Book Review:
Studies on mother tongue of humans
[We give here a review of Duraljan Hypothesis: Towards the Mother Tongue of Man - that appeared in the April issue of DLA News, a monthly of Dravidian Linguistics Association of India. The review was by Dr. R.Madhivanan]
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Duralijan Hypothesis: Towards the Mother Tongue of Man - Hannu Panu Aukustic Hokola - 2006. Six articles and some reviews around the Duraligan hypothesis - 256 pages. Published by the author.
1. H.P.A. Hakola has made solid contribution to Nostratic / Eurasiatic studies and studies on the monther-tongue of man. His three major works are:
i. 1997: Duraljan Vocabulary, Lexical Similarities in the Major Agglutinative Language - 158 pages
ii. 2000: 1000 Duraljan Etyma. An extended study in the lexical similarities in the major agglutinative languages. 303 pages.
iii. 2003: (with co-author Hodjjat Assadian) Sumerian and Proto-Duraljan. A lexical comparison concerning the Suduraljan hypothesis. 200 pages.
2. (ii) is an extended and updated version of (i) and will suffice to discuss (ii) alone. The acronym ‘Duraljan’ coined by Hakola connotes the language Dravidian, Uralic, Altaic, Japanese and Andean (Quechua, spoken in Peru, South America). As a product of thirty years of devoted work (carried out simultaneously with his professional work as a renowned neuro-psychiatrist), Hakola has in his 1000 Duraljan Etyma worked out a wordlist of thousand cognate candidates from the five language-groups / languages whose provenance is as follows:
Number of Words Percentage
Finnish (Uralic) 984 98.4
Dravidian 808 80.0
Out of which
Tamil 586 58.6
Quechua (Peru) 605 60.5
Japanese 489 48.9
Altaic 363 36.3
The acronym ‘Duraljan’ coined by Hakola Cannotes the languages Dravidian, Uralic, Altaic, Japanese and Andean (Quechua, spoken in Peru, South America)
It was Robert Caldwell (1856: Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages: see pages 612 to 625 of Madras University’s 2000 reprint of the third edition of 1875) who first discussed in detail the near relationship of Ugro-Finnish dialects of the Scythian (now called Ural-Altaic) family of languages. A host of scholars followed up this lead, the most important being C. Schoebel (1873). Otto Schrader (1925 and 1937), T. Burrow (1943-1946), M. Andronov (1968). S.A. Tyler (1968). Jaroslav Vacek ( 1987, etc.) and Kamil V. Zvelebil (1990). In Chapter 7.1 (pages 99 to 103 of his Dravidian Linguistics - An Introduction, Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, 1990), Zvelebil is convinced that the various similarities between Dravidian and Ural-Altaic are “too numerous and too striking to be purely accidental”. After discussing the relation between Dravidan and Elamite, and Dravidian and Japanese, Zvelebil thinks (page 114 of his 1990 book) that ultimately there might have been a genetic connection among Dravidian, Elamite, Ural-Altaic and Japanese at great time-depth, namely, earlier than 10, 000 B.C. Zvelebil’s stand is now supported by the following developments.
i. AMH (Anatomically Modern Humans) emerged in Africa about 1,59,000 years ago. One of the early migration routes of AMH out of Africa was along the continental shelf abutting South India, onwards up to Australia (which was populated by AMH 50,000 years ago).
ii. P.Ramanathan’s paper, ‘Direction of Movement of Dravidian Speakers in Prehistoric Times - Descent from North or Ascent from South?” in Dravidian Studies, Kuppam (Volumes 1 to 3, April to June 2003) has, following Norris, Prichard, Caldwell, C.D.Maclean and others, esablished the remarkable glossarial, grammatical, phonological and phonotactic affinities between Tamil and Australian aboriginal languages.
Subject to minor requirements and improvements by linguists conversant with Dravidian, Altaic, Japanese and Quechua (on par with Hakola’s knowledge of Uralic), 1000 Duraljan Etyma is a seminal work, enriching the field of Nostratic studies. (Except Quechua, all the other four languages denoted by Duraljan are already included under Nostratic Super Family by most nostraticists. Bomhard included Sumerian also under Nostratic; and this takes us to the next paragraph).
