யாழ்பாணம் நல்லூர் ஆறுமுக நாவலரின் 187வது ஜெயந்தி!

யாழ்பாணம் நல்லூர் ஆறுமுக நாவலரின் 187வது ஜெயந்தி! தமிழ்-தமிழ் என்று உயிர் விடும், உயிரை விடுவேன் என்று மிரட்டும் கோஷ்டிகள், குழுக்கள், புலிகள், சிறுத்தைகள் எல்லாம் இவர் பெயரை மட்டும் மறப்பது ஏன் என்று தெரியவில்லை!

தமிழர்கள் – தமிழ்நாட்டுத் தமிழர்கள், இலங்கைத் தமிழர்கள், அமெரிக்கத் தமிழர்கள், கனடா தமிழர்கள்…………………மற்ற உலகத் தமிழர்கள் ஏன் இவரைக் கண்டுகொள்வதில்லை?

Arumuga Navalar (1822-1879) http://vedaprakash.indiainteracts.in/2008/12/18/arumuga-navalar-1822-1879-december-18-is-his-186th-birthday-however-gthe-tamils-do-not-care/

The Tamil people in spite of the tall claims made about the Tamil, Tamil-culture etc., they do not care for the great Tamil savants, who sacrificed their whole lives for the survival of Tamil much against the odds. One of such greatest Tamilgiants Arumuga Navalar (1822-1879) was born on December 18, 1822 to L. Kanthappap Pillai and Sivagami Ammai as a last son in Nallur, Yazhpanam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Unlike the present, he studied the Indian clasiical language Sanskrit and also Tamil. He continued his studies in a Christian Missionary school. Recognizing his knowledge, he was asked to stay on at the Jaffna Wesleyan Mission School to teach students. Peter Percival, the principal, appointed him with a request to translate the Bible into Tamil. He worked with Percival from 1841 – 1848. He was responsible for the current Bible available in Tamil. The words, “Kartthar”, “Devan” etc., were used by him only. The missionaries continued to wage war carrying out the propaganda that  the Bible was already translated into Tami. “Even before Navalar became associated with Bible translation there were already two Tamil translations in the market, that of Philip Fabricius (1710-1791) and C. T. E. Rhenius (1790 – 1838). These translations had their precedents in the works of Phillipus Baldaeus (1632 – 1671) and Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg (1682 – 1719).” (see below). But, they were only partial and not complete. moreover, even for them, the translators had been only the paid Tamil Pundits, but they were printed with their names. இலங்கை இப்படி தபால்தலை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. ஆனால் தமிழர்கள் என்ன செய்தார்கள்? ஏன் மறந்தார்கள்?

They founded schools and colleges of which the most famous was the Batticota Seminary, the precursor of the Jaffna College. In Batticota the students were taught among other sciences the Copernican heliocentric astronomy which conflicted with the Pur_an. ic teachings. The superiority of Western learning was proved by the eclipse of 20 March 1829. The Rev. Daniel Poor, principal of Batticota, demonstrated errors in the almanac of a _Saivite brahmin, Vicuvan_ata Aiyar. Although Western astronomy triumphed, astrology remained as popular as ever. However, the missionaries pursued their attack on the indigenous religion and published about seventyfive polemical tracts in the following years up to the 1840s.

Arumuga Navalar (1822-1879): He was the man who has translated Bible into Tamil. He was also responsible for the introduction of words Karttar to Jehova and Devan to Jesus Christ, which has become synonyms to God. As he worked for the Missionaries, he could understand their methodology of propaganda, misinformation campaign and cant. In fact, he was so infuriated and offended that his scholarship was used at one side and the Christians pretending as friends blasphemed his religion at the other side. He published the following tracts, booklets, books against the propaganda of Christian missionaries against Hindu religion (for full details, see “The Bible Trembled”):

1. Saiva Dhushana Parigaram
2. Sivanama Villakkam.
3. Vigggiraga Vanakkai.
4. Hindu Jaya Perigai – in Four Parts.
5. Christtuvar Vidaigalin Maruppu.
6. Viviliya Kucitam.
7. Viviliya Kurcita Kandanadhikkaram.
8.  Vajjiradangam.
9.  Christu madha Triyegattuva Abhasam.

