A first academic collaboration between Tamil India and France: the case of BnF “Indien 246”, and the exchange of letters between Julien Vinson and U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar
Outline
- The importance of BnF indien 246
- U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar (UVS) [1855-1942] & Julien Vinson [1843-1926]
- The exchange of letters between UVS and Julien Vinson
- Table of contents for BnF Indien 246
- The lacunas inside BnF indien 246
- Abbreviations
- Coda
The importance of BnF indien 246
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Among the Tamil Palm Leaf MSS which are preserved in the BnF, a symbolically important role can be attributed to the manuscript “Indien 246” (மணிமேகலை மூலம் [Maṇimēkalai Mūlam]), because it was probably the occasion for the first bi-directional scientific correspondance between an academic representative of the Tamil-speaking Southern part of India, namely the well-known U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar [1855-1942] (உ. வே. சாமிநாதையர்), alias UVS, (உ. வே. சா.) and an academic representative of France, namely Julien Vinson [1843-1926]. It is also an example of the positive appreciation —recorded in print— by a Tamil scholar of the existence of such a ressource as the BnF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), where treasures are preserved, which would otherwise have perished. UVS would certainly have been delighted to know that all those treasures will progressively become available to all those who value them around the world, just by clicking on a link such as THIS ONE.
U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar (UVS) [1855-1942] & Julien Vinson [1843-1926]
Among these two scholars, the former, UVS was at the time of their first exchange employed as a தமிழ்ப்பண்டிதர் [tamiḻppaṇṭitar] in the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam (கும்பகோணம் கவர்ன்மென்ட் காலெஜ் [kumpakōṇam kavarṉmeṇṭ kālej]) and the latter, Vinson, was at the time employed as a “Professor of Oriental Languages” in Paris, as noted by UVS on page 6 (or rather ௬) of his 1898 Editio Princeps of the Maṇimēkalai, inside the முகவுரை [mukavurai} “preface”. The place where Vinson taught Tamil —and also “Hindoustani”— is now known as the INALCO, but was earlier referred to as the “École des langues orientales vivantes”, as can be seen in the signature of Vinson’s letters to UVS.
The main elements of information on the exchange between Vinson and UVS were until recently to be found only in the Maṇimēkalai successive editions and in UVS’s autobiography (என் சரித்திரம் [eṉ carittiram], henceforth UVC_EC), where the exchange is reported in several places through the eyes of UVS, who refers for instance to Vinson as “புரொபஸர் ஜூலியன் வின்ஸோன் [puropasar jūliyaṉ viṉsōṉ]” inside chapter 112 (அத்தியாயம்-112). However, since 2018, thanks to the labours of ஆ. இரா. வேங்கடாசலபதி [Ā. Irā. Vēṅkaṭācalapati], who has now published the first volume (தொகுதி 1 [tokuti 1]) of the உ. வே. சாமிநாதையர் கடிதக் கருவூலம் [u. vē. cāminātaiyar kaṭitak karuvūlam] (henceforth UVCKK), we can now read the full text of six letters written in Tamil (in 1891, 1893, 1895 and 1900) by Vinson himself —who even included poems of his own composition in honour of UVS in some of them— and also see two of those letters in facsimilé (pp. xviii-xix).
Returning now to “Indien 246” and coming to the reason why it was important for UVS to hear from Vinson about its existence, and about the existence of other Tamil MSS in Paris, I must briefly indicate
- that the text which is preserved inside “Indien 246”, namely மணிமேகலை மூலம் [maṇimēkalai mūlam] is one of the celebrated Five Tamil Epics (ஐம்பெருங் காப்பியங்கள் [aimperuṅ kāppiyaṅkaḷ]),
- that UVS had made himself well-known in the world of Tamil scholars by first publishing in 1887 another one of the Five Tamil Epics, namely the சீவக சிந்தாமணி [cīvaka cintāmaṇi] and that fact is duly noted —and praised in verse— in the first letter which Vinson writes to him on 3rd April 1891 (UVCKK, 1891-7, pp. 308-309).
- that UVS was, when he received Vinson’s first letter, in the process of publishing the most ancient of the Five Tamil Epics, namely the சிலப்பதிகாரம் [cilappatikāram], which came out in 1892, and that Vinson’s third UVCKK letter, dated 23rd june 1893 (UVCKK, 1893-18, pp. 374-375), is an acknowledgement, full of praise, of the fact that he has received a printed copy of the Cilappatikāram edition.
