India is a very diverse country with people of different ethnicities, languages, religions etc. Finding ways to achieve national integrity is therefore a huge task, considering India supports individual freedom (to an extent, of course). One such crucial choice was a common language of communication. The choices were Hindi (the language spoken by majority of the Northern Indian communities) or English (the language of the colonizers). Even before Independence, the primary choice of reigning politicians was Hindi, which came under fire from the South, mostly Tamil Nadu. The state (under the leadership of the Dravidar Kazhagam, and later the DMK) was opposed to the creation of Hindi as the sole official language of the country and insisted on making English official as well. Plenty of agitations, fasts etc to this end, and it was only in the late 60s, with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister, did the complete acceptance of English as an official language in addition to Hindi occur. This however created a mentality that the South hated Hindi (and the North as well), but in my opinion, the truth is far away from that.
Tamil people do not hate Hindi. We Tamils, in general, are very proud of our language and our culture. It is, in a form, our identity. Tamil is considered as one among the classical languages, with written literature dating back for more than 2000 years. Many of our texts and epics are older than the great Hindi/Sanskrit epics. The influence of our language can be seen in the neighboring states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh; the influence of Tamil reaches out further to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, due to the early sea-faring traditions. In fact, inscriptions in Tamil that have been dated to times before Christ have been found in Thailand and Mauritius. We have cultural symbols that have stood for centuries, reminding us of our heritage.
We do understand that as part of a larger country, we would need to accept a more common language for communication. But the question was, why Hindi for that language? English was more useful in terms of a global perspective. With the first draft of the constitution, Hindi was the only official language, and was to be made compulsory in all schools across the nation. This led to the movement pushing for English to be included as an official language. And honestly, I thank those people for doing that; without that, our competing in the global space might have been pushed back a few more years. As a result of that movement, now, most government communications are in both English and Hindi.
Even now, contrary to popular perceptions, Hindi is not banned in Tamil Nadu. There are huge sections of Chennai, where people primarily communicate in Hindi. Most schools teach Hindi. However, the most important thing is that, we have a choice. We can choose to study Tamil, Hindi or English. Unlike many other states, we have not been forced to abandon our language in favor of commonality. I know there are plenty of people nationwide who learn just English and Hindi, while ignoring their mother tongues. Maybe they are okay with it - but we aren't.
Tamil people do not hate Hindi. We Tamils, in general, are very proud of our language and our culture. It is, in a form, our identity. Tamil is considered as one among the classical languages, with written literature dating back for more than 2000 years. Many of our texts and epics are older than the great Hindi/Sanskrit epics. The influence of our language can be seen in the neighboring states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh; the influence of Tamil reaches out further to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, due to the early sea-faring traditions. In fact, inscriptions in Tamil that have been dated to times before Christ have been found in Thailand and Mauritius. We have cultural symbols that have stood for centuries, reminding us of our heritage.
We do understand that as part of a larger country, we would need to accept a more common language for communication. But the question was, why Hindi for that language? English was more useful in terms of a global perspective. With the first draft of the constitution, Hindi was the only official language, and was to be made compulsory in all schools across the nation. This led to the movement pushing for English to be included as an official language. And honestly, I thank those people for doing that; without that, our competing in the global space might have been pushed back a few more years. As a result of that movement, now, most government communications are in both English and Hindi.
Even now, contrary to popular perceptions, Hindi is not banned in Tamil Nadu. There are huge sections of Chennai, where people primarily communicate in Hindi. Most schools teach Hindi. However, the most important thing is that, we have a choice. We can choose to study Tamil, Hindi or English. Unlike many other states, we have not been forced to abandon our language in favor of commonality. I know there are plenty of people nationwide who learn just English and Hindi, while ignoring their mother tongues. Maybe they are okay with it - but we aren't.
2 comments:
Interesting perspective. I am, for the most part, unbiased about what language one chooses to learn and speak so long as another language/culture is not dissed in the process (we've seen how a South Indian is depicted in the films, but then again, stereotypes are funny). I wonder if Hindi is just popular because it is easier to follow, and because it is the language of Bollywood. And for a lot of convent educated big city kids, Hindi is just trendy. We always want to belong, be accepted, so we tend to follow such "trends", so to speak. Regardless, there definitely is a need to retain regional scripts and dialects, for the sake of identity... to know of our roots and our purpose..
How is it in Karnataka? I know Kannada is about as old, and has it's own ancient texts as well... Is Hindi compulsory at school, or do you get a choice?
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