Enable Tamil and Sinhala input methods

Here how I enabled Tamil (Renganathan IM) and Sinhala (Wijesekara) on Ubuntu 11.

Step 1 : As a root, do :

apt-get install ibus im-switch ibus-m17n m17n-db m17n-contrib ttf-tamil-fonts language-pack-ta-base ttf-sinhala-lklug language-pack-si-base


Step 2 : Just run from your user account (Not as root) :
rm -f ~/.xinput.d/* ; im-switch -z all_ALL -s ibus

Thereafter restart the session (Just logoff and login)

Thereafter do "ibus-setup" and configure your prefered input setup. In addition to that you can configure where it should appear in your screen.

Enjoy!

Reference : http://sinhala.sourceforge.net/

Joomla! workshop

Last week I conducted a Joomla! workshop in Tamil for mainly North and East people of Sri Lanka. It is a two days workshop and I did it well than I thought. Enjoyed a lot..

I think the participants too. All appreciated well.. Send mails... Called...

The important think is that they really learnt Joomla! almost all the participants were confident that they can develop the site. Thats a great thing and it seems some of them have developed site for their institute and published.

This workshop is organized by ICTA Sri lanka.

8th Tamil Internet Conference

INFITT has announced 8th Tamil Internet Conference and its going to be held in Kolen, Germany. I am planing to write a paper about Tamil localization, will see.
Hope you guys also can write something and can contribute to the Tamil-Computing.

For more info. :
http://www.infitt.org/ti2009/?page=eng/home

Tamil as a Classical Language - By George L. Hart

Statement on the Status of Tamil as a Classical Language

Professor Maraimalai has asked me to write regarding the position of Tamil as a classical language, and I am delighted to respond to his request.

I have been a Professor of Tamil at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1975 and am currently  holder of the Tamil Chair at that institution.  My degree, which I received in 1970, is in Sanskrit, from Harvard, and my first employment was as a Sanskrit professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969.  Besides Tamil and Sanskrit, I know the classical languages of Latin and Greek and have read extensively in their literatures in the original.  I am also well-acquainted with comparative linguistics and the literatures of modern Europe (I know Russian, German, and French and have read extensively in those languages) as well as the literatures of modern India, which, with the exception of Tamil and some Malayalam, I have read in translation.  I have spent much time discussing Telugu literature and its tradition with V. Narayanarao, one of the greatest living Telugu scholars, and so I know that tradition especially well.  As a long-standing member of a South Asian Studies department, I have also been exposed to the richness of both Hindi literature, and I have read in detail about Mahadevi Varma, Tulsi, and Kabir.

I have spent many years -- most of my life (since 1963) -- studying Sanskrit.  I have read in the original all of Kalidasa, Magha, and parts of Bharavi and Sri Harsa.  I have also read in the original the fifth book of the Rig Veda as well as many other sections, many of the Upanisads, most of the Mahabharata, the Kathasaritsagara, Adi Sankara's works, and many other works in Sanskrit.

I say this not because I wish to show my erudition, but rather to establish my fitness for judging whether a literature is classical.  Let me state unequivocally that, by any criteria one may choose, Tamil is one of the great classical literatures and traditions of the world.

The reasons for this are many; let me consider them one by one.

First, Tamil is of considerable antiquity.  It predates the literatures of other modern Indian languages by more than a thousand years.  Its oldest work, the Tolkappiyam,, contains parts that, judging from the earliest Tamil inscriptions, date back to about 200 BCE.  The greatest works of ancient Tamil, the Sangam anthologies and the Pattuppattu, date to the first two centuries of the current era.  They are the first great secular body of poetry written in India, predating Kalidasa's works by two hundred years.

Second, Tamil constitutes the only literary tradition indigenous to India that is not derived from Sanskrit.  Indeed, its literature arose before the influence of Sanskrit in the South became strong and so is qualitatively different from anything we have in Sanskrit or other Indian languages.  It has its own poetic theory, its own grammatical tradition, its own esthetics, and, above all, a large body of literature that is quite unique.  It shows a sort of Indian sensibility that is quite different from anything in Sanskrit or other Indian languages, and it contains its own extremely rich and vast intellectual tradition.