10. Esuvai Nanbinal Ratchippu Adaiyalama?

11. Esu Christu Manithane.

12. Milecha madha Kandanam.

13. Christuvar Gnanodhaya Abasa Vilakkam.

14. Christu madhattin Kuruttu Nambikkai.

15. Bible eral Ezhudhap pattadhu?

16. Padhirigalukk Or Sarbutti.

17. Egovavin Asangiya Mozhi.

18. Christu Madha Uyapagamum, Kolaigalum, Anidhigalum. 19. Esu Madha Sangarpa Niragaranam.

Rise of Hindu protest: The first to protest against such characterisations and write against Christianity was Muthukumara Kavirajar (1780-1851). His works, which were printed later, became an important weapon in the armoury of the Saivites. The first collective action on the part of the Saivites of Jaffna was a meeting held by a group drawn from the elite Vellala, Brahmin and Chettiar communities, at the Siva temple at Vannarpannai in September 1842.  Among the leading lights present were Sathasiva Pillai, Swaminatha Iyar, Viswanatha Iyar, Arumuga Pillai, Kandaswamy Pillai and Arumuga Chettiar. The group decided to set up a “Veda-Agama” School to teach children the Vedas, the Agamas (temple worship) and the elements of Saivisim. The plan was to discourage parents from sending their children to Christian mission schools. It was also decided to purchase a printing press to counterthe media war unleashed by the missionaries. Though the purchase of a printing press took time, the Veda Agama school started functioning in 1842.Definitely, the Christians were afraid of him, as they wrote a book, “The Bible Trembled”!

Arumuga Navalarby Dr. Charles Hoole, Principal, Baldaeus Theological College, February 2003.

There are numerous myths surrounding the figure of Arumuka Navalar whose mission was to revive Hinduism. Myths about his contribution to Christianity has even infected the church and can be evidenced in the speeches and writings of Christian leaders. Yet these myths are fictive statements that conceal reality. This letter briefly looks at the real person of Navalar and his accomplishments.

A reply to a Hindu: Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar”s choice of Arumuga Navalar as one of the `Great men that freed their motherland from British rule” (Daily News, 4 February) is somewhat puzzling. Navalar”s interests were very narrow and sectional, restricted to his own Vellalar caste. It is no doubt true that during the colonial period `a large mass of people were oppressed by those who claimed to be superior simply on the basis of birth”, but Navalar never worked against this kind of oppressive system based on birth and privileges. He in fact worked toward revitalizing the ancient caste system, whose elites saw their power and privileges grow within the British colonial system.

In his ceaseless missionary activities he aimed to elevate the status of the Vellalars, the dominant caste in Jaffna. When he began his first school, for instance, all the pupils enrolled in the first class were from the upper castes: three Brahmans, three Vellalars, and one Cetty. During the severe famine in 1876, Navalar distributed food only to Vellalars, and certainly not to the low castes, whose plight under those circumstances would have been worse than that of others. The food distribution was in line with his teaching in the fourth Palar Padam, that requires cattiram (gifts, alms) to be given not only to Brahmans, but to the deserving Vellalar poor as well.

Evidently, Navalar was not inclined towards liberating the oppressed, dalits, on the contrary, his sole concern was to reify an oppressive caste system. His activities in the orthodox temples were equally sectarian. The temples that Navalar chose for his “Prasangams” were all exclusively dedicated to various members of Siva”s family. He would not tolerate rivals competing for devotees; thus he launched a successful crusade against the goddess Pattini/Kannaki. By claiming that she was an heretical Jain goddess, he managed to banish her from the Jaffna soil. In the temples he aimed his teaching and preaching at people of `respectable” family and caste. His intention was, in part, to acquaint them with a strictly textual religion so that they may be enabled to fulfil their ritual/caste duties correctly and be proper Saivites.

