Eelam

Eelam (

History of the term

The earliest use of the word is found in a Tamil Brahmi inscription as well as in the Sangam literature. The Thiruparankundram inscription found near Madurai in Tamil Nadu and dated on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, refers to a person as a householder from Eelam ("Eela-kudumpikan").cite web | last =Akazhaan | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Eezham Thamizh and Tamil Eelam: Understanding the terminologies of identity | work = | publisher =Tamilnet | date = | url = http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=27012 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-10-02] The inscription reads,

The Sangam literature "Pattinappalai", mentions "Eelattu-unavu" (food from Eelam). One of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known as Eelattu Poothanthevanar meaning Poothan-thevan (proper name) hailing from "Eelam". (Akanaanooru: 88, 231, 307; Kurunthokai: 189, 360, 343; Nattinai: 88, 366) The Tamil inscriptions from the Pallava & Chola period dating from 9th century CE link the word with toddy, toddy taper's quarters ("Eelat-cheri"), tax on toddy tapping ("Eelap-poodchi"), a class of toddy tapers ("Eelath-chanran"). Eelavar is a caste of toddy tapers found in the southern parts of Kerala. The Tamil lexicons "Thivaakaram, Pingkalam and Choodaamani", dating from c. 8th century CE, equate the word with Singhalam and with gold. "Eela-kaasu" and "Eela-karung-kaasu" are refers to coinages found in the medieval inscriptions of Tamil Nadu.

Since the 1980’s the words "Eelam" and "Eelavar" have been taken up by the Sri Lankan Tamil resistance movement. In this usage, "Eelam" refers to Tamil Eelam, an area covering what has been reconstructed by historians as the former Jaffna Kingdom. Eelavar now refers to the future citizens of Tamil Eelam.

Etymology

ihala>Eelam

Late 19th century linguists took the view that the name "Eelam" was derived from the Pali (An Indo-Aryan language) form "Sihala" for Sri Lanka. Robert Caldwell, following Hermann Gundert, cites the word as an example of the omission of initial sibilants in the adoption of Indo-Aryan words into Dravidian languages. [Citation | last=Caldwell | first=Robert | author-link=Robert Caldwell | title=A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages | publisher=Trübner & Co. | place=London | year=1875, pt. 2 p. 86.] The Madras Tamil Lexicon, compiled between 1924 and 1936, follows this view.

Eelam>Sihala

Thomas Burrow, in contrast, argued that the word was likely to have been Dravidian in origin, on the basis that Tamil and Malayalam "hardly ever substitute alveolar l peculiarly Dravidian sound, for Sanskrit -'l'-." He suggests that the name "Eelam" came from the Dravidian word "Eelam" (or Cilam) meaning "toddy", referring to the palm trees in Sri Lanka, and later absorbed into Indo-Aryan languages. This, he says, is also likely to have been the source for the Pali '"Sihala". [Citation | last=Burrow | first=Thomas | author-link=Thomas Burrow | title=Dravidian Studies VI — The loss of initial c/s in South Dravidian | journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | volume=12 | issue=1 | year=1947 | pages=132–147 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/608991 at p. 133] The Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, which was jointly edited by Thomas Burrow and Murray Emeneau, marks the Indo-Aryan etymology with a question mark. [Citation | author1-last=Burrow | author1-first=T.A. | author1-link=Thomas Burrow | author2-last=Emeneau | author2-first=M.B. | author2-link=Murray Emeneau | title=A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary | edition=2nd | place=Oxford | publisher=Clarendon Press | year=1984 | url=http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:553.burrow (Online edition at the University of Chicago)] According to Peter Schalk a professor of theology from University of Uppsala who has done extensive studies on Sri Lankan Tamils and their culture, Caldwell and the Madras Tamil lexicon were wrong in deriving "Eelam" from "Sihala". He concludes that "Eelam" is attested well before "Sihala" in India and Sri Lanka, in inscriptions and literature in the 1st century BCE. Where as "Sihala" is attested for the first time in present day Andhra Pradesh to refer to a Buddhist temple meant for monks from Sri Lanka in the 3rd century CE. He further concludes that it is a word used exclusively for toddy beginning from the common era up until the medieval period.Citation | last=Schalk | first=Peter | contribution=Robert Caldwell's Derivation īlam.]

Other theories

Sri Lankan historian Kathigesu Indrapala claims that "Eela" the stem of "Eelam" is attested in Sri Lanka in centuries before the common era as a name of an ethnic group and eventually it came to be applied to the island as "Eelam". He also belives that the name of the island was applied to the popular coconut tree or vice versa in Tamil. He belives the early native names for the present Sinhalese ethnic group such as "Hela" is a derivation of "Eela" that it was Prakritized as "Sihala" and eventually Sanskritized as "Simhala" in the 5th century CE. cite book | last = Indrapala | first = Karthigesu | title = The evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils in Sri Lanka C. 300 BCE to C. 1200 CE| publisher = Vijitha Yapa | date = 2007 | location = Colombo | isbn = 978-955-1266-72-1p. 313] Others claim that the word is a native Tamil word for home.cite journal |author = Stokke, K. |coauthors = Ryntveit, A.K. |year = 2000 |title = The Struggle for Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka |journal = A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy |volume = 31 |issue = 2 |pages = 285–304 |doi = 10.1111/0017-4815.00129 ] Yet another theory based on archeological evidences suggests the word is a native Tamil word which originated from South India. [cite web | last =Sitampalam | first = S.K. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Origin of 'Tamil Eelam' | work = | publisher =The Hindu | date = | url = http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/br/2002/10/08/stories/2002100800060301.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-10-02]

Cognate terms

"Eela" and "Eelavar" are etymologically related to "Eelam". The stem "Eela" is found in Prakrit inscriptions dated to 2nd century BCE in Sri Lanka in term such as "Eela-Barata" and "Eela-Naga", proper names. The meaning of "Eela" in these inscriptions is unknown although one could deduce that they are either from "Eela" a geographic location or were an ethnic group known as "Eela". Although the two derivations "Eelam" and "Eelavar" are etymologically related, the word Eelavar in South Indian mediaeval inscriptions refer to the caste or function of toddy-drawers. From the 19th century onwards, sources appeared in South India regarding a legendary origin for caste of toddy drawers known as "Eelavar" in the state of Kerala. These legends stated that "Eelavar" were originally from Eelam. The consciousness about the South Indian Eelavar caste being of Sri Lankan is not older than 150–200 years.Not only the words "Eezham, Eelavar, Eela, I'la, E'lu, He'la, Seeha'la, Simha'la" and Sinhala but also the Greek "Salai" and "Seiladiba", the Arab "Serendib" and the colonial Ceylon are cognates.

ee also

*Tamil Eelam
*Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil
*Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit
*Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students
*Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
*Eelam People's Democratic Party

References

Further reading

*cite book | last = Schalk | first = Peter | title = Ilam
*Ubayasiri, Kusun "A virtual Eelam: Democracy, Internet and Sri Lanka’s Tamil struggle" in "Asian Cyberactivism: freedom of expression & media censorship" by Steven Gann, James Gomez and Uwe Johannen. ISBN 0974917753