Third, the quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic.  The subtlety and profundity of its works, their varied scope (Tamil is the only premodern Indian literature to treat the subaltern extensively), and their universality qualify Tamil to stand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world.  Everyone knows the Tirukkural, one of the world's greatest works on ethics; but this is merely one of a myriad of major and extremely varied works that comprise the Tamil classical tradition.  There is not a facet of human existence that is not explored and illuminated by this great literature.

Finally, Tamil is one of the primary independent sources of modern Indian culture and tradition.  I have written extensively on the influence of a Southern tradition on the Sanskrit poetic tradition.  But equally important, the great sacred works of Tamil Hinduism, beginning with the Sangam Anthologies, have undergirded the development of modern Hinduism.  Their ideas were taken into the Bhagavata Purana and other texts (in Telugu and Kannada as well as Sanskrit), whence they spread all over India.  Tamil has its own works that are considered to be as sacred as the Vedas and that are recited alongside Vedic mantras in the great Vaisnava temples of South India (such as Tirupati).  And just as Sanskrit is the source of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, classical Tamil is the source language of modern Tamil and Malayalam.  As Sanskrit is the most conservative and least changed of the Indo-Aryan languages, Tamil is the most conservative of the Dravidian languages, the touchstone that linguists must consult to understand the nature and development of Dravidian.

In trying to discern why Tamil has not been recognized as a classical language, I can see only a political reason: there is a fear that if Tamil is selected as a classical language, other Indian languages may claim similar status.  This is an unnecessary worry.   I am well aware of the richness of the modern Indian languages -- I know that they are among the most fecund and productive languages on earth, each having begotten a modern (and often medieval) literature that can stand with any of the major literatures of the world.  Yet none of them is a classical language.  Like English and the other modern languages of Europe (with the exception of Greek), they rose on preexisting traditions rather late and developed in the second millennium.  The fact that Greek is universally recognized as a classical language in Europe does not lead the French or the English to claim classical status for their languages.

To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature.  Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements.  It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich.

It seems strange to me that I should have to write an essay such as this claiming that Tamil is a classical literature -- it is akin to claiming that India is a great country or Hinduism is one of the world's great religions.  The status of Tamil as one of the great classical languages of the world is something that is patently obvious to anyone who knows the subject.  To deny that Tamil is a classical language is to deny a vital and central part of the greatness and richness of Indian culture.


(Signed:)
George L. Hart
Professor of Tamil
Chair in Tamil Studies

http://tamil.berkeley.edu/Tamil%20Chair/TamilClassicalLanguage/TamilClassicalLgeLtr.html

New category of languages and New Classical Languages

New category of languages as `Classical Languages' was created by Government of India, and the following criteria were laid down to determine the eligibility of languages to be considered for classification as a `Classical Language':-
i) High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years.
ii) A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
iii) The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
v) The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

Source : http://nganesan.blogspot.com/2008/11/classical-tag-for-dravidian-languages.html

Indian government announced Tamil as a Classical language. Then added Sanskrit. Now, on November 1st 2008 this respect has been given to Telugu and Kannada.

நற்றிணையிலிருந்து... - From Natrinai

362. பாலை

வினை அமை பாவையின் இயலி, நுந்தை
மனை வரை இறந்து வந்தனை; ஆயின்,
தலை நாட்கு எதிரிய தண் பத எழிலி
அணி மிகு கானத்து அகன் புறம் பரந்த
கடுஞ் செம்மூதாய் கண்டும், கொண்டும்,
நீ விளையாடுக சிறிதே; யானே,
மழ களிறு உரிஞ்சிய பராரை வேங்கை
மணல் இடு மருங்கின் இரும் புறம் பொருந்தி,
அமர் வரின், அஞ்சேன், பெயர்க்குவென்;
நுமர் வரின், மறைகுவென்-மாஅயோளே!
உடன்போகாநின்ற தலைமகன், தலைமகட்குச் சொல்லியது.
                               -மதுரை மருதன் இள நாகனார்