The exchange of letters between UVS and Julien Vinson
Regarding their exchange and its practical consequences, UVS writes in his Autobiography, in Tamil:
சிலப்பதிகார ஆராய்ச்சி நடக்கையில் 1891-ஆம் வருஷம் ஏப்ரல் மாதம் பாரிஸிலிருந்து எனக்கு ஒரு கடிதம் வந்தது. நான் பதிப்பித்த சீவகசிந்தாமணியைக் கண்டு அநத் நகரத்தில் தமிழாசிரியராக இருந்த ஜூலியன் வின்ஸோன் என்னும் பிரஞ்சு அறிஞரே அதனை எழுதியிருந்தார். […] (UVC_EC, chap. 112, extract)
While I was thus engaged in my research in Cilappatikāram, I got, in April 1891, a letter from Paris. It was from a French savant, Julien Vinson, who was a professor of Tamil in Paris, and saw my edition of Cīvakacintāmaṇi. […] (Translation: K. Zvelebil, 1994, p. 476)
He continues:
அவர் கடல் கடந்த நாட்டில் இருந்தாலும் ‘உணர்ச்சிதான் நட்பாங்கிழமை தரும்’ என்றபடி எங்கள் உணர்ச்சியினால் நாங்கள் அன்பர்களானோம். பாரிஸ் நகரத்தில் உள்ள புத்தகசாலையில் சிலப்பதிகாரப் பிரதி கிடைக்குமோ என்று அவருக்குக் கடிதம் எழுதினேன். உடனே அவர் விடை எழுதினார். 1891-ஆம் வருஷம் மே மாதம் 7-ஆம் தேதி அவர் எழுதிய அக்கடிதத்தில், ‘Bibliothèque Nationale’ என்கிற பெரிய புத்தகசாலையிலிருக்கின்ற ஓராயிரம் தமிழ்க் கையெழுத்துப் புத்தகங்களெமக்கு நன்றாய்த் தெரியும். அவைகளின் List or Catalogue பண்ணினோமானால் அவற்றுள் சிலப்பதிகாரம் இல்லை. (UVC_EC, chap. 112, extract)
In spite of the wide seas separating us we became friends, since, as the adage says, “It is the sincerity of feeling that makes true friendship.” I wrote to him, asking if a copy of Cilappatikāram was available in any Paris library. He replied by return. In his answer dated 7th May, 1891, he said, “I happen to know well all the one thousand Tamil paper manuscripts preserved in our large Biblothèque Nationale. A reference to that list or catalogue shows that no Cilappatikāram is in stock. (Translation: K. Zvelebil, 1994, p. 476)
He then adds:
பழைய புத்தகங்களோவென்றால் அந்தச் சாலையிலே மணிமேகலை ஒரு கையெழுத்துப் பிரதி உண்டு, […] அது ஓலைப் பிரதி யாகும். நாம் அதைக் கடுதாசியி லெழுதினோம், நங்கட்சிறு புத்தக சாலையிலே வைக்க ஆதலால் நீரதைப் பார்க்க வேண்டுமேல் அந்தக் கடுதாசிப் பிரதி அனுப்புவோம். (UVC_EC, chap. 112, extract)
As for ancient classics though, there is a paper manuscript copy of Maṇimēkalai in that library. […] It is a palmleaf copy. I made a copy of it on paper, to keep in my own small library. Therefore if you wish to see it, I shall send you that paper copy. (Translation: K. Zvelebil, 1994, p. 476)
As a final quotation, the following statements are certainly also very much worth repeating here.
