Body language: The somatics of nationalism in Tamil India

Gender and History

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 78-109

  Ramaswamy, Sumathi ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BODY LANGUAGE; GENDER ROLE; NATIONALISM; SOMATICS;

INDIA;

EID: 0031815498     PISSN: 09535233     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1468-0424.00090     Document Type: Article

References (176)

1. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso, London, 1983), p. 15.
2. My use of the term 'somatics of nationalism' differs from Joseph Alter's notion of 'somatic nationalism', a concept he introduces to contrast the ideologies of wrestling in modern India, with the culture of physicality and athletic sports in militant Hindu nationalism (Joseph Alter, 'Somatic Nationalism: Indian Wrestling and Militant Hinduism', Modern Asian Studies, 28 (1994), pp. 557-88). While Alter analyses somatic notions relating to the body of the male citizen, the focus of my paper is on the embodied female icon of the nation, and the manner in which it is deployed to build the nation and represent it as 'family'.
3. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
4. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
5. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
6. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
7. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
8. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
9. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
10. Eric R. Wolf, 'The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol', Journal of American Folklore, 71 (1958), pp. 34-9; Maurice Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980); Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984); George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985); Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (Atheneum, New York, 1985); John Higham, 'The Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America', Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 100 (1990), pp. 45-79; Mary Ryan, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1990); Madelyn Gutwirth, The Twilight of the Goddesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1992).
11. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality, p. 90.
12. See especially Tanika Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography: Image of Women in 19th Century Bengali Literature', Economic and Political Weekly, 22 (1987), pp. 2011-15; Jasodhara Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism: Ideology of Motherhood in Colonial Bengal', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 65-71.
13. See especially Tanika Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography: Image of Women in 19th Century Bengali Literature', Economic and Political Weekly, 22 (1987), pp. 2011-15; Jasodhara Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism: Ideology of Motherhood in Colonial Bengal', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 65-71.
14. Paola Bacchetta, 'Hindu Nationalist Women as Ideologues: The "Sangh", the "Samiti" and their Differential Concepts of the Hindu Nation', in Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia, ed. Kumari Jayawardene and Mala de Alwis (Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996), pp. 126-67; Lisa McKean, 'Bhārata Mātā: Mother India and her Militant Matriots', in Devi: Goddesses of India, ed. John S. Hawley and Donna M. Wulff (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1996), pp. 250-80.
15. Paola Bacchetta, 'Hindu Nationalist Women as Ideologues: The "Sangh", the "Samiti" and their Differential Concepts of the Hindu Nation', in Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia, ed. Kumari Jayawardene and Mala de Alwis (Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996), pp. 126-67; Lisa McKean, 'Bhārata Mātā: Mother India and her Militant Matriots', in Devi: Goddesses of India, ed. John S. Hawley and Donna M. Wulff (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1996), pp. 250-80.
16. Geraldine Heng and Janadas Devan, 'State Fatherhood: The Politics of Nationalism, Sexuality and Race in Singapore', in Nationalisms and Sexualities, ed. Andrew Parker et al. (Routledge, New York, 1992), p. 349.
17. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias (eds), Woman-Nation-State (Macmillan, London, 1989); C. S. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community, and Mother-Politics in Tamilnadu', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 72-83; Sitralega Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of "Woman" in Projects of Protest and Control', in Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka, ed. Pradeep Jeganathan and Qadri Ismail (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, Colombo, 1995), pp. 158-75. See also special issue on nationalism, Gender & History, 5 (1993).
18. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias (eds), Woman-Nation-State (Macmillan, London, 1989); C. S. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community, and Mother-Politics in Tamilnadu', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 72-83; Sitralega Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of "Woman" in Projects of Protest and Control', in Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka, ed. Pradeep Jeganathan and Qadri Ismail (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, Colombo, 1995), pp. 158-75. See also special issue on nationalism, Gender & History, 5 (1993).
19. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias (eds), Woman-Nation-State (Macmillan, London, 1989); C. S. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community, and Mother-Politics in Tamilnadu', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 72-83; Sitralega Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of "Woman" in Projects of Protest and Control', in Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka, ed. Pradeep Jeganathan and Qadri Ismail (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, Colombo, 1995), pp. 158-75. See also special issue on nationalism, Gender & History, 5 (1993).
20. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias (eds), Woman-Nation-State (Macmillan, London, 1989); C. S. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community, and Mother-Politics in Tamilnadu', Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women's Studies), 25 (1990), pp. 72-83; Sitralega Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of "Woman" in Projects of Protest and Control', in Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka, ed. Pradeep Jeganathan and Qadri Ismail (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, Colombo, 1995), pp. 158-75. See also special issue on nationalism, Gender & History, 5 (1993).
21. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality, p. 97.
22. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997).
23. Mālai Mani (Inti Etirppu Malar), 7 August 1960, p. 12.
24. Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Demoness, the Maid, the Whore, and the Good Mother: Contesting the National Language in India', The International Journal of the Sociology of Language (forthcoming, 1999).
