One girl with the name “Manaswini” had difficulty, as the school wanted to write her name as Manasuvini மனசுவினி, instead of simply மனஸ்வினி! There is no alternative for school goers as they would not get marks if they did not conform to the govt imposed style. And the same style is followed in English too! Thus, Lakshmi is written as ‘latchumi’, or ‘Letchumi’, Dakshinamurti is written as ‘Thatchinamurti”, Devarajan is written as Thevarajan. The government controlled education system is forcing people to adopt one style- the govt.

But in the last 50-60 years, such methods are not followed. This was overcome in cultured circles by resorting to correct pronunciation while speaking or reciting.Another method was to use ‘Grantha” aksharas to record such sounds. Mantra is rendered as மந்திரம் ( mandiram, now a days written as manthiram] But this expression ‘manthiram or mandiram does not give the exact original meaning.

The complete range of Sanskrit sounds cannot be reproduced in Tamil while this may not be a problem in secular matters, it poses a problem in learning religious subjects. In the middle ages, the saint composers adopted a mixed style called “Manipravalam” which contained both Sanskrit and Tamil words side by side, and it had its own beauty, as we see in the works of Arunagirinatha. In the classical period, they converted the expression to Tamilised sounds so that Rig (Veda) became ‘Irruku in Devaram. In the religious literature, they overcame this problem in various ways. Yes sir, Tamil has this problem, which is felt when translating words from other languages.

Shyamala dandakam slokas with meaning