In August 2020, eight Tamil Sangams (unions) in Europe joined together to organise ‘Naatupura Kalai Vizha’ (folk art festival) to help raise funds to support folk artists in Tamil Nadu, whose livelihoods was severely hit by the pandemic. This year, over 20 unions from across 12 European countries have joined together for another important cause — to save the Tamil department at Germany’s University of Cologne that faces the threat of shutting down after the tenure of Professor Dr Ulrike Niklas in March, next year.
The recently constituted federation of Tamil unions called the Europe Tamilargal Sangam, hosted an online Tamil event on Saturday, called ‘Thisaigal Thorum Puthumai Seivom’ (Let's innovate in every direction) as an awareness and fundraising campaign. The federation’s first live program had Tamil speaker Rajmohan of the ‘Thamizh vanakkam’ Youtube channel, Pattimandram Raja, Poet Ramalingam, Rev Fr Jegath Gasper Raj of the Tamil Maiyyam, USA’s Tamil Chair Inc co-founder Dr Vijay Janakiraman, Agathiyan John Benedict of the Washington Tamil Sangam and Caldwell Velnambi of FeTNA, USA in attendance.
The three-hour long event also had special folk performances by the Vagai Kalaikuzhu from Vaagai folklore and cultural heritage research centre, Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
Among those who spoke, was popular Tamil speaker, S Raja, who is a regular on television debate shows. Explaining that several countries in the recent past have begun initiatives to institute a Tamil chair, Raja said that Europe Tamilargal’s fight to save an existing Tamil lectureship needed to be welcomed and encouraged. “We have to make this an important request to both the state and central government. Several crores is set aside for research in a particular language. Why can’t it be done for Tamil? It is our responsibility to make it happen,” he said.
Cologne University is said to have one of the best Tamil studies departments in the world outside of Tamil Nadu. In order to continue having a Tamil studies department lectureship position at Cologne University, a total of €137,500 (Rs 1.25 crore) is required by March 2021. The department, founded in 1963 by Professor Dr Klaus-Ludwig Janert is currently headed by Professor Dr Ulrike Niklas, whose term will end in March 2022.
When it does, Cologne University has decided to shut down the department and this has prompted Tamil unions to join together for a cause. When the department was staring at a similar fate in 2019, when the last lectureship position in the department was up for termination, support came in from Tamil Chair Inc, which provided €137,500.
Europe Tamilargal has written letters to the North-Rhein Westphalia (NRW) Government where Cologne University is located, and the university’s authorities as well. They also plan on reaching out to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Tamil Nadu government to help with the cause.
The speakers who took part in the event spoke highly of the language which is considered one of the oldest living languages in the world. Also, pointing out that the university houses one of the biggest collections of Tamil books (around 40,000), speakers requested for Tamilians living across the world to come together for the cause and save the department.
Watch the full event here:
So far, they have raised € 8260.50 which is approximately Rs 7.2 lakh. If you wish to contribute, you can do so here.