25. Poets and intellectuals associated with the Dravidian movement are the most articulate and visible exponents of 'Tamil nationalism'. However, Tamil nationalism was not confined to that movement, especially during the middle decades of this century, and particularly in the context of the anti-Hindi protests, when it drew into its fold many a contrary figure. In turn, 'Tamil nationalism' is only one strand in the complex formation called 'the Dravidian movement', and it frequently was at odds with some of the latter's principal commitments which included, through the 1950s, the formation of a multilingual entity called tirāvita nātu, 'the Dravidian nation'. For the many contradictory pulls and transformations within the regimes of attachment to Tamil, of which 'Tamil nationalism' is one strand, see Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue.
26. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
27. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
28. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
29. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
30. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
31. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
32. It has become commonplace in the historiography of the Dravidian movement to emphasise the various transformations it underwent through time (Marguerite Barnett, The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976); M. S. S. Pandian, S. Anandhi and A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 1059-64; V. Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), pp. 387-8). There is little doubt that attitudes towards Tamil also shifted through time and across the various ideological registers both within and outside the movement. Yet what is worth underscoring is the remarkable stability of the imagination of Tamil as a mother-figure who needs to be protected by her 'children'. An influential progressive part of the early Dravidian movement did produce a radical critique of the gendering of the Tamil-speaking woman as 'mother' (Pandian et al., 'Of Maltova Mothers'; S. Anandhi, 'Women's Question in the Dravidian Movement, c. 1925-1948', Social Scientist, 19 (1991), pp. 24-41). It is important to emphasise, however, that this did not extend itself to a critical questioning of the gendering of the Tamil language as chaste woman and mother until fairly late (and quite tangentially) in the Dravidian movement (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42; see also Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38). Indeed, even in publications such as the Kuti Aracu (E. V. Ramasami's radical newsmagazine which provided an outlet for the expression of so many of the early Dravidian movement's ideas), one finds the routinised use of gendered images of Tamil, so naturalised had these become by the 1930s.
33. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 46-77. I borrow the term 'conflicted intimacy' from Richard Terdiman, Discourse/Counter-Discourse: The Theory and Practice of Symbolic Resistance in Nineteenth-Century France (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1985).
34. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 46-77. I borrow the term 'conflicted intimacy' from Richard Terdiman, Discourse/Counter-Discourse: The Theory and Practice of Symbolic Resistance in Nineteenth-Century France (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1985).
35. Theodore Baskaran, The Message Bearers: The Nationalist Politics and the Entertainment Media in South India, 1880-1945 (Cre-A, Madras, 1981); A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Pāratiyin Karuttupat + (Combining dot below sign)aṅkalt + (Combining dot below sign): 'Intiyā', 1906-1910 (Cartoons of Bharati, 'India', 1906-1910) (Narmada, Madras, 1994).
36. Theodore Baskaran, The Message Bearers: The Nationalist Politics and the Entertainment Media in South India, 1880-1945 (Cre-A, Madras, 1981); A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Pāratiyin Karuttupat + (Combining dot below sign)aṅkalt + (Combining dot below sign): 'Intiyā', 1906-1910 (Cartoons of Bharati, 'India', 1906-1910) (Narmada, Madras, 1994).
37. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 79-134.
38. Kuyil, 2 August 1960, p. 16.
39. Shaktidasan Subramanian, Tamil Veri (Passion for Tamil)] (Sadhu Accukuttam, Madras, 1939), p. 1.
40. T. V. Kalyanasundaranar, En Kat + (Combining dot below sign)an Paniceytu Kit + (Combining dot below sign)appatē (My Duty is to Labour) (1921, repr. Sadhu Press, Madras, 1944), p. 62.
41. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2015; Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism', pp. 66, 70.
42. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2015; Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism', pp. 66, 70.
43. For example, Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism'; Samita Sen, 'Motherhood and Mothercraft: Gender and Nationalism in Bengal', Gender & History, 5 (1993), pp. 231-43; Kumari Jayawardene and Mala de Alwis (eds), Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia (Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996).
44. For example, Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism'; Samita Sen, 'Motherhood and Mothercraft: Gender and Nationalism in Bengal', Gender & History, 5 (1993), pp. 231-43; Kumari Jayawardene and Mala de Alwis (eds), Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia (Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996).
45. For example, Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism'; Samita Sen, 'Motherhood and Mothercraft: Gender and Nationalism in Bengal', Gender & History, 5 (1993), pp. 231-43; Kumari Jayawardene and Mala de Alwis (eds), Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia (Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996).
46. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'; Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil: Language and the Poetics of Womanhood in Tamilnadu', South Asia Research, 12 (1992), pp. 38-59. The quotation appears in Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', p. 388.
47. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'; Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil: Language and the Poetics of Womanhood in Tamilnadu', South Asia Research, 12 (1992), pp. 38-59. The quotation appears in Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', p. 388.
48. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'; Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil: Language and the Poetics of Womanhood in Tamilnadu', South Asia Research, 12 (1992), pp. 38-59. The quotation appears in Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', p. 388.
49. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'; Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil: Language and the Poetics of Womanhood in Tamilnadu', South Asia Research, 12 (1992), pp. 38-59. The quotation appears in Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', p. 388.
50. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'; Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil: Language and the Poetics of Womanhood in Tamilnadu', South Asia Research, 12 (1992), pp. 38-59. The quotation appears in Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse', p. 388.
51. C. S. Lakshmi, 'Seeing in Gestalt', Economic and Political Weekly, 26 (1991), p. 1487.
52. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 80-85.
