Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday said Sangam literature, which spoke about the greatness of Tamils, is now fully supported by archaeological evidence.
“When leaders of the Dravidian Movement quoted Sangam poems on public platforms to highlight the greatness of Tamils, some rejected them saying they were just literary works and not history. Now we have archaeological evidence. Former IAS officer R. Balakrishnan has done great work,” Mr. Stalin said, while releasing Mr. Balakrishnan’s book Journey of a Civilisation: Indus to Vaigai, translated into Tamil as Oru Panpattin Payanam—Sindu Muthal Vaigai Varai.
Recalling his demand that the history of the Indian sub-continent should be written from the Tamil land, Mr. Stalin said it was the objective of the Dravidian Model government, and Mr. Balakrishnan’s book had emerged as a pillar in support of the objective.
He added that the archaeological excavations in seven places and the findings had proved that the society of the Sangam period and the urban civilisation was real and not a figment of imagination.
Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, who received the first copy of the book, said the approach of Mr. Balakrishnan was different in the sense that he had applied the literary evidence available in Sangam literature to the evidence found in the Indus Valley civilisation. “He has traced the roots of words. When there was a reference to Aruppukottai during our conversation, he said Aruppu itself is a kottai (fort).”
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said Mr. Balakrishnan had established with evidence that “Dravidian is really at the core of Indus Valley civilisation.”
“Onomastics, the science of names, is his special field. He has well established that the Harappan Civilisation that travelled to the South is Dravidian in all its features,” he added.
T. Udhayachandran, Secretary I to the Chief Minister said, “Tamils shared a common wavelength” and reacted whenever Tamil culture was under assault.
He recalled how a retired school headmaster Balasubramaniam in Keeladi and Manickam, a native of Sivakalai, had tirelessly pursued a study of archaeological evidence found in these areas and brought them to the government’s attention, despite being ordinary citizens.
“The first question the surgeon who operated on my father asked, after the surgical procedure, was whether the government would take steps to prevent removal of Tamils’ inscriptions from Thanjavur big temple,” he said.
Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority; anthropologist Bhaktavatsala Bharathi; Sundar Ganesan, director, Roja Muthaiah Research Library (RMRL) participated. Mr. Balakrishnan made an acceptance speech and A.S. Pannerselvan, fellow and curator of books at RMRL, proposed a vote of thanks.
