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Anyone wish to learn Grantha Tamil

  • Thread starter Thread starter tri_vikrama
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Hey guys!

Asking dumb questions is my speciality! Just what is 'Grantha Tamil'? I remember reading that many centuries ago Tamil was written in Brahmi script.
I am not being a smartass; but what is the purpose of learning this unless you are a linguist?

Thanks!
 
Silverfox

Grantha is a script used to write early Tamil before the "vettazhuthu (letters that are cut)" came into being.

rxrajamo

silverfox said:
Hey guys!

Asking dumb questions is my speciality! Just what is 'Grantha Tamil'? I remember reading that many centuries ago Tamil was written in Brahmi script.
I am not being a smartass; but what is the purpose of learning this unless you are a linguist?

Thanks!
 
I am very please

Sorry guys, the grantha writings which I mentioned earlier is a form of writing which was invented by our ancestors (period unknown) but widely used in in Chera, Chola, Paandya, Pallava periods.

At present it is only been used by our Tamil vedic scholars, Sivaaacariyars and Pattaachariyars. For instance we could see at present days quiet number of sanskrit sloga, mantras were rewritten in tamil which is absolutely a big mistake, as Pure Tamil does not have enough alphabeticals to carry various sounds which present in sanskrits. Grantham consists of all the sanskrit alphabeticals and sounds and also comprised of Tamil consonents & vowels as well with exceptional of the unique La (which is present in Tamil, Allagu, Malai(rain)..) and Ra (photri(adore/hail), kothram(glory), Pandri(pig) and Na (the double knot na). Thus why Tamil language stood as one of the ten Classical language in the world. Unlike Malayalam, Kannada & Telugu which has accept and intercept Sanskrit. according to purana , shiva has instructed Sage paanini to recompose the Grammar for Sanskrit and The Great Sage Agasthiya for Tamil.

Further grantham also been used to record foreign message while trading, and secret mission by the Tamil administratives in ancient years.

Presently Sanskrit can be written in any writings without error from devanagari to kannada, malayalam and telugu. But not in tamil.

This unique grantham now facing a deterioration due to lack of resources and supports.

when I were kid, I learned most of the pooja and aagama and soosthra, sloga, mantra, tantra purely in grantha libbi. I still have the complete printed version of ganesha lesha aalaya ratnagaram, complete data of from puurvaanga pooja to wedhiga or stabana kumbha pooja.

come on guys, it is not a rocket science believe I am Aerospace eng Graduate, learning grantha and the mantra tantra his just nothing compare to elementary school exams,if we lack to preserve our precious gift and who else will.

alright, I can retrieve all the data and article from my home in Malaysia, at present I am in UK. I need a help from any IT/Computer professional or programmers who can
create this alphabetical/sounds, the writings are similar to some of the Tamil and Malayaala alphabeticals.

my mission is, may this knowledge would be pass to all people who are keen and willing to preserve and respect our culture and tradition regards to caste, custom, trade and system. It doesn't matter anyone can learn this regards to brahmana kshthiriya vaisya suuthra nana jathi nana kula gothra, poor, rich, noble , pauper, pope or peasant , it is one of the 64 fine arts - saturshasthi kalaa granted by the great Kalaavaani saraswathi.
art, knowledge, education should be share to everyone.
I promise I will bring more informtion in my next visit.

cheers bye
 
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tri_vikrama said:
...................
I need a help from any IT/Computer professional who can
create this alphabetical/sounds, the writings are similar to some of the Tamil and Malayaala alphabeticals.
...........cheers bye

Visit:
http://www.indianlanguages-romanlipi.com/
You could also get in touch with Mr. Kasturi, Language Enthusiast, see "Contact" section,
Give reference of the website visited.
best of luck
 
cheers, seetharaam

I will contact with her, meanwhile those who lives in Tamilnadu, it is aren't difficult to find those wedic scholars, those who lives in chennai, contact with the aachaariyars in Mayilay or mayilaapuur kaabaliiswarar temple. other places would be thriruchenduur wedha padashalay, allur wedha paadhasaalay, thiruchi wedhapaadhasaalay, pillaiyaar patti wedha aagama paadasaalay, thiruparamkundram and kaanchipuram. for vaishnava would be ahobilam, srirangam, chinna kanchipuram athiyuur varatharaajar, kumbakoonam thirukudanthai apakudathaan. Kumbakonam district has vast wedic schools. The easiest way to find out the nearest school would be, approach the aachariyars in your proximity and makesure it is an ancient temple (purana, swambu, paadal petra kshetram, anubantha), b'coz in such temple the anuual festival known as Brhama utsava would be observed and the aachariyar must be educated enough to carry out the whole task from puurvanga to thwajaavrohanam, and they must be resourcefull would be able to give relevant informations.

