When a father christened his baby girl as Elavenil in chaste Tamil, his in-laws did not have the faintest idea what the name meant. Tamils of the modern day, who are used to count the months with the Roman calendar as January, February, March and so on, know little of their history, as their ancestors had divided a year by six seasons, and ‘Elavenil’ was one of them. Appropriate to the name, the season is a light, pleasant summer.
When a father christened his baby girl as Elavenil in chaste Tamil, his in-laws did not have the faintest idea what the name meant. Tamils of the modern day, who are used to count the months with the Roman calendar as January, February, March and so on, know little of their history, as their ancestors had divided a year by six seasons, and ‘Elavenil’ was one of them. Appropriate to the name, the season is a light, pleasant summer.
Throwing light on such six seasons and various other aspects in the social life of ancient Tamils, a book published by Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library, traces the early writing systems, methods of measuring, counting and weighing things in ancient Tamil Nadu. In short, for the ardent readers of literature and history, the book Thamizh – Ennum Ezhuththum is inevitable as their manual.
Written by Tamil scholar Mani. Maran of Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library, the book begins with a chapter on the origins of letters in the history of mankind and ends in a lesson on the units used by the ancient Tamils for measuring, weighing, counting and so on.
“The reason for my writing this book was the absence of such a student’s manual in the workshop on Tamil manuscriptology conducted by our library. Though it can be a handbook to the students pursuing Tamil manuscriptology, it is of great use to all aspirants of Tamil literature and history” says Maran in the preface to the book.
His book Thamizh – Ennum Ezhuththum (Tamil – Number and alphabet) also details on the origins and changes in Tamil orthography from 3rd century BCE till date. The book has chapters on Tamil compound letters, abbreviations and contraction of words, which are found in palm leaf manuscripts. Besides, the book is of great help to a history enthusiast for dating the period of ancient stone inscriptions and copper plate grants from the years mentioned in them. Moreover, the book throws light on the various units that were in vogue to measure, weigh and count things in ancient Tamil Nadu.
“The characters which we use in Tamil orthography today have been in practice only for about a century. Before that, they underwent many changes throughout centuries. In Tamil Nadu, printed books began to appear only before 200 years. It was the British, who introduced the practice of writing on paper. But in earlier times, we were writing only on palm leaves. The palm leaf manuscripts were named according to their respective contents as Aavanangal (Documents), Pathivedukal (Registers) and Noolkal ( Books) “ says Maran.
“While the Aavanangal contained ownership records as sale of land, gift, lease and so on, the Pathivedukal consisted of details on income and expenditure, collection of tax, revenue etc. But, Noolkal contained literature, grammar, mathematics, medicine and science” adds Mani.Maran
All About the Amazing ‘7’ in Thirukural!
Handling a chapter in Thirukural, has your school Tamil teacher ever informed you the role of number ‘7’ in the incomparable didactic work? When you spell out ‘ Thiruvalluvar’ the name of its author in Tamil, the number of letters is ‘7’. And each of the couplets in Thirukural, which is in the traditional verse form kural venba, contains exactly ‘7’ words . Now, count the chapters in Thirukural and calculate the total number of couplets. They are 133 and 1330 respectively - both figures divisible by ‘7’ !. Now, just find out the respective sums of the numbers. They are 1+3+3 = ‘7’ and 1+3+3+0 = ‘7’ !
“While researching the divisibility test of number ‘7’, I discovered the wonder of this number in many of the aspects in Thirukural” avers N. Umathanu, a Mathematician, who runs his Math Miss Research Centre at Vadavalli in the city.
Emphasizing the importance of letters and numbers, the 392nd couplet in Thirukural reads:
“Ennenba Eanai Eazhthenba Ivvirandum Kannenba Vaazhum Uyirkkku (letters and numbers are two eyes of man)”
“Now, examine the couplet’s number ‘392’. It is also divisible by ‘7’! Also find out the sum of the number. It is 3+9+2 = 14. Isn’t 14 divisible by ‘7’? “asks the Mathematician.
A retired school teacher of Mathematics, Umathanu, with a passion for his subject, has introduced several easy and innovative methods for mastering Mathematics among school students and proved that the subject is never a boring one, unless it is taught by a teacher, who has no love for numbers!
“I wonder why chapters on the test of divisibility by ‘7’ is not found in the prescribed textbooks of Mathematics. Hence, I wrote to the Tamil Nadu Government to include the chapter and also explained my new method in the chapter” he informs.
Explaining his modus operandi, Umathanu takes the number 392, multiplies the last number 2 by 2 ( 2×2 = 4 ), subtracts the result 4 from the first two numbers (39) and obtains the answer as 35 ( 39 - 4= 35). Hence, with 35 being divisible by ‘7’, one can say hands down that the whole 392 is also divisible by ‘7’! “
The 686th couplet in the chapter Thoothu (Embassy) of Thirukural reads thus:
Learned; fearless, the envoy’s winsome ways
Does good by pleasant words concise
“You know the number ‘686’ is something special with the year 2017. By using the number ‘686’ and applying a method, you can discover anyone’s year of birth”