53. Baskaran, The Message Bearers. For a comparable role played by Arabic poetry in Egyptian nationalism at the turn of this century, see Beth Baron, 'The Construction of National Honour in Egypt', Gender & History, 5 (1993), pp. 245-7.
54. Baskaran, The Message Bearers. For a comparable role played by Arabic poetry in Egyptian nationalism at the turn of this century, see Beth Baron, 'The Construction of National Honour in Egypt', Gender & History, 5 (1993), pp. 245-7.
55. For a discussion of the 'womb-centred' perceptions of the woman's body in Tamil cultural discourses, see Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'. Although her critics have rightly pointed out that 'the self-respect movement', an early progressive phase of the Dravidian movement, attacked prevailing womb-centred notions about the woman, this attack did not prevent many Dravidianists, including those who claimed to have been influenced by the self-respect movement, from using womb imagery when they wrote about Tamil (pace Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'). Indeed, even though he did not generally resort to such gendered imagery, E. V. Ramasami, the leader of the movement, himself used the trope of the mother's womb in a rare but telling moment: 'Some of our pandits declare that these four languages emerged from one, that they are four sisters that were borne by one mother's womb. This is utter nonsense. There was only one daughter who was given birth to by Tirāvitattāy (Mother Dravida), and her name is Tamil. We have given her four different names, because the language is spoken in four different places. But in all four places, it is Tamil that is spoken' (E. V. Ramasami, Moliārāycci (Thoughts on Language) (Valluvar Patippakam, Erode, 1948), p. 30).
56. For a discussion of the 'womb-centred' perceptions of the woman's body in Tamil cultural discourses, see Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'. Although her critics have rightly pointed out that 'the self-respect movement', an early progressive phase of the Dravidian movement, attacked prevailing womb-centred notions about the woman, this attack did not prevent many Dravidianists, including those who claimed to have been influenced by the self-respect movement, from using womb imagery when they wrote about Tamil (pace Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'). Indeed, even though he did not generally resort to such gendered imagery, E. V. Ramasami, the leader of the movement, himself used the trope of the mother's womb in a rare but telling moment: 'Some of our pandits declare that these four languages emerged from one, that they are four sisters that were borne by one mother's womb. This is utter nonsense. There was only one daughter who was given birth to by Tirāvitattāy (Mother Dravida), and her name is Tamil. We have given her four different names, because the language is spoken in four different places. But in all four places, it is Tamil that is spoken' (E. V. Ramasami, Moliārāycci (Thoughts on Language) (Valluvar Patippakam, Erode, 1948), p. 30).
57. For a discussion of the 'womb-centred' perceptions of the woman's body in Tamil cultural discourses, see Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'. Although her critics have rightly pointed out that 'the self-respect movement', an early progressive phase of the Dravidian movement, attacked prevailing womb-centred notions about the woman, this attack did not prevent many Dravidianists, including those who claimed to have been influenced by the self-respect movement, from using womb imagery when they wrote about Tamil (pace Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'). Indeed, even though he did not generally resort to such gendered imagery, E. V. Ramasami, the leader of the movement, himself used the trope of the mother's womb in a rare but telling moment: 'Some of our pandits declare that these four languages emerged from one, that they are four sisters that were borne by one mother's womb. This is utter nonsense. There was only one daughter who was given birth to by Tirāvitattāy (Mother Dravida), and her name is Tamil. We have given her four different names, because the language is spoken in four different places. But in all four places, it is Tamil that is spoken' (E. V. Ramasami, Moliārāycci (Thoughts on Language) (Valluvar Patippakam, Erode, 1948), p. 30).
58. For a discussion of the 'womb-centred' perceptions of the woman's body in Tamil cultural discourses, see Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'. Although her critics have rightly pointed out that 'the self-respect movement', an early progressive phase of the Dravidian movement, attacked prevailing womb-centred notions about the woman, this attack did not prevent many Dravidianists, including those who claimed to have been influenced by the self-respect movement, from using womb imagery when they wrote about Tamil (pace Pandian et al., Of Maltova Mothers'; Geetha, 'Gender and Political Discourse'). Indeed, even though he did not generally resort to such gendered imagery, E. V. Ramasami, the leader of the movement, himself used the trope of the mother's womb in a rare but telling moment: 'Some of our pandits declare that these four languages emerged from one, that they are four sisters that were borne by one mother's womb. This is utter nonsense. There was only one daughter who was given birth to by Tirāvitattāy (Mother Dravida), and her name is Tamil. We have given her four different names, because the language is spoken in four different places. But in all four places, it is Tamil that is spoken' (E. V. Ramasami, Moliārāycci (Thoughts on Language) (Valluvar Patippakam, Erode, 1948), p. 30).
59. Tamil Muracu (Pondicherry), 14 January 1960, p. 27.
60. Suddhananda Bharati, Tamilunt + (Combining dot below sign)arcci: Essays on the Tamil Renaissance (Anbu Nilayam, Ramachandrapuram, 1938), p. 104.
61. Pancanathan, M., Tamil Annai Collukiral (Tamilttāy Speaks) (Tamilccelvi Nilayam, Ponneri, n.d. [196?]), p. 9.
62. Nam Nātu, 28 January 1979, p. 8.
63. Sundaram Pillai, Manōnmaniyam, ed. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai (1891, repr. n.p., Trivandrum, 1922), p. 22. Sundaram Pillai's example reminds us that talk of Tamilttāy's womb was not limited to those whom I have here characterised as 'nationalists', but also informed discourses of Tamil devotion that I have elsewhere classified as 'religious' and 'classicist' (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue).
