Eva Wilden holds a PhD in Vedic rituals from the University of Hamburg. She later studied classical Tamil under SA Srinivasan. When she was a researcher at the French Institute in Puducherry, she studied under Tamil scholar TV Gopala Iyer. Since 2017, she is Professor of Classical Tamil and Manuscript Studies at the University of Hamburg. Eva Wilden also heads the TamilX project in Hamburg. She has been awarded the Presidential Award ‘Kural Peetham’ for her outstanding foreign contribution in the field of classical Tamil. The award was instituted by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. Eva Wilden is the author of several books and research articles on Sangam literature.
The following is an excerpt from his interview.
Prof. Eva Wilden receiving the President’s Award Kural Peetham from former President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi in 2015. | Photo Credit: Shankar Chakraborty
From the study of Vedic rituals to Sangam literature , How did this happen? Do you still research Sanskrit literature?
Vedic studies goes back a long time, when I was doing my doctorate. Both the Vedic and Sangam literatures look mysterious to outsiders: they use a code, and unless you understand the traditions in minute detail, you can’t understand what it’s all about. In both cases, I was fascinated by the creation of such a code. These days I’m only into Tamil.
Professor Eva Wildén says she was greatly influenced by the construction of codes used in both Vedic studies and Sanam literature.
How many manuscripts of Sangam literature are available and what is their source?
In my 2014 book, (Manuscripts, Printing and Memory, Ruins of Kankam in Tamil Nadu), I have quoted a figure of 183. This is partly misleading because 60 of them fall into this category. Tirumurukattruppadai, Sangam has its own identity as part of the Saiva doctrine and as a devotional text still in use today. Sangam manuscripts come from Tamil Nadu, Kolkata (where the Vaiyapuripillai collection went), London and Paris. Sadly, not much is known about the origin of most of them.
Book cover | Photo courtesy: Special Arrangement
How do you conclude when a particular manuscript was written?
Very rarely, there is a colophon, i.e. a note at the end that tells where, by whom and when the manuscript was copied. For others, one can only compare the content and the script. For example, in palm-leaf, some letter forms changed over time, e.g. Periya RaWhich was initially written with a single loop.
What interesting revelations did you find in the colophons?
Nothing specific, just some dates. What is interesting is the role of sectarian transmission. Most manuscripts were copied in Saivite circles, but there are a small number of manuscripts that were clearly transmitted by Vaishnavites, and there can be considerable differences between two such versions, as was the case in the late 19th century. AgananuruWithout the Vaishnava transmission, we would have lost many poems and their order.
How different is Sangam Tamil, in terms of form, from the devotional literature and the Tamil of the later period?
Very different. From the perspective of a modern Tamil speaker, the biggest difference is the absence of the present tense and the plural suffix -kal. The auxiliary system was also different, as well as some pronouns, such as vehicle For NaanOr Utu In addition to the following itu (this) and Atu (He).
What is the reason for your interest in the works of Nammalvars among the Alvars?
Firstly, my teacher, TV Gopala Iyer, was very fond of Nammazhwar. Secondly, Nammazhwar makes the most sophisticated use of Sangam imagery, as can be seen in his messenger poems. But I have worked on other Alvars too.
Andal says in her ‘Vanga Kadal’ pasuram, ‘Sanga tamizh malai muppathum’. So was Andal familiar with Sangam literature?
It is quite possible that Andal, like all Bhakti poets, was familiar with Sangam poetry. Think practically. Where would poets like Andal or Nammalvar have learnt the art of composing poetry?
Prof. Eva Wilden with the Hamburg Tamilex team. | Photo courtesy: special arrangement
Tell us about the TamilX project that you are leading?
Tamilex is an undertaking funded by the German Academy of Sciences for a period of 24 years. This project format is unique to Germany. It allows fundamental research of great complexity and breadth. We bring together all available sources, to create a new historical dictionary of early Tamil from the very beginning. Our database includes manuscript illustrations and transcriptions, images of old editions and copies, critical editions, translations and full analytical word indexes of every form and every meaningful variant. We record material found in commentaries and entries in traditional dictionaries such as the Tivakaram or Pinkalam. We cross-reference already existing dictionaries such as the Tamil Lexicon. Based on all these materials, we then create a new dictionary. The whole is conceived as an online tool, accessible to everyone worldwide.
We had promised the academy that we would cover all the literature of the first millennium — Sangam, Kizhakkanakku, Perunkappiyam, Nalayira Divyaprabandham, Saiva Tirumurai and a volume of grammar literature starting with Tolkappiyam. But we intend to include other texts as well. For the Dictionary of Tamil Inscriptions, we have tied up with another major project, the ERC Synergy Grant Dharma.
Who are involved in Tamilex project?
The core team in Hamburg consists of nine scholars and student assistants. Charles Lee is our computational linguist. My husband Jean-Luc Chevillard, an expert on grammatical traditions, was awarded the ‘Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Semmozhi Tamil Virudhu’ (prize) by the Tamil Nadu government two years ago. Neela Bhaskar, our first postdoc, works on ShilappadikaramWe have doctoral students – Leo Sage Nelson Jones (Tamilneri Vilakkam), Nikolay Gordiychuk (Purapporul Venbamalai), Manasa Visweswaran (sirupanattrupadai) and Iona McGregor (Manimekalai) post-doc Roland Ferenczi, who will work on the PattinapalaiJoin us soon. Our Indian team at Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient in Puducherry includes Tamil scholars Indra Manuel and T. Rajeswari.
We are supported by a huge external team, which has grown from previous collaborations with the CNRS in Paris, the SAI in Heidelberg, the University of Oxford and the University of Bologna. In Europe, my professorship is the only one for classical Tamil. Thanks to TamilX, we now have the largest team of scholars working on Tamil outside Tamil Nadu.
