PM Narendra Modi stresses on preserving legacy of Tamil

New Delhi: It is the responsibility of 130 crore Indians to preserve the legacy of Tamil and ignoring it will be a great disservice to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he stressed on "removing linguistic differences and establishing emotional unity."

In his inaugural speech at the Kashi Tamil Sangamam here, the prime minister lamented that despite having one of the world's oldest living languages, Tamil, "we lack in honouring it fully."

"This is the responsibility of 130 crore Indians to preserve the legacy of Tamil and enrich it."

"If we ignore Tamil, we do a great disservice to the nation and if we keep Tamil confined in restrictions, we will do great harm to it. We have to remember to remove linguistic differences and establish emotional unity," Modi said. He hailed Kashi and Tamil Nadu as timeless centres of culture ('sanskriti') and civilisation ('sabhyata'). Both regions are also the centres of the world's oldest languages like Sanskrit and Tamil, the prime minister noted. "In our country, there is an importance of 'sangams' (confluences). From the confluence of rivers and streams to ideas-ideology, knowledge-science and societies-cultures, we have celebrated all the confluences," he said.

The Kashi-Tamil Sangamam is a celebration of India's diversity and uniqueness. It is special on its own and is unparalleled, he said.

While cultural capital Kashi has encapsulated entire India, "our Tamil Nadu and the Tamil culture represent the pride in India's ancient legacy."

"If in Kashi there is Baba Vishwanath, then in Tamil Nadu there is the blessing of Lord Rameshwaram. Both Kashi and Tamil Nadu are 'Shivmay' (drenched in the devotion of Lord Shiv) and 'Shaktimay' (drenched in the devotion of Goddess Shakti)," he said at the event in his Lok Sabha constituency.

There is a Dakshin Kashi in Tamil Nadu too, the prime minister noted.

He said Kashi-Kanchi have an important place among the 'Sapta Puris', the seven pilgrimage centres that, according to Hindu beliefs, lead to salvation.

The Sapta Puris are - Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Mayapuri or Haridwar), Kashi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), Avantika (Ujjain) and Dwaravati (Dwaraka). Highlighting contributions made by scholars from the South, Modi said, "In my experience, from Ramanujacharya and Shankaracharya to Rajaji and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (who was the former Vice-Chancellor of BHU), without understanding the philosophy of India as per the scholars of the South, we cannot know India."