64. Sundaram Pillai, Manōnmaniyam, ed. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai (1891, repr. n.p., Trivandrum, 1922), p. 22. Sundaram Pillai's example reminds us that talk of Tamilttāy's womb was not limited to those whom I have here characterised as 'nationalists', but also informed discourses of Tamil devotion that I have elsewhere classified as 'religious' and 'classicist' (Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue).
65. Robert Caldwell, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages (Harrison, London, 1856), pp. 26, 52, 61.
66. For example, Ramasami, Moliārāycci, p. 30; and poems by Bharatidasan in Kuyil. 1 October 1947, p. 2, and 5 August 1958, p. 2.
67. For example, Ramasami, Moliārāycci, p. 30; and poems by Bharatidasan in Kuyil. 1 October 1947, p. 2, and 5 August 1958, p. 2.
68. For example, Ramasami, Moliārāycci, p. 30; and poems by Bharatidasan in Kuyil. 1 October 1947, p. 2, and 5 August 1958, p. 2.
69. Kut + (Combining dot below sign)i Aracu, 28 May 1939, p. 16.
70. Pāratiyār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign): Āyvu Patippu (Songs of Bharati: A Research Compendium) (Tanjavur: Tamil University, Tanjavur, 1987), p. 51. See also essay entitled 'sahōtaratuvam' (Fraternity), Intiyā, 11 December 1909; and editorial entitled 'vantē mātaram' (Homage to Mother), Intiyā, 22 January 1910.
71. Pāratiyār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign): Āyvu Patippu (Songs of Bharati: A Research Compendium) (Tanjavur: Tamil University, Tanjavur, 1987), p. 51. See also essay entitled 'sahōtaratuvam' (Fraternity), Intiyā, 11 December 1909; and editorial entitled 'vantē mātaram' (Homage to Mother), Intiyā, 22 January 1910.
72. Pāratiyār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign): Āyvu Patippu (Songs of Bharati: A Research Compendium) (Tanjavur: Tamil University, Tanjavur, 1987), p. 51. See also essay entitled 'sahōtaratuvam' (Fraternity), Intiyā, 11 December 1909; and editorial entitled 'vantē mātaram' (Homage to Mother), Intiyā, 22 January 1910.
73. Venkatesvara Ayyar, Tamilum AtanPerumaiyum (Tamil and its Glory) (the author, Pudukottai, 1918), pp. 2-3; emphasis mine.
74. Ramalinga Pillai, Nāmakkal Kaviñar Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign) (Songs of Namakkal Ramalinga Pillai) (Lipco Associates, Madras, 1988), pp. 309-10.
75. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother Community'.
76. Tēcacēvakan, 26 June 1923, p. 2
77. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother Community'.
78. Reprinted in C. S. Subramaniam (ed.), Pārati Taricanam (Glimpses of Bharati) (New Century Book House, Madras, 1986), pp. 397-9; my emphasis.
79. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
80. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
81. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
82. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
83. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
84. Vedanayakam Pillai, Pirātapam Ennum Piratāpamutaliyār Carittiram (The Life and Adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar) (the author, Mayavaram, 1879), p. 285; Madras Presidency Native Newspaper Reports, 21 (1913), p. 816; V. V. Subramania Aiyar, Tamil', in Va. Vē. Cu. Aiyar Katturaikal (Essays of V. V. S. Aiyar), ed. P. S. Mani (S. N. Somayajulu, Tirunelveli), p. 20; Census of India, 1931, vol. 14 (1), Madras (Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1932), p. 287. See also Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil', pp. 49-51.
85. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil'.
86. Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community'; Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil'.
87. Madras Legislative Assembly Debates, 37 (1956), p. 628.
88. Kuyil, 1 September 1947, p. 6; Iyarkaiselvan, Malarkkāt + (Combining dot below sign)u Allatu Tamilā Elu! (Forest of Flowers, Or Rise, O Tamilian!) (Shanti, Madras, 1959), p. 8.
89. Kuyil, 1 September 1947, p. 6; Iyarkaiselvan, Malarkkāt + (Combining dot below sign)u Allatu Tamilā Elu! (Forest of Flowers, Or Rise, O Tamilian!) (Shanti, Madras, 1959), p. 8.
90. Kuyil, 15 July 1948, p. 12; Bharatidasan, 1948. Inti Etirppup Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)t + (Combining dot below sign)u (Anti-Hindi Songs) (Bharatidasan Patippakam, Pondicherry, 1948), p. 4; Peruñccittiranār Pātalkalt + (Combining dot below sign) (Songs of Perunchitranar) (Madras: Tenmoli, Madras, 1979), vol. 1, p. 57.
91. Kuyil, 15 July 1948, p. 12; Bharatidasan, 1948. Inti Etirppup Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)t + (Combining dot below sign)u (Anti-Hindi Songs) (Bharatidasan Patippakam, Pondicherry, 1948), p. 4; Peruñccittiranār Pātalkalt + (Combining dot below sign) (Songs of Perunchitranar) (Madras: Tenmoli, Madras, 1979), vol. 1, p. 57.
