The World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 was an international gathering of

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

s, political leaders and

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

with an interest in

Tamil people The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

, 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 P ...

and

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

. It was held in Coimbatore between 23 June and 27 June 2010 with an expenditure of more than 500 Crores.

Venue

The WCTC was held at

CODISSIA Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) (Tamil:கோயம்புத்தூர் மாவட்ட சிறு தொழிலார்கள் சங்கம்) is an Indian trade organization based in Coimbatore, ...

Trade Fair Complex in Coimbatore and chaired by then chief minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, M. Karunanidhi and was organized by his

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

Participants

The conference was inaugurated by the President of India,

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

. Finnish Tamil scholar

Asko Parpola Asko Parpola (born 12 July 1941, in Forssa) is a Finnish Indologist, current professor emeritus of South Asian studies at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in Sindhology, specifically the study of the Indus script. Biography Parpola i ...

was awarded the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil award. Tamil scholar V. Sivathambi from Sri Lanka,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Director Arumugam Parasuraman, MP and political leader

Sitaram Yechury Sitaram Yechury (born 12 August 1952) is an Indian marxist politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the largest communist party in India. Ea ...

of Communist Party of India (Marxist), D. Raja of Communist Party of India,

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (; VCK) formerly known as the Dalit Panthers of India or the Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam (; DPI) is an Indian social movement and political party that seeks to combat caste based discrimination, active in the state o ...

President Thol. Thirumavalavan and

Pattali Makkal Katchi Paattali Makkal Katchi (; PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the Vanniyars, a caste in northern Tamil Nadu. It is currently part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It contests t ...

founder S. Ramadoss participated in the conference. Dignitaries and Tamil scholars were gifted with an engraved Thanjavur plate.

Events

US Tamil scholar George Hart presented a paper on

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 Indian epigraphist

Iravatham Mahadevan Iravatham Mahadevan (2 October 1930 – 26 November 2018) was an Indian epigraphist and civil servant, known for his decipherment of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and for his expertise on the epigraphy of the Indus Valley civilisation. Early lif ...

chaired a debate on scripts. Rononjoy Adhikari and Kavitha Gingal from the Institute of Mathematical Science, who were working on a mathematical model to relate the

Indus script The Indus script, also known as the Harappan script, is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not they constituted ...

with the

Dravidian language The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant imm ...

were involved in the debate.

Theme Song

The theme song, "

Semmozhiyaana Thamizh Mozhiyaam "Semmozhiyaana Thamizh Mozhiyaam" ( ta, செம்மொழியான தமிழ் மொழியாம்; alternately titled Tamil Meet Anthem, World Classical Tamil Conference Theme or Semmozhi) is a Tamil song composed by A. R. Rahma ...

" was written by then

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

M. Karunanidhi with music by A.R. Rahman. The video was directed by

Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...

featuring artists, musicians, singers.

Controversies

This conference was not approved by the International Association for Tamil Research. Not all agreed with the academic and intellectual rigor of the event. The conference and associated activities faced opposition and criticisms from various political parties.The political uses of Tamil
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References

External links

World Tamil Conference 2010ulaka thamizh chemmozhi - TamilWorld Classical Tamil Conference – a perspectiveThe Indus script and the wild assWorld Tamil conference 2010 (உலகத் தமிழ்ச் செம்மொழி மாநாடு)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamil World Classical Conference 2010 in India Tamil diaspora International conferences