Navalar of course was not blindly reasserting a traditional religion. In a carefully worked out strategy he was advancing certain claims on behalf of his own Vellalar caste, with the aim of upward mobility. Traditionally Vellalars were regarded as Sudras in the varna order, however, owing to their historic alliance with the Brahmans their status had remained somewhat anomalous. Navalar however attempted to elevate their ritual status by ascribing to them the right to wear the Punul and the right to read the Vedas. Implicitly, therefore, he did elevate them to the status of the twice-born. This is, of course, a well known `brahmanical” device used by the lower castes to climb the social ladder within the varna order, but this kind of pursuit had little to do with the struggle for equality, dignity and freedom! Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar”s short account of Navalar exhibits a few glaring errors.

Arumuka Navalar was born in 1822, not 1882 and died in 1879. Also it is very misleading to state that he “translated the Bible into Tamil at the request of Rev. Peter Percival”. This statement can imply that Navalar was solely responsible for translating the Bible and that he was the first to do so, infact, such claims are widespread. Unfortunately these claimants are ignorant of the history of Tamil Bible translation. Even before Navalar became associated with Bible translation there were already two Tamil translations in the market, that of Philip Fabricius (1710-1791) and C. T. E. Rhenius (1790 – 1838). These translations had their precedents in the works of Phillipus Baldaeus (1632 – 1671) and Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg (1682 – 1719). Based in Jaffna, the Dutch Predikaant, Baldaeus broke new ground when he translated the gospel of Matthew into Tamil by 1660.

A few decades later in Tranquebar, south of Madras, German missionary Ziegenbalg, had translated the entire New Testament into Tamil by March , 1710. When both of them began their work there was no Tmail prose work which could be used as a standard to guide them. Certainly there was plenty of Tamil poetry but it was very different from the every-day language of the people. Their successors, Adrian de Mey of Nallur, Jaffna and Benjamin Schultze of Tranquebar were then able to build on the work of these two pioneer translators. The translation of Fabricius, the “Golden Version” is no doubt the most famous. He was a saintly and devoted German missionary, whose New Testament was published in 1772 and Old Testment in 1791. He translated from the original Greek and Hebrew texts, and his version”s faithfulness to the originals has commanded the respect of all subsequent translators. Although he never lived to see it, Fabricius” version of the Bible was revised and printed in 1796. Later, the Madras Bible Society published the same version in 1824. Hence it is not surprising that Fabricius” translation is now the real base of the Tamil Bible which is now widely in use.

So in what sense did Navalar contribute to Bible translation? The Tentative Version of the Bible or the Jaffna Version associated with Navalar was produced in 1850 by the Jaffna Bible Society. It was however rejected by the Bible Society of Madras on the grounds that it was too heavily loaded with Sanskrit words and that it did not stick closely to the originals. More importantly it departed too much from the standardized “Christian Tamil” of the Fabricius version, hence the regular users were unlikely to endorse it. The result is that the Jaffna Version never reached the market; and another version based on Fabricius was produced in 1871 by Rev. Bower assisted by poet Krishnapillai. All this means that Maniccavasagar is referring to a version of the Bible that hardly anyone could have seen or used in the history of Tamil Christianity. In any case that particular version could never be the product of Navalar alone.

The fact is, he simply did not know Greek, Hebrew, or Latin, the languages of the original text – whose exact meaning the translator had to discover before rendering it into Tamil. The Jaffna Version was translated by a six member committee, headed by Peter Percival, Principal of Central School. Jaffna at that time had a tremendous fund of scholarship from which to draw, both on the side of Western missionaries as well as on that of Jaffna Tamils. Among the American missionaries were Levi Spaulding, H. R. Hoisington, Samuel Hutchings, Daniel Poor and Miron Winslow. Two Tamil pundits, Arumuka Navalar and Elijah Hoole were enlisted by Percival to help with the style, while the missionary scholars took final responsibility for the version”s accuracy. Under these circumstances it would be an exaggeration to claim that Navalar translated even this extinct version of the Tamil Bible. As Percival”s assistant he worked under the guidance and supervision of a team of eminent missionary scholars. With Elijah Hoole, he no doubt helped the missionaries to purify the idiom and polish the language, but Navalar could hardly be considered as a major contributor to this translation work. The Jaffna Version was a product of a committee, whose chairman was Peter Percival, hence it would be more accurate to associate this translation with his name.

