George Hart awarded “Iyal Viruthu” in Toronto
June 29th, 2006
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Conferring awards and titles on each other has become a common feature in the life of Thamizh Canadians in recent times. Some individuals and institutions have made this practice a virtual cottage industry.There are however some notable exceptions to this general rule.
It was my privilege and pleasure to participate in such a ceremony last week (June 24th) in Toronto.Professor George .L. Hart, chair of Tamil Studies at California University, Berkeley was presented the “Iyal Viruthu” lifetime achievement award by the Toronto based organization “Thamizh Ilakkiyath Thottam” or Tamil Literary Garden(TLG)
The TLG is a non – profit organization founded in 2001. It is committed to developing Tamil literature internationally. Among its activities is the conferring of a lifetime achievement award or Iyal Viruthu to a “writer, scholar, critic or editor , who over a period of time has made a very significant contribution to the growth or study of Tamil literature”.
The “Iyal Viruthu” award comprises a commemorative plaque and an honorarium of 1500 Canadian dollars. It is awarded at an annual event jointly organized by the South Asia Studies Centre of the University of Toronto and the TLG. The recipient delivers a brief lecture before the award is presented.The lecture is organized by the South Asia Center.
Some of the past recipients were people like the editor/writer Sundara Ramaswamy, author Ganesh, critic Venkat Swaminathan and editor/ publisher Pathmanabha Aiyer. The award for year 2005 went to George Hart at a ceremony held at the Seeley Hall in Toronto University.Those familiar with his work and his efforts in promoting Thamizh studies would feel indeed that the man is worthy of the award.
It has been the good fortune of Thamilzh that many Western scholars have contributed greatly to its growth and development. The role of Western scholars in rediscovering the virtues of classical Thamilzh literature and reviving fresh interest has been particularly commendable.
George Hart belongs to a long line of such scholars who were greatly enamoured of Thamizh and helped promote modern scholarship of the language. Hart has written several books, monographs and papers. He was instrumental in establishing the Tamil Studies chair at Berkeley. Hart’s role in persuading the powers that be in India to confer “chemmoli” or Classical language status to Thamizh deserves praise.
I have read only two of his books. I have also read some papers and texts of interviews given by him. His impressive scholarship was not the only reason that motivated me in attending the event. It was my intention to meet him personally and express my gratitude for a remarkable gesture that helped me and many others several years ago.
The year was 1990. I had relocated to Canada from Sri Lanka the previous year. Journalism was/is both a profession and vocation for me. I was involved with a few others in reviving Canada’s first Thamizh journal “Senthamarai” that was practically defunct then. We made it a fortnightly and then weekly. I was its editor.
This was a time when desktop publishing was going great guns with the Thamizh Diaspora. Tamil fonts however had not been sufficiently developed then. In our case we relied on the Thamizh font developed by George Hart. This academic had not only pioneered this font but had with great magnanimity placed it on public domain. It was freely available to all users. Our publishing venture would not have succeeded then without george Hart’s generosity.
Subsequently others – many “Yaarlpaanam Thamizhar” included – perfected and developed fonts that were far superior to the pioneering effort of George Hart. But these were not free but sold for large sums. Like many others we too went in for the new fonts and the old font went slowly out of use.
But I have often wondered what we would have done then without George Hart’s font.The irony of a “material” Westerner providing his font free in order to foster modern Thamizh whereas other “Thamizhar” were making fonts and money simultaneously has not missed me.
It was against this backdrop that I met George Hart in person for the first time and conveyed my belated appreciation and gratitude. He modestly changed the subject and spoke of those days of font – making. Hart related how a Malaysian Thamilzh Muthu Nedumaran and he had embarked on this pioneering venture simulataneously yet separately.
George Hart grew up in Washington where his father was a Federal Judge. His fascination for languages began with Russian in high school. Then it was Sanskrit. Later came Thamizh. After obtaining his Ph D in Sanskrit from Harvard George Hart i went to Chicago university in Wisconsin to teach .There he came across the legendary AK Ramanujam .This was the beginning of his love affair with Thamizh.
Hart learnt his Sanskrit from KV Seshathrinathan and Thamizh from Irama. Subramaniam. His wife Kausalya who hails from Madurai the seat of the Sangam’s is a Tamil scholar too.His creditable achievement was in translating epic and heroic Sangham poetry into English. His role in helping Thamizh obtain classical language status in India was commendable.
Among his reputed works are
1.The Poems of Ancient Tamil, Their Milieu and Their Sanskrit Counterparts
2.A Rapid Sanskrit Method
3.The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom: An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, the Purananuru
4.Poets of the Tamil Anthologies: Ancient Poems of Love and War
5. The Forest Book of the Ramayana of Kampan.
He is currently engaged in translating the “Pathittrup Pattu”. In his lecture “Tamil as a Classical language” George Hart quoted extensively from the “purananooru”.It was a rare treat to hear him explain in Thamizh the intricacies of vintage poetry .The TLG is to be congratulated in its “Iyal Viruthu” choice for 2005.
Meanwhile the TLG also inaugurated two new annual awards for contemporary fiction and non – fiction.The ‘Best Fiction for the Year in Tamil’ award went to So. Tharman for his novel titled ‘Koohai’. the ‘Best Non-Fiction for the Year in Tamil’ went to CreA S.Ramakrishnan, who was the Managing Editor of Tamil – Tamil – English dictionary known as Tharkalath Thamizh Akarathi. They are to be awarded plaques and honorariums of 500 dollars each . Both recepients are from India and were not present in person.
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Entry Filed under: Tamiliana
