linguists, geologists and historians do not subscribe to his theories. Devaneya Pavanar composed many musical pieces (''Isaik kalambakam'') and many noteworthy poems, including the collection of ''Venpa.'' The title ' was conferred on him by the

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

State Government in 1979, and he was also addressed as Dravida Mozhi nool Nayiru ("Sun of language").Tamil Nadu Government press release
/ref>

Biography

Gnanamuthu Devaneyan Pavanar was a Tamil professor at Municipal College, Salem, from 1944 to 1956. From 1956 to 1961, he was the head of Dravidian department at

Annamalai University , logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg , image = Annamalai University logo.png , image_size = 225px , motto = "With Courage and Faith" , established = , type ...

. He was a member of the Tamil Development and Research Council, set up by the

Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

government in 1959, entrusted with producing Tamil school and college textbooks. From 1974, he was director of the Tamil Etymological Project, and he acted as president of the International Tamil League, Tamil Nadu. (U. Tha. Ka.). The Chennai District Central Library is named after Devanaya Pavanar and is located at Anna Salai, Chennai.

Views on Tamil versus Sanskrit

Pavanar's ''Vadamoli Varalaru'' argues that hundreds of Sanskrit words can be traced to a Tamil origin, and at the same time he insisted that pure Tamil equivalents existed for Sanskrit loan words. He claimed that Tamil is a "superior and more

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

" language than

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. In his view the Tamil language originated in "

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the di ...

" ( '), the

cradle of civilisation A cradle of civilization is a location and a culture where civilization was created by mankind independent of other civilizations in other locations. The formation of urban settlements (cities) is the primary characteristic of a society that c ...

and place of

origin of language The origin of language (spoken and signed, as well as language-related technological systems such as writing), its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study th ...

. He believed that evidence of Tamil's antiquity was being suppressed by Sanskritists. Pavanar's timeline for the evolution of mankind and Tamil is as follows: * ca. 500,000 BC: origin of the human race, * ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or ''Homo Dravida'' ", * c. 200,000 to 100,000 BC, beginnings of Tamil * c. 100,000 to 50,000 BC, growth and development of Tamil, * 50,000 BC:

Kumari Kandam Kumari Kandam is a mythical continent, believed to be lost with an ancient Tamil civilization, supposedly located south of present-day India in the Indian Ocean. Alternative names and spellings include ''Kumarikkandam'' and ''Kumari Nadu''. In ...

civilisation * 20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture on

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

which had an advanced civilisation * 16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged * 6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king * 3031 BC: A Chera prince wandering in the Solomon Islands saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Tamil Nadu. * 1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king * 7th century BC: ''

Tolkāppiyam ''Tolkāppiyam'', also romanised as ''Tholkaappiyam'' ( ta, தொல்காப்பியம், ''lit.'' "ancient poem"), is the most ancient extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil literature. The surviving manus ...

'', the earliest extant Tamil grammar In the preface to his 1966 book ''

The Primary Classical Language of the World Devaneya Pavanar (also known as G. Devaneyan, Ñanamuttan Tevaneyan; 7 February 1902 – 15 January 1981) was a prominent Tamil scholar who wrote over 35 research volumes. Additionally, he was a staunch proponent of the "Pure Tamil movement" an ...

'' he wrote: In a chapter entitled ''Tamil more divine than Sanskrit'', Pavanar gives the reasons why he judges Tamil to be "more

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

" than Sanskrit, arguing for "Primary Classicality of Tamil", he enumerates :

Publishing history

The ''Central Plan Scheme for Classical Tamil'' of the Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil recommends :"To publish the translated but not yet published Sattambi Swamigal's ''Adhibhasa'' which seeks to establish that Tamil is the most ancient language. When published, it will provide an impetus to Pavanar's findings" The literary works and books of Pavanar have been "nationalised" by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the course of the "Golden Jubilee year of National Independence" (2006). This means that the copyright for Pavanar's work is now owned by the state of Tamil Nadu, his legal heirs having been compensated financially.BUDGET ESTIMATE FOR 2002 – 2003
Directorate of Tamil Development, Government of Tamil Nadu

Awards and honours

* A Silver plate presented to him by the Tamil Peravai, Salem in 1955 in appreciation of his service to Tamil.
pallar.org * A Copper Plate presented to his by the

Governor of Tamil Nadu The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by t ...

1960 in appreciation of his contribution to the collection of administrative terms in Tamil. * A Silver Plate presented to his by the South Indian Saiva Sinddhanta Works Publishing Society, Thirunelveli Ltd., in 1970 in appreciations of his research work in Tamil philology and etymology. * Official centenary celebrations of Pavanar were held at Sankarankoil (5 February 2002) and Gomathimuthupuram (6 February) of

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

district and at

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(8. February), attended by the Minister for Education and the Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. * In February 2006, a commemorative stamp of Devaneya Pavanar was released by the Postal Department in Chennai.

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

19 February 2006
*In October 2007, a memorial was installed at

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

by the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

in honour of Devaneya Pavanar. ;Tamil * , 1940. * , 1943. * = The mother of the Dravidian languages, ,

969 Year 969 ( CMLXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 1st millennium, the 69th ...

* ("etymological essays"), , 1973. * , 1978. posthumously: * , 1982. * , 1985. * , 1985–2005 * , 1991. * , 1999. * , 2001. * centenary edition: ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** , 2000. ** ("comparative linguistics"), 2000–<2001 > ** , 2001. ** , 2001. ** , 2001. ** , 200101. ** , 2001.

References

External links

Devaneya Pavanar (Official Website)

publications
(worldcatlibraries.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavanar, Devaneya Tamil-language writers Tamil poets Tamil activists Tamil language activists 1902 births 1981 deaths Pseudoarchaeologists Pseudohistorians Language and mysticism Annamalai University faculty 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian historians Tirukkural commentators Indian male poets Poets from Tamil Nadu Pseudolinguistics