Eminent 7th century Tamil intellectual strikes a blow on behalf of cultural unity of India

by Guest Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:06 am

The Tamil scholar Dandin (circa 7th century AD) lived and worked in Kanchi in Tamil Nadu, during the reign of the Pallava dynasty. Dandin's writings are all in Sanskrit. Moreover, in his work Daśakumāracarita, the action is not confined to Tamil Nadu but to all over India including various regions of North India.

The existence of people like Dandin meant that India had cultural unity for a very long time, and a direct consequence of cultural unity is political unity.

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This is from the Introduction to an english translation of Dandin's work Dasa Kumara Charitam (Tales of the Ten Princes):

Dandin, writing in Kanchi, places many of his stories in north India...The geographical sweep of the Dasa is a remarkable testimony to the common values which already provided a sense of cultural unity in the country, despite its plurality, thirteen hundred years ago.

Only one of Dandin's tales is set in Kanchi. The action of the rest ranges over a canvas which stretches from Trigarta in modern Punjab to Suhuma in West Bengal, and from Valabhi in Gujarat to the Uttar Pradesh cities of Mathura and Varanasi. References further afield include Kamarupa and Konkana, Utkala and Usmaka, in present Assam, Maharashtra, Orissa and Kerala.

At the center of the narrative are the north Indian kingdoms of Magadha and Avanti, in modern Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which were already rivals in the pre-Mauryan period. By Dandin's time they no longer existed in that ancient form, but the memory and prestige attached to their names were strong enough to justify setting the story there.

More to the point, all these far flung locations are placed in a common cultural framework in Dandin's account.

by Kayalvizhi Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:10 am

I write in English. It proves the cultural unity of Tamil Nadu with the England. According to rashmun, cultural unity leads to political unity. So England ruling Tamil Nadu was legitimate and they should come back and resume it.

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:21 am

Kayalvizhi wrote:I write in English. It proves the cultural unity of Tamil Nadu with the England. According to rashmun, cultural unity leads to political unity. So England ruling Tamil Nadu was legitimate and they should come back and resume it.

Hey Kayar,
So, you think that the behind of Brits is tastier than that of Hindians..... Your friend Rashmun thinks that Aurangazeb's is even tastier....
You two are made for each other.....

by Guest Sat Nov 25, 2017 11:13 am

Kayalvizhi wrote:I write in English. It proves the cultural unity of Tamil Nadu with the England. According to rashmun, cultural unity leads to political unity. So England ruling Tamil Nadu was legitimate and they should come back and resume it.

by Guest Sat Nov 25, 2017 11:42 am

Rashmun wrote:The Tamil scholar Dandin (circa 7th century AD) lived and worked in Kanchi in Tamil Nadu, during the reign of the Pallava dynasty. Dandin's writings are all in Sanskrit. Moreover, in his work Daśakumāracarita, the action is not confined to Tamil Nadu but to all over India including various regions of North India.

The existence of people like Dandin meant that India had cultural unity for a very long time, and a direct consequence of cultural unity is political unity.

-----
This is from the Introduction to an english translation of Dandin's work Dasa Kumara Charitam (Tales of the Ten Princes):

Dandin, writing in Kanchi, places many of his stories in north India...The geographical sweep of the Dasa is a remarkable testimony to the common values which already provided a sense of cultural unity in the country, despite its plurality, thirteen hundred years ago.

Only one of Dandin's tales is set in Kanchi. The action of the rest ranges over a canvas which stretches from Trigarta in modern Punjab to Suhuma in West Bengal, and from Valabhi in Gujarat to the Uttar Pradesh cities of Mathura and Varanasi. References further afield include Kamarupa and Konkana, Utkala and Usmaka, in present Assam, Maharashtra, Orissa and Kerala.

At the center of the narrative are the north Indian kingdoms of Magadha and Avanti, in modern Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which were already rivals in the pre-Mauryan period. By Dandin's time they no longer existed in that ancient form, but the memory and prestige attached to their names were strong enough to justify setting the story there.

More to the point, all these far flung locations are placed in a common cultural framework in Dandin's account.

The translator continues:

An account of the Dasa would be incomplete without a glimpse of the age in which it was written. It was a period of transition in India, when the great northern empires had declined and those in the south were in the ascendant. The imperial Guptas and the more recent Harsha of Kanauj were already memories by the time of Dandin, but their cultural impact continued to be felt across the country. The Pallava empire in south India was marked by a synthesis which included both the spread of northern ideas and institutions and the resurgence of indigenous culture. The central Indian Chalukya kingdom, while it warred with powers on both sides, also acted as a bridge for the continuing interaction between the north and the south.

An interesting example of the cultural confluence during Pallava rule are its bilingual official inscriptions, many of them in both Sanskrit and Tamil. The former, which had originally come from the north, had already produced major literature in the south, notably the work of Bharavi, who had been a friend of Dandin's great-grandfather. While Sanskrit was the language of the court, both it and Tamil were current in literature and administration. The Tamil epics Silappadigaram and Manimegalai, showed familiarity with Sanskrit literary style. Another result of the interaction was the rise of devotional cults in the south which later travelled to the north.

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Eminent 7th century Tamil intellectual strikes a blow on behalf of cultural unity of India

Eminent 7th century Tamil intellectual strikes a blow on behalf of cultural unity of India

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