February 25, 2007

Muscovite impresses with his mastery of Tamil


Alexander M. Dubianskiy


His chaste Tamil surprises you. Alexander M.Dubianskiy hails from Moscow. He and his Tamil language students were in Chennai recently.
He met music director Ilaiyaraaja, Gangai Ameran and writer Jayakanthan. He is particular that his studentsfollow him in speaking the language with the correct pronunciation.
Dr. Dubianskiy spoke to S.R.Ashok Kumar about his passion for the Tamil Language.
Alexander M.Dubianskiy holds a doctorate in Tamil Language and literature and works in the Department of Indian philology, Institute of Asian and African studies, Moscow State University.
He visits Tamil Nadu every second year. This time, four of his students accompanied him and they all went round Tamil Nadu.
"When I wanted to go for higher studies, a friend who studied in the oriental language department in the University of Moscow wanted me to pursue the same courses he was studying — Hindi and Sanskrit. That year, in 1965, a new group of students started studying Tamil. I joined them. Today, I am happy that I have learnt a new and rich language.
"That was the first group that studied the language. The university did not have a full-fledged Tamil scholar at that time.
"Students and people from Tamil Nadu helped the lecturers. Tamil fascinated me very much due to its rich literature and poetry.
"After finishing my course I decided to pursue a postgraduate course in Tamil mainly to learn more about the language."
Dr. Dubianskiy soon started teaching Tamil literature. "But that was when it was called the Soviet Union. Now there are practically no jobs for people studying Tamil in Russia. I hope something will be done soon ... "
He feels it is his duty to sustain the study of Tamil because he considers Tamil and Tamil culture an important part of Indian culture.
Although, he completed his doctorate in 1974, the academic came to India only in 1978-79.
"I studied in the University of Madras under the guidance of some very knowledgeable people such as Professor N. Sanjeevi. I was very friendly with my teacher Prof. Pon Kothandaraman (Porko)."
His research thesis was on Sangam poetry — an area on which he has guided other students too, as also the poems of Subramania Bharathi.
Dr. Dubianskiy says has learnt something from every visit. This is his 12th visit to the State.
His one great wish: "I want somebody to take my place and spread the Tamil language. I also want more students to learn it."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice to read your post... Now what are you doing..