3. The third major work of Hakola (in partnership with Hodjjat Assadin) is Sumerian and Proto-Duraljan. It gives 420 Sumerian-proto-Dravidian word-pairs, with the following break up:
Number of Words Percentage
Finnish (Uralic) 418 99.5
Dravidian 332 79.0
Out of which
Tamil 267 63.6
Quechua (Peru) 249 59.3
Japanese 233 55.5
Altaic languages 177 42.1
(mainly Mongol)
The hypothesis of the affinity between Sumerian and Dravidian has also been advocated by scholars from about a century ago. H.R. Hall (1931), R.S.Vaidyanatha Iyer (1928 and 1929). A.S.Thyagaraju (1932), Reve. H. Heras (1928 and 1953), A.Sathasivam (1965: Sumerian and Dravidian Language, Ph.D. Thesis, Berkely, California, not published so far, and 1966 paper read at I International Conference - Seminar of Tamil Studies at Kula Lumpur), J.V.Kinnier Wilson (1974) and Lokanatha Muttarayan (articles in Journal of Tamil Studies, 1975 and 1988). Hakola and Assadian have carried forward this hypothesis to an extended level. Nostraticists should make use of this study also, especially in the light of the observation made by Colin P. Masica in 2001 (in the context of the affinities between Dravidian and Australian aboriginal languages):
“It may be a question of very ancient, a common substratum in South Asia, pre-Dravidian going back even to the original peopling of the world” (out of Africa by ANH about 50,000 years ago).
4. The book under review is autobiograpical. The first fifty pages describe the genesis and progress of Hakola’s work on Duraljan and beyond. He has thanked the D.L.A. and IJDl for publishing reviews of his 1997 and 2000 works. IJDL is the only journal (and a quality journal at that) on Linguistics in India, which has been published continually and punctually for the past 36 years. The reviewer is also one of the beneficiaries of its benevolent encouragement.
5. It is hoped that greater interest will be generated between Dravidian and other linguists in India, in the matter of long-range comparisons between major language families, since Dravidian holds a pivotal place in this field.
Know the Hindu Mind
V.T.Rajshekar
[First Edition: 1989. Second Revised & Enlarged Edition: 2008
Dalit Sahitya Akademy, No 1098 - 7th Cross, Palace Lower Orchards, Bangalore - 560 003
email: vtr@ndf.vsnl.net.in - dalitvoice@rediffmail.com - Website: WWW.DALITVOICE.ORG
Price. 100 (10 EUROS (OUSIDE iNDIA) PAGES 140]
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The author of this work is very angry about the persistence of the evils that keep India backward and poor. Like Periayr E.V.R. and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, he is free and frank, bold and blunt in his criticism of Brahminism parading as a religion in the name of Hinduism. In his foreword for the second edition of Know the Hindu Mind, V.T. Rajshekar writes: “As of today, China’s economy is three times bigger than India’s . . . China is a godless country, but we have our 330 million gods, still larger number of godmen, our ancient ‘religion’ of Hinduism with a treacherous value system. Why nobody saved us? Rather, they are the cause of our failure.”
Clarifying that his criticism is against Brahminism and not against any individual Brahmin, the author states that there is not a single institution which has not been corrupted and coopted by Brahminism, and if India has to live Brahminism (Hinduism) has to die. To show how he justifies his stand, we have given here excerpts from his book:
“Will the Hindu accept the test of justice and the test of utility to judge the philosophy of Hinduism? First the test of justice which is another name for liberty, equality, fraternity. The caste system - with its ascending order of reverence and descending degree of contempt - seriously violates the very principle of equality as it assigns gradation and rank to each caste which in other words means inequality. That means Hinduism does not (never, ever) recognise equality. Inequality is the guiding principle of caste system. Somebody is above you and somebody is below you. The untouchables being the lowest of the low are the worst hated under this system.
“Those above gets the satisfaction and the pride that somebody is below them and are lording over them. But they don’t know that some fellows sitting above their heads are shitting and pissing. But they will not mind it as long as they have the right to shit and piss on somebody else’s head. This is caste system - unique to Hindu India - and unless it is set on fire Hindus will continue to be sick - but neither living not dead. This the state of India today. But the Hindus are not realising it. (Page 5) . . .
“The problem of India is not poverty (as made out by our rulers) but the graded inequality and exploitation under the Brahminical caste system.
No doubt we have succeeded to a great extent but the Brahmins with their mass media in their hands are more influential to undo whatever we can do through our tiny Dalit Voice in English though we had six language editions headed by a Hindi edition published from Delhi. (Page-6) . . .
“Our question is how can a country fly when it is nailed down to an antiquated and dangerous pig philosophy? If progress is possible only through science and technology (every advanced society took only the same route) then we should be ready to get rid of every thought and action that comes in the way of such a progress. In the case of India it is Brahminisim, which today hides under Hinduism, that is coming in the way of our progress. (Page 62). . .
