marimuthu

As I've said before, one step to take for fellow Trinidadian and Guyanese Indians with Tamil background is to refrain from Northern Indian culture, I know it is part of the mainstream in the Caribbean due to a lot of Indians having Bhojpuri/Bengali background, but there needs to be MORE southern Indian culture revival between these two countries, many Caribbean Indians I've met have some background link to Tamil Nadu and the rest of South India down the line. And I'm not just talking about religious wise, more language wise, moviewise, and even clothing wise. There needs to be more Tamil awareness in the Caribbean. Do you know that the Tamil language is the only language in India with absolutely THE LEAST Sanskrit influence? Tamil is older than Sanskrit, Dravidian Indians technically never had any links to Sanskrit, only the Aryans who invaded India, they brought all that, but I won't go into detail, that is another forum website in itself!!

pujari, So the urumi, and pambai were brought to Trinidad? What about nadaswaram (long pipe), and thavil? Wow, are you very sure that these drums were brought there? Because if that is true, I'm very sad......sad for the fact that it could not progress like the tassa ensemble did! Trinidadians did such an awesome job taking the tassa drumming to the next level and improvising it, imagine how awesome it would have been today in the Caribbean if the urumi ensemble became part of the modern culture like tassa, and improvised! In Malaysia/Singapore, there is a HEAVY HEAVY Tamil population there, and there are UMPTEEN urumi groups who have become part of the modern culture there, rather than restricted to hindu (tamil hindu) worship. Just like the tassa, how the tassa groups battle out at weddings, same thing over there. One thing though, I know there is a good set of Trinidadians with Tamil/Malayalee background. I've also met some Guyanese "madrasis", who look like pure Tamils, have real Tamil names, and they told me they are dead set on learning Tamil, and retaining Tamil culture, and not necessarily religiouswise, more so with attending East Indian Tamil cultural programs, Tamil interactions, Tamil movies, etc. I encourage all of you people with Tamil background to get involved more like that.

The tapou drum is pronounced as "THAPPU". This drum is an all purpose drum in Tamil Nadu, and it is not restricted to the Tamils, but is primarily used by the Telugu speaking people, Kannadigas, and Keralites (Malayalees). So basically, this drum is a south Indian drum used for funerals (mainly Tamil Nadu), folk dances, politics, and other auspicious and inauspicious occasions. Actually this drum is associated with lower caste Tamils known in India as "Dalits", or actually in Tamil as "Paraiyars", and they are the ones usually playing the goatskinned thappu for the occasions. In Tamil Nadu, a thappu ensemble is called "thappu melam", and melam in Tamil means drum orchestra. Usually a thappu band consists of a few thappus, a few drums you guys call "tassa", and a bass drum. Thappu is not just the main drum, we have "urumi" which is the most distinctive and most popular Tamil drum with its whirring sound to get people into transes, its commonly used in the Tamil folk culture, for folk dances, and is associated with amman, and other samy deities. So there you have it, thappu is NOT the main drum of Tamils, we are the drumming masters of India, we have a variety of drums. I'm really shocked that urumi and pambai was not brought to the Caribbean, maybe because its more simple to make thappu? Who knows...

TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WANT O UNDERSTAND TAMIL CULTURE Read this: If you want a better understanding of Tamil culture, you need to distance yourself from Northern Indian (Hindi) culture. First off, refrain from the term "madrasi", it is not politically correct. Yes I understand, back then it was called the "Madras Presidency" which comprised of present day Tamil Nadu, a small portion of Southern Andhra Pradesh (Chittoor), Karnataka (kolar), and some of Kerala, then when the states were officially formed, the states of South India were Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The term Madras was moved to being the capital city of Tamil Nadu, rather than the state being called that. Now there is no more Madras, the state is called Tamil Nadu with the capital as Chennai. You cannot LINK OR ASSOCIATE Tamil and Hindi like there is a relation, sure its all Indian, but Tamil culture, just as well as Malayalee, Telugu, and Kannada culture (all having the link of being Dravidian). Madurai Veeran was an old warrior/king, he used to be alive. Sangili Karuppan who is known MAINLY as Karuppusamy used to be alive. They are folk deities who became martyrs.

Look, I am not discouraging or disrespecting anybody, I am proud to see that you guys are sticking to Tamilian culture. If you want to really understand our culture, you should definitely watch Tamil movies, rather than feed into "bollywood". Tamil movies are just as good (maybe even better), you can learn a lot and understand what it is to live in Tamil culture and be a Tamilian. The brand of Tamil movie DVDs that are sharp and have subtitles is called "Ayngaran" DVDs. You can watch really good movies, and learn a lot, and eventually pick up the language. We are south Indian Dravidians, and have a deep and rich culture that sets us apart from others, and like I said....movies are a good start. You can get them online...

Innocent, A martyr is basically someone who had lead such a life to where the people loved him so much, that his death basically sets an example for future followers. There is no such thing as "sanganee baba", that is actually Sangili Karuppan, or the "dark one w/ the chain", who was a robin hood type figure who feuded w/ local king Madurai Veeran. You have to understand, these "sub-deities" were once people who got absorbed into local folklore and eventually became deities, you can ONLY see them in front of Tamil Nadu villages as guardians who are believed to protect the villages. Remember, they were once alive.

I don't know why you guys associate this "kal bhairo" with madurai veeran! I am a true Tamilian from Tamil Nadu, and I know about this stuff. You ask any Tamilian who kal bhairo is, he will look at you puzzled! I ran across a guyanese "madrasi" temple website, and they call sangili karuppan as master of the sea...LOL! Sangili Karuppan and Madurai Veeran were people who lived during Pandyan times, they just became martyrs who eventually got formed into subdeities. They were real people, Sangili was a forest bandit who was enemies w/ king Madurai veeran, a lot of these sub-deities were people who became martyrs. You watch, given due time....forest brigand Veerappan who was shot and killed last year will become a subdeity...lol! he and sangili karuppan lived the same life, next thing you know, you will see a tall colorful statue of a man w/ a rifle, smeared w/ vibhoothi, kumkumam, and santhanam...LOLLLLLL