the only problem with those schools would be ; they might be stereotype, very orthodox and would not permit or would not be flexible to teach to those who are age above 9-11 (they have age requirements), and the other requirements would be your future goal must be to become or untake full prohithar/priest or aachariyar in a designated temple.

most of our vaishnava schools are quiet fexible.

anyway I can post the print out copies of the grantha to those who are interested (absolutely free) , but once u received kindly share with the others.

my personal e-mail : [email protected] (kindly no spam please)

meanwhile I will try to contact Ms. Kasturi, to find out whether she can aid me our goal.


cheers bye
 
seetharaam not romanised fonts

Raam, I have checked , and well! we aren't looking for romanisation instead someone who can create this grantha fonts (most of the grantha alphabeticals are similar to Tamil and Malayaalam, therefore it would be possible to derive from those two fonts but the remain yet to be create)
few of the grantha samples are: JA, HA, SRI, SHA, ksha WHICH ARE COMMONLY WRITTEN IN TAMIL
 
Grantha Lipi Is Modified Tamil Script To Write Sanskrit

silverfox said:
Hey guys!

Asking dumb questions is my speciality! Just what is 'Grantha Tamil'? I remember reading that many centuries ago Tamil was written in Brahmi script.
I am not being a smartass; but what is the purpose of learning this unless you are a linguist?

Thanks!
Dear Mr.Silverfox,
GRANTHA LIPI is a modified form of Tamil alphabet to write Sanskrit in Tamil. The Sanskrit word "grantham" means a book ( in Tamil a "NOOL"). So grantha script ia a modified form of Tamil script to write Sanskrit granthas. In Tamil many of the alphabets or letters which are found in Sanskrit are missing.For example, there are four letters in 'KA' varga in Sanskrit, namely, KA, KHA, GA & GHA, whereas in Tamil there are only two sounds KA & GA, that too represented only by one letter. So, one cannot correctly pronounce Sanskrit words if they are written in Tamil. For example, the Sanskrit word "GOMATA" (meaning "Mother Cow") is mispronounced as "KO MADHA" in Tamil. So also "SUPRABHATAM" is mispronounced as "SUPRA-PADHAM" in Tamil. So, the Tamil Brahmins devised a new alphabet by modifying the Tamil alphabet incorporating all the Sanskrit letters which are not found in Tamil. They called it Grantha Lipi (script). The Malayalam script is derived from the Grantha script. There are many inscriptions in the Grantha script in temples. There are Grantha inscriptions in the Tirumala temple. Telugu & Kannada Brahmins did not face this problem because their languages (as well as North Indian languages) contain all the alphabets or letters of Sasnskrit.
So, in the past Sanskrit uised to be written in the Grantha script in Tamil Nadu, in Telugu script in Andhra, in Kannada script in Karnataka, in Devanagari script in Hindi areas , Maharashtra & Nepal, and so on. Around the year 1910, an International Sanskrit Conference was held in a European country, in which it was resolved to adopt DEVANAGARI as the common script to write Sanskrit uniformly throughout the world.
DEVANAGARI is the BEST script for writing Sanskrit. It is also the original script of Sanskrit in which Hindi, Marathi & Nepali are also written. Devanagari script , like Tamil & Telugu scripts, evolved over the years & so is a refined script whereas Grantha script is crude, artificial & cumbersome. Nowadays only some old Upadhyayas ("Vadhyars"), Sivacharyas & Bhattacharyas know this script. If one knows Devanagari script, it will be of use throughout India. Learning Grantha script is a waste of time. Nobody knows Grantha script outside Tamil Nadu.
:horn: :hug:
 
Dear Silverfox,

Grantha is a combination of Tamil and Malayalam languages. Tamil language in spite of its greatness is phonetically inferior in its script. Malayalam has characters for all the missing phonetics and it is largely based on Devanagari phonetics. Grantha supplies the missing alphabets of the missing phonetics for the Tamilians. Grantha has no literature of any sorts. It just helps Tamilian priests to pronounce the Sanskrit slokas using correct sound.

But if you do not know Tamil I would not recommend you to learn Grantha on the contrary I would urge you to learn Sanskrit. It is a great language with a lot of Literatures and has a word for every possible expression!

