Continuing the review of Passions of the Tongue

[Narayan S. Raja]

On Fri, 10 Sep 1999, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan wrote:

> raja at IFA.HAWAII.EDU asked:
>
> > Could he just have been stating a simple fact,
> >  i.e., that ceGkuTTuvan2 was mATalan2's king,
> >  rather than "articulating a  case of linguistic
> >  nationalism"?
>
> No, because mATalan2's king is a Chola  while ceGkuTTuvan2 is a Chera king.
> The conversation takes place on the bank of the river gaGgA.


Thanks for the clarification.
I will try to find "silappadhikaram"
in our University library and
understand who said exactly what
to whom, and in what context.

I believe that most Tamilians, if asked
to identify the main characters of
"silappadhikaram", would name
Kannagi, Kovalan, the Pandya King
(Nedunchezhiyan?), maybe the Queen,
and Madhavi, probably in that order.
I actually have no clue who Matalan
is; certainly, he is not a major figure.
I will rectify my ignorance regarding
him.  Anyway, though, drawing conclusions
about "linguistic nationalism" from one
of the least important characters in
"silappadhikaram" seems to be questionable.
More later.

Regards,


Raja.