(கரிய நிறம் கொண்ட என் காதலியே, உற்சாகம் சிறிதும் இன்றி ஒரு பொம்மையை போல்
உன் தந்தையின் நிலத்தை விட்டு நான் கூறிய வார்த்தைக்காக கடந்து வந்தவள் நீ .
முதல் புயலின் காரணமாக மேகம் பொழியும் குளிர்ச்சியான மழை இந்த பரந்த விரிந்துள்ள  காடுகளுக்கு அழகு சேர்கின்றது, இங்கே இருக்கும் முதையை நோக்கி அவற்றை பிடித்து சிறிது நேரம் விளையாடு….
நான் சிறு யானைகள் உறுஞ்சிய பருத்த அடியை உடைய வேங்கை மரத்தின் மணற் பரப்பினையுடைய, அதன் பெரிய பின்புறத்தில் மறைந்துகொள்கிறேன்… கள்வர்கள் யாரும் போரிட வந்தால் அஞ்சாமல்
 போரிட்டு அவர்களை துரத்தி அடிப்பேன்….. உன் உறவினர் யாரும் உன்னை தேடி வந்தால் நான் மரத்தின் பின் பகுதியில் ஒளிந்துகொள்வேன் !)

English Translation

You walked stiff as a puppet
as you left your father's land.
Now, here on the expanse of the meadow
made lovely by the clouds pouring down their cool rain
in the first strom of the the season,
see the scarlet beetles,
pick them up,
play with them a bit.
I will go to the sandly place behind the great-trunked venkai tree
three
whose bark young elephants have rubbed smooth.
If men come to fight me,
I will not be afrais, I will turn them back.
But if your people come,
I will hide,dark one.

Poet : Maturai Marutan Ilannakanar

Translated by George L Hart

(An interesting poem from Narrinai, here the Talaivan(hero) elopes with  Talaivi(heroine). Talaivi is unhappy leaving her fathers place but on
insistence of the Talaivan , she elopes with him.  The Talaivan says that if anyone tries to come and fight with him for the reason he has
eloped with Talaivi he would stand and fight with them and chase them away. He also says he would prefer to hide rather than fight her
relatives who have now become his relatives. For Talaivan the eloping is equivalent to the marriage, so he considers its a sin to fight off
his own relatives. )

நன்றி : Tamil Heritage Foundation Google Group  -  http://groups.google.com/group/minTamil/browse_thread/thread/48ab86a595c9249b

Tamil Forum in Joomla!

Now you can discuss about Joomla in Tamil on Joomla platform itself. We have created a forum there.
The link is : http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=545

Gnanam's 100th issue - A Special issue on Sri Lankan Tamil Modern Literature

In Sri Lanka there is a Tamil Literature magazine called 'Gnanam'  has been published since 2000 June. This is a monthly magazine and always came on time, within the first week of each month. This month, September 2008, it touches a milestone; 100th issue.
This issue coming as a 'Special issue on Sri Lankan Tamil Modern Literature' and it contains 100 authors' more than 100 articles. All the essays in this issues are represent about Sri Lankan Modern Tamil Literature and efforts. Many Proffessors from all over then Universities in Sri Lanka have written on this.
This issue has 272 A4 pages :-) As far as I know, this is the first issue in Sri Lankan history that comes with this many pages on a context...
Last few days, I was doing proof reading for this issue... Enjoyed.. Yesterday I started to look at it around morning 6.00am and worked on it till today morning 3am... almost continuous 21 hours worked on in it without boring...
Also I am very happy to say that, I have worked for an issue that can not be forgetable in Sri Lankan Tamil Literature.
More than that, I am very proud to say that, one of my essay also included in this 'Gnanam's 100th issue - A Special issue on Sri Lankan Tamil Modern Literature' :-)

www.tamil-it.org

I am hoping to have an comprehensive site for IT related matters in Tamil. The site is www.tamil-it.org and now i am developing the site.
Planning to have separate areas for Joomla!, Mozilla, Moodle, Unicode... becuase these are the main areas that I am dealing in these days. But I will also have other IT related details in Tamil too.
Currently I am doing Joomla help site : joomla.tamil-it.org. Another good thing is, this is the Tamil Community site for Joomla and you can see this site in Joomla.org too.
I need ideas, what are the things I can add, how... But I am planning to maintain the simplicity... So dont expect me to put flashes on the sites ;-)
Please share your ideas...

