Language Agitation before Indian
Independence
In
general, language is a dominant symbol of identity and it is associated with
culture and sentiments of any society. Tamil regained its prominence in the
latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Maraimalai Adigal’s
Pure Tamil Movement, the language reforms of Periyar and Tamil Isai Movement
helped to galvanise the Tamil language. Tamil renaissance that led the
Dravidian consciousness made a great intervention in the development of modern
Tamil language and its art forms. Agamic temples did not permit rituals in
Tamil. Tamil songs had a marginal place in musical concerts. Abraham Pandithar
systematically studied the history of Tamil music and attempted to reconstruct
the ancient Tamil musical system. He founded the Tanjore Sangitha Vidya
Mahajana Sangam in 1912 and it became the kernel of the Tamil Isai Movement
(Tamil Music Movement). The movement gave importance to the singing of Tamil
compositions in music concerts. The first Tamil Isai Conference was held in
1943, to discuss the status of Tamil music.
The
implementation of Hindi as a compulsory language in Tamil Nadu, at various
points of time, was seen as a threat to Tamil language and culture. Periyar
declared that the introduction of Hindi over Tamil would deny the Dravidians of
their job opportunities. Maraimalai Adigal pointed out that the Tamil language
would suffer with the introduction of Hindi. The anti-Hindi campaigners
considered it an ideological battle against Brahminism and the hegemony of
Sanskrit over Tamil.
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