DMK President Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi has sought Tamil Nadu government’s ‘support’ for efforts to install Tiruvalluvar statue in Allahabad, name a six km stretch on the “West bank” of Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh as Tiruvalluvar Marg as a tribute to the saint poet and establish Tamil Chair in the prestigious Harvard University.
In a statement on Sept 7, Kalaignar said that at a time when indirect efforts to remove statues already installed by adducing some reason with ulterior motive, that a demand for installing Tiruvalluvar statue at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. A detailed report about this had been published in ‘The Hindu’ (Tamil) today. In that report it is stated that it was a long pending demand of the people there to name six km stretch on the West bank of Yamuna river as “Tiruvalluvar Marg”, install Tiruvalluvar statue and plant tree saplings along the stretch so that the couplets could be written along with Hindi translation; Kalaignar said.
Furthermore, the DMK chief quoted one Chandra Mohan Bhargava as saying to the daily that it was the dream and demand of founder and general secretary of Basha Sangh, late Krishna Chand Gowd, to erect a statue for Tiruvalluvar in Allahabad in 1990, but he died due to cancer before his dream got fulfilled. However the efforts to install the statue continued.
The Sangh had turned down the UP government’s offer to have the statue of the saint poet erected at Hindustan Academy and insisted on having it only at Triveni Sangam, Kalaignar said, urging Tamil Nadu government to take steps in the matter.
Similarly, another issue has been published in this week’s ‘Anandavikatan’ weekly. Vaidehi Herbert, an American, has translated eighteen Sangam Literature books. When a relative of DMK general secretary Prof K. Anbazhagan and serving in US as cardiologist Dr Janakiraman met her and what he could do in his lifetime for Tamil language, Herbert has told him that there was no Chair for Tamil in Harvard University and if one is established it would add glory to Tamil language and people. The two NRI Tamil doctors, Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam, had received approval from the Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, to set up a Tamil Chair.
While the total amount needed is $6 million (about Rs.40 crore) which had to be mobilised within two years, the duo had promised to fund $1 million. The Tamil community needs to collect the remaining $5 million. An effort has been made to reach out to the Tamil community.
He said that Harvard has two Chairs for Ukranian spoken by 30 million people and even when there was a Chair for Celtic spoken by 1.5 million and the university has Chairs for Hebrew, Sanskrit among other languages. Therefore, it is necessary to have a Tamil Chair at Harvard as it is the language of over 80 million people across the world, Kalaignar said.
Hence, Kalaignar asked the State government to help and encourage the efforts of the interested persons for installing Tiruvalluvar statue in Allahabad and of Tamil community in the United States to set up a Harvard Tamil Chair. When this government is prepared to spend a huge sum of Rs.100 crore for conducting a meet of investors at a time when the tenure of the regime is about to end, should also indulge in such good works for spreading the greatness of Tamil, Kalaignar urged.
In a statement on Sept 7, Kalaignar said that at a time when indirect efforts to remove statues already installed by adducing some reason with ulterior motive, that a demand for installing Tiruvalluvar statue at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. A detailed report about this had been published in ‘The Hindu’ (Tamil) today. In that report it is stated that it was a long pending demand of the people there to name six km stretch on the West bank of Yamuna river as “Tiruvalluvar Marg”, install Tiruvalluvar statue and plant tree saplings along the stretch so that the couplets could be written along with Hindi translation; Kalaignar said.
Furthermore, the DMK chief quoted one Chandra Mohan Bhargava as saying to the daily that it was the dream and demand of founder and general secretary of Basha Sangh, late Krishna Chand Gowd, to erect a statue for Tiruvalluvar in Allahabad in 1990, but he died due to cancer before his dream got fulfilled. However the efforts to install the statue continued.
The Sangh had turned down the UP government’s offer to have the statue of the saint poet erected at Hindustan Academy and insisted on having it only at Triveni Sangam, Kalaignar said, urging Tamil Nadu government to take steps in the matter.
Similarly, another issue has been published in this week’s ‘Anandavikatan’ weekly. Vaidehi Herbert, an American, has translated eighteen Sangam Literature books. When a relative of DMK general secretary Prof K. Anbazhagan and serving in US as cardiologist Dr Janakiraman met her and what he could do in his lifetime for Tamil language, Herbert has told him that there was no Chair for Tamil in Harvard University and if one is established it would add glory to Tamil language and people. The two NRI Tamil doctors, Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam, had received approval from the Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, to set up a Tamil Chair.
While the total amount needed is $6 million (about Rs.40 crore) which had to be mobilised within two years, the duo had promised to fund $1 million. The Tamil community needs to collect the remaining $5 million. An effort has been made to reach out to the Tamil community.
He said that Harvard has two Chairs for Ukranian spoken by 30 million people and even when there was a Chair for Celtic spoken by 1.5 million and the university has Chairs for Hebrew, Sanskrit among other languages. Therefore, it is necessary to have a Tamil Chair at Harvard as it is the language of over 80 million people across the world, Kalaignar said.
Hence, Kalaignar asked the State government to help and encourage the efforts of the interested persons for installing Tiruvalluvar statue in Allahabad and of Tamil community in the United States to set up a Harvard Tamil Chair. When this government is prepared to spend a huge sum of Rs.100 crore for conducting a meet of investors at a time when the tenure of the regime is about to end, should also indulge in such good works for spreading the greatness of Tamil, Kalaignar urged.
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