A Generic Approach to Toponymy
In India the study of place-names or toponymy has not received the attention it deserves. People have been generally interested in sthalapuranas which narrate interesting stories about the origin of names of places. Most of these stories are fanciful and the etymologies given are conjectural. But of late, considerable interest has been shown in placenames, particularly by scholars and researchers who have approached the subject with a scientific outlook. This has resulted in some useful papers and unpublished theses. Most of these recent studies are either of an exploratory character or restricted to certain limited geographical areas. A comparative study of toponymy with a fairly large canvas has not been attempted before. The present work seeks to bring together the four major languages of the Dravidian family-Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugufocusing attention on the phonological and morphological features of their place-names.
These languages possess many common features in the linguistic and literary realms. But each of them exhibits certain distinctive and special characteristics too. The exercise leading to a discovery of these traits, both common and distinctive, in the area of toponymy is at once exciting and exacting. And a pioneering work makes it all the more so. In this fascinating area of study, the present work may be viewed as a curtain-raiser helping the reader get a glimpse of the kinship that exists in the basic elements of place-names.
As very little published material was available about the four languages in question, I had to depend considerably on the assistance rendered by a few scholars who were my informants and consultants. For Tamil, I had the help of Dr K. Nachimuthu, Department of Tamil, University of Kerala and Mr M. Nainar, research student in the same department. For Kannada, I was continuously assisted by Dr M. Rama, Department of Linguistics, University of Kerala. These three scholars not only gave me a good deal of material, but also took part in the frequent discussions at considerable inconveni-ence to themselves. As regards Telugu, Dr K. Viswanatha Reddy, Department of Telugu, S. V. University, Tirupati, was good enough to send me a lot of materials and give valuable suggestions. I could not get the benefit of a personal discussion with him, because of certain practical difficulties. In the case of Malayalam, I had to depend on my own personal work. I would like to thank all the four scholars for their generosity and spirit of cooperation. In Dr Franklin C. Southworth, University of Pennsylvania, I had a good critic and counsel. He read through many portions of the work and gave valuable suggestions. Similarly, Dr C. R. Sarma, Regional Secretary of the Sahitya Akademi, Madras, and Dr M. Chidananda Murthy, Bangalore University, helped me with valuable suggestions. I would like to thank them also. The assistance given by my daughter Miss Valsa M. George at various stages of the work has to be gratefully acknowledged.
The work could not have been undertaken and completed if I did not get the facilities from the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla. In April 1975 I joined the Institute as a Visiting Fellow for a term of two years. A work of this dimension should have taken at least two years for completion. But as I had to accept a new assignment as Chief Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, I was obliged to resign my fellowship after 11 months. However, the work was continued in my spare time for a few months more and it has come to the present shape.
I must now acknowledge the invaluable help and encouragement I received from Professor S. C. Dube, the Director of the Institute and an eminent personality in the world of letters. I wish to thank him, and the Registrar and other members of the staff of the Institute for their help and cooperation.
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