Minutes of the meeting: Authored by : SPS and Madan.
Event : Meeting of the members of the ponniyin selvan yahoogroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ponniyinselvan/) - The Perfect outfit to bring Historical facts to light Scholors of various historical fields also attended.
Date : 4th June 2006, 6PM IST Venue : Sri Ramakrishna mutt school, Opp. Panagal Park, T. Nagar, Chennai.
Guests:
Dr. Sathyamurthy, Suptt Archlgist, ASI (Retd) T. N. Ramachandran, Epigraphist & www.varalaru.com Dr. Dasarathan, Palm-leaf specialist Dr. Sathyanarayanan, Deputy Registrar, Chandrasekarendra University, Kanchi. Mr. T. K. V. Rajan,Archelogist, Eminent media personality Mr. Swaminathan, www.thinnai.com Mr. Ganesa Nadar - Businessperson interested in History
Participants: Kamalakkannan (flew back to Japan that night), Madam Seethalakshmi (USA) ahd her sister, Seetharaman (Kumbknm), Satish, Sankaran, Krupa (one of the Moderators), and Madan attended the meet.
Plastics Chandra organised the meet. SPS co-ordinated.
Meeting commenced with Thamizhthai Vaazhthu (Neerarum Kadaludutha ..) in participation by all those present. SPS gave an introduction touching down points as to how the Group was founded by Ram, Dr. Kalaikovan showed interest in Group activities and guided the members launch www.varalaaru.com and Gokul working on reconstruction of Thanjai paintings with the help of scholars like Sathiamurthy and formation of PS Varalatru Peravai - an exclusive arm of our Group and requested Sathiamurthy to eloborate.
Dr. Sathyamurthy, Suptt Archeologist, ASI, then talked about the huge number of temples that are in ruins. He said that 60% of all stone-carvings in Indian history is of the Tamil origin. He noted the interesting fact that there was no oral-passage of knowledge (like vedas were passed orally down traditions) in the tamil culture, and suggested that this was proof that tamil had a well defined script far earlier than the north indian languages. He sadly observed that the governments mistakenly regard the historical tamil artifacts as non-secular, as they are mostly found in places of worship. He observed that the simple stones lying in the temples could be of monumental importance, and locals should be involved in an effort to protect whatever is left of these ruined, un-protected artifacts.
The best way to do this is to educate the locals read what is scribed there in their temples. To do this, first, a group of enthusiasts should know how to read them and teach them. For such purposes and to protect and preserve Cultural properties, an Academy of Archeology and Sciences of Ancient India (AASAI) is being registered by Dr. Sathiamurthy involving Scholars of other fields with SPS & Gokul participating from our Group and Plastic Chandra co-ordinating.
Under this forum:
(1) A certificate course on Epigraphy will be launched - of about 5 - 6 months duration - evenings Sat / Sun - 2 hr classes with an exam on reading estempages - before giving away the Certificate which will be recognised by the Kanchi University to begin with. Syllabus is being worked. www.varalaru.com Ramachandran, Swaminathan and his friend Satish will be handling this. Venue will be finalised depending on enrolement. More details later.
(2) Preservation of temples / cultural properties will be taken up with technical soundness. Details later. (Incidentally Kannagi Temple in ruined form - in Kerala -TN Border is reported in Dinamalar. This also may figure in the agenda)
Mr. T. N. Ramachandran, Epigraphist gave a detailed Speech. He explained the distinction between hieroglyphics and a well defined phonetics based script. He showed with examples that hieroglyphs were a raw form of language, while phonetical scripts were more advanced, as there was no space for differing interpretations in the latter. He said, thus Tamil was a more advanced language than what prevailed in the Indus Valley civilizations. He warned, however, that even though evidences about the antiquity of tamil/brahmi, and superiority over the indus valley civilizations are emerging day by day, we should not fall prey to over-enthusiasm and hype up not-so-well-defined-facts. This is because we are being watched with awe by all over the world, and we should not err in our claims. Rather we should let the facts talk for themselves.
Dr. Dasarathan, then talked of the unclaimed 'kalvettu'kkal in various parts of the S.India and his rendezvous with "Kalvettum Katthirikkayum"! He also described how palm-leaf-writing could be of historical importance, and how many such historically significant palm-leaf-writings are spread throughout the land, without attempts at interpretations, which could significantly lead to a change of our current understanding of history.
Dr. Sathyanarayanan, then spoke at length about his interest in 'Ponniyin Selvan' and his association with Dr. Sathyamurthy. He offered to recommend to Kanchi University, for a certificate course, if the group could come up with a write-up and syllabi which the said Academy of ASAI is working on.
Mr. T. K. V. Rajan,an Archelogist. then described the efforts by the media with regard to preservation of historical artifacts. He described some interesting anecdotes from "Kalvettu sollum kathai". He spoke of a cave near Arakonam wherein 75000 yr old human remains are identified by him.
Mr. Swaminathan of thinnai.com and Ganesha Nadar expressed thier appreciation for the group and offered support.
PS Group members introduced themselves individually, and the following themes came out:
- The fusion that made of Information Technlogy with History has been so far very much sucessful. - What started as "My Hero Vandhiathevan .. Enchanting Nandhini .. " is now brewing into " Whether Emperor Asoka borrwed scripts of Brahmi from Tamil Brahmi ? " .. kind of very advanced scientific / historical research discussions. - Also implimentation of advancements in Tenchlogoy to KNOW OUR HISTORY. " NAMAKKU NAAMEY " (We for Ourselves .. ) is today's slogan and how we are getting geared up in finding out TRUE UNADULTURED HISTORY of our Motherland ! - The shared Wisdom of the scholars with the enthusiastic Infortech personnel is bound to preserve ancient artifacts and will be of immense benefits to the HISTORY. - Like www.varalaaru.com, and big temple Painting Restorations and PSVP, we are moving forward with the programme of inscription leading to begin with.
Regarding brigning the Tamil estempages from Mysore,Dr. Sathiamurthy assured that AASAI will be handling this with the help all quarters including PS Group.