92. Kuyil, 15 July 1948, p. 12; Bharatidasan, 1948. Inti Etirppup Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)t + (Combining dot below sign)u (Anti-Hindi Songs) (Bharatidasan Patippakam, Pondicherry, 1948), p. 4; Peruñccittiranār Pātalkalt + (Combining dot below sign) (Songs of Perunchitranar) (Madras: Tenmoli, Madras, 1979), vol. 1, p. 57.
93. V. Ramasami, Moliyum Arivum (Language and Reason) (Periyar Self-respect Publications, Tiruchirapalli, 1962), pp. 9-10.
94. Ramasami, Moliyum Arivum, pp. 10-12.
95. Ramasami, Moliyum Arivum, pp. 12-13.
96. For an analysis of how this provocative pamphlet fits into Ramasami's overall critique of Tamil devotion, see Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 233-42.
97. Nationalists in Tamil India were not alone in deploying the mother's milk thus to characterise their language. Indian nationalists in other parts of the subcontinent made use of similar imagery. So, Mohandas Gandhi unequivocally declared in an essay that appeared in Harijan in 1946, '1 must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother's breast, in spite of its shortcomings. It alone can give me the life-giving milk' (Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language (Navjivan, Ahmedabad, 1956), p. 201). Decades earlier, in a speech that he made to the Hindi Literary Academy in Indore in 1918, Gandhi lamented in the following vein: 'Language is like our mother, but we do not have that love for it, as we have for our mother... The educated classes ... have unfortunately fallen under the spell of English and have developed a distaste for their own mother tongue. The milk one gets from the former is adulterated with water and contaminated with poison while that from the latter is pure. It is impossible to make any advance without this pure milk' (Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language, pp. 8-9). Here, as in nationalist discourses in Tamil India, one notices an easy elision of the categories, 'mother', 'mother tongue', and 'mother's milk', as well as the suggestion that languages other than the 'mother tongue' are not quite wholesome. Equations between language and mother's milk are not limited to the modern Indian context. As early as the sixteenth century, the Spanish theologian, Luis de Leon, likened 'vernacular' languages to the 'milk that children drink from their mother's breast' (quoted in Vicente Rafael, Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1988), p. 25). Similarly, David Laitin, in his study of language politics in contemporary Somalia, quotes Somalian poetry in which an explicit equation is made between Somali, the mother's breast and mother's milk (David Laitin, Politics, Language and Thought: The Somali Experience (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977), pp. 115, 133-4). See also Faust's exhortation that the mother 'must be an educator' because 'the child sucks in its first ideas with the mother's milk' (quoted in Friedrich Kittler, The Mother's Mouth', in Discourse Networks 1800/1900 (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990), p. 55). Rather than proposing that these random - but tantalising - examples from across the centuries point to a timeless universality, I would suggest that the inscription of language as mother's milk is part of the same set of imaginations about language which produced the European construct of 'mother tongue', which was then exported to the various colonies.
98. Nationalists in Tamil India were not alone in deploying the mother's milk thus to characterise their language. Indian nationalists in other parts of the subcontinent made use of similar imagery. So, Mohandas Gandhi unequivocally declared in an essay that appeared in Harijan in 1946, '1 must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother's breast, in spite of its shortcomings. It alone can give me the life-giving milk' (Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language (Navjivan, Ahmedabad, 1956), p. 201). Decades earlier, in a speech that he made to the Hindi Literary Academy in Indore in 1918, Gandhi lamented in the following vein: 'Language is like our mother, but we do not have that love for it, as we have for our mother... The educated classes ... have unfortunately fallen under the spell of English and have developed a distaste for their own mother tongue. The milk one gets from the former is adulterated with water and contaminated with poison while that from the latter is pure. It is impossible to make any advance without this pure milk' (Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language, pp. 8-9). Here, as in nationalist discourses in Tamil India, one notices an easy elision of the categories, 'mother', 'mother tongue', and 'mother's milk', as well as the suggestion that languages other than the 'mother tongue' are not quite wholesome. Equations between language and mother's milk are not limited to the modern Indian context. As early as the sixteenth century, the Spanish theologian, Luis de Leon, likened 'vernacular' languages to the 'milk that children drink from their mother's breast' (quoted in Vicente Rafael, Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1988), p. 25). Similarly, David Laitin, in his study of language politics in contemporary Somalia, quotes Somalian poetry in which an explicit equation is made between Somali, the mother's breast and mother's milk (David Laitin, Politics, Language and Thought: The Somali Experience (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977), pp. 115, 133-4). See also Faust's exhortation that the mother 'must be an educator' because 'the child sucks in its first ideas with the mother's milk' (quoted in Friedrich Kittler, The Mother's Mouth', in Discourse Networks 1800/1900 (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990), p. 55). Rather than proposing that these random - but tantalising - examples from across the centuries point to a timeless universality, I would suggest that the inscription of language as mother's milk is part of the same set of imaginations about language which produced the European construct of 'mother tongue', which was then exported to the various colonies.