The above account shows that it has now become virtually impossible to know the Navalar of history. Virtually every significant development in the nineteenth century, actual or imagined, is being attributed to him by his biographers. In the Geertzian sense, whatever Navalar originally was or did as an actual person, has long since been dissolved into an image. The image of Navalar as a social reformer, religious revivalist and a great national leader is so well established in people”s minds that it is virtually impossible to distinguish fact from fiction or myth from reality. Dr. Charles R. A. Hoole Principal, Baldaeus Theological College Trincomalee —– Young and Jebanesan write that their mutual [i.e. common] interest in the Hindu-Christian controversies of nineteenth century North Ceylon goes back to 1980. Notwithstanding the troubled times that lay ahead they have been able to continue their research on this interesting but little known topic. Most of the information on these controversies is found in Tamil pamphlets and archival documents in English. Protestant missionaries arrived in the beginning of the nineteenth century in Jaffna: British Wesleyan Methodists in 1814, American Congregationalists and  Presbyterians in 1816 and British Anglicans in 1818.

Arumuga Navalar – by K. V. Ramakrishna Rao in Indian Express (Express Weekend), December 22, 1990

This refers to A. Theva Rajan’s article ‘Arumuga Navalar’: A pioneer printer and publisher” (IE Weekend, Dec.8, 1990). As for as the Jaffna scholar’s printing and publishing works are concerned, the author has not mentioned many important details.

As Navalar had closely worked with Christian missionaries, he came to know about their activities against Hinduism. He left Peter Percival in September, 1848 and started devoting his time for the development of Saivism, when Christian missionaries were having printing press at Manippai and publishing a Christian magazine “Udhaya Tharakai”, circulating pamphlets and booklets for Christian propaganda, and also brought out magazine, boks and pamphlets attacking Hindu Gods, scripture etc., he decided to start a press. Accordingly, he went to Madras and brought back a printing press with all accessories. He installed at Vannarpannai giving a new name “Vidhyanupalana Yanthiram” to the machine. With this, he not only published his works and many other works about and of Saivism to make Hindus know more about their religion, but also brought out books refuting and criticising Christian propaganda and blasphemy on Hinduism, Hindu Gods and scripture.

The books published under the former category are too well known to be repeated here and they are available at Vidhyanupalana Achagam, No. 300, Mint street, Madras. Under the later category, he published the wotrks of Muthukkumara Kavirayar of Sunnagam, “Jnana Gummi” (The dance of Wisdom) and ‘Yesu matha parikaram’ (An abrogation of the religion of Christ), through Vinayaka murthu Chetty of Nallur. In his own book “Saiva dhushana parikaranam” (An atonement to the blasphemy of Saivism), he repled tyo all their objections about Saivism. When published a magazine blaspheming Lord Subramanya, he immediately refuted them with his magazine entitled “Suppirabotham”. He als published another wrk “Vachirathandam” (A Strong Weapon) criticising and condemning Christianity. The Christian missionaries have mentioned about his discourses and books in their book “Hindu Pastor”.

Another friend of him, Sankara Pandithar of Sunnagam wrote as per the directions of Navalar, “Yesumatha kandanam” (Criticism of the religion of Christ) and “Mlecha matha vigarpam” (Diversities and Absurdities of the alien religion) and were published.

That is why the Christian missionaries aptly remarked, when he died in 1879 that the Saiva religion was saved only because of him!

R. F. Young and S. Jebanesan, The Bible Trembled: The Hindu Christian Controversies of 19th Century Ceylon, this book gives picture how the impact of the Navalar had been on the missionaries even today.

For further reading: http://www.tamilnation.org/sathyam/east/navalar.htm http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20″catid=33″id=4706