Tholkaappiyam - A library for Python to globalize the ancient text of the oldest language in the world, Tamil"

A Python package to understand Tholkaappiyam in English and use it for enhancing NLP

Tholkaappiyam is the most ancient extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil literature. In order to make people all over the world understand Tamil, i18n Solutions Salem, have developed this package based on the work of P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri.

Created by Aswin Venkat aswinvenk8@gmail.com

Installation

How to install ?

pip install tholkaappiyam

Pre-Requisites

1. Pandas
2. JSON

Importing in python

How to import ?

from tholkaappiyam import thol

About Tholkaappiyam

Tolkāppiyam or Tholkaappiyam has 3 Adhikaarams. Each Adhikaaram has 9 Iyals in them. Each Iyal have a specific number of songs/paadal (or Sutrās). Songs are classified into Categories. If we analyse the songs as categories, it is easier to understand the core meaning of the Sutrās.

P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri

Subrahmanya Sastri was the first person to translate Tolkāppiyam into English. He worked on the Tolkappiyam, which he later translated into English. The translation of Ezhuthathikaram and Poruladhikaram were published by the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, while Solladhikaram was published by Annamalai University. We have referred to Subrahmanya Sastri's text on Tholkaappiyam in Roman transliteration and English translation.

History of Tholkaappiyam

Tholkapiyam, some traditionally believe, was written by a single author named Tolkaappiyar, a disciple of Vedic sage Agastya mentioned in the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE). His student Tholkaappiyar was asked to compile Tamil grammar, which is Tolkappiyam. In Tamil historical sources such as the 14th-century influential commentary on Tolkappiyam by Naccinarkkiniyar, the author is stated to be Tiranatumakkini (alternate name for Tolkappiyan), the son of a Brahmin rishi named Camatakkini. The earliest mention of Agastya-related Akattiyam legends are found in texts approximately dated to the 8th or 9th century. The dating of the Tolkappiyam is difficult, much debated, and it remains contested and uncertain. Proposals range between 5,320 BCE and the 8th century CE.

Displaying

# About Tholkaappiyam
>> thol.about_tholkaappiyam()

# Display Adhikaarams
>> thol.display_adhikaaram()

# Display Iyals
>> thol.display_iyal(adhikaaram_no)

# Display Tholkaappiyar
>> thol.display_tholkaapiyar()

JSON Data

# Returns the entire JSON dataset of Tholkaappiyam to the user
>> data=thol.data_json()

Methods

# Class Adhikaaram
>> thol.Adhikaaram(adhikaaram_no)

• It has 2 methods:
  • display_total_no_of_songs() :
    • Prints total number of songs in the Adhikaaram
  • iyals_paadal_count_dict() :
    • Returns a dict containing iyals of the adhikaaram and the number of paadal in each iyal

# Class Iyal
>> thol.Iyal(adhikaaram_no,iyal_no)

• It has 2 methods :
  • display_total_no_of_songs() :
    • Prints total number of songs in the Iyal
  • iyals_paadal_count_dict() :
    • Returns a dict containing categories of the iyal and the number of paadal in each categories

# Class Paadal
>> thol.Paadal(adhikaaram_no,iyal_no,paadal_no)

• It has 1 important method :
  • paadal_data() :
    • Returns a dict of song data

Paadal_data =
{
paadal                  :   "paadal...",
paadal_meaning          :   "paadal in english",
paadal_category         :   "Paadal category (eng)",
paadal_iyal             :   "Iyal that the paadal belongs",
paadal_iyal_eng         :   "Iyal of the paadal belongs in English",
paadal_adhikaaram       :   "Adhikaaram that the paadal belongs",
paadal_adhikaaram_eng   :   "Adhikaaram that the paadal belongs in English"
}

# Class Category
>> thol.Category(adhikaaram_no,iyal_no)

• It has 2 methods :

  • paadal_dict():

    • Returns a dict where,
      • Key : Name of the Category you selected
      • Value : List of the Songs in that category

  • paadal_data():

    • Returns a list of paadal data of all the songs under the given category
    • This 'list of dict' data can be further used to study the song/paadal under the given topic

Sample Code

To check the number of songs in all the iyal in an Adhikaaram (Soladhikaaram)

n=tholkaappiyam.Adhikaaram(2).iyals_paadal_count_dict()
for i in n:
    print(i,'\t\t',n[i])

To check the number of songs in all the categories in an Iyal (Ezhuthadhikaaram, Pirappiyal)

n=tholkaappiyam.Iyal(1,3).categories_paadal_count_dict()
for i in n:
    print(i,'\t',n[i])