99. Nationalists in Tamil India were not alone in deploying the mother's milk thus to characterise their language. Indian nationalists in other parts of the subcontinent made use of similar imagery. So, Mohandas Gandhi unequivocally declared in an essay that appeared in Harijan in 1946, '1 must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother's breast, in spite of its shortcomings. It alone can give me the life-giving milk' (Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language (Navjivan, Ahmedabad, 1956), p. 201). Decades earlier, in a speech that he made to the Hindi Literary Academy in Indore in 1918, Gandhi lamented in the following vein: 'Language is like our mother, but we do not have that love for it, as we have for our mother... The educated classes ... have unfortunately fallen under the spell of English and have developed a distaste for their own mother tongue. The milk one gets from the former is adulterated with water and contaminated with poison while that from the latter is pure. It is impossible to make any advance without this pure milk' (Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language, pp. 8-9). Here, as in nationalist discourses in Tamil India, one notices an easy elision of the categories, 'mother', 'mother tongue', and 'mother's milk', as well as the suggestion that languages other than the 'mother tongue' are not quite wholesome. Equations between language and mother's milk are not limited to the modern Indian context. As early as the sixteenth century, the Spanish theologian, Luis de Leon, likened 'vernacular' languages to the 'milk that children drink from their mother's breast' (quoted in Vicente Rafael, Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1988), p. 25). Similarly, David Laitin, in his study of language politics in contemporary Somalia, quotes Somalian poetry in which an explicit equation is made between Somali, the mother's breast and mother's milk (David Laitin, Politics, Language and Thought: The Somali Experience (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977), pp. 115, 133-4). See also Faust's exhortation that the mother 'must be an educator' because 'the child sucks in its first ideas with the mother's milk' (quoted in Friedrich Kittler, The Mother's Mouth', in Discourse Networks 1800/1900 (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990), p. 55). Rather than proposing that these random - but tantalising - examples from across the centuries point to a timeless universality, I would suggest that the inscription of language as mother's milk is part of the same set of imaginations about language which produced the European construct of 'mother tongue', which was then exported to the various colonies.
100. Nationalists in Tamil India were not alone in deploying the mother's milk thus to characterise their language. Indian nationalists in other parts of the subcontinent made use of similar imagery. So, Mohandas Gandhi unequivocally declared in an essay that appeared in Harijan in 1946, '1 must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother's breast, in spite of its shortcomings. It alone can give me the life-giving milk' (Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language (Navjivan, Ahmedabad, 1956), p. 201). Decades earlier, in a speech that he made to the Hindi Literary Academy in Indore in 1918, Gandhi lamented in the following vein: 'Language is like our mother, but we do not have that love for it, as we have for our mother... The educated classes ... have unfortunately fallen under the spell of English and have developed a distaste for their own mother tongue. The milk one gets from the former is adulterated with water and contaminated with poison while that from the latter is pure. It is impossible to make any advance without this pure milk' (Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language, pp. 8-9). Here, as in nationalist discourses in Tamil India, one notices an easy elision of the categories, 'mother', 'mother tongue', and 'mother's milk', as well as the suggestion that languages other than the 'mother tongue' are not quite wholesome. Equations between language and mother's milk are not limited to the modern Indian context. As early as the sixteenth century, the Spanish theologian, Luis de Leon, likened 'vernacular' languages to the 'milk that children drink from their mother's breast' (quoted in Vicente Rafael,
101. Nationalists in Tamil India were not alone in deploying the mother's milk thus to characterise their language. Indian nationalists in other parts of the subcontinent made use of similar imagery. So, Mohandas Gandhi unequivocally declared in an essay that appeared in Harijan in 1946, '1 must cling to my mother tongue as to my mother's breast, in spite of its shortcomings. It alone can give me the life-giving milk' (Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language (Navjivan, Ahmedabad, 1956), p. 201). Decades earlier, in a speech that he made to the Hindi Literary Academy in Indore in 1918, Gandhi lamented in the following vein: 'Language is like our mother, but we do not have that love for it, as we have for our mother... The educated classes ... have unfortunately fallen under the spell of English and have developed a distaste for their own mother tongue. The milk one gets from the former is adulterated with water and contaminated with poison while that from the latter is pure. It is impossible to make any advance without this pure milk' (Gandhi, Thoughts on National Language, pp. 8-9). Here, as in nationalist discourses in Tamil India, one notices an easy elision of the categories, 'mother', 'mother tongue', and 'mother's milk', as well as the suggestion that languages other than the 'mother tongue' are not quite wholesome. Equations between language and mother's milk are not limited to the modern Indian context. As early as the sixteenth century, the Spanish theologian, Luis de Leon, likened 'vernacular' languages to the 'milk that children drink from their mother's breast' (quoted in Vicente Rafael, Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1988), p. 25). Similarly, David Laitin, in his study of language politics in contemporary Somalia, quotes Somalian poetry in which an explicit equation is made between Somali, the mother's breast and mother's milk (David Laitin, Politics, Language and Thought: The Somali Experience (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977), pp. 115, 133-4). See also Faust's exhortation that the mother 'must be an educator' because 'the child sucks in its first ideas with the mother's milk' (quoted in Friedrich Kittler, The Mother's Mouth', in Discourse Networks 1800/1900 (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990), p. 55). Rather than proposing that these random - but tantalising - examples from across the centuries point to a timeless universality, I would suggest that the inscription of language as mother's milk is part of the same set of imaginations about language which produced the European construct of 'mother tongue', which was then exported to the various colonies.
