![]() Tamil: A Biography is both synthesis and interpretation, a must-read for anyone interested in the world’s great languages and literatures. The scholar and the aesthete rub shoulders in this elegantly written book that is structured, incongruously in my view, like a Carnatic style Rather than tread gingerly, Shulman dances like a ballerina. Writing the biography of a language with a ‘documented existence’ of over 2,000 years, with a thriving community of 80 million speakers spread across the world, can be a minefield. His collected writings - still growing - would put to shame the 19th century poet Meenakshisundaram Pillai whom he admires so much. David Shulman does not disappoint he dazzles us with his labour of love.īased in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shulman is steeped in many languages including, at last count, at least four Indian languages. But when the world’s foremost Tamil scholar gives it his best shot one cannot but take notice. ![]() Few would dare to attempt the biography of such a language. Nearer our times, the poet Bharathidasan declared that Tamil was born with the sun, the moon, the sky, the stars and the seas.
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