It is the Christian Missionaries who, for the first time, took ‘Vishnu’ and ‘Ganesha’ to school.
At a time when European Tamil scholars are belittled as mere missionaries and insultingly misinformed that they were “school dropouts,” it is surprising to know that only the European Christian missionaries, for the first time in Tamil Nadu, introduced Tamil literature, Tamil Grammar, Algebra, Human Anatomy, and many other disciplines in the schools, which they established in the 19th century. Interestingly, it is the European Christian missionaries who prescribed even Hindu devotional pieces of Tamil literature such as Vezhamugam, a work in praise of Lord Ganapathy, Periyapuranam, a hagiography of 63 Shaiva saints, Ranga Calambakam, a beautiful poem in praise of Lord Vishnu, and many more in the curricula of their schools!
“Can the supporters of the Sanatana Dharma and the opportunistic Tamil nationalist politicians, show at least one college that taught the Tamil language before the 19th century like the state-run colleges which taught Sanskrit for about 1200 years in Tamil Nadu? “ asks Po. Velsamy, who is a famed writer and researcher.
Discovering such historical facts from the book “ Chozharkal” penned by eminent historian K.A Neelakanta Sastri, Velsamy underlines that Sastri’s book has recorded plenty of stone inscriptions that bear testimony to the Chozha kings’ careful governance of many Sanskrit colleges across ancient Tamil Nadu.
Quoting Neelakanta Sastri, Velsamy says that history hardly knows anything about the ancient schools and colleges that taught Tamil literature and grammar. Nor does it say anything about the Chozha kings instituting the 2000-year-old corpus of Tamil language and literature.
In his popular book Colas, the English version of the Chozharkal, Neelakanta Sastri writes on page 633:
“While we thus find much evidence on the nature and organisation of higher studies in Sanskrit, it is somewhat disappointing that we are left with practically no tangible evidence on the state of Tamil learning… “
According to a stone inscription, In the year about 999 A.D, the Mahasabha of ‘Aniyur’ the village which is called ‘Anoor’ in Chengalpattu district, provided a bhattavritti for the teaching of Veda, Grammar (Astadhyayi) and other subjects. The Bhatta, it was laid down, must be well versed in the Vedas and should be able to teach Panini Vvyakarana ( Grammar of Panini) and Alankara (Rhetorics) and the twenty nine chapters of the Mimamsa. The Bhatta was not only to teach his pupils but also to feed them.
According to a stone inscription of the Chozha king Veerarajendra of 1067 A.D found at Thirumukudal, a village in Kancheepuram district, an exclusive college functioned for teaching the two Vedas – Rig and Yajur, and the works of grammar - Vyakarana and Rupavatara. The inscription says that a provision was made for one teacher and twenty pupils. The Veda teachers were remunerated one padhakku (A measure of capacity) of paddy per day and four gold kasus per annum, while the teacher of Vyakarana was paid a Thooni (A measure of capacity ) of paddy and twice a Padhakku per diem and ten Kasus per annum. It was a school where pupils were framed to repeat the text by rote. The pupils were provided not only with food on the basis of 1 ½ Naalis of rice per diem and suitable side dishes, but with mats for sleeping on, oil for their heads on Saturdays (fifty one Saturdays being counted to the year), and each a night light. Two women servants looked after the menial service required by the schools and their pupils.
Writer Po. Velsamy poses a question:
“While Sanskrit schools and colleges were run by the state for about 1200 years, can anyone show just one such school that taught Tamil literature before the 19th century.?
He underlines that pupils were being taught Tamil literature only by foreign European and American clergymen in the state-run schools, colleges, and universities in the 19th century. Providing the picture of the first page of the book The Second Report of the Madras School-book Society (1827), Velsamy explains that the book consists of reports on the modus operandi of teaching Tamil to the students and the guidelines for producing books.
Velsamy says that the European Christian missionaries later framed the curricula for Tamil education and authored the appropriate books. Of them, he shows the title pages of the book Veesakanitham (Algebra) by Daniel. L. Carroll (1855), The Classical Reader or Selections from Standard Tamil Authors (1847) printed at American Misssion Press, Jaffna, Pallikoodangalail Payitrivikkavendiya Mudhalaam Puththakam or Tamil Primer (1848), printed at Reuben Twigg at the Christian Knowledge Society’s Press, Vepery, Manushavangaathipaatham (Human Anatomy), Cinthamani with the commentary of Nachinarkiniyar, Poralani Iyal or Thandi Alankaram, and Silapathikaram (1897) edited by U.V. Saminatha Iyer.
Displaying a page of the British government – published book The Second Report of the Madras School-book Society, Velsamy underlines the stages of learning by the Tamil pupils. The book says that once the students have completed learning Tamil orthography, they begin to read Aathichoodi and Kondraiventhan by Avvayar, whom the book praises as “ a female author of great repute in the annals of Tamil literature”. Interestingly, The Second Report of the Madras School-book Society instructs what the Tamil learners should learn thereafter. It is ‘Vezhamucam’ , a small work in metrical prose containing praises on Lord Ganesha!