“This is our question to the upper caste (Hindus):
Do they subscribe to the Article 51A(H) of the Constitution of India:
“to promote scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.”
“Has any scientific institute of importance like IISc discussed this Article and found fault with the godmen and Hindu temples violating the constitution and asked the government to punish such violation? (Page -62). .
“The Buddha, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed may not be gods but prophets. So also Guru Nanak. But they all had a sterling character, led a noble life and fought for justice, truth and entire humanity. Every human being is proud of these prophets who have attained godhood because of their noble life.
“A god has to be such a noble, super-human soul that parents could naturally ask their children to blindly follow the model of their god. While in distress, we sa “Oh god” and we seek refuge in him. He should be such a noble person. (Page-63) . . .
“How far Ram and Krishna, described as two of the greatest gods of Hindus, conform to this model of an ideal god? (Page-63) . . .
“Will a mother tolerate her young son if he starts chasing every girl in town and then defends himself saying that he is after all following his favourite god Krishna? Will our women’s liberation movement people excuse a man if he throws out his pregnant wife and defends his action on the ground that (like god Ram) he heard rumours about his wife’s character and says there is nothing wrong in his action because his favourite god Rama did the same to Sita? (Page-64) . . .
“Will our human rights people approve of Ram’s killing of an unarmed, innocent Wali hiding behind a tree? If Ram is god why should be hide and kill Wali? How can a god believe in rumous on Sita when a god is omniscient and omnipotent?
“Ram killing the Shudra Shambuka for no fault of the latter was such a horrible, such an unpardonable crime that it was cut even from the TV Ramayan that regaled the Hindu audience for months and months. The government feared that the young “modern Hindu” audience might revolt against this action of God Ram who killed an innocent Shambuka just because he performed certain Brahminical rites which as a shudra he was not expected to do. Can the killing of Shambuka be justified? Will those shudras, who are part of the Brahminical Social Order and form over 80% of the BSO, excuse their own Hinduism for discriminating against Hindus? We thought the Shudras (Hindus) might revolt against this act of Ram when they start understanding the meaning of this act of Ram and the Hindu terrorists defending it. But nothing of it happened because the Brahminical people have killed the very thinking power of all Hindus.
“Hundred and one explanations can be given by defenders of Ram, but no person with value for human rights can approve of it and shudras, who are also part of the Brahminical Social Order, will certainly revolt against Hinduism if the episode is properly explained to them. Babasaheb had warned the Hindus to take note of this serious offence of Ram. (Page 64-65).
“A god is said to be embodiment of peace, compassion, love, justice, kindness. He doesn’t favour one section of his people and discriminate against or kill another section of his believers. Why then Ram and Krishna (in fact all Hindu gods and goddesses) should carry deadly weapons in their hands?
“Hindu religion, it is widely advertised, is the only religion in the world which stands for non-violence (ahimsa). If so, why the Hindu gods are carrying weapons? These questions are addressed to younger minds among the Hindus because the Constitution of India directs the state to make such an exercise under the above-quoted Article. Many young Hindus have not been properly explained about the facts of the case.
“Perhaps the failure on the part of the state to implement the above cited Article of the Constitution has led to the disastrous demolition of the Babri Masjit (1992) in the name of God Ram. (Pages: 65-66) .
“During the Vedic period the Brahmins ate not only meat but also beef. Their gods were prolific boozers. (Page-131)”
Religion prescribes a set of values and way of life based on faith which the believers do not question and are deeply ingrained in the believers. The Hindu values and way of life and the social system that it sanctifies are based on Varna Dharma that has given rise to caste system in which the castes included in the Brahmin Varna occupy the top-most rung of the social ladder.
The social, religious and cultural advantage that Brahmins enjoy for several centuries have given them a dominant position in other spheres as well, which they maintain by keeping the lower caste people ignorant, divided and deprived. They use their dominant position in all the departments of the government and their control of print and electronic media to hide and twist the facts and they ‘create’ public opinion in favour of their inhuman and unequal value system, and to justify their present activities basically meant to preserve and promote their traditional dominance and to keep others subordinate and exploited. Such a trend will be inimical to unity, amity, peace and progress. So this book emphasises elimination of Brahminical values of graded inequality based on caste system, introduced and nurtured from the days of Vedas, and promotion of egalitarian human values and principles.