102. Reprinted in R. A. Padmanabhan, Cittira Pārati (Bharati in Pictures) (Bharatiyar Sangam, Madras, 1982), pp. 60-61.
103. Warner, Monuments and Maidens, pp. 267-93; Gutwirth, Twilight of the Goddesses, pp. 341-69.
104. Warner, Monuments and Maidens, pp. 267-93; Gutwirth, Twilight of the Goddesses, pp. 341-69.
105. Gutwirth, Twilight of the Goddesses, pp. 342-4.
106. Ramalinga Pillai, Tamil Moliyum Tamil Aracum (Tamil Language and Tamil Rule) (Madras: Inpa Nilayam, Madras, 1953), p. 53; emphasis mine.
107. Kuyil, 17 June 1958, p. 13; emphasis mine.
108. David Shulman, Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Saiva Tradition (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980), pp. 93-104; Margaret Trawick, Notes on Love in a Tamil Family (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990), pp. 93-4.
109. David Shulman, Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Saiva Tradition (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980), pp. 93-104; Margaret Trawick, Notes on Love in a Tamil Family (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990), pp. 93-4.
110. Vitutalai, 26 November 1938. For an earlier expression of a similar sentiment in an Indianist tract, see Ñānapānu, 3 (1915), p. 222.
111. Vitutalai, 26 November 1938. For an earlier expression of a similar sentiment in an Indianist tract, see Ñānapānu, 3 (1915), p. 222.
112. Muracoli, 26 January 1965, p. 1.
113. S. Visswanathan, The Political Career of E. V. Ramasami Naicker (Ravi & Vasanth, Madras, 1983), p. 236.
114. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvilakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965.
115. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvilakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965.
116. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvilakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965.
117. Muttāram, 15 March 1966, cover page. The same cover was reprinted years later in the DMK party-magazine on the occasion of the celebration of the 'Language Martyrs' Day' in January 1976 with a verse celebrating the young men (Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig 7.
118. Muttāram, 15 March 1966, cover page. The same cover was reprinted years later in the DMK party-magazine on the occasion of the celebration of the 'Language Martyrs' Day' in January 1976 with a verse celebrating the young men (Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig 7.
119. Muttāram, 15 March 1966, cover page. The same cover was reprinted years later in the DMK party-magazine on the occasion of the celebration of the 'Language Martyrs' Day' in January 1976 with a verse celebrating the young men (Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig 7.
120. While Karunanidhi insisted that six men were killed in Kallakudi, the government claimed two deaths, and its reportage of the event varies significantly (Government of Madras, Order No. 2945, Public (Confidential), 29 October 1953).
121. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Nīti (Justice for the Heart) (Tirumakal Nilayam, Madras, 1989), vol. 1, pp. 196-205. See also Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community', p. 78.
122. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Nīti (Justice for the Heart) (Tirumakal Nilayam, Madras, 1989), vol. 1, pp. 196-205. See also Lakshmi, 'Mother, Mother-Community', p. 78.
123. Puttoli, Tamilttāyin Kannir (The Tears of Tamilttāy) (Damayanti, Accuveli, 1977).
124. For example, Higham, 'The Indian Princess', pp. 52-4; Warner, Monuments and Maidens, p. 23; Linda Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1980), p. 40.
125. For example, Higham, 'The Indian Princess', pp. 52-4; Warner, Monuments and Maidens, p. 23; Linda Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1980), p. 40.
126. For example, Higham, 'The Indian Princess', pp. 52-4; Warner, Monuments and Maidens, p. 23; Linda Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1980), p. 40.
127. Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism', p. 70. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2012.
128. Bagchi, 'Representing Nationalism', p. 70. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2012.
129. India Office Library and Records PP. Hin. F. 58. For the Madras Presidency, see the many cartoons in the weekly edited by Subramania Bharati, Intiyā, reprinted in Venkatachalapathy, PāratiyinKaruttupat + (Combining dot below sign)aṅkal̇.
130. India Office Library and Records PP. Hin. F. 58. For the Madras Presidency, see the many cartoons in the weekly edited by Subramania Bharati, Intiyā, reprinted in Venkatachalapathy, PāratiyinKaruttupat + (Combining dot below sign)aṅkal̇.
131. Intippōr Muracu (The Hindi War Drum) (1948; repr. Vidutalai, Madras, 1985), p. 59; my emphasis.
132. Vitutalai, 18 May, 1938, p. 3; Kuti Aracu, 22 May 1938, cover page; Pakuttarivu, vol. 4 (1938). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 5.
133. Vitutalai, 18 May, 1938, p. 3; Kuti Aracu, 22 May 1938, cover page; Pakuttarivu, vol. 4 (1938). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 5.
134. Vitutalai, 18 May, 1938, p. 3; Kuti Aracu, 22 May 1938, cover page; Pakuttarivu, vol. 4 (1938). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 5.
135. Vitutalai, 18 May, 1938, p. 3; Kuti Aracu, 22 May 1938, cover page; Pakuttarivu, vol. 4 (1938). See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 5.
136. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Niti, p. 44.
137. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
138. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
139. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
140. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
141. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
142. Arappōr, 8 September 1961, p. 1; Tiruvit + (Combining dot below sign)lakku, 12 February 1965; Muracoli, 19 January 1965, 29 January 1965, 3 February 1965; Muttāram, 15 March 1966; Kalakakkural, 25 January 1976. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 10.