தமிழ் நாட்டில் தங்கள் பரம்பரைச் செல்வமாகக் கருதற்குரிய ஏடுகளை நீருக்கும் நெருப்புக்கும் இரையாக்கி விட்டவர்களைப் பார்த்து வருந்திய எனக்குப் பல்லாயிர மைல்களுக்கப்பால் ஓரிடத்தில் தமிழன்னையின் ஆபரணங்கள் மிகவும் சிரத்தையோடு பாதுகாக்கப் பெறும் செய்தி மேலும் மேலும் வியப்பை உண்டாக்கி வந்தது. ஆயிரம் தமிழ்ச்சுவடிகள் பாரிஸ் நகரத்துப் புஸ்தகசாலையில் உள்ளனவென்பதைக் கண்டு, ‘இங்கே உள்ளவர்கள் எல்லாச் சுவடிகளையும் போக்கி விட்டாலும் அந்த ஆயிரம் சுவடிகளேனும் பாதுகாப்பில் இருக்கும்’ என்று எண்ணினேன். (UVC_EC, chap. 112, extract)
My wonder and admiration increased greatly when I thought of the care bestowed on the preservation of the jewels belonging to our Mother Tamil at a place many thousands of miles away, while the people in Tamilnadu itself let their inherited treasures of books on palm leaves to be destroyed by fire and flood, to my grief and pain. Hearing of the thousand Tamil manuscripts stored in the library at Paris, I thought, ‘Even if my fellow-countrymen were to lose all of their own manuscripts, those other thousand scripts at least would be well taken care of.’ (Translation: K. Zvelebil, 1994, p. 476)
Table of contents for BnF Indien 246
I shall conclude this brief evocation of the role of Indien 246, by providing a table of content of its leaves, giving the folio location of the beginning of each of its 30 cantos (alias [kātai]), and also providing links to the text of the Maṇimēkalai, as it stands on the site of the Tamil Virtual Academy (TVU), supplemented by a few pictures.
The lacunas inside BnF indien 246
In conclusion of this brief exploration, I would like to mention one specific feature of this manuscript, which is the existence of a great number of explicit lacuna-s, a fact which is duly noted in Vinson’s exchange with UVS and which can be illustrated by the fragment provided below, from Indien 246, which contains the left side of the recto of folio 39, where the beginning of canto 20 is found:

Inside this extract from folio 39 r, the left most column, which we can call “margin”, contains in the top line a folio number “௩௯” (i.e. 39). ater that, we can read “இ ரு ப த # வ // து . உ @@ த ய // கு ம # னை க // க # ஞ ச ன ன // வ # ள # @ ல // றி ந த க # // @@ த –“, which would nowadays be written “இருபதாவது. உதையகுமரனைக் காஞ்சனன் வாளால் எறிந்த காதை.
Inside the second column, we find the beginning of Canto 20, the first line being “அரசன் ஆணையின் ஆயிழை அருளால் // நி …”, which is written using the now archaic writing system, which I shall approximate in the following manner: “அ # ச னா ணை யி னா யி @@ ழ ய ரு ள # னி …”.
And if we examine the continuation of that line (for instance by CLICKING HERE), we can see that the whole first line contains, with a few variant reading, the ancient spelling equivalent of what is written “அரசன் ஆணையின் ஆயிழை அருளால் // நிரயக் கொடுஞ்சிறை நீக்கிய கோட்டம் // தீப்பிறப்பு உழந்தோர் செய்வினைப் பயத்தான் // யாப்புஉடை நற்பிறப்பு எய்” on the TVU web site and corresponds therefore to a little more than THREE AND A HALF metrical lines
However, when we reach the second line of the second column, we find a very large blank space, and the first words readable after the gap are “பொருள்புரி நெஞ்சில் புலவோன் கோயிலும்” (written “@ ப # ரு ள பு ரி @ ந ஞ சி ற பு ல @ வ # ன @ க # யி லு ம”), which is in fact the fifth metrical line of Canto 20 in the printed editions of Maṇimēkalai, starting with the 1898 Editio princeps, where we can see, on p. 177:

This means that the blank in Indien 246 corresponds to what appears as “தினர் போலப்” at the end of the fourth metrical line, and should have been written as “தி ன # @ ப # ல ப”, which indeed corresponds to the length of the gap. This seems to indicate that the person who wrote Indien 246 was EITHER copying from a damaged manuscript, OR copying from a manuscript in which the lacuna-s were already present, possibly hoping to be able some day to fill in the blanks.
Abbreviations
- BnF = Bibliothèque nationale de France
- TVU = Tamil Virtual Academy
- UVS = U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar
- UVC_EC = U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar, Eṉ Carittiram
Coda
Blog entry completed on 25th december 2019
[to be continued in a future blog entry concerning the lacunae (or blanks) in palmleaf mss]
Jean-Luc Chevillard
HTL & Tamilex teams
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OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Jean-Luc Chevillard (December 25, 2019). A first academic collaboration between Tamil India and France: the case of BnF “Indien 246”, and the exchange of letters between Julien Vinson and U. Vē. Cāminātaiyar. Texts Surrounding Texts. Retrieved April 25, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/uxym