With Narayanasmrithi,
Anbu
 
Dear Shri Anbu:
Thank you for your posting. However, I wouldn't term 'inferior script' for Tamil. Scholastic research has shown that Tamil is as old as Sanskrit and has flourished. Just because Tamil doesn't have those phonetics doesn't make Tamil 'inferior'. Those phonetics were not needed in the Tamil language until Sanskrit came into being.

I am also surprised that you are recommending someone to learn Sanskrit instead of Tamil. If the person doesn't know Tamil, why would he learn Sanskrit? The correct advice would be to learn devanagari script if someone is interested in pronouncing the Sanskrit slokas properly.

I believe both languages have their place in our civilization.
 
Dear Sri Silverfox,

You seem to have completely misunderstood what I wrote. I said "Tamil language in spite of its greatness is phonetically inferior in its script." The emphasis is on the inferiority of the phonetics and not the language. In fact I have praised Tamil Language.

Again I did not recommend anyone to learn Sanskrit instead of Tamil. I said, " But if you do not know Tamil I would not recommend you to learn Grantha on the contrary I would urge you to learn Sanskrit." This means if you know Tamil then learning Grantha is easy and useful. If you do not know Tamil learning Grantha is not worth the effort as learning Sanskrit because, I have said, "Sanskrit. It is a great language with a lot of Literatures and has a word for every possible expression!" Could you please re-read my earlier posting and digest it in light of my clarifications. Thanks.

With Narayanasmrithi,
Anbu
 
An additional note for Sri Silverfox.

If you do not know Tamil and have a yearning to learn it I recommend that you learn it for it is one of the great languages of the world. You need to spend quite a few years to study its great literatures in order to appreciate its beauty. I am myself a Tamil Scholar and I enjoy that language very much.

Anbu
 
Dear Shri Anbu:
Thank you for your responses. Please forgive me if I had offended you; however, it was not (nor will it ever be) my intention; I have the utmost respect and admiration for you.
In any case, your wording suggested 'inferiority' even in terms of phonetics. My point was that it was not the language's fault because if you use only Tamil, then you don't really need those phonetics. Nevertheless, I have noted your explanation.
I was born as a Tamil Brahmin but have spent most of my life in the US. Naturally, therefore, I have lost touch with the language and our roots, which I am trying to correct! Thank you for your suggestion!
I am planning to get the books containing poems by our Alwars and Nayanmars in praise of the Lord! They are pure Tamil at its best!

>[Grantha is a combination of Tamil and Malayalam languages. Tamil language in spite of its greatness is phonetically inferior in its script. Malayalam has characters for all the missing phonetics and it is largely based on Devanagari phonetics. Grantha supplies the missing alphabets of the missing phonetics for the Tamilians. Grantha has no literature of any sorts. It just helps Tamilian priests to pronounce the Sanskrit slokas using correct sound.

But if you do not know Tamil I would not recommend you to learn Grantha on the contrary I would urge you to learn Sanskrit. It is a great language with a lot of Literatures and has a word for every possible expression!
With Narayanasmrithi,
Anbu]>
 
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Dear Sri Silverfox,

Thank you for understanding me and the regards shown to me. Much appreciated. I am just an ordinary folk like anyone else.

I am glad you are planning to read some of our bhakthi literatures. Thevaram, Thiruvaachagam, Divyaprabhandam and Thiruppugazh are great works. You may find it difficult to understand the meanings conveyed by those many poems and you may need some help if you are not thoroughly conversant with Tamil that has considerable antiquity.

Here are a couple of good sitesforThiruppugazh:http://www.kaumaram.com/thiru/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/balu.iyer/vazhipaadu_index.html

Tamil has borrowed lot of words from Sanskrit (and vice versa) and even though the phonetics was lacking it was easily overcome by usage. Actually letters like 'ha', 'sa', 'sha' and even 'ksha' were additions to Tamil to fill the gap but you would not find them in Tamil Alphabets.

Regards and Narayanasmrithi,
Anbu
 
It is not difficult at all to learn

Dear Kaundinya,

It is not waste of time to acquire any knowledge. For your kind information, grantham still dynamically being employ by all the 1000s of saiva & vaishnava aacahryars throughout tamilnadu (which has 1000s of lofty puranic temple where strict aagama systems being exercised) ans also Sri Lanka, Malaysia & Singapore. I feel sorry for your ignorance. Vast number of my relatives has attained the aacharya abishekam and contractual obligations in temples: Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur Sri Maha Mariaaman Devastanam, Puduraya Ganapathi Temple, Batucaves Subramania Temple, Ampang Raja rajeswary....100s are there just in the peninsula malaysia, Singapore: Veeramakaliamman tpl, Subramaniar Tpl, Danyuthapaani , Varataraja. Sri Lanka; all the temples in yarlpaanam, from nallur kandaswamy to
Keerimalai naguleswara, in the east from Mullaithivu Raja Rajeswari to Mattakalappu Thaanthondrieeswar, in the west from mannar Kehtheeswar to colombo Ponambaleeswar.