143. Kuti Aracu, 19 December 1937, p. 15. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 6.
144. Kuti Aracu, 19 December 1937, p. 15. See also Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, fig. 6.
145. Pāratiyār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign), pp. 193-309. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2012.
146. Pāratiyār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign), pp. 193-309. See also Sarkar, 'Nationalist Iconography', p. 2012.
147. I thank Rajeswari Sunder Rajan for reminding me of this.
148. For the deeper anti-Brahman polemics of Tamil devotion within which this cartoon should also be evaluated, see Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 194-204.
149. Vit + (Combining dot below sign)utalai, 27 December 1938, p. 4. In the Mahābhārata, Dushasana is the principal Kaurava prince responsible for disrobing Draupadi.
150. Kuyil, 15 August 1948, p. 29.
151. N. Annadurai, Inpat Tirāvitam (Sweet Dravidian Land) (1948; repr. Poompukar, Madras, 1989), p. 91.
152. An oblique exception to this is a speech made by V. Balakrishnan in the Madras Legislative Assembly in December 1956, when he compared the efforts of government officials to coin Tamil neologisms for English bureaucratic words to the 'rape of virgin Tamil' (Madras Legislative Assembly Debates, 37 (1956), pp. 637-8).
153. Radha Kumar, The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990 (Verso, London, 1993), pp. 127-42.
154. For a different take on this point, see Sumathi Ramaswamy, 'Virgin Mother, Beloved Other: The Erotics of Tamil Nationalism', Thamyris: Mythmaking from Past to Present, 4 (1997), pp. 9-39.
155. Kuyil, 15 August 1948, p. 29.
156. Kumar, History of Doing, p. 37.
157. Camaniti, 12 February 1965, p. 5.
158. Pulavar Kulantai Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign) (Songs of Pulavar Kulanthai) (Vela, Erode, 1972), p. 35.
159. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Niti, p. 559. Of course, such expressions of willingness to give up one's body and life to the mother/nation appear in metropolitan Indian nationalist discourses as well. For visual representations of Indian patriots presenting their severed heads to Bhārata Mātā, see 'Sardar Bhagat's Wonderful Presentation' and 'Bhagat's Curious Present', India Office Library and Records PP. Hin. F.66 and PP. Hin. F.69.
160. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Niti, p. 559. Of course, such expressions of willingness to give up one's body and life to the mother/nation appear in metropolitan Indian nationalist discourses as well. For visual representations of Indian patriots presenting their severed heads to Bhārata Mātā, see 'Sardar Bhagat's Wonderful Presentation' and 'Bhagat's Curious Present', India Office Library and Records PP. Hin. F.66 and PP. Hin. F.69.
161. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 231-2.
162. Karunanidhi, Neñcukku Nīti, p. 498.
163. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 228-33, 271-3.
164. Heng and Devan, 'State Fatherhood', pp. 348-9.
165. Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38; Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil'.
166. Anandhi, 'Women's Question', p. 38; Ramaswamy, 'Daughters of Tamil'.
167. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 183-9.
168. Gutwirth, Twilight of the Goddesses, p. 350.
169. For an account of armed militancy among women espousing Tamil nationalist ideologies during the recent ethnic conflict in neighbouring Sri Lanka, see Peter Schalk, 'Birds of Independence: On the Participation of Tamil Women in Armed Struggle', Lanka: Studies in Lankan Culture, 7 (1992), pp. 44-142. Schalk traces this militancy back to the early 1980s, and notes that it is not Tamil 'tradition' that is invoked to support this trend, but the examples of women's militancy in liberation and nationalist movements in Palestine, Eritrea and South Africa, and, closer to home but farther back in history, the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose which, in the struggle for Indian independence in the mid-1940s, deployed women warriors. Importantly, Schalk insists that 'womb mysticism' is denounced by many of these women warriors; the two ideal types of womanhood in the ranks of these Tamil nationalists he analyses are according to him 'the armed virgin' and 'the militant mother'. See also Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism', pp. 163-4.
170. For an account of armed militancy among women espousing Tamil nationalist ideologies during the recent ethnic conflict in neighbouring Sri Lanka, see Peter Schalk, 'Birds of Independence: On the Participation of Tamil Women in Armed Struggle', Lanka: Studies in Lankan Culture, 7 (1992), pp. 44-142. Schalk traces this militancy back to the early 1980s, and notes that it is not Tamil 'tradition' that is invoked to support this trend, but the examples of women's militancy in liberation and nationalist movements in Palestine, Eritrea and South Africa, and, closer to home but farther back in history, the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose which, in the struggle for Indian independence in the mid-1940s, deployed women warriors. Importantly, Schalk insists that 'womb mysticism' is denounced by many of these women warriors; the two ideal types of womanhood in the ranks of these Tamil nationalists he analyses are according to him 'the armed virgin' and 'the militant mother'. See also Maunaguru, 'Gendering Tamil Nationalism', pp. 163-4.
171. Yuval-Davis and Anthias, Women-Nation-State.
172. Joan Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1988), p. 159.
173. Ramaswamy, Passions of the Tongue, pp. 121-6.
174. Jayawardene and de Alwis, Embodied Violence, back cover.
175. Anderson, Imagined Communities, p. 16.
176. Peruñccittiranār Pāt + (Combining dot below sign)alkalt + (Combining dot below sign), p. 167.