transcending the languge barriers

No linguistic barriers
: Azhvars were immersed in the ocean of God anubhava, and were oblivious to all else.

A man under water will know nothing of what is going on outside. So also

the Azhvars, immersed in Lord Narayana, were unaware of anything but Narayana. So total was their involvement in Narayana. Their anubhava came out as verses in Tamil,


Their verses were not carefully thought out compositions. They were spontaneous outpourings of their bhakti. They made no effort to write grammatically, and yet their verses turned out with grammatic perfection.


Long before the time of the Azhvars, the Sastras and the Ithihasas and Puranas had been in existence. So

what was the need for poets in Tamil, to give us Sastraic concepts?

Sanskrit was a language not known to many. Those who did not know Sanskrit could, therefore, not read and comprehend the Sastras.

It was the Azhvars’ works that made the Sastras available to people in a language they could understand.

But why Tamil, the question might arise.

The reason lies in the antiquity of Tamil.

It has an ancient grammar treatise in the Tholkappiyam

. Even in Valmiki’s Ramayana, Tamil is referred to, according to research by Thiru. Narayana Iyengar, a Tamil scholar.


Ravana threatens Sita, and when he leaves, Hanuman, who has been watching from his perch on a tree, wants to offer words of consolation to Sita, but wonders in what language he should address Her.

He decides in favour of Tamil. This can be inferred from the words used by Valmiki. Hanuman decides to address Sita in a pleasing language.
The pleasing language spoken of by Valimiki must be Tamil,

for one of the meanings of the word ‘Tamizh’ is sweetness. ‘Madhuram vaakyam,’ Valmiki writes, of the language Hanuman chose to address Sita in.

That language which was and is ‘Madhura’(sweet) can be none other than Tamil. Thus Tamil is spoken of even in a Sanskrit work as a sweet language.
And it was in this language that the Azhvars set forth the eternal truths.

courtesy;the hindu .november09