Responding to the interview, Parpola said with a tinge of arrogance, “Dr. Kalyanaraman has no linguistic training. He has not heeded my advice of taking a university course in linguistics. He is a supporter of Hindutva ideology and hence I have chosen to ignore his writings and opinions”. The dismissal of a native scholar on grounds of religion shows the Christian fundamentalism at work. Yet Dr. Kalyanaraman is not the only native scholar to question the decipherment claims of Parpola, who has also failed to answer the critique of Prof BB Lal, the iconic archaeologist, regarding his decipherment claims.

Parpola’s short interview to The New Indian Express (29 June 2010) on the sidelines of the lecture at Roja Muthiah Library, exposes the renewed attempt to resurrect the defunct Aryan Invasion Theory. Says Asko Parpola, “Dravidians were originally the inhabitants of the Indus Valley in Gujarat. They were not driven south by the Aryans; instead, they gradually moved there in search of greener pastures and more fertile soil for grazing and farming – and this was before the invading Aryans even came to town. There is evidence that this move was much before the invading Aryan hordes came to India. The Dravidian community that remained near the Indus River was conquered over many years later by the Aryans”.

Then Parpola makes a stunning revelation, “Just like when the British took over India, they made the Brahmins learn their language and work under them to administer the country before they conquered the whole nation, likewise, these Aryans too made the local village chieftains learn the Indo-Aryan language. An elite layer of Dravidians would have initially learnt Indo-Aryan first. The northern Dravidians then over time took completely to speaking Indo-Aryan with only traces of the original proto-Dravidian language still remaining”.

Parpola adds, “Dravidian languages flourished in the south because the Aryans could never conquer the south. Even the north could have taken centuries to conquer”.  

These statements are self-explanatory and readers can draw their own conclusions. As an exponent of the Aryan-Dravidian Theory, he was chosen for the award by the Dravidian government possibly on the recommendation of Iravatham Mahadevan, one of the four vice presidents of the supreme committee headed by Chief Minister Karunanidhi. The other vice presidents were Deputy CM Stalin, Finance Minister Anbazhagan and former Vice Chancellor of Anna University Prof. V.C. Kulandaiswamy.  

Karunanidhi, by organizing this party jamboree in the name of classical Tamil by spending taxpayers’ money to the tune of Rs. 400 crore, has south to achieve the following objectives:

-        To anoint himself as sole protector of the Tamil language and supreme leader of the Tamil people and to appropriate authority to conduct future Classical Tamil conferences.

-        To proclaim Tamil as the oldest language, older than and supreme to Sanskrit.

-        To resurrect the now defunct Aryan-Dravidian Theory.

-        To forcefully emphasise Tamil identity, thereby alienating Tamil people from the Hindu fold and the national mainstream.

-        To give a fresh impetus to Tamil separatism.

On the grand finale of the jamboree, he made many announcements, including:

-        World Tolkappiyar Classical Tamil Sangam (WTCTS) will be set up in Madurai to hold Classical Tamil Conferences at reasonable intervals.

-        Tamil must be made the official language of the government of India.

-        Tamil must be officially declared as the language of usage at all levels at Madras High Court. 

-        Law will be enacted to give preference in government employment to persons who have studied in Tamil medium.

Dr. Vijaya Rajiva, a political scientist who taught at a Canadian University feels that, “What should trouble Tamils and Indians in general is Karunanidhi’s ongoing sponsorship of Tamil as a language that is not connected to the rest of Bharat. And followers of the Tamil Tigers have taken to organising themselves as anti India. This expresses itself unfortunately in the world of academia where noted individuals such as Iravatham Mahadevan (a former civil servant turned self taught Tamil scholar) and Asko Parpola a Finnish scholar of Tamil, are seemingly engaged in using the Tamil stick with which to beat a pan Indian identity. Mahadevan is reported to have said: I am not a Hindu. Parpola, of course, is Finnish and most likely does not identify with the word ‘Hindu’.”

(http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?PAGEID=11445&SKIN=B ).

At first Karunanidhi had no idea of holding a ‘World Classical Tamil Conference’. Since the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR) refused permission to hold the “Ninth World Tamil Conference” without understanding Karunanidhi’s urge to hold it before the elections while he was in power, Karunanidhi took it as a challenge and cleverly named the meet as “First World Classical Tamil Conference”.

As he has announced the formation of the World Tolkappiyar Classical Tamil Sangam (WTCTS), the fate of the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR) remains to be seen. There is a possibility of WTCTS becoming dysfunctional if Karunanidhi loses power. As of now, the community of Tamil scholars worldwide is divided between IATR and WTCTS. Some reputed scholars say if Karunanidhi wins the 2011 elections, he would transform WTCTS into the ‘Fourth Tamil Sangam’!

If Tamil is made an official language of India, other states will demand official status for their languages. They will also demand permission to use their languages in their respective state High Courts if the Centre allows Tamil to be used in the Madras High Court. This would necessitate that the Chief Justices (and other judges) must be natives of the particular state and speak the particular language.

The enactment of a law to give preference to persons who have studied in Tamil medium for government employment is another dangerous move. Other states would follow suit, and considering the inter-state rivalry which already exists for water and power, national integration will become impossible. Nehru’s huge blunder of agreeing to the linguistic demarcation of states will be felt severely now …

This is what the Church and the Christian world wanted. Splintered India will be easier to Christianise than a culturally united India. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, the first step is ‘Dravidianisation’, which is synonymous with ‘separatism’; the second and final step will be Christianisation.     

All the above announcements were made with an objective to Dravidianise Tamil Nadu in the name of Tamil. Karunanidhi started by changing the Tamil New Year. The future course of Dravidianisation has been underlined in the Coimbatore Conference. Max Mueller, Robert Caldwell, et al will rise from their grave to have a barbaric laugh.

(Concluded)

The author is a freelancer