If u doubt on my credibility I can post to u some of the print outs of grantha books, such as Kaamika, suprabehtha, vaathula, vaikhanasa, paanjarathra aagamas..., Sri Cakra pooja vythy, Kumaara Taanthra, Sthothra mala's, lessa pooja vythies...sahasranaamas and many other related articles from Sri Lanka & Malaysia.

If you never been to any of this countries which comprised of approximately 3.0M Tamil hindus in Sri Lanka, 2-2.5M Tamil Hindus Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, Bali, Sumatra. AND GRANTHAM STILL BEING UTILISE AS A MEDIUM ; RECITATION TO SCORE THE YANTHRA AND CAKRA'S

I were born n bred in an orthodox typical aacharya family. It is mandatory for us to learn the rite and rituals. A brahmin should be atleast would be able to perform a Punyaavachanam, I am very sure you wouldn't know how to perform it, and not even know how to wind the KUURCHAM. (SO DON'T DUPE AROUND, IF U R NOT INTERESTED BOGOFF)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not here to argue with koundinya's ignorative child, I am here to share my knowledge to anyone who is keen to learn. Yaam petra inbam pehruguga e waiyam muluthum regardless to caste, custome & trade.

My friend who is a Kannada madhwa Brahmana still has the family ties with Uddupi aacharyaars, and he told me that they learn sanskrit via kannada Lippi, and my cousin's brother in law who is a telugu has completed his vaishnava studies purely in telugu lippi in Simchalam Wedha Paadasaala in Vaishakpatnam.

Therefore why not we tamilians utilise our own grantham, there is no such thing as devanaagari is great then any other lippi nor absolutely perfect. Grantha is neither crude nor artificial. Devanaagari itself not belongs to sanskrutham or prakrutham it has been borrowed to write sanskrit (citation needed;I will explain in other thread)

Well there is no harm to learn other language, Since we have our own resources, why don't we utilise it. This is one of the precious gift that has been pass thru generation by our ancestors, unfortunately it has been kept hidden & isolated by some of our fanatic shallow minded orthodox members.

When Telugu's are reciting sanskrit sacred texts in telugu, kannadigas in kannada, Malayaalis in manipravalam, why not we tamilians recite in our own grantha tamil.

And it is not difficult at all, I am sure if u can do the simple arithmetics then it is not difficult to comprehend grantham.

It is my long day dream, I want to see the Tamilians able to recite the mantras & slokas without mistake instead of using Tamil libbi which is not compatible to sanskrit.

I just need a help from some IT genius to create the complete audio-visual grantha tamil font and tables. I can fund if anyone keen to do it.

I have the complete grantha/sanskrit bala paadam published by the Venkadesha Iyer of Kokuvil Sri Lanka & Kumbakonam Ramaswamy Iyer's. If u r interested do not hesitate to obtain one (absolutely free).
 
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Yes. I would love to learn Granta Tamizh

Yes. I would love to learn Granta Tamizh.
- SR Aiyer
 
Introduction

Dear friends!
without introducing the self I posted some of my thoughts out of over enthusiasm. Sorry! Indeed, me from Periyakulam, Theni district, Winning my bread at Mumbai & wishing to share all my thoughts.
I am really a halfboiled against Mr Suresh , Mr praveen,Mr. Silverfox and others.
I would rather appreciate the energy level acting in this site turns to be a vote bank of the Brahmin community.
We are in very much need of the dictator to divert our votes to fulfill our needs.
Our votes are accountable my friends!
Henceforth seek a leader where we can abide by his rules benefiting our community.
 
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I am still seeking a book by Nellai Jebamani!
!Kandu kozhvom KAZHGANKALAI!" If any body finds the publication of that book kindly let me know.
 
Dear Sri Halfboiled,

Statements containing offensive language in your post were removed by me.

Please read the forum policy, guidelines and some of the postings by praveen, silverfox, rxrajamo or me to understand what you can say and what you cannot say and how you can say what you want to say.
 
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