Joomla 1.5.6 Released - Security Release

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

The Joomla! community is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla! 1.5.6. This is a quick turnaround security release to address a high level security issue and it is recommended all users upgrade immediately.

plz check at : http://joomla.org/

Joomla! 1.5.5 Released

From Joomla Site :

The Joomla! community is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla! 1.5.5. This is a quick turnaround release to address the Duplicate Title error from 1.5.4 . This release also contains important SEF URL improvements and fixes for com_content in addition to a number of bug fixes and improvements. It has been nearly three weeks since Joomla! 1.5.4 was released on July 8, 2008. The Development Working Group 's goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla! community.

Source Forge Community choice awards 2008

The Source Forge Community choice awards 2008  winners names are going to be announced at OSCON 2008 in a while… This time Moodle also a nominee under 2 categories. I would like to see the Moodle also in the Winners list.

Compare to 2007, this time there are more categories and it is good to increase the categories, because now Open Source covers almost all the areas.

Fingers Crossed

வரும் ஆண்டாவது வழிசெய்யட்டும்!

வரும் ஆண்டாவது

புத்தாண்டாக அமையட்டும்!

விதியைநொந்து நொந்து

புரட்டிய நலிய வாழ்க்கை ஒழிய

வரும் ஆண்டாவது

புதிய வழிசெய்யட்டும்!

Happy Tamil / Sinhala New Year

“வரும் ஆண்டு இனியதொன்றாக மலரட்டும்!”

“සු​භ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා!”

~சர்வேஸ் - සර්වේස්

படித்ததில் பிடித்தவை - பொன்னியின செல்வன்

எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்த புத்தகங்களில் ஒன்று இது...

ஏனோதெரியவில்லை என்னை மிகவும் பாதித்த பாத்திரம் பூங்குழலி... அந்தப் பெயரால் ஆகவும் இருக்கலாம்.
அடுத்து ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான்... வந்தியத்தேவனின் வழியல்..:-)

எப்படித்தான் கல்கியால் அந்த 2300 பக்கங்களையும் வாசிப்போர் சிறிதும் சலிப்படையாமல் படைக்கமுடிந்ததோ?

கதையில் வரும் திருப்பங்களை என்னவென்று சொல்ல?

புத்தகத்தை மூன்றுதரம் வெவ்வேறு காலப்பகுதியில் வாசித்துள்ளேன். ஒவ்வொரு காலப்பகுதியிலும் அக்கால உணர்வு, முதிர்ச்சி என்பவற்றிற்கிணங்க புதிய பரிமாணங்கள் புரியும்.. அந்த புதிய பரிமாணங்கள் என்னை இன்னொரு தடவை வாசிக்கவும் தூண்டுகிறது... வாசிக்கவேண்டும்...

'ச' உம் தமிழும்...

'ச' பற்றிய ஒரு செய்தியைத் தற்செயலாக அறிய நோ்ந்தது.
தொல்காப்பிய செய்யுள் :
"சகரக் கிளவியும் அவற்றோ ரற்றே
அஐ ஔ எனும் மூன்றலங் கடையே"
அதற்கு இளம்பூரனார் எழுதிய உரைப்படி,
தமிழில் 'ச', 'சை', 'சௌ' என்ற எழுத்துக்களில் சொற்கள் ஆரம்பிக்கமுடியாது.

பின்னர் வந்த நன்னூலில் நிறைய சொற்கள் 'ச' இல் ஆரம்பிக்கின்றன.

இதில் என்ன கவனிக்கப்படவேண்டிய விடயமெனில், இரண்டுமே தமிழ் இலக்கணம் பற்றிக் கூறும் நூல்கள்.